Palytoxin

My article is online and published and a check is in the mail.

This is an AWESOME feeling. I can't wait for my next article assignment. I really enjoyed devoting time to this. It was a good exercise in time management since I needed to work on it when Hazel was sleeping and that time is limited in quantity.

Palytoxins

Science!!

A college acquaintance contacted me about doing some writing for his organization. I jumped at the chance and started working on my assignment today! It's a paid writing gig and I'm really enjoying being able to throw myself into some awesome science and learn about a new topic.

My research topic is all about palytoxins and their dangers in reefkeeping. The take home message that I'm seeing emphasized over and over again in my reading is that if you're handling live rock and coral, wear gloves, wear eye protection and probably a mask too. And keep pets out of the area. This stuff is nasty and it will not discriminate in cells that it targets.

It feels really good to be delving back into research and science. And given Hazel's current nap schedule, I actually have time to get this done and work from home. It's an all around good feeling for me right now.

In other news, I finally got the vet out to see the animals. I need to acquire some dewormer for both of them and Gwyn needs to lose weight... oops.

I do my best research and learning by summarizing what I read and handwriting notes. This later helps me organize what I want to write. I'm also making a digital copy in case a 4 year old occurs.

It can be hard to do research with a 4 year old on your back

During the vet visit. Gwyn and Saffron were well behaved, Hazel fell asleep, and Kaylee was the whiniest whiner.

We've been going for evening walks. This was last night. An impromptu math lesson.

I love these girls.

At the track for our evening walk. Yes she is wearing snow boots...

I can see the big kid in her face in this picture. I love it.

Happy 8th Anniversary!

We did not get each other traditional gifts. I'm likely getting a lilac bush at some point and I bought REALLY nice steaks for dinner for us since there's no way we're going out to a nice dinner as has been tradition.  Usually this tradition also involves us discussing the State of the Marriage and future possibilities. We've agreed to rain check the discussion, especially now that we're near a Melting Pot again (the majority of our State of the Marriage Addresses have taken place at Melting Pot)

But on this day, 8 years ago, we were married* in front of our friends and family on the water in Connecticut. It was a perfect day.

All our guests and wedding party

Branford House at UCONN Avery Point. That's my brother playing the trumpet.

Our Reveal. 

My flowers were the bomb-diggity. I was not a hands on bride. I told the florist our colors and general theme and said "I'd like it to be like I went out into a field of wildflowers and collected a ton. I trust you. Surprise me." They were perfect. I don't think I could have described this exact thing and gotten it.

That attitude was how I approached wedding planning in general.

Notice the feet? I ditched the shoes VERY early on. Like before the ceremony.

So a general State of the Marriage

In 8 years we have:

Lived in 3 states (Florida, Washington and Michigan)

Had 2 kids!
Bought a horse

Bought 2 houses

Sold 1 house

Acquired 2 donkeys (and given away 1)

Had a fucking blast!

Here's to many more!

*Technically our legal marriage date is sometime around January.... shhh, neither of us remember the exact date, lol

24 facts Meme!

If you would like to participate, comment and I'll give you a random number of facts that you then share! Dom gave me 24 :)

1. I wanted to be a scientist since middle school and was ready to specialize right then and there
2. My high school biology teacher nearly turned me off science forever if not for a special after school program I took in biomedical engineering which led to...
3. I attended the inaugral year of a 1/2 day magnet school that focused on math and science, GHAMAS (Greater Hartford Academy of Math and Science) but I was the second graduating class
4. I've performed ovariectomies on rats (at GHAMAS) 
5. I once stunk up the entire magnet school, both the math and science AND performing arts side in a reproductive biology project that went totally wrong when all our sea urchins died.
6. I took a snake over to the performing arts side specifically to scare all the arts majors
7. I hated Connecticut, where I grew up, and traveled the furthest out of my entire graduating class to go to college in Florida
8. I met Eric because I had just broken up with a boygirlfriend and was required to bring a date to my fledgling local sorority formal so we could meet the minimum head count for our banquet hall. He was the third person I asked.
9. I would trade manpower for help with my undergraduate research project with a crazy grad student named Matt.
10. Matt and I once canoed up a creek from the Indian River Lagoon, caught a baby alligator, kept it in a tackle box and then portaged the canoe from where it met campus a mile away to the fish biology building. I still made it to class on time, albeit covered in grime and muck.
11. I was on the crew team in college for one semester and dropped out due to the time commitment
12. I'm a certified SCUBA diver.
13. I spent 6 weeks in Australia and 3 days in New Zealand in the summer of 2005
14. I was a competitive viola player in high school in that I competed for spots on regional, statewide and New England youth orchestras and regularly was a part of them.
15. I can also passably play the violin, less passably the piano
16. I love to sing and went out of my way in high school to take both orchestra and chorus while also attending the magnet school
17. I have seen Phantom of the Opera off broadway 6 times
18. I worked at Sears to raise money to go to Australia.
19. On a whim I asked for a job when I toured the Space Life Sciences Lab at Kennedy Space Center while considering grad school options. Wayne said yes and I worked part time as a lab tech at KSC SLSL my last semester of college and then full time once summer started.
20. I hated living in Gainesville.
21. I loved the last place Eric and I lived in Florida, Port St. John, a 2 bedroom 1st floor condo right on the lagoon. I could wake up and see dolphins or an alligator swim by and we never needed to go anywhere for rocket and shuttle launches.
22. I prepped pieces of an experiment that flew on the International Space Station as part of a project with the European Space Agency.
23. NASA paid for me to go to Spain and attend a summer school in Astrobiology. I learned more spanish in the 2 weeks I was there than the semester I took in middle school.
24. After grad school I worked for a local zoo on a conservation project where I got to go to scrubland and identify Scrub Jays. I also cared for breeding population of beach mice and was watched by giraffes every time I clocked in.

Seattle Aquarium

I wanted to head to the Seattle Aquarium one last time before we depart Washington in a month. Kaylee is pretty much at the start of perfect ages to really enjoy and appreciate what she's seeing. It was such a fun day. I carpooled down with my friend T and her two kids, O (who is 4 months younger than Kaylee) and her 3 month old B. We had a blast!

I have a degree in marine biology, so a trip to the Aquarium is always fun for me. This time I brought my new waterproof camera to get some underwater shots in their tide pools. You can touch the sea stars, anemones, sea cucumbers, and sea urchins!

With fronds like these, who needs anemones?

Sea cucumber

Close up of an anemone. Each little tentacle has many somethings called nematocysts. These are tiny coiled harpoons that are released on contact and contain a mild (to humans) paralytic. The anemone paralyzes fish and eats them! Human skin is too thick, so you just feel like the tentacles are a bit sticky.

Invasive, deadly yet beautiful Lionfish

Elliot Bay from the Aquarium.

I love this photo

Our friends T, O and B

Watching the sea stars

The giant clams are one of my favorites

Pretty corals

Clownfish with a very short field of focus. 

Kaylee at the cuttlefish tank, my MOST favorite! They're so cute!

Giant Pacific Octopus. Once upon a time I was a volunteer at this aquarium and was trained to feed this animal. SO MUCH FUN.

Kaylee and baby salmon

Staring up at the fish ladder above us. We are underwater!

Fish dome. The architecture allows for some really nice abstract photos

Northern Fur Seal

We ended the day with a walk through the market. I pick up two more leather bound handmade journals and a handmade stool that will be a nice piece to have forever.

The ferris wheel on Elliot Bay