Jess and Tom visit!

Jess and Tom have come and gone. I can't believe that they're already back in the states since we've been planning their visit for months now. Anyway, we had a good time despite the fact that Jess got a cold and conjunctivitis (aka pink eye). Friday we went up to the Schilthorn, one of the biggest mountains in Switzerland and had dinner in Bern. Saturday we went up to Zurich for an afternoon of designer shopping, well just browsing... I touched a 1500 franc purse at Chanel! That's more than my rent for a month! It was fun to finally walk into all the über expensive stores, but a bit depressing since I couldn't afford anything. But I'm saving up for my graduation item, which I haven't chosen yet, but I should have a nice pot by this time next year to choose a reasonable purse at this crazily expensive stores. Sunday we went and saw Pirates III and had dinner at our favorite restaurant/bar, of course, the Great Escape. I'll post pictures once I get them off of Joe's computer. Our camera is in it's death throws and so I need to get the pictures from Jess and Tom's camera, which are on Joe's computer.

Jess and I at Schilthorn.

Jess and Tom at Schilthorn.

Anyway, tonight is the long awaited Lausanne beer festival! We've been 'saving up' all week to go out tonight on the opening night. We've behaved, drinking wise, all week so tonight we can drink at the British tent like real Brits.... that would be lots of beer in a little amount of time. Alrighty, off to do some work before leaving for the festival!

pizza pizza!

Yes, it's a picture of a pizza. My parents and I ordered pizza one night while I was in the states and this is what we got when we order a half-bacon, half-pepperoni pizza. So if you look closely, you can see that the pepperoni and bacon are ON THE SAME SIDE! Just thought I'd share :)

Stuff....

Hello everybody! Yes, I know it's been nearly 2 weeks since I last updated, and those 2 weeks have gone by very fast. It took a few days to get acclimated to working again and then I started taking ballet class one night a week and hanging out with the boys almost every other night of the week. It's really fun to be dancing again, even though my legs are in shock from not doing ballet for 14 years! But, it's coming back faster than I expected, and that's good news! The allergies are also a little better, now that a lot of the trees have bloomed.... not so much pollen in the air now, plus it's been raining off and on for the past two weeks. We had an awesome thunderstorm last night while the boys were over for a barbecue dinner at our place. Of course, Joe insisted that the storm was going to 'just miss us,' but instead it started raining and he got soaking wet while trying to salvage the meat and veggies. And thanks to the violent winds, all of the soot from the grill blew into the kitchen and turned my newly-Cinderella-style-cleaned kitchen floor into a mud pit. So Joe cleaned it up with the boys while enjoying a few beers while I was in the living room preparing my slides for the Progress Report I gave to the department this morning. It went well, other than two of the professors (of course the microbiologists!) interrupted me and asked me to explain some MRI data of my advisor's that I inserted. It was supposed to to help explain why I'm doing my project and not turn into a focal point, but at least I now know that I have to work on explaining it better.
So now, I'm taking my time in the lab and can't wait for Jess and Tom's arrival on Thursday. It'll be so fun to have them around all weekend!

Trip home: Part 5, Jess, Tom & Ethan

The morning after the wedding, Joe & I met Jess, Tom and Ethan at Perkin's for some brunch. Ethan is so cute! Check out these pics:

Trip home: Part 4, wedding day!

On Saturday, Jenny, Jillian and I woke up early to be at the hair salon at 8am so that we had time for all 7 girls to get their hair done. Then we headed to the church around lunch time, ate lunch and got ready for pictures. Everything happened so fast, and the next thing we knew, we were in the limo bus on our way for more pictures and then to the reception. It was a really fun day and I'll post all of the good pictures on flickr when I have time. But for now, here are some of the fun ones from the wedding:
-Me and Joe
-Rick & Jenny in the limo bus

-Goofy girls pic with Rick
-Joe & Jenny dancing with crazy Uncle Ed

Trip home: Part 3, rehearsal!

Thursday and Friday, Joe and I drove around looking for churches and places to get our photos taken. We think we've found one, but we'll let you know when it's all official. Friday night we had the wedding rehearsal at the church and then drove to Rick's aunt Jayne's house for the luau rehearsal dinner. The food was good and then we drove home to find that poor Jimmy had diarrhea all over Mrs. R's beige living room carpet... I took a pictures, but I'll spare all of you from the horrible sight... luckily you didn't get to smell it.

-Most of the girls at the church
Andy (Rick's brother), Rick & Joe at the church

Jenny & Rick's cake
-Jenny & Rick handing out presents

Trip home: Part 2, pre-wedding fun

After Pittsburgh, I met up with Joe at his sister Jenny's house before we drove up to Milton for her wedding. We all tried on our wedding outfits at the bridal shop... here are some lovely photos of us goofing off!
-Joe's dad

Joe wishing he could wear a hat in the wedding and doing a jig
-Jenny's wedding outfit ;)
Then, Thursday night, Joe, Jenny, Mrs. R and I went to the new mexican restuarant in town and they had a live Mariachi band playing. Mrs. R said that Jenny was getting married on Saturday and so the guys came over, discussed what they were going to play for a few seconds, and broke out in 'Happy Birthday' Mariachi style... I took a video, which is hysterical, but you'll have to enjoy the photo until you visit us (or Mrs. R) to watch the video!

Trip home: Part 1 of many

Pittsburgh was a lot of fun. I got to see lots of people and I even found my wedding dress... now I just have to order it. I definitely bought way too many clothes and shoes while I was home, but I never buy anything here (they don't carry my shoes size here!), so I guess it's not that bad ;) and now some pictures:
-Me, Andy, Rachel & Linda out for a drink
-David, Madeline, & Eva
-My big and hairy brother