Niagara Falls

Matt and I just returned from our amazing weekend in Niagara Falls. This is about 4 hours from Pittsburgh, so we got up on Saturday to head out. We had a B&B locked in, so ditched our stuff and walked into town along the river. After soaking up the view, we headed to the Maid of the Mist. This is the boat trip that takes you right up the splash zone of the falls. We were loaded with a boat load of people from ALL over the WORLD- we were the only people we could hear speaking English. Once we got out to the splash zone, a sea of people packed into blue ponchos, everyone started laughing and cheering.

We took in a Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, and had dinner at Kelsey's. Seriously- a Applebees-esque place we HAD to stop at. By now it was raining, so we thought we might catch a ride on the People Mover. Although you are supposed to buy your tickets ahead of time, the driver who picked us up was having a slow night and took us home, complimentary. Next day, after breakfast with a nice couple from Toronto, we headed to Niagara on the Lake, a lovely historic Victoria village on Lake Ontario- my third Great Lake. As we headed into the village, the heavens opened and lightening sliced the sky... and we thought we could fine our way back to the states. A lovely weekend, and I am glad we spent our time (and $) doing something memorable rather than trying to act like we belong in a fancy restaurant. The pictures are posted here- let me know what you think.

3 years of being married- a picnic!

Yesterday Matt and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary. I mentioned yesterday, we've got plans to go to Niagara this weekend, but that seemed like no reason not to mark the day itself in some way. We've both been out of town, and so we didn't actually have plans, per say, but figured we know each other well enough to have a good time together. Matt picked me up after work and as we were discussing what we might do we drove past a farmers market in the park. Screech! Brakes were slammed on, farm fresh bread and cheese and berries were bought and we packed a little picnic into the park. The weather even co-operated by being warm but not hot, muggy or otherwise unbearable. Later we toddled into the busniess district for Ben and Jerry's ice cream, and bought each other some books at CDs. Fun!

In the long term 3 years is no big feat (most of our readership I think is well past the 25 year mark), but it is nice to reflect on the fact that even though we've been married three, we still have a lot to talk about, and a lot to share and a lot more to learn about each other. And really, the first three years were pretty easy- marriage wise. We talked about the next three years- I'll be graduated, we'll be moving, will Matt go back to school? Where should we move to? Although the particulars are still in the works, I must say I am looking forward to planning our next moves through life together.

Back from NY, back from AL

Obviously I have a lot of updating to do. Matt and I spent a long weekend in upstate New York on a wine tasting venture with some friends. It was really beautiful, and a perfect get away. We visited ~15 wineries, and came home with wine to keep us stocked for a year! I might get inspired to write more about this later- but for now you can see pictures Matt put together here.

The reason I am post-poning a real update, is that no sooner did we return then I headed out to Birmingham Alabama for a work trip. And then right back- we were in AL for about 22 thought-provoking hrs. Now I am back, with a million new and exciting things to do at work. I might update more about this later too.

In the meantime, today Matt and I celebrate out 3 year anniversary (wow!). We will likely keep it low key tonight (take out an a bottle of NY wine?)- because we are taking Papa's generosity and going to Niagara Falls this weekend. We've got a cute B&B to stay in, and want to check out the awesome falls. Yeah- we are total jet-setters.

More eyes

We got back from the follow-up, and everything us coming up roses. The tests came back just fine and Nana tested at almost 20/20 vision in her post-op eye. 20/20! She's sitting and reading without her glasses. I saw her polishing off her old sniper scope. She's reading the numbers off overhead airplanes. I'm saying that the woman has good eyes.

I also planted a shrub out in front of the house this morning (a good lesson from the master), started dinner (yay for crockpots!) and introduced Nana to the wonders of on-demand photo printing. I brought my camera into a drug store, plugged in the memory card, and we printed out several pictures I took of the parent and baby robins hopping around the yard. Some of them came out very, very nice. They were printed out in just a few seconds, and then Nana wanted some more pictures of us. So, we stepped outside, took some pictures with the camera, stepped back inside, and then printed them right out, right there. It's like living in the FUTURE.

Grandparents are asleep right now, and much as I'd like to join them, my flight *leaves* at 6:20 tomorrow morning, so napping is inadvisable.

-N

Such lovely eyeballs

Hello, all,

Just in case you hadn't heard already, Nana has gone through her surgery and come out the other end just fine. We went in yesterday morning and submitted her to the surgery location. They got her all prepped up and we stayed with her while she was laying out and waiting for surgery. She looks so cute in a hair net. She was also very impressed by the fact that they gave her a fresh-from-the-drier blanket to keep her toasty.

Before too long, they wheeled her into surgery and I went downstairs to the Quiznos behind the hospital to get a sandwich. To let you know how quick the procedure was, when I came back, she was already out of surgery. They took Papa and myself back and Nana was laying there in a most relaxed position on a chair with her feet up and her shades on. She was definitely still pretty anesthetized, but other than the IV she looked very much the pensioner out on the deck of a cruise ship catching some afternoon rays. And then she fell asleep again. They woke her up, however for some tea and toast. Papa and I kept an eye on her and on her vital statistics clicking away on the machine behind her. She's got pretty good blood pressure for a woman her age.

After some post-op instructions, we drove home and Nana took a nap while I lined up her eye drops and went out to play around with her new garage door opener. While I was getting it configured, I noticed one of the robins hopping around on the ground. Earlier in the day we had looked outside and the nest that we had been so carefully watching was completely empty. Well I followed the path of the mama robin and she lead me right over to one of her babies, perched up on one of the vine-climbing structures in Nana's garden. And now that I knew how to locate the chirp of a baby robin, I also found another one hiding in one of the rose bushes. I took several pictures, and Nana was just delighted that her little porch-lings were out and about in the world. I'll get them posted up here soon.

I've been keeping busy with other tasks, too. Removing stumps, recording Papa, and making dinner, mostly. We'll go in for the follow-up appointment today, and then I go back to Austin preposterously early tomorrow.

-N

Vignettes of my birthday

It has been a pretty wild week around Casa Seguin. Most of this revolves around lab politics and scientific maneuvering that Matt informs me is too boring to dominate my social interactions. I appreciate having someone around to remind me what fun looks like. Instead, I'll share with you some of the highlights of celebrating my birthday, but imagine them set to a background of work related tension and sleep deprivation.
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My birthday was Tuesday. At work that morning, a colorful bouquet and chocolates and balloon was delivered to my desk, complements of Matt. I think he must have learned something from Dad- there is no where to hide such a thing, so it sat out where even people walking down the hall felt compelled to pop their heads in and wish me a happy birthday.

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That evening, Matt drove me and a couple co-workers to Kennywood, Pittsburgh's own amusement park. We rode roller coasters, and antique rides, stuffed ourselves with corndogs and funnel cake and ice cream, and stayed until the fireworks display. It was Italy Day at the park, which meant everyone stayed to see a ~20 min fireworks display at the end of the night. I told you Pittsburghers love their fireworks. I screamed myself hoarse, laughed until I had a bellyache and smiled until my teeth were tired.

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The next day, the gifted wife of a co-worker brought in the birthday cake we've been joking about for nearly a year. The piece centered around a Chocolate Moose, filled with a chocolate mousse. Yeah, Moose Mousse! But it gets better- it the moose was nuzzled into a yellow cake base that also held a spice cake Igloo, the whole affair swaddled in arctic marzipan. Can you believe this?? I told her this was exactly what birthday cakes look like back home, and I was pretty grateful to have a friend here who would go to the effort to recreate the traditional Alaskan birthday for me.

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Remember that balloon that Matt had delivered? I untied it from the vase, and let it drift around in the fans that are a constant in the summer weather. I like to picture what happens next from the perspective of the cat. Another one of those smarmy ribbons is sneaking around the house- this time completely defying gravity- it doesn't quite touch the ground. After a few attempt to get the ribbon to accede to gravity by throttling, he decides to kidnap it. He grabs the ribbon (and balloon) in his mouth and run across the house with it- only to be stopped when the balloon hits a ceiling fan- spooking his hair straight and giving the balloon a chance to flee. The balloon has been moving all over the house when we aren't looking- I don't think fans are involved.

Off to visit the grandparents!

So tomorrow morning I'll be taking off to play nurse/chef/handyman for Nana and Papa over a long weekend. I made the error of assuming my travel plans would simply diffuse through the family information channels in the normal way, but evidently Nana was happy and surprised to hear that I was on my way just a few days ago. Heh. Whoops.

I have a few projects of my own to accomplish while I'm there. I got a digital voice recorder for Sandlin for her birthday and am going to fill it up with some choice stories told by Nana and Papa. The current favorites are "How I met Your Grandmother", "Biking across the country", "I was totally a spy" and "Bart getting dragged back into the Baranofv by his grandmother, on a leash". I haven't heard that last one, but Sandlins says it's one of her favorites, so I'm excited to hear it. I'll try and post the stories up here in some format or another for all to enjoy, eventually.

-N