You Know You're a Plant Geek When...

Hello my beautiful budding magnolias! See the picture below to see how beautiful you truly are! It's crazy to think about how different this spring is compared to last years! We were in the 70s on this day last year. And now we are barely making 30. Weather is strange...

"Where flowers bloom so does hope." -  Lady Bird Johnson

Anyways, I've been studying for a physics exam, writing a term paper, attempting to pack for England, and actually pay attention in class. I just want to see Anna! It's so hard to believe that in 28 hours I'll be on a plane to go see her. Whilst I'm there, I also get to see my friend Zak (Tree Boy) who is studying abroad in London this semester. Hitting 3 birds with 1 stone: Anna, Tree Boy, Europe. Life is good. Also, I get to spend the week with my roomie Ky :) SO EXCITED!!

Hold a true friend with both your hands.  ~Nigerian Proverb

Oh, I am also working on another disease fact sheet - which will be my third publication!! Go Foliar Nematodes! I have some cool info to share with yall:

You know you're a plant geek when you get excited about a weed growing between the cracks in the sidewalk.
You know you're a phytopathologist when someone says rust and you think of orange pustules on the underside of a leaf.
You know you're a phytopathologist when you describe a garden as "disgustingly healthy." (I've done this numerous times).
You know you're a plant geek when your friends buy you plants as gifts!
Finally, you know you're a plant geek when your name on the scoreboard for canasta  is 'Plants' instead of your birth name :)

Nature never hurries. Atom by atom, little by little she achieves her work. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

You cannot do yoga. Yoga is your natural state. What you can do are yoga exercises, which may reveal to you where you are resisting your natural state.-Sharon Gannon

As many of you know, we had to put down our yellow lab Yukon (10 years) earlier this week. He had a tumor the size of a volleyball in his stomach :(   About 8 months ago, I had to put my black lab Abbey (13.5 years) down. She was really old and one day she was having terrible seizures and couldn't stand up. I don't know what is worse, seeing your dog in so much pain and having to carry her into the vet office or not being there when your dog got put down. Here is a little poem I found for both of my dogs which I miss terribly:

A hundred hearts would be too few
to hold all my love I have for you. 

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.  ~Roger Caras

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love.  For me they are the role model for being alive.  ~Gilda Radner

It's Hell Week and I Don't Even Have An Exam

Well hey there you microsclerotia you! I hope you're all enjoying this bipolar weather - I though spring was supposed to be here! Oh well, I'm not one to argue with Mother Nature. So anyways, this is going to be kind of a random post - mainly because I'm stressed from figuring out grad school stuff. Even better - I'll be making a 955 mile journey sometime this summer! And my parents will be driving for 1910 miles - I bet they are counting down the days until that :)

From a withered tree, a flower blooms. - Zen Proverb

Hide your body in the Big Dipper. - Zen Proverb

So I've been looking for apartments in Raleigh, NC basically all afternoon. They all are starting to look the same to me. Rent is practically the same, they are all within 5-7 miles of Centennial Campus, are rarely furnished, and look the same. I'm sure they don't but I can't tell anymore. Cool fact I learned: It SUCKS trying to find a place to live in a city you've been to for less than 60 hours. How am I supposed to know what's a "good" apartment?! I've emailed my fellow Ph.D. student at NCSU asking for help so I have a decent idea but I feel bad blowing up his inbox with apartment info. Sorry, Joe. So yeah, it's like going on an insane roller coaster backwards, with your eyes closed, nothing to hold on to, and screaming because you think you're going to die. Hah - at least it's entertaining!

Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values. -Dalai Lama

Also, I officially have the coolest TA ever! I'm not quite sure what the experiment was about but it was fun! We got to shoot electrons from this little thingy at posts that turned cool colors in the dark! He gave us glo-sticks and put on some dance music. Party while blasting electrons at things - Abhi, you're the best! So that made my Monday morning better than usual. Come on - doesn't that sound fun? You know you're jealous. We all secretly want to blast electrons at things that glow in the dark (because there is a little 5 year old in us that goes WHOA!)

Plant the seed of meditation and reap the fruit of peace of mind.

Oh, and apparently I need to figure out when I'll be starting at NC State. It's either July 1 or August 1. Don't ask me why there are 2 options because I'm like a bat in the sunshine - can't see for shit. I'm just a ball of tangled fairy lights today. Oh sorry, fairy lights are the British English term for Xmas lights. My bad. haha...speaking of British English...10 MORE DAYS UNTIL I REUNITE WITH ANNA!!

It's Official!!

How are my loves today? Hopefully as lovely as the winter sun making the snow sparkle! That's saying a lot coming from me - I'm not a fan of winter! Anyways, I received the best news of my life (to date) a few minutes ago. So you remember that I got accepted to graduate school at NC State? Do you remember me going to NC State for recruitment weekend? Well...want to hear the life changing news or what? Maybe I'll find some pictures and quotes first. Make you wait a bit!

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. - Buddha

There is nothing more dreadful than doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills. -Buddha

Ah! I can't wait anymore! News this big has to be told to the world!
I received the official letter of offer to attend North Carolina State University!! All I have to do is say YES!!
The offer is so much more than I ever could dream of. There were over 70 applicants and only 12 of us got accepted in the program. That itself is a huge feat - especially since NCSU is in the top 4 schools for Phytopathology in the country. Yes, I'm going to brag. I usually don't like to but I feel like I should a bit. So, 12 of us got accepted out of 70 something. I met the other 11 students and they are a great group of people and hope to work side by side with them this fall at NCSU. We are the selected few :)

You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger. -Buddha

WHAT WE THINK, WE BECOME. - Buddha

The offer they gave me..I don't even know how to describe how honored I feel. I'll tell you all about it. ONE: They are paying my full out-of-state tuition ($9465 per semester). TWO: They are paying all of my student fees (an additional $1100). THREE: They are providing me health insurance (with an extremely small deductible). FOUR: They are paying me an additional $20,000 as a stipend for being a Research Assistant.

Holding on to anger is like grabbing a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; YOU are the one who gets BURNED. - Buddha

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. -Dalai Lama

To top it off, I have been communicating with a few people from Hawai'i Manoa. I discovered that the funding the got for me was taken away. They lost the federal grant I was to be working on and would have minimal funding for only 8 months. Let's just say that this made my decision saying YES to NCSU very easy. Just so you all know, NCSU was my dream school. I thought it was a long shot applying and that I'd never get in. As it turns out, what seemed to be just a dream is now my reality. Who says dreams don't come true? Mom, that arrow quote you sent me...it is so true. See picture below :)

I'm pretty sure after 3 years at Madison the arrow is finally released. My aim - Ph.D.

Now you probably want to know what I'll be researching whilst I'm there. Just so you all know, I'm going to try going straight to a Ph.D. and skipping the Master's. Apparently that's a new big thing and a lot of incoming graduate students are shooting for a Ph.D. Might as well! Get done in 7 years or 10? I'm thinking 7. Anyways, I'll be researching under the supervision of Dr. Ignazio Carbone (http://plantpath.cals.ncsu.edu/faculty/ignazio-carbone). The project is a joint project with other universities and other departments within NCSU. I'll tone down all the plant pathology to normal people terms. Basically, there is a fungus that causes disease on corn that reduces the yield. I'll be researching a fungus that attacks this fungus so there is less disease on corn. This is called a biological control. So instead of spraying chemical fungicides on the food we eat, we can spray a fungus (that doesn't cause disease on corn) that does the same thing as synthetic fungicides. It's better for the environment and wicked cool. Yay for sustainability! Only PlantPath Girl gets excited over fungi that eat other fungi!!