JC Raulston Arboretum

Good morning beautifuls! The sun has been shining since 6am, was 77 when I woke up with a wind playing in the leaves. A girl can get used to this! Yesterday my roommate, Emily Meyers, and I went to NCSU's JC Raulston Arboretum in the afternoon. It was super hot but well worth the trip! I found myself the most beautiful study spot a plant geek could ask for in a big city like Raleigh. Loved it.

A beautiful hibiscus by the leasing office

If y'all have been to Olbrich Botanical Gardens & UW Madison Arboretum, JC Raulston was a mixture of the two. There were a lot of trees but just as many flowers decorating the landscape. Go to this website and check it out: http://www.ncsu.edu/jcraulstonarboretum/index.php 

See what I mean about beautiful sunsets while relaxing poolside?

Found beauty in cement city - Nature always find Her way back to  you.

We wandered through a Japanese garden, a xeric garden, magnolia trees, and so much more. I could have spent hours there. I'm basically just going to post a bunch of photos for y'all because there isn't much new down here. I've been trying to figure out this whole graduate school concept and looking for a part-time job to get a little extra cash flow. Oh, and I've been relaxing in the sun by the pool reading a ton of books - no need to be jealous. You can do that when August comes around :)

Banana - it had Black Sigatoka on it (a disease) which made my day!

So beautiful

Chameleon Japanese Maple

Spread a Little Sunshine

Biggest Magnolia flower I've ever seen

Magnolia grandiflora

Roses for me, Roses for you

Canna-lilies which I really want

So as you can tell, I've been loving my time down here. No worries about me settling in - this place felt like home before I even moved. Now I just have to crank out a few more years of studying and research and I'm ready for the real world...whatever that means! Enjoy the scenery from my home to yours.

Welcome to My New Home Y'all

Hi y'all! How's the weather in your neck of the woods? I've got mid 80s all week long - love it! So my family and I survived the trip down here (they are in the Dayton, OH area headed home as of now). I just loved the 70mph speed limits...what's even better is that Kati (my car) survived the trip with no problems what-so-ever!! I finally have everything unpacked and all of my paintings, photos, and Guatemalan & English postcards on my walls. Here, have a photo of my amazing bedroom that was covered in cat hair (which I'm allergic to I discovered) when I arrived. The people before me must not have known what a vacuum cleaner is or how to use one. I know - they are really complicated pieces of machinery that only trained specialists can use. My bad.

Double bed all to myself. You are seeing the Nature side of the room which includes photos of the Grand Canyon, Tanzania, Annie, Abbey, Lago de Atitlan painting, postcards and a DNA poster. Sorry for not including my bathroom and closet but you know what they look like. A toilet, bathtub, and sink occupy the bathroom and the closet is a place for hanging my clothes, tossing my shoes in, and storing unnecessary items on the top shelf. You know the drill.

The living room after I cleaned it. Notice the dining room in the background. It came furnished (thankfully).

MY KITCHEN!! It's nothing fancy - you're not missing out on anytime, I promise.

We left the house at 3a, took a detour in Milwaukee, booked on through downtown Chicago, and cruised on through Indiana into Ohio. I saw a lot of dead critters on the Indiana highways and even more tire parts along the edge. I counted a lot of semis and discovered that there are no good radio stations in Ohio. There was a windmill farm along the Indiana highway (super cool to see, by the way) so if you get bored go for a drive! Then we started the descent through Appalachia - BEAUTIFUL! That was the second best part of the entire journey. 5% grade downhill requires very little usage of the gas pedal and only slightly more of the brake. Kati meandered through the sharp corners like a gem and coasted through the mountain passes with ease. I also learned that the off and on ramps can be incredibly short or extremely long. 

No worries, Jason took the photos whilst I cruised by at 78. 

Rows and rows as far as the eye could see either way and  for miles in the direction I was heading.

But the best part of the trip was pulling into my parking spot in Raleigh, NC (besides seeing the sign welcoming me to North Carolina). After almost 16 hours in the car I was ready to be done driving for awhile. We spent a night in Bluefield, WV (highly don't recommend) and ate the greasiest food you can possibly imagine. Oh, do you know how hard it is to find a vegetarian friendly dinner down here? Chicken and waffles sure! Bojangles - of course! Deep fried this or that - why the heck not?! Salad without deep fried chicken - who do you think you are? I'm going to have a field day trying to find a vegetarian friendly restaurant while eating iceberg house salads in the meantime. Don't you worry, I will find one and I will make my friends eat at that place with me whether they want Bojangles and deep fried food or not. At least the grocery store has my kind of food :)

I'm guessing the only thing that I could have in this picture is the french fries and sweet tea. When they say sweet tea they mean really really really super super sweet tea. Don't be fooled.

Oh, and I went on vacation with the family after we dumped my stuff in my room and unpacked the majority of it. I'll leave that for another post because you are about to be bombarded by photos of a 956 mile journey from one house to the next. **A lot of people have a cute Southern twang - adorable.

Believe it or not - the semi is blocking the 'Welcome to West Virginia' sign.

Careful, there is ice out when it is 94F.

West Virginia to Virginia via dynamite blasting a tunnel 

This was the best sign I saw the whole drive. No lie.

I live here. Well, not these exact apartments but off to the right I do.

NCSU Belltower

Found this cool metal guy on North Campus.

Hope y'all can read it!!

I am a Plant Pathologist. Of course I'm going to find disease. 

Downtown Raleigh

Beautiful Magnolia trees are everywhere

Goodbye Wisconsin

Well hey there! Hope this weather is what you like - I'd prefer warmer but hey I'll take what I can get. I can tolerate this Wisconsin climate for 16 more hours!! Then I'll be basking in the heat for a long time. I cannot wait to get the move on!! So here's a post to Goodbye Wisconsin and Hello North Carolina.

I don't have any pictures of the van packed or my room empty yet (it's a work in progress) but I will get them up here soon!! I've spent most of my time reading on the hammock, listening to the races at Road America, and counting down the days until I get my life on the road :)  So have a few pretty pictures I scrounged up. When I get to NC, I'll make a post showing off my new place!!

Bluebell Forest, England

1400 year old tree in SC.

Love is our Nature.

Ever sit outside and listen? Like really listen? A river gently carves a path through the woods as the birds whisper songs to each other in the trees. The leaves dance in the breeze that carries the music of the night.

Alright everyone, here are some "You know you're from Wisconsin if..."

*snow tires come standard on your cars

*you have gotten frost-bit and sunburned in the same week

*know what cow-tipping is

*a brat is something you eat

*can actually pronounce Oconomowoc

*spelling Milwaukee is easy

*you can recognize someone from Illinois by their driving

*your entire family wears green and gold to church on Sundays

*know where Waukesha is and know how to pronounce it

*your snowblower gets stuck on the roof

*know what knee-high by the Fourth of July means

*you know Kaukauna is NOT an island of Hawai'i

*you know that "combine" is a noun

*you let your older siblings talk you into putting your tongue on a steel pole in the middle of winter
*think that fast food is hitting a deer at 65 mph

*you have driven your car on a lake

*at every wedding you've danced the hokey-pokey and the chicken dance

*you laugh out loud every time you see a news report about a blizzard shutting down the entire East Coast

*someone asks, "Were you born in a barn?" and know what they mean

*you spent more money on beer than food at your wedding

Bye everyone! Have fun in Wisconsin without me! If you need to get away from the snow that abuses this place - you know where to find a warmer home. I'll show ya'll what Southern Hospitality is all about :)

The Countdown is On

Well hey there apple flowers. You survived the onslaught of Gymnosporangium spores!! Does Gymnosporangium ring a bell? I've talked about this very cool disease a few times! Here - have a picture of a specimen I found in my very own backyard, compliments of a red "cedar" that was harboring this disease (which pleased me beyond the horizon). Look at how beautiful plant pathogens can be - at least I think they are beautiful, you should too.

Just look at these beautiful telial horns!

Pretty isn't it?!

So...I discovered there isn't a whole lot to do anymore. I've read through 3 books this week already and I have all day to entertain myself yet. I've also gone on a lot of bike rides and muscle toning since I can't run :/  Hopefully in another week or two the bone bruising will be gone so I can finally get back on my feet and pound the pavement. Speaking of, I bought new running shoes!! They are pretty much the same ones I have now but newer, cleaner, and cheaper (40% off Nike's?! I'M ALL FOR THAT!!). I cannot wait to run my next half marathon. There are a few in Raleigh I'm looking at :)

Here are my new kicks!

What other cool stuff is going on? Umm... Plants (me) is going to Two Rivers to visit Chem/Meth (Kiley), Tree Boy (Zac), and Finn (Joe) this weekend. Maybe the nicknames aren't so self-explanatory so I'll give you the reasons:

I'm Plants because I'm pretty much a walking tree.
Kiley is Chem/Meth because she has her degree in Chemistry.
Zac is Tree Boy because the first few times I hung out with him he was wearing some super cool tree shirts.
Joe is Finn because for Halloween he dressed up as Finn from Adventure Time.

Here are my newest members of my plant family! L to R: Bailey (Basil), Hayden (Hypoestes), and Valorie (Sansevieria).

Finally, Annie 'Tank' Meyers, turns 1 today! Here is an up-to-date photo of my pup! Anyways, I should go do something else - getting bored. Can I just move already?! Here's my live countdown:

http://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/vacation?iso=20130615T03&p0=207&fg1=007746&fg2=736db7&msg=Going+to+The+South&csz=1

One of the only times she isn't in motion. 2/3 of the couch Annie?!