End of Semester

Guess who's done grinding all 172 plots of corn?! Hint - it's the girl writing the blog. Now just perform QuickTox on the remaining plots for aflatoxin and fumonisin and this girl is on the road to writing a paper! Oh the joys of being a graduate student.

“I tell you, deep inside you is a fountain of bliss, a fountain of joy. Deep inside your center core is truth, light, love, there is no guilt there, there is no fear there. Psychologists have never looked deep enough.” -Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

This is what makes driving 4 hours a day for research worth it all...even if it means I'm stuck in traffic for miles on end.

So let's see. I go climbing 4 or 5 days a week at TRC, go to the excruciatingly boring lectures, and quantify levels of toxin production! I'm noticing a huge improvement in my climbing abilities :)  I was at a plateau for a few weeks and it was getting really frustrating to have burning and aching muscles but not getting any better!! 5.9 and easier 5.10 are comfortable and a "feel-good" climb. There is a 5.11 I've been working on and I'm so close to getting it clean. I've discovered that I enjoy overhangs - which is a great ab workout in case if you were wondering. The 5.11 I'm working on has quite the overhang. I'll post a picture so y'all can see what I'm talking about.  I've also been working on bouldering and learning different climbing techniques. You know, it's not like I'm addicted or anything.

Follow the yellow holds and that's the 5.11 I need to conquer!

By the way, I have 7 more days of class. No big deal - ending Dec 5 and only 2 finals - neither are cumulative. But guess what's even better!? Since I couldn't afford to fly home for Thanksgiving, my dearest friend Megan invited me to her family's Thanksgiving so I wasn't spending my break alone in Raleigh. So next Wednesday I'll be on my way to Gaffney, South Carolina! I'm so excited!!

Farmers feed you three times a day. When is the last time you thanked a farmer for keeping you alive?

Open your eyes to see the beauty. Beauty is more than meets the eye you say. Then you aren't truly opening your eyes.

Now that I think about it, I've done a lot of traveling this year. I had two big vacations and three mini ones. First Guatemala - miss you guys soooo much!! Then a hop and a skip to see Anna (and Zac) in England!! Then my mini recruitment weekend in North Cackalacky! Then actually moving to Carolina de Norte - and spending a few days in the Outer Banks with the fam. How could y'all forget about my awesome climbing trip with Aaron to The Red?! Finally, heading even further south to South Cackalacky with Megan. Should I count my trip back to Wisconsin later this winter?

Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Best news is yet to come. I fly back to Wisco in 20 days. But the best of the best news: 

ANNA WILL BE HERE IN ONLY 35 DAYS!!!!!!!