All right, so it’s been too long since I really updated…
I had a great visit home last weekend, complete with lots of shopping, as predicted – Matthew and I spent several hours scouring the city of Charlotte (seriously, we went all the way across town!) for his birthday present clothes – came up with lots of good stuff, if I do say so myself! Had a really nice lunch too (my first time at Red Lobster – yum) – we had a good time! We bonded over listening to my new favorite CD, the RENT movie soundtrack – good times!
Mom and I spent several hours at the Southern Christmas Show in Charlotte – it’s such a great tradition, and we found several things there for people on our lists – we seem to hit up the same places each year, but it’s still lots of fun – and I have been listening to more Christmas music since then, so the holidays are in full swing!
I came back to Winston Sat evening in time for a bonfire at Captain Mike’s house – lots of (cold) fun, including hide-and-seek in the dark and s’mores – hopefully we can have another one sometime soon…
OK, something I’ve been thinking about recently – I think there was a song on the radio that sparked this, but I can’t remember what it was. I don’t want to be known for what I DON’T do – I want to be known for what I DO do. I mean, as a Christian, there are a lot of things that I don’t do (drink to excess, sleep around, etc) but I don’t necessarily want those to be the things that define my life – you know what I mean? I wouldn’t want those things to be the first things that pop into the head of someone I know when my name is mentioned – this is probably most relevant with my non-Christian friends, but maybe not… I’d rather be known for the positive things that define my life, but I guess that’s what I need to work on… Anyway, something I’m thinking about…
On a sad note, the Mozart Club of Winston Salem will not be performing Handel’s Messiah this year (for the first time in >70 years) – I don’t know why, but I’m very sad that I won’t have that to get me into the holiday spirit 
Also, my uncle Tim (mom’s brother) is in the hospital for blood clots in his lungs, and they recently found another clot in his leg, so they’re checking for several kinds of cancer, since clots are often associated with some cancers – so prayer would be appreciated greatly – I think they might let him go home later this week depending on test results…
O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
that in thine ocean depths
its flow may richer, fuller be
O Light that followest all my way,
I yield my flick’ring torch to thee,
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
that in thy sunshine’s blaze
its day may brighter, fairer be.
Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee,
I trace the rainbow through the rain
and feel the promise is not vain
that morn shall tearless be.
O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
and from the ground there
blossoms red life that shall endless be.
Well, I’ve now managed to waste almost the entire week in terms of getting any data out of experiments – I have poured three gels of the same type, and none of them have worked out (all for different reasons) and now today I was trying something else and realized way too late that I’d gone too far and messed it up, which means I now have nothing productive to do the rest of the day… except I should be writing…I’m planning on leaving early today and heading home to Charlotte and maybe getting some writing done there tonight and tomorrow… I just hate wasting time in lab so much – grrrrrr!
I’m going home anyway, to celebrate Matthew’s birthday (he gets several celebrations this year) – also, Mom will now be home, so we’re going to take our traditional trip to the Southern Christmas Show (for those of you not familiar, it’s a HUGE Holiday extravaganza with everything you could possibly want to buy/eat/make for the holidays – we get quite a bit of Christmas gifts/ideas there each year) on Saturday – should be tons of fun! We’ve gone every year for at least the past 7/8 years probably – I was worried it wouldn’t happen this year with our busy weekend schedules… I’ll also be spending a few hours shopping with Matthew for his birthday present (he said he wants dressy-ish clothes) so lots of shopping ahead! Whoohoo! Plus, the Christmas show really says to me, this is it, it’s finally getting to the holiday season, you can start playing Christmas music, etc… sooooooo exciting!
In other news, I got the soundtrack for the new movie version of RENT (out in the next month or so) – it’s knock-your-socks-off awesome! I hadn’t heard the music since college (suite-mate who played it constantly – thanks Kelly!), but it’s still great! There’s this heart-wrenching song I keep listening to over and over called ‘Goodbye love’ – where two of the main characters sing back and back and it makes me get all choked up (which you know it saying a lot), but I keep listening to it on repeat, so I’m walking around the lab in a perpetual state of teariness… now I really can’t wait til the movie comes out! I recomment it highly, even if you’re not necessarily into musicals (it’s quite controversial though, I’m just warning you – AIDS, homosexuality, drugs, sex, profanity, etc… although with just the music it’s a little cleaner than watching).
Gotta run to seminar – good speaker today!
Wow, I was gone for the weekend, and it’s like fall came to town while we were gone! Leaves changing and falling all over the place, even though it’s been unseasonally warm here, and continues to be this week…either way though, it’s beautiful!
The beach was wonderful – perfect weather, warm during the day but cool at night, lots of time spent relaxing in the fabulous house Becky found for us (kudos Becky!), plenty of good food and lots of laughs – good times! I unfortunately forgot to bring my camera, but others took lots of pics, so maybe I can post some later on…
Happy (early) Birthday to my little brother Matthew, who’s turning 24 tomorrow! I’ll be home at least part of this weekend to celebrate – good luck at work this week too! Love you lots!