Exciting News!

Exciting news! I talked to Russell and Carmen this week and it looks like I will be presenting my research at ASLO in February! It's very exciting because it is a huge achievement to be published as an undergraduate...also, the fact that the conference is in Puerto Rico doesn't hurt!

What does she do all day???

You may find yourself asking...what does Molly do in Milwaukee? Does she ever work? These pictures all look like "play" and not "work"! I do actually WORK at the Great Lakes WATER Institute and I work a lot. Most days are 12 hour days and that is why I haven't updated the blog lately.

Last weekend I was able to take a day off to go to CHICAGO with my friend from high school, Maria. Maria and I went to Chicago together in the 8th grade with a school trip and we have always wanted to go back. It just so happens that Maria attends Marquette and so we were able to go on our 8 years in the making trip. It was truly a blessing to be able to spend the day in Chicago with Maria!

We ran across the set of Transformers 3 and saw Josh Dummel!

With the Reese's mascot outside of the Hershey's store and across from Ghiradelli's! YUM!

Panoramic shot of Fourth Presbyterian Church! We just stumbled upon it on Michigan Ave!

We ate at both the SNL famous Billy Goat (Cheezborger, Cheezborger) and later had deep dish pizza for the first time!

In honor of Maria...

Peace, Molly

MOM in MILWAUKEE

My mom was able to come visit last weekend and I had a blast! She flew in on Friday night after I got off of work and returned home on Monday morning. It was so fun to have her here! She had never been to Milwaukee so I took her around and showed her the city!

Friday Night: La Fuente (a local Mexican restaurant with a GREAT outdoor patio... unfortunately I wasn't able to get a picture)

Saturday Morning: Breakfast at Cafe Hollander...I've written about this place before....hmm....

Saturday Afternoon: Bradford Beach (Bonnie and Alex came too!)

Saturday Night: Bayshore and Dinner at Bravo!

Sunday Morning: Coffee at Alterra! Alterra is the THE place to get coffee in Milwaukee!

Saturday Afternoon: Tour of the Great Lakes WATER Institute (where I work) followed by brunch at the Public Market and shopping in Milwaukee's famous Third Ward.

Sunday Night: Dinner at Rock Bottom and....WICKED!!!!!!!

Thanks for a great weekend Mom!

My Life in Photos

It has been almost 2 weeks since I updated the blog and a lot has happened in that time!!! So that you don't have to read a lot, I'm going to post a lot of photos with captions :)

Summerfest has officially ended but we went back one more time to see Pitbull! There were A LOT of people there!

The Fourth included the traditional foods (I went on a little cooking spree) of deviled eggs and fruit pizza! Also, my good high school friend Maria who now goes to Marquette University in Milwaukee had me over for a 4th grilling extravaganza! It was fabulous!

The girls that I live with had never had or heard of fruit pizza....needless to say they were impressed and it was gone before the weekend was over!

We finally made it to a Brewer's Game! It was a beautiful summer night and the game went to 10 innings! So fun! I must say that the Brewer's have a VERY nice stadium-I am a fan (of the stadium).

Today we conquered the Milwaukee Zoo! The guys came with us this time!

Bill testing his strength compared to an orangutan:

The Joy of Cooking!

While I might not be to the point where I enjoy cooking yet, I am getting the hang of it! I lived at home and then in the residence halls, so I never have had to cook for myself. I never thought the phrase "You'll get tired of Mac n' Cheese and Hot Pockets really fast" would come true, but it did. So now I'm attempting new recipes and they're turning out decent if I do say so myself. Of course I made a few classic mistakes first:

• Trying to cook chicken in a frying pan without olive oil
• Putting the chicken in the frying pan and then pouring the marinade on top of it
• Cooking rice without a lid to steam it (in my defense, our pan doesn't have a lid; so I eventually figure out that I could just put a plate on top of it)
• Forgetting that I am only cooking for one person (although leftovers are handy for my packed lunch the next day

Anyway, this post is mainly to reassure my mom and dad that I'm eating and eating well...and I may be proud of the fact that I can cook decently now :)

After many trials, it finally turned out well:

Marinated chicken, fresh green beans, and rice! Yum! But now I need to learn to make something else :)

Summerfest!

Wow! 2 posts in 2 days is an accomplishment for me!

Last night Melinda, Bonnie and I went to Summerfest for the first time. Summerfest is Milwaukee's HUGE music festival! It lasts for 11 days, has 11 stages and features just over 800 bands by the time it is finished!!! Last night we went to see Gavin DeGraw; I hadn't heard much of his new stuff before but it was catchy and HE IS AN ENTERTAINER! (He played the old stuff too which everybody knew and sang along to "I'm in Love with a Girl" "Chariot" and "I don't wanna be"!!!)

Working 9 to 10!

I'm finding that I don't really have time to "post" during the week due to long work hours, but I'll try to keep you updated the best I can. Here is a little summary of this past week:

Sunday started off with breakfast at Cafe Hollander, a local outdoor cafe that one of the local guys in our program recommended to us. It was yummy and it is now going to be tradition to go every Sunday (as long as it's not raining).

Other than that it was just another week in the lab!

Note the stylish lab coats and safety goggles :)

This is what happens when you go on a walk with biologists...

Other events this week included the kick-off of Summerfest (Milwaukee's HUGE music festival) and another research cruise on the R.V. Neeskay!

Until next time...