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...

Week 2

I've haven't posted in a week because it has been a super busy week! Last weekend I flew back to Des Moines/Winterset, IA because my friends Michelle and Travis were getting married! I was so honored to be a bridesmaid and stand up there with Michelle on her big day and so lucky to be able to make it back for all of the festivities! A special thanks to Jaime fore driving EVERYWHERE all weekend!

This past week at the WATER institute consisted of long, but fun days (we're talking 10-12 hour days). I have learned so much already! Russell Cuhel and Carmen Aguilar are my mentors and they are amazing; they are so knowledgeable about so much! Also, my proposal for my project was due this week so it mainly consisted of working and sleeping but all in all it was another good week here in Milwaukee!

Finally this weekend we had beautiful weather which means we made it to the beach!!!! Yay for tans, sand volleyball and the best custard in Milwaukee!

I'm on a BOAT!

Actually, it was a research vessel on Lake Michigan! Our second day consisted of a rough day on the lake. Not rough in the sense that I got sick, but rough in the sense that the lake was experiencing "rare" Easterly winds and it was stormy. But we got our vessel safety training and then headed out on the R.V. Neeskay (it means clear waters in a Native American language).

Basically, IT WAS AWESOME! I felt like a scientist (and not a student), even though I am a student and still have a lot to learn! It took about 1.5 hours to get to our first stop where we spent 2 hours collecting samples and data. After that, the lake got really rough so we just took surface measurements at our stops on the way in. Dr. Cuhel (pronounced Dr. Cool)...we call him Russell though, because "we will learn not to respect him just for his title, but for what he knows." He and Carmen are SO knowledgeable. Between yesterday on the vessel and today in the lab, I have learned such a large quantity of information I hope that I can remember it all!

Some of the stuff I have done so far:

• Used a Secchi disk




• Taken water samples from as far down as the bottom of Lake Michigan




• Taken PONAR Samples




• Taken and analyzed CTD measurements




• Measured CO2 content in the water using an electrochemical method




• Measured and categorized Quagga Mussels (benthic bivalves)




• Got my first lab notebooks!




• Trained/Authorized to work with Radioactive Materials!

Instant Macaroni Instant Friends

It's funny how when you move somewhere brand new, with a brand new group of people, everybody bonds...immediately...no questions asked. Well, actually, a lot of questions asked. Where are you from? How did you get here? Do you know "so and so" from there? Tell me about yourself, etc. But regardless of all the questions and how different someone may be from you, you become instant friends. And for me, in Milwaukee, that happened over gyros and instant macaroni.

I am living with four girls in an apartment with a shared kitchen. We all come from different places, all have different styles, all have different interests, all have different life stories...yet we are here for the same REU program, thus, we are instant friends. The guys live in the apartment next to us and, over the past two dinners (gyros and macaroni), we have all gotten to know each other. Here's a brief list so you'll know who I'm talking about later on:

Lisa-St. Olaf College-Biology
Melinda-University of Minnesota Twin Cities-Environmental Science
Bonnie-Western Washington University-Environmental Toxicology
Molly (Me)- Northwest Missouri State University-Environmental Geology
Nash-University of Vermont-Environmental Science/Environmental Policy
Bailey-SUNY Binghamton-Mechanical Engineering
Bill-Messiah College-Biology
Daniel-University of Wisconsin Milwaukee-Biology/Mathematics

So there you go! More to come...