Hola Espana!!!

Ole!
As some of you may already know, I will be going to Madrid this summer :)! I'll be going with a friend from home and it should be amazing! There have been talks of adding on a side trip to Lisbon, Portugal as well and I've been thinking about maybe hitting up some of Spain's other great cities- like Barcelona. But for now, Madrid is definitely happening. And I'm so SO SO EXCITED. I've decided to open up a "Help Lenzie have fun in Spain" fund. Tips on where to go, advice, cash money- all are accepted :) haha.
That is the most exciting thing happening in my life right now. The rest of the post will be playing catch up. Because, AGAIN, I've gotten behind in the posting.
Lab work has kept me busy. I've got three experiments running simultaneously, a first year report that I've barely touched, and an abstract to write that I haven't worked on at all. I'll probably start the abstract today, but I'm having trouble with direction. Especially since I've never written an abstract before... That being said, I'm excited to get the abstract submitted so that I can make a poster for the conference I'll be attending in October. Its the Society for Neuroscience conference, held in New Orleans this year (!) and its one of the biggest global gatherings of neuroscientists. Can you say networking??? I sure can. This is why its so imporant to get the abstract in- so I can make a poster and (hopefully) impress all of the fancy pants neuroscientists who will be there.
One of the three experiments I've been working on is the new electron microscope experiment. And I wish I could go into more details than that because I'm really excited about it. BUT- what I'm not enjoying is the tired eyes and headaches that follow multiple hour long sessions of microscope use. Last week I pummeled my eyes on Thursday and Friday. I'm going to have to start spreading out my TEM times because I'll otherwise ruin my eyes. And that sounds no bueno to me.
Besides being busy (and stressed) with the mountains of work piling up around me, I've been keeping a healthy social life and keeping up with the excercise! Still on track to hitting my goal weight by my birthday which I'm really happy about. Its especially easier now that the gym is back to its normal opening hours and the classes are all running as usual. I tried a new class yesterday- hooping. As in hula hooping. As in I've officially given you permission to make fun of me (or take the mick, as the Brits would say). It was definitely not a good enough work out to be worth doing again, but it was fun to try something new. Although I now have a FAT bruise on my hip and its quite painful. I was looking at it earlier today in the office and a post doc walked by. ...I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm being abused. Shouldn't be a problem unless my PI starts asking why I have bruises on my body haha.
Last week was the first week back after the break. And I happily filled up my calendar with seeing my friends again. Between reuniting with friends, going out to pubs with friends, watching football (soccer), and celebrating birthdays, I kept my week packed. And its been fun :). Work all day, then gym/socialize/both at night- its my favorite kind of day. Well, I prefer when I can just gym/socialize all day. But I do enjoy the work I do, even if it doesn't always come across that way.
This weekend I was actually good about cooking for the week. I often slack off and then regret it during the week. But it has really helped. Not only do I have lunches prepared, but I'm realizing that its WAY better for me to come home and eat something straight away. I usually screw around, not wanting to cook myself anything. And then I get hungrier and hungrier until I eventually cave in and make something quick. But when I get home and already have something good to eat, I eat and am way more productive for the rest of the night. I usually even feel like cooking once I've eaten and regained energy. Weird how laziness is the worst option for me....
Anyway, I hope that will suffice for my lack of posting.