North Korea

Korea has been in the news (a bit more than usual) since yesterday's attack on Yeonpyeong, which killed two South Korean soldiers.  I learned a bit out North Korea in college, and have kept up with the goings on since then.  If you are interested in learning more, I have a few suggestions:

The Guardian's coverage of North Korea  - (Andy's sister-in-law, Tania Branigan, does much of the reporting.)
National Geographic: Inside North Korea  - This documentary brought me to tears.
A State of Mind - A documentary about the mass games.  A spectacular look at Korean society.

(Both documentaries are streaming on netflix.)

cold!

Today's 15mph winds and freezing temperatures removed any doubt that I had about purchasing a long down coat.  I can't wait for my new Moosejaw jacket!  (And they were having a sweet promo where you get $100 of free mystery merch - score!)

 

This evening after work my lab group went out to dinner at Dante to say goodbye to two visitors who are leaving soon - Xiaolei and Ben.  My office is going to feel so empty without these guys.  I will miss them.

hp

My friend Stephen and I, who share a birthday, decided a Harry Potter themed birthday party would be super sweet.  Here's me and Phil, as Hedwig and Harry. (Other guests include Stephen as Fred (or George?), Snape, Bellatrix Lastrange, Dobby(!), a few rival Harrys, and students from Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff.)

birthday!

Yesterday was my birthday! Although I was still in the midst of proofreading my essays before I submitted them to NSF, Phil insisted that we do something fun together.

After classes, we went to the Harvard Museum of Natural History.  We picked up our Marauder's Map of the Museum and did the Harry Potter Scavenger Hunt.  We learned the science between HP phenomena such as the Invisibility Cloak (camouflage), thestrals (giant Cretaceous horses), the rubies in Gryffindor's sword, saw a bird with a big tail that looks like Fawkes, and saw the stuffed version of Hedwig.

After the museum we went to the new clover restaurant in Harvard Square.  The original food truck parks right outside my building, and now they have a real live restaurant!  (I would link to their website, but I got spyware last time I opened their website.  Who would hack clover??)

confirmed

I just submitted my application for an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship!

foxy lady

I had thought about posting about my love of foxes (prompted by Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr Fox [with a link to netflix so you can put it in your queue right now if you haven't seen it yet!]).  And then I saw a girl in line for lunch with these gloves poking out of her coat pocket.  I can take a hint.

The film:



Anthropologie Stole might be a little too zany... what do you think?

However, this Fox on a Bike tee is perfect.

Uggh, my blog is turning into a style blog instead of my AWESOME MEMOIRS. But I like style blogs, alright? And my real life (pipetting) doesn't translate well into blog-space. Gimme a break.

boots

I've been coveting these Madewell riding boots after seeing them at the Newbury Street store ($298):

Until I found these boots, in my size, at the Buffalo Exchange ($20.50):

Fall fashion success!

Mr. Phil

Although it's been a few months, I'd like to post about how we celebrated Phil's birthday.

In an effort to spend less money on *things* and more money on *awesome experiences and adventures,* my gift to Phil was tickets to see Louis CK at the Wilbur Theater in Boston.

 

The theater itself was so great - right on the subway line, and it had an old, (dusty) charming feel to it.  Our seats were in the very last row of the balcony of the theater.  This was our view of the stage:

 

 And this is us.  Phil is frightened because the balcony was steep!  And didn't have a hand rail.  So we had a great view but felt like we could tumble down and over the edge if we weren't careful.

Louis is amazing. One of his jokes was him imagining the casting of the "Goodbye, Jews!" girl in Schindler's List. So good! I hope Word ends up on Netflix soon so that you'll know what I'm talking about.

That was Friday. On Saturday, I threw Phil a surprise party (a fiesta, really - there was a pinata) at our apartment. I forgot to take any pictures, but it was a lot of fun! I am still a little surprised at how well everything went, haha.