In the last month, I have taken a lot of time to do stuff for myself and I am definitely feeling in a better place than I was! I am starting to lose weight (6 lbs so far!) and my mood has definitely changed for the better. The weather outside has been absolutely gorgeous in Denver in March, so I am taking advantage of it as much as possible.
So what have I all been doing for myself this last month.
1) Enjoying the beautiful Colorado scenery. Sometimes a simple escape from Denver is enough to destress.
Last month, I went to Vail for a
weekday of skiing with my friend Matt. It turned out to be a beautiful
Bluebird day at Vail. They had received about 30 inches of snow that
week and the back bowls at Vail were virtually untouched. It was my
first time really skiing at Vail and it was freaking amazing! I think hands down, it was simultaneously both the best day of skiing of my life and also the scariest! Some of the drop ins were so steep and I had to psych myself to get down them! Unfortunately, I have not been skiing since... I've been busy with work and it has been really warm up there, so it's not worth the trip up there right now.
Another weekend, I stole Kristen away from the evil clutches of lab on a Saturday to have a day of fun. We drove down to the Springs and went to the Garden of the Gods to frolick! Garden of the Gods is one of my favorite places in Colorado, we'd always go there when my family came to visit our family friends for my Spring Breaks. 
2) Exercise, Exercise, Exercise!
As mentioned previously, I am already down 6 pounds since my fitness kick! Even more impressive is that I am down about 1.5 pants sizes (good thing I kept a few pairs of my skinny jeans :D)! Even though, I have only lost a few pounds, I have definitely put on muscle tone and my weight has shifted. I am really starting to feel more comfortable with my body shape and I am excited to get back down to my mid-college weight.
I've started running 2-3 times a week outside 3-4 miles, weather permitting. I am a little slow right now, but I really haven't ran in 10 years, so I have to start somewhere! I started running with the Irish Snug Runners on Thursday nights and have recruited some other people to run with me. This week, we ran the whole 5K path of the race!! On Saint Patrick's Day, I also ran my first competitive 5K race. I didn't run as fast as I wanted, but I completed it! Below is a picture of Kristina and I after the race (she smoked me btw, someday I will be as fast as her!)
3) Becoming more social.
Since writing my last post, I have become a lot more social with my fellow graduate students and post-docs. A few weeks ago, I went to "Drag Queen Bingo" at Hamburger Mary's for a fellow grad student's birthday! It was so much fun! The two drag queens hosting bingo were hilarious and the $2 margaritas were pretty good!
I've gone out a lot more with my friends and grad students. We are trying to implement Happy Hour a couple times a month on Fridays. Happy Hour usually turns into Happy 5-6 Hour, so it's a lot of friend. I am lucky that most of the grad students in my program get along and are social. Grad school would be a much shittier experience if we were all a bunch of anti-social hermits.
3) Trying out new things.
As I mentioned before, I want to try new things. As part of Kristen and Carissa's escape from the lab on the weekend, we tried indoor skydiving at SkyVenture Colorado in Park Meadows, where our friend Marlon is an instructor. I admit, I was a little freaked out and had a little trouble relaxing (because I guess I am a huge control freak :P), but I still had a lot of fun! Here are Kristen and I looking damn sexy in our flight windsuits!
4) Appreciating the arts.
In the last month, I have been to the Colorado Symphony, the Colorado Ballet, and the Colorado Opera. I saw the Colorado band DeVotchKa with the Colorado Symphony. It was really fun! Last month, I saw Peter Pan performed at the Colorado Ballet as part of a girl's night out. It was really pretty and interesting. Unfortunately, it was the night that I skied at Vail and was absolutely exhausted and fell asleep during the second act, whoops! Last night, I went to my first opera, Florencia el Amazonas with people from another lab. I liked the opera a lot. I am thinking about getting season tickets next year since they are not really expensive and I want to see 2 of the 3 operas in the season next year.
5) Reading good books.
I read the book Unbroken by Laura Hillebrand. It's about a former Olympian runner, Louie Zamperini, and his experience as a POW during WWII in Japanese POW camps. It was truly inspiring and addicting. I read the 300+ page book in two days. I really could not put it down. I am working my way through a list of books that my friends have recommended. As soon as I read another good one, I will put up my recommendation.
Sh*t I am looking forward to this Spring.
1) Gardening. I found out last week that I officially have a community garden plot at Delaney Farms this summer. I am looking forward to gardening and having fresh vegetables and herbs throughout the summer and fall. I love gardening and find it to be another stress reliever! I am sure that I will have plenty of fruits and vegetables, so if you want some give me a holla!
2) Dad and Bailey visit. My dad and my sister, Bailey are visiting next week. It will be the first time that they have come out here since I have settled into Colorado living. I am still not sure what we are all going to do when they are out here, but I am sure that we will have fun.
3) Trip to Vegas. At the end of April, I am flying out to Vegas to visit my best friend Teri, her husband Doug, and my pseudo-nephew Douglas for four days! I am excited to see them because I didn't think I was going to see them for 3 years since they were initially stationed in Japan, but have since been restationed in Vegas. I am looking forward to a long weekend of relaxing in the desert, enjoying multiple rounds of In-n-Out burger and experiencing the glitz and glamor of the Vegas strip. My mom bought Teri and I tickets to see "O", the water Cirque du Soleil show at the Bellagio, so we are going to have a girls' night out on the town. Mostly I am looking forward to spending time with my best friend and bonding with my adorable nephew!
4) AAI in Boston. I am attending my first national Immunology conference in May in Boston! I am excited because I have never been to Boston nor a conference, so I am looking forward to soaking in all of the Immunology and the sights of Boston in one trip. There is also some really good career exploration panels at the conference, so I am looking forward to attending those.
5) Mother comes to visit again. Mother is coming out Memorial Weekend and we are having a mini- Tour de Colorado. The tentative plans are go down south to the Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, and out west more to the Gunnison area. It will be a lot of fun (and she tends to spoil me rotten when she comes out to visit :P. I am just saying this because I know she reads my blog.)
6) Gretchie comes to visit!! Gretchie is coming out two days after mom leaves (the boss isn't going to be happy, but I don't care). We are planning to go skydiving in Longmount! We are both scared to death of heights and hope that this will help conquer our fears! It will be tons of fun!
In the meantime, I am going to relax when I need to and not be a constant stress bucket. This week is going to be stressful as I try to finish experiments for a paper that is due in a week and also finish experiments for my first departmental talk a week from Tuesday. (Unfortunately, these are completely separate experiments.)
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