Madison = Winter Wonderland

Hello. Hello.

I am so sorry it has been so long. I just feel like I haven't had that much to tell, but here we go.

I am immersed in a winter wonderland and I love it!! It has officially snowed twice and we apparently have an 8-incher snow coming Saturday. And when I say it has snowed, that means at least 3 inches each time. I have not seen the bare ground in over a week, am planning on it being that way til March, and am not complaining one bit. It's beautiful, powdery snow :)
--I promise to post pictures this weekend.

Thanksgiving = amazing. TONS of incredibly good food. LOTS and LOTS of family. And a big bedlam party in Iowa (on my grandparents new TV - Merry Christmas). I believe most of our out-of-state family are now crimson and cream followers (after the Iowa Hawkeyes, of course). *BOOMER SOONER*

Here is a picture of all the grandkids present making silly faces. I adore my cousins.

Xoxo.

P.S. I definitely do not miss undergraduate finals weeks at all haha

My Research

Hello everyone,

I went to California last weekend and had the most amazing time ever! We explored some Stanford landmarks:

This is called The Gates of Hell, and was sculpted by Rodin, himself. Stanford has a huge collection of his works. This was a very unsettling piece, especially considering we were there alone at night. The shadows of Adam and Eve on the wall make it even more so.

This is one of the older buildings and is a residence hall. Why take a picture with this building? Because President Herbert Hoover and even cooler, Mr. John Steinbeck both lived in this dorm while students at Stanford.

I was also very very excited to see family a few weeks ago even if for a sad occassion. I can't wait for Thanksgiving!

Other than that, not much is new here. I've just been working in the lab a lot. Since it's kind of consuming my life, I thought I might tell you briefly what my research and next few years will be all about. I give you full permission to skip over the next paragraph if you do not want a science overflow...
All actions in your cells are a result of signaling pathways. A signaling pathway consists of some factor that uniquely binds to a type of protein on the cell known as a receptor. The receptor is then activated, which can activate some other protein, which activates another one, etc. etc. until a cell response happens - cell growth, cell death, etc. I am studying a certain cellular pathway in ovarian cancer cells. I am trying to figure out which of these factors are present, which receptors they bind to, what happens next and how different pathways may be connected. Understanding this could help us formulate drugs that will better target ovarian cancer tumors and stop these pathways that cause the cancer cells to grow.

I think that's enough science for today. Miss you all.

Xoxo,
Danielle

IOWA!

Whew, I have been busy busy in the lab. Even though it sucks a lot of time, luckily, I like it a whole lot.

Last Friday night, we had a girls night out - fun times at dinner and dancing! It's about time I have some girl friends.

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of spending a short time in Iowa! I was so happy to see my parents (although I wish my dear sister was there too) and I, of course, loved spending time with my cousins (seven that are eight or under in one spot = tons and tons of fun)! Here are some pictures of my absolutely adorable cousins.

Emily

Emily again

Miss Alexandria

My buddy, Isabelle!

Teaching them young. Boomer Sooner! It's so cute how hard she's concentrating to get her fingers like that lol

Juliette

Jameson

Allie looks so pleased haha

Hope everyone is wonderful! It's getting cooler here.

Xoxo,
Danielle

Fall and friends :)

Hello!

Fall

 
So as many of you know, I love cold weather. I love being bundled up and feeling the chill on your face. I love the crispness in the air.  I love winter clothes - cute scarves, boots, jackets. I love love love snow. I love pumpkin-flavored stuff. I love the holidays.

While I may not be prepared for the winter I will be experiencing this year (this will be determined in a few months), right now I am thoroughly enjoying a long autumn season. The leaves have been changing colors for the past few weeks and everyday, when I walk home and crunch on all of the yellow and red leaves, it is so pretty. There are still warm days (80s last week) but there are also those delightful crisp mornings (40 degrees right now). I fear this all means old man winter is just around the corner which I usually welcome but it may be just a little early.

For now though, I am going to enjoy:

• FOOTBALL!
• All of the yummy spiced food and drinks
• The smell of bonfires and fall air
• The beauty

Friends

I actually have time now for watching tv (a nice change from undergrad) which I have come to love too much, but when my night does not entail that or studying, there are a few people I have come to enjoy spending time with:

1. My roommate who is a huge sports fan (especially football and the Packers) and very nice. We have a lot of fun at our apartment

2. My lab group. There are four graduate students (three girls, including myself, and one boy) and we spend every day together in the office and lab so get to know each other pretty well. There are also three undergraduates in our lab. Here is a picture of the girls from Rexxi's birthday night:

 

Hope all is well with everyone. Next time, I'll try to post some pictures of my room and/or Madison. 

Xoxo.

A day in my life...

I thought you guys might want a little taste of what a typical day looks like for me:

(Obviously, this is not the precise times for every day and the times do fluctuate quite often)

8:30 am - get up
9:00 - get on bus and go to campus
9:00 til about 4:00 pm - class (I only have one a day), work in the lab, work in the office

...here is a picture of my desk in the office

At night, I watch tv, work on stuff, Skype, shower (Pictures of my room to come)

Midnight - bedtime

My lab is super fun and we have a somewhat distinctive signature in that we make South Park character versions of ourselves and post a page of all of us South Park-like on the outside of our labs, office, etc.

Here is my lovely character haha

Also, this past weekend, I probably had the best weekend ever! I got to experience California for the first time and experience it with a wonderful person. Why was it the best weekend ever?

1. Mostly because of the wonderful person I spent it with
2. Eagles Concert - absolutely amazing and the best musicians I've ever seen
3. OU beat Texas! Sad I couldn't be there but still super super exciting. *BOOMER SOONER* 
4. I received my first paycheck

Here are some pictures of the Stanford campus:

One of the residence halls - all the buildings look like this

The main entrance of Stanford

Palm Drive

The church

There are arches on every building

Love you all.

Welcome to my blog!

Well, hello. And welcome to my blog.

This will be a place to share experiences of my life in graduate school. Family and friends, I hope you enjoy! 

My life right now:

I am a first year graduate student in the biomedical engineering department at the University of Wisconsin. I am living in the beautiful city of Madison and loving it! What does being a graduate student entail? About five years of a few classes and lots of time in the lab doing research. And yes, I actually enjoy this a lot haha

I miss my family a whole lot (but am very excited to be close to my Iowa kin for the first time ever).

I miss Oklahoma and OU a lot, but am extremely grateful for all the amazing memories I have.

That is a brief synopsis of my life.

Just a side note. Last year, I was chair of an event called Dance Marathon, which raised money for Children's Miracle Network. As chair, I was blessed with the opportunity to visit the children at the OKC hospital every week (usually seeing them multiple times a week.) Micah Walters is probably the most amazing person I got to know. He is the biggest OU fan I've ever met (besides my Uncle Bud, maybe) and has such an inspiring family. They have been through more than I could ever imagine. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they have been hit with yet another hard time. If you'd like to know more, here is their blog http://waltersfamily.wordpress.com/ or you can ask me details. Here is a picture of Micah and me at the OU homecoming pep rally last year where he led the Boomer Sooner chant

In posts to come soon: what my typical day looks like (with pictures) and a recap of my first weekend in California. Feel free to suggest any posts you would like to see.

Xoxo. And BOOMER FREAKIN' SOONER. I love OU/saxeT week.

--Danielle