The house

Barkley and my new pad! Closing still has not occurred, as I haven't got my green card yet. But we're all moved in and out of the old house as of this weekend. All is going well, though it is a little weird to be in here and haven't yet bought it. 

Probably my favorite part - the view from the deck. It's south facing, so some wonderful sunrises and sunsets. Can't wait until the summer. 

One end of the living room...

The other end of the living room with stairs to upstairs.

The still box-strewn kitchen. Can't wait to get this room sorted, it's taking forever as my motivation has been super low. Look closely and you can see a bottle of Jack Daniels, mouse traps and flea spray. You can take from that how my sunday has been.....

Bedroom on the lower level - the green room. This photo doesn't quite do justice to how bright that green is. This will eventually be the office area, the windows are south facing, over the deck. 

Upstairs master bathroom (my bedroom is a complete tip, so am not posting a photo of that just yet!). Yup, that's a whirlpool tub...:0) Though I like purple, this room is a little too purple even for me. 

The spare room upstairs, also with it's own en-suite. Mostly set up as of this weekend, though I just had to re-caulk the shower today. 

My fantastic walk out basement (comes out under the deck). Need to figure out some shelving so I can store things down here. I have a full attic too, though this summer I need to throw more insulation up there, so i'll probably just keep things stored down here instead. 

And I saved the best until last....the downstairs bathroom. A flourescent shade of pink.....:0) Can't wait to close just so I can change that colour....

Life is too short to wake up in the morning 
with regrets, so love the people that treat 
you right, forgive the ones that dont 
and believe that everything happens for a 
reason. If you get a chance , take it. If it 
changes your life, then let it. Nobody said 
it'd be easy. they just promised it would all
be worth it in the end.
Harvey MacKay


Love this quote I just found and thought appropriate given the name of my blog. Snow here tonight, pictures tomorrow I promise. 

I promise i'll take some photos of the house and post soon, but I thought this was a funny sight this morning. Barkley, half under the bed, curled up in the covers and on top of a bedskirt I have yet to add to the bed. Cutie pie.

Praise

Praise. I get awkward when I get it and generally don't take it well, and definitely don't like to share. But I just got some reviews back from a proposal and, after the last 2 months of pretty much generally low self-esteem, I really needed this tonight and it's brought a light to the end of the tunnel. I don't know if the proposal is funded, the reviews were all good (not one negative comment in fact) and recommended it for funding, I just need to respond and then sit and wait. I've had reviews like this before and not got the funding, so the reality is I am not hopeful. I don't intend this to be boasting, I just desperately need to boost my inner soul right now, and having these written down here where I can read them i'm hoping will help.

I'm just enjoying the comments from anonymous colleagues. Maybe I am doing something right after all.

"Dr Waller seems to be perfectly qualified to conduct this project as she has an ideal research background and an impressive publication record in this field."

"The proposal is exactly in line with two of the three Deep-Sea Coral Research priorities. It is grounded and led by an extremely competent PI with the right background and significant prior experience in the field, as attested by her publication and funding records."

"Based on her extensive publication record and conversations with experts in the field, Rhian is very knowledgeable on the reproduction and development of deep-sea corals. Thus, she is the ideal scientist to carry out the proposed objectives, all of which have been clearly justified."

"In conclusion, I sincerely hope that Rhian will receive the funds necessary to complete the proposed project. Rhian is more than qualified to see this project to completion and the entire deep-sea community is anxiously awaiting her results."

Back!

I'm back. Back in Maine. Back (mostly) in brain. Back on the blog. 

It's been a hectic, emotional, but mostly fun six weeks - filled with students, driving back and forth to Maine on weekends to deal with house moving and Barkley, more students, and an awful lot of paperwork (some of which I still have to do). 

There's too much to really sum up in one blog post, so instead a few photos from the last six weeks. I don't have any of my new house up on here, to be honest because I haven't taken any! I should have taken some "befores", oh well, there's no way i'm unpacking now! 

There was some diving. Some fun diving - not as much as I would have liked, but the fact I squeezed 5 dives into my schedule over the last six weeks is quite the miracle. 

The Alvin sphere. Alvin is being disassembled right now to be refitted, and I took the students to meet the pilots and look at the parts. Was fun.  

King Neptune was there too. 

One weekend we had a great snowstorm. It was a great down day for me, much needed. I worked on lectures, caught up with emails and took Riley the dog out for walks in the snow. 

And Riley loves the snow. 

Really loves the snow....! 

Nobska Beach. One of my favorite spots to yell at the ocean and watch the sunset. 

Nobska light. 

The snow in Woods Hole. It was fun to be back, but I was so busy I didn't get to catch up with many folks. 

The Knorr and the Oceanus in dock. 

I was having a really crummy day one day, and these beautiful anemones appeared in my room. Thanks to all my wonderful friends who took me in for the six weeks.