I made it through my workout...breakfast, and snack...and then I had to present at my work meeting...and the meeting was not good...and so then I was all upset and my boss felt bad and took me to lunch very instantly which if you know me regardless of whether I am trying to lose weight I hate going out to eat....I stuck to my plan and got vegetarian chicken and broccoli and then I had no appetite the rest of the day so I didn't eat anything until I got home at 9:45 pm while I was packing my snack for today and making my tea...I had 0.5 oz of nuts a bite of a turkey burger and tasted the new peanut butter I got ( the machine that makes the fresh ground peanut butter is broken- sad day...so I am trying peanut butter that has flax seed and omega-3 in it- it is also lower calorie than normal pb). Can I just say I hate my job right now?! I am working my ass off and nothing works... I put in 12 hours yesterday and have nothing but bad data to show for it. Hopefully I will get some good news today.



Also I watched a video yesterday that sums up pretty much everything Sarah C. has been saying...go here to watch it...the first part is real good and then it goes into trying to sell you their product...but it sums up everything very nicely....


Here is the jist:

Sugar= bad for losing weight

Bad carbs for losing weight:
-whole wheat bread
-whole wheat pasta
-most cereals
-crackers
-orange juice


Good carbs for losing weight:
-sprouted grains:rice, spelt, millet, quinoa
-sweet potato (it has me craving this with butter and cinnamon now)
-fruit and veggies

Good fat vs. bad fat
-it is impossible to lose fat without eating fat
-eat good fat- burn fat

Bad fat:
-hydrogenated oils
-canola, vegetable oils
-margarine
-substitute butter

(add sugar typically)

Good fat:
-butter
-eggs
-coconut and olive oil
-avocados
-raw nuts

ELIMINATE
-processed foods
-bad because of sugar and added chemicals
-artificial sweeteners
-high fructose corn syrup
-hydrogenated oils
-processed soy products



1 ingredient foods = best food choices for fat loss

Calories:
-Calorie resitriction= starvation mode
-actually don't need to count calories if eating the right foods for fat loss

It is good to know your metabolism type....



I went on the internet and did some searching and you can probably figure out your metabolism on the internet....turns out for me to lose fat it is best for me to avoid breads and things like that and just stick to protein and non starchy fruit and vegetables....


***Also...I made have had a major break through at work...I will keep you posted...i will know by thursday if it worked....

So cool!

A guy I work with in the lab was on the news this week...check out the link below...I work with Adam Gormely and Hamid is one of my bosses...Yay I feel famous by default!

Here it is!

August Summary.

i sucked at goals this month...but i shall post on them anyways...

prayer: 24/31
scripture: 24/31
church: 0
temple: 0
avoided sweets: 15/31

However, I did go visiting teaching....and I did do my calling....

Work is getting ready to start picking up again...I am getting trained on biological studies which I am excited and nervous about...I haven't done these in 6 years.....I hope Andy finds a job soon or he is going to go insane while I am working overly insane hours at work...I get to go on a cruise in like 20 days though...which I am super excited about!!! Yay!!!! The final part to our 5th year of marriage celebration...and a well-deserved one in my opinion for everything we have been through in the last five years. Other good news...Andy has officially graduated...I checked his transcripts the other day and lo and behold it said they awarded him a Bachelors of Arts in Spanish...now we just have to wait for the actual degree to show up which won't be until October some time. We are still living with my mom's ex-husband...and until Andy gets a job, we are not going to be able to afford to move out for quite some time....I am just thankful he is letting us stay there free of charge...what a nice fellow....I guess I should probable get started on some work though....

And the Status is....

I rocked it! It was a 2.5 hour meeting with me standing the entire time. Afterwards, the Creators (Dr. Kopecek and his wife) of my field told me they would love to have me as a student in their lab (to get a PhD of course). Everyone in my lab told me that I should do it....but I think I have my hands full at the moment with trying to get a company off the ground and paying the bills...I might consider it when Andy has a full time job though...but being a grad student again would bite....sigh....at least everyone is happy with me and the boss I report to is not stressed anymore and we got some new things to look into to improve our work...so yeah...it was a success.

No Pressure.....

Today I give a presentation that determines the future of the company I am working for...no Pressure...none at all...right?! I will keep you posted on how it goes.

I hate my job right now.

I don't like feeling like I am a grad student all over again...I don't want to work crazy hours and come in on the weekend...and I definitely do NOT want to present my research...can I quit yet?

The time has come!

Finally! My research has been published!!!

So far....

SO GOOD! I am really LoViN my job!

This is what my schedule looks like right now....

5:00 am: get up and work out
6:30 am: eat breakfast and get ready to go
7-7:30 am: head to work
7:30 or 8:00 am: arrive at work and work all day
5:00 pm to 7:00 pm (depending on the day) head home
7:00 pm or 8:00 pm read
8:00 pm or 9:00 pm: go to bed

Except tonight I am still in the lab with a stupid column and it is almost 9pm.

I have a couple fitness instructor interviews coming up in the future as well....I will try to keep that limited to a few nights a week....but the extra cash will be good as Andy and I have decided we need to get a second car finally after over 4 years of marriage.

So far I haven't had sweets in 8 days!!! Yay!!! Go Me!!!! It really hasn't been that hard either....but I think it is because I realized that I really do only have one pair of pants left to wear that isn't sweats or workout clothes....super sad...but hopefully in 3 mos. or less I will be back down to normal and be able to wear all of my clothes again :)

sigh....well I guess I should probably go see if my column has decided to end or not (over 3 hours later of what was supposed to be a 30 min column)...

Oh yeah!

I have my first publication!!!!

Don't forget to scroll down to see my next post- it is more interesting than this one.

SLC ACS meeting.

Let me just say that I love ACS meetings. It is like the chemistry equivalent to church. I hope that did not sound bad- but what I mean is when you go to church you feel all rejuvenated about life....and when I go to an ACS meeting I feel all rejuvenated about chemistry...I had a blast. I ran into a bunch of old chemistry buddies and a lot of people made me feel smart. I had a few job offers and a few people tell me to finish my PhD. Also, because my research was so cool, I got to present two nights in a row. However, I think the best part of it all was that I got to spend it with my hubby this time- which was wonderful- it was nice for him to be a part of my chemistry life for a change- and it made him excited about a lot of things too! So here are some pics!!! Enjoy!



Me and my poster Monday night.



Me and Andy having a blast



Me and my friend Jessie from ISU who is now working on a PhD at WSU



Me and our post doc Maruthi



Me and my poster Tuesday night

Another semester.

I can't believe the first week of the new semester is almost over....and that my husband leaves for Idaho tomorrow....sad....I am tired, stressed and suffering from severe anxiety- meaning- I just don't sleep anymore- I lay in bed thinking of everything I have to do this semester and it is super overwhelming.I want this to be over.....I think this will be my hardest semester yet in a very different way...I will be alone...without a vehicle....money will be tighter than ever...I am instructing 353 and am the ONLY TA for 152...I have to finish my research project and publish two papers...I have to write my thesis...and graduate by April 23rd....I have an ACS conference and the Graduate Research Conference coming up ( in the same weekend by the way).....what a semester I have ahead of me....in the meantime I want to take the Fitness certification exam so that I MIGHT have a job when I move back to Idaho.....there are absolutely NO chemistry jobs in Idaho.....I just had to vent....and now I have to go back to work...sigh....

A third Time you say?!

Yes!! A third Time! I passed yet another horrific, challenging, brain-killing Organic Chemistry Cumulative Exam!!!!!!!!!! And I am getting ready to schedule my defense for April 1st in the afternoon sometime!! If you want to come- you should- it is going to be a blast and a half- well maybe not a blast- but I am pretty sure there will be cake and ice cream, as that is what I want to bring for my treats.

Three new posts and National Chemistry Week Continued!

This past week was National Chemistry week! I got to present at a poster session last night in honor of it-the same poster i presented in park city. I bribed my students to come by offering them extra credit. My ploy worked, and I was busy the entire two hours.


In honor of Chemistry week, I have come up with some chemistry words that we chemists use on a regular basis to teach you all and how you can use them in regular every day language to feel all smart and cool like me (or just to feel like a nerd).

1. Deuterated- well have you all heard of Hydrogen? Deuterium is a kind of Hydrogen, but it's heavier. When we deuterate something we replace hydrogen with it's chubby relative deuterium. How you can use Deuterated in a sentence:
A. Wow, that movie was totally deuterated (heavy).
B. My cat has gotten really deuterated.

2. Volatile- this word is used to refer to liquids that evaporate really quickly or really unstable at room temperature.

A. She ate her Halloween candy as if it were volatile (going to disappear fast).
B. My friend is pregnant and looks really volatile (unstable at room temperature), like she might throw up.

3. Equilibrium- this is basically when things become balanced or meet in the middle (kind of)- when there is no net change in a system.

A. I think my weight has reached equilibrium because I have not weighed differently in years.
B. I swear my old evil neighbor has reached equilibrium in age- he just won't die!

4. Radioactive- unstable elements that emit radiation and could cause cancer as well as other problems.

A. That guy is radioactive (emits radiation and causes problems).
B. I swear my kids are radioactive, they emit all sorts of radiation and get me sick with stress, worry and colds.

5. Redox- short hand for reduction and oxidation, this is a type of chemical reaction. It involves something gaining and something losing electrons.

A. I honestly think that the whole process of the stockmarket is Redox (someone is always gaining and someone is always losing).
B. When my husband and I go on a diet I am the ox in Redox ( I am gaining and he is losing).

I hope you all found this as entertaining as I had fun writing it. Now you can all be wicked smart and use your new-found vocab to wow someone in your next conversation- or just to be white and nerdy like me:) Happy national chemistry week everyone!.

National Chemistry Week!

Happy National Chemistry Week Everyone!!! More coolness to be posted later!!!!

Twice in a Lifetime!

I forgot to mention that I passed another cumulative exam. Not only did I pass it, but I got the highest score. Go Me!!!

Did you know...

I bet you didn't know that your Chemistry Splash Guard goggles are not to be used for Paintball.



Although you can't read it- it says "Not For Paintball" on it- you should go check your goggles for yourselves. That was my breakthrough of the day yesterday and I thought it was kind of funny.

Park City ACS Meeting

On Father's Day 2008 My friends Crystal, Katie Co, and I drove out to our very first ACS ( American Chemical Society) meeting that was being held in Park City this year. The past few months had been very stressful for me in my preparation for it as I have been pulling long hours in the lab to try to get results for this particular conference because I had to present a poster there. Well...we never really got the final product and my reaction process kept changing and changed at least three times two weeks before this conference. However, Dr. Ham decided we had enough information still to go on and so I wrote a poster. My group slaughtered me a few times with questions I had no answers to in order to prepare me for my presentation- which by the way- no one even asked any of the presented questions- so I was embarrassed and stressed out over nothing- well not really nothing- but people asked more about my synthesis than anything else which is what I am comfortable with. Well anywho- so Sunday we drove up to Park City and stayed in the Marriott- Crystal and Katie presented that night. I presented the next day from 9 am to 12 pm- the presentation was a lot of fun and I received 2 job interview offers. The rest of the day were seminars and then a banquet. Tuesday I went to seminars all day and another banquet, and I got a lot of free stuff. Wednesday, was more seminars and then I headed home. I had a great time there, but my poor husband was so lonely he couldn't sleep. I had no problems sleeping- Marriott has really nice beds. While I was there I had few firsts- running on a treadmill for 9 miles and discovering a gray hair ( I was not very happy about this- I turn 24 tomorrow!) After I got home on Wednesday I had to hurry up and clean the house as my mom was coming with a friend to stay Thursday through Sunday. My mom came- she spoiled me and we had a blast. I love my mom. This month continues to be crazy for me though- I have my birthday tomorrow so in order to not feel guilty about celebrating I am coming into work at 430am and leaving after group meeting around 230pm. Then this upcoming weekend is a huge family reunion for Andy's mom's ancestors which starts Friday night. So I will continue to busy. Also this past Sunday I gave my first lesson in Relief Society- I was so scared- and I keep thinking of things I could have done better- but hopefully the next one will be much improved. Well I am going to post some pics now of the conference- Have a happy June!
Me and our post doc with the poster I made.


Me, Crystal and Katie at our first banquet.


We traversed into Park City Tuesday night and got pedicures.

Once in a Lifetime...

For those of you who do not know- I am a grad student at BYU in their Organic Chemistry department. I came here originally to get a phD and then this past summer decided that not only was I no longer interested in pursuing this challenge, but didn't think I could get it if I wanted to. These thoughts came from a little piece of torture we all call cums (pronounced quoomes). These cums are tests that the grad students take once a month in the Fall and Winter semesters or 6 per year. In order to get a phD- the student has to be able to pass 6 of these tests. It is possible- however- these tests are ridiculously hard and can be on any random thing that has to do with Organic Chemistry. There is no way to study or prepare for them and you only have 1.5 hours to take it. I have taken 8 of these tests. Yesterday I found out that the one I took on Nov 2, 2007- a week ago from today- I actually passed! I passed my first, and probably my last, cum! I barely passed, and I think it was a fluke- I have no idea how I passed, but I did and I am happy. Even if I do not pass any others- at least I passed one!