we always have a good time.

happy birthday marynaaaaa.
thank you for being
a wonderful roommate, friend, and person :)

my uncle visited from China so we took him

roadtripping through the southwest!

O hey utah, we're baaaaack!
(i was almost born in germany,
but in pursuit of the american dream,
my dad decided on salt lake city instead)

zion national park!

river hiked The Narrows, which was carved by 250

million years of river currents :O

 o0o0 the colors were magical.

 good thing we rented gear

i drove in a national park for the first time!

the mountains were like cartoons

"mops could totally go viral."

"nooo, i don't want pet-ophiles coming after him."

::oyster shots::

"none of us go here, by the way."
we played apples to apples with foreign exchange
postdocs at a pub on campus.

for the first time ever,

I WON :D

i realized i never make (east) asian food,

so i decided to try today with some udon!

it turned out okay..
my mom liked it, so she ate most of it.

slugs, staaaahp!!!

i caught 18, but they are still chomping away

:'(

my plants are growing! but the slugs have been
taking chomps out of the bean leaves :(

so i did some research on non-toxic ways to

rid slugs in your garden,

and people of the internet said sprinkling a barrier

of crushed eggshells keeps them away.

athens, greece 
sunset from areopagus hill:

the parthenon has such an amazing history

spanning over 2,500 years where it withstood being

invaded, pillaged, sacked, burned, converted into

several churches and a mosque, and yet, it still stands today.

most of the temple's triangular frieze has been
destroyed but this is the reconstruction 
of what it used to look like.

the caryatids!

i fell off the marble foundation of the

acropolis and bloodied my legs:

stuffed peppers, stuffed phyllo pastry,

stuffed grape leaves, stuffed eggplant!!!

i love stuffed things.

southwest roadtrip!

zion nat'l park &
the grand canyon, here we come!!

my sister doesn't believe we have been to bryce,

so here is the proof^

seared scallops with

pesto pasta tossed in garlic!

MY SALAD HAS RISEN.

^ ^ ^
thank you salad spirits.

THE FALL

found my notes from college.

i started wondering what the moon looked like the
day i was born, and then i found a website that

tells you what the moon looked like the day you were born.

SOWING + GROWING
2 days ago, i put bean seeds in a ziploc bag

 & today, they germinated! so i planted those with salad. 

 i also got some kale and celery starts and couldn't resist not getting violas too.           

i checked up on them just now, and found 5 SLUGS

and a lizard that may or may not be alive.
i love slugs and all...

but these nocturnal nuisances had to go.

"have you heard of the romans?"

it was crazy to stroll down these cobbled streets

and imagine all the people who have walked here.

 how can you not have a heart attack

with a bear in there, eager to maul your face off?

i liked the trees in rome

carbs carbs and more carbs.

eating in italy resulted in a daily food coma.

delirious at the louvre with van eyck.