Giving thanks

We were blessed with safe travel and reasonable weather as we returned to visit family for Thanksgiving break.  We enjoyed our first holiday as married folk, and much to niece Lauren's good fortune we are still quite silly.

Alternating nights between the Nebraska and Iowa side of the river, we even got to have two helpings of Thanksgiving day desserts and two different recipes of Black Friday chili.


Between an Xbox dance off, a sprint into a head-on praire wind, and 3 children under 6 we were ready get some rest. As it would have it the end of the semester always brings heaps of deadlines. We are just beginning to catch up now in the second week of December. I guess that means we are ready for Christmas!

1st annual Brockmeier halloween party

After 4 years of living in Gainesville and always talking about getting dressed up and hosting a Halloween party, we finally did it! No classes or qualifying exams to give us an excuse not to host this event. We enjoyed having our friends over for some food, games, drinks, and to see their great costumes.

This is our first marriage pumpkin carving :) Austin free-handed the "B" and I did the leaf cut-outs

Austin dressed as a summer festival goer/peaceful samurai (i.e. no sword)

I went as Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games book and movie series. Mainly easy because all I needed was a braid and a sweet bow and arrow set and I was good to go :)

Austin made some orange pepper decorations for the food table

We also had some unusual snacks (thought of and made by Austin)-peanut butter and bread-and-butter pickles on crackers...

 Some of my lab mates came dressed up like the characters in the "Gagnam Style" music video

Austin's lab had a diverse array of costumes-vampires, flappers, and a Colombian guy :)

 

Lisa made some fantastic sugar cookies for the get-together!

 Mameshiba kept an eye out on the party goers...

Happy Halloween everyone! We currently have plans to help out with a church event on Wednesday evening and then will go out for a drink with some friends. I will post any more fun photos we take while we are all dressed up :)

October shenanigans

We've had a really fun and busy month! Soon after our honeymoon we hosted a belated wedding reception with our Florida friends. We had several people from both of our labs come-it was quite the party!

Lots of wine, fruit, and cheese to be had!

People always end up in the kitchen :p

Austin with his labmates

Erica and the tox group

Thanks to our wonderful friend Divya for taking photos!

October also means birthday time for me (Erica)...this year I celebrated the big quarter century mark in GNV with friends and my wonderful husband. We had some drinks at downtown on Friday night and then hit the archery range on my birthday to try out our skills with a bow and arrow. It was a lot of fun! We finished off the evening with some amazing Indian food at our favorite place in Ocala and even had some birthday cupcakes :) All in all it was a great way to ring in the big 2-5!

I am very much still a novice after only shooting once but it was a lot of fun! Looking forward to trying it again soon.

This weekend we decided it was time to get out of town for a bit. We have both been rather busy at work with projects and papers and were needing a break to clear our heads. We spent the day at the beach at one of our favorite places in the Tampa Bay area-Fort de Soto park-a great beach and camping area set away from the busy city. After some sun and relaxing in the water we arrived back in Gainesville refreshed and ready for another busy week!

After spending the day at the beaches in Fort de Soto, we headed to Pass-a-Grille to watch the sunset.

The very happy Florida Brockmeiers :)

Honeymooning in Maine

It's hard to believe that it was only a week ago that Austin and I came back home to Gainesville from our honeymoon in Maine! We couldn't have asked for a better time to enjoy each other's company while enjoying some of our favorite pleasantries of life. We spent our first two nights driving and exploring some coastal cities, four nights of camping and hiking amidst the spendor of the ocean/rocky/mountainous landscape, and two nights at a charming bed and breakfast in the lovely city of Portland. I

t was quite the trip-lots of driving and the joys and challenges that come with camping-but it was great because we got to do so many of the things that we both love: being outside in splendid scenery, hiking in the woods and along rocky mountain paths, visiting three different art museums that all highlighted some amazing American artists, and lots of delicious dinners in the very foodie-centric cities of Maine.

We both had an incredible time and came back to Florida rejuvenated and even more excited for our lifetime to come :) We took TONS of photos (over 900 between the two of us) but below you can find a couple of our favorites.

This next month of matrimony looks to be a lot of fun as well between tailgating, my 25th birthday, a visit from my parents and aunt and uncle, parties and happy hours with friends, and hopefully a beach trip and some Halloween festivities. Stay tuned for more updates on the Brockmeier adventures!

 Portland head light

 Pemaquid Point (the lighthouse on the Maine state quarter)

 View from the summit of Mount Megunticook at Camden Hills state park

Along the ocean path at Acadia national park

 Gorgeous morning color at Acadia

After summiting Mt. Champlain in Acadia

Our 2 first weeks of matrimony

We have had a nice couple of weeks here in our new Gainesville home together! We got all of our gifts unpacked and are so overwhelmed with the generosity of our friends and family. Thanks to everyone for being so thoughtful and for providing us with so many great things to get our married lives off on a good foot :)

While work has kept us busy during the day, it's nice to come home and talk about lab/school as we enjoy each other's company during dinner and in the evenings. I think we both missed this the most while being away from each other this summer and we are very happy to have our chances to talk about life face to face again. We've also had the chance to host some of our friends for dinner as we try to catch up with all of our grad school pals after a busy summer. We've thus far enjoyed sushi, enchiladas, and jambalaya with some good friends of ours. Looking forward to hosting more people over at Chateau Brockmeier in the months to come!

Today we took a break from organizing the new apartment (mostly set up but a few organizational things still needed for Austin's closet) and we went to the springs this morning. We both love snorkeling in the cold waters on sunny, quiet mornings while we watch the fish and turtles swim around us. After a stop at a fun outdoor restaurant in High Springs for lunch we made it back to Gainesville for some evening tennis. Unfortunately it was humid and we are out of tennis shape but we are determined to play again soon and get our game on with friends soon enough :)

We are leaving for Maine on our honeymoon on Tuesday morning. We are very excited for some cool weather, opportunities for hiking and nature viewing, and some good food and drinks as well! Going to spend the remainder of our weekend packing and planning and looking forward to the big trip!

A new normal

After nearly 10 months of engagement/wedding planning, a long summer apart from one another, and a busy week back in Nebraska, Austin and I are finally getting settled into our new apartment as man and wife :) The wedding and pre/post-wedding festivities were all fabulous! Lots of running around with last-minute to do items but still had time to spend with family and friends before the big day. We are both ecstatic to be starting off this new chapter in our lives after such a wonderful ceremony and reception as well!

We will be in Gainesville for 2 weeks getting caught up on lab/school work, unpacking gifts, and enjoying our new space together before leaving for Maine on our honeymoon. Hopefully during that time we will have more photos to share as well! Here's one of my favorites so far that my bridesmaid Jordan took at our first dance.

Thanks to all for your well-wishes and for helping us celebrate our big day!

Apartment photos

I wanted to post some photos of our new apartment. I've been here for over 3 months now and just cleaned it today so I thought it would be worthy of a few photographs :)

View from the front door into the living room

Love the new futon cover and pillows from IKEA :)

Dining room towards kitchen

Our lovely kitchen! Much wider and open than my old kitchen.

Quirky kitchen decorations

Austin's office/reading room

My reading daybed that we made from Austin's old bed

From the office looking into the bedroom

Small and simple bedroom (thanks to mom for the new blanket!!)

Fun wall art, books, and me!

Two busy weeks

I can't believe August is already almost upon us! This month has just flown by, thanks in part to a busy trip back to Omaha last week. Kept busy driving around town with a few follow-up meetings with the cake and flower vendors and the Marriott wedding coordinator. We still have a lot of little things to finish up but the big picture is really starting to come together :) I also went in for a hair "test drive" last Monday and was really excited with how it turned out. And after almost going crazy with trying to figure out if my dress was going to get into Omaha before I left, my mom and grandma and I were able to go to the fitting the day before I left. Glad to have checked off a lot of things on my to do list!

But thankfully the week in NE/IA wasn't all about work. I was so glad to have the chance to have some down time with the Brockmeier girls, my future mother and sisters-in-law. We spent an evening with pedicures, dinner, desserts, and wine while chatting about marriage and life. It was a great time and I am very thankful to be marrying in to such a wonderful family :)

Last Saturday was quite the busy day as well. After spending some time in the pool with my niece Sophia we headed over to my aunt Julie's house for my bridal shower. It was quite the party with both of my sisters, the bridesmaids and their moms, all my aunts, and a good number of extended family members as well! I got a lot of really nice gifts that I'll probably have to share with the groom (mostly because he'll be the one doing all the cooking!) and it was great to see so many friends and family all together.

After the bridal shower my sisters and cousin and I drove to my friend/bridesmaid Kim's house for the bachelorette party. It was good to see so many of my old Omaha friends and catch up with them before the wedding. I got some nice (and some interesting...) gifts and then we headed to a bar in Midtown for some German beers. And needless to say after over 12 hours of being at one party or another I was pretty tired!!

Now that we're only 34 days away from the wedding, we're doing our final round of wedding planning/assignments but I think we'll be in good shape come Sept 1st. I finally feel like everything is coming together and Austin has been a great helper even though he's halfway across the world. And only 3 and a half weeks until he comes back home :D

Happy 5 year dating anniversary!

Today Austin and I are both thinking about the past 5 years of being together. What a truly special time filled with so many happy memories of being young and in love :) Mr. Brockmeier is such a sweetheart that he even had some gorgeous flowers sent to me at work this week. And after 5 years of being together, he's remembered enough about me and knows that lillies are my favorite!

While it's hard being apart this summer, we have so much to look forward to come the end of the summer and so many chances for new adventures and experiences for both of us.

Here's to the past 5 years and many more to come!

Fellow adventurers

...just happened to be on their adventures one year apart! And maybe also standing on the opposite side of the building (can't tell the angle very well).

Ginkaku-ji (silver pavilion) in Kyoto, July 2011

Ginkaku-ji (silver pavilion) in Kyoto, July 2012

I guess great minds think (and travel) alike after all :)

Self-empowerment Sunday

Notice anything different about my bike? Yes, it is upside down, but that's not it. It has a NEW tube in the front tire! OK so you can't really see the tube from the outside, but still...

I've had my bike for over two years and this was the first time I'd ever changed the tube. I was a bit intimidated to try it out and always got a little nervous on long bike rides thinking about what I would do if I got a flat. When my front tire started giving me problems this weekend, I decided to learn how to take off the tire and check things out for myself instead of taking it to the shop. Thankfully it worked! The valve on the old tube was just bent so I swapped the old tube out for a new one and it's working fine now. Oh the little joys in life when you accomplish a simple task for the first time :)

And no, Austin, I did NOT even get any grease on the carpets. Amazing, I know, with my tendency of becoming somewhat of a greasy mess whenever I do stuff with my bike. 

Time to enjoy the rest of my Sunday evening. Finished the gospel of John today and will start on Acts this week. Amidst my summer of self-empowerment I'm also trying to learn more about how God's power can act in us and how He can make us better than we could ever make ourselves. But this sort of empowerment will likely take more time to understand than a Sunday afternoon tinkering around in my apartment!

A very moist June

After a very dry spring we are having a very wet summer here in Gainesville! On Sunday alone we got 9 inches of rain at the airport. Not sure of the current tally but we at least got another few inches over yesterday and today. Debby has apparently now made landfall and we are all hoping she moves on soon!

Here are some photos from our on-campus lake, Lake Alice, that I took this afternoon while we had a temporary break in the rain

This is looking toward the Baughman center. It used to be a raised area of the ground where people would stand and look at the alligators. Looks like it basically collapsed and is now all flat.

This is looking towards the area in the first photo. Usually there is a lot of room between the water and this bridge (probably at least 1.5-2 feet!)

And this bench is usually not surrounded by water!!

My lab has also been partially flooded the past two days (just a very small amount all on one side mostly) and my field work has also been postponed. So I will also be quite happy when Debby leaves! We did need this rain though, and walking around the lake area while everything was fresh and green was really nice :)

Two fast weeks

So far so good for my research stay in Japan. After an amazing week of orientation: lots of people to meet, great food to eat three times a day, wonderful host family experiences, and quite a bit of jogging, I am doing the research I came here to do.

I want to acknowledge the amazing job JSPS (Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science) has done on welcoming this group of young foreign researchers in open arms. In addition, they have taken care of living allowances so that we are constantly worried what exactly the prices of daily goods, such as the bath towel I bought for ¥1500, are in terms of our usual currencies.

To begin the rest of the story here in Japan, I plan to tell a few stories in terms of food. For a while I wanted to be part of a food blog, but I did not think my cooking was that interesting for documentation. Here in Japan, the sheer lack of language and difference in basic ingredients will make it an interesting if not exactly instructive perspective. I will try to document my meager attempts at bachelor cooking in Japan. Tonight I am making some food in the combination gas stove, microwave oven I have in my family style apartment. The buzzer just went off so the results may will come later.

Take nothing for granted. One observation I had is that changing the language settings in programs, specifically web browsers, is extremely difficult. It is a catch-22 to change the language settings: I don't understand the language so I want to change it, but since I don't understand the language I can't change it. This is also true on many websites that do not have a conveniently placed link.

Brockmeier-san

Since Austin's been busy with his JSPS orientation, I'm serving as his blog proxy for now. He made it to Narita late on Tuesday night Japan time (delays in Atlanta) and the next day went with about 100 other students from the US, the UK, France, Germany, and Canada to an orientation in the Haneda region (about an hour from Tokyo via bus). He said the weather's been nice and he had a nice view of Mt. Fuji (and I'm jealous because it was cloudy when I was there next year and I didn't get to see it!). He's enjoyed the Japanese classes so far and I think he wants to keep up practice and learning the language after orientation as well.

I know this weekend he's doing the home stay but beyond that I'm not really sure what he's been up to. I got a weird email with the subject line "Went to beach, gonna do a load of laundry." When I asked what that meant (mostly because I didn't know how he'd have time to hang out at the beach during the orientation) he said "The ocean, no beach just some rocks with local fisherman." So I really don't know what shenanigans he's been up to now...

He'll be at the orientation until Tuesday and then will go to his host institution to start working in his lab. I'll try to bug him for an update when he gets to RIKEN!

Jaa matta! See you later!

After a busy few weeks of work, moving, travels, and wedding preparations, Austin's last "bachelor" weekend in Gainesville arrived rather quickly. Then amidst getting Austin moved and packed the weekend went by so fast! We took a trip to IKEA last weekend to get all of the furniture our new place needed, and after getting Austin's desk and other items moved in it finally feels like a little home (pictures to come after I clean it up a bit!). Thankfully we still had some time to relax, enjoy the cool and rainy weather, eat one last hamburger and steak before heading to Japan, and talk about how life's going to look in the whirlwind week and a half between Austin getting home and us getting married.

The first day apart is always the hardest, but soon after life settles down again and you get into a new routine. I'm excited for the many opportunities for work and play this summer: my first manuscript is almost done, I'm 2 weeks away from field work and 3 weeks from another experiment, I joined the church band and will continue to brush up on my piano skills with a new keyboard, and am looking forward to spending the summer in GNV hanging out with old friends and making some new ones as well. Austin definitely has a great chance to meet lots of new people and colleagues and I'm sure he'll come home with lots of great stories and adventures to share (and will hopefully share some on here as well! hint hint hint...).

Here's to summer 2012 and all the joys and challenges it brings us!

Adventures in Europe!

Life continues to be filled with many blessings and opportunities for adventures. As Austin begins to prepare for his summer research fellowship in Japan, I was fortunate to have had the chance to spent a week and half in Europe for a professional conference (see my other blog for more details on why I went to Europe). At the beginning and end of the trip I had some time to travel and explore and was also lucky to have met lots of new colleagues and acquaintances at the meeting. 

My trip started off with a Thursday night arrival to Berlin after a decent flight (i.e. I slept through most of it) from the US to Amsterdam. As luck would have it, two guys from church were traveling through Berlin on an epic European post-graduation adventure just before I arrived and they were staying at the same hostel as me. We found a nice outdoor restaurant and shared a pizza, some beer, and I got to hear about the places they had been to already. I spent Friday sightseeing around Berlin. The highlights for me were Tiergarten (a really big and beautiful park near the Parliament building), Mitte (the area with a lot of old historic buildings), and sitting along the river while enjoying a beer and people watching (see below for the view from my seat!). After a late lunch/early dinner of döner kebab I took the subway across town to see Die Entführung aus dem Serail, an opera by Mozart that I bought tickets to see in April. This was my first trip to the opera and I really enjoyed it! I had been listening to this particular one a few timesand knew enough of the story to keep up with what was going on even though it was all in German.

Friday afternoon in Berlin with a view of Mitte :)

On Saturday morning I went early to the main train station to catch an express train to Wittenberg, also known as "Lutherstadt" since this is where Martin Luther essentially started the Reformation. The town was very photogenic and walkable (my favorite part about small towns in Europe!) and I enjoyed strolling around. The main sights are the two churches and the Luther museum. My first stop was at Stadtkirche, the church where Luther did a lot of his first protestant sermons and got the movement really moving. I also went to the Schloßkirche, the church that Luther nailed his 95 theses onto. Unfortunately the original church burnt down so this one was rebuilt essentially as a memorial for Luther and he was also buried at this church. Schloßkirche was much more decorated and fancy but I think I liked Stadtkirche because it felt more like a Lutheran church, less decorated and simpler and you could feel like at any moment Luther himself could start doing a sermon. After checking out the churches I had a really awesome German lunch and went to the Luther museum. I had to go quickly since I had to get to Berlin by 5pm but I thought the museum was really nice. All in all it was a great day trip!

Quote from inside the Luther museum

From Saturday night through Thursday I was really busy with the conference since I was a student volunteer and had a poster to present. I really enjoyed the meeting and was happy to have met some really great scientists and students. There was also a really great student party on Tuesday and lots of chatting over beers after a full day of volunteering. Can't wait to go back to the Europe SETAC meeting again next summer!

On Thursday evening I took a flight to Stockholm for a weekend holiday with one of my old friends who is currently at school in Munich. I saw him last year in Germany so I posed the idea of meeting somewhere that neither of us had been. We both agreed on Stockholm since neither of us had been to Sweden and had heard lots of great things about the city. We had 3 full days of sightseeing and overall my impression of the city is very positive! It's quite a beautiful scene since the city is basically comprised of a lot of small islands. It's often referred to as the Venice of the north and even though I haven't been to Venice I can see why they say that! Highlights of this trip were walking through the old city, the smell of the sea during a boating tour through the canals, watching the sun set over the city from a roller coaster at 10:30 pm, and having a beer with Scott and two of his friends at a neat outdoor floating bar.

A beautiful view of the old city and the palace that Scott took

All in all I had a really excellent time! Europe is such a great place and I look forward to returning (hopefully sometime soon!), especially to Germany. Until then, time to get back to work and to get ready to sweat this summer here in Florida :)

May Travels

Erica has made it home from Sweden and Germany. We are so lucky to be able to have these travel experiences, but it was great to see her in this rainy Florida night. Yesterday, I had returned from my trip to Nebraska and Minnesota one day inclusive so I could drop her off and pick her up. I even stopped by a little store in Eustis that sells German sausage and IKEA in Minnesota to pick up my own souvenir to rival her authentic ones from the continent. Hopefully, I will hear more about the stories.

Lots of updates

April appears to have disappeared! Lots of traveling and events going on this past month so I've been slacking on the blog update.

I was so glad to have the opportunity to travel northwards a couple of weekends ago to see my niece and nephew's baptism. The twins are so cute and growing so fast! And of course Miss Sophia is as fun and adorable as always :) And even with the busy weekend my sister and mom and I had a chance to chat about wedding stuff. We now have a shower date set and have shifted into party planning mode. It was such a nice time and I'm so happy that I got to celebrate such a blessed day with my family.

The Mendens (AJ, Meredith, Sophia, Leo, and Juliet)

Me and grandma Perry :)

The weekend after the baptism trip (April 28) was Austin's 26th birthday! The weather is starting to get warmer and warmer, perfect for a trip to the springs where the water is 72 degrees all year long. We went to Blue Springs (about 45 minutes from GNV) with some of Austin's lab to do some swimming, jumping off a 15-foot diving platform, and snacking in the sunshine! Glad to have spent the nice day with some great friends :D

AND on top of all of that, and normal work/life stuff, I moved yesterday! Austin was a great helper and even set up the whole kitchen for us; it took a little while because he was feeling out the "zen" of the space but now that it's done it looks great! We still have to hang art and then make an IKEA trip, so no photos yet...

More updates to come. Austin and I both have some travels at the end of the month, so stay tuned for more tales of our adventures!