1st kayak excursion

Last Saturday a group of friends and I took our kayaks out for their maiden voyage. We went to Lake Jocassee up in the mountains. It was a stormy morning in Clemson and we were a little hesitant to head out, but by the time we reached the lake everything had passes the mountains and we had a great day. Here are some of the pics I took from out on the water.

The view from the front of my brand new kayak!

This is Megan and Brett in the blue kayaks and Matt in the red/yellow kayak in the back. Paddle away guys.

The clouds moving the storms right past us. The mountains made for great sight seeing and since the lake doesn't have many houses on it we had barely any boat traffic all day long.

The sun came out and made it the perfect day!

This is Laura, she will be my roommate in August. Looks like we may be spending the summer on the water together.

Busy day

Today is going to be busy but fun! I'm heading into campus to set up for the Grad student picnic that is happening from 11-4 today, but then I'm leaving to go kayaking for the afternoon and then off to Maria and Jason's baby shower. I'll post pics of my adventures soon. I have lots to post from San Antonio and other adventures.

Congratulations Kersten and Kent on your new addition to the family! Welcome Alexa!!

Friday

I am being super lazy today. I've done nothing productive except to take an ethical training course that I have put off all year. It's rainy and blah outside and all I want to do is grab a good book, curl up, and read for the rest of the day. Guess its going to have to wait 2 hours until I can get to the library though.

I'm looking for suggestions for good summer reading. Send me any suggestions you have!

Hope all the mom's out there have a great Mother's Day!!!

Summer

The semester is finally over!!!

I somehow managed to pull another semester of good grades and am looking forward to research projects that are going to keep me really busy this summer. Hopefully I will be able to go out of town for a week or two for either a road trip or at least to get back home. I'll try and keep everyone informed of when I can get out of town so I can try and see as many people as possible.

Well off to finish a little work and then I get to go home for the day! More later.

O.A.R.

I finally took a break from all the work and stress and was able to get out to see O.A.R. here in Clemson. We went as a group of 8 for dinner before the concert at Mellow Mushroom. On our way back from the restaurant O.A.R was playing at a fraternity house so we got a little pre-show. As we were leaving the fraternity house O.A.R came out behind us so we were able to meet a couple of the band members. This would never happen if we weren't in small town Clemson!

This is the band strolling down the sidewalk.

This is our group of friends waiting to get in the door.

Here is the opening act Parachute. They weren't too bad.

And finally O.A.R. It was a blast!

Great break from the stress and chaos of this semester. To top it all off we are still trying to push out a paper with results by Thursday with no viable results thus far. Should be fun as I am leaving for a conference on Wednesday and will be gone through Sunday. Then its time to write a 15 page paper for class and take 2 finals by Wednesday.

Weather

We've had quite the wet spring so far, which is nice for flowers and trees, but the severe storms that flew threw on Friday we could have done without. I was just finishing up watching a movie when all of a sudden I hear a loud siren and talking. So I muted the TV to try and hear what was being said. All I caught was take cover immediately, so that is what I did even though it was dead silent outside and it didn't even look all that bad. Well, apparently a funnel cloud started its decent on Clemson and decided to pull back up into the sky. We didn't get an actual tornado, but it was close. There were 4 others that did touch down in nearby towns - one of them was an EF2 that practically tore a town to pieces. They are still cleaning up from it today.

Well whenever the warm weather returns it will be nice. I'm sick of cold rain and am completely ready for a day in the sun. The pool is starting to look real good and I'm hoping I can go lay by it soon.

On another note,I can't wait for this weekend. Besides the presentation and paper that will be finished, I have an O.A.R concert to go to! We have a group of 12 that will be partying it up. Should be a great break from all the work.

Spring

Even though it is a little chilly out today, we have generally had temps near 70 for the last 2 weeks. Because of the warm temps everything is in full bloom and it is so pretty. I love this time of year, minus the pollen. The trees are all starting to get leaves and the bushes, cherry trees, and ornamental trees are just beautiful. Every day on my drive into school I come around a bend in the road just to see a lush green background and 3 trees decked out in white flowers. The contrast between the two is wonderful. I'm hoping I can get enough time this weekend when it warms up again to take a stroll through the botanical gardens.

Happy spring! Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter.