Don't believe me when I say I'm back

Soooo, I thought I'd be better about blogging last January.  I, like many others, had been caught up in the effects of the first month of the year, all full of resoluteness.  I did do a pretty decent job of at least capturing my life in pictures via instagram (you can check me out @nboatwpi).  But writing...not so much.  Hey, at least I was honest when I said previously that my strength is not blogging.  But then a few days ago, my friend texted me, "Hey! What happened to the more blog-filled 2015 lady?"  And I've been thinking about it and figured, what the hay!  Let's give this another shot.

Let's start with a little recap of 2015!

• Since Jan 12, 2015, I've been hard at work at Visterra.  I love it!  My boss is amazing, the workload is heavy and I love having tons to do.  My coworkers are so fun!  I'm loving my commute these days, but lived through one of the CRAZIEST winters ever and had to deal with horrible commutes every day on the MBTA's red line.  On the bright side of commuting though...
• ...I've read 20 books this year!  That's more than 1 per month!  It's been awesome.  I've read some provocative books (Atlas Shrugged.  Read it.  Who is John Galt?  Also, pretty hilarious reading it during the ongoing struggles of my own city's train fiasco).  I've read some science books (The Madame Curie Complex.  Read it.  I LOVE BEING A WOMAN IN SCIENCE!).  I've read some good old fashioned fiction (The Martian.  Read it.  I haven't seen the movie yet, but I still think you should read the book).  Reading on the T has definitely made commuting fun.  Currently reading Harvard Yard by William Martin.
• I trained for and successfully completed a half marathon in the Grand Tetons.  It was amazing.  I actually stuck to a pretty good 12 week training calendar and, go figure, the race felt great.  Running with an I-can't-believe-those-mountains-are-real backdrop was seriously incredible, and just being in the National Park was an unforgettable experience.  It was so unforgettable, that the 3 friends I was there with decided that we would make it our life's mission to set foot in all 59 US National Parks.  We even made it north to Yellowstone while we were there to get our list started right.

• One of the 3 Teton friends and I decided to visit the only National Park in New England - Acadia.  It was a super fun trip of camping, a pre-dawn hike to see the sunrise from the top of Cadillac Mountain, and enjoying some delicious local lobstah rolls.
• I was able to travel home to Oregon for a week in the summer to visit the family.  Ugh, I wish I could live in two places at once.  I MISS MY SISTERS, PARENTS, NIECES, NEPHEWS, and the brother-in-laws!  :)  The five of us sisters are now all of legal drinking age, so we went out for a cocktail and dessert and just bonded over some story telling.  I love them so much, it has me thinking more and more about moving back.  Hold your horses, everyone - it's not happening yet, but the second God give me the opportunity, I'm jumping on it.  :)
• We at Highrock Quincy Covenant Church celebrated our 3-year anniversary as a church plant.  Time flies when you're having fun and trying as a community to follow Jesus.  It's a hard but beautiful thing.  SHAMELESS PLUG - buy a ticket to our 3rd annual Christmas Benefit Concert!

Okay friends, my battery is running low and the plug's in the other room so I'll end it here for now.  Here's hoping I'm back before 2016!

I'm back? I'm back!

Wow.  Did you know that I haven't posted in over a year!  Not a single thing did I say in the year 2014.  Wow.

Okay, this isn't entirely surprising.  My strength is not blogging.  What is my strength?  Keeping busy enough NOT to blog.  That said, I was hanging out on my laptop tonight (something I didn't own last time I blogged) and looking around on Facebook (dang, that website is addictive and a total time suck), and saw two of my sisters' blogs and felt totally inspired to follow suit.  So here I am!

Where to start...2014 was intense.  Heck, 2013 was pretty crazy too, but at least I posted a couple of times.  Since the last time I was on here I...

• attended a 10-year reunion at my alma mater, Worcester Polytechnic Institute.  The Institute crew rented a house near campus and did some serious hanging out.  Awesome as usual, complete with a super creepy trip to Spider Gates.
• was promoted from Research Associate IV to Scientist I at MassBiologics, and shortly after celebrated my 10-year anniversary there.  
• participated in my second Reach the Beach relay.  Hated it and loved it at the same time.  Swore I was done with that thing.  Then I signed up for a half-marathon happening in the Grand Tetons this coming June!
• witnessed the hooding ceremony of one of my Institute crew - he received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering.  M. Ryan McDevitt is pretty awesome.
• traveled to South Africa!  I could/should write an entire (or multiple) posts just about this.  It was a beautiful, heartbreaking trip I made with 8 other people from my home church, Highrock Quincy to meet and shadow an organization called Zimele.  This group is doing great things to help empower women in broken situations to pick themselves up to support themselves, their families, and their communities.  Amazing trip, and I hope to go again someday.
• handed in my resignation letter from MassBiologics on my 11-year anniversary (completely unintentional timing, but kind of crazy).  Then I started my new job at Visterra just this past week.  So far, so awesome.  :)

Whew!  So that's my update.  Here's to a more blog-filled 2015!