X-mas in the CA desert

Carlos and I had a busy Christmas break this year: we started off by traveling to Redmond, WA (staying and playing with my parents and Remlington up there for about 4 days) then we all (except for Remlington!) flew down to Los Angeles, CA then drove to Lancaster to stay with my sister and her husband BJ for Christmas (Carlos and I stayed for 8 days). We had so much fun and I am glad that all of us were able to celebrate Christmas together as a family (this was the first time we were all together in about 3 years). We spent a lot of time relaxing and exploring Lancaster. I loved the desert there and the town was so pretty, relaxed, and was overall full of fun -- I can't wait for our next visit!

The first night there, Shannon made a beautiful chocolate tart for her co-workers. It even had gold glitter and gold leaf on it!

We spent a lot of time playing around the warm fire -- it was colder in Lancaster while we were there than it was in either of the Washingtons (state and DC)! Note the kitty bed hehehe.

Shannon and BJ set up their huge tree before we arrived and I decorated it (up to a certain height) with all of Shannon's ornaments. I especially like the giant sparkly purple Mickey head from Disney World.

One afternoon (every day was gorgeous while we were there) Shannon, BJ, Carlos, and I wandered into the desert behind their house to look for meteorites (we did this again later in a more sophisticated way...another post will talk about that adventure). The landscape around Lancaster is really pretty. I would love to return during the California Poppy festival!

On another day, Dad, Shannon, and I all drove into Hollywood (about an hour away) to visit Universal Studios -- and on the way saw the famous Vasquez Rocks -- but that is a topic for another post!

PS. Tomorrow morning (leaving the house at 3:15 am) Carlos and I embark upon another Costa Rica trip. We will be gone until mid-March, but I should be able to keep posting because we will be at stations with pretty reliable internet access. Chau!

2012's Christmas cards

 

Things have been very, very busy here on the home front as Carlos and I are getting ready for yet another trip to Costa Rica. I am extremely excited to get back to the forest, but there is a lot of stuff to do and organize before we leave.

Anyway, I am still working on the X-mas vacation pictures, so in the meantime here are some photos of the Christmas cards I sent out this year. I am pleased with the design (arboreal anteater -- Tamandua mexicana -- in a festive and fuzzy Christmas sweater vest) and it flows very nicely from last year's candy-cane themed tapir. I will have to think of something even better for next year!

Back from Magfest 11

Carlos and I are back in DC after spending the past few days out in National Harbor, Maryland for Magfest 11 (a most excellent video game and music festival). I had SUCH a great time and now am sad that it is all over (this is what they call "post-con depression" hehe). I will upload my pictures soon, and also get busy posting about what we have been up to this past month.

In other news, we have our tickets for Costa Rica and will be there from 21 Jan - 20 March. We will spend about a month at both La Selva and Las Cruces working on various research projects. I am very excited! After that, we will be in China (finally!) to interview for jobs. 2013 promises to be an exciting and busy year!

Agouti x-stitch & update

Now that gifts and hand-made cards have been received by everyone, I can finally blog about more of the crafty things that I made for the holidays. This year (like every year), my UCSB friends and I do a Secret Santa gift exchange. I was the Secret Santa for Christina this year and I bought her a Smitten Kitchen cookbook and made this little " A is for Agouti" cross-stitch (I thought it would fit in her baby nursery). I am really pleased with how it turned out (did you notice the sparkly copper stitches on the agouti's rump?).

 

As for an update: Carlos and I are back from California and we had such an amazing time with all of our family down there! We really liked the high elevation desert in and around Lancaster and I will post some of what we did over Christmas break soon. Tomorrow, we are off on a mini-vacation at National Harbor, Maryland for a video game festival called MagFest! We are going to be gone for five days and it will be non-stop nerdiness and video game fun. This will be my very first video game con and I am glad to accomplish another item on my bucket list~

PS. Happy New Year everyone!

3 crows x-stitch

 
Carlos and I are in Redmond, WA now with my parents and tomorrow morning we are all off to Lancaster, CA to see my sister and her husband. We had a full (and fast) few days here visiting with friends and seeing our usual WA haunts (the Root Beer Store, Uwajimaya, and REI top that list).

A couple of nights ago we visited with our friends Judy and Terry for dinner at my parents' house. As a gift for Judy, I made a cross stitch of three crows in the Charley Harper art style (Judy likes crows). I really like how it turned out -- it is pretty simple but looks cool. I have more arty things to post about (gifts, X-mas cards), but I can't put those up until later (after people receive them).

Posting might be a little more sparse than usual while we are out and about in the Mojave!

Visiting the anthopology pod at MSC

Last week, Carlos and I were able to take a private tour (with a few other Smithsonian staff) of the anthropology pod (or the anthro-pod as I like to call it) at the Museum Support Center. This pod contains lots of really neat artifacts and collections. We first looked at the Terry Collection: human remains that comprise one of the most studied collections in the world (for pathology, forensics, history, etc.). We examined many old Peruvian skulls, learning about what different facial traumas and diseases look like on crania, then we looked at more really neat stuff in the mummy room. We saw a mummy from Peru and shrunken heads from the Amazon (while learning about different levels of shrunken head fakery -- some heads were sloths but most were human). We even were able to see a mummified bull -- one of only three known to exist!  This was a very unique opportunity to see more of the treasures housed in Smithsonian storage~

 

 

On another note, Carlos and I leave for Washington state and California tomorrow. We will be gone for about two weeks. I still have some things to blog about (like my Dad visiting DC for a couple of days) so I should have more adventures up soon!

Cephaloleia horvitzae painting

Yesterday, I completed a  project that I had been working on for a while: a scientific illustration of a new beetle species, Cephaloleia horvitzae. This genus is the group that Carlos works with and he decided to name one of the new species after his Ph.D. advisor and our friend, Carol Horvitz. As a present, I illustrated this little beetle (it is only 4 mm long!) and thought I would post some photos of the process and end product. The work involved in creating a scientific illustration is more intense than just creating illustrations with no scale specifications.

I am really pleased with how this illustration turned out and I hope Carol likes it!

Zoo Lights

A couple of weeks ago, Carlos and I visited the National Zoo to see the collection of lights put up for the holidays -- Zoo Lights! We have never seen these before, but it was a real treat to be able to visit the animals at the zoo after nightfall (the zoo usually closes every day around 6 pm). It was pretty cold when we visited so we bundled up and brought a little picnic dinner of Morningstar burgers, satsuma oranges, and hot apple cider.

This event was pretty popular and we really enjoyed seeing all the lights, hearing Christmas music, and seeing the sleepy animals in the ape, small mammal, and reptile houses. We also looked at some of the special Christmas exhibits: a clouded leopard-themed tree, edible dioramas of North American animals, and train sets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

We wandered all over the zoo, ate dinner, got a free glowstick, and had a nice time -- we will probably be back soon to see it again before we start our holiday travels in a week!