Saturday, April 26, 2008
Lily's birthday
Little Lily Lankford turned 1! And the most appropriate way to celebrate was to give her a cake and let her put her face in it! Here are some select pictures from her birthday party.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Free Burger
On the weekend after my birthday my parents came into to town to celebrate. My dad brought another rain barrel that he made himself... it shamed my rain barrel! He also helped us with a few projects around the house.
In addition we spent Saturday morning at the Durham Farmer's Market, Scrap Exchange, and Southern Portico. Nathan had to coach his little league baseball team so for lunch my parents and I went to Red Robin. I had never been and we had a friend who told us about this great deal. If you go to Red Robin's website and sign up you will get a free $3 off coupon a few days after you sign up which can be used on anything. The only catch is it has to be used within 15 days. Also near your birthday you get emailed a coupon for a free gourmet burger and I have to say they were quite delicious. Nathan signed us up and I was able to use both my coupons at this outing. They have crazy burgers to choose from:
*Blackened Bayou burger - a burger topped with roasted red peppers, Angry Onions, Pepper-Jack cheese, Creole mustard sauce and cabbage-carrot mix on a jalapeño-cornmeal kaiser roll.
*Bleu Ribbon burger - a burger basted with a tangy steak sauce and topped with crumbled Bleu cheese. Served with onion straws, lettuce, tomatoes and zesty Chipotle mayo on an onion bun.
*Guacamole bacon burger - homemade, zesty guacamole and three strips of hickory-smoked bacon with melted Swiss cheese, onions, lettuce, tomatoes & mayo.
After lunch we spent almost 2 hours in Home Depot where my dad bought me my birthday present - a Dremel tool and we got all the needed supplies for the home projects. Following our outing we went home to cook for dinner and then we watched the awful slaughtering of UNC in the final four.
In addition we spent Saturday morning at the Durham Farmer's Market, Scrap Exchange, and Southern Portico. Nathan had to coach his little league baseball team so for lunch my parents and I went to Red Robin. I had never been and we had a friend who told us about this great deal. If you go to Red Robin's website and sign up you will get a free $3 off coupon a few days after you sign up which can be used on anything. The only catch is it has to be used within 15 days. Also near your birthday you get emailed a coupon for a free gourmet burger and I have to say they were quite delicious. Nathan signed us up and I was able to use both my coupons at this outing. They have crazy burgers to choose from:
*Blackened Bayou burger - a burger topped with roasted red peppers, Angry Onions, Pepper-Jack cheese, Creole mustard sauce and cabbage-carrot mix on a jalapeño-cornmeal kaiser roll.
*Bleu Ribbon burger - a burger basted with a tangy steak sauce and topped with crumbled Bleu cheese. Served with onion straws, lettuce, tomatoes and zesty Chipotle mayo on an onion bun.
*Guacamole bacon burger - homemade, zesty guacamole and three strips of hickory-smoked bacon with melted Swiss cheese, onions, lettuce, tomatoes & mayo.
After lunch we spent almost 2 hours in Home Depot where my dad bought me my birthday present - a Dremel tool and we got all the needed supplies for the home projects. Following our outing we went home to cook for dinner and then we watched the awful slaughtering of UNC in the final four.
Another paper
I've been published again! This time I am the first author.
Association of FTO with obesity-related traits in the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (CLHNS) cohort. Marvelle AF, Lange LA, Qin L, Adair LS, Mohlke KL. Diabetes 2008 Apr 21 [Epub ahead of print].
It is kinda sad though, I was talking to my sister and she asked how long it took to do this paper. And I realized I worked on this paper for over a year! But at least the work paid off.
Association of FTO with obesity-related traits in the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (CLHNS) cohort. Marvelle AF, Lange LA, Qin L, Adair LS, Mohlke KL. Diabetes 2008 Apr 21 [Epub ahead of print].
It is kinda sad though, I was talking to my sister and she asked how long it took to do this paper. And I realized I worked on this paper for over a year! But at least the work paid off.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Our tree!
It's Blooming! I think that my tree might survive. Especially with all this lovely spring rain. 
However, now that it is blooming we are certain it is not the tree we actually wanted. Nathan got me a tree last year for my birthday and our wedding to remind us of our time in DC. He wanted a Prunus Yeodonis, Yoshino Cherry, which is the species that blooms around the tidal basin in DC. Unfortunately, our tree is the Prunus serrulata, Kwanzan flowering cherry.
OUR TREE:
An excerpt about our tree:
Hardy and well-known, this cultivar combines show-stopping flowering display with great foliage and habit. Double rose-pink flowers are abundant and appear in early spring before the foliage. New foliage is also interesting in that it comes out a bronze color quickly changing to dark green. Fall color is excellent for a cherry, with bronzy orange or orangy red hues. Our own-rooted starts eliminate the problem of unsightly graft unions and our source material is virus free (VC). The strongly vase-shaped habit is also very useful as a structural element in the landscape.
Here is what it will look like when it matures:
However, now that it is blooming we are certain it is not the tree we actually wanted. Nathan got me a tree last year for my birthday and our wedding to remind us of our time in DC. He wanted a Prunus Yeodonis, Yoshino Cherry, which is the species that blooms around the tidal basin in DC. Unfortunately, our tree is the Prunus serrulata, Kwanzan flowering cherry.OUR TREE:
An excerpt about our tree:
Hardy and well-known, this cultivar combines show-stopping flowering display with great foliage and habit. Double rose-pink flowers are abundant and appear in early spring before the foliage. New foliage is also interesting in that it comes out a bronze color quickly changing to dark green. Fall color is excellent for a cherry, with bronzy orange or orangy red hues. Our own-rooted starts eliminate the problem of unsightly graft unions and our source material is virus free (VC). The strongly vase-shaped habit is also very useful as a structural element in the landscape.
Here is what it will look like when it matures:
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Rebecca and Danny's Wedding
Rebecca, my friend that I met while studying abroad in Denmark, got married this weekend. The weekend was jammed packed with wedding events: Friday night 80's Karaoke bachelorette party, Saturday meet and great, and the main event (wedding) on Sunday.
Friday, April 11, 2008
MIchelle Leslie's Baby Shower
On Sunday March 30th myself, Andrea, and Michelle's friend Laurel hosted a shower for Michelle Leslie. Although the weather was a little nasty (baby shower does not mean that it has to rain!) we have a lovely time.1. For the invites I was inspired by a cutesy card I saw at Cameron's in University Mall (my favorite store by the way for anyone looking for gift ideas... hint, hint Nathan). We tweaked the wording to sound more "Michelle" and this is what we ended up with:
DON'T FLUSH
because we're about to shower
our favorite child-bearing girl-
friend and give her a proper
send-off into motherhood. So
please join us, because before you
can say "Baby powder”, she'll be ankle-
deep in stuffed animals, grooming
hair with saliva, and talking in
baby babble like, "I wuv you" and
"oopsie-daisy" and we may never be
able to have a coherent conversation with her again.
because we're about to shower
our favorite child-bearing girl-
friend and give her a proper
send-off into motherhood. So
please join us, because before you
can say "Baby powder”, she'll be ankle-
deep in stuffed animals, grooming
hair with saliva, and talking in
baby babble like, "I wuv you" and
"oopsie-daisy" and we may never be
able to have a coherent conversation with her again.
2. For the food, we took our inspiration from good ol' Martha Stewart. In February she featured recipes of dumplings from around the world, and Michelle had commented that she wanted to throw a party where everyone brought a different kind of dumpling.
I made two types of dumplings:
*Gnudi - A specialty of Florence, gnudi (Italian for "nude") are luscious little dumplings made with fresh ricotta cheese and spinach. Essentially, they are ravioli fillings without their pasta wrappers.
*Kroppkakor - A traditional Southern Swedish potato dumpling with a filling of pork, bacon, and onions and served with lingonberry.
*Kroppkakor - A traditional Southern Swedish potato dumpling with a filling of pork, bacon, and onions and served with lingonberry.
We also had Polish pierogis and Nutella wontons.
4. For the party favors we made little baby food jars with pictures of baby Michelle and baby Mark.
Ingredients: Love, hope, prayers,
tears, smiles, laughter, hugs, kisses
Produced in Durham, North Carolina
Distributed by UNC Hospitals
Best if used by May 16th, 2008
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: As many as you can take
Servings per container: 1
Amount per serving % Daily Value
Snips 100%
Snails 100%
Puppy Dog Tails 100%
Poop 33%
Tears 12%
Giggles 75%
Michelle and Mark holding their jars:
Thursday, April 10, 2008
American Idol
Yes, I, like millions of other Americans, watch American Idol. I know it is a silly indulgence of mine but I am willing to admit it...
Generally I poke fun at the contestants outfits and how poorly they interpret a song, but here is one of the reasons why I have enjoyed this season:
Generally I poke fun at the contestants outfits and how poorly they interpret a song, but here is one of the reasons why I have enjoyed this season:
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
We Celebrate Carolina
I'm not going to lie... it hurt a little on Saturday when Carolina was exterminated by Kansas, but I think this ad in the New York times puts things into prospective. Carolina is a great place to be on and off the court. Sometimes we put too much focus on a single game and lose sight of the other things that are going on at UNC."As the nation's first public university, Carolina has paved the way for a brighter future for more than 200 years. Dr. Oliver Smithies recently won the Nobel Prize for his pioneering research that helped lay the foundation for lifesaving medical breakthroughs. Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine ranked us the No. 1 best value in American public higher education for the seventh consecutive time. Next month, we will graduate our first class of students in the Carolina Covenant, a national model for providing love-income students with a debt-free education. And on the court, our men's and women's basketball teams had great seasons that made us proud. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, we have a lot to cheer about."
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
I've been published in Nature Genetics!
On March 30th the paper "Meta-analysis of genome-wide association data and large-scale replication identifies additional susceptibility loci for type 2 diabetes" went online on the Nature Genetics website.
If any of you had a chance to talk to me in early December you might recall that I was a bit stressed... well that stress and hard work paid off because I am one of the authors: Zeggini E, Scott LJ, Saxena R, Voight BF, Marchini JL, Hu T, de Bakker PI, Abecasis GR, Almgren P, Andersen G, Ardlie K, Boström KB, Bergman RN, Bonnycastle LL, Borch-Johnsen K, Burtt NP, Chen H, Chines PS, Daly MJ, Deodhar P, Ding CJ, Doney AS, Duren WL, Elliott KS, Erdos MR, Frayling TM, Freathy RM, Gianniny L, Grallert H, Grarup N, Groves CJ, Guiducci C, Hansen T, Herder C, Hitman GA, Hughes TE, Isomaa B, Jackson AU, Jørgensen T, Kong A, Kubalanza K, Kuruvilla FG, Kuusisto J, Langenberg C, Lango H, Lauritzen T, Li Y, Lindgren CM, Lyssenko V, Marvelle AF, Meisinger C, Midthjell K, Mohlke KL, Morken MA, Morris AD, Narisu N, Nilsson P, Owen KR, Palmer CN, Payne F, Perry JR, Pettersen E, Platou C, Prokopenko I, Qi L, Qin L, Rayner NW, Rees M, Roix JJ, Sandbæk A, Shields B, Sjögren M, Steinthorsdottir V, Stringham HM, Swift AJ, Thorleifsson G, Thorsteinsdottir U, Timpson NJ, Tuomi T, Tuomilehto J, Walker M, Watanabe RM, Weedon MN, Willer CJ; Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, Illig T, Hveem K, Hu FB, Laakso M, Stefansson K, Pedersen O, Wareham NJ, Barroso I, Hattersley AT, Collins FS, Groop L, McCarthy MI, Boehnke M, Altshuler D. (Yes I promise my name is in there!)
Ok, so, I am one of 97 other people to contribute to this paper... But look who else is on here! Collins FS - also known as Francis Collins, the geneticist noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project. He was also mentioned in a toast given by Mike Wipfler, our best man. As well as many other notable scientists.
This is certainly a high point in my scientific career, and hopefully it wont be the last. It is times like these that make all the work and frustration of being a scientist worth while.
If any of you had a chance to talk to me in early December you might recall that I was a bit stressed... well that stress and hard work paid off because I am one of the authors: Zeggini E, Scott LJ, Saxena R, Voight BF, Marchini JL, Hu T, de Bakker PI, Abecasis GR, Almgren P, Andersen G, Ardlie K, Boström KB, Bergman RN, Bonnycastle LL, Borch-Johnsen K, Burtt NP, Chen H, Chines PS, Daly MJ, Deodhar P, Ding CJ, Doney AS, Duren WL, Elliott KS, Erdos MR, Frayling TM, Freathy RM, Gianniny L, Grallert H, Grarup N, Groves CJ, Guiducci C, Hansen T, Herder C, Hitman GA, Hughes TE, Isomaa B, Jackson AU, Jørgensen T, Kong A, Kubalanza K, Kuruvilla FG, Kuusisto J, Langenberg C, Lango H, Lauritzen T, Li Y, Lindgren CM, Lyssenko V, Marvelle AF, Meisinger C, Midthjell K, Mohlke KL, Morken MA, Morris AD, Narisu N, Nilsson P, Owen KR, Palmer CN, Payne F, Perry JR, Pettersen E, Platou C, Prokopenko I, Qi L, Qin L, Rayner NW, Rees M, Roix JJ, Sandbæk A, Shields B, Sjögren M, Steinthorsdottir V, Stringham HM, Swift AJ, Thorleifsson G, Thorsteinsdottir U, Timpson NJ, Tuomi T, Tuomilehto J, Walker M, Watanabe RM, Weedon MN, Willer CJ; Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, Illig T, Hveem K, Hu FB, Laakso M, Stefansson K, Pedersen O, Wareham NJ, Barroso I, Hattersley AT, Collins FS, Groop L, McCarthy MI, Boehnke M, Altshuler D. (Yes I promise my name is in there!)
Ok, so, I am one of 97 other people to contribute to this paper... But look who else is on here! Collins FS - also known as Francis Collins, the geneticist noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project. He was also mentioned in a toast given by Mike Wipfler, our best man. As well as many other notable scientists.
This is certainly a high point in my scientific career, and hopefully it wont be the last. It is times like these that make all the work and frustration of being a scientist worth while.
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