Mr. Gomez has been following mommy around all day. I'm not sure where this new-found co-dependence has come from, but I have to say, its pretty cute. :)

T Minus 10 Days...

until the Danskin triathlon! Why do I do this to myself?

I have not been training. My bike is in the garage with 2 flat tires. It hasn't been ridden in the past 2 years, actually since the Danskin 2005. I'm freaking out a little. This is so typical...

Oh well.

Poker Night 3

No bounty picture this time around. The last winner was Lance's recently ex'ed girlfriend's friend. Needless to say, we will not be seeing her again...

I opted out tonight anyway. Instead I'm shopping for Greg's birthday present - new wheeley luggage for our up-coming vacations. I know its cheating because they're a present for me too. That's why I've also ordered him an extra-special bonus pressy on the sly.

*update*
Set of 3 black Samsonite Silhouette Spinners for half price at TJMaxx!

There are few pleasures in life as satisfying as scoring great deals on necessary stuff for which you were ready to shell out major bucks. Yay! :)

I'm keeping my eyes peeled

According to justjared.com, Ryan Reynolds is in town filming his new movie Fireflies in the Garden. A-dor-able!


And on a similar note...

My name is Larisa. And I am addicted to celebrity gossip.

Its true. I am a complete junky. I am entirely too familiar with the shenanigans of Paris, Britney, and Lindsay. On my downtime in lab, I'm surfing my fave sites for my daily fix:

popsugar.com for a very sunny-side-up version

perezhilton.com for a nastier version. Yeah, its kinda harsh and ridiculously catty but the biotch inside needs a bit of a chuckle from time to time.

justjared.com because they always have tons of pics.

I know. Its sad. This is my cry for help. I need an emergency intervention.

Celebrity Sighting!!

Greg and I were having lunch with our friends Bobbi, Matt, Nate and Linda at Guerro's on South Congress. Who should walk by but the highly adorable LUKE WILSON! I love him!


Bobbi spotted him first, but I didn't believe her. I refused to believe that my boyfriend Luke Wilson had walked right by us, and I hadn't even noticed him. And then I saw him sauntering through the restaurant kinda muttering to himself. Hmm? He walked out of the building as I quietly said an "I love you!" in his direction. I thought he had walked out of my life forever. But a few minutes later he came back in and joined an older-ish woman at a table directly opposite the one we were sitting while waiting.

I've been here for almost 6 years and this was my first celeb sighting. I've heard rumors of Sandra Bullock, Jake Gyllenhal, Sheryl Crow, Matthew McConaughey, etc, etc being spotted all over town. But personally, I think my boyfriend Luke Wilson blows them all out of the water.

Ah, cheap thrills. Made my day... :)

Hot Dog Adventures

So I've uploaded my first videos onto YouTube. The first little video is of Brianna, Greg & Alicia getting started on the hot dog. They were the pioneers so Mark was being really nice and started them out really slowly.



Then he got a little more ruthless so they were in for a bumpy ride and then a wipe out!



Greg ever-so-sweetly filmed Jeff, Dilek and I struggling to climb onto that damm dog. Hey, its harder than it looks!



I accidentally erased the best video (poo!), but here's some footage of the champions on their ride. We were unshakable, despite Brian's best attempts to throw us.



Ah, good times had by all. :)

Lake Buchanan "camping"

For Brianna's birthday, she and Mark organized a quote unquote camping trip to the lake with a bunch of friends. We roughed it in lit, air-conditioned cabins with a lake-front view.

It. Was. Tough.

Highlights:

• Brian scaring the bejezus out of Lance - hearing him scream 'Oh God' will live with me foreva
• Being an unshakable Hot Dog superstar - I accidentally erased a bit of film from our camera as proof of my superstardom. I am gutted. :(

• Mesmerizing campfires - thanks, Mark - with s'mores - thanks, Carina!
• All the amazing wildflowers in bloom!
  

I don't know if I can go back to work on Monday after suffering under such strenuous conditions.

p.s. Happy 1-year anniversary, Tim and Shelley! I miss you guys!

Concert at the Parrish

Under the Influence of Giants were coming to Austin. They were going to put on a show at the Parrish. Greg and I were super-excited about it. We even talked Kenan and Dilek into going with us. And then Greg got an email...

Apparently they cancelled at the last minute and will now be doing only local shows - 'local', as in L.A. Boo! But we already had the tickets and the show was going to include 3 other bands so we decided to give it a shot. First was a band called Liam and me. They were alright. Nothing special in my opinion, but nothing wrong with them either. Next came Play Radio Play, the solo project of a 17-year-old kid from Fort Worth, and this is what he has to say on his MySpace page:

Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.
I dont drink, smoke, do drugs, or have sex, and I am proud to say I am still a virgin.

A little in-your-face with the goodie-goodie image for my tastes, but to each his own. Nothing wrong with that, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the music. Last was a band called Young Love. I'd never heard of these folks, but apparently they're alright by the 18-25 crowd in Austin. I can't remember the last time I was out and about with underaged minors, but they were abundant judging by all the big black X's marked on waving, gyrating hands. Band adoration is contagious, however, so we ended up having a blast, drinking entirely too much, and hopping over to Maggie Mae's, where we were surrounded by a huge graduation crowd and got to see an amazing bit of hip action from one of the dancing drunk girls. All in all, fab night. :)

Now I must go sleep it off and enroll in belly dancing classes tomorrow.

p.s. Hope you're having a great time in Mexico, Mom!

Poker Night 2

Brian won the last game so now he must suffer. Its only fair.

40 geeky grad students and 1 Nobel Laureate

We were asked by my friend Jamie Vernon to host a potluck dinner at our house in honor of the 4th speaker in the Gottlieb Lecture Series. This gives the grad students in UT's cell and molecular biology program and biochemistry program the chance to hang out with the speaker in a more intimate environ, whether it is to pick his brains or simply bask in his glory. We hosted about 40 grad students, who brought an impressive spread of alcohol, food and desserts, and Dr. Ferid Murad, the 1998 winner of the Nobel prize in medicine.

Dr. Murad is a red wine drinker, always a good sign in my book, and came across as a very personable guy, who I get the impression has his fingers in a lot of different pies. He's currently working with the Chinese government to help legitamize the herbal medicines that have been in use in the Far East for centuries. Basically, Dr. Murad is getting a crapload of money from them to figure out which ingredients are active and how they work. If he can do that, it will pave the way for these API's to be introduced to the west. By the sounds of things, he's pretty much cornering the market on this work and will no doubt profit greatly from any discoveries he makes. He also took the opportunity while at UT to apparently grill some of the professors here about their ideas concerning medicinal chemistry. From what I hear, he practically had to be pried out of Ben Lui's office with a crow bar. And he also said he uses these visitations and lectures to scout out potential post docs for his lab. Always thinking, these Nobel prize winners.

Kenan, Dr. Murad, Chad & Greg

So the last of them crawled home at about 11. An hour of cleaning and storing away tons of leftovers later, we were snug in bed and sleeping soundly knowing that we won't need to cook again for a week. Free food - the ultimate grad student prize...