Let's play catch-up

So much to catch up on! 

First things first: I survived my comps! I'm *almost* a PhD candidate! Will be a complete candidate after Christmas! Whew... That was quite the stressful ordeal. 

But on with the rest of summer and what's been going on this fall...

I had an amazing birthday!

 My friend made me a chocolate chip cookie dough cake. Yummy!

 

 Sometimes working in a lab is... interesting. We learn how to make do with what we have available, especially when it comes to beer...

And of course, second year in a row of a tradition I aim to continue, floating the Madison River on my birthday!  

 

There were also some great Farmer's Markets around town, full of fresh flowers!

 A and I at Bogart Park

 Which the cat loved...

Momma and Daddy had their annual trip to Montana, where my momma took an afternoon off fishing to go hiking with me!

Went up to Grotto Falls

 And then met up with Daddy and Peter for a few beers before dinner.

This fall has been great! We had a long beautiful fall, and the color changes on the trees were amazing. I tagged along with a friend and her girls to go pick out some pumpkins for Halloween.

 The youngest was just too cute!

 There were plenty of goats....

 .... and pigs!

 Plenty of swing sets

 And a fun hayride to get the pumpkins!

 We ended up with some great pumpkins!

 And, since I did survive my comps, my parents treated me to a trip to New York City. It was completely amazing! Long story short, while we originally planned to arrive on a Friday and leave on Monday, we changed our schedule to a Thursday to Sunday trip. Best decision, as we barely managed to leave before the hurricane hit. Lucky us!

Times Square

 Apparently, the singing cowboy is quite famous. I'd never heard of him, but managed to get some interesting pictures with him...

We took a boat tour around the island. Totally recommend if you want to see as many sites as fast as possible.

 

Statue of Liberty

 Brooklyn Bridge

 And other cool looking bridges. You can tell I really paid attention during the tour...

 Beautiful fall colors!

 Central Park!

 Strawberry Fields. Right across the street from where Lennon was killed.

 Museum of Natural History

It was Teddy Roosevelt Day at the museum so they were giving out mustaches and cowboy hats. I had to get involved... I even met a MSU professor who was there to talk about Yellowstone!

 New York Public Library

 Amazing dinner to celebrate Momma's birthday

 We even got a limo ride back. It. Was. Awesome...

All in all, it was an amazing trip!

Since I flew in and out of DFW, I finally got some real Mexican food. Yum...

 The first song that played as the plane took off from Dallas was 'Come Back to Texas'. Oh... the irony...

Now, I'm just having fun living life. 

 Halloween at work. The boss was at a conference, which meant he couldn't tell me no when I wanted to play with dry ice. 

 Girls night with homemade wine and frozen rasberries. 

 And of course, we voted! So proud to be American!

 Last, a post cannot go by where I don't talk about this kitten. He is a mess. A cute mess, but a mess. Lately he has taken an unnatural liking to my pillow. Especially if my head is on it. When I switch to a pillow on the other side of the bed, he follows. And he is quite the pillow hog. He's just lucky I love him so much.

 He also likes to hide under the covers. A week or so ago, we had quite the snow storm blow in. Like, highs in the mid-teens. So a little chilly...

And this is my robe which doesn't really have a proper hook so it hangs on the floor. The other day I found that he had made a tent out it and was just chillin'. 

Oh, London. 

And with that, this ends the latest episode of Thoughts with AmyG!