Meeting Baby Joanna and Big Brother Jesse

I had the chance to meet the newest addition to a friend's family yesterday. My colleague Carol delivered Joanna on August 24, several weeks before her scheduled due date. She now weighs more than eight pounds and is so adorable, just like her older brother Jesse was when he was born.

I forgot to take my camera, but here's one of Jesse from the spring of 2008, and they look a lot alike.

Jesse is 18 months now and so cute. He follows his father, Patrick, around and he still has that cute smile. He calls his little sister "Bamb," his word for baby.

Carol and I also had the chance to catch up about many things, including our favorite soap opera, The Young and the Restless.  It's funny to me since Carol is from Uganda, and she's one of the only friends I have who's watched the show for a long time. My American friends probably think I'm crazy for watching it all these years, but not Carol! :)

It was great seeing the whole family together again!

A Trip to the Zoo

I promised a six-year-old a trip to the zoo, and when you make a promise, especially to a six-year-old, you keep it! It was a fun day, and Isabella is a great kid. Yes, it is August, and very hot, but our Knoxville Zoo has lots of trees and shade. The animals, however, were not fooled. They sensed the heat and took the chance to nap and relax.

The sleeping female lions.



Rhinos relaxing in the shade.



This is as close as we got to a lion!



The elephants were actually inside when we arrived.



Since it was so hot, we took a break and cooled off with a Slush Puppie, strawberry kiwi flavor.



The giant tortoise



One of the zebras had his butt facing us, and Isabella didn't want to take a photo with a zebra butt! :)



Isabella loved petting the goats. She told me in advance about picking out the brush to use.



Funny and slightly scary story about the gorilla. As we entered the cave area to view the gorillas through a window, there was a man close to the glass. I guess he was sort of taunting the gorilla and trying to get him to turn around for a photo. Well, the gorilla was not pleased with the man's behavior, so he turned around and loudly slapped the window with his giant hand and grunted. Everyone was startled to say the least and jumped back. Isabella ran out of the cave but quickly came back. She said the gorilla liked us since he didn't mind us taking a photo of him.





Here is an adult giraffe. When they are born, baby giraffes are already six feet tall!


The zoo has lots of birds as well. Isn't that a cute owl!



The red pandas weren't there the last time I visited the zoo, so it was nice to see them.





The zoo has a great kids area where Isabella loved playing. They have an egg and nest area that makes for great photos! In fact, we bought a photo frame and had the photo below printed for it.



Also in the kids area is a frog pond area where kids love to splash and get wet. Isabella loved it.



All wet and standing next to the beavers and their dams.



What trip to the zoo isn't complete without a visit to McDonalds to get a Happy Meal for a happy little girl.

A Time for Celebrations and Good-Byes (Updated)

The end of July and beginning of August has been a time to celebrate with friends and bid them a fond farewell. Several of my colleagues in the Ph.D program are moving on to new jobs and lives. It's been sad to see them go, but we're happy for them and their successes. My time is coming!

My friend Aya was up first, defending her dissertation July 15. She is from Indonesia and actually flew back home last week to visit her family before starting as an assistant professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.



One of Aya's committee members is teaching a summer course in Paris, so he joined us via Skype.



Aya and her friends made some delicious Indonesian food for the defense.



A few days after Aya's defense, we celebrated her birthday at Mimi's Cafe. Very yummy!



We had a celebration at Calhoun's on the River before everyone left town. It stormed that afternoon, so we couldn't sit outside, but we had a great gathering of graduate students and faculty.





Chris and Anne tried trying telling those leaving us to STOP and not leave!



Poor Arsev looks like no one wants to sit next to him, but because of the rain, the roof was leaking, and there was water on the booth seat next to him.



Here are some folks who are leaving us. From the left: Greg and Angela who are engaged. My colleague Angela will be an assistant professor at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois this fall. They will marry next May in North Carolina. Aya is in front, and then my colleague and friend Jessica and my husband David are on the right.



Antoneta (left) is headed to Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, and Bernardo (right) is going to Bridgewater College in Virginia. Arsev is just trying to fit in the middle!



Charlie, the guy in the orange shirt in the middle, is headed to Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. It's the end of an era!


Here's a shot of my friend Katerina's husband and son. Aljosha really grew up over the summer. He went to Macedonia with his father and sister in late April and returned in late July. While he was there, they gave him a haircut, and now he looks like a little man.



Bernardo defended his dissertation this week and moves soon to Bridgewater, Virginia, where he will be an assistant professor at Bridgewater College. I didn't get a photo of him at his defense, but this is his office space BEFORE he's cleaned it out and packed. The after shots are now posted below!







Congrats to all the graduates. We will miss you!

Una Comida Deliciosa (A Delicious Meal)

On Wednesday night, we went to our friend Susana's house for a delicious Venezuelan meal. Susana's husband Simon is my Ph.D. colleague, and he is currently in Venezuela conducting research for his dissertation. They have two wonderful hijos (children), Leandro and Isabella, who are very smart as well.

My good friend Aya was there as well, and we dined on a wonderful meal of plantaines, ensalada (salad), carne (meat), queso (cheese) and a special pan de maiz (cornbread). Susana made a tres leches (three milks) cake with fresas (strawberries) on top for dessert, which was so good!

Isabella and Leandro are teaching Aya how to make the bread.



Yummy plantaines!



We talked to Simon using Skype, a software application that allows users to make phone calls over the Internet. He could see us very clearly, but he didn't have much light at his house in Venezuela, so he looked like Darth Vader from Star Wars, which is also the background image on their computer. Simon is in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. See the resemblance?



Muchas gracias Susana, Leandro and Isabella! We hope to see you soon Simon! Safe travels!

A March Miracle

OK, this miracle technically happened Friday, February 27, but as a journalist, I always love a good headline. And Baby Austin will always be a miracle baby in my opinion.

You might remember from a post last year about my college friend Natasha and her family who discovered their little baby had leukemia. After five months of chemo at Shands at UF, the Allen family officially went home for good on Friday evening, and Austin is in remission. The photo above is Austin on the right, and his big brother Hunter is on the left.

I'm so happy for this special family and hope to meet Austin and his big brother Hunter one day. During this ordeal, my mom and dad cooked and took a meal to Natasha one day while she stayed at the hospital EVERY day. She stayed during the week, and her husband came to the hospital on the weekends. Austin is such a happy baby. When my parents visited his room, my mom said all he did was laugh and laugh, despite being so sick.

His older brother Hunter celebrated his 5th birthday at the end of January, and I sent him a present. He told his mom to tell me, "Thank you for the gift. If you ever need anything, please call me." How cute is that! He also sent me an adorable hand-written thank-you note.

Natasha and I have been out of touch since college, but through Facebook, e-mail and her blog, we've reconnected, and I've learned so much about her wonderful family's struggle with this dreaded disease. As Natasha wrote near the beginning of this fight, "Austin has cancer, but cancer doesn't have Austin." Go Austin for beating cancer! Take care little buddy!

Congratulations Graduates!

Congratulations Glenn, Felicia, Jim, Alla, Steve, Sora, John, Emma, Charlie and Cheryl!

It was an inspiration for me to see my colleagues last Friday at UT's graduate hooding ceremony. When one earns a doctoral degree, his or her adviser "hoods" them, which literally means they put an academic hood over their head.

The College of Communication and Information had 10 Ph.D. students graduate, and 9 of them attended the ceremony. Most of them have left Knoxville for jobs in various states, so it was a reunion as well. Several of us served as graduate student ushers, so we were able to get some great photos thanks to Katerina who used my camera. I was stationed at the doors, greeting guests and telling them where to sit.

Hopefully, I won't be an usher at next December's hooding ceremony but a hooded graduate. I'm taking my comprehensive exams in January, so my winter break will be spent studying.

Happy Birthday Aljosha!

My friend Katerina's little boy, Aljosha, is one today! I can't believe how fast this year has flown by in all our lives. In an earlier post, I talked about how I was in the delivery room for Aljosha's birth. What a wonderful experience! Happy Birthday Aljosha! Below are some recent photos of Aljosha and his wonderful family.

Updates

I'm happy to report that my college friend Natasha and her family had some good news this week. After the first round of chemo, baby Austin (pictured above in the hospital with his big brother Hunter) is in remission and doesn't have any cancer cells in his body. The doctors determined this after a bone marrow biopsy. He'll still needs four more rounds of chemo, but the Allen family is very happy. They continue to need prayers and support since they'll probably be at Shands Hospital until March.



Another Gator is moving to Knoxville! University of Tennessee President John Petersen selected Dr. Jimmy Cheek, UF's Senior Vice President for Agricultural and Natural Resources, as UT-Knoxville's next chancellor. The UT Board of Trustees approved the recommendation Friday, and Cheek starts Feb. 1, 2009. I should probably warn him about all the orange and white he's going to encounter. Go Gators! Go Vols!