Pieces of Anna

Last night, I had my first wedding-related nightmare. Perhaps it's surprising that the nightmares started so late in the game. Or maybe they didn't start, and it was just a fluke? Here's hoping... In my dream, it was the day of our wedding, and D and I were riding the subway in very casual clothes, going somewhere to pick up his sister. In the middle of the subway ride, I suddenly remembered that we were supposed to be getting married that day, and immediately started panicking. A: Oh my god, we are supposed to be getting married today! How could we have forgotten??? D: It's fine, we didn't forget, we can still get married. A: But we are not even close to being ready! We don't even have centerpieces! Yeah... I panicked about not having centerpieces. Not about the fact that, you know, we are for some reason on the subway in sweatpants, when we are supposed to be getting ready and going to the venue. But the thing is, I know exactly why I'm having ni

Can you believe that I've been blogging at Pieces of Anna for an entire year now? In honor of this momentous occasion, let's recap what happened in the past year. I started this blog to figure out what it is that I like to do in my spare time, after I realized that most of my hobbies had slowly disappeared from my life. Well, I'm happy to report that some hobbies have made a (re)appearance! But more than that, the blog has slowly evolved beyond this singular purpose into an outlet that allows me to record fragments of my life in writing. My life, in a nutshell. So what have I been up to lately? Let's see. Despite my aspirations for a career change , science will always be my first love. Chemistry never ceases to fascinate me, and if I could choose to stay in any scientific career, I would definitely become a chemist. For an amazing marriage of photography and chemistry, check out The Elements by Theodore Gray. Trust me, you will not be disappointed. And

Yesterday, I caught my fiance reading A Practical Wedding . Me: What are you doing? D: I'm doing research for our ceremony. Me: How did you end up on that website? D: Some chick keeps talking about it... Hehehe. Just doing my part, spreading the sanity around.

Or, as the Arizona Senate put it, "Fuck you very much!" (Oh, you thought this post might be about celebration and flowers? Sorry, no such luck.) In its infinite wisdom, the Arizona Senate passed a bill (20 to 9) that allows doctors to not inform women (or parents) about a potential prenatal issue that could be life threatening to the woman or the fetus. While I could attempt to write an adequate response to this insanity while my blood is boiling, Lucy Woodhull at Miss Worded said is best. Here is an excerpt: Dear Illustrious Penises of Arizona, You just passed a bill that allows doctors to intentionally withhold life-saving information from a woman because if she heard it, she might abort a fetus to save her own life or because of problems with the fetus itself. Great job.  It is well-known that women cannot be trusted with decisions.  Much better to let a doctor decide to have her die to save that precious fetus that will also die. Go read the rest of it

I was prepared this time. After getting the hair dye all over the bathroom (but not my gray hair) during my last near-sighted attempt , I figured out that the key to successfully dying my hair was to actually be able to see what I'm doing. Genius, right? So I went digging into the depths of our bathroom vanity cabinet and fished out my two-year-old contact lenses. Given that my vision deteriorates every year, and I almost never wear contacts, these lenses weren't going to give me 20/20 vision. But it was better than nothing. At the very least, the hair on my head came into focus and no longer looked like a blob in the mirror. With the contacts in, I recalled the disaster that my bathroom turned into last time, after the hair dye bottle projectile vomited its purple contents all over every (white) surface. Determined to avoid the clean up that followed, I cut up a plastic bag and covered the sink as best I could. I also brought in some paper towels, figuring it couldn't hu