Ready or Not...

One week from today, actually one week from RIGHT THIS SECOND I will be up in front of a room including at least three PhD's that I deeply respect defending my capstone project.

You guys, I am terrified.  Like, my palms are sweating right now THINKING about it.  Seriously.  And it isn't about the research project itself.  I am beyond proud of the work I have done, which is on three specific positive parenting practices (reading to children, engaging in storytelling or singing, and having family meals) and their impact on children's risk of developmental, social, or behavioral delays.  I could actually write for hours on how important I think this research is and the impact I believe it could have on families.  I think it's important, and worth sharing. I really do. 

But this public speaking bit..the part where I get up in front of a group of my peers and mentors and present my findings...then when I stand there and answer questions about it... it sounds like my worst nightmare.  Or, my worst nightmare would be if I had to SING it, but still.  It's really close to my worst nightmare. 

I mentioned on here the other day I was also going to present my findings as a poster presentation at a research conference later in the month... but I started getting worried about that too.  So much in fact that I was pretty sure I was going to pull my abstract and NOT do that.  Nope.  There were lots of good reasons to NOT do that.  It was adding something else to my plate.... I am having issues with my endo and not feeling well..we will be in t-ball season...

excuses, excuses, excuses.

I got an email from my capstone chair telling me I should submit my capstone to the conference.  She had no idea I had already decided to do it, then talked myself out of it.  She just read my project and felt it was good enough to be at the conference. And somehow that email reset my way of thinking.  I am back on board with presenting at the conference.  I am trying to get on board with 'presenting' in general.

I love research.  I love being the person who asks a question and then fights to find the best possible answer.  I love the idea that through research I have the power to make a difference in so many people lives.  And if I want to do this, I need to get past my fear of standing by my work.  I need to let go of my (sort of crippling) fear of public speaking and find the confidence I envy in so many other great speakers.  I need to work on being proud to share what I have done, and not just want to email it out so people can read it while I hide behind my keyboard and wait for their emailed reply.

I am good at this research thing.  I think I could be great at this someday.  But step one in getting better is standing up and explaining it, justifying it, and being proud of it.

I think I can do it.  Actually I know I can.  And in one week I will.

If you have any public speaking advice for someone who forgets to breath in front of crowds, please send it my way!

 

Cousin Cabin Weekend!

So back a few months ago I randomly mentioned that it might be fun for all the Kentucky and South Carolina cousins to get a cabin and meet in the middle between our two fair states in the smokey mountains. It was one of those "someday" ideas.  Something to talk about, put on a shelf, and maybe do in a few years when we are... I don't know, older? More responsible?  I have no idea.  But SOMEDAY that would be fun....

Then I mentioned it in the presence of Kelsey:

Who basically said,"Screw someday, here are some links to cabins. What weekend in February is everyone open?"  I thought it would be hard to coordinate all our schedules, but turns out it was extremely easy.  Just like that...

Cousin Cabin Weekend was HAPPENING.

And we were all pretty excited.

We didn't roll into Tennessee until nearly midnight, so I expected us to crash as soon as we walked in.

Not exactly what happened... but the weekend was off to an excellent start!

Saturday morning we hung around, eating an insane amount of food (I had two full breakfasts.. thank you Nicole, Candice and Lucas!)

Playing games and enjoying being together



Eventually we realized it was INSANELY NICE outside.  Like, I don't know, nearly 70 degrees.  Or at least it felt that way

Which meant we had no choice but to go-cart

And because we are a family of documentors, it was filmed on multiple go pros


After the amazing Cousin's Cup we headed into downtown Gatlinburg to take in the sights

Turns out there is a lot of traffic on the first pretty day of the year...

But we managed to ignore that and have a great time together.

Candice, Lucas and Henry

Matt and Blair

Me  and my sweet boy

Cousins 2.0

Chris looking stoic

After lunch some of us took a chair lift to the top of the mountain

Which turned out to be just a touch terrifying with my PRECIOUS BABY. WHERE-ARE-THE-SEAT-BELTS?!?!

Although the view was excellent

And Henry and Nieem loved it

Meanwhile, some people went go-carting again. Because how can you drive past that level of go-cart tracks without stopping?

Eventually we all made it back to the cabin, where we enjoyed stuff like this

And maybe this... (plus the hot tub, video games, pool, wedding planning and all around good times)

mostly, we just had lots and lots of fun being together.

It was an amazing weekend.  Just awesome.  And I keep thinking back to it and smiling. I love our family, and I feel so blessed to be part of such a cool group of  people. My only complaint is that it went too fast, and that I wanted MORE.  More hours in the day, more time to laugh and talk and play games.  More time to eat and sleep and be together.  Because these people are some of my very favorite in the whole wide world.

Next year I am making us matching family t-shirts... because one of us has to be the nerd that does it.

I have more pictures than words... like I said, we are a documenting sorta family.

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The Falls

It's going to be a picture heavy week around Bio Girl... just a heads up.

So this past weekend we had the first annual Cousin Cabin Weekend, where the three Kentucky cousins and their families met up with the three South Carolina families for a fun filled weekend in the mountains of Tennessee.  It was awesome.  And I am going to show you a ton of AMAZING pictures from the weekend... tomorrow.  Maybe Thursday.  But today I am going to show you where Nick, Henry and I stopped on our way back home...

Cumberland Falls!


I want to tell you Cumberland Fall's is like, the second biggest water fall in the US.  But I don't know if that's  fact.  People do call it the Niagara of the south, so there must be something to that, right?

As we walked around to the different look out spots we started to hear some music.  We looked up and there was an old man playing a wooden piccolo on a large rock in the woods.  Nick was like "Um... our impromptu trip to the water fall just got sorta perfect..."

But I didn't take his picture, because even as a blogger that felt a little strange

I did take lots of pictures of Henry though...one of these days I am going to make an entire book of pictures I take of him from behind.  I don't know why I love them so much

Here is our self portrait, where you can't see the fall's at all (they really are behind us) but you CAN see how happy we are with our trip to Cumberland Falls

A boy and his Mama

a boy and his Papa on top of a giant rock

If you are ever in the area, it's worth the twenty minute drive off I-75 to see Cumberland Falls.  It really is beautiful.

Stay tuned for a ton of pictures of Cousin Cabin Weekend later this week!

( Matt, I know how annoying it is that I did this post first.  That was just for you... )