Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!*

I may be tearing my hair out trying to finish all my tasks on time, but David nevertheless managed to convince me to join him and some Irish friends in their St. Patrick's Day celebrations after work today. What do I have to lose, really? I could certainly use some Luck of the Irish...

Also, my gym greeted me with this lovely display this morning.

Green and sparkly! How can I not be in a good mood after starting my day like that? This is the Emerald City, after all.

Happy St. Pat's Day, everyone!

*Irish Gaelic for “St. Patrick's Day blessings upon you!” (but you knew that, of course).

Temporarily out of service

My apologies for being a terrible blogger! The past week has been slightly overwhelming at work, but I assure you that I will continue the Costa Rican report as soon as my plate is a little less full.

Hang in there! I will.

Tranquil Tamarindo

All right, let's start this journey! First of all, let me introduce my fellow explorers:

No, those are drinks. Delicious, cheap happy hour cocktails, but still: drinks. Let's try again:

That's more like it! But who are these djungle creatures?

David. Well, I guess you know him quite well by now... This Tico was not surprisingly our travel agent, chauffeur, tour guide, interpretor, patron, benefactor, bartender, chef, and overall insider.

Amelia. David's girlfriend; an awesome chica that I'm glad I got to spend some quality girl time with during this trip.

Pedro. The iron kid. A Colombian with very strong opinions on how to eat one's patacones (fried plantains). Don't you dare dip them in guacamole!

David, Amelia, and a discrete photo bomb by Pedro.

Me and the lads.

David and Amelia had already enjoyed the tropical paradise for a week when Pedro and I left Seattle and flew off late Saturday night. We were picked up at the airport in Costa Rica the next day and the four of us set course for Tamarindo, a little town situated by the Northern Pacific coast in the province of Guanacaste, a three-hour drive from San José.

About 4.5 hours later we arrived at Playa Langosta, where David had rented a fantastic condo with a fully equipped kitchen, barbeque, patio, and pool. The place was amazing... I can't imagine the looks on our faces being anything but hilarious when we stepped out into the outdoor shower rooms, surrounded by banana plants and lush greenery. My jaw definitely dropped.

We spent four nights in this heavenly setting enjoying relaxed beach life, occasional shopping, tasty happy hour drinks, and delicious meals. All of us took surf lessons, and although the waves were of moderate quality we managed to improve our variable skills and get merely mildly beat up by our boards.

Lovely, lazy, luxurious days in the tropical heat; a promising start to this trip. Next: La Fortuna, a three-hour drive from Tamarindo. Volcano! Hot springs! Waterfall! Ziplines! German food poisoning!

There will be bloo...ogging

Friends, I'm back in Seattle, powered up on solar energy and ready to take on the remainder of this somewhat gloomy season with a smile on my face. Costa Rica was absolutely fabulous and I have hundreds of photos I would like to share with you. However, as about 3/4 of them show either sunsets and/or endless tropical beaches (with or without silhouettes of surfers or nesting sea turtles) my guess is you would prefer some kind of selection to keep you from passing out or being bored to death.

While I'm working on choosing my favorite pics, please enjoy these snapshots showing... umm... sunsets... and beaches... and surfers... and turtles. Ehm.

*cough*

Tamarindo.

Nosara.

(Sorry.)

Going, going, gone

Tropical climate year round, 5 % of the world's biodiversity on 0.1 % of the world's landmass; ecotourism, beaches, and adventure.

Pura vida, pura vida... Pura vida!

Toodeloo February drizzle, we're off! See you in March, Seattle dearest.

Death stalker scorpion science!!!

As many of you know, I don't have Facebook (for several reasons). Unfortunately, that means that I miss out on some things that I would really like to support, such as Project Violet's Valentine's hunt for likes. What Dr. Jim Olson and his colleagues at Fred Hutch are doing is nothing but amazing, and a generous family has offered to donate $50,000 to get a critical piece of lab equipment for the project, provided that they get 5,000 likes.

You Facebookers out there, please visit their profile, like, and share with your friends: Project Violet on Facebook.

Fellow non-Facebook users, I encourage you to visit their website and read about tumor paint derived from the Israeli death stalker scorpion (sic) and other cool things: www.projectviolet.org.

I also strongly recommend this TEDx talk from Dr. Olson, for those who want to know more about their research: How Nature and a 9-Year Old are Revolutionizing Cancer Treatment.

Share the love, y'all!

My heart is in my belly

I always love breakfast but today I'm boosting it with some extra sweetness.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you: lovers and haters alike.

The Chronicles of Frost...ick*

The Sahlgrenska Academy asked me to write a little something for their newsletter, about my experiences from being an international postdoc. This is how it turned out:

In Swedish
In English

*Do not see this movie. Seriously, don't. Judy Dench must have had a small stroke when she signed the contract.

Birthday Bash 1.0

Little Cian, it's been a year since you entered this world and our lives - after causing a bit of drama... One year.

The memories of visiting you and your parents at the hospital for the first time are still very vivid; you were so tiny and seemed so frail. And now, look at you; showing off your first staggering steps on your birthday party, in front of everyone! No stage fright there. I'm so proud and happy to be your auntie, and can't wait to see all the awesome things you are going to learn and do and become as you make your way through life.

Singing, blowing out the candle, cheering.

Happy birthday, sweet little boy!

Champions!

Surely, you already know by now but I nonetheless have to report that Seahawks claimed Seattle's first Vince Lombardi Trophy yesterday as they literally destroyed Denver Broncos at Super Bowl XLVIII. (After that, the city went mad.)

We were watching the game at David's house nomming on chips, dip, cookies and cake whilst cheering, high-fiving, and not quite believing our eyes as Manning and his fellow ponies were brutally defeated on the field. They didn't stand a chance! Although I left the dancing on the streets to others, I feel really lucky to have had the privilege to follow Seahawks this season, all the way to the top for the very first time. I'm not just lucky, I'm proud! Damn proud.

Wicked! Go Hawks! YAY SPORTSBALL!

As a side note, this was a pretty unusual afternoon given that the Swedes were in majority at the party, thanks to a couple of visiting gentlemen from my old hood. Perfect timing, lads!