I'm new here

Hello, readers!

I thought I'd introduce myself in my first ever blog - I'm Leighanne. I recently finished my Ph.D in Biochemistry, and am living in Maryland with my amazing fiance. So what the heck is a scientist doing starting a blog, you might ask yourself? Especially a blog that's centered around everything BUT science? I'm hoping this will allow me to express my creative side. So bear with me.

I've been trying this new thing lately, where I actually leave my work at work. Oh, and I've been forcing myself to limit my work day to only 8 hours. The 6 years I spent in grad school were mentally exhausting. No matter how hard I tried, without fail, every night before bed, my research projects would creep back into my mind, keeping me awake at night. "What experiments do I need to set up tomorrow? Crap, I forgot to run that control. If I get in by 6am, I'll be able to leave by 6:30pm." I can't begin to tell you how sleep deprived I was in grad school. When you're averaging 5 hours of sleep a night, are SERIOUSLY dependent on caffeine, and you don't have an infant keeping you up all hours of the night that you can blame your tiredness on, I'd say you're working too much. I made an agreement with myself that once I graduated, I'd stop taking my work home with me and would try out the whole optimizing my work-life balance thing. Don't get me wrong, I love my new job - I work in a research lab at a prominent research University where I study Tuberculosis (awesome, right?) - and I love research. Grad school just allowed me to realize there are more important things in life than work.

So, that's what I'm doing - this blog is my way of expressing my creative side. Which I really missed these past 6 years. I love to cook (it's like setting up experiments, but way more awesome because you get to eat when it's all done), and believe it or not, I'm pretty crafty. I have recently discovered Pinterest. I'm obsessed (as most people who discover Pinterest are). This blog is my platform for demonstrating my Pinterest project wins & fails, as well as other things. My fiance, Jake, and I just bought a house, so I'm sure I'll have some tips on DIYs for the home (hopefully?). We're also planning a wedding this year, so stay tuned for all wedding related things.

Hopefully all of you will enjoy this as much as I will. So stay tuned!