Oops.

So it has been forever since I posted on my blog, but I have been very very busy. I have started a new job! I am a senior editor at the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI). This job is perfect because it blends my interest and education in cancer biology and research with my love of writing. I never thought that my major in English at W&J would ever amount to anything, but it really was a factor in my getting my job. I think that overall, being able to critically evaluate published literature and clearly communicate my thoughts were two skills I learned in college that I have always applied to my work as a scientist.

In other news, I sold my car and I am officially car-free. I have been having my groceries delivered (thank you, Peapod!) and renting zipcars to get around when I have heavy shopping to do. Otherwise, I am taking the metro to work and learning the bus routes and schedules. So far, so good!

So if anyone actually reads this blog, I will be better about posting now :)

A Slave to Fashion

For as long as I can remember, I have been obsessed with shopping and clothes. Growing up, we had special church clothes and I loved Sundays because it meant I could wear a pretty dress and my white puffy poncho. Yes, I had a white puffy knitted poncho. Mom and Dad would take us to Hills and we would spend what seemed like hours picking out new school clothes to put on lay-away. Then my mother would wander off and Dad would assign Stacey and I areas of the store to look for her. The idea was that once one of us found her, we were to stick to her like glue and bring her back to the front of the store so that we could check out. I have no idea how she does it, but that woman can disappear in a store. Literally disappear. You are talking to her one minute and the next you realize you are talking to yourself and she is no where to be found. Then after you hunt for her and finally find her browsing in a random aisle. You ask her why she disappeared and she just shrugs her shoulders at you. I have had this happen so many times in my life I can't count. The worst is when she does it at a busy shopping mall and it takes you 45 minutes and several phone calls to her cell phone (which is in her purse, turned off or dead) to find her. One time in Kohl's, her phone was actually turned on and the ring tone led me to the shoe aisle she was in but unfortunately many stores don't have cell reception and she is notorious for carrying around a phone that is turned off, gone dead, or set to silent. Okay--I think I've totally gone off track here, but if I could get back the time I've spent searching for my mom in stores I would have enough banked for 6 month trip to Thailand. Seriously. When your feet are aching and you need a nap and all you want to do is get out of a crazy store, hunting her down was not fun.

Back to business. So I love clothes and shoes and accessories and anything else that I get to wear and makes me feel pretty. All throughout my life I have been devoted to fashion. As any fashionista knows, you must keep abreast of the latest trends. So I am a regular reader of the blog, www.thefrisky.com. I love it! It has posts from a wonderful group of women that focus on fashion, relationships, women's health, and pop culture. Yesterday I read a post about how throughout her life, the blogger keeps coming back to overalls. I realized that I myself have had an on-again, off-again love affair with overalls, too! I know I wore them as a child for convenience and comfort. Then sometime in middle school, I remember pairing them with polo shirts and converse sneakers. In high school, I had a pair that I bought from the gap that were my absolute favorite overalls. I wore them with simple tanks and sandals in warm weather and with a tee and a flannel over top in the winter. I thought that my overall days were numbered when I started college. Looking like a farmer just didn't seem like the way to make friends at W&J College. I was lonely and having a hard time finding friends because I didn't live with the other freshmen--I had been put in a building with all the sororities. I put my overalls in the back of my tiny closet and saved them for holiday breaks. After pledging Kappa Alpha Theta during the spring semester of my freshmen year, the time to get matched with our big sisters (a mentor) finally came. I received Theta-themed presents plastered with pansies, kites and cats for an entire week with clues about the identity of my big sister. My final clue the night before the big reveal told me to show up for the scavenger hunt in a pair of overalls! I pulled those suckers out of retirement and wore them with pride as I ran around the frat houses fulfilling tasks and earning the clues that led me to my big sister and the rest of my Theta family. It turned out that I had become a member of a branch of the tree that calls itself, "Theta's Overall Best Family." Hence, the overalls. I have pictures in my scrap book from that night of four generations of my family all wearing overalls. My family line still exists today, but I'm pretty sure that the overalls have been nixed. The Frisky blogger said that overalls are sure to reappear on the runways and in the stores sometime soon due to the cyclic nature of fashion. She posted some pics of a striped tee and a blazer that she would pair with her overalls along with a cute belt and some gorgeous platforms, I tried to imagine myself throwing on a pair again. Yet, I just don't think that I could pull off overalls at the age of 30, no matter how cute I think they would look with a pair of pretty platform heels. I will never say never. My sister thinks I'm a little off since I swore that leggings were ridiculous and I'd never wear them again, then I showed up in a pair under a dress. Although I did swear off the skinny jean and cowboy boot trends, and tight rolling my jeans (thank you Katie Holmes for bringing that one back). I think I will hold strong and resist the temptation with this trend as well.

Knit This, Not That

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originally uploaded by labkat02.

The past few months, my knitting output has drastically decreased. Since I am no longer teaching knitting classes, I thought I would have a lot of time to finally focus on my own projects. I was sadly mistaken. It seems that I am now busier than ever! I am a new volunteer writer for the NIH Office of Communication and Education, Cancer Publishing Branch. So I was assigned a short review of a paper that was recently published about a new technology to discover and test autoantibodies as cancer biomarkers. The plan is for this Research Advance article will be published on www.cancer.gov when it is finished. I am hoping that if I'm successful at this assignment, they will have more for me as well. Also in my spare time, I am the volunteer editor for the Montgomery County Story, the bi-annual Montgomery County Historical Society publication. I stumbled upon this as a way to get experience editing and learn something new about the county I work in. From the previous blog posts, I think it is clear that I have been spending more time in the kitchen as well. I love trying new recipes and expanding my culinary palet.

As a result of all of these extra-curricular activities, knitting has not been on the top of my list of priorities. Until a few days ago. I was trying to pick out what sweater pattern to knit for a new baby that is expected at the end of this month (shout out to baby boy Lewis!) and I realized that I had planned on beginning my holiday knitting in July. Somehow, July came and went. I have patterns that I bought last January. I just need to choose the yarn and get it done. It is actually a really cute, but easy and thoughtful gift that I'm giving to everyone in my immediate family. I have failed. So the baby sweater is at the top of the list, along with one for the best big brother ever (Yea Hayden!) because being a big brother is an important job that deserves a special new sweater too. I already am half-way done with H's sweater and I'm excited to send it to him. Then I realized that I have no plans for Izzy's birthday present. I make my neice something special for her birthday and Christmas every year. Her birthday is in early October, so I have time, but I need to budget for the yarn which means I have to pick the project and plan it out. So in summary, I have three little sweaters and about seven holiday gifts to knit. This seems reasonable, right? Of course not! To complicate the matter further, you have the fact that I am neurotic and very task-oriented. I have a shawl/scarf that I began a few weeks ago that is still sitting on the needles taunting me. I hate unfinished projects sitting around in my knitting basket. For example, the pair of slippers I knit last January that still need to be felted. I am ashamed of myself for being too scared to felt them. I've never felted anything and the process is seemingly easy--hot water, a top-loading washer, and lots of friction. I am not even going to mention the insane afghan I decided to make that is going to take me about a year at this pace because I have to make 48 separate blocks that need to then be seemed together to create a blanket that is 72"x54". All of this has left me reeling and unsure of what to knit and what not to knit. I am about to resort to my old system--post-it notes. Lots of post-it notes all over my laptop and coffee table to keep me focused.

Favorite recipe of the week

Amanda's Non-fat Peach Mango Smoothie

1c ice cold skim milk
1c fat free vanilla yogurt
1 large peeled and pitted peach
1 mango (peeled with pit removed)
2 Tbsp honey

Combine in a smoothie maker or blender and mix at high speed until smooth. It's the perfect treat on a hot day!

Favorite recipe

My sister first told me about making a salsa-based chicken soup a couple of months ago. I have added a little bit more to it every time I make it and I think I have created a great version of my own. It's one of those super easy but flavorful crock pot recipes that I think everyone loves. Put it on in the morning and by the time you get home, you have a great pot of soup.

chicken broth (one of the big boxes you can get in the canned goods aisle)

1 jar of your favorite salsa

2 frozen chicken breasts (you can use more if you want)

1 can black beans

1 can of corn

fresh chopped cilantro (1 cup)

1/2 bag of frozen bell pepper strips (or use fresh red, green, yellow and orange bell peppers)

*I crush up some tortilla chips over top when I serve it.

Hot Hot Hot!

Washington, D.C. is in the middle of a heat wave. It was over 100 degF yesterday and today it is the same only the humidity is higher. My hair is poofy no matter what products I put into it in an attempt to keep it straight. Just a few seconds after I step out the door, I can feel the makeup sliding off of my face. Going outside, it feels like I'm underwater because as I move, I can feel the air being pushed away from me because it is so thick and humid. In short, it is miserable outside. Last night, after spending an hour swimming, I was making myself dinner and a bottle of merlot on the kitchen counter caught my eye. As much as I like a nice glass of red wine with dinner, it was just too hot and I needed something more refreshing. I began to wonder why on earth someone hasn't marketed and sold wine popsicles. So I emptied out an ice cube tray and decided to try it. I'm not sure of the alcohol content and how that correlates with the freezing temperature of a liquid. I do know that liquor, for example, freezes on dry ice but not in a regular kitchen freezer. When I go home today, hopefully I will have four ice cube-sized merlot popsicles to enjoy. If not, then I will need to get some dry ice :)

Recently, I’ve been trying to work my way through a sizable stack of magazines that have accumulated in my apartment. So while walking on the treadmill in the gym, I’ve been catching up on the fashion and beauty articles in Glamour, Elle, and Marie Claire. Mostly I like to look at the columns devoted to new beauty products and the pictorials telling me what heel height is “in” for the next season. One of my favorites is the splurge vs. steal section where one magazine throws up pics of trendy outfits including jewelry and shoes and tells you what was a splurge and what was a steal. I like to see if I have anything resembling these trends at home. I am a product of my generation. I really can’t explain the appeal to anyone that didn’t spend his or her teens hanging at the mall.

I’ve noticed lately that these magazines also attempt to highlight issues in women’s health beyond the regular articles featuring questions you are too embarrassed to ask your doctor. I was about 20 minutes into my walk when I turned the page and skimmed over a headline that caught my attention in the May 2010 issue of Marie Claire. Anne Wojcicki, one of the co-founders of 23andMe, a genetic testing firm was interviewed about her life as an entrepreneur in the biotech industry. I read through the article and my first thought was disappointment. I was so disappointed. I felt that the author should have focused on the controversy surrounding the impending sales of these test kits at retailers such as Walgreen’s. Instead, the focus was on Wojcicki—her hair color and clothing preferences, the way she and her husband live in a humble home considering their measurable wealth, and her background and ultimate success as a businesswoman. While I applaud the journal for highlighting her as an individual, they glossed over the controversy surrounding the release of this technology and presented a completely one-sided account. I suppose that given the magazine I found it in, I shouldn’t have expected riveting journalism.

I think that if I had not read an article earlier the same week announcing the sale of the kits, produced by a few companies including 23andMe, then I wouldn’t have been nearly so disappointed with the Marie Claire piece. I had no idea that such tests were in development let alone ready to be stocked in pharmacies. I think the principle is a good one—using a swab, you collect some saliva and send it off to the company for analysis and find out if you are at risk for heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, etc. Each company is a bit different, but using your DNA, they determine if you have genes for a host of diseases including ones that are not preventable, such as Alzheimer’s. You get a report from the company giving you the statistics and your risks for developing these conditions in the future based on your unique gene profile.

While I am a proponent of what is being called “personalized medicine,” I understand why these at-home gene test kits are currently a subject of debate with the FDA. First, I would like to note that you can easily undergo genetic testing by a licensed doctor and speak with a genetic counselor. I know this because I’ve had friends who are pregnant and it seems like all of them have gone in for tests because of a history of miscarriage or other reproductive issues. So tests like these are not novel. They have been around in the healthcare community for quite awhile. In Marie Claire, Wojcicki is quoted as saying, “the paternalism of the medical industry is insane. But scientific advances are changing all that." You have got to be kidding me! I personally think that her company and others like 23andMe are offering a service without proper support for their customers. The information that they are giving to people is potentially life altering and could also cause great emotional distress. If I found out that I had a gene that increased my risk for Alzheimer’s, for example, I would have to take that into account when I considered getting married and having a family. Furthermore, a small study by the Coriell Institute for Medical Research in New Jersey, gave 44 participants a genetic screen much like the ones the FDA is currently scrutinizing. Interviews with the study participants found that one-third had shared their results with a doctor. Of these, half received behavior or lifestyle recommendations from their doctors based on the test results, but a quarter of these patients said that their physicians “didn't know what to make of the information.” I think that the customers of these at-home kits may not completely understand the results because even clinicians aren’t 100% clear on the role that behavioral factors like diet have on many of the conditions these tests examine. Also, similar studies have shown that the participants didn’t make any significant changes in their lifestyles based on genetic test results that they hadn’t already begun to make.

The bottom line for me is that it is irresponsible to give a person this information without proper education and a medical support system that could help the individual make lifestyle changes. Wojcicki’s assertion that the medical community is attempting to somehow control patients by not supporting these gene-testing kits is absurd. I think that if these kits were offered and used under the direction of knowledgeable healthcare professionals equipped to help counsel the patient, the controversy would be hampered or not exist at all. For me the controversy is in giving this information to someone who won’t know what it means or what to do with it in order to try to prevent developing disease.