The Beginning

The Beginning

Welcome to my first blog! I feel like I should explain a few things: who I am and what I want to write about.

I am a scientist and I am a woman. I work full time in a very small lab in the Philadelphia suburbs. I mostly focus on the analysis of pharmaceuticals using liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (for the fellow scientists out there.) I graduated from college with a B.S. in Biology in 2008 right before the financial crisis hit. I have also been married for 8 years. For the most part, I am the “breadwinner” of the family and make most of the important decisions in our household (with his input of course.) My husband and I grew up in Reno, NV but that was never a place I felt like I belonged. So after 4 years of working somewhere that I was miserable, I requested a transfer to another site in the Philadelphia area. My husband was supportive of the move, but due to some extenuating circumstances he was unable to finish his degree before we left. We were lucky enough to be able to buy our first home two years later. Since then we have been navigating our way though adulthood! My husband is about to start a program to finish up his music education degree. I am on a constant journey trying to balance my career, our household, our marriage, and my sanity.

So now you might be wondering, “why does this lady think she needs to add ANOTHER blog to the internet?” It seems like everyone has a blog, right? Well, when I am endlessly scrolling though Pinterest and reading blog after blog, I am sometimes disappointed. I am disappointed because I rarely see blogs from women like me! A lot of these women that blog are stay at home moms, or self-employed moms. And definitely not from women in the STEM field. These are blogs that offer homemaking advice or relationship advice, but from someone with a completely different perspective from my own. To be clear, I have NOTHING against these women, and always value a different perspective. This is the path they have chosen for their lives and are kicking ass! But this is not a path I’m interested in. I do not have children yet (hoping this changes very soon,) and I do not plan to leave my job after I become a mom. I do not have time to do an hour of housework every day to keep my house tidy. In fact cleaning is my least favorite thing (followed by exercising.) I barely have time to cook dinner a few nights a week, and doing the dishes after is a rarity. This means my Saturdays and Sundays need to involve 4 things: recreational “me time,” relationship time with my husband, housekeeping, and meal prep.

Is my house clean and tidy? No, it’s a disaster most of the time. It might be somewhat acceptable for a few hours on Sunday night.

Do I cook nutritious beautiful Instagram worthy meals? Nutritious is likely...Instagram worthy is unlikely.

Is my marriage wonderful? It’s certainly not bad, but it is a constantly evolving thing that always needs work.

Is my mental health fantastic? It’s better than it has been in the past, but depression and anxiety have always a part of my life. As an introvert it is important that I find ways to get out of my head that are gratifying but not not exhausting.

Is my career great? I feel like this is something that is getting better as I become more comfortable with myself. At almost 10 years and 4 jobs in, I think I’m finally starting to figure it out. However, I’m the only female scientist that works at my location (hopefully this will change in the future,) so that has brought its own set of challenges.

I plan to use this blog to discuss a lot of topics ranging from issues I encounter as a lady in the laboratory, to recipe reviews, and homemaking hacks. I want to show the working ladies of in our out of STEM that you aren’t alone! You may be struggling to keep up with your life, and that’s ok! Let’s do it together.

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