Remember when I said I was going to make some friendships bracelets? Well, I whipped these two up while I was in Arizona. Fittingly, the rest of my jewelry is from Arizona, too, although not this trip. I bought the ring there, I think when I was in high school, and the bracelet was a gift from my grandmother, also years ago. I think the tarnish gives it character, though you are free to disagree. My terribly dry and chapped hands are partly a gift from Arizona, but Boston helped. I can’t keep up with the hand lotion requirements.

I wore both of the bracelets when I met up with two good friends from graduate school. One lives in Boston, and the other was visiting from San Francisco. They reminded me of how much I miss the fun times we used to have together in the lab. Yeah, lab work is a lot of staring into microscopes and squirting liquids into tubes, but between those activities we managed to fit in a lot of good conversations. From DNA to celebrity gossip to book discussions, the conversations certainly ran the gamut. And back again. Since moving across the country, I’ve learned to appreciate catching up with friends I don’t get to see anymore. So if you have time this weekend, I highly recommend calling or emailing someone you haven’t talked to lately. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.