This weekend I went to an actual pumpkin patch for the very first time and hand-picked my own pumpkin. It was so cool to see all the pumpkins on their vines and all the different sizes.

There were so many different pumpkins to choose from and I wanted to choose the perfect one for carving, and one that wouldn't be too heavy for my little arms to carry lol.

 

Now this weather is the Autumn I know and love! Today it was really sunny, with a mild chill in the air. As fall and winter rolls around I like to break out my hats... I had a revelation 2 years ago and realized I'm definitely a hat girl. Normally I steal my dad's hats, but I got this one from Forever 21. In fact, this was the  boater hat was the hat that started my obsession.

The skirt I'm wearing is also from Forever 21 I found on clearance a few years ago. When I first saw it, I thought it was so weird with its pleats and lacy bottom, but my mom convinced (forced) me to buy it, and as we all know, mothers are never wrong. Now every time I wear it I get compliments and its actually become one of my favorite clothing items.

Lesson learned: when your mom forces you to buy a strange looking skirt, buy it!

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I wanted to share this amazingly cool experiment I did in my physiology lab this week! We examined cardiac muscle in a frog. It is important to note that this experiment was completely humane and the frogs were brain-dead with their spinal cords severed, so they experience no pain or feeling in this experiment.

In my lab we tested the electrical activity of cardiac muscle and we also observed the effects of certain drugs like epinephrine (adrenaline) and acetylcholine on the heart.
-Epinephrine (adrenaline)- released during fight-or-flight sympathetic activity, speeds heart rate up
whereas
- Acetylcholine- released during rest-and-digest parasympathetic activation, slows heart rate down.

It was amazing to see the heart muscle actually respond to the effects of these drugs in the same way our own body responds to them internally.