Difficult times require drastic measures. Grief is awful, and sometimes you just have to defy it. I have an excellent, minimalist-leaning stylist. I sat him down and told him about trauma, bravery, and the need for big hair. He went and got his 30-year old spiral perm rods. Damn straight, bitches.

Some fun shots of me giving a planetarium show in Auckland at Stardome Observatory and Planetarium A lovely evening!

Here comes a good one!

Happy Caturday to all who celebrate.

The wonderful musician and composer Butterscotch just released a song inspired by my husband Andrew and me. It's touching and triggering. Thank you so much for this.

I just got back from a quick trip to Alaska. Petersburg has a fantastic Little Norway festival. If I have any chance to dress up like a Viking in public, I will take it.

Old North Church in Boston last night.

Today, as a special treat, the University of Wisconsin got out their collection of Tully Monster fossils, just for me. If you don't know what Tully Monsters are (they lived about 300 million years ago), they are one of evolutions worst fashion mistakes.

Wonderful trip to Finland! We were lucky on two nights -it was cloudy the rest of the time. We were at the aptly-named Northern Lights Village in Lapland, about 100 km north of the Arctic Circle.

Flying to Finland. Found myself explaining auroras on the inflight entertainment. These moments are weird, humbling, and fun. I was never paid for my shows, so I never know about this stuff.

8 years ago: trying on my elf earbuds

Come by and celebrated Darwin Day at UWM in Milwaukee on 2/15. I'm giving the keynote lecture, and there are a lot of seriously fun things planned. I had no idea UWN has such an amazing collection of fossils. Be sure to say hi to me if you can make it.

I'm concerned for my friends in the Federal Service.They are some of the most patriotic, generous, brilliant and loyal people I have ever met. The idea that there is huge waste is laughable. Please call your representatives and tell them this is not okay.

I have friends in Petersburg, Alaska, and I needed to clear my head and heart out after the last few weeks. Thank the stars for friendship, generosity and love.

Petersburg is isolated on an island. The local high school is also a community center; I spent the morning in the excellent pool, hot tub and sauna talking with neighbors. The auditorium doubles as the town's movie theater, and the gym was being set up for a Cosmic Roller Disco tonight.

It's about as cold as it gets in Petersburg today, with 40 mph winds. Absolutely gorgeous, though. Worth a trip out the whale observatory. It's not time for the humpbacks to be here yet, but I did see a small pod of orcas.