i'm ready!!!

... ya know, in case that Nor'easter is as strong as they say it will be...

1 = 3.

It was a long hard final night in Intro to Med as we all had to give presentations, so (as you can imagine) it was dragging on a bit. I needed rejuvenation stat! so I turned to my trusted pal, the Diet Coke. As soon as I had my hankering, I could hardly ignore it! The class break couldn't come soon enough! Finally, it was upon me and I scampered down the hall, turned the corner, and there she was: the soda machine. She was a sight to behold, sparkling in all her glory while quiet hallelujahs played in the background. I walked to her slowly, slipped in a dollar bill and three quarters and.... the ole lady spit out THREE WHOLE DIET COKES!! It was a Christmas miracle!!

Oh, and bonus, I'm now officially done with my first semester of grad school :)

say cheese,
katy

barney wisdom.

Jocelyn is taking one more class than I am this semester and the pressure of "The Final Push" is definitely rearing its ugly head. I made her an encouraging note to help her through, but I thought I should share it with any and all who may read the blog and also be suffering from end-of-the-semester blues.

<All wisdom compliments of Barney Stinson, of "How I Met Your Mother">

So be confident, my friends, and know you can do it!! Barney and I believe in you :)

say "suit up!"
katy

dirty pop!

I wanted to make a special goodie for my co-workers at the Health Center so I decided to make a favorite holiday treat: chocolate-covered popcorn (recipe compliments of new Texan, Miss Anna Kerr). It is so delicious and super easy, but (per usual) I have a funny story to accompany its creation.

I should have known to just stop trying to spread holiday cheer and just give them a high-five, instead, when...

so this is supposed to be a smooth, 

melted WHITE chocolate...

not a black clumpy, burned, 

chocolate volcano from satan

... the grocery store didn't have red-colored white baking chocolate
... the grocery store didn't have clear Christmas'y bags to put the treats in
... the paper lunch bags I bought to replace the plastic bags were all glued together (all 100 of them)
... the only red marker I had (to write "Happy Holidays" on the bag to make the boring brown more festive) ran out after the second festive note (with 6 more to go)
... I didn't burn the first bag of popcorn (and I always do)
... the first batch of white chocolate literally caught on fire in the microwave after only 20 seconds of cook-time!
... the second batch of white chocolate crystallized on the stovetop
... the third batch of white chocolate burned into a light-brown cookie-like substance in the microwave in a different (definitely microwave-safe) bowl

But the good news is, the little treats were (finally!) delivered on time and to some very happy clinicians/administrative assistants. All's well that ends well, I suppose...because I accidentally made one too many gift bags so Jocelyn and I got to share a little well-earned Christmas joy, too :)

finally! a finished product! there were three more 

like him...eventually...

say chocolate-covered popcorn,
katy

Recipe for Chocolate-Covered Popcorn
Ingredients:
6 oz. white/dark baking chocolate (they make red but it's harder to find, apparently)
1 bag lite popcorn (store brand is cheaper!)

Tools:
Wax paper or non-stick baking sheet
Spatula

Directions:
Make popcorn according to package directions. Place popcorn on wax paper/baking sheet in one layer, being sure to remove uncooked kernels. Heat chocolate according to package directions (but watch it like a hawk or else it might catch fire!). Drizzle melted chocolate over popcorn. For a cuter corn, desegregate!...drizzle both dark and white chocolates on the same corn. Let set for at least thirty minutes (or place in refrigerator) until chocolate is hard. Remove popcorn with spatula and put in super cute baggies or Seran Wrap with ribbon and a note. Spread christmasful joy by sharing this wonderful treat!

brrrsheeba!

I walked home tonight without being able to feel my nose or my toes!! There were snow flurries falling from the sky, and tears falling from my eyes cried for the inevitable terrifying winter to come.

Of course, they were frozen to my cheeks.

say cheese,
katy

christmasful 2010.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!! Boy, oh boy, do I love the Christmas season! If ya don't know this about me well then ya must be living under a rock! All the wonderful Christmas cheer, lovely Christmas lights, awesome Christmas smells, yummy Christmas drinks! It's definitely sensory overload for a full month, but I absolutely looooove it!

So to kick off the christmasful season in style, Jocelyn and I trekked out to the Cambridge mall at the verrrrrry end of the Green T line on Friday afternoon. We grabbed a few necessary Christmas gifts for our loved ones, drank Starbucks GBLs and soaked in all of the warm and fuzzy Christmas joy floating around us. The mall was tackily/perfectly decorated with oversized Christmas ornaments and we even got a glance at Santa (I'm surprised he's still doing photo ops so close to his big day!). We also wandered around Faneuil Hall for a bit, grabbed some more prezzies and called it a successful christmasful afternoon! But little did we know--the christmasfulness hardly ended there! When we got home there was a precious three-foot Christmas tree waiting from my Daddio! He's so great!! We trimmed it with a few critical christmasful items (aka color-twinkle lights, an aluminum foil star + paper snowflakes) and ghetto-rigged it to stand up straight since we don't have a tree stand. It looks so darn cute in the corner of our kitchen/living room and it smells christmasfully awesoooooome!

I went into NYC on Saturday to experience more christmasfulness with Haley. I've always heard the city is spectacular this time of year and it was absolutely bedazzling! There were people EVERYWHERE! You could hardly put your arm out without touching someone else and walking down the sidewalk felt similar to what I imagine cattle feel like when they shuffle in a herd. All the children we saw were adorable dressed up in their best and there were wannabe Santa's everywhere we turned. The Christmas decorations were stunning and all of the store-front window displays were so so so creative and fun! I'll do my best to remember it all, but here's a little of what we did....

 ..... saw the beautifully decorated Macy's (it's known as the holiday store!)

 ..... saw the NY Public Library + St. Patrick's Cathedral in all their christmasfulness!


  ..... saw Rockefeller Center (take one!)

 ..... to be in a show or shop till we drop? Decisions, decisions.....

 ..... more Rockefeller fun!

 ..... 30 Rock!

 ..... beautiful Swarovski crystals! I hunted long and hard (to no avail) for a crystal bumble bee for Gayle :(

 ..... and the best window display (albeit not necessarily christmasful) goes to Anthropologie! Love. 

 

 ..... saw some of my best friends from NBC :) Tina Fey, Seth Meyers + Lauren Graham send you their best!

 ..... saw a dazzling light + music show at Columbus Center, as well as enjoyed a lovely dinner of smoked salmon and grilled cheese at Bouchon Bakery (founded by a chef from Haley's school)  

 ..... wandered back to Rockefeller and got serenaded by carrollers galore!

I got home around 3:30 a.m. to a remarkably warm Boston and crashed until today...when I'd experience even more christmasfulness! Unbelievable, right??

Jocelyn and I slaved away in the kitchen this afternoon making green bean casserole, pigs-in-a-blanket and deviled eggs for the first Comfort+Joy HComm Christmas party. We all gathered together at Liz's apartment for a lot of eating, a ton of chatting, a smidge of gossiping (oops) and a heaping of christmasfulness! We even threw in a bit of YouTube watching for good measure (go check out a new video made by students at my school here)! It was definitely a wonderful christmasful time and a fabulous weekend to kick-off the 2010 Christmas season.

say christmasful!
katy

oooh we're half-way there!!

Susan, Leah and I successfully delivered a rockin' awesome presentation tonight to all of our HComm peers about our HPV paper. The final paper is due next Wednesday so we've got half officially checked off the list and the other half is quickly approaching (thank goodness)! First semester nearly done--paaaaartay!!

say cheese,
katy

only the tip of the iceberg.

...this is what we have to look forward to tomorrow....gotta love the wind chill!!

it's kinda like a drive-thru, but opposite...

My groceries were delivered to my front door at 6 a.m. this morning! So cool, right?

I've got a pretty hectic week ahead (and, let's be honest with ourselves, it's brrrrr-tastic cold outside) so I was struggling to figure out a time when I could grocery shop...in the daylight (remember, safety + not freezing to death are at the tip-top of my priority list). Instead of refiguring my whole calendar, I just pulled up my internet Safari, went to peapod.com, and made my grocery list there! It was awesome!

There's a $6 flat-rate delivery charge, plus tip, so it's not much more than I'd usually spend. Granted, I'd love to have kept that cash...but I would have spent more eating out this week had I not done it the Peapod way, so it all works out! The produce is fresh and they have both name-brand and store-brand items to pick from, so you've still got the option to save a penny here or there if desired. Basically, it's the ultimate grocery experience--without all the huffing and puffing to the T, on the T, <insert awkward search for T pass, here> off the T, to the apartment <insert more awkward fumbling around for keys in bottom of purse, here>, up the stairs, keys in door <insert obvious awkwardness> and to the kitchen counter...all the while icicles are growing on your nose hairs! WHEW! I'm exhausted just thinking about it!!

The only bad thing is that they bring everything in plastic bags, and I'm all about saving the planet with one cloth bag at a time...so that was kinda sad. But I'm thinking about Googling fun plastic-bag crafts to recycle them....sooooo don't be surprised by your "creative" Christmas-present wrappings and/or plastic-bag ornament gifts you get from me this year...

say cheese (at the front door!),
katy

PS--I can DEFINITELY see this coming in handed when I'm up to my ears in snow. Am I right, or am I right?

health comm in a nutshell...

"....and that is why we lift on three...."

say cheese,

katy

let's get trivial.

Guess what I did today!!

If you guessed Christmas shopping...you'd be wrong.
If you guessed sightseeing on a duck tour...that's a negatory (mornin' glory).
If you guessed cozying up next to a fire to read a good book...that ain't right either.
...a banana-jama party...boy, do I wish.
...clapping dri-erase board erasers together...nooooo.
...saving helpless elderly folk cross the street...hardly.
...exchanging my Diet Coke bottles for a nickel or two...nope.
...doing kart wheels through the Common...uh uh.
...fashioning a paper clip and light bulb into a hair blow dryer...not even close.

Today, I (drum roll, please)......sat at the Tufts med school library for nine hours straight! Whoo hoooooooo! So fantastically fantastic you can hardly wrap you're head around it, right?!?! Yea, I thought so.

Approximately 14 days, people. The heat is on!

say cheese,
katy

PS--Sorry for the random pic of a Tufts library mural, but doesn't that "doctor" look just like (a younger version of) Kate Gosselin's ex-husband?!?! Am I right, or am I right?? Gross.

chri'muh.

roomie pic!

LtoR: jackie, jocelyn, mary, kristen, lewis,
kat, cassaundra, liz, me!, kristen, & emily!

Boston Common had a fancy Christmas tree lighting tonight with a big concert with an American Idol and a countdown to the lighting!!!!!....BUT we were in class talking about "Affordable Care" and policy and MRIs....blah blah blah....

So we trekked over there afterward--through the freezing cold, mind you--to enjoy a little Christmas cheer! I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! We were all bundled up, of course, and the church bells were ringing--it was so sweet and fun with all my favorite HCommers! If only there had been some carolers, it would have been the perfect Boston Christmas moment!

say cheese,
katy

sugar rush!!

Today was the wonderful Susan Vitulli's birthday so, of course, we had to celebrate! I made her a heapin' of chocolate chip + sugar cookies for our entire Theory class to share. I didn't think our tiny little oven would make it through all of the batches, but it stayed strong and produced some pretty tasty treats! That Betty Crocker lady sure does know what she's doing...

say chocolate chip,
katy

botans + CBA....

Girls!

So it's that time of year again--I'm bustin' out the charcoal gray and reppin' our classy Georgia style with flair up here in Boston (if I do say so myself)! Y'all should paint up, too, and we can have a string of matching finger nails right up the east coast!!

LOVE YOU, CHICASSSSSSSS!
katy

el fuego.

No sooner had I thought, "Mmmm! Someone's got a toasty fire going on this chilly night! Smells so good!"...I looked out my window and saw what was actually producing the cozy, wood-burning scent: the dumpster outside my window caught on fire!! I haven't found out how, but there are busy little firemen out there right now spraying the foamy water stuff to put it out. Kinda scary but kinda hilarious!

...as some of you may know, fire has a tendency to follow me around so I'm not quite as alarmed as I should be (unfortunately).

say grilled cheese,
katy

red sky at night, sailor's delight...

A storm is rollin' in to the Boston area (uh oh!) but look at the fantastic cotton-candy view it provided for a little while...

say cheese,
katy

gobble, gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope you all were able to sleep in a bit, watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (and enjoy the lip-syncing that awesomely gets worse every year), eat a small little breakfast to hold you over (our quiche was perfect!), spend the afternoon watching football (go Patriots!), enjoy absurd amounts of food whilst surrounded by your loved ones, relax after the comma-inducing tryptophane took its effect, and then fashioned your Butterball into a fancy late-night sandwich!

I am grateful for each and every one of you, and I thank the Lord for the beautiful faces, love, and world that He surrounds me with everyday. 

God bless and Happy Thanksgiving, from me and my Daddio!

georgia, by way of boston...

Another fabulous day today with my Pops!

He and I got the day started with a walk to the grocery store to pick up the necessities for the required Thanksgiving Day quiche. When I was at the store a few days ago, I searched their bakery and frozen foods section for one that was already prepared but came up empty-handed...when I asked a clerk if they sold them, he responded with, "What's a quiche??" So either they don't eat them here, they don't eat them enough here for most people to know what they are, or I was totally looking in the wrong sections.  Anyway, now we've got the fixin's for a tasty breakfast while we watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!!! <<Definitely my favorite part of the holiday :)

Then I put him to work hanging light bulbs in nearly every room in fixtures that I couldn't even reach standing on a chair, caulking a little sliver of a living room window pane, WD-40'ing, and shaving down part of our front door because it HAD a horrible tendency to stick! I got my Daddy-Do List totally checked off, and I didn't really even have to ask :) He's awesome!

Around 5 o'clock we headed back out to explore! We started at North Station (near the Celtics/Bruins Garden Arena) and made our way toward the part of the harbor we saw yesterday....only....we were freezing!! So we stopped in at the Waterfront Bar and Grille for an antipasti. Then we wrapped back up, headed back out, and walked over to the harbor to see the boats again....and we were freezing...so we went to the Ruth's Chris Steak House in the Old City Hall (beautiful!) for a drink. Then we wrapped back up again and walked toward Emerson so he could see some of the school buildings and my stomping ground....only, we were freezing...so we stopped in to an Emerson-favorite, Sweetwater Tavern, for supper. It was a progressive dinner of sorts tonight through a pretty big chunk of the city! Very fun and totally unplanned, which made it even more fabulous!

Daddy was wearing a UGA jacket this whole time and I can't tell you how many people exclaimed, "Georgia!" at us! People on the street, people in the restaurants, people in the bars, people in the grocery store! We chatted with them about grits and Herschel Walker and sweet tea! Apparently, I need to rep my Georgia stuff even more up here, because I might just make a few extra friends that way!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!! I'm thankful for each and every one of you :)

say cheese (it's an ingredient in quiche),
katy

my daddio is here and i am happy :)

Daddy got here around 10 o'clock this morning, welcomed by a cloudy Boston and a joyous Katy!!

We dropped his stuff at my apartment and walked up Harvard Avenue to Coolidge Corner. We went to Zaftigs where he enjoyed a hugenormous (and probably illegal in some states) New Yorker sandwich and I  had my first falafel with veggies + yogurt sauce.

After a quick moment of refreshment, we were on our way again for me to show off my city!! We took the T in to the Arlington stop near downtown, and I showed him the public gardens and the Common (of course, what else did you expect?? Basically, if you come visit me, I can guarantee that I will take you there, too, because it's just gorgeous settled into the middle of the city!). We stopped for a drink at Bull + Finch's bar at the Cheer's restaurant, and continued moseying through the city to Faneuil Hall.

It's kind of a ghost-town around here right now because everyone's gone for the holiday (and there are fewer tourists here, too) so it was a little strange to see one of the most popular spots so quiet! But we didn't have to fight for a spot in front of the HUGE Christmas tree that they've put up, which was nice. I LOVE all the holiday cheer, so I'm pumped that all the decorations are finally getting turned on around the city. We walked over to the harbor next because I'd heard that there had been a big Christmas-light ceremony the day before where all the boats show off their decorations....but I guess everyone had already gone home because there was only one little fella left in the whole place with any sort of light on. Boo :(

As we were in the North End, I thought it necessary that I show off some of the best Italian food in the country to my Daddio! We went to Cafe Pompeii to split a pepperoni + mushroom pizza and then we walked over to the world famous Mike's Pastry for my first cannoli! Daddy got a ricotta pistachio and I got a chocolate-mousse! WOWZA! So delicious! It's probably bad that I've now discovered my love for them...

We came back to the apartment after that to eat our cannolis and watch Glee (he'd never seen it and his response was HILARIOUS....oh, the things you'll do for your daughter).

It was a wonderful first day, but I'm a little sad that it's over because that means I've only got two left :(

say cheese,
katy

i spent nearly 10.5 hours at the library today.

It was not fun.

...and then I found $5.

say cheese,
katy

library card!!

Susan, Leah and I spent our day creating/polishing/perfecting our final paper for our theory class about physician-recommended HPV vaccination! Instead of heading to our normal joints, we met at the Honan-Allston library, a branch of the Boston Public Library. It was beautiful! It's relatively new so it's in very good condition, and its hardwood floors still have a pretty heavy cedar smell that was enjoyable throughout the afternoon. We were super productive and rewarded ourselves with diet cokes, per the usual :)

say cheese,
katy

hp 7.1.

HP 7.1. 

Saw it. 

Loved it. 

Nearly cried. 

Totally sad that there's only one more :(

say cheese,
katy

the leg bone's connected to the hip bone...

I woke up this morning after 12—yes, 12—hours of sleeping last night. Needless to say, I was feeling back to my normal self, and maybe a little better than that!! I caught up on the necessary school assignments and then geared up for the chilly evening outside! It was time for class!

Tonight we had our anatomy lab in my Intro to Medicine course. You guys, it was amazing! The guy that came up with this stuff must be a genius :) The way that human anatomy fits so perfectly together…and one thing protects another…and no energy is wasted…and it all (usually) seamlessly runs along, it was great!! Seeing the donors and smelling the formaldehyde definitely took some getting use to, but the med students that talked us through everything were so respectful as they told us each person’s name and reminded us that they wanted their bodies used in this way. It was….humbling? I don’t know if that’s the right word, but it certainly put things into perspective. The two donors that I saw were both female: Zipporah, 98, and Ruth, 89.

We saw the tendons, ligaments, muscles that ran through the arm and leg, and it made me think of all of Mommy’s drawings! She is legit because it really did look like her work!! We saw the ovaries and uterus and all the working of the intestines. I held a lung! And a heart! And a brain in my hands! It was strange but also exhilarating! Such powerful tools just resting in my hand!

It was definintely an interesting experience but not one that I’ll be lining up to do again soon :) No pics for this post, so as to ensure everyone’s computer stays “clean”!

say cheese,

katy

i ate san francisco, part 5.

real mountains!!

…and then five minutes later we rolled out of bed at 3 a.m. to brush our hairs and teeths, catch a cab and head back to the aeroport. We left right on time at 6 o’clock to fly to Salt Lake City for a quick layover. I slept the entirety of that plane ride and woke up as we started our descent over beautiful Utah! GORRRRGEOUS! I thought I saw pretty mountains on the first flight—these were absolutely, 100% breath-taking! As we landed, I swear the captain goofed and was literally landing us in a salt lake, but luckily we hit asphalt (I’m sure you were worried!). We unloaded, grabbed some b’fast, and then reloaded on the next plane out.

caferine :)

I sat next to a Chatty Kathy, unfortunately for me, but he soon understand my “I’m putting my ear phones in to make you shut up” action, fortunately for him :) The entire flight back was quite warm for me as the sun was shining directly THROUGH the plane wall onto my right side. We flew the whole way, it seemed, over big puffy clouds and along a bright blue sky. As we passed through the big white clouds, however, as we get closer to Boston, it was very apparent that what was above (stunning!) was not necessarily below (kinda gross). We were on the ground by 4:30, in the T by 5:15, and at our class (with suitcases) by 6!

It was all that we could do to stay awake during the lecture—even though it was simply wonderful, per usual—but our eye lids had minds of their own!! Three hours and 45 minutes later, we were on our way home at last! Jocelyn and I made a necessary detour afterward, of course, at the movie theater to buy our HP 7.1 tickets, and THEN we were on the T, off the T, in the house and I was happily in the bed :) …and not an air mattress this time! 

say cheese,

katy

i ate san francisco, part 4.

Tuesday was our last full day in San Fran, and Susan and I made it our goal to make the most of it!!

To do that of course, you must be completely rested, so we both hit snooze for a bit and skipped the first conference session….shhh! Don’t tell!! We got all beautified and headed over yonder to downtown. We started our day with some delicious sushi at Sonraku. We shared edamame, a Spider Roll (with soft-shell crab + masago), a Crunch Roll (spicy salmon + tobiko), and a Rainbow Roll (an assortment of everything)! We had a slice of super sweet pineapple for dessert and then we morphed into our sharp, high-class selves as we donned our lanyards to go conference!

I heard two very interesting lectures about cancer communication, and how physicians and patients communicate differently in that realm than in other communities of medicine. One was from New Jersey and the other was from Cali, so it was fascinating to see that they both came up with the same conclusions!! Afterward, an oncologist responded to both of their papers—AWESOME! It was so great to see that the knowledge they were creating (and the traditional forms of medicine/communication that they challenged) was applicable to a man who is in the trenches of it all! His concluding remarks, after stating that their theories should be applied to physicians’ practice, were something to the effect of: “Are the physicians educable??”

speaking of social media,

this building is where Twitter 

is housed--right next to

the loft where we stayed!!

Susan and I both then attended a session about social media use in the field of health communication. Here’s what ya need to know:
1. Social media is considered the easiest (and often cheapest) way to communicate a message with an audience (i.e., H1N1 is here, wash your hands!)
2. The population that is considered the most “ill” are those under the poverty level (and, thus, they don’t own computers, cell phones, etc.)
3. The people who need to hear the social media messages the most (those folks in #2) don’t hear them because they don’t have the means/time by which to read them

and this warehouse is where the wired

digital magazine + facebook live...

right across the street from our front door!

It was definitely a challenging conversation, but the most integral part to take home was that social media is a TOOL. It is NOT the campaign. It cannot act on it’s own. It should be considered supplemental to other schemes.

With a heap of knowledge in our brains but hardly any food in our tummies, we waved so long to the NCA conference and walked a few blocks to a restaurant called Farmhouse. It’s supposed to provide organically grown and raised soul food. And they did! The atmosphere was fun and jazzy and the food was excellent! We split a shrimp + grits app (Susan had never had them and thought my friends, LA and Kyle, were totally brilliant when I told her that they had it served at their wedding) and we both enjoyed fried chicken, mac-n-cheese, collard greens and buttered biscuits for our entrée! Yummo!! 

With totally, embarrassingly full bellies, we bought a few traveling necessities at Walgreens for our day ahead, tidied up the apartment, and poured ourselves into bed after four fabulous days in California!

say cheese,

katy

i ate san francisco, part 3.

Susan and I felt like our normal selves again by Monday, thank goodness! We headed to the conference that morning, rockin' our super cute NCA laniards and repped Emerson with style in our fancy not-planned matching black dresses. Due to my lovely blisters (I hate my feet), we were forced to take a cab to the conference hotel. Our Eminem-wanna-be driver said that I reminded him of a celebrity, to which I responded excitedly, "Oh! Who??"....and he said "Joan Cusack!" Ummm thanks?? Family + friends + strangers, I'm interested in your take on this...

We went to a few sessions and then attended the Health Communication Top Paper session. So fascinating!! The papers were absolutely fantastic and the topics were even better! One did a literature review of thousands of news stories from the media top dogs regarding cancer coverage and how those top dogs portray more uncertainty of the disease than not.....another covered a cyberbullying victimization intervention (so timely!).....another (from Auburn, AL!!) discussed whether organ donation would increase more through "organ shortage" messages or "donation success" messages....and the final topic covered communicating emotion in health care and how those emotions affect prevention decisions. They were wonderful! I wish I had time to transcribe all my notes here for you all--you'd love it, I'm sure ;) We then sat through the HComm business meeting to see if we could get involved at all and then we were off to the presentation of my paper!!

EEK! It was so exciting! Dr. Sweetser, of course, did a spectacular job--so well-spoken, confident, a quiet intelligence! She even fielded questions with perfection (which would be the part that would send me for a tailspin! I can prep until the cows come home, but answering academic questions on the spot like that, no thank you!). She gave me wonderful tips afterward for when I get to present on my own someday (?!?!) on how to do that last part, thank goodness. There was also a respondent in our session who critiqued and commented on all of the presentations. She was so funny because (after singing Dr. Sweeter's praises) she exclaimed that the only reason she didn't like Dr. S was because she wouldn't let her take her research course at UGA (which is where my paper came from). I had to keep myself from laughing out loud because that class was HARD HARD HARD and I could barely imagine someone volunteering for something that!! Ha! It was very apparent at the end of it all that Dr. Sweetser is definitely a respected intellectual in the national public relations community--it's certainly one thing to see the vast amount of respect she gets at UGA but definitely another to see her praised among the PR elite! So proud of her! Hopefully, some of her awesomeness has rubbed off on me and my fellow co'10 PR grads...

After a quick wardrobe change, Susan and I wandered Fisherman's Wharf again (less tourists + much more of a bay view, this time) to find some dinner. We ended up going to a greasy but totally delicious hamburger joint that's apparently only in CA and Arizona--In and Out--and we both enjoyed our fair share of burgers + fries! I even got a cute hat for Jocelyn, because she's in love with that place (but not more than Taco Bell, duh). If our burger/fry combo weren't enough, we next ventured to Bi-Rite Creamery for salted caramel ice cream! HOLY COW!! No, seriously. That ice cream had to come from a holy cow because it was the MOST amazzzzzing thing I've ever put in my mouth! All of you, go buy your plane tix to CA right now because, gosh darn it, that ice cream was waaaaay worth it!!

Of course, we next totally collapsed from all of the amazingly healthy food we'd been eating all day (yea, right) and we caught a few zzzz's before our last full day in CA!!

say cheese,
katy