"out like a lamb" my foot!

                                      

             
             Happy birthday, beautiful Joanna!! My present to you: 2-4 inches of SNOW??

in retrospect...

So my favorite William and Catherine are gone for now, but they've left many awesome memories in their wake as we brought our Boston escapades to an end. My brief blogs in between hardly told the tale of our fabulous time together, so here's a little list of everything we accomplished:


Friday:

• Weeyam and CBA were bored in Georgia and Florida, respectively
• Cue sleeplessness similar to what you experienced as a kid on Christmas Eve (x3)

Saturday:

• I picked them up at the airport around 1 p.m.! Happy Katy :)
• Dropped luggage off at apartment 
• Lunch at Coolidge Corner Clubhouse (where CBA ate Michael Phelps and Weeyam drank generic Sprite)
• We explored downtown, including Boston Common, Copley Square, and Cheers (W had a Sam Adams at the bar set!)
• We then trekked over to Faneuil Hall via the Freedom Trail
• Fancy photo-op at the harbor
• Delicious garlic bread (Lent...ooops) at Cafe Pompeii in the North End
• A hilarious show at the Improv Asylum
• A canoli at Mike's pastry
• ....pass out from exhaustion!

Sunday:

• In CBA's words, "Katy and Catherine walked in the cold in our pajamas to get William eggs and coffee for breakfast"
• "Walked a billion miles" to get to Fenway 
• Ate lunch at the Boston Beer Works where William explored some beery samplers
• Enjoyed a fun tour at Fenway Park, and even got to sit on the Green Monsta!
• Quick train ride to see my schools, Tufts and Emerson
• Walked back through Chinatown to the train
• Rented the worst movie ever ("The Takers")
• Watched the worst movie ever while eating pasta salad + oatmeal cookies!
• ...pass out from exhaustion!

Monday:

• Began our morning with a bowl of Frosted Flakes and the movie "Hardball"
• Sprinted for the #66 bus outside of my apartment to head to Cambridge!
• Enjoyed three fancy sandwiches (one lamb, one mexican chicken, and one jicama cole slaw) at Crema Cafe
• Bought smarty pants :)
• Took the official Harvard Historical Tour (with a student who spoke of a WWIII...?)
• Regroup at Starbucks! Cinnamon Dulce Latte, please!
• Train two stops to MIT (Cue William freaking out!)
• ....cue Catherine and me copping a squat on the MIT stairs while William freaked out
• Bought more smarty pants :)
• Walked to the Charles River just in time for CBA to see some crew + sailboat action! She about died!
• Walked across the river back into Boston to Hynes Convention Center
• "Chilled @ apartment"
• Walked back up to Coolidge Corner for Upper Crust Pizza (Two words: Sixty dollars.)
• Feeling inspired from our days-o-Boston, we watched "The Town" and....
• ...passed out from exhaustion!

Tuesday:

• We'd obviously eaten quite a bit so far, thus a "minimal breakfast" was required
• Back to Fenway Park for CBA to purchase a NEW YORK YANKEES cap in the BOSTON RED SOX souvenir shop. Ugh.
• "Best meal yet" at the Union Oyster House with raw oysters, clam chowda, and a crab cake!
• On to the Orange Line to Jamaica Plain for the Sam Adams Brewery tour ("free beer")
• Walked 37,373 miles to find Doyle's Cafe for Weeyam! Second time he wet his pants...
• Back into town and off to see the Old North Church, where William proceeded to horribly confuse two UPS men (I helped translate)
• Regroup at the Thinking Cup for a latte or two!
• AAA saved us $60 (that we spent on pizza!!) at the Shear Madness murder mystery show! So cute!
• Back to the apartment for some YouTube searching
• ...pass out from exhaustion!

Wednesday:

• Breakfast at Thornton's Cafe near the Prudential Center
• Pics of the Pru since William had been talking about it the whole trip!
• A quick visit with Laura + Matt at the health center (Matt said later, "Your brother is huge! I thought he was gonna eat me!")
• Introduced CBA + W to the rest of my gang (aka Susan and Emily) at the radio station before the show
• Quick run back home for luggage, into a cab, and back to the airport!
• I had class right afterward until 10 and then.......pass out from exhaustion!

Best trip ever with memories I'll cherish always! But no time to be sad about their leaving, my next set of guests (Katie + fiance, Kevin) will be here tomorrow! HOORAY!!!!

say cheese (I'm tired),

katy c. 

so little time...

We had a few final items to check off the list today, including a lunch in John Kerry's bar stool at the Union Oyster House, a taste of Sam Adams beer at the original brewery in Jamaica Plain (CBA entertained a root beer!), a mid-afternoon snack at Dane Cook's local spot (Doyle's Cafe), and a giggle and a laugh at Shear Madness. Running around like a chicken with its head cut off...and totally worth it :)

nerd pride.

W + CBA + I got to explore Harvard and MIT today!! We even got some smarty pants to prove it :)

37, 373.

it's all fun and games at fenway park...

...until someone passes out from exhaustion. 

WEEYAM + CAFFERINE ARE HEREEEEE!!!

photo-op in logan :)

spring fever!!

                

I'm absolutely gaga for the beautiful Sunny Soiree, Blooming Goldenrod and Magellan dresses from Anthropologie right now. Still wearing my snow boots and coat the last few days has gotten me into a serious spring-fever mood...and made me long for the days of cotton dresses, cool shades and sandals! Makes my heart go pitter patter just thinking about it :) So I've resorted to living vicariously through the internet catalog models. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. But I've gotten a few soirees of my own already planned for this summer and I'm thinking these could be the perfect outfits to quench my thirst for all things warm!!

live streaming!!

Check out the radio show tomorrow at 2:45! We'll be discussing the local and international health implications of the recent tsunami in Japan, so it's sure to be a timely and (hopefully) interesting conversation! We'd love you to hear your voice, too, so listen and weigh in by e-mail or phone and you might just become as famous as us! Ha!


Website: http://etin.emerson.edu/ and click "Live Streaming!"
E-mail: healthbentradio@gmail.com
Phone: (617) 824-8100


say cheese,
katy c. 

sNOw.

i realize this pic is lame, but there was 

tons of white stuff falling!!

Today is March 21. It is currently 83* in Georgia. It is a measly 31* in Boston. I'm not complaining, buuuuuuut I am confused. We still live in the same country together.....right???

dazed and confused,
katy c.

hcomm!!

The BFF, Weiser, sent this to my e-mail today! I'm sure (or I hope) many of you Georgians have seen this already, but I just wanted to point out that this is Health Communication (aka what I'm studying) in action! It's definitely for policy change, which falls more in the health promotion/public health realm, but the specific words, wording, graphics, the entire campaign is Health Comm! This is only one, very simple example but I figured I should show it to ya since many of you--myself included, sometimes--still aren't quite sure how to wrap your heads around what I've chosen to do for the rest of my life....

If you haven't signed the petition yet! Check it out, here, it's important to WeisFace!

say cheese,
katy c.

if you're gonna do it...

...you had better do it right.

I was in the Tufts Medical Library today for nearly 14 hours. Midterms are finally coming to a close, and my Media Strategies team and I pulled off one final effort to finish up a huge 42-page paper. It was certainly a successful, eyes-crossing, fingers-bleeding kind of day, but it's finally checked off the list :) Yay!! (If you don't know me well enough, please know that I often write things on my list just so that I can feel the satisfaction of checking them off. It may or may not be my favorite thing to do....)

Susan, Emily, Jackie, Kristen and I took a study break to visit Chinatown about 10 hours into our day. We found a new Malaysian spot, Bubor Cha Cha, that came complete with painted blue-sky ceilings and tanks of fish for dinner selection. As we all spent the day stuffing our brains with information, we spent the evening stuffing our stomachs with some deeeelicious Malaysian delicacies. If you ever go, the pork dumplings + roti canai (thin pastry dough and a curry dip!) are to DIE FOR....and those were just the appetizers. We hardly had space on the table once dinner came!! Oops!!

.....and we may or may not have found a new bakery right down the lane from the library with sweet treats and coffee for only $1. This could be bad news bears.

say cheese,

katy c.

a slice of home!

Philip, one of my sweetest and first friends 

from UGA, and I in front of the Old North Church!

Some of my fabulous friends from UGA were up to visit Boston this week on a Wesley mission trip. I only knew three of them prior to their arriving, but the group turned out to be absolutely wonderful! Such sweet, southern people with huge hearts for Jesus -- my favorite kind of folk!

We explored the North End today (Boston's "Little Italy") by visiting Paul Revere's house + statue, the Old North Church (where the lanterns were hung for "one if by land, two if by sea"), the Spite House (uncontested skinniest house in Boston, built by one brother to block the other's view because he gipped him out of his fair share of land) and the Copp's Hill cemetery (it's just old). 

I was then treated to dinner by the group with homemade lasagna (thank you, Philip's gma!) out in Watertown, MA. They were staying with a group of three couples in the most gorgeous home I've yet to see in Mass. and we all shared a wonderful evening of fellowship eating pecan pie and sharing the usual "I once killed my pet" stories. All you need to know is that one of the young men in the group once saved a moose calf from death in a rushing river in Alaska. Literally. 

Great time with great (Southern) friends!

katy c. 

kiss me, i'm irish!

Emily, Susan and I hit Remington's Pub for the traditional Irish boiled dinner of corn beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes tonight (though, I thought corn beef was supposed to be pink??). We topped it all off with a cannoli + green pistachio gelato at Mike's Pastry! ....all while wearing green apparel, of course!!

happy st. patty's day!
katy c.

PS--Boston is (obviously) absolute pandaemonium on St. Patrick's Day. I'd venture to say that it's worse than all the Cinco de Mayo's, Halloween's, and Mardi Gras holidays I witnessed in Athens....

23 + filled with glee!!

I'm old. My own brother warned me today that I 1) should be married and have a job by now, 2) should be careful when taking a shower because now I'm more prone to falling out and breaking a hip and 3) that he would send me some tennis balls to put on the legs of my old-lady walker. Oooooh Weeyam, ya turn a girl's head :)

I had a fabulous birthday even if it does mean I'm old--thank ya very much! The first people to wish me a happy birthday were delivery men, bringing me an Edible Arrangement (yummmm! Thank you, Daddy!) and presents from my best friends (YAY! Thank you Mommy, Weiser, HayReh, and Larry!). I had to take an Epi/Bio test on my bday (boo!), but I was surprised with a Starbucks coffee, birthday pop, and Panera soup to get me in the test-takin' spirit (thank you Joc, Joanna, and Mary!!). After we rocked the test, my classmates and I went to a local joint, Jacob Wirth's, for bday festivities! It was WONDERFUL to have nearly everyone there :) Warmed my heart, it did!! After that--yes, I know, hard to believe there's more--a few of us went to another local spot, An Tua Nua, for karaokeing!! Joc, Emily, Susan, Kristen, Liz + Jackie were such good sports and they even made a mosh pit for me as I serenaded them with Dixie Chic's "Let 'Er Rip." (When my song was complete, the DJ promptly asked me where I was from, and when I told him he replied, "Oh yea. We can tell." I know he totally loved my twang!)

Ya know it's a great day when your phone dies because of too many phone calls, texts and Facebook notifications :) Thanks to everyone who made it so so special! Love y'all dearly!! A fabulous birthday, indeed!!

say cheese,

katy c.

so this bass, stool and stand walk into a train...

My train ride home stops at Hynes Convention Center, which is also near the Berklee School of Music. I've ridden home with my fair share of random instruments because of this, but today's standing-bass+stool+music-stand combo definitely takes the cake for oddest thing(s) to lug onto a train!!

spring cleanin'!!

My most sincere apologies for the lack of posts lately! My days have been consumed with studying for two midterms which are now, thankfully, over! I'm backblogging a bit, but I was thinking of you all even though I wasn't posting--I was taking pics!!

Last Tuesday was Emerson's spring break (though I still had school at Tufts) so I was in charge of revamping/cleaning/scrubbing/reorganizing a back office at the school's health center. The before shot was taken about an hour into cleaning (so it was even worse at the start!) and it, unfortunately, doesn't quite do the yuckiness justice! And Mommy and Gayle--I didn't find any pizza boxes, in case you're wondering....

say cheese,
katy c. 

you're welcome, mead paper products.

In high school, my all-time favorite teacher, Dr. East, made us memorize approximately 2,000 vocabulary words every semester in preparation for the SATs. I'm a super duper memorizer--but not exactly a fabulous retainer, those words are loooong gone--and I was in the practice of writing those terms on notecards and then carrying them around all day/night to drill them into my head! You can imagine what three Dr. East classes and 2,000 words per class looked like....a heapin' of cards! I'm 97.93% sure that my ability to leap small buildings in a single bound (obvs using my magically awesome back muscles) was gained by carrying around the world's largest backpack filled with a surplus of notecards for four years.

All this to be said, I'm back in the swing of things! Only now, I have a smidge-bit more money (like...$3 more) and can splurge for the colorful ones! Whoooo hoooo! Fancy schmancy!

So hear this, Milly, Catherine, Elise, Charles, Kenzie, Andrew, Julia, Elizabeth, and Jamie: (Sometimes) what you learn in high school (actually) stays with you (even if it's just study skills) + is useful in the future (...believe it or not)!! 

say katy-has-two-midterms-next-week-and-is-about-explode-slash-freak-out!!
katy

WEEYAM!!!!

My favorite times with Weeyam are when he….

1. Gets new blue jeans every Christmas that never, ever actually fit!
2. Dances StepUp-3D style in the living room!
3. Tries to do/read sign language…
4. Uses his frustrating ability to make people un-mad at him!
5. Was living up two awesome years with me in Athens!!
6. Is cookin’ with me in the kitchen!
7. Eats everything….all the time.
8. (Accidentally) knocked out his front tooth Stone-Cold-Steve-Austin style!
9. Asks me to wrap Christmas presents for him on Christmas Eve…
10. Is an appreciator of new socks and undershirts.
11. Handed me my mascara as I sped us both to Brookstone!
12. Was such an awesome actor that he got upgraded to the older kids’ class (aka mine!)
13. Makes me smile forever and always!
14. Never ever ever wins our don’t-smile contests. EVERxInfinity.
15. (Annoyingly) quotes every single line in Ocean's/Forrest/Dane/Fast+Furious... out loud!
16. And I sing Brooks+Dunn and Lady Antebellum duets!
17. Bought me Pedialite + a new tooth brush when I got the viral flu!
18. Makes me giggle with well-placed (and well-done) Scooby Doo impressions! 
19. Was my neighbor in Pineview!
20. Tricked me into thinking some man sued the Pillsbury people for the cans causing a heart attack!
21. Was born, duh!!

Happy birthday to the bestest, sweetest, handsomest, awesomest, funniest, craziest, tallest, thoughtfulest, sillyest, and most loved brother EVERRR! Weeyam's officially 21 years old--holy crap!--as of about two hours ago. My lil buddy is growed up!!!! It's our first bday apart from each other (super duper sad face!!), but I hear JR and Robbie are taking good care of him...or so I hope...

Give him a call/text!! I love you, brother!
katy c.

this week's obsessions...

Suede Artisan Shortie Cowgirl Boots from Clarks --
The Boston sidewalks are drying up (hooray!) so I'm not relegated to snow-friendly footwear everyday....
I may or may not have worn these four times over a five-day span....

The Cape Cod Chicken Salad Wrap + Diet Coke Combo at Tufts --
Complete with pickles, dried cranberries, and red-pepper relish, this pair is the perfect brain food to get me through my four-hour Epidemiology/Biostatistics class on Wednesday nights. Yummmmm!

A Free Viewing of The King's Speech at Emerson --
Susan, Jocelyn and I enjoyed the Oscar-winning movie on Thursday night....for free!
Though we didn't have popcorn (drat!), we were all surprisingly not bored and rather enjoyed it all--those film folks got it right for once!

Japanese Cherry Blossom Candle from Bath&BodyWorks -- 
Remember that one time steam destroyed my living room?
Well, steamed wood + drywall doesn't have the most pleasant scent, 
so Joc and I have been trying to cover it up all week with some smell goods!

Adele's 21 Album --
Oh. My. Gosh. I can't stop listening to this CD! In a musical world currently obsessed with auto tunning, this album is absolutely refreshing and shows off the incredible range/artistry of Adele. It's heartbreaking but beautiful and I love it! If I had to choose, I'd say "One and Only," "Someone Like You," and "I Found a Boy" are my faves! Take a listen :)

say cheese,

katy

stroke by coke?

My. Life. Is. Over. I’m done! Finished! Caput! The end is in sight and we have lost the battle.

My certain demise was clinched earlier this month when the American Stroke Association announced that daily consumption of diet soda—deemed previously as the healthier alternative to its more sugar-filled counterpart—may be linked to a higher risk of vascular events, such as a heart attack or stroke.

My only problem with this finding, unfortunately, is that if I could have Diet Coke pumped through my veins on a daily basis via an IV, I’d probably be the happiest girl in the world. My obsession with this glorious product came when I was 18 years old and traveling in Europe: Diet Coke was absolutely the only beverage that tasted normal to my spoiled taste buds over there. And thus my dependence began.

Luckily, I grew up in a home where daily soda consumption was not permissible (sweet tea did not fall into this category, praise the Lord), so I never drank it in excess. And when I made my move to Boston, Mass.—the land of mass transportation and carrying heavy groceries ten blocks home—I learned very quickly how to make my 12-pack last well over two months. So maybe, just maybe, this whole stroke-by-coke business won’t apply to me?

For those who are ingesting one or more diet sodas everyday, the stroke-by-coke issue may be closer to the heart than previously realized. Studying more than 2,500 people for more than nine years, scientists with the Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS) found that daily diet soda consumption leads to a 61-percent higher risk of stroke or heart attack, compared to those who do not partake. Investigators of the soda study acknowledge that future research should look more intently on brand and type of diet soda consumed—so the verdict’s still out on whether your diet beverage of choice is a silent killer…or not.

For me—a Southern girl raised less than two hours away from the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Ga.—Diet Coke is the only selection on my diet soda radar. (My people would punch me in the face if I ever drank and, Heaven forbid, liked that other “p”roduct.) So I found it amusing when I checked out CNN Health’s take on this whole issue, only to see that their article and accompanying photo hardly point to the Coca-Cola product as a possible stroke culprit.  CNN’s headquarters, located only steps away from the World of Coca-Cola, pictures myriad blue cans, instead of the trademarked silver and red ones, and even goes on to quote a representative from the American Beverage Association who points out that “this information comes from a research paper…and was not reviewed…by experts in the field.”

CNN’s obviously not ratting them out, but what’s Coca-Cola got to say about all this? I will forever be a lover of all things Diet Coke (until it starts causing people to turn green and sprout tails), but I must admit that I was a little disappointed that such a marketing and public relations god had yet to respond in any way about these new findings. Even if the information did just come from a “research paper,” people are talking about it and some are worried, and I, of all people, don’t want to see the beverage gurus suffer. Though I wonder if their silence stems from fear of contradicting their current Heart Truth ® campaign …

I realize this is technically a “health blog”…and that I may be encouraging poor health behavior by promoting my beloved diet soda of choice…and that this beverage may cause heart attack or stroke if consumed daily…so I have to leave you with something to keep you health conscious…so…ummm…drink more water and…

Put a lime in the Diet Coke, you nut. And drink it all up! Just not everyday. I have to keep my fingers crossed and hope that if they can create the delicious diet alternative, then surely the healthier non-stroke-coke must be on its way soon!

And on that note, I’m off to find a vending machine….

katy c. 


**This post was originally published on March 2, 2011 on the HealthBent! blog

add this to your google reader!

While you're listening to the music in-between our chatting on ETIN's HealthBent! radio (we're on RIGHT NOW!!), get in a little lite reading at Emerson's new Health Comm blog at http://word.emerson.edu/healthbent. There are some great ideas on there now, ranging from Grandpa's STDs to the placebo effect, so it's sure to be another interesting blogging adventure! Be sure to check out my post, too--it's the one about Diet Coke...of course :)

OH!!--and be sure to leave a comment! Let's get this health dialogue flowing!!

say cheese,
katy c.

bent!

Be sure to listen in to the HealthBent! radio show tomorrow afternoon at 2:45. Just point your browser to http://etin.emerson.edu/ and click on the live streaming audio option of your choice! We'll be discussing the super interesting topics of organ donation + health narratives...so get pumped!

and stay healthy,
katy c.