Not Just A City

Not just a city, but a wild metropolis. A collision of cultures and lifestyles.  An explosion of light and noise and movement.  A place to lose yourself completely.  And while you're looking for yourself, a place to find a world bigger than you ever imagined.

Not just falafels, but New York pizza and frozen yogurt and a waffle with strawberries and the most delicious burger and chocolate shake that have ever graced my mouth (Shake Shack, I am a convert for life).  

Not just a hostel, but a welcome face-full of cool air conditioning, a neighborhood full of lively bars and a room full of lovely girls from England and Brazil.

Not just any weekend :).

CEOs and Compliance

Today I avoided the nasty humidity + 95 degree weather tucked away in Bayer HQ working on a mysterious project entitled "Compliance".  As it turned out, Compliance involved hundreds of pages of reading regarding Bayer's ethical and legal standards. I can now definitively tell you  the circumstances in which you may or may not feed a group of  medical professionals (which, seriously though, is an ethical issue that has bothered me since I put in the hours at that medical records office last summer).

So, yeah, it was a slow day.  But that only made the highlight of the afternoon that much better: meeting Phil Blake, the Bayer U.S. corporate executive (aka President Boss Guy). I was immediately put at ease; he was down-to-earth and soft-spoken, with quite a lovely English accent to boot.  In our brief meeting he related his misadventures going for runs in the area, his mental processes as he oversees the many divisions within Bayer, and his vision for the hemophilia community.  My fellow interns and I surprised him with some recent breakthroughs in hemophilia research and he requested we forward him an article or two.  I left feeling honored to have been able to spend time with such a successful yet humble man. 


With the windows rolled down and NPR turned up, we whipped back to our hotel.  After a week of intensive communication, conflict management and presentation skills training I'm looking forward to a weekend in The City That Never Sleeps.

West Orange and the Lab of Mr. Edison

My fellow intern Amanda and I spent our first full day in West Orange hiking to and from the lab site of none other than Thomas Edison himself.  I both loved and was horrified by the tour of his chemical lab--safety standards were nonexistent! My favorite part though had to be seeing the elderly couples nodding their heads in gentle remembrance as old tunes blared from the demonstrator's phonograph. 

West Orange is beautiful; its lush green hills and old brick neighborhoods  resemble West Virginia's, although with a dash of South American flavor.  We passed around five Peruvian restaurants on our three mile walk alone!

On the way back I caught sight of the peak of this cathedral.  Amanda humored me and we hunted it down.  I'm a sucker for Gothic architecture; I think the only thing that could have made me happier is if I had been allowed up into the tower.

We wrapped up the day with some shopping at Whole Foods Market, dessert with the internship director's family and some relaxing in the hot tub.  Looking forward to my first day on the job tomorrow!

Memoir of a Couch

Stress Relief

It's been a stress-filled week-- the shooting out of bed, heart-pounding at 5 am kind of stress.  My to-do list has been rather hefty, but certainly not more than I've had to tackle before. I've never experienced jittery anxiety quite like this before: hands quivering, mind whizzing from one thing to the next like a hummingbird.

Luckily, the move across the country during my junior year of high school honed my coping skills.  And I've picked up a few more since moving to Provo.  Here we go:

1. The Office

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This show has gotten me through so much. No joke.  One episode and several laughs later, I can't help but feel better, my mind carried ways away from the present worry to the lovely town of Scranton. And before I know it, one episode turns to six. . .

2. Hot drinks

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Originally the drink of choice was hot chocolate (with a Harry Potter book in hand), but I've since opted for the healthier option of herbal tea, peach being my favorite (and college reading requirements have stifled my beloved Harry Potter sessions). 

3. Running

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Doesn't always sound good, but always, always works.

4.  Phone calls

 Julie and mother dear have been on the receiving line lately. (Thanks & much love).

5.  Naps on a soft couch in the warmth of a sunbeam

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Need I say more?

6.  Watermelon

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This is a new one, but so soothing.  I think I have possibly single-handedly consumed four watermelons in the last month.

7.  The Book of Mormon

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When nothing else works, this does. The spirit of this book has comforted and lifted my heart and brought light to my life when I needed it most.  Learn about it here.

8. And ok, I won't pretend this doesn't happen. Often. 

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A Goal is Born

Couldn't help but write this down in my statistics notebook in my very finest looping cursive after hearing it in  New Testament class:


Real leadership is communicating a person's worth and potential so well that they are inspired to see it in themselves.


...Because it's so true.  As a communications major, this struck me as a worthy goal: to communicate people's worth and potential.  And to do it effectively.  


My mind is brimming with the faces of people who have done this for me, who have not just instructed me or pulled me along, but who have filled me with the desire to be excellent. 


If I could do the same, what could be more fulfilling?

Sweet Pea

Someday. . .someone will sing this to me.

And I will be blushing furiously.