A Picture Says it All

Elizabeth and I came across this little display while in Athens shopping this weekend. Couldn't be more perfect. "K" "E" "J". "Kaitlyn, Elizabeth, Jessica." It doesn't matter how many miles are between us, little signs like remind me how special they really are.

OK, clearly I'm a terrible self-blogger. I can equate it to being boring, being busy, or being forgetful, or maybe all three, but I'm going to promise to get better at this!

Run like hell and get the agony over with. -Clarence DeMar

Less than a week to go until the Peachtree Road Race. It's my first time running it {or any 10K for that matter} and terrified would probably be the best way to sum up how I feel. I've been running for a few years now, but never long distances, mostly just to clear my head at the end of the day.

Luckily, I can count on Michelle to keep me entertained as she has stepped in to run with me since my two other running partners have backed out on me ... OK so maybe work at 6 am and an ankle the size of a balloon don't really count for backing out. 

I may not run the entire time, or finish in my goal of an hour, but at least I'll have an awesome PRR t-shirt to call my own and a few stories to tell when I can walk again. Until then, a few words of wisdom :) 

"That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since I run this far, maybe I'd just run across the great state of Alabama. And that's what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going." 

- Forrest Gump 

The Coke Side of Life

A few weeks ago, I started a new internship with Coca-Cola in addition to my time at WOCC, making me a full time working girl again. I am now working part time with the Global Interactive Marketing group and part time at WOCC. The position only lasts through August, but I'm already learning some really cool things and working on some interesting projects. I won't bore you with that stuff here but I can give you this:

Here are a few things I have learned during my 1st two weeks in what I seem to keep calling "Big girl Coke."

1. The elevators make your ears pop. Going up to the 16th floor everyday, though fun, should come with gum. When I was little and we visited the Empire State Building, the nice man working elevator gave us gum so our ears wouldn't pop. I think it is an essential, it's like riding a roller coaster twice a day. 

2. Dinner dates. I have worked the past few summers in Atlanta, but usually everyone else is off in Athens or roaming the streets of a european city when I get off work. Now that everyone has jobs, I find myself with actual friends nearby, this equals dinner dates.

Though this may not look like it, going to dinner after work with college friends is definitely grown-up.

3. Back up everything. I just know my work laptop is jealous of my Mac. It always has been and proved me right again when it promptly crashed as I tried to save a week long project. Double computers it is again for the summer!

4. The parking police officer hates me. End of story.

5. My floor has Minute Maid Cranberry Grape juice. We didn't have juice at the WOCC, this I love.



I hope within the coming months I will have more fun things to share, but that's it for now. I'm getting to meet some really cool people and work on some pretty interesting projects, it's looking like this summer is going to be another great one! 

Something Borrowed, Something Blue, this is Something Completely New.

After nearly a month of wedding festivities, the first of what I'm sure will be many, my summer weddings have come to a close. If three weddings in a month since graduation and more than I can count for the next year doesn't make me an adult, I'm not sure what does!

When my close friends began to get engaged one after the other, I'm not sure that ecstatic would be the first word that came to my mind. Along side words like "graduation" and "job," "marriage" was just one of those words than incited a "what has happened to the last four years?" freak out. 

The gifts, the parties, the showers, the dances and the traditions were all completely new to me. As a little girl weddings meant curling up in the back of a reception hall somewhere to quickly fall asleep as my family partied the night away. My mom is the youngest of 7, meaning most all of our family's weddings took place before I hit middle school, so entering wedding season now was quite foreign, weddings look a bit different when you A. Actually know the bride and groom  and B. Are old enough to stay awake past 10. This was a whole new world. 

I have watched three of my closest friends go from single to married since May 15 and I have learned a few things since then: 

1. Faith. God always makes it work. Pouring down rain 2 hours before the ceremony? 95 degrees and sunny? Hakuna Matata. It just might be his way of showing you it's the little moments you will look back on twenty years from now. 

2. Dancing. You don't have to know how to dance at a wedding. There will always be someone older, someone more clumsy and someone more willing to pull the "act like a goof" card for you. 

3. Family. Not every family plays musical chairs and throws each other to the ground. (Very much literally in the Kelly family tradition). Although I must admit, I highly recommend this game and I cannot wait for its arrival at my dear cousin Ashley's big day next summer. 

4. Cake. Oh the cake. Delish. I've always said this will be the centerpiece of my own wedding. Did I never make it to the food as a child? I'm sure I would remember this. 

5. The look. Above all this day is for the couple. They have worked so hard to get here, mentally, emotionally and physically and watching the gleaming smiles on their faces has to be the most wonderful magic of it all. 

I will watch many more of my closest friends and family celebrate this day in the coming years, I look forward to it. And someday maybe I'll even feel grown up enough to have a wedding of my own. 

365 Brand New Days.

Welp, I've done it. 365 photos for 365 days. It was not an easy task at times, but it was well worth it. Since I won't be continuing on with my picture blog, I hope to entertain some of you {mainly Jessica and Elizabeth} with andy grownup shenanigans I can find over here. These are indeed my newest set of adventures and I cannot wait to see how they all play out!

We're adults. When did that happen?

And how do we make it stop?

– Meredith Grey 

Finding the Perfect Fit

For the past four years, I have always pictured life after college would equal a full time job, after work dinner dates, an apartment in the city and pencil skirts accompanied by cute heels. However, I don't think my mind every really considered what transition to getting there would look like.

It's been a little over two weeks since I left Athens and I have yet to feel like a real college graduate. I'm living back at home (no complaints here, anyone who has met my family knows they are all quite entertaining), working with my internship part time and occasionally putting on bathing suits in exchange for pencil skirts in the morning. In short, I have really to jump in and live that ideal college graduate life.

As a over committed college student, I decided to really wait to begin my job search until after graduation, knowing once I began looking I wouldn't be able to turn away. In the past few weeks, I have had a few interviews and an offer, but I have still yet to really dig in and find something that screams me.

I have alway prided myself on doing what I feel is best rather than going with the flow and thus far it has worked in my advantage. I realize the economy is in a terrible state and a have very few peers who have found their "dream job" or simply a "job," but I truly feel without passion for what I am doing a job can not become anything more than a paycheck. I'm sure this may seem quite the opposite of some of my peers, but I just know it will all work out in the end and at the end of the day that's all that we can really hope for.

At the end of the day, faith is a funny thing. It turns up when

you don’t really expect it. It's like one day you realize that

the fairy tale is slightly different than your dream. The castle,

well it may not be a castle. And it's not so important that

it’s happily ever after – just that it's happy right now.

See, once in a while, once in a blue moon, people will surprise

you. And once in a while, people may even take your breath away. 

-Grey's Anatomy

It's All About the Network

I have officially graduated from UGA and now I'm on to attempting to become a grownup. Well, that process started tonight as I attended my 1st networking event with IABC Atlanta. After talking to my friend and recent Grady grad, Erin Burry, about the best way to go about finding a job, she recommended that I try out some of the various events Atlanta has to offer, and boy was she right.

Now for anyone who knows me well, walking into a room where I don't know anyone has never been a strength of mine. Anyone who knows me REALLY well also knows that up until a few years ago I was the painfully shy girl who rarely made a peep (and I had already chosen PR at this point in my life :)) Although, I have improved, and I am proud to say that speaking to strangers rarely lands on my terrifying list these days, the thought of going to an event with REAL adults, was still intimidating. Luckily, my major came with good contacts of its own, and it didn't take much convincing for fellow classmate, Lauren Montero to join me!

I first discovered a link to the event on Twitter from a friend and we immediately decided it could be fun and the perfect time to throw ourselves out there. The event included drinks and appetizers on the rooftop patio at Six Feet Under in Midtown, and since we still qualify for the student price, how could we pass up a few hours in beautiful weather watching the sunset over Atlanta and perhaps meet a few people in the process?!

The event turned out to be a lot of fun and very worthwhile. After quickly spotting Lizz Judd, a friend from the New Media Institute and networking event veteran, Lauren and I felt right at home. Quickly we even began talking to people and even capturing a few great business cards!

The event was a great success, and I cannot wait to do it all over again. Who says finding a job or being a grownup can't be fun!?

UGA Top 25

In no particular order: here they are! 

1. Move in Day at Brumby: Jessica forgets her pillow, her toothbrush and anything else important. 

2. My 18th Birthday: Second day of school. Friends at home. Cheer camp the next morning. A not fun birthday. At all. Until Matt Joines brought me a cake at 12:00 am in the Brumby parking lot, and I knew I would be OK here for four years. 

3. My 1st UGA game as a student: We woke up early to get dressed in our finest red and black. I forgot to eat  and ended up blacking out and running into a concrete pole. Lesson 1: food is important.

4. UGA vs. Auburn 2006: I met the pretty cute boy a few weeks earlier and took a road trip with him on a whim. We spent $20 on two tickets and wound up drenched by rain. The boy's name was Patrick.

5. Christmas downtown: All of Clayton St. sparkles. It’s the best time of the year. 

6. A bug visited River Club: Don’t worry, rainboots, a gladware container and a few bibles did the trick. 

7. Watching the Gym Dogs win the National Championship from Stegman: And watching them parade the trophy around everyone in circles. 

8. Big TV: Elizabeth, Taylor and I rescued him from the parking lot, and tried to carry him rather unsuccessfully while in dresses. 

9. Satan the kitten: Don’t try to save the lives of stray kittens. It will end badly. 

10. Georgia - Florida: St. Simons + football. What more could a girl ask for? 

11. Going to the wrong class the 3rd day of classes junior year: And not realizing I was in the wrong class until AFTER it started. Embarrassing much? 

12. UGA vs. Auburn Blackout 2007: Elizabeth and I still have not topped the pictures we took that day. 

13. The day the fountains came back on: Junior Year. So pretty. Walking to class in the morning and getting sprayed with water from the breeze is the best feeling. 

14. Washington Farms: Pig races, pumpkin picking, corn mazes and strawberries. 

15. HERO Day at the Zoo: Planning my 1st huge event for 300+ and surviving. 

16. Snow Day 2009: Nearly a foot of snow in March. Best. Day. Ever. 

17. Getting the World of Coca-Cola Internship: Elizabeth and I literally jumped up and down in the hallway. 

18. Twilight: Hundreds of bikers downtown for two days. I still haven’t seen a crash, but that’s OK, the pure athleticism of riding a bike 80 laps still blows my mind. 

19. Cali n Titos: The more stuff they add to the ceiling, the more delicious the food seems to get. 

20. Aquamarine: If you haven’t seen this one, you should. Thanks Brumby. 

21. Walking under the Arch: I haven’t technically done this yet, but it’s happening, and on purpose this time. {I once walked under the Arch as a sophomore because a guy was giving away free popsicles. Don’t worry, it didn’t count since it was an accident.}

22. Meeting Vince Dooley: And having a book signed by him. Quite possibly one of the nicest people I have ever met. 

23. Raising $363,000+ in one year: Who knew college students alone could do such things?!

24. 5&10 Sunday Brunch: If you haven’t tried the french toast at this lovely restaurant in 5 Points, you are severely missing out. 

25. The Georgia Theatre: From G. Love to Citizen Cope, and everything in-between, so many good memories here. 

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Mark Twain 

Congrats Class of 2010!