so i've discovered that i love traveling and i love big cities! i don't think i'd want to live RIGHT in one for a long period of time, but i think i'd like to live NEAR one, because i just think they're so fun. last week i got to visit BOSTON for the biophysical society conference with my lab! i presented a poster of my thesis project and it went really well! lots of people stopped by and we had some really helpful discussions. it really was so fun to be able to tell people about my research and realized that i really know what i am talking about :) i also got to sit in on a bunch of talks about other people's research and get a taste of some of the exciting stuff being done! some were definitely more exciting than others, but overall i enjoyed it a lot! i actually have very few pics, but once some of the other girls share theirs with me i can post some more exciting ones.
katalyn and i at the airport waiting for the adventure to start!
layover in phoenix with cel and ashley. 4 HOUR layover :)
MY POSTER! (sadly after we laminated it, you couldn't see the skull and crossbones watermark that i used . . . but i knew it was there, and that's all that matters)
me and my team!
me and my poster! hmmm looking slightly contorted. oh well.
katalyn and i looking lovely after the fire alarm went off in the hotel at 2 am. turns out we didn't have to evacuate, but we took a picture anyway.
ashley and i showing off our matching hair. she, katalyn, and i were roommates at the hotel. good times.
matching argyle! cute outfits from our shopping spree at H&M where i got lots of cute mission clothes!
TOP TEN (or maybe more) MEMORIES FROM THE TRIP (in no particular order):
** "oh yeah, used to be a member!" (after I told the skycap at the airport that we were part of the biophysical society. you cannot truly appreciate how awesome this was without my amazing boston accent)
**our steak dinner at Morton's . . . this high class steakhouse with a verbal presentation of the menu, our awesome waiter (levi), the free creme brulee (ashley had a creme brulee every day of the trip i think), and my chocolate cake that OOZED.
**our friend christoff from germany (katalyn was very friendly)
**going to the biophysical society dance and LITERALLY starting the dance party with a good ol' west coast swing (with my buddy rustin), bonding with a lab from columbia and dancing with them for about 2 hrs, and having the time of our lives WITHOUT the free alcoholic beverages :)
**becoming masters of the boston subway. one favorite ride included a sweet street band playing "sweet home alabama" while we waited to transfer to the red line. we danced and threw them money across the train tracks. when we got on the train they said "hey! good dancing!"
**dr. bell becoming a texting fiend on the phone we gave him for christmas
**hughbert (my dad's old laptop) and how he helped me work on my thesis while i was there and how he's holding it hostage now until i go buy an ethernet cable to connect to the internet and email it to myself
**the pillow library at the seaport hotel, and how we tried every pillow they had
**how the hotel said "how can we help you ms. gibbons?" whenever our room called the front desk
**staying up til 3 am watching "titanic" on tv and finding out the next morning that the other girls' room did the same thing!
**the hotel delivering a microwave to one of our hotel rooms
**the intense toilets and how we could hear them flushing and how awesome it was
**how cold it was (ok NOT a favorite)
**the freedom trail! so fun to see the cool historical sites
**the hole in the wall italian restaurant we went to
**room service dessert (especially while we watched high school musical 3 one night with rustin)
**ashley's obsession with asking the consierge
**dr. bell's celebration in the lobby when he thought he'd figured something out about my thesis and how i proved him wrong. guess you had to be there. good times
**the ballet excursion
**presenting my poster!
**one of the girls (who shall remain unnamed) coming out of the bathroom in a towel holding up her arm looking very distressed saying, "guys, i cut my armpit!" and there was a trail of blood trickling down. haha hilarious.
My cousin/friend (or shall i say frousin?) michelle got married a little over a week ago! we grew up together: being the bawl babies, wearing matching dresses even though i was in utah and she was in hawaii, gluing/tying ourselves together so she couldn't go back to hawaii and leave me again, going to school together starting in 3rd grade, sharing the "psycho-crazy cousin vibe," meeting up after school in elementary and getting out monopoly jr every time without even speaking first, calling each other every day after school in jr high (even though we'd just been together all day) to tell each other stories from the day (michelle what did we call the stories? it was a fruit wasn't it?), belting out disney songs in my kitchen, spending many weekends just sitting at the piano . . . me playing as she sang, having the same bed spread in college even though we were 3 hours away, and just having a lot of good times with ourselves, family, and friends. now she's all grown up and getting married!! i'm so grateful that everything worked out so that i was not only in utah for her wedding, but endowed and so able to attend her temple ceremony. i think some things are just meant to be :) her new husband taylor seems like a great guy and i think they are both the luckiest people alive. here are some pics from the occasion. I LOVE YOU MICHELLE!
(i didn't have a man to dance with, so i grabbed the cardboard cutout of andrew :) we missionaries have to stick together!)
