A fun-filled family visit

My wonderful parents and awesome brother came down from Washington last weekend. We had a blast showing them some sights, but overall, we just enjoyed spending time with them. Here is a recap of some of the highlights from their stay.

They came in late Thursday night, so nothing except a lot of catching up over pizza rolls and wine was done. Friday we hit Lake Crabtree, luckily the weather had partially held out. We then had a trip to Caribou Coffee (I love their hot chocolates!) and spent the evening eating homemade pizza with my friend Laura while watching the UNC game.

Saturday we decided to take in another UNC game, this time a baseball game. It was a bit chilly, but nothing a cup of hot chocolate couldn't fix. We also had some good ball park food while there. My pretzel was good as pretzels usually are, but one of the stars food wise was the chicken strip basket.  I couldn't believe how good they were, especially considering they came from a concession stand.

After the game we went on a hunt for some UNC gear and souvenirs for the family to take back home. We had some luck. It was then time to head back to Durham. Jeff, Shawn and my Dad then watched some basketball while my Mom and I went on a fun shopping excursion to Southpoint Mall. We always have a great time shopping together and, of course, I ended up with a few nice things. :-) Always a great bonus!

The next day we went to Raleigh to the history museum. We explored some exhibits Shawn and I had enjoyed before such as the Thomas Day furniture exhibit and the War and North Carolina exhibit, but we also checked out some news ones like the Sports Hall of Fame.

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After that, it was off to find some North Carolina BBQ. We went to the Pit and had a great lunch. This was our second trip to the Pit, and it hasn't disappointed yet.

Monday we hung out at the house and everyone watched episodes of Dexter (Shawn was trying to introduce my parents to the show) while I did homework. We then went back to Chapel Hill so we could walk around the UNC campus and look for more UNC gear. I got a great new mug! Shawn grilled up some steaks and salmon for dinner, and we all just spent some more time talking and hanging out before it was time to head to bed because of the scheduled early morning Tuesday departure.


Overall, it was a great extended weekend. We had a lot of fun checking out new places, but I also enjoyed the time we just spent hanging out, eating pizza, and playing board games. Can't wait to see the family again!

Weekend pics

So I have been working this week on updating my CV, which is basically an academic or research based resume. In my CV, I decided I wanted to link to my website. No, not this website. I actually work on a surprising number of sites for a person who used to be against new technology. This blog was my first attempt at one. However, it is not the only blog I work on. I write for Upstream. Upstream is a health communication blog that talks about health communication issues. It's at upstreamdownstream.org.

In addition to Upstream and this blog, I have a personal website. I got the site through the university so I could link back to the Upstream blog, but I have decided it could be valuable to add to my CV. If you want to check it out, it's jessicawilloughby.web.unc.edu. (And if you have any suggestions I am happy to hear them!)

So anyway, I have been working away at updating my CV in anticipation of (hopefully) internship opportunities for the summer. Because of this, I also updated the website. I wanted to list it and have people learn even more about me from the site if they were interested. One thing I didn't have for the site though was a decent picture to include. I wanted to have a picture of me with contact info on all the pages, but I needed a decent picture for this. So Shawn and I went out and did a mini-photo shoot on Saturday. Luckily we had sunny weather (but cold) and we took some pics at UNC so the pictures represent my current stage in life. Of course the picture I chose to use (for now) is just a head shot, so really we could have taken it in the backyard. Whoops. Here are a few of the better pics.

Wrapping up the break

Unfortunately, my winter break is about to end. On a positive note, however, I am very excited for the classes I am going to be taking Spring semester. Here is a brief overview of my upcoming schedule.

Tuesday and Thursday morning starting at 8 a.m. I have a statistics class. This should be good, even though being on campus by 8 means getting up pretty early to catch a 7:10 a.m. bus.

Also on Tuesdays I have an automaticity class over at Duke. What is automaticity you may be asking? I am not completely sure, which is why I am taking the class. What I do know is that it is a process that involves automatic responses, and these can sometimes impact our health. For example, a person may be so used to smoking every time he or she drinks that even though he or she has decided to quit, the action itself could be almost automatic. It should be interesting, and I think it is great that we are allowed to take classes at other universities because Duke has some amazing classes and professors.

Then I head back to UNC on Tuesday to take a Mass Communication History class. This is a required course, but it sounds like it could be pretty interesting. One of our first readings involves Princess Diana (yes, we already have assigned readings).

My Wednesdays are pretty open except for a meeting for the UNC health communication blog I help run: upstreamdownstream.org. Check it out if you are interested in health or communication, and especially if you are interested in both. I typically post on Mondays.

Thursdays start off with another dose of stats, and then I have two methods classes. I am taking a class in designing experiments and conducting content analyses. Both of these should be really interesting and helpful, and hopefully I can get some good projects out of them.

So that is pretty much an overview of my schedule. You may have noticed that I did not mention any classes on Monday or Friday. That is because I don't have them! Although my days will be booked Tuesday and Thursday, I will have plenty of time to do my readings on Monday and Friday, and I won't even have to leave the house. :-)