Graduation Week

I have been putting off this post for awhile now because I know its going to take me a long time to get all these pictures uploaded. But...I can't put it off any longer, so here goes.

(FYI: This also might be a boring post to read, but I don't want to forget any details so you may want to skip this one)

This past week has been even crazier than the weeks before. I had my last final over a week ago on Tuesday. As much as I wanted a lazy Wednesday I couldn't have it because I had to put in lots of hours at work.

Thursday was Ohio State's "Senior Crawl." Basically what happens is all the seniors start on the north end of campus and make their way to the south end while trying to hit every bar along the way for a drink. Everyone wears white shirts and brings sharpies so people can sign them and write down which bars they've been to.

Crazy? Yes.

Fun? Oh, yes!

Lydia and I made shirts together and they turned out amazing! When Nick's brother saw them he said, "What did you do? Buy the official Senior Crawl shirt?"

No, we are just that awesome! (Well, Lydia is for the most part).

Here's the front:

The back has the last couple lines of Carmen Ohio:

We started the crawl at around 6pm and didn't even make it very far across campus. We hit maybe around 13 bars. Such fun though!


Friday afternoon we had graduation practice, then I worked in the afternoon, which was the last day with my preschoolers. Sad, but not so sad because I'll still get to be in the same building as them.

On Friday night I met Jackie and Lydia at their place and a bunch of us headed out to a festival thing with live music and people everywhere!

This is Nick's idea of a nice, normal picture:

All in all, a very fun night (except for a sisterly feud, but lets face it, when you hang out with your sister as much as I do, those are bound to happen).

On to Saturday....

Saturday started with a surprise from Nick. It was a doozy. He told me to get in the car and to not ask questions because he wasn't going to give me any hints. (Of course, I asked lots of questions anyway).

We ended up at a camera store and when I asked what we were doing there he replied, "We're going inside and you're going to pick one out."

Whaaaaaat?!

I have been wanting a digital SLR for awhile now, but that's a lot of money. I was seriously shaking because I was so shocked and overwhelmed. I almost passed out twice because I was so light headed.

I decided not to get one that day because I wanted to research it more. And I also made him promise me that he would let me buy all the "extras" like a memory card, more lenses, tripod, etc.

But seriously, how awesome is this guy? This is the best graduation/birthday gift ever and I cannot wait to go back and pick out my camera!

Oh, one more thing. He made me promise something too. He said if he was going to spend all this money on my camera it better not sit around and gather dust (like that would ever happen). But just to make sure, he is going to give me weekly or biweekly assignments and I'm going to have to report back to him just like in my photography class at OSU. I love it.

Saturday night was very special. I attended a candlelit pre-commencement ceremony on the Oval. My parents and Jackie were there, as well as Lydia and her parents.

We took some pictures before:

I just adore Ohio State's president, Gordon Gee.

The best part of the ceremony was the end when all the candles were lit. Everyone joined in singing Carmen Ohio. I got some serious chills.

So obviously one of the best parts of the weekend was the actual graduation ceremony, which was Sunday.

The weather turned out perfect. It got a little hot at one point, but its June so what can we expect?

I was part of the largest graduating class in the world. There were over 8,000 of us!

Out of the 8,000+ people, guess who I got to sit right next to? LYDIA! So, even if we weren't friends anyway we would have eventually met each other.

My favorite part of the graduation was the singing of Carmen Ohio, of course. It was an awesome moment.

Pictures:


I was not trying to show off my legs in this picture, I just didn't know how else to sit. Ha ha.

Here is our attempt at an OHIO picture. Shane looks totally out of it because he clearly was not interested in getting his picture taken. Ha, I love my nephew anyway!

My family totally spoiled me. Jackie got me American Idol concert tickets! YAY! And I totally loved the card they came in. My parents gave me a dress, a beautiful necklace, a license plate thing, and some cash towards new clothes for my "real job." And of course, Nick is giving me the camera for a joint graduation/birthday gift.

Do they love me or what?!

I am so lucky to have such an amazing family.
I mean, my two nephews made it through a 3 hour graduation ceremony in the hot sun. And my brother-in-law went even though Ohio State is his least favorite football team.

I am a lucky girl.

Graduation week was everything I expected it to be and more. Definitely one of the highlights in my life so far.

The reason I haven't had time to post this all before now is because I have officially joined the "Real World."

I started my full time job on Monday and so far I am loving it.

The only bad part? Having to be there at 7:30am. I still need to work out my sleep schedule because I am tired all the time. It's ridiculous. I even passed up on happy hour with Jackie and Lydia because I was so tried. Crazy.

I am so ready to fall into a routine (which hopefully will include blogging more than once every two weeks!)

Happy Friday =)