I’m back! My last week or two of college, party planning, and graduation has kept me extremely occupied! I am finally entering a new phase in life – post grad. I can’t believe it’s already here…
But first things first… I did it! I chopped off all of my hair – and was able to donate 12 inches to Locks of Love! I’m actually still getting used to it, but it’s definitely nice for (what’s supposed to be) spring & then summer. Although since Ohio decided to be bipolar, I do miss the warmth of my long mane, ha!
I actually wanted to donate locally here in Cleveland (especially after reading how Julie from Wearing Mascara donated hers to Wigs for Kids!)… but I couldn’t find anything that accepted dyed hair. So when I finally found out that Locks of Love did, I was just glad to have found a place I could send my hair to! It makes it more meaningful and feels good knowing all of that hair will make a child’s life a little bit better :)
If you’re thinking about donating your hair – I highly recommend it!
On to the big news, though…
I’m officially a college graduate!
I graduated from Kent State University on Saturday, May 11th, 2013 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing :) Class of 2013!
I can’t believe it’s finally come and gone! It went by so fast, but was such an incredible day. I was so thankful to have almost ALL of my family there to celebrate with me. A majority of my dad’s side of the family came down from upstate New York, my grandparents on my mom’s side came up from South Carolina, and my aunt, uncle, and cousin came down from Toledo! Plus, a few of my closest friends stopped by my grad party later that night. My only complaint was how cold it was! It still turned out to be one of the best days of my life though. I not only feel proud of myself for achieving this, but it warms my heart to make my family proud. My dad’s side of the family kept telling me how proud he would be/is of me. I decided to honor him (and my best friends, boyfriend, mom, and grandparents) by putting their pictures on my cap:
And of course I had to rock some Tri Sigma pride, too… ;)
Words can’t even describe how much I miss him and wish he could’ve been there to see me graduate, but I know he was there in spirit. It was so fun spending time with his side of the family though, it makes me feel closer to him. We were all reminiscing and realized my dad would’ve been 50 this past January. It’s still so hard to believe that he’s been gone for over 20 years. But I’m so thankful for him & my mom. I have this amazing, incredible family who always supports me and I honestly wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for them. My mom especially, because she raised me on her own, has always put up with me through everything, and is one of my best friends. Milestones really make you look back on everything that led you to that very moment… I still can’t believe how so many little things and people impacted my life so drastically.
In the midst of all of the excitement & celebrating, I forgot to take a single picture at my grad party (which directly followed my graduation ceremony). Silly me! Oh well, I at least have all of the fun memories..
It seriously was a hilarious, truly unforgettable night. My mom’s friend got me this for my graduation present:
Which I, of course, had no idea about when I bought & painted these…
Now we have 2 sets, at least! Mike & I are talking about taking these ones and doing Cleveland & Columbus sports teams (Indians & Browns, Blue Jackets & Crew) and making it our tailgating set. Also, shameless plug… but if you’re looking for a decently priced set that you can customize yourself – I got these from Pat Catan’s for less than $30 for each board. Such a good deal! However, the set my mom’s friend got me were done by someone and obviously turned out fantastically, too.
So I guess the next big question is…
What now?
I have all of this week off for vacation, for starters. My mom & I were going to take off to some unknown destination when we first decided this, but we didn’t have time to plan anything so we decided to just do a staycation instead, which is actually pretty perfect and much less stressful (oh, and cheaper too!). We’re still not 100% sure of what all we want to do (because we know the time is going to evaporate), but we have a few things planned. One of which is checking out Walnut Wednesday since we’ll both be off of work! I can’t wait :) Also, I just saw that the Downtown Cleveland Alliance is having a Pop Up Party with more food trucks, so we just might have to check that out too! We’re also heading to an ELLE blogger event Thursday evening, so that should be pretty fun (who doesn’t love free food & gift bag swag?). And I can’t forget that it’s also Cleveland Marathon weekend! One of my sorority sisters is running the half (I believe), and my big was supposed to join her but registration was full, so we might go cheer the runners on… we shall see!
So much to do, so little time… I tell ya.
It is already nice having time off between ending school & starting work. I’m continuing at the company I’ve been interning at, so I plan on really taking in every moment of this vacation before I head back to work next Monday. I’ll let you know when reality hits me… haha! I will definitely be appreciating not having to study for exams, pull all-nighters, schedule classes, write papers, and so on though. I want to take advantage of my free time as much as possible. I obviously have a few blog posts to catch up on, too… Oops! I also really want to get back into reading, focus on getting healthy & working out more, continue trying new things and taking every opportunity I can, and more. We’re already planning a couple weekend road trips, too. My cousin is graduating college this coming Saturday, so we’re going up to New York in June for his grad party. Such an exciting time for our family!
Speaking of family, before everyone left to head back to New York, we all went out for a huge Mother’s Day brunch on Sunday. We had about 21 people altogether… my dad’s side of the family is HUGE, but we love it that way! One of my uncles, his fiancee, and their kids stayed an extra day, so we got to go to Red Lobster for Mother’s Day dinner with them, too. By the time the day was over, we were ready to pass out from all of that food and the running around we’ve been doing.
Yesterday was our first day of vacation post-graduation, so we kept it really low key. We ran some errands, got some movies, and my mom cooked a wonderful dinner for her, myself, and Mike. Now we get to spend the rest of the week having a blast & continuing the relaxation!
I hope you are having a great week so far, too!
If you have any recommendations for things we should do this week, please let me know! We’re always looking for new things to do/try :)
