GRADUATION

After the San Diego marathon I literally had no time to relax as I was immediately thrown into a whirlwind of end-of-year activities like finals and college graduation : ) Needless to say this left no room for running but was the perfect time to be in recovery mode! I had my last two final exams Tuesday and Wednesday, then my folks got into town Thursday morning. Over the next couple days I took them around Santa Barbara, visiting the gorgeous Mission whose grounds were covered with colorful chalk murals, meeting my Team for happy hour downtown, and spending an afternoon in the cute little Danish-inspired town of Solvang just north. In between this flurry of activities we started to break down my apartment and pack up my life from the past four years.

Santa Barbara Mission

"I Madonnari" chalk murals - amazing!

L

Legit.

M

My fave : )

Love them ♥

M

From the Mission rose garden.

 In front of the windmill in Solvang.

Saturday was the big day so we were up at sunrise to get ready. The ceremony started at 9am on the faculty lawn next to the gorgeous lagoon, and my wonderful parents (who had got there at 7am!) had front row seats. I sat with my amazing roommates, best friends, and sorority sisters as we listened to all the speeches and then finally it was our turn to walk! I was expecting it to be much more surreal than it was. Maybe because it's not the end of my education (grad school is in my future), or maybe it's just denial? But when we were declared graduates and instructed to move our tassels from left to right I couldn't help but smile : )

♥ Gamma Phi Beta ♥

My cap!

My roomie Jordan and I waiting in the Thunderdome

My loves : )

My turn!

Graduates!

Mom & Dad ♥

My dad's sign - it means "princess" in Italian, his nickname for me : )

Yay!

After the ceremony there wasn't much time to celebrate - my brother was actually graduating at 3pm from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. And before you ask, no, we are not twins. He's actually 2 years older than me and just took a couple extra years to graduate : ) Luckily his school is just over an hour away so we made it just in time. But man was it long and hot! We all went out for sushi after then my folks and I headed to Pismo Beach to stay the night before heading back to Santa Barbara Sunday morning.

C

Cal Poly Commencement 2010

B

 Bro & sis

 Proud parents!

The rest of the weekend was spent packing up my apartment and cleaning. We managed to fit all my stuff (things really accumulate over 4 years!) into my dad's truck and my car and Monday morning I said a final goodbye to Santa Barbara and headed north to begin the next chapter...