Moving On, Moving Up

Wow I have been terrible at updating my blog lately! It has been a crazy few weeks!!! First off I graduated! Whaaaa???? Me finally graduating? Who whoulda thought it would finally come! It was a stressful week because we I spent most of the week, while not working or doing my TA job, packing and moving all our boxes of stuff. Saturday was the day we were to move all our big stuff with the help of dad’s trailer and many hands (therefore making light work, haha). So by Saturday I was pretty beat but Friday night we had the help of Megan and some big cowboys to move some stuff so we were able to sleep in our new apartment in Smithfield. Saturday started off with the tradition of walking from the A to the Spectrum for commencement. I didn’t want to go to commencement so I just walked the other way, but it was so wonderful to see Ross and Megan cheering me on from the side as I walked with all my fellow graduates. I didn’t think I would care about it but I actually really loved participating in the tradition. It was also great to see my old stilts roomies! It seems crazy to think that we all graduated, and that we all ran into each other while we were waiting to walk…it was a pretty great moment!

all the roomies! i love alica's baby bump! so cute! i had just woken up and driven there so i look terrible next to everyone else who was all ready. it was embarrassing! but totally worth the photo moment

i am just so flattered by this outfit!

Heather was one of my old roomies and we were both in the college of HaSS so we were able to walk together to the spectrum

So then we moved Sam into his new married apt :) and then we moved our furniture. Then it was off to graduation! I was pretty nervous on the drive there! What if I tripped over my beautiful new heels?? That would just be embarrassing! But I didn’t….thank goodness!! The ceremony wasn’t unbearably long and went off without incident. It was a fun day and so great to know that I had accomplished one of the goals I had always set for myself. There are so many people who helped me accomplish it and I am so grateful for all the support. Here are a few pics from the day….

"please dont trip, please dont trip"

"oh no I am getting closer"

"whew, I made it, now I just hope Dr. Damen says my name right!"

"haha i made it!!" this is Dr. Jones and he was so great to me as an undergrad! he helped me so much and inspired me to be a better historian"WHAT?! another incline! dont trip, dont trip"

"sweet I made it!"

The hubby..looking proud I hope. Plus I had to get a pic of the flowers! I am a sucker for roses! Thanks Ross! :)
The parentals...looking proud I hope

The Menlove's! It was so great to have them there and it meant so much to have them, Megan, Sam, the Doutre's and my wee bro Sam and Erin there to support, I felt so loved!
My bosses at the ticket office made me and the other graduates a sign that they posted on the second floor. I was pretty excited to see it! A bunch of random people asked me if i was one of them when we were taking this picture, I thought that was pretty funny
Ever since I was a freshmen in Pine View I saw graduates take pictures next to the bull and it was something on my to-do list. I am glad that we did, i love the pictures!
AWWW they are just so cute!!! I literally could not have accomplished this without their love, support and "donations". Thank you Mom and Dad!!!
Challenge set and matched. woot woot!! :)

bahama mama

Next stop was the Bahamas!!!! when we got in it was overcast and looked like it was going to rain. we went to the atlantis resort a few miles away. the resort was beautiful! we could see it from our balcony

the first thing we did was swim with the dolphins!!! it was such an amazing experience and we loved every minute. this was the huge complex that they housed over 30 dolphins in.

we were in a group with a family from boston. they were really sweet. we lined up and the dolphin would swim along our hands both on their bellies and on their tops.
they did some tricks for us! its pretty amazing how high they can jump!!
we were able to get on a boogie board and have the dolphin push us across the bay by our feet. they are so powerful!!! that was probably my favorite part of the experience.





couples pic!! awww
only girl i could share him with :)
after the dolphins we were able to spend a bunch of time in the big water park on the resort. we didnt get any pictures because we were too busy riding CRAZY rides! there was one that went through a tube in the middle of the shark tank! it was so sweet. it rained a bit while we were in the water park but the rain was warm so we didnt mind. we had so much fun but had to get back to the ship.....

my swimming suit was still wet so all of these pictures look so funny! we wandered around downtown and it was beautiful. the shops were full of all the same stuff but we found some dr pepper and salt and vinegar pringles!! mmmmmmm so great!!

after nassau, bahamas we went to royal caribbean's private island called coco cay. it was absolutely beautiful! it was the definition of tropical island and it was where we really felt we were in paradise!
we went snorkeling and enjoyed the sun for the day. afterwards it was two bumpy days back to baltimore. this is our balcony looking onto the baltimore port.

these are some pictures from dinner when we had to dress up.

this picture was taken before we got tan! hahaha

our steward left us cute towel animals!! yipee! this was my favorite, an elephant

it was such an amazing trip and we had so much fun spending it together. it was such a great time for us to go and we are so glad that we did!

flo-ridin

We had two stops in Florida on our way to warmth. the first stop was port canavaral, first we walked to coco beach which was really close to the ship. we didnt have our swimming suits so we just walked along the beach. the weather was nice but it was pretty hot and muggy which did not endure mainland florida to me.


after wandering down the beach for a while we headed back for our gator experience. ross and i are in love with this show called swamp people on history channel, and so when we heard about seeing gators on an airboat we just had to go. it was so cool!! we were taken through the swamps and the guy driving the boat took us right up to gators.

our cool headsets! so we didnt go deaf and so we could hear the guide. i was surprised at how loud they are!
this is when the captain hit the gator with the boat!!! the gator wasnt too pleased and i was pleased to not be on that side. the guide said that gators can jump half their body weight out of the water, i thought he was joking but he wasnt!

this was the boat and ross wanted a chance at the captains chair.

the best part was probably getting to hold a live baby gator. it was so creepy and i was totally freaked out. ross jumped in right away but i was really hesitant. but i did it and it felt pretty cool! i was proud of conquering my fear.

the guide showed us how much the gator liked to have his neck scratched. it was so funny because the gator would crane it's neck like a cat! (notice the rubber band keeping the mouth closed)



our next stop was KEY WEST!!! oh man i loved this island!! it was somuch fun! we pretty much just wandered around and bought souvenirs. i was surprised at how excited i was for the whole jimmy buffet experience and it didnt disappoint! the sun was so pleasant and the temperature was great. i loved the feel of the place, it did feel like a vacation place where people just dont leave.



margaritaville!! i was decidedly more excited than ross but he was kind enough to humor me.

UTAH!! represent! woot woot

we ate right by the stage after i had found a copious amount of souvenirs (so so great)


i HAD to get a burger (minus the cheese) in paradise. and it was so great!! mmmmmm
after we toured key west we went back onto the ship and caught some rays (which subsequently burned both of us to a crisp. like most of our other shipmates)


the color of the water was soooooo beautiful! i loved it so much!