The end of a VERY long journey!

Well, it's official! I am a college graduate!!! As I sat in my chair during the ceremony, watching all of my fellow Titans walk away with that stand-in piece of paper instead of actual diplomas, I couldn't help but reflect on the bittersweet memories of my college career.

The many hours scouring the campus parking lot for just one spot, the sleepless nights writing papers after procrastinating until the very last second, the different faces of all of my wonderful/horrible professors who made an impression on me, the many awkward places at school I found to nap in (yes, I slept in the bathroom stall once) all of my fellow students and friends who I shared so many memories with...I can't believe it's all come to an end.

Of course I am excited and anxious to see what awaits me in the upcoming years, but school was always that fail-safe that gave me some kind of structure and discipline in my life.  It kept me out of trouble.  Now that it's all over with, I have to actually go out into the real world and make money.  Talk about pressure!

I will say that graduating college at the age of 26 puts me at kind of an advantage.  Most kids graduate college at 21-23 and have absolutely no drive or ambition to begin a career and kind of end up wandering for a while.  Of course there are exceptions to this (I know many), but I know that if it were me who just graduated from college at the age of 23, I would probably spend most of my time traveling the world and working dead-end jobs.  Now that I'm kind of old (relatively speaking) and I'm pretty much all settled down in life, I know what I want, and I'm determined to get it.

So here's to entering the real world. With deadlines, resumes, waking up early, going to bed at a "reasonable" hour, Friday nights being used to catch up on reruns of The Real Housewives, rush hour traffic, eating your veggies, and whatever else it is that makes you an "adult."

Eh, it's not much of a change from my pre-graduate life.

Here's a few of my favorite photos from graduation day:

My wonderful, supportive family who has been there for me every semester of finals and midterms, and strangely enough, still love me.

Where would I be without my super patient fiance and amazing mother who made me the woman I am today?

Props of course to my girl Kaysha, who I walked side-by-side with onto the CSUF campus.  Without her my experience there would have been FAR less entertaining and much lonelier.

A few fun shots from my graduation bbq.  My little sister Megen up top, and a photo-montage with my mom.  My friend Marcella said to "give her a kiss" when she took the photo, and without specifying who should kiss who, we accidentally locked lips.  Gross! You kiss yo' momma with that mouth!!! Ummm, yeah!  :)