A College Graduate

Thursday December 15

I started to really pack up my room on Thursday... which is arguably the worst part about moving. 1: Packing just isn't a fun time, there's just so much stuff and it never ends. 2: I get so dang nostalgic while I am packing, and then I get sad and then it takes me even longer to pack. I thought I had gotten a lot done, but by the time I was tired of packing, my room really just looked like a giant mess.

I went to Cane's for lunch all thanks to Lauren Stahle, and it was delicious. 

Zach arrived in Tucson a little bit after lunch. Once he got there we ran some errands with Steph and Jenny (and by errands I mean we went to Circle K for a drink and then to Ace for some batteries. 

Eventually it was time for Steph Shaw's graduation! Her graduation was relatively short and sweet because it's not a ginormous college. We somehow completely missed her when she walked in with the processional, but made up for that by cheering wildly when she walked across the stage. Since you didn't have to have tickets to go to her graduation Steph had a whoppin' ten friends come to support her plus her family. This squirrel is loved. 

After Steph's graduation she went out with her family, so a few of the supporters (Andrew, Zach, Rudy, Kara, Jenny, Rory and myself) went to No Anchovies for dinner. Apparently NoChovs was the place to be Thursday night because we had to separate our group in order for all of us to sit an eat... but it's all worth it because that pizza is just too dang delicious. 

After dinner Rudy, Andrew and Zach came back to the Beezies with me and Jenny to hang out before we went to go see Rogue One later in the evening. We spent a lot of time reflecting on the Naked Strippers relationship and this entire semester. For me, all I know is that this has been the most challenging semester for me with school and work and that group of kids really carried me through it. They're the strangest group of kids (most of our reflecting was on all the strange things we did throughout the semester) but they have given me memories that are so engraved into my mind I will never be able to forget them, #NakedStripperForLife. We also decided Zach has become an honorary stripper, what an honor.

Eventually it was time to see Rogue One. We decided to be fancy and go to the Harkins for this one (for all you valley people, you don't realize that Harkins are AT LEAST a twenty minute drive away in Tucson, and the closest theaters are crappy Century's... so Harkins really is being fancy). A crap ton of people came... so many people that when we ran into Mollie at the Harkins we didn't even realize she was part of our Rogue One mormon group, and we just thought how random it was that she came to this theater half way to Mexico at the exact same time we did. Turns out she was in the big group hahaha it was hilarious. 

I FREAKING LOVED ROGUE ONE AND I CANNOT STOP TALKING ABOUT IT.... seriously like 60% of our giant group went to my house afterward and we stayed up for at least another hour just discussing the movie and how amazing it is. My only complaint is that the names were way too complicated for me this time around... so complicated I really couldn't remember any of the names when we were discussing the movie. But other than that, JUST SO AMAZING. I laughed, I cried, I felt nostalgia, I jumped in my seat... just so good. You have to go see it peeps.

Friday December 16

Graduation day! HOW THE FREAKING CRAP DID THIS DAY GET HERE? 

I woke up bright and early for Chastity to take me to breakfast on Friday as a final goodbye... classic Chastity refusing to accept that I am leaving slept in on Friday so we had to reschedule breakfast for Saturday, tricky tricky girl. The rest of the morning was pretty slow moving until I had to check into my graduation around 1 pm. I took a bunch of clothes and a printer to goodwill, went to Wendy's for a fancy graduation lunch and started watching the season finale of Survivor. Somewhere during Survivor I started getting ready for graduation, and Trev showed up, and then some of my family arrived!

Eventually it was time for Rory and I to head out for our graduation. Our family really lucked out that Rory and I graduated from the same college, so they would only have to sit through one ceremony. The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences have been telling everyone in their emails to expect this graduation to be at least 2.5 hours... I was not thrilled about this and expected to die during the ceremony. Luckily it only crept up to the 2 hour mark, so it wasn't as bad as they were telling us it would be. I freaking loved the speaker chosen for our graduation, she was the co-founder of Black Lives Matter and more importantly and alum of the University of Arizona. She talked about 4 keys to good leadership. She was so inspiring and I give her a 65000/10.

My row was the first to go up for graduation so I didn't have to sit in my nervousness for very long at all. The most wonderful person Rebecca Noble was working the graduation for GradImages and took my photo before I entered the stage, that was such a small thing but it made my whole graduation honestly. 

The name readers of SBS were really struggling during this ceremony. Luckily for me I have a very simple name, and they did not mess it up... but holy crap did they mess it up so bad for some other people. For the names they really butchered the entire Centenniel Hall cheered for them, so that made it a little bit better.

Eventually the graduation ended and then it was picture time! I was so lucky to have my amazing family with all my grandparents there, my aunt Elin, my dope best friends AKA the Fam (I am especially grateful that Sadie was able to make it even with all her work craziness), and my lovely roommates all there to support me. I couldn't have made it through college with all their support! And just so everyone knows Granny and Master were indeed there to support me as well, they just weren't there for the pictures because they had to pick up the catering.

The ultimate spare tire

After the ceremony everyone (plus Sam and Kara) went back to my house for some Chipotle Catering, which is still the coolest thing in the world to me. My mom also bought Steph, Rory and I a cake to celebrate with, AND she brought Rory's and my favorite drinks (Jones and Guarana), we have the best mother ever. Also biggest shout out to Granny and Master for thinking of getting Chipotle catered rather than Eegee's, that was a genius decision.

After the partied died down and grandparents started to leave it was time to buckle down and pack up my room. Kara and Trev were the best for sticking around and helping out even when they didn't have to (Zach was a huge help too... but he didn't have much of a choice haha). This packing session was much more effective than the one I did on Wednesday... and it was way more chaotic so I didn't have as much time to be sad and nostalgic.

I stayed one more night in Tucson and it was actually the saddest thing in the world sleeping like this:

Saturday December 17

Chastity successfully woke up and took Zach and me to lunch at IHOP (even though she is a Denny's girl, she let me choose the place haha). I am convinced I am never actually going to say goodbye to Chastity, they're always going to be temporary. I am going to visit Tucson all the time, and I am going to force her to come to see me wherever I end up. So no true goodbyes will ever come from me and Chastity. BUT I am very happy we had this one last hoorah together, saying a temporary goodbye with food is the proper way to go out for me and Chastity.

After breakfast Zach and I finished loading up the cars and I left 1320 one final time as an actual rent paying resident... and I buried my emotions so I wouldn't cry. But boy am I sad to leave that little duplex. It has been my one and only home while at the University of Arizona. There have been countless parties, movie nights, girl talks, boy talks, truth circles, burnt dinners, restless nights and endless amounts of laughter in that house. When I moved in 3 1/2 years ago, I never expected to get attached to that place and I was probably going to end up moving around at least once during my college career, because that's what everyone does. But 1320 and the beezies living inside of it really took ahold of my heart and made that place a home for me. Come January it is really going to hit me that I don't live there anymore, and that is a day that I can most certainly wait for. I'm a 1320 beezie for life.

Once we got to Mesa, Zach was the best and helped me unload and unpack all my things. I was completely moved back into my room at home in a matter of two hours. If Zach wasn't there I would probably be blogging in a room full of bags and boxes right now, so I really could not have done it without him.

After completely crashing once all the work was done, Zach and I went to get dinner and visit his family before my family returned from a trip to Sedona.

In the evening we went shopping with my mom and aunt and then came home to play Heads Up with the whole family. Everyone needs to experience playing heads up with my family (especially Avery) at least once in their lives... you will seriously die of laughter, it's the best.

Sunday December 18

It is time for me to face the reality that I am no longer in third ward... and that I must go to the single's ward here in Mesa... which I am not too fond of. But by some stroke of luck Matt McLeish was going to Meridian on Sunday so I actually had something to look forward to. Rory, Kenzie and I only ended up staying for an hour... it's a process trying to get comfortable in this ward... I just had to dip my toes in this week.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxing. Everyone napped in my household forever. I played some games with Avery and practiced sounding out words with her.

In the evening I went to go visit Zach at his house. He got super sick on Sunday and slept for a majority of the day, so I thought I would risk contamination to go visit him and hopefully brighten his spirits. The good news is that I have him hooked on Grey's Anatomy, so he watched quite a few episodes during his sick day, so now he is a person that I can vent to forever about Grey's Anatomy (don't worry Kara, you are still number one on that list).

FOR EVERYONE THAT IS CURIOUS AS TO WHAT MY POST GRADUATION PLANS ARE..... So am I! Trust me people, I am not keeping it a secret from you, I just really have no idea what the heck is going on yet. I am just going to enjoy my winter break for a little bit and then buckle down and get a job. So let's try to avoid the awkward conversation where I tell you that I am a college graduate who has moved back home (temporarily) and is currently unemployed. But the great news is that I have a job interview this week, so cross your fingers everyone!