Helloooooooo? Are you there?

I'm pretty embarrassed that I have not blogged in over a month. Where did the time go?! I've been a lax blogger, but a pretty legit person in general. This will be my first of many regular entries over the summer, especially regarding my summer reading, which has already commenced. So, Let's catch up.

Last weekend I graduated from college! I received my Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies with a Spanish Minor from the University of Iowa. I also watched Tom Brokaw, C. Vivian Stringer (of Iowa and Rutger's women's basketball fame), and Robert Hass (former US Poet Laureate) receive honorary degrees. Tom Brokaw delivered our graduation address, Failure is an Option, which didn't really do it for me. He basically talked about his failing out of the University of Iowa and subsequent success at University of South Dakota, and how his then-girlfriend put him on the right track, and now they've been married for over fifty years, etc. That was all good, until he started randomly talking about the struggle of military families, which wasn't really suited to his audience and seemed to be a play for emotion. He also said a lot of very generic graduation stuff about the "real world", the "challenges facing our class", etc. Maybe I'm being a little catty, but seriously, from an Emmy award winner for lifetime achievement, I expected more. Prior to commencement, however, I was hiding from the crowds near a closed concession stand on the edge of the arena, and Mr. Brokaw walked right past me. I got very excited and said, "Good morning", and he winked and said, "How are you doing?". I felt pretty cool.



After commencement my family, Adrian and I hosted a small party in Adrian's front yard. My dad cooked enough food for an NFL team, and Adrian insisted that we purchase eighty buns at Hy-Vee because he felt that most people would eat two pulled pork sandwiches. As it were, we had under thirty guests, so guess who has forty buns in his freezer? I made a couple of signs, which I am counting as two more things created, though they were not a significant amount of effort. Prior to graduating I also completed my Disney Princess blog, The Palace, and made two paddles for my little sis's in Delta Zeta, so I've been fairly productive.



This weekend we set off to California for Adrian's sister Rosario's fabulous wedding! My intent is to lay out in Rosy's fenced in back yard for several hours and let the desert sun roast me to a nice brown crisp. I'm also trying to convince Adrian to take my clubbing in Mexico, but he thinks we'll get shot by someone involved with a drug cartel, so we're compromising and doing lunch across the border. Also, I told Adrian he can only speak Spanish to me from now until our departure so I can re-acclimate myself to the way his family speaks, much differently than I've learned in class.

Some other random firsts of the past month
1) Wrote an entire term paper in Spanish, and received an A on it. It was a research project about the Day of the Dead. I was very proud, five pages in Spanish felt like thirty in English.
2) Had my nails painted green, the new "Who the Shrek are you?" green from OPI. Not recommended for white ladies. I had my toes done with "Funky Dunkey" purple, which looks very cute.


3) For the first time, I was referred to as a Delta Zeta alumna and a University of Iowa alumni. That felt weird as hell.
4)I'm embracing uncertainty for the first time. I've graduated from college, I'm heading to law school in the fall, probably at Drake University, but still holding out for Iowa (at least for a few more weeks). Further, I have nowhere to live in either location, and I don't even have an "official" summer job at home. After crying about this for a few days, I've decided to love it. I'm making good money at my work right now, which a) alleviates the worry of needing to have a set job the minute I get home, and b) allows for retail therapy, which makes me worry a lot less.

Almost done with a book, so I will be back soon to write about it.

Things left to Read, Make, Do, Learn=98, 83, 82, 94 (sidenote-I'm realizing how stupid it is to count the things I've learned, I learn things all the time. I might scratch that from the list.)