09ers graduated!

Soo last week consisted of a lot of driving down to Fburg for grad festivities. It's what we at MW call Dead Week. Most people go to the beach for a few days before returning for senior activities.

Tuesday:
After switching around my work schedule I drove down to Anthony's for his bday/Cinco de Mayo party. Traffic, thankfully, was not heinous. But as soon as I got into town the heavens opened up. I quickly ran into Total Wine to get supplied and then headed out. Anthony was grilling despite the rain. Lets just say we drank, ate, danced, and played cards the rest of the day. Evening came around and I found myself making 2 new friends. It's funny how you know someone on our campus, but you never really meet. You have all the same friends, but you still don't meet until that 1 day in the future. That was that day. Marissa, Maggie, and I bonded and then made a run to the ABC store where we ended up discussing which Sweet Tea Vodka we should buy. Even the cashier got into our discussion. Soo eventually we make it back and I find Katie and Ash! They promised to stop in quickly before heading to the Jack's Mannequin concert in Richmond. I also got to catch up with a few other grads and share about my Walk weekend. Sometime later I ended up going downtown to Cap Ale (surprise surprise) with Chrissie and Andi. It was the emptiest I had ever seen it. I knew a lot of people were out of town, but it was still kind of shocking. So we order drinks and fries and proceed to have a merry time. I was still recovering from the Walk weekend so I started fading. I think I left them around midnight..but that was awhile ago. I drove home and crashed.

Thursday:
I drove down for the Morocco Reunion Lunch at Cap Ale! It took me a bit longer than expected because of stupid traffic/construction. Em, Laura, Twin, and Ryan were able to make it. It was us and a few other patrons there so naturally we were the loudest. After lunch Ryan and I tried to help Twin find gold shoes for Grad Ball that evening. It was not a success. On the drive home I swear I almost died. Again, the heavens decided to open up on 95 and I swear I couldn't see 5 feet in front of me. It was pretty intense and only lasted 15 minutes or so. That's the 2nd or 3rd time I've got caught in a freak rain storm on a major highway. And by freak rain storm I mean all cars slow down to 20 mph or pull over on the side of the road and no one can see 10 feet in front of their cars. I made it home and then decided to go out with Bevin and her roomies. They were doing their Dead Week here in NoVA/wherever. It was a very chill evening, which I definitely needed.

Friday:
It took me 2+ hrs to get to Fburg. Stupid Stupid traffic! I finally arrive and I basically just bounce around from place to place seeing different people and hanging out. I changed and bought flowers for Convocation and got to see my CC 09ers! Later on in the evening I was downtown at Cap Ale. It was a pretty chill evening since most seniors were hungover/exhausted from Grad Ball the night before. Eventually Twin and I make it back to her house and we go to bed.

SATURDAY!
We woke up around 7ish and we were on our way to Graduation by 8:15! It was beautiful, of course! I walked all around Jeffy Square and got to see a lot of seniors before heading over to Lee Hall. I also saw Frank and we got to catch up for a bit. People thought we were ushers soo that was nice. No one bothered stepping in front of me so I had a clear angle to take pictures. The ceremony was lovely, but the setup was totally different! I couldn't sneak into the President's tent...sad. Ash and I walked around and ran into Mary W. We all eventually plopped down on the new steps of Lee and just chilled. I still had my donuts from the morning run so we enjoyed some munchkins. I saw a lot of 08 grads wandering around so it was nice to catch up on life. Pretty soon we were all singing the alma mater and then they recessed! It was all pretty much over by 11:30. Then we all got caught up in pictures and somehow finally made it to lunch @ Cheeseburger. Katie's dad paid for everyone which was super sweet. It's always interesting to meet family and see where certain traits are inherited. Take for instance Katie's mom. She and her have the same smile and similar laughs. But Katie definitely gets her distinctive laugh from her father. After lunch there was some party hopping way into the night. Then somehow I ended up downtown with Marissa and Laura M. bar hopping/shooter hopping. We stopped at Bourbon Room, Cap Ale, University Cafe, and Happy Endings. At each we bought each other rounds of shooters. I was so insistent on driving home that night, but by the 5th or 6th I knew that just wasn't going to happen. So I ended up crashing at Mandeville's place. Somehow we managed to crawl out of bed for Mother's Day.

Yup, it was a pretty fantastic weekend even if I left out some details.