Misc. Summer Pictures

We have been in Turlock all week and it has been good to see all of our friends. We went to Murphys today and it was very hot, but it is beautiful. We toured Ironstone Winery with Lexi and Elya, and we wandered around town into the little shops, and when it got too hot we put our feet in the cold river. It was relaxing...and then we came back into Turlock and there was nothing to do here, as usual. I wish we could have stayed in the mountains all week, it is so tranquil up there and it is nice to not have something to do every second.

Nick and I have finally been able to find a few real estate agents in Boston who are going to help us find a place, and Nick is going to fly out within the next 2 weeks to look at some apartments and hopefully sign a lease! We will be all over the place in the next few weeks, but I am loving summer and the lack of school work. I am enjoying time with my friends and family, and loving every minute of California weather-even if it was 100 degrees today- I am trying to keep in mind that in a few short months it will be in the 20's in Boston, and I will be wishing it were summertime in California!

Some of these pictures are from grad weekend, but I wanted to put them on here. =)

yummy DIDDY REESE! 
Outside of the Griffith Observatory

Ironstone winery



One of the many beautiful flowers outside the winery

Lexi and I at Casey's grad party
Graduates of: UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, UCLA (So proud of my friends!)

my BEST friends
Nick driving the moving truck to Irvine 

Disneyland- 6/15/09

Unfortunately the crowds were terrible, but I think everyone had a good time anyway. It has almost been 2 weeks since we were there, so at least now I am up-to-date on this trip. I will try to keep up with the rest of summer as it rolls along. 

Mom, Dad, Jeff and Aunt Jodie on Thunder Mountain railroad

Erin in her stylish Buzz Lightyear glasses

cousins

Ryan, exhausted, asleep in my dad's arms
Erin and I
Erin loved the talking Mr. Potato-Head

Nick, ready to take off on California Screamin'
Nick and I at California Adventure
After riding "the wildest ride in the wilderness"

Ready for our Buzz Lightyear adventure

The End of One Chapter, The Beginning of Another.

As I write, I am sitting in our empty apartment. We moved everything out yesterday and at this point it has finally hit me that we are leaving LA. All that remains here are the incredible memories we have had here over the past 3 years. I will miss this place that so many times I cursed for being so small and this building which can be such a pain. I am sure I will forget all of that and will keep all the good times in mind. 

This last weekend was amazing. It was so great to have our entire families here. I really could not have asked for a more perfect weekend- except maybe that the commencement ceremonies would have been a little (or a LOT) shorter! I will be posting pictures soon, as I have about 700 pictures from the last week...I am crazy, I know. 

Nick and I leave for Turlock tomorrow and I am so excited to see my friends! We will all be parting ways soon, one friend to Africa for the Peace Corps, another to Hawaii for a job, and Nick and I off to Boston. It really is funny how fast time goes by, and as I get older I am beginning to understand more and more why my parents always commented about how years can go by in what seems like a split second.  I hope that in the years to come I will learn to slow down to appreciate the "now" and not focus so much on the future.  Having my family here this weekend reminded me that I am so fortunate to be surrounded by people who love me and support me. Nick's mom and my mom swapped baby pictures of us on Sunday and you could see the pride in both of their eyes as they told the stories behind the pictures. We are truly loved and I would not trade our families for anything else in the world. 

Here is a short preview of some of the pictures from this weekend:

Nick and Joan in Malibu

A Classic, redone.

Done with undergrad! Time to celebrate!

I am dooone with school!!! (well, this degree at least!) Nick will be done tomorrow morning, so I am trying not to rub it in too much that I already have no school-work or studying to do. It is such a relief to not be thinking about papers or homework or reading and I am ready to celebrate with family this weekend!  I decided to put up some pictures from the last few weeks because after this weekend I will have a ton of family pictures to post from an eventful couple days that I am anxiously awaiting.  =)

Nick and I with Karan (our soon-to-be fellow Bostonian)
Karan showing off his MIT ring
cheesecake we had on our anniversary last week
the most adorable card Nick has ever gotten me!  I had to take a picture of it to share its cuteness

Almost College Graduates!

It seems like up until this point, graduation has seemed so far away...until now. Suddenly I am realizing that I will be taking my last final on Monday and will turn in my last papers in just 4 days. Nick has one final Thursday, but other than that he is already done with his other classes. We met up with our friend Karan (who is currently going at MIT) to celebrate his birthday last night, and it was a nice break from studying! 

Nick has been watching each Lakers Game passionately, as he will be doing tomorrow during Game 2 of the finals against Orlando.  After this set of finals, Nick will have to get used to covering his Lakers shirt up in public for his own safety...gotta love the Bostonian love for their Celtics! haha

I have gotten absolutely no packing done in the last 2 weeks, so after the graduation festivities are over, I will have my hands full. I hope the weekend doesn't fly by quickly, because I am really looking forward to spending time with everyone. It will be nice to have our families together for a few days! (Since it has never happened before, and probably won't happen again until we get married) 

I probably won't have a chance to write much this week but I hope the week goes smoothly and painlessly, and I am really looking forward to being done with school, and enjoying family, friends, and an amazing summer! 

Celebrating 4 Years Together

It is hard to believe 4 years have flown by this fast. Nick and I set an arbitrary "date" for our anniversary (the day we graduated from high school) and that day is today! It has been an amazing journey thus far, and I feel that Nick and I are closer now than we have ever been. We are getting ready to move across the country together, and it will be a complete change in our lives. Nick will be starting grad school, and I will be finishing classes so I can apply to nursing school. 

We have been staying up late at night and talking about all the incredible things we have to look forward to. We are incredibly fortunate to have each other, and I hope we never lose that attitude.  It is exciting to think about where we might be in another 4 years. Chances are that Nick will be working on his phD at MIT, and HOPEFULLY I will already be a registered nurse. Maybe we will find a cute apartment in the Back Bay of Boston and will have plenty of opportunities to see our family and friends, who I know we will be missing terribly once we move. =( There is so much to look forward to, and I am so fortunate to be with my best friend through all of life's incredible moments. 

We graduate from college in 10 days, and we cannot wait to celebrate with everyone who is coming down here! 

Here is a picture of Nick and I in Santa Cruz almost exactly 4 years ago

And this is our first picture together =)