graduation

[the only masters students in our cohort to make it out by Spring]

 [the mountain I live on. and our backwards hoods...]

[would not have made it without this guy]

I am officially a Master of Science in Geography!

Grad school was hard, fun, stressful, fast, and intense, and I have seen myself grow up over the past 2 years.

I started this little blog to keep in touch with my family as I moved across the country to enter the Geography program at Penn State, and I will keep on chronicling the unknown life adventures to come (chronicle= one of those words that looks weird if you stare at it for a while). Part of me can't believe I am officially "done" with this step but a bigger part feels relieved and proud of myself! This has been a spring of major exciting changes, and I can't wait to find out what happens next! (aka, job....???)

p.s. Academic Regalia is ridiculous.

p.p.s. Thank you for all the sweet words on our engagement! Unfortunately the Great Blogger Crash deleted some of your comments but I have them saved in my email :)

a spring engagement story

This post is getting to be long overdue!

I thought that life was going to calm down a little bit after I finished the thesis....

Little did I know that the excitement and craziness was just beginning.

I turned 24 on April 26th. It was one of the first legitimately warm, sunny days of spring so Ben and I went on a birthday hike. We walked along a ridge line until we came to a huge overlook, where he knelt on the rocky trail and asked me to marry him with his grandmother's ring.

Yes, BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER!
I am still getting used to not having a "boyfriend" anymore, after four and a half amazing years.

And I am so excited to marry my best friend and the love of my life!

Seattle spring

 Flowers at Pike Place Market

 The Seattle aquarium in Puget Sound

 

 Colors at the Olympic Sculpture Park

 

 The Experience Music Project museum

 Views from a run to the top of the city

A secret garden in the hillside neighborhoods

I spent last week in Seattle as part of a national geography conference. The city was everything I imagined: amazing food, even more amazing coffee, cloudy skies, Pacific mist, and an amazingly casual urban vibe. Love the city, don't love the climate. I'll say I liked the weather though; it's very refreshing and much better than the dense overcast/pouring rain/ice/snowstorms of central Pennsylvania. It was a fun week and a great chance to catch up with friends and undergrad professors after the thesis maelstrom of the past couple months, and I can't wait to go back someday to explore a little more and make trips over to the rainforest and mountains. 

Now that I'm back at school, but with the purpose of my life (thesis) complete, I am at a strange limbo-esque stage and trying to juggle the new more relaxed schedule of my life back into a semblance of balance. I am not as excited and proud of myself for finishing my thesis as I probably should be. The stress and worry of finding a job is kind of overwhelming for now. 

However, (despite random lingering 40* days) spring is here, my birthday is next week, I am a diploma away from being a Master, and the future will work itself out.