Graduation Photo Dump

I am officially a college graduate! Well, not officially, because I have to wait until AUGUST for my diploma, but whatever. I participated in the ceremony, therefore, in my eyes, I am a college graduate.
It makes me kind of sad to be done, now that it's over. I feel like a whole part of my life is over. Most of mine and Dakota's relationship took place in college. Now that it's over, we will be spending far less time together. But really, we aren't one of those couples that are together 24/7. I will admit that I like to be home when he's home.. but I usually do my own thing. Anyways.
My graduation day started with lots of being lazy. We were both off  for the day, so we slept in. We went shopping. And then, I got my hair done. First time dying (erm, bleaching) in four years! My appointment was made for 1 PM to allow time to do everything, but my stylist didn't realize I didn't have any dye in my hair. The bleaching took like 20 minutes. Also, I didn't realize my hair was soooo long until Christina posted these pictures on Instagram later. I love her. If you are ever in the area, stop by and see her! She is seriously the best.Check out her Instagram of all the cool stuff she does! I really want some bright colors in my hair already. And its been blonde less than a week haha.
And what is really cool is she just left my natural hair the color it was.. so that it will grow out better than if she had dyed my hair darker. 

(Image Credit: Christina Steelman)
And she curled it for my graduation.. these curls lasted til after I got home.. like 10 PM. My hair is notorious for letting go of curls. But those stuck. Now I need to figure out how to use a curling iron.. Dakota loved it curled. (I use it and nothing happens. No curl. Tutorials, anyone, for dummies??) 

(Image Credit: Christina Steelman)
Close up of the color transition.. this is Ombre, folks! I love it!

(Image Credit: Christina Steelman)

And after waiting TWO HOURS for instructions, the graduation commenced, and I managed to find my parents afterward... (it was a MADHOUSE!) Forgive the cheesy smiles that will commence.....

My dad pretending to be short like us...

I obviously did NOT get the tall gene.


My mom wanted a picture with just us... :)




And of course one of my man and me.... First picture together in a long, long time. I definitely need to get in front of the camera more!

And here I am with my big smile..officially a college graduate!

Well, that's all folks. I'm done with college. Time to be an adult I guess.

But what if all I really want is a Capri-Sun and a fort with some coloring books?

Growing up is scary. But so exciting to start a new phase in my life!

I may not have gone where I intended to go....

.....But I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an artist. I loved to draw and paint along side my mom and my grandmothers. I loved the feeling of a pen in my hand (I hate pencils) I loved the feeling of paper against my skin.

As I got older, I toyed with the idea of being a doctor or veterinarian. (Both scrapped because it hurts me too much to see others in pain.) But alas, such a future just wasn't for me.

When I entered high school, a bad grade in an art class almost took me away from art all together. I couldn't believe that I got such a bad grade in a class that I was naturally good at.
Did I talk too much? Did I not do the assignments as the teacher intended? Did I miss something here?

Either way, art is supposed to be subjective. How can I be graded because I did some things a bit differently?

I thought I was graded unfairly. (I still hold a grudge. Probably shouldn't, but I can't help it. I do). But alas, high school isn't always the best incubator for talent. I talked too much. So I got a C in Art class. I learned some from that class, but mostly I learned I didn't want to waste my time in art classes.

So I took drafting classes instead. All four years of high school. Almost every semester.
I loved those classes. I loved the clean lines, the drafting arm. I even loved the erasers. As the semesters went on, I got more and more freedom from the instructor to design what I wanted.

And that is where I met my boy. The love of my life. My other, sometimes better, half.
We sat together in drafting and due to our history of many, many, drafting classes, we had a special assignment to work on together. I fell for the guy who helped me cut balsa wood for a model house. He had a quick sense of humor, a good heart, and great smile. It was like a light bulb went off in my head.

We spent two semesters together before enrolling in a night class together. Then we started dating.

We were going to study architecture (me) and mechanical drafting (him) but before we started our freshman year, we decided to go another route.

Graphic Design.

The fun of drafting, without all the extra math. (Do you know what the density of concrete is? I for sure don't.)

From six years old I knew where I wanted to go, I just didn't know how I was going to get there.

And thus, I got where I needed to be.

Read all the other great entries at Yeah Write #57 here.. here..