May was my official “take a vacation” month. Finals were the first week of May and I did go to work, but I relaxed and caught up with friends and family as much as possible. The rest of the summer will involve more work and school stuff, so I wanted to make sure I took enough time to decompress.
A graduation
{with my brother, grandpa, and dad in my unflattering cap and gown}
I graduated on May 7th with my Master’s. Holla! There were about a dozen others from the psychology department who graduated with their Master’s, PsyD’s, and PhD’s. Congrats to them! I had a little get together at my mom’s with some family and friends. My dad flew in, which was really nice of him. It was good to see some family friends and my grandpa, who I don’t see as often now that I live closer to school. Later that night, a bunch of grad students went out to drink and celebrate the end of the semester.
A wedding
{with two of my lab mates - photo from Kellie}
One of my lab mates (and friends) tied the knot this month. So excited and happy for him. Weddings are interesting events. They tend to make me sentimental. I often consider what kind of wedding I would or would not have if I ever meet the right guy. I enjoyed sitting around talking to my advisor and a friend who have been both been married and divorced. Every relationship is different and every person is different, but it’s good to listen and learn from others. But all that over analyzing and sentimental stuff aside, it was a fun time and it was fun to dress up to celebrate with friends.
A music festival and a trip with my BFFs
{danced and sweated our asses off to Pretty Lights from the front row!}
I flew down to Birmingham to meet up with Michelle and Chris. We drove (or they drove, I rode) the rest of the way to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach where I crashed their family vacation. We went to the Hangout Music Festival two days and just lounged on the beach on the last day. Music is our thing. We’ve probably seen a hundred shows together since we were teenagers. I was able to catch partial or full sets from STS9, Widespread Panic, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Bassnectar, Pretty Lights, and Foo Fighters. I heard some of Flaming Lips from a distance. Pretty Lights was definitely the highlight for me. You can find some of my pictures of the festival on Flickr. It was nice to spend time with friends who live so far away now and I was happy to finally meet Chris and Michelle’s baby, Jonas. He’s freaking adorable.
A conference and a mini-blogger meetup
The day after I got back from Gulf Shores, I drove to Richmond. I was a judge for the Virginia Junior Academy of Science conference (Social Psych sessions).
I met up with Stacey and it was great to catch up with her. She was sweet enough to let me crash at her place overnight. It’s crazy that it was about a year ago when we first met at Bloggers in Sin City (#BiSC). The next day, after a day of conferencing, we went out to dinner at Sprout and I was able to meet Terra!
A trip to the museum and family time
This weekend I went to the Chrysler Museum with Becca. I try to make it every few months when there are new exhibits on display. My main motivation for going this time was to see the Curious George exhibit featuring some of Margret and H.A. Rey’s life work. It was wonderful to see their early work and read their life story. From the museum website:
Hours before the Nazis marched into the city in June 1940, the Reys fled on bicycles carrying drawings for their children’s stories including one about a mischievous monkey, then named Fifi. Not only did they save their animal characters, but the Reys themselves were saved by their illustrations when authorities found them in their belongings. This may explain why saving the day after a narrow escape became the premise of most of their Curious George stories.
The interactive work by Daniel Rozin was incredible. We played with the installations for a long time and I would absolutely purchase one of them in another dimension with lots of money and a big house. After doing the museum thing, we drank a pitcher of sangria at Pasha Mezze.
After I picked up some things at Stoney’s, I spent the day with my family yesterday. We went to see Bridesmaids (which was hilarious and just what I needed after feeling a little down about some things) and then we ate dinner at my mom’s. My brother won first place in his age group during a 10K race the day before. Props to him!
A few of my favorite posts
Now I’ll leave you with some of my favorite blog posts from around the Internet:
- Marc and Angel: 111 Lessons Life Taught Us
- Ashley at Writing To Reach You: Grad School is Like a Dementor
- Julie at Escape the Ivory Tower: Another Problem of Smartness
- Erin at Elements of Style Blog: Words To Live By
- Robin Grant at we are social: How Twitter Reacted to Bin Laden’s Death
- From TED.com: TEDTalks from some of Time’s most influential people of 2011
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I know it’s been over a month now, but please continue to support those who lost their homes, pets, family, and friends in the tornadoes in Alabama. My friends and family were fortunate, but it was a scary time. There are those who were not so fortunate and it’s important not to forget about them.
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So what’s up, Blogosphere? What have you been up to?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Congratulations on graduation. So great to read that you had relaxation time and time to spend with friends.
It was great hosting you, and so good to catch up. Now, let’s not make it another year before we see each other again!