Sometimes, one + one = three

Jess is the proud aunt of her second nephew, Parker Alexander! Her brother and sister-in-law welcomed their first child into the world on Friday, May 30! Congratulations Michael and Janine! He is perfect!

Piggly Wiggly

We knew we were in the South when we went grocery shopping at Piggly Wiggly. Complete with a country kitchen inside the store, we found many southern delights including a bogo special on grits! Jess practiced her wife skills and broke in all the new kitchen utensils by preparing fabulous meals with ingredients from The Pig!

Battery Park

I do. Me too.

You may kiss the bride!

I now pronounce you...

.... husband and wife! The newlyweds have returned from their honeymoon and Carly and I aren't wasting any time to impose on their new life together! =) We are spending a couple of days with Mr. and Mrs. Cain at their new home in Goose Creek, South Carolina this week!

lucky?

How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard?

flutter by.

You may have the universe...

You may have the universe if I may have Italy.

Wine tastes best when served with good friends!

When Carly and I studied abroad in Italy 2 summers ago, we brought back a bottle of wine. It was quite the adventure locating this bottle of wine. We walked through the back alleys of Florence to this tiny inoteca hidden amongst the gelaterias and markets to purchase this specific brand recommended by my adorable cooking teacher, Stefano. When the original intentions for the bottle fell through, we decided to save it for a very special occassion- our graduation... which not only marked the end of our college career but also the end of our four-year era as roommates! You create a rare bond with a roommate that you cannot possess with your average friends. You share every memory, every milestone, every hardship. You are there through all the good times. All the hard times. All the laughs and all the tears. You know everything about the person. You tend to finish their sentences before they even start to speak and a rare type of ESP develops where with just one look you know what the other one is thinking. You could have an entire conversation without saying a thing. When we opened the prized bottle of wine the last night in our house together, it was very evident what all of our were thinking- the bottle of wine had not aged like we intended it to. Perched on our shelf upright for nearly two years, and in combination with the Florida sunshine and humidity, our homemade aging process had a rather negative affect on the flavor of our wine, leaving us with a somewhat fishy vino. Wine tastes best when served with good friends and I have been so lucky to have 3 of the best of friends as roommates! My college experience would not have been as memorable without them! I'm going to miss Jess and Megan incredibly (*Carly and I have decided to live together until it is no longer socially acceptable for two women to live together...) but I am looking forward to our annual reunions in fabulous locations where we will reminisce over nostalgic bottles of wine! Love you girls!! =)

a little more fancy

The day you were born, the world had to make room for a little more fancy.

Princess of Snark

I have been obsessing over the movie Juno from the moment I saw it in theaters (twice!). It is one of those films that instantly becomes your "new favorite movie" and I have a feeling will remain my favorite movie for a very long time ... I was excited when UF announced that Diablo Cody would be coming to speak to our school a few weeks ago. What I wasn't prepared for is just how fabulous the cat-toe shoe-clad Diablo Cody really is! She told her incredible life story about wanting to be a butcher when she grew up (I had wild aspirations too of being Vanna White!), how she spent a year working as a stripper (have not partook in such affairs but considering it being unemployed...) and thought it was amusing so decided to blog about her endeavors (I'm a blogger!). Someone read her blog and encouraged her to write a book about her memoirs (I'm waiting for this life-altering event to happen!). From there, her writing career took off at a Starbucks inside a Target (my two favorite places combined!) where she we go everyday (I frequent these places daily too!) to write the screenplay of Juno. It has always been my ultimate life goal to one day write a book and I left the Phillips Center feeling incredibly inspired. As a gator, we are always encouraged to "go cure cancer" or "go write the next American novel" and after being in the presence of the self-proclaimed "Princess of Snark", I feel incredibly compelled to pursue this dream of writing an inspiring, yet hysterical, memoir which will be titled: Suburbs of Utopia. Maybe my blog will be discovered and turned into a book. Maybe my book will be made into a movie. Maybe my movie will win the academy award for "Movie of the Year!" Maybe my name will be engraved on the plate of an Oscar. Maybe. Just maybe.

She carpes the diem.

It's a strange feeling how you can go from being a college student one day where you feel like there is so much purpose to your life...study, write papers, grab lunch with your friends. Then you walk across a stage in an over-insulated, ultra-unflattering robe and suddenly, come Monday, you are unemployed. You have no obligations. You have no deadlines. You have no responsibilites. You worked so hard for four years and suddenly, you are right back where you started... clueless of what your future entails and with absolutely no direction in your life. Well, at least that is the fork in the road that I have come to anyways. At the realization of this perplexity, I have adopted a new life motto: She carpes the diem. All I have is today so I might as well seize it... soak up the sun, get lost in a good book, take up running again. Good things come to those who wait, so, rather impatiently, I'm waiting for the compass of my life (I imagine it to be adorned with pink rhinestone and glittery arrows) to point me in a direction where great things will happen!

The Bride and Her Maid

The Groom and His Men

Mr. & Mrs.

Jess' Bachelorette

Jess' last night with all her girls as a single woman...

"Horny little devil"
Bridal Party Roommates!!
Start spreadin' the news...
Measuring our year in friendships

ConGRADulations!!!

Live Well. Laugh Often. Love Much.
Celebrating our graduations with our closest family and friends! We were so excited that everyone who contributed to our successes could attend our graduation party! We couldn't have made it so far without their love and support and we were excited to share our special weekend with them! Enough of the cheese, the festivities included a beer pong tournament in which the moms possessed the most skill...

Cap & Gown

Graduation Day!

Pinning Ceremony

The pinning ceremony is a tradition in nursing. It is a symbolic welcoming of new nursing graduates into the profession of nursing. Our ceremony was gorgeous! Held in the University Auditorium, we recited our rendition of the Florence Nightingale pledge after receiving our pins. I was so honored to be able to use my Auntie Paulette's pin!

We all let people into our lives...

but you'll find that really good friends let you into your own.