Update Part 3! GRADUATION DAY!

Please click and let the music play...it will give you the true flavor of this post! =)

Graduation: Sunday, May 13th, 2012 { also Mother's Day! }

Pre-Ceremony!

Look who found me before the ceremony! =)

With my best buddy...my roomie/suitemate/housemate from beginning to end! Love you Hope!

Housemate and wonderful friend Cailin!

With housemate Kristin

With Melanie and Laura! =)

Mom told me to strike a pose. This happened.

All of the School of Music Graduates Class of 2012 (except Matt Z. Darn it!)

Ceremony Time!

 Having fun with all the Music graduates at our seats!

Walking and accepting my diploma from Ron Tom! {really President Ronald Thomas }

The senior ladies of the Adelphian Concert Choir performing 'Forever Young' by Bob Dylan

I DID IT! =)

Post-Ceremony!

With my lovely family!

 I finally got to see this boy! =)

Then the entire Polete/Damonte/Thoma/Nilsen clan headed to Outback steakhouse to celebrate my and Dylan's graduations, as well as Mother's Day! There were 18 of us total! Huzzah!

With two of the greatest mama's around!

Later that night, all of the housemates went out for one last Gibson's Frozen Yogurt run. Gibson's was a favorite of all of ours the entire year - we were kind of addicted! 

Love you girls! And Gibson's. Yum.

Graduation was a HAPPY day, indeed! I couldn't have asked for a better day!

Up next...cleaning up, packing up, and moving out!

Update Part 2! Pre-Graduation Festivities!

Graduation came before we knew it! We had countdowns going leading up to the big day, but then it was here, whether we liked it or not! It seemed so surreal to be graduating from COLLEGE! Didn't high school graduation just happen? Yikes!

Anyway, I couldn't have asked for a better graduation weekend...honestly! Most everyone knows the weather of the Pacific Northwest to be...well...rainy. But not graduation weekend! The weather was PERFECT! Sunny, 70s, no clouds! Beautiful, warm weather surrounded us the entire weekend! 

My family was able to all come up {mom, dad, brother, and sister-in-law} from Colorado, and it was fun to spend time with them, especially getting to show my brother and sister-in-law where I've spent the last 3 years! 

Saturday, May 12th

School of Music Reception

First on the agenda was attending the School of Music reception to meet/greet with my professors and receive my graduation cords.

I was thrilled to receive "honors" cords - the faculty voted, and I was one of three students to graduate from the School of Music with Honors! =)

hangin' out with my papa!

Awkward photos with Dr. Ward. But hey- there's my honors award with my silver/pink Music graduation cords! =) Hooray!

The infamous Dr. Block. Oh, this man! haha

My beautiful, wonderful, incredible voice teacher, Dr. Padula. I'll miss her immensely!

 Then the family and I enjoyed the sunshine while walking around campus! It was so beautiful!

Sitting on the School of Music steps

At the entry of campus. So pretty!

That's where I lived, pretty much! haha. School of Music!

Our class' plaque inserted into the completed Commencement Walk! =)

And our year inscribed in the obelisk! 

House Graduation Party

4 out of 5 housemates were graduating with the Class of 2012, so we had a BBQ at our house the Saturday before graduation to celebrate with friends and family!

All the housemates! Miss them!

Cathy! =)

love the boy

Daddy manned the grill!

Next update...Graduation Ceremony!!! Hooray! That post will come tomorrow!

Time for an Update...Part 1

My goodness. School seems as though it was eons ago! This month has been a WHIRLWIND and I think a post is long overdue! I've survived concerts, reading period, finals, graduation, celebration, and then the labors of packing up a house, selling as many things as possible, and having to say goodbye to some of my nearest and dearest before driving for three days...and now we're here!

As to keep posts to a readable minimum, I'll be posting a couple different posts to capture the momentous occasions of the past few weeks!

PART 1A: Last Day of Classes 

My pre-graduation fun began when I got to conduct a 'Disney At the Oscars' medley with UPS' Wind Ensemble. This performance was my final for Advanced Instrumental Conducting. While I was nervous and anxious for this performance, I had an absolute BLAST conducting the group!

The weather held out, and we had a blast actually having 'POPS! On the Lawn' on the lawn! =)

I even sported my Minnie ears! =)

All the student conductors of Advanced Conducting!

Part 1B: Reading Period Vacation!

Dustin's Christmas present to me was a promise of a Victoria, BC vacation! We were originally going to go over Spring Break, but we postponed until Reading Period. Dust and I had an absolute blast!

Our first stop (literally RIGHT off the ferry!) was to the infamous Butchart Gardens. 

My oh my! I was in HEAVEN! If ever in Victoria, you MUST visit these stunning gardens!

Here is just a mere sampling of the beautiful flowers I captured on my camera.

the breath-taking "sunken garden"

amazing contrasting colors

crazy boy

After checking into our hotel, we enjoyed wandering around the city. 

We explored Chinatown, the main street shops, ate dinner at The Sticky Wicket, and enjoyed the gorgeous Inner Harbor with a lit-up Legislative building! 

What we didn't realize, however, was how EARLY the city shuts down! Stores close up around 6pm and things die down quickly! Victoria turns into a ghost town even before the sun goes down! So, we returned to our hotel when we ran out of things to do and enjoyed cuddling up and watching a movie.

The next day, we "rented" bikes from the hotel (free! yay!) and rode around town. It was great!

flowers, flowers, everywhere!

Before we left, Dustin insisted I try the Canadian version of "Smarties" candies. They're chocolate!

It was a fabulous vacation and a wonderful way to spend some alone time before I moved home to Colorado. We made awesome memories and simply enjoyed the lovely city and each other's company!

Monumental Day

{ A must see for all college people everywhere. Too perfect }

I feel like I should blog something, but I'm not quite sure what to blog. It still hasn't quite hit me yet that I am DONE with my undergraduate college career. WHAT?!?? Yup...Thursday, May 10th marks the day I completed all work relating to my undergrad degree. Sunday, I'll be walking across that stage in the glorious sunshine to accept my Bachelor of Music in Music Education degree, and I'm sitting here wondering how that happened! I think coming into college, it felt like it would be a forever thing. You realize people graduate college, but you never really picture yourself as one of them. But now here I am. Done with the work and about to graduate. And it feels weird. AWESOME. But weird.

I can't wait for my family to fly in tomorrow night. Tomorrow is my "get-er-done" day of running errands, cleaning the house, packing up my room, and getting ready to celebrate this huge milestone with my amazing family and friends! Congrats Class of 2012!

A Blog About Blogs?

Yup...a blog all about blogs. My other blogs, to be exact!

As graduation draws closer and closer (1 month from today --- crazy!), I've been working little bit by little bit on my post graduation plans. As most everyone already knows, my biggest post-grad plan involves traveling the world with Up With People, but before I can do that, I have to raise quite a bit of money...upwards of $16,000, to be exact! Even though I've been stressed and bombarded lately by school work, I managed to create and/or improve two other blogs that will help me in my fundraiser efforts! Please take some time to check them out!

.: Con·fec·tions :.

{Click here to see my "cake store!" I'll be working to sell more and more cakes in an effort to raise more money for my trip. Live in the Denver area and want a cake? Just let me know!}

My Journey With Up With People!

{Click here to read all about Up With People, where I'll be traveling, my fundraising efforts, and make sure to SUBSCRIBE so you can follow my blog once I begin traveling the world!}

Foodie Frenzy!

A blog post is LONG overdue! I've been waiting to do a food-related post for quite some time now, but now I've waited TOO long and have too many dishes I want to blog about! I'd feel silly sharing 6 or 7 different recipes! So, where do I begin?

Let's start with a picture parade of various meals I've created over the past few months. It's amazing what a hungry college kid with an awesome kitchen and desire to eat can do!

 

{chicken apple salad sandwich on toasted cinnamon raisin bread} 

{chicken and dumpling crockpot delishesness}

...this came in handy the night our power was knocked out by the snow in January! It ended up feeding all of my housemates when no one else could cook!

{homemade croutons on a caesar salad}

{homemade teriyaki bowl with steamed veggies and brown rice :: almost good enough to compete with Tokyo Joes from home!}

{chicken fried rice and pork potstickers with dipping sauce}

{stuffed chicken breast [from safeway] prepared with roasted asparagus and baked cinnamon apple}

{PEANUT BUTTER SHEET CAKE! Lord have mercy!}

Because I know the last picture has everyone drooling, and probably asking, "How can I make something that delicious {and artery-clogging} for myself," I'll include the recipe. *WARNING* Read at your own risk. Once you look, you can never go back...the ingredients are simply gluttonous and sinful.

Peanut Butter Sheet Cake

Recipe from the kitchen and heart of the lovely Donna Humble...aka my wonderful friend Karrah's "Sheetcake Grandma" How I miss both of those ladies!

Cake Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)

1/2 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy. I'm a texture nut, so I ADORE crunchy)

1 cup water

2 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk (trick...if you don't have buttermilk, just as a 1/2 Tablespoon of vinegar to the 1/2 cup of milk and let it sit for 5 min.)

1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Preheat over to 350. Sift dry ingredients. Bring to a boil shortening, butter, peanut butter, and water (boil, but do not leave unattended. You don't want this to burn!) Pour boiled mixture over dry ingredients. Mix well. Add buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well! Bake for 15-20 min. in a greased sheet cake pan.

***My tip for greasing your pan: Combine equal amounts of oil, shortening, and flour. Mix well to create paste. Slather in pan with a brush and you'll never have a cake that sticks ever again!!!***

Icing Ingredients:

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1 stick butter

1 lb. powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk

Directions:

Ingredients to a boil and add powdered sugar. Pour over cake and spread, frosting cake while hot. 

Go forth and clog those arteries! I promise...once you take a bite of this stuff, you WON'T be able to stop yourself! Donna has created one deadly recipe! Those Oklahoma women...they know just how to fatten you up with homestyle cookin! =)