Graduation for Florida Gators
Dear Graduation Day,
How did you sneak up on me so fast? It seems like just yesterday I was a tiny and timid freshman walking into my first pre-calculus class.
Now that a few days have passed, the shock of being done with college has officially started to wane off. And guess what? I’m actually really excited about this whole “being an adult” thing! Honestly, I’ve been living the adult life for a while now. Ever since I turned eighteen I have had to pay for everything whether it be rent, my car, car insurance, phone bill, or weekly groceries. Though sometimes it was a challenge (like running out of texts halfway through the month), I took on a part-time job at Ben & Jerry’s and saved up every penny. Overall, it taught me responsibility, how to prioritize, and work hard for anything I ever wanted.
With that, here are some of my graduation pictures!
After graduation pictures with the family, we all loaded up the car to drive to Las Margaritas– Gainesville’s best Mexican restaurant with the most addicting chips and salsa. Unfortunately they don’t take reservations, so when we arrived, we were shocked at the hour wait time. So instead we drove to La Fiesta, another authentic and delicious Mexican restaurant in town.
Around 7:30pm when we were finally seated, I was absolutely starving. Between rushing around trying to get ready for the graduation ceremony, I didn’t have a chance to eat since 9am that morning. Needless to say, as soon as they brought out the warm chips and spicy salsa, it was love at first site. I seriously downed an entire basket of these tasty chips and salsa in about five minutes. Hey, you only live once. 
Next up were margaritas on the rocks. At first sip, these instantly reminded me of my spring break cruise to Cozumel, Mexico. Sigh. Such a wonderful place…
Mmm why does the salt on the glass rim taste so good?
After about 50 million tortilla chips, I decided I should probably order something light for my main entrée so I didn’t feel too full of cheesy goodness afterwards. You can never go wrong with a taco salad in my opinion, so I ordered that with pulled chicken and Italian dressing on top.
I’m never quite sure what type of dressing to order for a taco salad…
Yum and yum.
Overall, graduation day was a lot of fun! I’m so fortunate that my entire family could drive up for lil ol’ me on this special day. Congrats to my fellow Class of 2010 bloggers. 
Today is also another very special day– my 22nd birthday! Tonight my family and I are either eating at Frenchy’s on Clearwater Beach or having our own picnic in the sand dunes. Have a wonderful Monday everyone!
woohoo! congrats on graduating and turning 22
this is seriously a REALLY exciting time…hope you enjoy it!
What a fantastic couple of days!
Happy birthday!
You look stunning in that RED dress!
HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY! =)))
Congrats! I love your pictures. I graduated early and skipped my formal graduation… in some ways it’d have been fun, but it also would’ve been scarily official… I’m not ready to be an adult yet either!
Congrats! and Happy Birthday!
Congratulations on graduating!!!!!! And Happy Birthday!
Chips + salsa are one of my favorite combos, ever. Glad you enjoyed ‘em girl! Have a great night!
Once again, SO SO proud of you!!! You are going to rock the “real world!”
And that red dress is gorgeous! Where is it from?
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
xxoo
Heather
Thank you girly! My friend actually gave me the dress, but she got it from Forever 21
It came in a lot of other solid colors too!
CONGRATS and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Nah, you don’t need to be an adult. You may have to act like an adult more often, but you never have to ‘truly’ grow up!
Happy birthday!!! And thanks for sharing the grad pictures. Looks like it was a great day!
Congrats!!! And happy birthday!!! Enjoy your wonderful day
Happy birthday! Mine is on Thursday and I will be graduating high school on May 29th! Time goes by so quickly..I am actually loving it though because I don’t really like high school at all. College here I come!
Congrats on graduating soon my dear! You’re going to love love loveeee college
Happy Birthday, my dear! And again, congrats college grad!!
Awwww, girl!
I´m so happy for you!
Lovely pics
And – wow! Happy birthday, love!
Brazilian XOXO´s,
Gabriela
I’ve been so behind on reading people’s blogs since my cruise so congratulations on graduating! That is such a huge accomplishment and I’m excited for you. It’s so strange seeing pictures of the campus that’s right down the road from me. What are your plans now? Are you moving back home? We need to meet up sometime!
Thank you so much Jennifer! I saw your cruise pics and it looks like you had an amazing trip
I’m actually living back home in Clearwater now and I begin working full-time on Monday in Tampa. It’s crazy how quickly life is moving!
We definitely need to meet up though. I’m sure I’ll be up there soon.. my grandpa used to own a house on the suwannee and we go up at least once a month. I’m crossing my fingers to go to the Watermelon Festival in Chiefland this year! If you’re ever in the Tampa Bay area let me know and we can get together then too
Congrats–you should BE sooooo proud! And you looked stunning by the way!
Congratulations! Looks like you had a great time celebrating!! Welcome to the real world! haha! it’s great. no really, it is!
Hope you had an amazing birthday!