Words can't even describe how proud I am of my brother, Michael. He has been living in Albuquerque, New Mexico the past semester for an internship at a prestigious national lab, graduated from the University of Illinois this Sunday, and will be moving to Boston in September to attend MIT for his PhD.
We have always been close, and I am so thankful to have been able to celebrate his graduation weekend with him. Due to the bus schedule, I wasn't able to attend his actual ceremony on Sunday, but here are the highlights from the rest of the weekend.
When I got in on Friday, I met up with my friend Liz. She was a consultant for our sorority all last year and this was the first time I had seen her since January! We went through a lot together and it's always so nice to see her.
I don't actually have any photos with Kathryn from the weekend, but she came home with me and was a huge help in preparing for my brother's party! Saturday morning we went on a 2 mile run on the beautiful trails in Mahomet.
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| My favorite part of the trail. The trees bloom in the fall and the petals fall on you when you run through :) |
In the middle of our run, we walked through the botanical gardens and hung out at the coy pond for a bit. We even saw a snake swimming in the pond! Yikes!
My daily 10:30 alarm went off in the middle of our run and was a nice reminder for the day :)
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| One of the quotes I live by :) |
When we got back from our run, it was time to go pick up my brother from his girlfriend's apartment on campus so he could help us get ready. Thankfully, she lives with 2 of my best friends from the house, so I got to see them on their graduation day also! I didn't tell them I was coming to the apartment, so it was fun surprising them.
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| Torie & Jane looking lovely and me looking sweaty in my running clothes. |
It ended up being a lot warmer this weekend than I thought which means I packed completely inappropriately and had to raid my mom's closet for a grad party outfit. I've been wanting to wear this skirt anyways, so I didn't complain too much.
After preparing food and the house all day, my brother's party turned out phenomenal! We had tons of family and friends over and everyone had a good time. Being around my extended family is when I'm at my best, so it was really nice to see everyone.
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| The whole fam |
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| With the graduate |
We spent a bunch of time cleaning up after everyone left and this scene was too funny not to capture...my cat really wanted to hang out with some of the leftover alcohol for some reason.
Even though I didn't get to attend the ceremony, I did get in on some pics during the day. The weather was absolutely perfect, and it was so nice to spend some time outside.
Congratulations Michael! I am so proud of you and cannot wait to see what other great things you will do with your life!
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