the time i spoke at graduation and other short stories.

Dear friends, expect to see less of me these days. Or, hear less from me, rather. In graduate school, each class likes to assign you 100 pages to read for the next class. It's doable. Until they also tell you that you are supposed to be reading every source you can possibly find for your research papers due at the end of the term on top of that. PLUS grade papers and meet with students and add your two cents to an undergraduate survey course or two. It's fun.

So here's a little catch up post to summarize the last of my summer. Once upon a time, I finally decided to apply for graduation. It was sort of on a whim - I guess I decided I had to graduate in order to go to grad school. (In fact, as I was working on my application I received SEVERAL emails reminding me that I did have to graduate in order to attend graduate school. I guess some people forget.) So I applied and decided August seemed like an appropriate time for said ceremony to take place. That way I could keep my job a little longer. Then I got an email informing me I was speaking at graduation. I said, "Hello? How did I get entered in this drawing?" No raffle folks. Everyone is at risk. If the department things you are a piece worthy of advertising, you get chosen. And so I spoke at graduation. And skipped a line in my speech. But it's fine. Nobody knew. So here are some belated pics of the jolly occasion.

No idea who I was shaking hands with that day.

Can't forget one of these. Ever.

My incredible and beautiful friend, Christy, who I was lucky enough to graduate with and privileged to enter my master's program with.

My favorite part of graduation? Getting to recreate this photograph. Three years ago my best friend made a big deal about coming to my high school graduation, despite my inward, shy concerns about what people would think if they saw us together. A day later we shared our first kiss. Three years later, my husband came to support me at my college graduation. Now we're working towards another graduation - one where we can hopefully walk together.

The day after graduation we got to go four-wheeling with David's grandpa up behind Squaw Peak. It was so much fun! We had a hard time keeping up with him. We rode for a few hours and saw some pretty vistas, then zoomed off the mountain before the storm we spied from the top could catch up with us.

So many wildflowers! And the leaves were already starting to change.

Grandpa Buckner, David, and me with Springville and Mapleton behind us.

Sooooo dirty. I had to throw that shirt away.

My twenty-second birthday was the first day of school. The day before David took me to Park City for some  Labor Day shopping and dinner on Main Street. Luckily I didn't have classes the next day, and David decided he could miss his only class to spend the morning with me. He surprised me with balloons and flowers, made me breakfast, took me to dinner and invited some family and friends over for pie and ice cream. And for the first time in my life I got surprised with trick candles, which explains why he insisted on capturing the moment on film. David also surprised me with a full size keyboard so I can play the piano whenever I please.

Main Street Pizza & Noodle followed by some treats at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

This last little tidbit I have to include was a fun date we went on. We took a wedding giftcard and had dinner at Macaroni Grill, then wandered the "gallery" and farmer's market at Chalk the Block at Riverwoods. Live music, vendors, and art. It was too much fun. We took some pictures, but for some reason this accidental video clip captures the night better. Enjoy.

That sums up life lately in a nutshell. If I don't get too overwhelmed (I did just finish grading my first set of midterms) I'll think about adding another post. Be patient. In the meantime, just think about how jealous you are that on top of everything else I'm doing, I get to go be paid to catalog ancient Egyptian textiles for a few hours a week. What could be more exciting than that?