Meet Joanie.

I would like everyone to meet "Joanie the Jeep". She is my newest (and most expensive) pride and joy. Her name is Joanie because my nickname is Chachi. Therefore Joanie has to love Chachi to fulfill the saying, and yes indeed, Joanie loves me very much. She gives me amazing directions for my travels, she heats and cools my seats, warms my steering wheel when my hands are cold, starts at the push of a button, calls whoever I command, and unlocks the car when she knows I'm coming. This came in handy when my newly-polished nails were still drying and Joanie understood that I did not want to dig through my purse to find my keys. She is such a babe. This is the first car that I will be paying insurance on and the last car my dad will ever purchase for me. For that reason, I need Joanie to stay healthy and strong for the next 10-12 years. When I was car-shopping, I knew I was looking for a car that will last me until I was 32 years old. Not only did I want a car that would look professional and mature parked at my office, but also one that will be able to fit a family one day. Woah, weird. I cringe at the thought of Joanie's clean leather seats smudged with stale fruit loops and spit up. Luckily, right now Joanie and I get to spend quality time with just each other and I plan to keep her looking fancy for all the other jeeps she might meet in Uptown. And on that note, I leave tomorrow for good! As in, my home address will be a Dallas one. My zip-code will be a Dallas one. I'll be going to bed in Dallas and waking up in Dallas. Dallas is now "home." AHHHHHH!

After graduation, I only had 9 days to say goodbye to my Waco house, my Baylor friends, my unemployeed lifestyle, and my FJ Cruiser. That's a lot a goodbyes for my poor little heart in a short amount of time. Just looking at my FJ Cruiser screams "college." My Jeep Cherokee shouts "mature." I am very happy/sad that my cars are metaphors for my life.

My big 5 hour drive with Joanie takes place tomorrow. I am sure we will learn a lot about each other. Tomorrow is the beginning of a monumental week for me. Tomorrow night will be my first official night in Dallas. Monday will be my first Memorial Day Weekend at the Cobbs' residence. Tuesday is my first day at a real full-time job, and by Friday I will be sleeping in my brand new apartment with my brand new roommates. I can not wait until the move is over and I can stop living out of a suitcase. I am such a home-body and love when I can relax on a couch and watch reality TV. Or have the chance to wake up and enjoy a cup of coffee made in my own kitchen. 

I have gotten used to my life being on fast-forward for the past two weeks. I'm a little nervous for when time starts to slow down. I'm going to really miss my mom and dad. A five hour drive seems way further than a three hour trip. I'm going to really miss knowing where I am going without a GPS system. I'm really going to miss $3 pitchers of beer and Shorty's pizza. I'm seriously thinking about getting a cat. 

Class of 2013.

 Today I said goodbye to my home for the past three years. The tears hit me going south on Hwy 6. My beautiful campus started shrinking in my review mirror, and I was overwhelmed with emotion. I have wanted to go to Baylor University for my entire life. Have you ever wanted something for 22 years? A dream that you have kept with you for over 8,030 days can't be an easy thing to let go. As a kid visiting Baylor, I would get butterflies in my stomach as we approached the 5th street Baylor Bookstore. The glowing light from the top of Pat Neff hall would warm my heart. The stairs of Waco Hall seemed endless to me. I would envy the students walking around campus with their heavy backpacks because they could call this place home. Attending Baylor University was my ultimate goal, and the biggest plan I ever created in my mind. I never once thought about where the students go once they were no longer invited back into the classrooms. My experience at Baylor University was far more than I could have ever dreamed up as a kid. It was extraordinary. Experiencing Baylor first hand surpassed my parents' stories, my sister's stories, and my aunt's, uncle's, and cousins' stories.

I am so thankful for the three girls that chose to live with me throughout all of college. I am also thankful for every single person that walked through that white door of 2039. Each one of you has changed me, shaped me, and touched my life. So many nights I would come home from the business school to see a light on in the living room and laughter booming through the walls. I'm going to miss that sound. There is not a better sound in the world.

Graduation day was happy. Tanner graduated one day before me, and my parents and his entire family got to celebrate him together. Seeing our families enjoying each other's company was so special to me.

On Saturday, I was able to take pictures with my friends before the ceremony and memorize their smiling faces. After graduation, my friends and our parents gathered together at Cameron Park Zoo to attend one of the most amazing parties I have ever been to. Everyone had something to celebrate. If a student wasn't yet graduating, they were still celebrating some of the best years, and friends, of their life. I enjoyed talking to every one's parents, realizing exactly where my friends got their amazing personalities. If this party was any inclination of how our class reunions will be, I plan on attending every single one.

Today was a sad day. Like I said, the emotions hit me like a ton of bricks as I sat all alone in a car that used to pile in 12 comrades wanting a ride to Scruffs. I had held it together until I could no longer see any sign of green and gold. Then rain started to fall and Eric Church came on my iPod. I know a part of me will always miss these past four years. There is no getting over it. I have so many things to look forward to in the future, but there won't be a phase left in life where that many people grow that much in the same area code. I am thankful for my heavy heart, because that means I have loved something so much that it hurts. But I believe the soft ache will be a constant reminder to keep in touch with my Baylor family. If you're reading this because you are trying to do the same and keep in touch, call me right now! Let's plan our next round of Big O's.

Weddings.

I'm 22. I am now old enough to know people that are getting married. Not like my mom's bunco friend's daughter's wedding, but my actual friends. It's so exciting! I love seeing people celebrate their love in different ways. Being from Babtist Baylor University, people are known to get hitched in their early/mid twenties. This May kicked off the beginning of a busy wedding season that will predominately take over my Saturdays for the next decade. Maggie and Byron's wedding in Waco on May 4th was the very first wedding I ever attended as a "guest." Tanner was a groomsman and Maggie and Byron were so sweet to include me on all the wedding party festivities. Tanner even caught the garter.

The next weekend, Tanner and I flew out to Denver, Colorado to see one of my very good friends, Tessa Trimble, marry the man of her dreams, Matt Johnson. Tessa was a Kappa with me and Matt was a Kappa Sigma with Tanner. I have missed Tessa so much this past year. Tessa and her roommates were always so great at including me in everyting they did, even though I was a year younger. The wedding was beautiful, as I knew it would be. Tessa and Matt are blessed with unbelieveable genetics, but even more beautiful was the way they looked at each other on their wedding day. I am so happy I got to take a study break from finals to witness them become man and wife. And any excuse to go to Colorado for 24 hours and share a hotel room with 6 girls is a good one. 

The next wedding on my calendar for this summer is my cousin Jenni's. The date is now a little less than one month away in Utah! I have never been to Utah, but I am anticpating awesome weather with even better scenery. Gosh weddings are fun!

The Next Step.

Today is the first day of May. I graduate in 18 days. I start my very first full-time job in 28 days. I officially moved to Uptown in 31 days. May is going to be nuts.

Twelve hours earlier I attended my very last Kappa Kappa Gamma meeting at Baylor. I gave a speech, shed a few tears, and that was a wrap. I no longer have any obligations here on campus. They have chosen the new sweethearts for fraternities. I don't have to tear my kitchen apart making treats for Kappa Sigma on Mondays. And soon, my key card won't allow me to enter Stacy Riddle anymore. Times are a-changing ladies and gentlemen. I sure hope I'm ready.

Tonight, after senior meeting and a few margaritas at Ninfa's, Suzy, Sarah, Maribeth, Allaire, Leigh and I sat on "Thugz" porch and overlooked the infamous 10th street. God has planned out so many different directions for us all. Leigh and I will be heading North to Dallas while Suzy and Sarah make their way down to Houston. Maribeth will continue her education here at Baylor and Alliare will be planning a wedding and a life with her future husband. Our lives are just getting started, but the Baylor Bubble is ending. 

How in the world can we  convince our future husbands to all get a job in the same city? How can we get our children to attend the same school, and join the same t-ball team? I'm never going to give up on this idea because it just makes sense for all of us to be neighbors forever. 

I can't help but feel a bit sad when all this change hits you at once. I'm hoping this blog will help me remember events that might be forgotten over time. And I hope this will provide a way for me to continue to stay connected with the people that matter most to me here at Baylor. That is all this blog is meant for, a way to hold a piece of the past as I'm shaping my unseen future.