Eliana’s College Graduation

I graduated from college!

I was so happy to have my family and friends and everyone I love there to support me and celebrate with me. I ended up sewing my graduation dresses, two dresses, one for a backup of course. I somehow made them three days before my graduation ceremony. My grandparents flew in from Germany and met Justin, which was so nice. He did a speech in German at my graduation dinner that he had been practicing for a few weeks. He also ended up making my grandmother cry from what he said. Overall it was an amazing trip aside from the drive to and from Nashville that night!

On the drive to Nashville, we stopped by Buccee’s since I had never been there before. We were there around 1 am, it was mostly empty but the smell of barbeque and too-sweet roasted nuts was pungent. It helped reinvigorate us for the remaining 3 hrs of the trip. Justin went to his doctor’s appointment, and then as we were leaving his apartment, we picked some cherries from a cherry tree outside of his apartment complex. We gave them to my grandpa, who was excited to see ripe cherries in the first half of May.

We ended up making it back to Augusta in time for a Mother’s Day brunch with my mom before we drove back to Nashville for the last time - for that trip. Once we got back to his apartment, we ate the leftover Knodel and Rouladen that my grandmother made and I made fresh potato balls for the first time as well.

Mid-May

After my graduation, I was lucky enough to get a two-month break before I started working. Even more luckily, Justin was free to spend it with me in between his school days. The first few days were slow - I caught the squirrel stealing from the birdfeeder and I’d spend a lot of time reading books.

Justin and I went to cafes, baked chocolate chip cookies, cooked pasta together, and made sure to keep the flowers well-stocked in the apartment. His friend Calvert came to visit for the weekend and we had a game night all together

Near the end of May, we went to the Renaissance Festival an hour outside of Nashville. It was Viking week, so Justin wore his kilt and I wore a vaguely Renaissance dress with the locket he got me. It was really busy - and very hot - but we had fun walking around and seeing the jousting competition. We ordered a ton of food from all the stalls and found a really nice pottery set to complete our ceramic tea set. It rained before we could attend the Queen’s Tea Party and we were forced to leave early. It ended up being for the better though, we made a nice tea party at home and later made homemade spaghetti and meatballs while it rained the whole time.

The rest of the week, we made homemade heart-shaped pizzas, banana foster french toast with bacon, and garlic honey shrimp lo mein. I did end up spraining my ankle two days before Justin’s cousin came to town. We were walking in the park since I was getting a bit of cabin fever from staying in his apartment for so long, and just wanted to get out for a little bit. Then right before we got to his car, I sprained it on a crack in the road! Thankfully it mostly recovered before his cousin got here, and I could partake in all of the festivities with them.

Early June

When his cousin and his cousin’s friends got to Nashville, we gave them a tour of Broadway, the Parthenon, and some ‘authentic’ Nashville hot chicken. Justin ended up singing on stage and we started our week of dog-sitting for some friends of Justin. It was an exciting, and busy week.

While dog-sitting, their puppy named Barley ended up chewing and destroying my apple pencil and one of my Birkenstock shoes. Afterwards, Justin’s roommate John told us he had forgotten to warn us about her chewing habits. While all of this was happening, Justin still had school to attend so I was left dog-sitting most mornings in the AC-lacking house. Thankfully the time went by quickly and the dogs were sweet enough. There was only one grocery store in the small town, so we ended up making basic easy meals most nights.

To celebrate the end of our dog-sitting adventure, we went to a cafe for brunch and picked up some pretty fresh flowers for the apartment. The next day we got Korean food, while we talked about my future job and our vacation plans for the rest of the summer (hint: New York City!!).