One more HUGE celebration that occurred in May that does not need to be overlooked (by all of the wedding festivities) . . . Natalie graduated from The University of Florida!
Natalie picked me up from the Orlando Airport on April 23 and took me to her college rental home in Gainesville. Before her final class the next morning we had a "last day of classes" breakfast celebration with two of her room mates!
We then began to pack up all of her belongings from the past three years, deciding along the way what needed to be packed for her future home in Virginia and what she needed to return to our home in Ormond Beach. And then the daunting task of deciding what she needed to pack for all her many trips that she would be taking during the next month (Ormond Beach, Norfolk, Marina del Rey, Ormond Beach (again), St. Augustine, and finally her honeymoon)!
From Gainesville we traveled to St. Augustine to meet with some of the wedding vendors and do a little shopping (she decided that a new set of luggage was a much needed graduation gift)!
After a long and full day in St. Augustine, what normally is a 45 minute drive to Ormond Beach - took us 4 hours due to an accident- ugh!
The next day after unloading Natalie's 1996 Honda Accord of all the college items to be left in Ormond Beach, we began working on the wedding decor with the biggest job being the cutting, washing and drying of the burlap.
Five days later we loaded Natalie's car with all the shower gifts she needed to take to Virginia, but first we stopped in Winter Park for what was suppose to be her final wedding dress fitting. It didn't go as planned and turned into a four hour ordeal. Trust me, it's best that I don't show you pictures of how the dress first looked, but the final result was beautiful! Oh, and by the way, the dress shop's air conditioning was broken . . . the making of memories!
We then traveled back to Gainesville and loaded her car with as much of her personal items as we could for our 10 hour drive the next morning to Norfolk, Virginia where Dan lives. It was so good to see Dan and what a beautiful home!
Two days later we rode back with Dan to Gainesville for Natalie's graduation the following day, May 4th.
Her new "therapy bag" from Allison and Brian!
And finally - her graduation!
I guess the speech wasn't too exciting!
Congratulations Natalie! You graduated with honors in three years! Woohoo!!!
Way to go!!! I think that even all of your relatives that are Tennessee fans are proud of you, too!
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