Relax.

I'm sitting in Kansas City for the night,

waiting for my red-eye flight to Houston tomorrow morning. 

Even though I've been on vacation for the past 10 days or so,

I am very much looking forward to 

this next leg of my trip. 

Maybe it's the fact that tomorrow's high is 75. 

Maybe it's the fact that I haven't quite relaxed since I left last week. 

Maybe it's the fact that my favorite person happens to be

waiting for me in that 75 degree weather. 

Anyway you look at it, I am excited. 

I could get used to this graduated thing. 

Whirlwind.

I've used the word whirlwind a lot,

 when describing my life lately. 

As I approached my undergraduate

graduation ceremony on Friday, 

I think deep down, I thought

 I would have a lot of questions answered. 

Questions like: 

[What's next?]

[Where am I going to live when my lease runs out?]

[What will my life look like this time next year?]

I realize it's been less than a week 

since I finished my undergraduate career, 

but the feelings of

relief,

anticipation, 

and excitement 

that I always thought I'd feel at this moment in time

are being overshadowed by 

uncertainty. 

It's easy for me to think "when

[insert life event] happens...I'll feel content." 

But as I stand on the other side of arguably one of the most 

monumental events in my life thus far, I think I'm

starting to realize that contentment transcends my emotions. 

It's a way of choosing to live. 

I don't know what's next. 

I don't know where I'll be living when my lease runs out.

&I don't know what my life will look like this time next year. 

But I do know what I am trying for, where my hope stands, and 

that I now have some freedom to enjoy the future. 

I am content with that. 

creations

Because I'm too tired to write about the fact that I graduated yesterday, 

[but it did, indeed, happen. More on that later]

Here is the third installment of some of the things 

I have done in the past week. 

Today's topic: 

creations. 

Besides having the bizarre experience of making a 

model of a Civil War train crash, 

I made a few things that 

I wanted to document.

one. 

[clementine candle]

This cute little thing 

burned for over an hour! 

here's how. 

two. 

[blackberry syrup, compote & granola]

[blackberries are SO CHEAP right now.]

three. 

[kale chips.]

I've made these before, but I  

am starting to think I could

persuade even the biggest veggie hater 

to change their mind.

Have you ever?

I never thought I'd make a diorama in college.

[One depicting a train crash from the civil war.]

I never thought I'd craft a tiny tree forest, 

or tiny train cars out of of foam, with dimes as wheels.

Oh, and I certainly never thought I'd do

these things at 2 in the morning, 

my 5th year in college.

But I did.

All for this boy, who needed help

for his final [honors] class to graduate. 

My life is getting more and more bizarre these days. 

ps. I graduate tomorrow.

photo booth.

I'm super busy scrambling to get everything done before graduation on Friday. 

But here's the first of a series of snapshots from my past few days.

[Daniel & Michelle's big day.]

photo booths: always a good time. 

Not my day.

Between getting a flat tire in -7 degree weather,

working on a 20 page paper I have absolutely no idea how to write,

feeling like a [terrible] person by forgetting to do something I committed to, 

and having to miss the last work event that I'll be able to be a part of, 

today is not my day.  

Everything about this day makes me want to

give up.

cry.

not care. 

But 1) I don't have time for these things.

and 2) I have to remember what I read this morning: 

"Give ear to my words, O Lord, 

consider my sighing. 

Listen to my cry for help, 

my King and my God, 

for to you I pray. 

In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice;

in the morning I lay my requests

 before you and wait in expectation. "

Let that be enough.

Dear...

Dear boyfriend, 

thanks for throwing me this awesome mug.

[and thanks, Jessiann for glazing it!]

I now have a new favorite thing to drink warm drinks

out of while I study for finals. 

You're the best. ♥ Laura

Dec. 1

Today we decorated our house for Christmas. 

Complete with Justin Bieber Holiday Pandora,

a real tree, 

handmaid Russian doll ornaments,

a nativity, 

and homemade kale chips.
[the last item isn't necessarily traditional, but they were delicious.]

Here's to two more weeks of undergrad!