Moving On to Bigger and Better Things: Officially Finished with My Undergrad Career :)

   Hello my beautiful bloggers!!! The weekend went by like a blur, it was filled with preparations, quality time with my family and friends, and most of all time to reflect on who I have become. I am officially done with my undergrad career :)!! The ceremony was short simple and informal, i loved it! I opted to participate in my department/major's graduation and have decided not to attend the University wide graduation this coming week. Reasons for this you may ask, simply; I felt I really had an opportunity to make friends and get to know my colleagues in this specific area, rather than sitting at a 4 hour long ceremony with boring speakers, baking in the sun, and not getting called by my name to cross the stage, I chose this route something more intimate. The other reason is that I did not want to torture my guest with going through the chaos and such :) 

         Okay, so back to the reflection part, I just thought about all the amazing, crazy, sad, happy, and memorable times I've had in the past couple years and I must say a lot has changed; for the better I hope. Going through the process of loosing friends, loved ones, and myself at times were the darker of moments in these past 4.5 years. With the negative said and placed aside I look at the beautiful souls I've met and had an opportunity to get to know, the old friendships I was able to rekindle, the better relationship i was able to build with my family, especially my mother, and the many lessons I have learned along the way. I can look back and say I am proud of how far I have come, but all these accomplishments would be nothing without the incredible support and love from people in my life. To name a few: my family: my little Big sisters, my boyfriend Stanton, my sister from another mister Kim, my dear Nu, Kris my fierce little divo, and countless others. All of them have taught me many lessons, opened my eyes to situations where I was blinded or too naive to understand. I've had my ups and downs with all of them, but what matters is that they stuck it out and put so much effort into loving me and understanding who I was and where I was coming from. Needless to say I owe each and every single one of them so much. 

        So my commencement ceremony was on Sunday May 15, 2011 @ 10AM!!! the night before I could barely sleep, I excited, nervous, anxious, scared, happy, you name it I felt it! I awaken on the morning of the 15th at 6:30 to begin preparations, plus i have a family of 5 we take sometime to get pretty, lol. 

      Oh yeah I totally forgot to tell you what I majored in... I was originally a psych. major when I entered college, but I changed it to CAD: Child & Adolescent Development- specifically Young Children and Families. My degree allows me to work as a teacher for children from the ages of 6mos-8years old, I know many of you may think, " oh so she's a babysitter..." but you know what its way more than just taking care of young children, our society is slowly learning the value of early prevention and intervention in the lives of our youth. The field I am working in helps to develop the children's foundation for learning and growth in the future as well as providing social interaction with the real world. I really love my major and am so proud to be apart of the hard work that goes into helping our future citizens become better, although I know what happens now does not dictate what is will occur in the future for these young individuals, I do know I value my work and the people I get to work with. Keep in mind, not everyone can do this job!

       I've had numerous conversations with my parents and other adult figures who were concerned that the pay would not suffice for survival in such an expensive city such as San Francisco, but I ensured them it will work out and I plan on going further with my education once I gain appropriate experience, its funny too because prior to this my parents would have never allowed me to step into this field they had dreams of their daughter going into the medical, engineering, business careers... All are amazing but not for me. I wanted a job that was unpredictable and kept me on my toes... children are such intelligent, curious, and full of energy... I want to be around that everyday and help turn that lightbulb on when things were muggy/unclear at first, I want to motivate and inspire change for better;this is why I chose  to be a teacher... we've all had at least one inspiring and caring adult mentor/teacher figure in our lives that just made coming to school or whatever activity/program everyday a pleasure and something you looked forward to.. someone who changed your outlook and made you feel good about who you were, well that's what I want to do, I want to be able to inspire and create positive change! what is a life, if its not worth living for with meaning! my ultimate goal is to open my own school and possible business for consultation of education programs/schools/environments. With this sort of occupation I look forward to being able to have flexibility in my life and having time to share with my family, because my parents have always worked so hard at 9-5s and come hope too tired to do much with myself and my siblings. I was to be able to foster my children's play and learning and capture those moments.

          alright enough of that! Without further a due.... * drum roll please.... 

MY COLLEGE GRADUATION!

* warning this will be a picture heavy post!

in the car on the way to the ceremony, we were running a tad late...

i love my cap! my little sister Stella created it from my idea, with some tweaking this is what she made!

arrived and waiting to walk on stage, this was the backstage of the main stage.

picture here with me are my classmates: Rachael and Tiffany, both amazing ladies and ever so dear :) I am so lucky to have met them!

 Rachael and Natalie :)

always energetic, funny, sweet, and amazing Lucy <33

the always beautiful and witty Tasha, this girl is a crazy Giants fanatic! I think she loves them more than my boyfriend. 

Annje, she's always happy and so upbeat. We did an awesome job working as a team for our music class, we taught classes and sang with children.

Sweet Jenny and Gorgeous Chloe! These two are amazing teachers and are the sweetest, so very patient and kind.

in line beginning to walk in...

the boyfriend also participated in this ceremony!

he changed his major from business to CAD, the man really is amazing with children and plans on becoming a site director from programs. I commend him for being in this field because, there are so few men and we need positive male role models for our children to. His active involvement in the field also shows the children and to us how we need to break these social barriers and gender associated occupations!

my view during the ceremony.lol

the bf and i on stage, lol obviously we weren't paying attention- but the sound system sucked and we could barely hear what was being said. on top of that majority of my classmates were on their phones texting and such too. lol -_________- oh technology how you have ruined us.

the graduating class, and our first speaker the department/major head.

my name being called as i walk across the stage.

the bf, i think my sister caught him right after he threw up the peace sign. lol

right after the ceremony, we had to clear out for the next concentration of the CAD department. here I am with Katie and Claire :) Katie was featured in Andrew Zimmerman's latest season for her amazing work!

the very first of my amazing cheer team to greet me :) both Sheena and Kris have finals coming up this week and they made time to come support me, gotta love them for that!

Lily & Lisa two super fun girls to hang out with! check out my buzz light year balloon in the back lol. 

the first people to greet me outside, my aunt Hillary and uncle Mike with little Michelline!

upon reaching outside I was greeted with numerous leis, gifts, balloons, and such. lol look at my poppa in the background!

the boyfriend and i after he got showered with leis and balloons from my family. lol we look crazy -_________-

my beautiful little cousins Michelline and Mckenna! they woke up early just to cheer me on!

the boyfriends family and some of mine. * missing my friends and little sisters!

with the boyfriend's daddy, mommy, and auntie Moosie

with both our families, damn i wish we rearranged my side a bit. something is better than nothing!

my beautiful and amazing family!

beautiful future RN Sheena love and Sexy Fierce and Brainy Kris, the business man!

my amazing sister from another mister Kimmie!!! she's like a big sister to me, I've known her for 10.5 years now!!! thanks for coming, she's also going to be a RN woohoo!!!!

with my team of cheerers!

the always dear Alyssa! she has like the sweetest softest little voice and always smiley.

Mary the fashionista, swear this woman has the closet of people from look book, she's always so fashionable!

with my amazing little sisters Stella and Selena and the amazing bouquet they got me!!! all the beautiful leis were made by them.

this is the first time in our almost 5 year relationship that our parents have met, weird i know, but it worked out great :)

the strong beautiful woman that is my mother, we've definetely had our share of arguments, the cultural different and generation gap always created a rift in our relationship, neither of us were ever equipped with the right words to express our feelings or thoughts, but i'm learning to make it work and understand who she is and where she's coming from. everything she does is only out of love, i would never trade what we have for anything in this world. i don't tell her often but i really do love my mom and i am so fortunate to have such a strong, independent, and intelligent woman to look up to. she's held it down for our family and worked herself to the max to get me this far, i owe everything i have to her and only wish to make her proud. i love you mommy!

the boyfriend and his mommy. i can't explain how amazing his mother is but i'm lucky that she's so welcoming and loving to me! she looks so cute with his cap on here. you know she was definitely proud of him, it took him some time but he's made it!

our amazing friends Dawn and Rachael!!! the cutest little couple we know, they're so fun and chill. i'm so lucky to have had the opportunity to get to know them better and become friends!

a picture with the boyfriend's parents :) they've been my second home and show so much support. the boyfriend's papa is too cute for words!

my EVERYTHING! my parents have made me the person I am today, they've done nothing but sacrifice all they have so that my sisters and I can have a better life. my dad is a dreamer and inspires us to think big while my mother is a realistic grounded one and brings us back down from the skies when our heads get too big. i love them for what they are and how they inspire me to only want the best. my only goal in life is to be able to take care of them the way they have me and provide them the luxuries they did not have in sacrificing to give us everything.

MOOSIE HELEN, this is the boyfriend's aunt.. she's such a dear little lady. with the innocence of a child, she is such a sweet and kind person and am so lucky to have her in my life. 

what can I say about this amazing man, my DAD! he's done it all and then some. he's patient, caring, and funny. i am very close with my papa, he use to help me make forts in the living room and always provided me the tools to think big and inspired me to do what I wanted. he's not a man of many emotional words or feelings, but what he does everyday shows myself and my family how much he really loves us. i will forever be my daddy's little girl!

Sophie, my sweet sweet Sophie :)) I met Sophie my second to last semester at SFSU in our kinesiology class, she randomly sat down next to me in the back of the classroom one day and was speaking to one of our classmates and turned to me and asked a question... i don't remember what it was but from that day we continued our chitter chatter and are great friends now :) I'm so happy I had a chance to meet her and form this friendship we have!

finally, a proper picture with my Uncle Mike and his family. aren't his little girls just adorable? My uncle Mike's been like a second father to me, he always takes care of our family and I feel he's the one who keeps the entire family strong in bonding. He's not a man of many words, but he's strong and intelligent. He's a boss tycoon, and the ironic thing is that we use to not get along because he was so strong handed/minded and was I. my mom says its because we were both born in the year of the Dragon. lol 

so after graduation both the bf's family and mine went out for dim sum, my friends had to return to their studies so they did not join us, but my sissy Kim did. it was nice we sat at the extra large table and enjoyed a round of dim sum. i was still in a state of shock that I graduated that I did not notice what really occurred. anyways, everything worked out and I'm glad our families finally got to meet at such a joyous occasion. anyways upon finishing our families just went home to rest.. no big party seeing that there's alot to do this summer, will fill you in later!

here's a look at some of the amazing gifts and surprises I received for grad.

the awesome bouquet my little sisters got me! my fave :D

some of the balloons I received, the rest became entangled with the boyfriend's bunch so we just gave them to him.

the boyfriend got me some super cute balloons!! ^____^

the beautiful large pink bouquet was given to me by my family, my former boss from the flower shop gifted the leis, both received by my boyfriend and myself. my former boss is an amazing lady!the bouquet with the red gerbs & the purple money ribbon was from Kimmie, bouquet of roses were from the boyfriend's family as well as a red envelope! (HAAAY) my parents provided the money for both the money leis my sister strung together, candies leis as well, the golden envelope is from my momma and poppa( it has monies!!! $____$!, my uncle Mike and aunt Hillary gifted me a beautiful card & $500-!!! some amazing gifts to receive :)

anyways to leave you guys for a little as I finish up this semester with a paper for my Raza class! the life of a scholar never ends! 

hope everyone is doing well, will be catching up on posts soon!

toodles,

Shirley