Katie graduates

This entry is somewhat about Scott and I, but it is mostly because of my sister, Katie.  Katie graduated from Virginia Tech on May 14th!!! Her degree is in communications with a concentration in public policy as well as a minor in political science. All this and she graduated with honors! Needless to say, my family was beyond proud. To celebrate such a huge milestone in her life, I wanted to throw her a party at our place. This is where we come into the picture. I had other, more selfish, motives for throwing her a party. First off, I wanted Scott to clean off the patio, which we never got around to last summer when we fixed up the rest of the place. It was a nasty mess with a broken rusted grill and an even more broken and rusty fire pit along with leaves, an old hose and a tarp that had, well I assume had, creepy crawlers in it. I was not a part of the removal process for that reason. I also wanted to get a patio set from my parents' house. Scott's dad generously gave us his old patio set when we were first married, but we lived in an apartment and had no place to put it. So I let my family use it until we got a place that had a patio. Well, they got attached to it. My family knew it was ours but didn't want to see it go. I felt guilty, but as Katie so wisely put, not guilty enough. (See why she graduated with honors?) I thought having a party would be the perfect excuse to commandeer the patio set since we would need more seating. We borrowed my Dad's truck and loaded it up. Scott and I got the patio looking fabulous. I even planted some plants! (I wasn't born with a green thumb, I'm forcing it.) Guess what happens after we do all this work? That's right, it rains on Katie's graduation day. It was all for nothing or at least in the immediate sense. We had to have it all inside. Which I feel like the rain is partly because of my selfish motivation for throwing the party. We ended up having a really good time, rain or not. Katie's boyfriend Prabhaav (who "secretly" reads my blog) came down from the Washington D.C. area. My grandparents were able to come all the way from Georgia thanks to my Aunt Wanda and Uncle Randy bringing them half way and my Uncle Mark for taking them back. We had the essentials, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, green beans, pasta salad, and Katie's favorite, poppy seed cake. Oh, and of course, some sweet tea. A nap soon followed.

Pomp and Circumstancing

There was no air conditioning...

The Gang

Love Birds

Southern essential

More essentials

Nehi... so retro

Grubbin' it up as Scott would say

Opening the spoils of the day

Proof