Phew. I am still wiped from this past month, but I think it’s about time I sat back and wrote about this past weekend. It was surreal; I cannot believe I am a college graduate! This blog has taken me all the way from Freshman year to graduation. How crazy is that? So let’s dive right in to my final weekend at Stanford.

Saturday morning was Baccalaureate, and I got a quick sweat in beforehand. I’m definitely one for routine, and exercise has helped keep me sane! I did a Blogilates abs video+short flute video before heading to the gym for 20 minutes of HIIT on the spin bike.

Breakfast was yogurt+granola+sunbutter.

Baccalaureate:

I was apparently running late because they didn’t actually tell us when to get there, but when I arrived I luckily ran into my friends, who saved a spot for me inside the church where the seniors were lining up.

This was my first time donning the cap and gown! Honestly, the question running through my head this past month has been, “How did we end up here??”

We then proceeded outside to the main quad, through a crowd of friends and family. This was my first moment of “this is really happening.”

Sidenote: it was also scorching out! My seat was luckily sort of shaded.

I think Baccalaureate was one of the most emotional parts of the weekend for me. I was sitting with some of my best friends, and time to reflect on the past 4 years, and how much they mean to me. I will try my best to stay in touch, but it’s definitely something I worry about. It’s harder when you can’t just walk across the street to see someone.

After the ceremony, I got to meet my friend’s extended family, who were just the sweetest.

And then picture-taking ensued.

(This is actually the 1916 plaque…we cheated a little because the 2016 plaque was too far!)

After the ceremony, my parents and I went out to lunch at Whole Foods. We wanted something easy and light, and enough off campus to not hit crazy crowds.

Smitten (Nitrogen ice cream) is attached to Whole Foods, and my parents got some, which I helped out a bit with 🙂 Chocolate, and earl grey.

Next on the agenda was pictures in the quad with my friends.

Here are a few of the shots:

I apologize for the photo overload, but graduation doesn’t happen every day!

After pictures, we went to tea at the president’s mansion. I didn’t stay too long though; after the day’s festivities, filled with walking, my foot was really starting to bother me.

Then, I headed home with my parents to get ready for a party at our house for myself and my friends and our families.

Dinner was soup, shockingly 🙂 My mom made summer squash soup from PaleOMG. I had it with some GF avocado toast (and some cheddar chive cheese on one piece).

Then, the frantic preparation process began. We had about 20 people coming, and a dessert spread fit for twice that!

My biggest accomplishment of the year had to be the decorations for the GF chocolate cake.

We had several dietary restrictions, but there was something for everyone!

Everything free cookies, my beautiful cake (GF, dairy free, soy free), pineapple upside down cake, raisin energy bars (which I should post the recipe for at some point; my family is known for these).

GF cake with buttercream, whole foods fruit tarts and chocolate mouse cups.

Blueberry crisp.

Sundae bar.

Appropriate plates and napkins.

Then, we were ready!

I wish I could have taken a picture of my own bowl because it looked/tasted delicious, but it was too crowded to find my phone! Course 1 was the powdered sugar chocolate cake+ice cream+blueberries+caramel and fudge sauces. I also had some blueberry crisp.

It was such a fantastic night. I loved meeting and chatting with everyone’s families, and I think everyone had a fantastic time.

I stayed up late that night talking to my friends one last time, and finishing up my costume.

More to come….

 

It’s the Saturday before graduation, and I’m sitting at home (my home-home, I’m local and we’re prepping for a party tonight), watching the Giant’s game. I wanted to do a quick update on the week’s festivities. I also want to include food+fitness in these recaps because 1. that’s what we’re all here for, right? and 2. They are still big parts of my life, and I want to show how that fits into the events.

Thursday morning began with physical therapy (seriously, so much better every day). After, I headed to the gym to do a spin workout on my own. I did a little workout I made the summer after freshman year, and is the spin workout I’ve done more than any other. I had a fun time listening to the music from that period! Strangely enough, there was lots of Pitbull. The workout also had 8 rounds of HIIT intervals, which are always tough. I did 1 min max effort/1:15 40% effort, recovery. It was just the best workout, and I had a blast. I left feeling so happy.

Lunch was a final meal from the freezer, since everything was getting tossed that afternoon. I had a savory steel cut oat meal (looked disgusting, tasted delicious) with chicken and cheese, which I then added some spinach to. I also made a little salad of leftovers from the fridge: lettuce, artichoke and olive salad, and light champagne vinaigrette.

After lunch, we made a run to the craft store to make our Wacky Walk costumes. Stanford is a bit silly, and we have a tradition that for the main commencement address, the students dress up in crazy costumes and parade into the stadium.

(Snack: blueberry oatmeal muffin)

After brainstorming and agonizing over it for literally the entire year, my friends and I decided on emojis.

We spray painted foam core and then make the face by tracing a projected image. The process:

We didn’t get to completely finish before the big event for the day: Dinner on the Quad for seniors.

My sunburn is still going strong, but I was really impressed with my makeup job. Here’s a little before and after:

Obligatory pictures since we dressed up:

Salads to start:

For my main course, I requested the vegetarian option (since I don’t eat red meat), which was tofu with some type of sweet potato based ratatouille.

It was a nice event, but we didn’t have an intensely great time so we ended up leaving a little early (it went until late that night!) Instead, we returned to my dorm to enjoy blueberry banana bread, finish our emojis, an play taboo. I haven’t laughed so hard in a while!

Check it out:

Friday morning, I went to physical therapy again. I just had a granola bar and fruit beforehand, and then snacked on banana bread after before noon Crossfit.

I was really excited for Crossfit, because this is the first workout I could do un-modified in almost 2 months! I kept everything light for sure though.

Workout:

Back squats, slow on the way down, pause at the bottom. Sets of 10-6-2-10-6-2, going up i weight.

WOD: EMOM of 6 pull ups, 30s handstand hold on box, 15 Russian kettle bell swings.

It felt good to be back at it!

I was at a bit of a loss about where to eat lunch since our kitchen was closed, so I decided to just go to Whole Foods.

I made a salad with chicken, dried cranberries, parmesan, and balsamic, plus roasted broccoli and carrots on the side.

Later that afternoon, we had a parents welcome at my dorm. Again, leg makeup on point.

We had quite the spread, including GF blueberry cake!

We went out to dinner afterwards, which I was super excited for because…

SWEETGREEN!I fell in love with Sweetgreen in DC, and I was super excited when I learned that the salad spot would be coming to Palo Alto. I went the seasonal watermelon, feta, and mint salad+chicken. (Copy cat recipe-> here)

It was good! I think the DC salad was better though, to be honest! They have it DOWN there!

After dinner, we walked across the street for frozen yogurt, where I ordered a small chocolate with raspberry puree and chocolate shavings.

After dessert, I made it through on episode of Netflix before totally crashing. it’s been quite the week!