We're Getting There

Tom and I spent a lot of time last week working on our apartment. We painted 3 rooms in two days and then spent the third day fixing stuff up and straightening a little. We have moved some stuff from his apt to ours and have a LOT of stuff to move yet.

That in and of itself would have been an exhausting week, but what Tom didn't know is that I had been planning a surprise party for his birthday since August. On Friday night, he thought I was babysitting and couldn't come up to eat with his family and would only be able to hang out later. In reality, I missed out on a dinner at the Sundial to set up for his party at his apartment. I made him a Star Wars Cake that was a scene from Episode III, and it even fogged up because there was a little space for dry ice in it. I liked that particular feature, and so did the guests-especially his fraternity brothers who attended and made me feel like I was pastry chef with all of their flattering compliments. I know they were exaggerating, but it made me laugh when they said they would propose if a girl made them a cake like that. Tom already did that, so I guess it was due him, huh?

We also had drinks, chips, and other snack foods out for people to munch and sip. Davey and Kristen made the apartment 1 roommates and girlfriends t-shirts about Tom to wear during the party, and the guests seemed to get a kick out of it. Everyone arrived around 8 and helped me blow up the balloons, then we blasted some party music and hung out until around 9 when Tom arrived, when we yelled "surprise!!!", took some pictures, and turned the music up again to resume the party. I was so impressed by all the guests-they meshed really well and were great about intermingling and so patient while we waited on Tom to arrive with Ben from dinner.

When Tom walked through the door, he was so shocked-or else he is a great actor. It was really fun, and he got a chance to hang out with everyone, eat, drink, and be merry. The downside was that a lot of us only got 3 hours of sleep because after the party ended late at night (or, rather, early in the morning), Tom's graduation required we get right back up and get ready in the morning. He graduated at 9AM with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science focusing on software engineering. I was so SO proud of him. He is such a hard worker, and he had been looking forward to graduation for a while. Now it's all behind him, and we're both officially college graduates. It's kind of surreal that we've grown up so much together and reached another major milestone, but I'm so happy that we did.

Later that night, his family (minus Mandy, Jim, and E) all gathered at his parent's house with my parents, me, and Jordan and Sarah to celebrate his graduation. It was his actual birthday as well, but we were celebrating that the next day, after church. All in all, it was an exhausting week and weekend, but a lot got done. It's a relief to have that behind us so we can now have a week before Christmas to shop like mad for presents, wrap until our fingers hurt, and visit with friends and family as much as possible. I love this time of year-it's a little crazy because it's so busy, but I love being busy with fun things to do. Tom and I are going shopping for presents tomorrow, and I'm so excited. It's such an awesome tradition-he's my best friend, and he makes everything more fun.

Be safe out there in the holiday traffic!

Love,
Meghan

ps-here's a link to pictures from the party that I put up on facebook.