Boy was that a good week/weekend. My parents, sister and grandparents came up to Chambana on Wednesday evening. We had a delicious dinner together at the Great Impasta - a restaurant in Urbana where they make all of the pasta by hand. We got up early and left Thursday morning to head to Chicago. After working our way through Chicago traffic and a major elevation in my blood pressure, we made it to the University of Illinois Chicago campus. For the record, I do not like driving in big city traffic, especially when following someone and trying to not get separated.  We ended up getting to the Pavilion early and they didn't have the building open yet so we went across the street and had a photo session.

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Well, it is official... I am done with my BSN. No more exams, no more clinicals, no more assignments, and no more 3 hour lectures! I cannot believe that I am done with my undergraduate career, now I just need to start/finish a master's degree.

So what did all of us nursing students do to celebrate the momentous occasion? We jumped into an outdoor pool that was just filled last week! I guess it is becoming a U of I nursing tradition to jump in the pool while wearing our nursing uniforms once classes are finished. Last year it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and the pool was packed with people enjoying the weather. This year it was less than 60 degrees outside and we had to wait for a lifeguard to get there because they had sent everyone home early since no one wanted to be in the pool. The water felt great... getting out, not so much.

1... 2... 3!

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...walking across the quad as a student.

So yesterday was the College of Nursing Pinning Ceremony for the graduating class of 2011. It was a very nice event and we were at a good table. In our previous experiences with assigned seating (at engineering award banquets) we always felt awkward and had little to talk about, luckily that was not the case yesterday. The various personality types that are drawn to different majors is very funny to me. Anyway, we had a good lunch, listened to some awesome student speeches and were pinned. Apparently getting pinned is a very big honor in the nursing world and a pin from your Alma Mater is something you should always wear proudly wherever you work. I don't really know if that is the case these days... I rarely saw any nurses during clinicals wearing their pins. Either way, it was nice to be recognized for all of our hard work and accomplishments. They also handed out the cords we will be wearing at graduation.

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... I will be completely done with work for my degree. I will have taken one last "leap" with my fellow nursing students (into a pool) to celebrate. My family will be heading up and I will be packing because in one week and one day... I will graduate!

Also, our puppy will be 8 weeks old next week and we will finally get to see a picture of her! My awesome parents will pick her up the week after I graduate and watch over her until Will and I come home (thanks Mom and Dad)! We are super pumped and cannot wait to meet her! I am sure that Kitty is super excited to have a playmate for a few weeks... we'll see about that.

Here is me and Will on Easter morning... Aren't we just the cutest almost-married-for-one-year couple? I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband.