the MASTERS pharr

May 8, 2010
GRADUATION DAY!! Zach and I are officially the Masters Pharr. :) We got up TOO early to head over to the Farris Center for graduation. Luckily we were in the same ceremony and were seated behind each other. Katy Kirk also informed me that Dr. Frontain told her only ugly girls get bangs when she got hers. I'm glad I did not see him today. *heh heh*

Dan spent the night so he could come to graduation.

Getting hooded is rather nerve-wracking because of the fear that they will knock your hat off in the process, thus embarrassing you AND screwing up your hair. Cap hair takes a long time to perfect. We both came through unscathed.

Monica and Ms. Judy came to see us, too!

But let me tell you that, when you are in the first two rows of graduates, graduation feels like FOREVER as you wait for everyone else to get their diploma (covers).

In the Department of Mysteries

Zach with Anatoliy, who was named one of the university's Outstanding Students of the Year

Katie, my dear friend with whom I started grad school--and who hooked Zach and I up!

Our Family--they're the best!

After lovely pictures in the sun and spray at the fountain, we attended the CSPA graduation banquet.Zach's CSPA Cohort

Finally, we headed to the Saucer to celebrate with some of our closest friends.

Ladies of Letters

All in all, it was a great day to become masters! ( And, yes, we would like to be addressed as such. ;) Thank you to all of our family, friends, and faculty who supported us through this process. We couldn't have done it without you!!

Master Ashley : )

As of April 23, 2010, I am officially a Master of Literature!! I passed comps AND my thesis defense!

I really cannot believe it. It took so much to get here. I am in shock that I passed everything, especially that last essay on comps, and that my thesis turned out so well. It was an emotionally-draining project.

Last night we went out to celebrate! We never really got to celebrate Zach's defense or even taking comps, so we wanted to have a really good time. We had a nice dinner and drinks (had multiple mojitos because of the great week I had and I'm really into mojitos now!), popped into Target for a bit (because we LOVE Target), and went to see Date Night. (We had a buy 1 ticket, get one free coupon. ;)

All in all, a wonderful celebration!