Elks Lodge

I haven't posted in a long time because 1) I have many secret projects going on and 2) I've just been busy! I have received my master's degree and in one week, my boyfriend and I will be in our new house in Maryland. We're so excited, but also just exhausted from the last few weeks we've had. John is in his last day of his second year of medical school today (meaning the worst part is now over) and this entire weekend we're showing our house to new renters, packing, and spending time together. I haven't spent time with him for about two weeks because we've been running all over the place, and we actually spent our anniversary last week in two different states.

I will post more about graduation later. Last night I was a special guest speaker at the Roanoke Elks Lodge Scholarship/Valedictorian night to talk about how my Elks scholarship helped jump-start my educational and career goals. Literally, six years ago I could not afford to go to college and without the national Elks scholarship, I would have been attending community college near home and it would have been a much more difficult road to where I am now. Thanks to the $6,000 scholarship I received from Elks, I was able to attend a private woman's college (with a $32,000 price tag per year) virtually free and with very little loan accumulation. It was my pleasure to speak to high school students on the verge of graduation about how I made it through and where I'm at now.

Coming up in June: I'm slated to judge two more pageants! I'm becoming a professional!