The IceBlock [4]: Brooklyn Botanical Garden & Diploma

I know it's already the middle of the week, but better late than never. I disappeared this past weekend because it was my mom's birthday (happy birthday again, mom! ^-^) and she took Thursday and Friday off, so I was out and about with her those two days. And then that Saturday we had a BBQ to celebrate her birthday that went on for the whole day, and Sunday also ended up being pretty busy! But now a calm has returned and I need to catch up with all my posts that have pictures sitting around and collecting dust. =P

One of the most exciting events was on Friday, when my mom and I went to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. I had wanted to go there all summer and actually planned to go the end of June, but my pilonidal surgery was moved up and I lost the weekend that I thought would be my last for going out. :( Well, I'm recovering amazingly now and Friday had beautiful weather (I honestly feel like it was the last day of summer) so we decided to go.




I have to say, thank goodness I started walking regularly that week because we ended up getting through the whole park, which must have totaled to over 4 miles of walking! My incision was perfectly fine that night though, so I was really impressed with how strong it was proving to be. :) It still holds up perfectly fine during my daily walks, which average about 2 miles a day.

ANYWAY, the garden was stunning as usual. I took a ton of pictures but I don't want this post to turn out ridiculously lengthy, so I picked the ones I felt were the nicest to show you. :)

Near the Japanese gardens.

This hasn't changed since I went when I was a little kid. :)

These are two of the bonsai trees featured in the bonsai house. 

I thought this was so cool - a 'paintbrush' plant! :)

And lastly, a little bunch of purple flowers in the house that had roots hanging from plants on the ceiling - because I love my purple. =P

 Now, the main reason I wanted to go to the botanical garden was to get a little plant for my room. The last time I went to the gardens - YEARS ago - I bought a little plant that I adored. I have no idea what happened to it since I got it really young and we moved from that apartment since, but I thought maybe I could find it again at the gardens. Unfortunately, the plant selection at the gift shop has since shrunk from when I was younger, so I had no luck in finding my plant. But I did find something else that I really liked: a baby palm!

My new baby :)

Isn't it pretty? Apparently it doesn't need a lot of light or water so it's especially good for my room (the light needs in particular), since it doesn't get a lot of direct sunlight. My grandmother actually had a palm before - almost 5 feet tall - that lived for years, but it died a year or two after we moved. I hope mine lives long enough to get that big, haha.

Besides the botanical garden, I did want to mention that last Thursday, besides my permit, I also finally picked up my college diploma for Creative Writing. I got kind of teary when I picked it up, not because I miss school but because my senior year in college was one of the hardest. From November of my fall semester pretty much until now, months after I graduated, I've been dealing with my pilonidal cyst surgeries/recoveries. Between that and the workload of my senior thesis, I was extremely stressed out the entire year, sometimes to the point that I would cry from thinking I couldn't finish it all. I mean, after my first surgery my counselor brought up withdrawing for the semester - something I didn't even want to think of since I was so close to graduating - but at points I felt like I should have, because I never felt so hopeless about getting things done in the quality I wanted.

Well, in the end I got a 4.0 for that year, which was the highest I had gotten of my four years in college, and seeing my diploma with honors reminded me that I really pulled through in spite of everything. Seeing that now when I've finally seemed to beat the cyst got to me the most...and still gets to me when I think about it.

My school emblem on the outside of the diploma case. 

The official seal of my college on my diploma. 

Yeah...I'm thrilled that school is done (even though I might be going back in February for a vet technician degree...) and I hated it back when I was still working my ass off, but I'm really, really proud of myself now.

Anyway, that's about it for this session of The IceBlock. In terms of updates, I do have more reviews planned - mostly cosmetics, but I do realize that one of my topics for this blog is book reviews, and I have yet to post one! I haven't been reading lately but I do have a book in mind to write about - it's just that I read it back in July so I need to brush up on the details before I get into reviewing it, and it's a book I'm not very fond of, lol...

OK! That's it for now! 'Til next time! ('<>')>

~nikki

Are you still going to school? If not, did you ever consider going back?