Prom & Graduation- The Big Days.

I feel like a blogger resurrected from the dead...

WARNING: This blog post may be a bit long, (I feel like it needs to be since it's been almost a month since my last post) and heavy with pictures and nostalgia. Proceed with caution. 

Hello Friends,

Even though it's approaching one in the morning where I am, I am absolutely determined to complete this blogpost!

So where have I been?

I have been attending my senior prom and my highschool graduation! I'm not going to lie, it's been massively hectic.
I graduated high school (finished classes) back in February, which means I actually haven't attended classes in a while. I also did a bit of travelling which meant that I wasn't in the country I was graduating in!
Which then added to the hectic-ness of it all, having to travel back home & get ready for graduation & prom.

Getting ready for prom...
I took it like a trooper laid out all my beauty necessities & went for it!

I studiously did myself up (it took me almost two hours to completely get ready) and then bam, I was done & off to my SENIOR prom I went!

Though my prom night was amazing, and I had a lot of great times with my friends I couldn't help but marvel at the fact that I was already experiencing my high school prom. Not to sound soppy, or like a grandma but I can literally still remember my first day of high school. I can also remember hearing about seniors getting ready to buy tickets to their prom & how I'd think about what a distant issue that was for me. Then boom, out of nowhere I am a senior and I'm at my prom!

At the end of the night I remember saying this to my friend and her wise words were, "Stop stressin' man."

That may or may not be the new mantra to my life.

Time flies when you're...not paying attention in math class. Haha.

Then came graduation. It was only a few days after my prom, so once again I had to be a trooper lay out all my lady beauty supplies and get started!

I am a firm believer in less is more, and yes I got my prom look using ONLY these things. I feel obligated to include these pictures because I don't wear makeup very often. I feel as if doing myself up was just as huge a part of the day as ACTUALLY graduating. Just another sign of growing up, I guess.

Now I'm sure many of you know graduation gowns are THICK and extremely HOT. Given, as well, that the ceremony takes place in the summer time you can legitimately pass out from heatstroke under one of those if you're not careful about what you wear underneath. So I kept it simple.

And cool. I had way too much riding on this day to pass out in front of the family that flew in just to see me get a diploma saying I didn't fail out of school.

My school then gave me this bear, as if to solidify what the day was.
"INCASE YOU FORGOT WHAT YOU'RE DOING TODAY LEAH. IT'S GRADUATING. YOU'RE GRADUATING HIGHSCHOOL FOREVER AND EVER."

Please ignore slightly psychotic look

So yes, that was my graduation and prom day. I thought I was scared about prom day but on Grad day I was genuinely freaking out.

(They pronounced my name wrong by the way...they called me lee)

You always hear older people talking about the younger generation and when they see us they say "how much we've grown" and "how proud they are of us" and I've never felt that about myself. But looking at these pictures again, remembering that I actually experienced my senior prom and high school graduation just really makes me realize how much I have grown up. How weird is it that I'm heading off to university this fall and starting my life in the next five years? I can still remember the 6th grade and how distant an issue these things seemed to be!

Though I'm 17 and I still have a lot more growing to do, I am now feeling a bit nostalgic.

Looking back on my 3 and a half years in high school, the only thing I'd say is I wish I was a little braver. Tried talking to more people and not being so shy and quiet. But hey, I guess I've still got a lot of years ahead of me to make use of all those new found revelations.

Though, I don't regret much other than that. I met amazing people, who have made permanent marks on my life. I've experienced the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to teachers, projects and general school life (the first day of my senior year was accompanied with a stabbing in the front of the school building). And, I've definitely made some unforgettable memories.

I'm heading off to university in the fall, and as morbid as it sounds I'm not 100% if my life is just starting now...or if it's ending. Weird thought given I'm only 17, but I don't define "my life" as literally just being alive.

For now I'm going to have to see where the wind blows me and allow myself to go with the flow, without having a steady plan of action. Stupid? Adventurous? I don't know. We'll all see, I guess :)

All I'm leaving you with now is...remember to make the most of all life's special moments and as my amazing friend Domo said, "Stop stressin' man!"

x Leah Symonne x