Final week in Gainesville

This final week in Gainesville has been full of fun events. Each night we've been spending time with a different friends going out to dinner, getting ice cream or just hanging out.

Dairy Queen with the Merrells is always a treat!

Monday night (6-23-08) was Family Group. Emily and I happened to both wear our Gator soccer shirts!


Tuesday (6-24) was Matt's defense. We went to the Swamp for appetizers after the defense. Then we got shakes from Wendy's to celebrate Matt passing the defense with the Merrells.

Wednesday night (6-25) we went out to dinner with Bob and Lisa at Las Margaritas.


Thursday night (6-26) we went out to dinner with Patrick and Linda Callahan at Carrabba's.

Friday night (6-27) we went out to eat with the Bush family (Greg, Stephanie, and Austin) at Bonefish Grill.

Saturday night (6-28) was our Family Group goodbye and graduation party. Caleb and Emily let us have the party at their house since we don't really have a house to live in right now.

By the way...I learned a lesson regarding putting the correct amount and kind of soap in the dishwasher. Here are a couple of pictures to show you what happened, not once, but twice. OOPS. Matt and I spent an hour each time with the suds and water. We took turns filling cookie sheets with the suds and dumping them into the sink. It was crazy and added a little humor to the night.

It's official - DR. BUMAN!!!

I am so proud of Matt. I am proud of all his perseverance and hard work over the last 3 years. God has been so faithful to carry us through this degree and all the challenges with it.

Matt defended his dissertattion today. His presentation took 30 minutes and then he was grilled with questions for 1 hour. He passed, therefore completing all the requirements for receiving his PhD.

After Matt's defense we had a celebratory lunch at The Swamp with the AAMP team. These are the people who were a part of Project AAMP (where Matt got the data for his dissertation). From left to right: Dr. Giacobbi, Dr. McCrea, Dr. Roberts, Dr. Marsiske, Joe Dzierzewski and Dr. Buman.

Here we are, Dr. and Mrs. Buman!!

Packing up the Condo

This was a half a day's progress...not bad huh? Oh did we know that there was so much more packing to go. (Notice my new Under Armor shorts Katie and Patrick!! I love them. Thanks.)

This was after two FULL days of packing. You can tell we had actually made some progress.

Matt got us Dunkin' Donuts Iced Coffee for an afternoon treat. Boy did it hit the spot!

This is mom at the end of the day saying she was tired and that I was working her too hard. LOL. We were getting slap-happy after three days straight of packing. I would not let us take many breaks. Once I put my mind to a task I have to finish! :)

Matt turned in the final copy of his dissertation to his committee and he joined in our fun of packing. I was very grateful for his help in wrapping up all our pictures and mirrors.

Mom and I worked very hard and got the whole house packed up by Friday night. We all went out to dinner at Big Lou's to celebrate the job well done. Who knew that you could get so sore from packing and moving.

On Saturday morning our Family Group friends joined us bright and early to help us move our stuff into the storage unit we had rented. God gave us a great summer day - sunny, hot and humid. Loading of the boxes did not take long at all. I think we had over 100 boxes. They were mainly beer boxes from Stubbies, Matt's favorite pub downtown, and copier paper boxes. The guys made an assembly line and passed the boxes from the house into the truck.

While all the loading was happening Mom made cappuccino. It was perfect timing and well received from everyone!




I know this TV is heavy, but seriously how many guys does it take to lift it? I just thought this pictures was hilarious because Mom is in the background laughing. In all seriousness I think this must have been one of the first T.V's because it is way too heavy.


Once the truck was full (for the 1st time) the guys took the boxes to the storage unit. Lisa, Lucy, Mia, Mom and I stayed after to try and get a head start on cleaning the condo since our tenant, Joey, was moving in later Saturday night. After cleaning the bathrooms, Lisa and I vacuumed the blinds, floorboards, and fans. Mia helped my mom carry our clothes across the street to Lauren's condo. She let us live in her unit since she was not there and while her parents were trying to sell it.

Lucy and Lisa helped me wrap uo our dinning room table with giant plastic wrap. It was really funny to watch us run around the table pulling the plastic wrap tight against the table.


Here are all our friends who helped (back row left to right - Caleb, me, Matt, Lucy, Lisa, David, Chauncey, Bob, Tom, and Dustyn). We did the Gator chomp as we loaded the truck for a second and final time.

When we moved into our condo, three years ago, we did not have very much furniture. While being in Gainesville we acquired too much - couches, a dinning room table, a china cabinet, and a T.V. with armoire. When we moved out we actually needed 2 storage units! Yikes. I guess it is a good thing that we rented a 26 foot Penske truck to move across the country.

God was so faithful to us throughout the whole moving process. First of all, we were able to get such a large truck before the price jumped up almost $1,000. Secondly, Mom was able to come down and help me pack up. There is no way that I could have packed up in such a short time without her. Plus it was more fun. Thirdly, so many of our friends came over to help us move. In addition it did not rain on the day we moved out of the condo. Fourthly, we filled up the first 10' by 10' rather quickly and God opened up another storage unit for us 3 doors down from the first unit. (Finding a storage unit in Gainesville during the summer months is very difficult due to the many college students who leave their stuff here for the summer.) Praise be to God as His hand and blessing have been so evident on the whole moving to California thing.

Big Lou's Pizzeria

On Friday nights we've been joining Bob and Lisa at Big Lou's in downtown Gainesville for pizza and live music. The evenings have been gorgeous here this summer and we've enjoyed just hanging out and talking for hours.

The week that we were packing up the condo we took Mom to Big Lou's for dinner there. She loved it too!

Celtics win 17th championship on June 17th in Boston!!


Last night the Celtics defeated the Lakers 131 - 92. It had been 22 years since they had won! I am so proud to say I am from Boston!! It was neat to see the Celtics win on home ground since the Red Sox and Patriots won their championships away.

Trip to Boston

I spent this past week in Boston while Matt stayed in Gainesville and worked on his dissertation. This was my first trip back to Boston in almost a year. I was really excited to be back in my home town. It was perfect timing for me to be in Boston because it allowed Matt to have a quiet house to work in with no distractions. He wrote for about 12 - 15 hours a day, while I spent time with my family and friends, visited some of my favorite places and enjoyed some of my favorite foods.

On Wednesday I went to Grammy's house. She taught me how to make Criss Cross. Criss Cross is a Hungarian cookie that Grammy is famous for making. They are delicious and a family tradition. She has now passed the recipe on to me.

While the Criss Cross were cooking Grammy and I made dinner. While slicing up the veggies for the salad I sliced my finger as well. Ouch!! It hurt really bad. Thankfully I did not need stitches and my finger was still all there. Grammy got to play Grandmother and bandaged me all up.

This is what I cut my finger on. Ouch.

On Friday afternoon I went over to the Aunt's house and made candy with Flo Flo. We made my favorite - peanut butter cups. I really enjoy spending time with both my grandmother and great Aunts doing something they love and that reminds me of them.

On Saturday morning as the Sylvester tradition we headed into the North End for some cuppuccino. Our favorite cafe, Cafe Grafitti, went out of business so my parents have found another place to go to. Patrick came with us since Katie had to work. It was funny to have just the old family of 4 together again.

Patrick and Katie just came back from a trip to Arizona and Patrick was showing my parents the pictures from the trip. I think my Dad was admiring the Grand Canyon.

Saturday night my mom wanted to take me to a new restaurant they found that has Gluten Free pizza. It is called Flatbread Pizza Company. It is only the 2nd restaurant that I have been to where I can order GF pizza. The pizza was pretty good. I actually tried something adventurous on my pizza in honor of Matt.

Matt's commencement ceremony

Although Matt will not defend his dissertation until June 24th, he was able to walk on May 3rd. This was a huge blessing since now we don't have to fly back to Gainesville in August. It was last minute, but Matt was able to get all the details worked out. We were not sure what to expect with the graduation ceremony, but it was great. The Phd's were hooded first and then all the masters students received their degrees. I was able to get some great photos.

After the ceremony Matt and I went all over campus and took some pictures with our favorite University of Florida sights. I had made a list beforehand so that we wouldn't miss any of them. Lisa Merrell was our photographer. She was excellent. After all the pictures were taken we went to lunch at Chop Stix with Bob and Lisa. It was quite a memorable day!

Enjoy the pictures!

Here is Matt with his advisor Pete Giacobbi.

Matt's 28th Birthday!

New Hair Cut

Well here is a picture of my latest hair cut. It is short, but I am getting used to it.