One of the best things about my college experience was the interesting, smart, like-minded people I met at Stanford. I was lucky enough to find a really great group of girlfriends near the end of my freshman year - we ended up living together (and spending most of our time together) for the rest of our time in college. Two of my friends still live together!

During our senior year we decided we hadn't been fully taking advantage of all of the unique traditions and interesting activities that our school was known for, and we set out to do just that. One of my favorite memories from that time was when we had an impromptu picnic in the cactus garden on campus a week or so before graduation.

The garden is hidden from main streets in a part of campus people don't visit often, and full of dozens of different varieties of cacti. The four of us bought some fancy cheese, bread, and a few other snacks and headed out for our sunset picnic - very romantic, I know.

There was something so special about that time - the excitement and anticipation surrounding our impending graduation, and the friendship we'd shared for so long. Our picnic was a quiet celebration of us, as a group of friends who'd made it through college together and as individuals who were graduating and moving on to the next phase in our lives. We got a little slap happy (as frequently happens when the four of us get together!) and took a bunch of silly photos. Here's one of my favorites: