Thursday, March 29, 2012

Graduation Photoshoot and Grandma's 80th Birthday

One of my goals for when Tom came home for spring break was to take his graduation pictures. I needed a recent, nice picture to make his graduation announcements. I wasn't thinking anything grand--just something appropriate for me to do his announcements with. So I tried to think of places to go and finally decided on the library. I took about 10 pictures--just enough to think I had something that would work. I fell in love with this photo. He looks so handsome with that terrific smile of his, the pose is perfect, and looks very academic with the books in the background--although it was the fiction section. It seemed a little bit dull though. So I did a fair amount of photoshopping to the picture. I took care of some of his blemishes, blurred out the books so you couldn't tell they were fiction books and then used what is called an "action" in Photoshop. I had just recently figured out where to load some free actions that I had downloaded months ago. One of them did the trick to make this such a nice picture. I was so pleased with it. And then I used it for a scrapbooking assignment for my creative team this week.


Beverly turned 80 this week. Because I had to work all weekend and had a crazy schedule at work all week long, we decided to celebrate a few days early on Friday night. She doesn't seem to like the fact that she has turned 80 but Bill always reminds her that it beats the alternative. We took her to Gustav's for German food which was wonderful. And then had cake at her house afterward. It was a fairly low key celebration but one that we all enjoyed.

Bill flew Tom back to school on Monday. Only one quarter left until graduation. And he just finished the best quarter he has ever had with an 3.885 grade point average. And Chris followed the next week with a second 4.0 grade point in a row. Very proud of them for the grades that they got this past quarter.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Erin Go Bragh


We always have a couple of traditions that we participate in each year for St. Patrick's Day. We love to have corned beef and cabbage at some point around St. Paddy's Day. We had it on St. Paddy's Day itself after we got home from Ellensburg with Tom. He is home for the week for Spring Break.

The other thing that Bill and I always enjoy is watching Irish step dancers perform. We experienced it for the first time several years ago when a group that the daughters of one of my co-workers performed at a couple of St. Patrick's Day parties that we had through work. The last three years, Bill and I have gone to Greg Kimsey's party. He does it every year to raise money for his campaign fund. They have had different groups each year but it is always fun to see all the energy and enthusiasm those kids have for dancing. And the costumes are phenomenal.

So we got out Irish fixes again this year and are enjoying having Tom home for awhile.