30 Year Reunion Pictures - Part 1

After much anticipation, the night of the reunion was finally here! All of the prep work really did pay off and the evening seemed almost magical. It was absolutely fantastic to see so many friends from the past.

This was more than a stroll down memory lane...it was a marathon, and even though I was on my feet the entire evening trying to capture every moment with my camera, I was able to spend some quality time catching up with some of my oldest friends.

It was an evening I will most certainly remember.

Here is the best (partial) group picture I have so far...

We had a memorial table honoring our classmates who are, sadly, no longer with us.

The display tables looked good.

Of course the real draw was the promise of seeing old friends!

Sylvia and Bill

 Dave, Marci and Steve

 Lori and Scott

 Melissa and Mike

 Bill, Howard, Me and Tim

 Ken, Patti, Doug, me, Jon, Sylvia and Yvette

Sherry, Luis, Eric, Mark and Tonya

 Allan and Louis

 Didi, Rob and Marivic

 Regi, Ted, Ron, April and Roviric

 Suzanna and Adrian

Paul, Lori and Linda

 Kim, Colleen and Sue

 Chris and Leslie

 Chris and Dennis

 Kathy and Vernon

 Mark, Sandy and Kathy

 Joyce, Frances and Joe

Moses and Quinn

Ken and Patti

 Patti, Janet and Jeff

Jenny and Kathy

 Sherry and Paul

 Kelly and John

 My saint of a husband, and me. (He put up with a lot of my stressing out as the reunion was getting close...)

Ok, so that's it for the first bunch. I'll add more either later this evening, or tomorrow. Stay tuned - and feel free to share this blog with other alumni you think may like to see the pictures. 

30 Years! Mixer Pics

I'm going to take this opportunity to post some of my pictures from my 30 year reunion events held on Friday and Saturday evening. Friday night we had a "multi-year" mixer, and Saturday night was the "official" reunion. Both events were well attended (Thank goodness!!) and both were a TOTAL BLAST!

I'm posting these for the benefit of my Alumni friends that aren't on Face Book, where most of these are already posted. (If you are one of my "non-alumni" readers, hang in there with me...I'll probably have to post the photos over the course of several posts because, well, you know me - I'm a bit camera crazy.) Stay tuned for my "normal" posts to resume soon.

To my dear Mira Mesa High School Alumni Friends, especially the Class of 82, "Thanks for the Memories"  I love you all! Let's not be strangers! 

These first few are from the Friday night mixer. (Please note, I am using the girl's maiden names in most cases)

Rich & Michele Dahlberg & Dave Nawakowski

Shelley Reed, Robert Faulkner & John Vance

Joe Cristarella and Lori Potter

Ken Smith, Frances Toscano, Sandy Toner

Melissa Hiegel, Cheryl Oberle

Me & Allan Anderson

Ken Smith, me, Jon Schwartz

Denise Taunton, Glen Geelhhoed & Lori Range

Denise Taunton, Sylvia Donetz,Tammy Ludwig, Lori Range

Robert Faulkner, Mr. Toler (math teacher) Jon Schwartz

Dennis "Dad" Morgan (drama teacher)  and Joe Cristarella

Me and Jon Schwartz

Janet Jarvis, Allan Anderson, Shelley Reed

Dear Blog...

I have missed you...no I have not forgotten about you. I have been busy. REALLY busy. I know, I know, I say that a lot. I've neglected you, and I'm sorry. I promise things will get better between us soon. I've been cheating on you with a little something called my 30 year reunion. Yes, I've been spending WAY too much time with this reunion obsession of mine, but it's nearing the end. I've been wanting to share so much with you, but there are only so many hours in the day.

And I've been stressed....oh, I could tell you stories to make the edges of your pages curl.  But I will save those for another time. Right now I have to figure out how to print on my new printer...(yes, my other color printed died yesterday, RIP HP6500 -hello HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus, please be good to me. We'll need to have a long, healthy relationship.)

As soon as I figure out how to load pictures from my camera stick onto my printer and then to my computer, I will be completely back in business.  (I see a card reader in my future.)

The last of the reunion name tags are calling to me now, so I must go. More cutting, more pasting...ah, the memories.

Wasn't it just yesterday that I was in high school? How can it possibly be 30 years ago. Don't I still look like this? HA!

I'm Fit to be Tied!

RANT WARNING!


If you are one of my Class of 82 alumni friends that has casually mentioned to me, and I quote, "I don't feel like coming to the reunion..." STOP READING NOW. I'm gonna piss you off.

Seriously, stop now, or consider yourself warned...


As the title of this post says, I'm fit to be tied. I have been working my ass off for this reunion. I have neglected my children, my husband and my dogs to get stuff done to make this a success. I have spent countless hours trying to hunt down email addresses, reach out to people on FB and the alumni sites I organize, sent out hundreds of emails, begged for photos for the slide show, worked long hours into the night on the display boards, memorial table, slide show and various other projects, all to make this a fun party for my classmates, who, for the most part, don't seem to give a shit. They complain about the ticket price (if you bought you ticket when they first went on sale I think it was $70 or $80 per person - expensive? Yes, but our reunions happen every 5 years now..they knew it was coming up since 2007)...or complain that the date is bad - they already have dinner plans with Aunt Edna for shake & bake, and they can't change THAT (really? This date was chosen over a YEAR ago AFTER I conducted a poll asking when the best date for everyone was...)


Why do I bother?


Now, don't get me wrong, I completely understand when it is out of their control for financial reasons, health reasons, etc. We all have complicated lives and things don't work out they way we want them to, I get that. BUT, to make the conscious decision to be so blasé  about it,  to just not give a crap about coming or not, well that's just downright frustrating. Some people are coming from across the country to be here, have spent hundreds of dollars on airline tickets, hotel rooms and rental cars in addition to reunion tickets and they want to see their classmates! But nope, most of the locals aren't bothering...WHY?

I.DON'T.GET.IT.


I've paid for my tickets, (no freebies for me, even though a lot of people assume I get in for free) and put so much effort into this...and I've done everything I possible can, including sending out reminder after reminder, setting up the night before activity, and posting hundreds of pictures from prior reunions trying to get people excited....I just can't make people buy tickets.


I know, I know, I've done this to myself. I've set myself up for failure. I hate when I do this to myself. I should know better.

Back in 'the day' the Mira Mesa High Class of 82 thought we were"IT"...We had awesome school spirit that we swore would never die. We were a mighty class of over 600. Yeah, yeah, I know it's 30 years later, but seriously, what the hell happened to everyone? It's sad. Right now we are sitting at about 60 RSVP's. ONLY 60! Barely 10%, pathetic. I have more people come to my damn Halloween party than who are  coming to a 30 Year Reunion! Unbelievable!  

I know there are a lot more classmates out there, and a LOT of them are local. They choose not to come.

I just don't get it.

Rant over.

I am thoroughly looking forward to each and every person who does come. The few, the proud, the ever dwindling Class of 82.

I couldn't have said it better

I saw this on a friend's FB page and it really struck a cord with me. I was just having a conversation about this exact topic with a friend.

I know soooo many people, but only a handful, or even less than that, really truly know who I am. 

I think I like it that way.

Onward.

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday

From Bear

Thanks Honey, I needed this today.

When the Cat is Away, the Mouse will Paint!

Maybe I should have been a dentist! I'm not bad with teeth.

(BIG thanks to Pickle for helping me paint today. She is a true artist~WAY better than I am, that's for sure.) Together we knocked out nearly an entire 7 ft. clown head. 

Ok, so that sounds kind of gross, doesn't it?  Awe, yes, Halloween party prep is underway indeed.

While I am doling out props, I also have to thank AJ for putting together an absolutely incredible "Save the Date" video. He rocked that bad boy, big time! If you are on the "exclusive invite list" you've seen it and I know you'll agree that this is the best "save the date", by far, that we've ever had.

Not on the list, but want to be? Email me, we'll talk...