Reunion Weekend in Review

Hey Everyone,

Thank you all for coming this weekend. It sounds like everyone had a great time. I know we on the committee are all very glad that it went off so well!

For those who couldn't make it, let me give you a quick recap. On Friday we had a really big turnout at the Sagebrush Cantina. I was actually stunned at how many alums showed up to this event. It was great to get a jump on catching up with people. Everyone was so appreciative--thanking us for putting it all together--which was so nice to hear. And then there were those of you who asked about Soren, which really touched me. When Mike Toggenburger told me that I was a great mom, I about broke into tears. It was so sweet and, while I know I've posted the link to Soren's blog, I'm always surprised to know who is reading it. Thank you all for caring about my boy.

Saturday at the Chatsworth White House was a bit of a whirlwind for me. The crowd there was huge! I think we had 130 show up. Granted, some of those were spouses (who I have to say were the bravest people there). But it was mostly alums and everyone looked great. Because I was running around a bit, I didn't get to say hi to everyone. So if all I did was run past you and wave or smile, I'm sorry we didn't get to chat. Everyone seemed to enjoy the venue, which was great because the committee really thought hard over where to have this. I thought the food was very tasty. There certainly seemed to be enough alcohol. And the music was great. I'm glad folks enjoyed Richard Blade.

My main "thing" for the evening was the slide show, which proved to be a little troublesome to set up. I would like to thank Dora Atkinson for working with me on it that night providing her computer and projector. And Daniela Carusi for getting it to run when Dora and I couldn't figure it out. I also have to thank my husband Aaron who, during the event, hung up that huge cloth for us all to watch the show on.

I know I got full credit for it for the slide show, but I didn't do it alone. Since I was unable to thank them at the event, I'd now like to take the opportunity to thank the key people who helped make that possible. First of all, I think we are really lucky to have these pictures available. I don't know how many of you remember, but Dennis Haas took pictures of us all during our events of the year. I looked at everyone one of those slides and weeded out the ones I thought were best. Dave Skaggs let me borrow from his massive cd collection for the music. Dave Donnell let me borrow a scanner that I failed to make work. So Daniela Carusi and Caroline Ashasian stepped in and scanned all those slides. Then a lovely woman named Katherine Killmond (now Cannady) from the class of '86 actually edited the slide show together. She really did the lion's share of the work with my initial direction of music and overall construction. She also burned all the DVDs (donated by Lynn Coyle) that you got to take home. Dora provided the cd/dvd labeler and Carol did the dvd labeling/packaging.

I'm so glad you were all able to take one home so you could enjoy it in a less crazy environment. And now you can show it to your kids! While we were still working on it, I showed my 7 year old daughter a version of it on the computer. Let me preface this by saying that she (along with me) is a big "Project Runway" and "Tim Gunn's Guide to Style" watcher. She was enjoying the slide show but then furrowed her brow and looked at me. "Did they have fashion back then?" she asked. My face fell. "Only bad fashion," I admitted, having just seen myself in a lovely blue and white diamond print sweater that makes me look like a court jester. Oh well.

For those of you who DIDN'T get a copy, we are working on making more and will mail them to you. Just give us a little time to count how many we need and we'll get to work.

Lastly, the picninc was on Sunday. I was actually really looking forward to this. I hadn't done any of the planning, so I was just going to relax and enjoy seeing everyone's kids. However, I needed to pick up my kids from my Dad's in Valencia that morning. And in a comedy of errors that was far more erroneous than comedic, my family and I didn't make it to the picnic until it was wrapping up. So, if anyone else has a report on that, it would be nice to read about it.

All that said, I am exhausted. Two nights of staying out until midnight are way more than my 38 year old bones can take. I plan to have "walker" races with Anthony in 10 years.

Amy