Convocation Fantastication

So, I can now say that I am fully, completely, and officially a Speech-Language Pathologist.

Let's review the checklist for a moment, shall we?
Graduate from classes: Check.
Complete practicums (is plural practici?) : Check.
Complete giant final project (like a mini thesis) : Check.
Write and PASS the National Certification exam: Check.
Convocate and hold the degree in my hand: CHECK (as of November 22)!!!!

Here's a little summary of November 22 Convocation:

9am plan: meeting 4 good friends for brekky.
9am: Ann-Marie and I arrive promptly for our 9:00 date.
9:35am: still just Ann-Marie and I there.
Approx 9:36am : phone Lyndsay. Her plane got delayed so she won't make it.
Approx 9:37 : phone Christie. Her car ran out of gas. She'll be late.
We had no cell number for Kendra.

Finally Christie showed up and we had a small (yet pleasant!) gathering. Immediately following brekky, the three of us headed to the University book store to pick up our convocation packages. Christie couldn't join us later on in the day for the actual convo, so we made sure to get photos pronto. Christie and I have a picture at our graduation from the University of Lethbridge together (with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology) and we needed to complete our series of convocation photos (otherwise one picture makes a pretty lame-o series).

U or L convocation (2005) :


U 0f A convocation (2007) :

We piled on the cheese for this classic shot.

3pm: Convocation

L to R: Lynds, Nancy, Ann-Marie, JT, Kendra.

My biggest fans:


I was surprised to see that my cousin was also convocating! U of A is big, okay. And we were in totally different departments. Ben graduated with a Masters of Art in History:

Uncle Tom & Aunt Janet were with Ben, so chock up three extra hugs for Julie!

THEN we saw the Laarman's (good friends from Lethy) b/c Eva was convocating too (who knew??), and the Friggstad's (b/c Zac was convocating too!). MY WORD, I got WAY more hugs than I expected. I love hugs. I'm a huggy kind of a girl.

Then we went home to whip up a yummy little sup sup.


The NEXT day was also extremely fun-filled. In the morning my parents and I went for a lovely run through the River Valley, then Kendra and her parents came over for coffee:


What a genuinely great family the Kramer clan is!

After doing some serious material shopping for Clynie's wedding, Carlynne, Dan, Mom, Dad, Lowell and I went to Joey Tomatos for din din. After being told on the phone that we'd have a 25-45 minute wait, we arrived only to face a 1.5 to 2 hour wait. Yeesh. Oh well, we went down the street to the Second Cup, had yummy bevies, strolled back to Joey's, sat and waited...and waited...and waited...

At The Second Cup.

Notice how we are saving seats for other valued customers at Joey's. We are only using HALF the amount of chairs we could potentially be using!

And finally ate:


Then the 'rents and Lowell and I walked through the "Bright Lights" display at Hawrelack Park in Edmonton. Such a festive stroll through the park!


Next Lowell and I are off to Carstairs for Steve & Alison's wedding. (Alison is Lowell's cousin, and Steve was the young man who sang as a surprise for Lowell at our wedding).

What a keeee-razily splendid long (for us) weekend!!