The
summer began with my three daughters doing me
proud! Anne graduated from Cedar Falls High, my daughter Sara
graduated with Honors and Highest Distinction from the College of
Engineering at the University of Iowa, and Jen earned her Masters
Degree in Psychology, a benchmark on the way to her Ph.D. in Psychology
at the
University of Michigan. Annie is going into Graphic Arts at Iowa State
University and Sara is entering the graduate program in Structural
Engineering at the University of Illinois!
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| I wasn't on staff
during the summer sessions but I did attend
a psychology conference in Chicago, helped with summer orientation
sessions for new UNI students, and worked with psychology graduate
students who are preparing to teach their first class at Hawkeye
Community College this fall. I also attended and chaired sessions at
the annual convention of the American Psychological Association in San
Francisco . |
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In July my husband
Jim and I and our closest
friends took
a cruise from port to port along the rugged and beautiful coast of
Maine. It was a Lobsterfest cruise so I really got to indulge my love
of seafood!
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Talk about
indulging myself - this summer I decided to be a bit of a "groupie"
following my favorite performer to as many of his tour stops as I could
manage between my other summer activities and enjoying some travel as
well. Believe it or not, I went to 11 fantastic Keith Urban concerts
between June and August!! Would have been more but I missed 3
Midwest concerts while in Maine.
Linda's
Keith Urban Road Trip
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| Phoenix, AZ |
Fresno, CA
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Green Bay, WI
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Las Vegas, NV
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St. Louis, MO
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Worcester, MA
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| San Diego, CA |
Memphis, TN
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Uncasville,
CT
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Sacramento,
CA
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Des Moines,
IA
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(Left photo) I was lucky enough to
receive a backstage pass to meet Keith in Las Vegas. I am on the far
right. We had our pictures taken, Keith sang us a song and answered our
questions, we saw a really funny video about everything they have to do
to plan the tour before going on the road, and we were given backstage
souvenir keychains. I stopped to tell him how much I enjoyed the
Phoenix show the evening before and he thanked me and gave me a hug, so
I was one happy fan! : )
(Right photo)
Three weeks later my daughters and I went to the St. Louis show. During
the pre-parties daughter Annie won a pair of backstage passes from a
country radio station. She (in navy) and daughter Jen (in red) managed
to stand on either side of Keith in their photo, so I was a little
jealous!
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I did
find time to see Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Martina
McBride concerts as well! |
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My hubby was a
ringleader in the development of the first annual three day Iowa
Irishfest in downtown Waterloo the first weekend in August. Lots of the
extended Walsh family made it to town for the celebration. My husband
won the "Best Legs in a Kilt" contest, the Walsh team won the Tugo'War,
two of my nieces were in the Trinity Irish dance troupe that performed
multiple times during the fest, I got a shamrock tattoo (henna) and
daughter Jen ended up playing air guitar on the stage with U2 Zoo, a
great U2 tribute band that played one of the evenings. A good
time was had by all!
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In between travels there was time to update my classes,
play
in my garden, and catch up with all
those
things that don't get done during the school year. With my 'batteries
recharged'
I'm excited about getting back to class!
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