Saturday

Friday night, I went to another late graduation party after I dropped my grandmothers off at their hotel. The parties have been pretty low key, but I know the people there, I enjoy myself, and its a nice change from when I graduated high school, when the only graduation party I attended or was invited to was my own.

Saturday morning, I picked up my grandmothers and we drove to the Phoenix Art Museum where we joined the hordes of people going to see the Rembrandt and Dutch Painters exhibition. The museum has had a major remodeling since I was last there, and I really liked what they had done with the entry. The exhibit was good, about a dozen Rembrandt's, two or three really great pieces in my opinion. Before we went in, we stopped by the Museum Cafe to grab some lunch.

The cafe is called Arcadia Farms, and the organization is terrible. When you walk in, you are immediately asked how many people in your group, and given a wait time. The problem is that they don't tell you that you only need to wait if you want table service with the restaurant menu. Immediately behind the server, there is a long display case and bar with food and drinks which could be easily mistaken for a buffet. If you order from this deli bar, then you can't sit down inside, but must eat outside. Fortunately grandma Perkins got a sandwich from the main menu, while grandma Case and I got deli sandwiches, so even though we got evil-eyed, we still were not asked to leave.

After the exhibition, I took them by my workplace which was a few doors down from there. They seemed to like it, and took my photo in the lobby beside the company logo. Afterwards, I took them to the airport and dropped them off for their flight back to Oklahoma City. I'm really glad they came.

Later that afternoon, a friend of mine from studio invited me to his graduation party, so I got directions and took off for that. His party was at his mother's housing complex community center way up in northwest Gilbert. Most of his extended family lives in town, so everybody was there, and it really felt like a family reunion with all different ages, and kids running around everywhere. It was a fun party too. Saw my old studio instructor who also once worked where I do, but now has his own firm.

That evening, I went to a last party of graduate students and ran into a bunch of older students I knew from the dorms, so it was good to catch up with them.