Panama!

So some as some of you know I have been working in Panama the last three days... and all I have to say is that this place is awesome! I had no idea how amazing t was down here, its like a slice of New Orleans an Miami and Brazil! It is hot and humid thus my hair is not happy, we were put up in a hotel with a casino! So its pretty interesting the folks we see around. We also came during the rainy season... so from about 11 am to 2 pm each day it rains! Sometimes its a drizzle and most of the time its a serious Texas downpour! Which is also great for my hair!

The people have been veru nice and must speak English, but luckily Wade is here so even if they don't he gets us through pretty safely. Which breings me to the team we are with! Its a great group some new faces to me but it is really fun to have Wade and KK here! We headed to the Panama Canal today and watched a cruise ship go through which is supposed to be good luck. It was VERY funny watching a shore FULL of people taking pictures and I think just about every passanger on the ship out taking pictures the other way! One woman got a bit ahead o f herself with her friend on the pool deck and lets just say she left nothing to the imagination, and the biys were very respectful and covered our eyes and theirs which made the Panaminian men mock them... but Wade instructed them this is how a respectful Texan gentlemen operate. There is a lot of fun to be had here in Panama and I have 6 more days to go! Tomorrow we are heading out to the rain forest the folks we are working with set up an awesome tour for us, and I am hoping I get to zip line over the canopy, I REALLY want to do it and our folks did not put it on their schedule for us. I will tell you more as it hapens and those who are on my e-mail list, I will send out more details and so really cool pics I can not put on the world wide web once I am back in the states!

The Canal from our Plane

KK grabbed a bottle of water... only to take a big drink and find out it was coconut flavored!

Streets of Panama~

Wade and I were very confused about this sign...

The Mire Flores Canal Locks

Our whole team at the Locks

Wade driving a simulated boat through the locks

Carol ordering us a pizza for when we get on the other side!

Wade and I trying to manuever the Locks

I'm confused...

Downtown area

Wade and I at the Ministry of Foriegn Affairs

Me with one of the Guards

Our Team at the Palace Gates

Wade giving his speech

Dicing into some THICK Queso!

Phi Lamb Invades DC

So this past weekend Washington, DC was invaded by 6 ladies from Phi Lamb at Texas A&M… They landed late on Thursday and took off late on Sunday and left a lot of folks staring in their tracks! It was so great to have these ladies in town, they are 5 of the 7 officers of Phi Lamb and one roomie, and they cane to hang with me this weekend and see the sights and the city. It was a little culture shock to them, and completely to the folks of DC. Laughter, bright colors, and lots of hugs are looked at with confused faces and concerned words. But these ladies did not leave any of those items in Texas!

It was a breathe of fresh air for me to be able to show off all the great things about this city after a week here that was no fun at all. To have 6 faces who enjoyed and appreciated every inch of this city was a lot of fun! They kept me up to date on the play by play of their journey here, when they left College Station, when they got to Houston and then a phone call from the plane before they took off. As they landed the squeals started… I had to rent a big mini-van (why do they call them mini when they are not so much) to tote everyone around… Lets just say this was an experience all of its own. And since I now am a member of Team Dickerson, I thought it best not to subject the great couple to six college girls, so we rented a two bedroom suite at the Marriott (thanks Dad) and had a blast there!

They got the full tour of everything and anything there is to see here. And they were constantly amazed at the color of the leaves and kept wanting to play in them. They took LOTS of pictures 921 to be exact, and lots of video… What was really awesome was we had lunch Sunday afternoon after church with my AU college students. It was awesome to see students I am privileged to pour into on opposite ends of the country and opposite on so many other issues, hang out and laugh over a meal… What a blessing! It was a jammed packed weekend and trying to give it any justice in words would just not do! I loved having them here every minute and missed them the moment they stepped out of my crazy mini-van for their plane home… Can’t wait for our next trip ladies! Love you, Katie, Alex, Sassy Chappy, Hannah, Fingers and Faith.

This is just a SMALL sample of the pics as I said 921 were taken... these are a few of my favs!

Katie on the phone telling me they are taking off!

Greeting the girls when they arrived

Getting excited about the weekend!

Please notices Hannah's bag which is only for 3 Days!

Me "Driving" a Mini-Van!

Alex a little scared by the driving and Katie amazed at the Lights...

Everyone trying to help me drive! I could not see anything!

With the Bosses Boots and Saber from A&M

Holding their own Press Conference

Spelling out USA in my office building lobby.... DC was not ready for them...

Taking them to DC MUST Ben's Chili Bowl!

Places their orders at the counter

My Roomies and Steph came to join us for dinner

Diggin In to Ben's Famous Half-Smokes

One of 50 or so photo shoots in the leaves

Big Night Out!

Alex and Hannah realizing its a bit colder in DC

My Friend Kate took this as we were walking around the reflecting pool

One Last Photo Shoot before they got on the plane!

Faith, Katie, Sassy Chappy, Me, Fingers, Hannah and Alex

Heading back to Texas... Miss them already!

Hangin Tough!

So last summer I got a frantic call from my oldest sister that she had the perfect girls weekend and I NEEDED to attend! She practically squealed on the phone when she told me the New Kids on the Block were doing a reunion tour and we HAD to all go! Now my sisters and I were all fans when we were younger, each claiming our favorite boy band member (Me = Jonathan, Rae = Joey and Missy = Jordan) but we had never been able to attend one of their concerts. This was her shot! We were going to go! So I told her I was in and let me know when and where. So we grabbed my sister-in-law one of my BFF's from High School and my Mom of course! (Because seriously if we were recreating childhood here, we could not have gone without her in the first place!) My sister got up SUPER early one Saturday morning to get us tickets to the San Antonio show, because with distance and my travel schedule it worked out the best. It was quite funny hearing from her afterwards I guess she was so nervous she did not get tickets that she actually bought tickets twice! Then she was trying to sell them and so on and so forth, it was quite the ordeal!

But alas we had our tickets, right off the floor a perfect spot I thought if you were not going to drop the serious dough for the first few rows. And began to make our weekend plans. We secured a Two floor Marriott suite to hang out in, and I secured my plane ticket to Texas. And off we went! The day started off with us all in the car heading down to San Antonio with a strict only 80's and early 90's rule on the music. Lots of laughter and singing along... but what made it even funnier is my sisters car does not have an IPod hook up so she brought her stand alone speakers and placed it on the dash board, a bit ghetto but totally worked! Once we got to San Antonio we checked into the hotel, did our hair, changed our clothes and headed off to indulge in some Mexican food! It was glorious to be home! (I do not eat enchiladas outside of the state of Texas, no one else does them right, so why waste the money!)

Off to the arena we went! The place was PACKED with 30 something women! We saw about 25 women who were doing a mini high school reunion, lots of ladies busted out their old shirts or made shirts! (I tried to convince everyone to do a puffy paint craft project but no one seemed to have the time) My sister-in-law and I decided to wait in line to get the BIG buttons with their faces on it and t-shirts! I just got a Jonathan button which I later wanted to throw to the ground after he was sporting his political shirt during the concert, but I got over it... When the concert started the place erupted in screaming! I did not know that 30 yr old women could still hit that note but oh my gosh I thought I was old because I totally had to put on ear muffs a couple of times! The guys did all their old steps, everyone sang along, even Mom! And danced too! it was all we had all hoped it would be! We were so stoked to make our first NKOTB concert!

At the end my sister decided she needed a shirt, so we had to fight the crowds to get to the front, I had to laugh because my initial thought was you should be fine getting a Large or Extra Large because the Smalls and Mediums usually sell out first... ummm then I forgot the stadium was filled with women our size and not teen size... and thus two tables later no shirts to be had! Oh how times have changed!

We drove home blasting the music and singing along, got to the hotel and chatted a bit but then crashed! Mom woke us up early at like 7 am to get breakfast and head back to Austin, I told everyone you knew we were old when no one complained and it was a Saturday morning...

It was an amazing night and short girls weekend, that I will forever treasure! Childhood dreams coming true with your amazing Family does not get much better than this ladies!

Our Group... Jenn, Rae, Missy, Mom, and Grayson

Rae, Jenn and I and the stadium full of screaming 30 yr olds! (If you look over our heads you can see the guys...they came out to the middle of the crowd to sing!)

Grayson and I sporting our Buttons and her shirt! (She still is tiny so was able to get a shirt!)

The same ol Boy Band Moves and Songs... to Melt your Heart!

Here is a little video to keep you Hangin Tough!!!

VOTE!

President George W. Bush fills out his ballot for the 2008 election during the early voting process from his Oval Office desk at the White House Friday, Oct. 24, 2008. Ballots cast by both the President and Mrs. Laura Bush were mailed back to Texas.

White House photo by Eric Draper

Everyone needs to get out and VOTE today! Let your voice be heard and if you don't you are allowing someone else to choose for you! Therefore you do not get to complain once it is all over. Wait however long you need to! This is important people! The President took time to VOTE so I am sure you can as well!

On another note if you vote and let the good people at Starbucks know they will give you a free cup of coffee! And at least at my Starbees the new Christmas cups are out!!! That always makes me happy!

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE

Women's National Team and my Beijing Soccer Ball!

So this summer while I was in Beijing my two new BFF's endured the craziness that was the Olympic store to get me an Olympic Soccer ball! When they got there Ju Ju called me to make sure they got the right one, there was a red one, a silver one and a gold one... she wanted to make sure I got the perfect ball! The background noise sounded like the place was under revolt and kids were way too hopped up on sugar! But I told her which one (the gold of course because I was certain our Team would bring home the Gold!) So Cody and Ju Ju retrieved the ball for me and I was OH so happy to get it!

In September Jenn flew up to travel with me to Philly to watch the Women's Team take on Ireland in their Achieve Your Goal Tour! The Lord completely covered us that night as when we walked up to the stadium I had my Beijing Soccer ball tucked under my arm, not hidden in any way and Jenn had one as well, we presented out tickets and continued in... On the other side this Dad looked at us in shock and asked how we got our soccer balls in... I told him nothing special just walked, he told us they were making everyone bring theirs back to their car! What! We took the subway 20 minutes so that could have been BAD! I think it was our good looks... so I got a handful of signatures that night and all was good!

Then I saw the team was playing in Richmond, its a much smaller stadium and a lot more opportunities for signatures... so I grabbed my friend Lauren and we headed down for the game! A friend here is actually related to one of the players husbands so made a call and Lindsey Tarpley came and sought me out after the game! She was very gracious signing the soccer ball and helped me get other signatures and a lot of pictures! So here are some photos from the night now I have a wonderful Gold Soccer ball thanks to the hard work of Cody and Ju Ju! And now I have all but 3 of the entire Olympic Teams' Signatures on it including the alternates and coach! (The three I am missing are back in college, so maybe I will make some college tours! who knows!) Here are a bunch of pics!

My Good Friend Cody! At the Great Wall in Beijing!

His wonderful Wife Ju Ju who we realized is my long lost Twin!
(I realized we somehow did not get a pic of all three of us all trip! At least on my camera...)

Lindsey Tarpley and I

Carli Lloyd and I (She scored the winning goal of the Olympics!)
(Check out my cool Soccer ball!)

Tarps BFF Heather O'Reilly and I

Aly Wagner and I

Captain Christie Rampone and I

Heather Mitts and I (She was super jealous of my soccer ball and tried to buy it off me!, she said when they went to the store there were not any there and she was super bummed! Thanks again to Cody and Ju Ju!)

Natasha Kai and I

Angela Huchles the hometown Hero!

Lori Chups and I

Nicole Barnhart and I

Brianna Scurry and I (She was the Goal Keeper in '99 who made the awesome saves against China in the World Cup!)

Rachel B and I