Live from Charlotte.....

Hello? Hello? Is my mic work...oh I mean is the keyboard working? Yes? Good. As you can see, I managed to peel Derek away from the laptop long enough to give you MY thoughts and pics from NYWC, Charlotte. In all honesty, I thought we would never get there to check in, but we did and I was greeted with the traditional handful of candy thrown in my face and cheers from the staff as they learned I was a first timer. While Derek and Patti Headed to the Digital Lounge, Dayna and I checked out things at the YS store. I fear the amount of money I may spend on resources there. Ah well, if it's to help my youth, it's worth it, right?

First impression of NYWC? "Man everyone here is SO NICE." Followed by "Hey, it's Tic Long!!!! I wonder what happened to the Tic and Marko paper dolls Amy made a year or so ago!!!! Maybe I can get them to pose with Bjorn and Karol???"

I digress. Onto bigger and better things, like pictures and meets. I love meeting new people and was very happy to finally put some names to faces as we began to gather in the convention center. Joey Potter waved to us as he looked down upon all of us entering the building. Thankfully, he bestowed his blessing upon us as we passed by. It was almost like getting a blessing from the Pope.. haha, not really but...face to a name. Hopefully we'll get to chat more with him this weekend.

Dinner was great and I was happy to have the chance to talk to Marko at dinner. There were a total of 12 of us at dinner which was great. That's the thing I love about YMX, you get to meet some of the greatest people from all over and meet them face to face at these conventions. In 2004, I had the privilege of speaking to many YMXer's over the phone, and now I was meeting them in person. Friends like, Kevin and Patti, pictured here with the deliciously huge choc chip cookies in the exhibit hall:


Or the ever popular Dave (Who will be celebrating Davemas on Sunday)


Youth Workers are always looking for ways to attract attention to themselves:



FYI: This is my pal, Steve. Steve is tall. Steve does not like to jump while bands are playing music. I tried to get him to, but he would not. But he DID let me draw on his hand. I felt like I was in HS!!!!!


I met a few others as well, Heath, Amy, J. Michael (and OMG, their daughter is just the cutest most happy kid EVER). I shall post their pics too. Ran into an old friend, JohnyB this afternoon!!!!! I love ya man. You're awesome and I hope you can get away at some point to have lunch with us.

Ok, time for some honesty here. I have never listened to an album by Leland or Starfield, but after this evenings concert....yea that is pretty much changing. These guys were awesome and after the show, were extremely gracious to us.

Me with Leland


My throat is hurting from singing(when I should not be doing so since I was sick), but was well worth it. The spirit was MOVING in that room tonight. At one point I just put my head down and listened to the music. The band playing, everyone singing. So powerful. I loved it. Pure praise and worship

Leland


Starfield


Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord


After the concert, we hung around to try and get Starfield to pose with our Ghetto YMX "poster". That picture will be forthcoming as we encountered a greatful, but understandably exhausted band. Get some rest guys and thanks for being so awesome.

Of course, with a camera around, I had to get a little silly

Steve signs my sleeve with the jumbo pen we got from one of the exhibitors;


Speaking of the exhibitors, I want to give a shout out to Azusa Pacific University. I was so happy to see them out here, a school from my home state of CA...literally 30 minutes from where I used to live. The guys at the booth were great. I pointed to their booth and they said "Now you can't walk by and point, without stopping." So I did. Got some info about their online courses too. YAY. Edjumakation, here I come. One of the guys was from Upland which is where I moved from. Talk about a small world!!!! GO APU!!!!!

Ok, so that pretty much wraps up my first blog from here. tomorrow I hit some seminars on small groups. But before I got, everyone say hi to Dayna:

HI DAYNA!!!!


Good night all!!!!!! See you bright and early tomorrow!!!! (The line for Starbucks will be logn, so leave early.)

T-Minus 1 day...NYWC

One more day until we leave for Charlotte. I am pretty excited about this trip and a little sad that I have to work on Saturday . I do, however, get to see my favorite nursing home residents, so that more than makes up for having to miss out on things Sat.

I'm likely to be one of very few Catholic YM's seeing as how NFCCYM is having thier convention for Youth Ministers in Las Vegas, NV this weekend. Still, I hope to bring back some new ideas, especially for smal groups and Middle School. I'll be the YM with the JP2 shirt on at somepoint during the weekend. Oh and I hope to have Dim Sum at some point. I'd love it if Marko could join us for that. LOL Mmmmmmmm Dim Sum.

Pray for all of us at NYWC and please offer your prayers for Pope Benedict XVI who is in Turkey until Sunday.

"See" you all in Charlotte!!!!!

I'm dreaming of my first NYWC

Not much to report this week right now. Had a good night at the shelter making spaghetti and watching my youth make friends with the residents. Hearing them sing "Lips of An Angel" at the top of their lungs in the van, on the way home was entertaining.

Pele has taken to wanting to sit under the tree in hopes of us not looking so she can climb it. It's annoying but sure as heck produced a cute picture:



We're off to NYWC on Thursday and I am super excited about it. Going to meet some awesome friends and hopefully bring back some amazing ideas. I'll be blogging from Charlotte so be sure to stay tuned. Hopefully I can get Derek to upload pics pretty quickly. But mostly it will be me offering thoughts on the convention being that it will be my first time going. Sad I have to miss most of Saturday :( Ah well, I get to see my favorite Nursing home residents. (Speaking of them, I have 16 kids signed up to sing Christmas carols to them in Dec.)

Oh yea, here's the exciting news of the day. I am ditching the contacts and going back to (sexy, nerdy) glasses. I'm so excited cause they look really cute. I look smart. (Yea, a smart blonde. Total oxymoron, I know).

Anyway, that's about it for now!!!!!!

The Past Week

This past week was filled with running around and having fun with my sister. Shay arrived on Monday night (52 minutes late, and a 50 minute wait for her luggage...stupid Northwest). We had delicious wings from B dubs, and not much else after that. Shay was out like a light. Long day for her. Tuesday was a half day and then we went to Moe's. Moe's is good. Let me tell you. It is also Derek's favorite place to eat. Now, mind you, it's no Miguel's Jr. But still, it's better than the crap places that claim to be Mexican food around here.

Derek got his wish on Tuesday. He got his 42" HDTV. He is a happy camper. I told him I was not going to be around when he installed it. So Shay and I went shopping. He calls saying "I'm moved to tears, watching sports on this TV." LOL Ok....but yes, the TV does look good and it's nice not to have the top of the TV messed up...you can actually read football scores.

Crossing the threshold with the new TV


First movie on the new TV



Tuesday night was Thanksmas, and I gave Shay her Stocking o'Chocolate. She loved it. Also gave her a multitude of gifts. Twas fun. I love Christmas. I got some awesome tops from REI, some lotion that I love (Thanks momma), Napoleon Dynamite socks, a neck warmer. Seriously whomever invented this thing deserves a medal. It's awesome. So warm. Derek got a Marshmellow shooter. So, while Shay and I were finishing opening Thanksmas gifts, we were getting pelted with mini marshmellows!!! It was FUNNY!!!!

Let the pelting begin!!!


YAY!!! Warm head


Warm face


"Touch me"....WHAT????



James Bond has nothing on my man


Pele Plays with the gift wrapping


Weds Shay and I made deliveries to some church members. We brought Turkey and all the fixings. It was alot of fun and very rewarding. I think this is something I will volunteer to do each year. I loved being able to make someone's dayby delivering the baskets to them. Plus, Shay and I made the 62 mile trip alot of fun....despite the gloomy, cold westher (LOVE the cold weather out here).

Hot Thanksgiving Basket delivery girls

That night after work and a quick run to REI, we went to my sister in laws for dinner. Early Thanksgiving. We had turkey in the crockpot cooked in Teriyaki sauce with shitake mushrooms. DELISH!!!!!! The nieces were VERY happy to see Shay. I snuck off with the girls to take pics for a gift for their mom and was very pleased with the results.

Shay and the girls:


Christmas gift pics












Can I just say again how pleased I am with the pics? They look awesome in the frame. YAY!!!!!

Thursday I made my first Turkey dinner which was awesome. I think turkey is like one of the best meals you can make and if you get rave reviews, you're good. I got them....DAMN I'm good. Bob the Turkey made his sacrifice for our table and he delivered...he was tasty.

Bob and I after his bath, right before his buttery rub down


Mmmmmm Turkey


Phew!!!!!! I worked HARD on that dinner


Then it was time to shop. Got to the mall at 1am...never will I do that again. It was insanely crowded and not enough stores were open. We were tired. We left an hour later. Though I did sleep for 2 hours, the adventure through Target and such was not that bad. I got what I needed (minus a few things) and got home by 9:30ish??? Maybe 10. Waffle House for breakfast, quick nap and then....it was time to say goodbye to my sister :( Sad to see her go. This trip was loads of fun and she got me hooked on sudoku. Crazy lady (Shay I bought the same book you have...I am a DORK!!!)

Went to the UNC vs Duke football game, and won tickets to the Duke vs Indiana basketball game...YAY!!!!! I'm excited because I have never been to a college basketball game. And well...it's DUKE!!!!!

This coming weekend I will be blogging from NYWC in Charlotte. I plan to give my thoughts on many youth worker seminars. I'm looking forward to attending some Jr. high workshops. Stay tuned!!!!!

Coming soon...Thanksmas and other fun times, but now.....

...... you get to see the cuteness that can only come from the nieces and nephew. These pics were taken when I went to visit 2 weeks ago. I know I am behind in posting these. Sorry. I got sick (as you read) the week after and I've just been battling this cough/cold non stop. I digress. Thanksmas pics will be up by Saturday.

Believe me when I tell you that I did not ask them if they could touch their noses with their tongues. They volunteered the info to me. I did not teach them this trick. I cannot even do it myself. Nope, that honor goes to their dad. YES!!! Finally something I can't be "blamed" for, hahahahaha:




This is the only picture I got of the boy. Poor guy was just not feeling well that weekend. Now I understand his "pain". If he felt anything like I do.....OY!!!! To not be able to communicate the "I just don't feel well right now"...has to be tough. But love my little man;


The main reason for going to see my sister was to meet my new baby niece. Though I was not honored to be her godmother :( , I am happy to report that the name I suggested to my sister and brother in law is the name they decided to go with. So I have that AND the favorite Auntie title;


Did you notice Bethany in the background up there? Yea....she's SO my niece.

Having an Auntie/niece moment, Auntie Katie quiets the baby;


My favorite picture;


I take that back, seeing my oldest niece as the REALLY big sister is my favorite picture. She's so good with the little one. She helps my sister soo much. I love her.


Here is our early morning Puuka watching picture. Too bad I'm not in this one...


This picture makes me realize how grown up my oldest niece is. It's hard to imagine that next year she will be 10. 10!!!!!!! When did she go from a sweet baby to a big kid????


This is my sweet baby girl sleeping in my arms. It was such a great feeling holding MY NIECE!!!!! I didn't get to hold her older brother this way, which brought a tinge of sadness to me. As if I don't quite have that Auntie/nephew connection with him, and it kills me. I knw we will be pals, I know we'll be close, but I wish I had seen him grow up more. At any rate I thouroughly enjoyed her nap Sunday morning;


This is her "Gosh don't tell me I am REALLY related to the people in the pictures below me!!!"


Sorry kid, you are.......I love the silly times. They truly are my favorites. So what if I teach them to make funny faces. You only live once. Might as well live everyday to the fullest. Everyday deserves a goofy moment with goofy faces.








I have to tell you, B was typing a letter to me when I took the above pic of her at the computer. She told me in the letter "You so totaly rock. I love you sosososososos much." See??? Favorite Auntie.

Loving my girls:






I wish I had gotten a picture with all 4 kids, but the boy would have nothing to do with that. He just wasn't his usual self. :( made me sad. I just wanted him to feel better. Maybe next visit, I'll be able to have a photo shoot with him.

This concludes you special edition of.....Niece and nephew cuteness. Goodnight, and Good Luck.