strike a pose

This weekend, Annemarie was in town which means, we're hitting the town!! Nita, our social coordinator, planned a super weekend of delicious dinners, fun bars and great dancing!

Becky, Mindi, Nita, AP and I pulled out our dresses and heels and had such a wonderful weekend.

AP is the best at spotting locations for great photos and is quite the photoshopper! Here are some of my favorite pics from the weekend...

knutty knut!

I woke up Wednesday morning and threw on a tank top...Alison came back to the room and said, "think again...it's chilly outside!". I'm so glad I did the bike ride the first day when it was beautiful and sunny! So, I put on my sweatshirt and headed out for my second day of exploring in Berlin.

My first stop was the launch event...I went by to see the place all set up. It's amazing how fast they pull everything together half way around the world! Our commercial notebooks were in a mockup of an airplane. It was pretty warm and dark in the little airplane tunnel...so I'm glad my products are part of the next launch! :) Here's a shot of the outside of the convention center with all our HP decorations.
Next, I took the s-bahn to the zoo station. On the way I ran into this amazing church that was left as-is from after the war. The city is so beautifully rebuilt...this landmark stands out as a reminder of the history.

Another interesting tidbit...you see 2 types of crosswalk signs in Berlin. The West Berlin type, that are skinny green and red men. And the East Berlin type that are stout little men with a hat. After the 2 cities 'merged' they started to replace the East Berlin style then realized, "these are so much better!" so they left a few here and there. So, it's one of the indicators of when you're in the area that was previously East Berlin.

Next stop was the zoo...and this is where I fell in love! I visited giraffes, elephants and birds.

But, then I followed the signs to a cute little bear named Knut. O--M--G, he is the cutest little animal I have ever seen. If you don't know his story, check it out on wikipedia...he is just adorable. This little guy is a born ham! He pranced and performed for the crowd. He had about 70 people crowded around ooh'ing and ahh'ing. You can tell he just loves to play to his fans. Here are a few shot and of course a self portrait...haha! :)

After the zoo, I took the train back to the hotel and to plan where to head next. I checked the map and decided to walk one of the big streets back to the Brandenburg Gate.

Then visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This was eerie to walk through. The blocks are all different sizes and heights and the ground moves up and down to give you the illusion of being disorented. Here are a couple of photos...

From there, I went over to the Reichstag, the parliament building...and guess what I saw?? Two girls doing a JUMP pic!! Ha!! I wonder if they saw Jane and me doing it the day before. The jump pic is on fire! It's making its way around the globe!
I went up to the top and climbed the glass dome with quite a view of the city. The dome was finished in 1999 and merged into the existing architecture...it's a great symbol of the city with the old and the new. And is open for anyone for free!

After this, I walked to the hauptbaunhof, the main train station. It's all made of glass and pretty impressive! While I was there, the Turkey vs. Switzerland futbol game was about to start and there were red jerseys and flags everywhere! They were parading through the station and singing...they looked like they were having a great time!

My final tourist stop was back by the hotel. I cruised up to the top of the TV tower (the 13th tallest in the world), checked out the view and the art exhibit at the bottom. There were some great pics from the fall of the wall and other photos from all around the world.
As I walked back and the sun was setting, I caught one last great pic with the evening sun illuminating the beautiful buildings.
I snacked on pizza at a place near the hotel and watched the futbol game, then headed back to the room to set my alarm for 4:30am to get to the airport for my flight back to the USA.

biking in Berlin

I started off the day sleeping in a little bit...as the travel the day before left me exhausted! I woke up, checked email, went to the gym (go me!) and headed to the bike tour at 11. It was the best way to see the highlights of the city and get a good lay of the the land. The guide, Enda, was so enthusiastic and interesting as well! He gave us the history of each stop and made it fun at the same time. Check out HP advertising around the city!

On the tour, we saw Hilter's bunkers (and the location of the one where he committed suicide), Checkpoint Charlie...one of the most tense areas during the Cold War, the memorial to the Jewish that lost their lives in the Holocuast, the Parliament building and lots and lots of other landmarks...including a standing piece of the wall in the city.

The best part of the tour was making new friends from all around the world! There was only one other family from San Francisco and everyone else from the tour were from Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, etc. This is me and Jane, from Toronto, attempting a jump pic at the Parliament.
After the tour, I was heading back to the room to relax and grab a bite to eat when I ran into Alison. She's so great!! She had swiped a badge for me so I could go to the event that evening to celebrate the launch! The restaurant was really cool and modern. They had a Marilyn Monroe style singer, an oxygen bar and a bear (the symbol of Berlin) that everyone could sign.No, I'm not singing here...I'm taking in the H2O...it smelled like a taxi cab...yuck!

One of the highlights of the night was running into my friend Jenny from high school! She now works for AMD and lives in Austin!! Small world!

And on our walk home, we ran into another piece of the wall...

berlin day 1

Finally made it into Berlin yesterday. The weather here is unbeliveable! It's sunny and hot...and I'm loving it! This city is a really cool blend of old and new. And the people have been very friendly! It's so great to be in Europe in the summer because the sun doesn't set until about 10. I went over to see the HP launch event yesterday. Walked the area we're staying in a little then grabbed dinner with Alison and Carol. Then crashed and slept like a rock.

I'm so happy to be rested and ready to tour around today. I'm killing time until 11 when I'm going to do the Fat Tire Bike Tour. Will post pics from around this fun city! :)

Also, here are a couple additional pics from the lake. AP has a bunch of other good ones here!

And check out the cool reflection in Collin's glasses!! :)

state convention in Austin and the LAKE!

I had a great weekend in Austin relaxing with Annemarie and Molly. I drove up on Thursday night and moved into AP's beautiful new place. (She was still in Utah.) Molly was definetely ready for some people time...we snuggled and she talked a bunch! :)

Friday, I headed over to the democratic state convention. I attended the youth caucus then the computers and technology group. Both were interesting. After lunch, I went to the senate district 7 meeting where we elected members of the group for a few positions and I mainly just chatted with friends, as I was just an alternate and didn't get "upgraded" to delegate status, therefore didn't get to vote on any of the candidates. It was great to see the process though. Here's a funny pic from the vendor fair...they had a big cut out of Barack...so I had to grab a pic! After that, there was a general session with many people who spoke including Rick Noregia and Chelsea Clinton. Chelsea was very cute and overwhelmed by the size of the crowd (over 12000 people were in attendance). She represented her mom well.
After that, I headed over to Freddy's on 1st street to meet Dana and a few of her friends. It was a perfect night and we just chatted and relaxed sitting outside on their big patio...exactly what I needed! AP called at about 12 when she landed and we met up back at her place...and stayed up pretty late just talking and talking!


Saturday, I was tired, but got up and went to day 2 of the convention. There were more speeches and Hillary was piped in on CNN giving her endorsement to Barack. It felt pretty historic just being surrounded by all the people, signs and excitement. There were a ton of first time participants (including me) and there was just so much energy in the room. My friend Kerry and I met a great girl from Dallas and spent most of the morning trading stories with her.

AP had talked to her friend, Chris, about heading to the lake on Saturday...and they were still on to take out his boat. So I snuck out early and Annemarie came by to pick me up and we were off!

Chris's friend Collin and their neighbor's son TK were on the boat too. It was a beautiful day...and his boat is so nice! We dropped anchor in Devil's Cove and just spent the entire day relaxing, cooling off in the water and enjoying the great people watching. The highlight was our snack from the neighboring "Tug's" boat that delivers BBQ around the cove. Our sandwiches and watermelon were delish! No pics yet...still need to get them from AP's camera.

We headed in right as the sun was setting...and ditched our plans to go out and opted for chatting with AP's friends Hal and Shiela at her place then making a run to Taco Cabana! We chowed on tortillas and queso and watched Material Girls while I packed and AP dozed off.

I woke up bright and early at 8 to drive back to Houston to catch my flight to Berlin. I've jumped all over the place today...IAH to Cleveland to Paris to Berlin. I'm in Charles de Gaulle in Paris now...the worst airport in the world. And I'm stuck here for 3.5 hours...ugh. Oh well, gives me a little time to catch up on email! And I can't complain too much seeing that the flight was "free" and all on miles...woohoo! :)

roller derby!

Nita and I went to watch the roller derby rec league on Tueday night and it was sooo weird being back in my childood roller rink! It was hilarious! From the the mini arcade, little blue cubby holes, banana yellow benches...it all looked just the same!

The practice looked so fun and the people were soooo nice that we decided to run home and throw on athletic clothes. We were a little late and intimidated by how good some of the people could skate that we wimped out and decided to watch this week.

They did about 30 minutes of warming up and skating in circles, forward skate, backward, on one foot, etc. Then we got to join them for stretching. Next, it was drill and scrimmage time. This part was a little scary! They did a snake drill where they bobbed and weaved through the line and even played a round of real roller derby!

It looked so fun, was a great workout and all the pros were so encouraging that Nita and I are putting on our quads and joining the fun in 2 weeks!! So excited!!!!! :)

Stacie and Stephanie tearing up the rink!

this land is made for you and me

I'm a big dork and love to listen to NPR on my drive to and from work...well between dirty rap songs. Is that wierd? Anyway, I heard this on my way home yesterday and it made me smile. They are such good story tellers!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91163183

3 cups of tea

I recently read "3 Cups of Tea" based on my friend Alison's recommendation. It was so incredible, I had to share. It's a great, uplifting story about the difference one person can make.

The story is about Greg Mortenson, a man who attempts to climb K2 and ends up in a remote village in Nothern Pakistan. He becomes friends with one of the village elders and promises to return and build a school. It has been 12 years since this first visit and he has now built 55 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Greg and his family's dedication and courage are just beautiful and in my opinion, this is the kind of story that makes you want to get up off the couch and make a difference! :)

If you're looking for a great summer reading book, go pick it up!

Attila the Hunny

A few weeks ago, I'm sitting at a baby shower with my friend Stacie and she's all excited about her new goal. She was watching "Made" on MTV where the girl is being made into a roller derby-er...and it hits her...that's what I want to be!! So after a little research, she finds that there is a group in Houston and they have a rec league. For the last few weeks, she's been strapping on her quads (yeah, I'm all hip to the lingo now)...and she is loving it! She even has a super secret 'roller derby' name "Attila the Hunny"...it's not official until she's a competitor...so she's keeping it on the DL.

Nita and I are grabbing dinner then going to watch practice. I'm not sure if we'll have the courage to rent our very own skates, but we'll see!!

Oh yeah, also, Drew Barrymore is directing Ellen Page in a new movie about Roller Derby called "Whip it"...so watchout roller derby is going to be the dodgeball of 2009! You heard it here first!

Here's more info on the rec league...http://houstonrollerderby.com/public/pag236.aspx