Happy Birthday, Jr!

Sweet baby boy Jr is ONE today! Can't even believe that this year has passed so quickly, and I am sure my sweet sister would agree! Last night I watched him walk across the kitchen at his Gigi's house, and was just amazed at what a talented, happy & special little guy he is!

I LOVE YOU JR! HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY :)

leaving on a jet plane, don't know when i'll be back again...

So this journey I have been on is now about to come to a close as I head out this evening for my long 30 hour trek home. It's hard to believe that the Olympics have come and gone and now I am headed back to America to grow older (eek!) and buy a house. I am thrilled at what the next few weeks will hold for me, but I am so sad to close this chapter. Yes, I have more Olympics to look forward to, and yes, I have other fun things with work, but this has been an unforgettable experience that I can't wait to share with you all! The people of China have surprised me in every way. I have enjoyed the funny signs, nasty and yummy food, having to translate something on yahoo and point to the screen just to get some lunch in the office, watching the world's best athletes compete, making new friends, and strengthening old friendships. I can truly say that this trip has blessed me in more ways than I could have imagined, and although I am beyond thrilled to go home, I am also so sad I have to leave.

Just 30 minutes ago I got a phone call from the front desk saying I had a visitor waiting in the lobby. I walked down and it was one of my local staff who had taken a 45 minute bus ride this morning just to sit in the lobby and wait for me to get there so she could give me a gift she had made...a pretty star necklace because it was "sparkly" and she knew I would love it. The people I have met have given me such an appreciation for hard work and really giving of yourself for others. Even though most of the things they did held us back (more stories on that later) they never stopped putting forth 110% effort to help however they could. Tracy (the gift giver) in particular.

So, I will go now and pack my bags trying to shove it all in, and get on the road soon. I am looking forward to seeing each of you so very soon! Thanks for the emails, thoughts, prayers and Skype messages...all are so appreciated!

Love!!
Chrissi

GYMNASTICS!!!

So on day two of my stay here our manager asked what our one "wish" event would be and mine was either swimming or gymnastics. Then about 4:00pm today, Cricket (my boss) said " hey Chrissi, I got you a ticket to gymnastics" I was so excited!!! They were 'A' tickets, which is usually good (so far I am three for three on seeing events in 'A' seats) so I was thrilled! We arrived late, (because I actually do have to work some too) but luckily didn't miss the ladies floor exercise. It was so much fun to be there and watch the best gymnasts compete, because this night was the final round. THANK YOU CRICKET :) I had a wonderful (!!) time. And then I walked around the Green and took some photos.

I was so excited to be there!!

I ran into my co-worker Joe who was there with one of our clients...

he liked my thumbs up idea...haha

the CUBE at night looks so cool!!

Our program starts in just two days...I can hardly wait! I won't be able to post so much then, but I am thinking about all of you from across the world!

xo,
Chrissi

What a day!!

Yesterday we went out to tour some of the Olympic venues with our local staff and get them acquainted with where they will be escorting our guests. I was so happy to be out exploring and also so happy that there were blue skies!! It was fabulous!! Other SportsMark people say that it is rare to get two blue sky days in a row, so I guess I am pretty lucky to see two days within my first week :) It's almost 8:00am here now, and I can tell that there will be no blue skies today...oh, well. I have taken so many pictures of China so far, and I can't wait to share them all with you upon my return to the states, but in the meantime here are some of the pictures from our tour today. Enjoy :)

Tennis, anyone?

Last night was very exciting for me...
Not only did I get to see the Birds Nest and the Cube with my own eyes, but I also got to watch the world's top tennis players compete for their country. I am not usually a "tennis watcher" but it was so fun to be there & experience such a fabulous game! For any of you who do watch tennis, you will know who this is. Those of you who don't follow tennis, the guy below is Raphael Nadal and the guy he was playing is [some Serbian first name that I don't know now] Djokovic...

I will post more later but have to run to a breakfast meeting....

Love from China!!

I'm here!

After 18 hours of air travel, Gharry & I are in Beijing :) I was telling my sister last night, this is the most out of place I have felt in my life. In other countries, you can usually tell what is a bank vs. a restaurant or what have you, but here all you get are symbols, and those are hard to distinguish! Last night my driver did not speak a word of English other than "Hi". I asked him if he spoke English while he was driving and he started talking for about two minutes in Chinese & the only thing I recognized was "English" at the very beginning! Luckily, he knew where he was taking me ahead of time...It's going to be a fun few weeks, but I will be happy when I have some one to translate!

Anywho, I finally arrived last night (or this morning to everyone in America) and was so glad to jump into bed after a nice hot shower! My flights were not too bad, given that they were so long! Today I will get to work with my team preparing our program to start in just 8 days...can't wait! I get to finally meet the people I have been emailing & Skyping with for a few months at breakfast at 8, can't wait!

Interesting tid bit of information: listed in the Health Club description is table tennis. They really take that sport seriously here! I guess that is why they are able to dominate that sport!

....I will try to get you an interesting 'tid bit' every time I post...I know some of you (well maybe just mom & Grandma?) would enjoy it!

That's all for now, I'm off to get ready for the day...Love from Beijing!

Time to catch up...

AHHH, it's been 5 weeks, according to my sister-in-law Summer. Sorry!! But thanks for letting me know Summer, now I have to update. So much has happened, so I will try to hit the high points. I purchased my first home in mid-July. And although I do not close until September 2, I am already planning the decorations of every room! Pictures below:

My sister got engaged! HOOORRAYY! Welcome to the family Josh, I am glad you're almost officially my brother-in-law!! And excellent job on her ring, she could not be happier! November 22, here we come!!

I leave on Sunday for China...holy moly!! I will be gone for 19 days total, and I will get to see and do some pretty neat things while I am away...I promise to be better about blogging while I am there, and adding pictures of Gharry and myself on our travels at the Olympics :)

Guess who is back.....for two more days, anyways

SO here I am, back in Marietta with SO MUCH going on!!

Last week was a lot of fun as I traveled up through CT, NY and PA. I started in New Britain CT where I watched the New Britain Rock Cats. This was a fun event at a great park and I got to meet Tom Kelly, the former Twins manager who led his team to beat the Braves in a World Series. The next day I drove through the state of New York to get over to the home of my favorite sitcom, Scranton PA. That's right, I spend two lovely days in the great (kind of boring) city of Scranton so I could watch the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees play. While I was there I experienced a lot of things...I saw a (green, not white this time of year) ski resort, went 300 feet below the earth's surface to experience what the coal miners had to go through over 100 years ago, met a former Yankee Alvaro Espinoza, had to go without a shower because the power went out for 15 hours in the hotel and my bathroom was pitch black (!!) and enjoyed a beautiful walk through a historic park which gave me some beautiful views of the city. And let's not forget, I got to see the Welcome to Scranton sign, although it's different now as they updated it...bummer. ....view my pictures below....

After Scranton I headed to Lehigh Valley, where I thought I would find some antique shops, but all I found was nothing. Ha. Kind of boring and I was disappointed so I just drove around for 45 minutes to finally find a place with free internet so I could at least get some work done. That night I watched the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs play in a fabulous stadium, and was then back on the road to get to Philadelphia that night. Traffic was a nightmare!!! So when I finally arrived in Philly (almost an hour later than I should have) I was so thankful for a shower (remember, no power that morning in Scranton) and a comfy bed :)

Saturday morning lended itself to some free time for me which meant I could explore the city a bit...see pictures below...the one thing you will not see a picture of is the Liberty Bell. I was able to see it, but I was merely driving by and looking in the building because it was CRAZINESS to find parking around there! Then I went and ate a Philly Cheese steak at Ricks (highly recommended by several locals) and purchased some yummy cherries from an Amish farmer at the market. After my Philly adventure, I headed back to my hotel, packed up and headed to the airport to wait on my (delayed) flight. I quickly forgot my frustration of having to wait when she scanned my ticket and said "ma'am, you've been upgraded to first class" ...thank you Lord! A couple free drinks and a chat with a professional basketball player later, and I was safely back in HOT-lanta.

Please note as you look at the pictures below...when you travel by yourself your pictures can be kind of lame. Please forgive the silliness, and laugh along with me for having ten pictures of just me.

The famous sign that has been updated....

For real, Mifflin Avenue

Gharry watching the informative Coal Mining movie before we went underground....

If you were trapped you were told to raise your hands so people could find you.... Yep, Gharry & I are now certified miners. Hold your applause, please.

Gharry at the slopes With Espanoza, a former Yankee

Go Iron Pigs :)

The steps that Rocky used...

My tribute to Rocky Balboa......hahaha

Yummy Philly cheese steak!

Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love :)