I just spent the 4th of July weekend in San Antonio to get a feel for what it will be like in 2010 when we attend the 75th International Convention. The was a wonderful welcome sign was hanging on the wall at Club 12 where I attended a couple of meetings. The folks there can’t wait for us all to come on down. Texas  was wonderful, hot, friendly and scary to visualize 60,000 alcoholics strolling down the Riverwalk! It’s not so much a city, as a really big town. There is a  Texan superstician that no building should cast a shadow over the Alamo, so there are not that many tall buildings as in other large cities.

The Alamodome where the convention will be, is across the highway from the downtown action. We will have to walk about a half mile to get there. There is a large Convention Center closer where I imagine there will be meetings also.

I did all the touristy things so I could get the Texas flavor of it all. I took the trolley to Guenther House and had the best bisquits in the world at the converted home of the family who owns Pioneer Flour. Carb freaks, don’t miss this one! I rode out to Gruene and had lunch at “Rudy’s, the wurst barbque in Texas,” and had a soda tray full of smoked meat with a side of a loaf of bread. It was an experience! Also in Gruene, I sat on the wooden bench of the oldest Dance Hall in Texas where John Travolta filmed the movie “Michael.” Ahh….I smelled cookies!

I would highly recommend seeing the IMAX movie in the RiverCenter Mall about the Alamo, then walking down the street to stroll quickly through the real Alamo, a large empty, then on to a really cool gift shop! I waited online for an hour to get into the actual Alamo, rented a 55 min. tour on headphones but due to the crowds couldn’t make it to the last empty side room. Although I live in the tropics,  I was about to pass out from the heat. Not a breeze in the Alamo, no a/c or any movement in the stiffling day.

Best food, Boudros…they make the guacamole right out of the skin at your table. The waiter confided in me that they sell a million dollars in guacamole every year.

Although I have a wait list for guests at the Gratitude Cruise Hotel, General Service has not made announcments yet on properties that they have locked up. Registration will be open Fall, 2009. Save your pennies for this one! It is not to be missed.

Here’s  praying that God continues blessing Scott Redman at that big meeting in the sky,  for his magic, for all the service work he did and will continue to do, living through sponsorship and CD’s. If you haven’t heard the four CD series of Scott doing the Twelve Steps, you have missed something special. I will try to find out where you can buy them. It was a valiant fight Scott, thanks for trying so hard to stay with us.

1. Your sponsor isn’t all that interested in the “reasons” you drank.

2. Your therapist thinks your root problem is your lack of self-esteem, negative self-image, and your poor self-concept. Your sponsor thinks your problem is a 3-letter word with no hyphens: YOU.

3. Your therapist wants you to pamper your “inner child”. Your sponsor thinks it ought to be spanked.

4. Your sponsor thinks your inventory should be about you, not your parents.

5. Speaking of your parents, your sponsor tells you not to confront them, but to make amends to them.

6. The only time your sponsor uses the word “closure” is before the word “mouth”.

7. Your sponsor thinks “boundaries” are things you need to take down, not build up.

8. Your therapist wants you to love yourself first; your sponsor wants you to love others first

9. Your therapist prescribes care-taking and medication. Your sponsor prescribes prayer-making and meditation.

10. Your sponsor thinks “anger management skills” are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12.

11. Now that you haven’t used in 6 months, your therapist thinks you should make a list of your goals and objectives for the next 5 years, starting with finishing up that college degree. Your sponsor thinks you should start today by cleaning the coffeepots, helping him or her carry a heavy box of literature to the jail, and making your bed.

12. Your sponsor won’t lose his or her license to practice if he or she talks about God.

Oceania’s new ship to offer culinary sessions with chefs
By Nadine Goodwin
Oceania Cruises has partnered with Bon Appetit magazine to create a culinary studio aboard the 1,258-passsenger Marina, set to debut in winter 2010. The culinary studio will enable passengers to gain hands-on cooking experience at the side of master chefs. Passengers will have their own work stations, including individual induction cooktops. “Many ships offer cooking demonstrations. Our goal when designing Marina was to be the first to let guests experience cooking side by side with a master chef as opposed to passively watching from the audience,” said Oceania President Bob Binder.
Oceania said Bon Appetit would assist in designing a curriculum that would appeal to a wide range of tastes and offer options for passengers at all levels of cooking skills and interests. Passengers will accompany chefs on shoreside shopping excursions. They may also participate in private wine tastings or visits to well-known shoreside kitchens, Oceania said.
Calling the Marina a ship for food lovers, Oceania said it would have 10 dining venues, including six open-seating gourmet restaurants.
Oceania unveiled one of those restaurants, Red Ginger, at its press event in New York on Thursday. With seating for 126, Red Ginger will feature Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese cuisine.
Guests will have the choice of a five-course tasting menu or the restaurant’s a la carte dishes. The menu will include traditional fare and fusion dishes.
Passengers won’t be assessed a supplement or surcharge to dine at Red Ginger, Oceania said. Call Snow for independent travel with your friends or family for this cruise. 561-702-2312.

This special event, every 5 years, is awesome and not to be missed!   It can be overwhelming being with 50,000 of your closest friends and not see a familiar face. If you would like to share the magic of the experience with us, we have a GRATITUDE CRUISE HOTEL for alumni, their friends and families. The group rate of $149. per night, hot breakfast included. Suites start at $298. per night.

Click on hotel room  to register:

Click on photo to read about 2005 Convention:

Jun 21st.

I don’t know if everything in the Bible is true, but I know everything in the Big Book is.


The Sunday morning perfume of simmering garlic
seasoning the pot
smokes up my kitchen with memories.
I see a wooden coffee grinder
with fine ironwork and a secret drawer
that held the prize. “No more chickory to stretch
it like during the depression” Dad said,
“cause these is good times.”
A bushel of fresh snails,
a pizza he carried all the way home
hot from Tremont Avenue warms my heart.
There was no such thing as delivery in those days.
Your Dad was the delivery man.
He pulled the Christmas tree every year
up four flights of stairs,
thrilled he could provide it to honor
his religion and family.
He placed every single piece of tinsel straight
like a prayer, from the top down.
As I start cooking for a feast
this morning in my pajamas,
I can only smile knowing he passed on to me
the excitement and joy of these two words…
“Company’s coming!”

Happy Father’s Day to the best Dad that ever lived.

Snow P.,  took all photos for this CD, American and Canadian versions. (one photo  exception) for Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Dion DiMucci.

Dion wrote a song for Paris Hilton this week…click here!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6JG6l6USrSg

Jun 17th.

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.” Buddha

beach-boats1

I just came back from a cruise to Alaska where a posse of us carried the message to several small local meetings while on the road. At one meeting a gentleman was lamenting that he could not have a couple of beers in celebration of Memorial Day. After all, it was summer, and it was his American right to have a few beers. He could not make the connection between beer and the fact that he had just gotten out of jail after his sixth DUI. It truly is an astounding disease. Alcohol twists our minds so much we can’t quite comprehend what it says in the Big Book, “We are like men who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones.”

My first summer sober, I remember being on the beach playing scrabble with another newcomer. We wanted to be like the other young girls in bikinis seemingly having fun drinking. The weather was steaming hot and I remember really wanting a cold beer. It didn’t even matter that I hated beer’s bloating bubbles and bad taste and that I didn’t drink it even when I was active. I kept telling myself it was just a another cold drink. It was the seduction of it that I had to deal with, and another old idea that I could drink like other people that had to be smashed. I bought a cold soda, played several resentful games of scrabble that day, and just put more time into the getting sober thing. I was not sure I wanted it, all I knew is that I would get it first and decide later if I wanted it or not. They told me I could go back to drinking any time I wanted to.

How do you stay sober in summer when it seems like everyone else is having fun drinking?

#1 You must first accept that we are bodily and mentally different from our fellows.
For us to drink is to die or go insane. I had a pretty easy time admitting this, but a hard time accepting it. I had to pray fervently on my knees every day to the God of my sponsors understanding for help accepting it, just for today.

#2 Never go to any event on an empty stomach. We get confused on body signals with cravings and huger.

#3 If possible, take your own car to all events so you can leave if you feel uncomfortable.

#4 When you go to the beach
Take a small cooler of your very own with water, drinks and snacks. Bring some for sharing so you don’t run out if there are moochers around!

#5 When you go to B-B-Qs
Bring your own preferred beverages and some sweets to the host/hostess as a gift. Leave a small cooler with your favorite beverages and snacks in your car in case you run out.

#6 When you go fishing or to a baseball game
See above.

#7 When you go on vacation, go to www.aa.org and get the list of meetings that are available in the city where you will be going. Use the telephone to call your sponsor at home or the local intergroup to tell them you are in town. Get a temporary sponsor if you are spending lots of time on holiday in one place.

#8 Have fun at fellowship events
Check your local Intergroup for fun events like “Bowling for Big Books” “Movie Night”
“Picnics,”

#9 Plan a Fellowship Vacation
There are plenty of conventions, round ups and conferences to attend. Get some pals and plan to go on a program vacation at one or more of these. Plan on going on a Gratitude Cruise in fellowship.

#10 Create your own events to look forward to
Have a fellowship BBQ, Pool Party, Breakfast Bike Ride, Scrabble Tournament, or Pictionary Party. Get involved on any fellowship committee that is planning something, especially any fundraiser for your local Intergroup. Become part of the solution of staying sober in the summer for others.

#11 Carry Support
Gratitude Boosters: Write on ten small pieces of paper things you are grateful for and keep them in your pocket. If you feel bad for a minute, take one out and read it. Also, carry a little Big Book so you can go to the rest room and read until the dark moment passes.

#12 Remember, God will meet you anywhere!

Snow@sobercelebrations.com
561-702-2312

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