Daddy-Daughter Dance

Last night was wonderful. Last night, I got to spend a wonderful night with two of the most important women (girls) in my life. Last night I got got to attend my first Daddy-Daughter Dance at the Children's Museum in Bryan.


We were picked up in The Real Estate Group's company limo at 7:00 PM by our gracious driver Rebecca Linton, Bella's mother, and Bella and Allen, Bella's father. We then proceeded to pick up Tommmy Lanhart and his daughter Haley. We arrived at the event and enjoyed festivities including making candy bracelets, coloring handbags and had a dinner that featured everything from chicken breasts to mac and cheese. ;) Although dancing was the featured topic many other festivities consumed most of the evening.

We were even featured on the local news during our "prom-style photos."



It was an incredible experience. Alyssa was not feeling well. She was not her normal self. Lisa doped her up with some Benadril before we left, but she was much better after the events began.

Julia was indeed her normal self. She made a new friend in Bella (Isabella) and also reunited with an old one in Haley. Julia is great at making friends - better than I've ever been. People are drawn to her. She's a leader, a friend to everyone. By the end of the evening she was invited to go to Haley's house when everyone except for Haley's father, was aware that she was invited.

Kids have a way of living in their own world. Sometimes I wish I was still 7 years old and my biggest concern was how to spell "igloo". Life has a way of making things seem much more serious than they really are.

All in all, we ended up having a great time topped off with a sparkling apple cider champagne style toast on the way home! We are already looking forward to next year!

Easy enough...That Even A Caveman Could Do it...

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What's your Favorite Holiday?

I don't like holidays! Really, I don't. Any self-employeed individual will probably tell you the same thing. I'm not a Scrooge, but honestly this country celebrates far too many holidays for my liking. I appreciate Christmas, Easter, the 4th of July, Thanksgiving and New Years, but please tell me where does it end? Just in my lifetime we've made MLK Day a National holiday. Not too long before that Veteran's Day and Columbus Day were recognized as Federal holidays. Where will it end?

Don't get me wrong...I don't disagree that these days are important, I guess it's just what side of the fence you're standing on. As a self-employeed individual I really don't look forward to holidays: after all it there is a chance I could lose out on opportunities to assist others with buying or selling a home.

What’s your favorite holiday? Up until 1993 my favorite holiday was Bonfire! Yes the Fightin' Texas Aggie Bonfire - which really doesn't exist anymore (at least the University recognized version). At least that is what I told people my favorite was, up until that point, but actually now it is Groundhog’s Day. Groundhog’s day? Why you may ask… It is because on that day 13 years ago I went on a date with the most beautiful woman I ever met. What happened? Well, I went on a date with the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen and…let’s just say things didn’t quite work out like I hoped. I eventually married Lisa and we’ve been pretty happy ever since.

Seriously, it was on this date in 1994 that Lisa and I went on our first date to the Olive Garden (in it’s old location at the intersection of Texas Ave. and Holleman) on Groundhog’s Day in 1994. I remind her every year! Yeah, I’m the sappy romantic.

It was love at first sight, at least for me (read Lisa’s version on her own blog)…www.lifeoflisasmith.blogspot.com .

We were both 13 years younger, thus the 13 year anniversary. Duh! No, seriously, we were both much trimmer, younger and smarter (at least we thought so).

Almost 30 years ago, my dad had a choice. My father was a Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (more commonly referred to as the FBI). He served more than 30 years in Chicago and Houston. In 1978 we were living in Chicago, Illinois home of the 2007 Super Bowl Champion Chicago Bears! You bet’cha life! He had a choice, he requested a move and because of his seniority and could select just about anywhere he wanted. I still remember the family talking about it when I was just 7 or 8 years old.

It’s those kinds of decisions that live with you your whole life. It was between San Diego and Houston, Texas (home of the cows, armadillos and from what I learned on television …the place where kids rode horses to school and tried their best to avoid the tumbleweed and cacti on the dirt roads on the way to school). Gun slinging and train robbery were classes you could take at the local community college and showers were something that that happened in April and May (not what one would do on a daily basis).

My vote was for Cali – no question about it. Ever since I was born, I’ve felt called toward the beach. Sun, surf, boats, fishing, etc. Hey, I’m a Parrothead, wha’d you expect?

Unfortunately for me, my vote didn’t count. My dad wanted San Diego, I wanted California, my two younger siblings were too young to vote! We wound up in Texas. Yes, Texas? How did that happen? Two to one…I thought?!

It really doesn’t work that way in the real world! Fair is NOT fair. My mother trumped both of our votes and I remember being very disappointed.

OK to be fair, my past experiences in Texas were nothing to write home about. Wait! Scratch that! It was exactly the things you would write home about. I remember being nearly “eaten alive” with my first encounter of FIRE ANTS! Still to this day one of the worst nightmares I ever had was when I was in high school dreaming I had fallen asleep in a pile of fire ants to awake and find half my face was missing!

I had been to both southern California as well as Texas and for the life of me couldn’t understand why in the HE(double hockey sticks) anyone, and I mean anyone would choose the farm over the beach!? Every year, my grandmother reminds me of the time when I was 2 or 3 when I went to her house (in Corrigan, Texas) and refused to go to the farm with her neighbors. She said she awoke in the middle of the night to me singing “Didn’t go to the farm with Dorothy and Dick, E. I., E. I. O” Spoken like a true Californian.

Had we stayed in Chi-town, I would have been able to witness not 1, 2 or 3 Chicago Bull Championships…not even 4 or 5, but 6 (Yes SIX) Michael Jordan led Chicago Bulls Championships! But I would have missed the countless Texans jokes! “How do you keep a Texan out of your front yard?” Paint it like the end zone!…LOL! Ha Ha! That’s why I’m a Bears Fan! Or even worse the stupid Dixie Girl jokes – we’ll leave it at that. At that point, I thought my life was going to turn out like their career.

I could have been a World Championship surfer, I could have played Power Forward alongside “Magic” Johnson and won 5 NBA Championship rings… don’t laugh Kurt Rambis did… so for that matter me, you, or even Eva Longoria could have played with Magic, Kareem & Worthy and at least won a couple of rings.

But, I wouldn’t change the way it ended. The Man upstairs knows far more than me and as the great Ronnie Milsap sings “I Wouldn’t Have Missed it For the World”.

I would have missed out on Houston’s first two World Championships (the ’94-’95 Rockets) which not even MJ could have stopped! I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to become an Aggie, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to complain Every Single Day between March and October that I hate the heat and humidity in this “God forsaken state”. But, most of all, I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to marry the woman of my dreams in Lisa and to have been instrumental in the conception of Julia, Alyssa, Hunter and Palmer.

Cheers to Groundhog’s Day 1994! Cheers to the woman I admire most – Lisa!

Thanks Mom! We may disagree on many issues, but you proved right on one of the most important!

Take this Presidents Quiz!

All right, February is here and to celebrate, I've decided to host the First Annual Real Estate Group President's Day Quiz. Anyone that completes the quiz with a score or 50% or higher will be entered into a drawing for $1,000,000 cash and various food prizes from McDonalds! Scores will be reported using the honor system - just email your grade to Andrew@AndrewSmithTeam.com Really? No, Not Really! But it is a good test to see how well you know the former Presidents of the United States. Enjoy!

1) Who’s 6,000 book library became the basis of the Library of Congress?
2) Who was the only president elected unanimously?
3) Who was the first President to live in the White House?
4) Who was the only president to be elected to two nonconsecutive terms?
5) Who took reporters' questions with his helicopter roaring in the background to avoid the press?
6) Who was the first president to appear on television?
7) Who was the only president to appoint their brother to a cabinet post?
8) Who was the first president to hold a press conference?
9) Who was responsible for putting 'under God' into the Pledge of Allegiance?
10) Who was the only President to take the Oath of Office on an airplane?

OK, before I spill the beans and enlighten you on the correct answers to these questions - I will now take a brief moment to plug my business - ;) If you've got a home to sell give me a call at (979) 777-7677 or email me at Andrew@AndrewSmithTeam.com I Guarantee to Sell Your Home in 90 Days or will Pay You $1000 at Closing! (some stipulations do apply). I also offer a Cancellation Guarantee that enables you to cancel your listing if for any reason you are ever unsatisfied - which you won't be! but it is there just for your peace of mind) ;)

Drum roll....

All right here are the answers to this year's First Annual Real Estate Group President's Day Quiz.

1) Thomas Jefferson
2) George Washington
3) John Adams
4) Grover Cleveland
5) Ronald Reagan
6) Franklin D. Roosevelt
7) John F. Kennedy
8) Woodrow Wilson
9) Dwight D. Eisenhower
10) Lyndon B. Johnson

May you and yours have a Fantastic February! A wonderful Valentine's Day and of course a Extra Special President's Day!

Don't forget to answer my February Trivia Question and earn a chance to score to free movie tickets! Visit www.AndrewSmithTeam.com and click on the starburst in the top right corner of the home page!

Coffee - Nature's Wonder Drug?

How would you like to lower your risk of diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and even colon cancer? The secret maybe right in front of you, even in your own kitchen.
I’ll bet you didn’t know that drinking six or more cups of coffee each day could possibly reduce diabetes risk by 54% in men and 30% of women according to a recent Harvard research study.

We’ve all got our own stereotypical images in the back of our minds of a co-worker or colleague that is strung out on caffeine; the hyperactive, restless, jumpy bundle of nervous energy who can’t even sit still for a second.

Side effects such as feeling restless, irritable, trembling hands and cause rapid heartbeat.. In extreme cases, it can create severe insomnia. Coffee may also raise cholesterol levels in some people and may contribute to artery clogging.

The word "coffee" comes from Kaffa, a region in Ethiopia where coffee beans may have been discovered. More than 500 billion cups of coffee are served worldwide each year and more than half of all Americans over the age of 18 (107 million people) drink coffee daily. On average, U.S. coffee drinkers consume three and a half cups each day.

An eight ounce cup of drip-brewed coffee contains about 85 mg -- about three and a half times more than the same serving of tea or cola or one ounce of chocolate.

According to one American study, coffee drinkers who have a daily intake of four or more cups have a lower incidence of Parkinson's disease. Some suggest it may even help prevent Alzheimer's disease too. The theory is that the stimulative effect coffee has on brain cells increases the brain's intake of the chemical choline, which is depleted in those suffering with the cognitive dysfunction.

According to a new study from the University of California at San Diego, coffee reduces diabetes risk among pre-diabetics by over 60%.

At least six studies indicate that people who drink coffee on a regular basis are up to 80% less likely to develop Parkinson's, with three showing the more they drink, the lower the risk. Other research shows that compared to not drinking coffee, at least two cups daily can translate to a 25% reduced risk of colon cancer, an 80% drop in liver cirrhosis risk. Medical researchers associate positive health benefits to moderate coffee consumption, including improved mood and the prevention of gallstone and kidney stone formation.
There's also some evidence that coffee may help manage asthma and even control attacks when medication is unavailable.

When tired, caffeine can help you sharpen some complex mental skills like manipulating numbers or recognizing words.

It can also lower your risk of cavities, and even help treat headaches. Caffeine helps cure headaches and is a key ingredient in headache pills because it increases the power of aspirin on the body.

"Overall, the research shows that coffee is far more healthful than it is harmful," says Tomas DePaulis, PhD, research scientist at Vanderbilt University's Institute for Coffee Studies, which conducts its own medical research and tracks coffee studies from around the world. "For most people, very little bad comes from drinking it, but a lot of good."

Caffeine makes java a powerful aid in enhancing athletic endurance and performance, says physiologist and longtime coffee researcher, Terry Graham, PhD, of the University of Guelph in Canada.

So powerful, in fact, that until recently, caffeine in coffee or other forms was deemed a "controlled" substance by the Olympic Games Committee, meaning that it could be consumed only in small, designated amounts by competing athletes.
As little as one cup can offer some benefit, but the real impact comes from at least two mugs, says Graham. By comparison, it'd take at least eight glasses of cola to get the same effect, which isn't exactly conducive for running a marathon.

So, once you've had your morning cup of Joe, and are ready to buy or sell a home - give me a call at (979) 777-7677 or shoot me an email at Andrew@AndrewSmithTeam.com or visit me online www.AndrewSmithTeam.com


source - http://www.webmd.com/content/Article/80/96454.htm?printing=true