Birthday Video

Jenny created this video montage from Lauren's birthday.

Lauren officially LOVES cake and LOVES birthdays! Between the pink piano from Jenny & Aaron (HOW FREAKIN CUTE IS THAT?!!) and the music class at Hochstein she starts next week (Music for Tiny Tots), by this time next year she will be my Mini-Mozart.

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Dear Lauren,
You turn two today. It is hard to believe that two years ago you were struggling for life (and Mommy too) and today you are full of life - intelligent, beautiful, funny, creative, and entertaining. It is amazing how you've grown, and how long it has taken for your hair to grow ;-)

Mommy and Daddy love you so much, sometimes it is overwhelming how much, I just want to hug you and never let you go.

This year has been so fun, watching you learn so many new things and start to be able to communicate. I know this next year will be amazing too, but I don't want it to go too fast my little peanut butter cup. I treasure every moment with you while you are too little to talk back and to ask for money and the car keys.

My only sadness is that your Grandma, my Mommy, is not here to share all this (though I am sure she is watching) - you are very much like her, very thoughtful and very silly. She would eat you up like a piece of pie!

So Happy Birthday my little babe, and as my Mommy said to me and you may say to your little girl someday,

Momma loves you! xoxo




More pix at my Gallery

My favorite pro golfer, Adam Scott (ok, yes, he's my favorite because he's cute) won the Qatar Masters yesterday by shooting a 61! But I am most amused by the GIANT trophy that is about as big as he is - a giant clamshell where the golf ball is the pearl. Clever.

Vegas, baby!! 19!!

So this year has started off as a whirlwind of travel, first to Vegas for CES, then to Orlando for a PGA Golf show... and great stories from each trip. Here's the first one:

On the way to Vegas, the security guy at the airport told my coworker, "Vegas? 19, trust me!"... so even though I figured the guy said that to everyone, my Vegas Superstition kicked in and I urged Terry to get to the roulette table (not that he needed urging, he had every intention of playing 19!).

So it was our last night, a bunch of us are at Caesar's... he puts $10 on 19 and $10 on red. As Jenny, Brie and I stood and watched, "tink, tink, tink", the ball landed in 19. We were in shock, he hit on the first bet!! He won a good chunk of change (the straight up bet payed 35 to 1) and then let us gamble some too. Jenny stood in her "lucky spot" at the other end of the table willing the ball to go to the right number - and it worked! I won on at least six spins in a row... won straight up three times, and then won a few combination bets (I was spreading my bets around more though, so I didn't win as much).

The only joy better than gambling with someone else's money is winning with someone else's money!

Let me tell you, I've only been lucky at gambling one other time in my life (and mind you, I am in Vegas 1-2 times a year as I have family there), so I was in SHOCK. And Jenny was the voice of reason, she'd mouth, "CASH OUT! CASH OUT!"... so before our luck could turn, we cashed out up quite a bit. It was exhilarating.

I don't think I'm due for another winning streak like that for another 20 years!!

TEE NA!!

Somewhere along the way, Lauren picked up on the fact that my name is "Tina" and decided to address me this way. I always reply with the correction, "Mommy", so she knows it doesn't thrill me... so now she does it to get my goat...

and I finally captured it on video... Jenny says it looks like "Lauren TV"...

In the video she even gives a very stern look - one I must give her when she calls me "Tina"... the things kids pick up is scary!

Now I don't really know my ABCs

All that crap about blogging more and making lists and I've still been horrible about both. Today I am actually in Orlando for the PGA golf show for work. Met Omarosa and she is so nice. Can't say I'm shocked because I know that they edit the crap out of TV.

Lauren turns two in a couple weeks, the girl is cracks me up. I finally captured video of her singing her ABC's (somewhat) but gets stuck in a loop at the end - qrstuvwy tuv wx tuv wx tuv (and so on)... This particular time, I thought she was going to go on forever, but then she noticed the camera and asked, "I see Lauren Clark?" which she says when she wants to see pics of herself.

Now that we have a Sephora nearby, hub has a no fail spot where he can shop for me (between Sephora and Parkleigh, he really can't go wrong), so one of my Christmas gifts was Comptoir Sud Pacifique Vanille Abricot perfume. Yum.

Speaking of Sephora, my sis had requested "the stuff to make your eyebrows thicker". At Sephora, that's Anastasia's NuBrow - but at $35, both sis and I thought that was a little ridiculous. But then I read on a discussion board about Ardell Brow & Lash Accelerator Treatment Gel - for less than $4 bucks!! Needless to say, I ordered it for her and me (haven't gotten it yet)! Hoping that the little bare patch on my left eyebrow grows back.

Happy New Year!