Everyone Has Fun in the Music Class

That's the title of the opening song in Lauren's new music class. It's a fun and interactive music class for kids 4 and under held at our new favorite place: the local library. The kids get to play with different percussion instruments, dance, jump and sing. It's way cheaper than Gymboree and only a mile away from our house. Even though we don't think Lauren needs a music class for exposure (she get enough of that between our house and her grandmas...we're a pretty musical bunch), it's great because she gets to interact with other kids. I'm sure she could use other company besides us and her grandparents!

Shaking her bonbon

She was a little shy at first, but by the time the maracas and tambourines came out she was laughing, playing, and dancing with the other kids.

Making new friends

Grandma R. went to class with us and took part in the fun.


After class, Grandma and Lauren had fun in the kids play area of the library


Isn't our library cool?

Nice to meet ya!

Lauren had a surprise visit from her Auntie Lynn and Lola Vi who came to visit my mom. Lynn lives in So-Cal and was in town for work.

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(L-R) Daddy, Grandma, Lola Vi, Auntie Sarah, Auntie Lynn and me, and Mommy

My Theme Song

Thanks Vicki for the link to this quiz. I think it TOTALLY fits. In fact, I used to blast this song in my car first thing on my way to work. EVERY MORNING. It helped me get through my trafficky commute and put me in a good mood for the day. Sickeningly optimistic, aren't I? hahaha...

Your Theme Song is Beautiful Day by U2

"Sky falls, you feel like It's a beautiful day Don't let it get away" You see the beauty in life, especially in ordinary everyday moments. And if you're feeling down, even that seems a little beautiful too.

What's Your Theme Song?

Happy and Sad Tag

I got this from Vicki

Here are the Rules:

1. List the things that make you Happy and those that make you Sad.

2. Add your Blog to the list. Feel free to add all your other Blogs.

3. Tag other online friends you know.Toni’s Attachments, Cecile2’s-Small and Simple Things, Lara’s Pinay dot US, Lara’s My Blog Entry, Lara’s Byaheng Pinay, Living A’ La Mode, Bits and Pieces, My Life in this Wonderful World, My Online World, Ozzy’s Mom, Me,Myself+2, Kidd Designs, Fun|Fierce|Fabulous, Eds Mommy Life, Just Me.. Eds, My Precious Niche, I Am Mommy, All About The Memories, Enchanted Play, Just My Scrap, My life is Peachy , Celebrating life , belly, baby and beyond, All Things Me, Feels Like Home, A Day of Play, Because Life is Fun, Tints of My Heart, My BIG Picture, Tailgater Network, Merger Guru, Beauty and Madness Wordpress, Beauty and Madness, Feeding my Baby, A Taste of Married Life, Random Rants of a Starter Mom, SliceofPizzaPie

What Makes Me Happy?

~My baby girl. Just thinking about her makes me happy.

~ My husband.

~ Faith.

~ My Family and knowing they are always there for me and I can count on them for anything

~ When I come home from work and Lauren is so happy to see me that she starts sqealing or running towards me.

~Gene Kelly Movies

~Sleep (Extra happy when sleeping in on a rainy day)

~ A good bowl of soup

~ Chips and salsa

~ Getting out of work 20 minutes early

~ Buying new school supplies (even though I'm no longer in school)

~ Finding cute shoes that fit my big feet (can you believe Size 11 after pregnancy?!?!)

~ Having a laugh with friends.

~ Slobbery baby kisses.

~ Chicken Adobo with a fried egg on top.

~ The 1st of every month (aka Payday)

What Makes Me Sad?

~When I have to work instead of hanging out with my baby.

~Feeling helpless when others are suffering, especially sick babies and children.

~Thinking about how much I miss my dad.

~Bad spelling (It doesn't make me sad...but it sure irritates the heck outta me)

~ When bad things happen to good people

~ When people don't get what they deserve (When they deserve something good, that is)

~ Wastefulness

~ Indifference

~ The 15th of every month (when most bills are due)

~Filling up my gas tank.

I tag: Moosh, Shazbomb

Corny

Peter drives by Sloughhouse near Auburn on his way home from work and today he saw that they were picking corn. He stopped by and bought a few ears that they'd just picked this morning. What a difference fresh corn makes. The corn was so light and sooo sweet I didn't need to even think about butter. And I can't think of another way to say right now, the kernels were crispy juicy---they were firm, but as soon as you bit in, the juice just squirted out. So yummy. Even Lauren got in on the action scraping at the cob with her two bottom teeth.

It'll be a fun diaper change tomorrow.

SCRUB!

I went to play tennis with my sister again today and I really got into it. My forehand was buzzing and my backhand was popping. Not bad, considering it's only the second time I've played after a 2 year tennis layoff. My sister was impressed, Peter yelled instructions from the sidelines, my mom, who was pushing Lauren around the park in her stroller, cheered from where she was watching just outside the court.

In the middle of a rally, my sister sliced at the ball, sending it just over the net. I ran towards the net from the baseline with visions of Venus Williams in my head. I reached my racket out and but then my feet wouldn't move!!! Suddenly I was moving in slow motion. I guess my feet got tangled up and I SLOWLY pitched forward, first falling on my knees, and then ON MY FACE with my arms outstretched in front of me.

How embarrassing.

I was in shock and just laid there face down on the court giggling. At first it was just my pride that was wounded but when Peter helped me up he wiped blood of my forehead. BLOOD! I had a cut about an inch from my eye. Upon further inspection I found skinned bleeding knees (despite wearing long pants) and my wrists and knees began to throb. My sister poured ice cold water from her thermos onto my knees and I screamed in pain. Lauren thought I was laughing so she started clapping! Yay Mommy! That was cool! Do it again!

I'm ok. I'm achy but I feel like a boxer with the cool bandage near my right eye. Maybe next time I'll stick to tennis on the Wii.

Wet Cleanup on Aisle 4

You know that person at the grocery store with the uncontrollable screaming baby?

That was me.

You know that kid that reaches out from the shopping cart to grab stuff off of shelves when mom's not looking?

That was Lauren.

You know the annoyed custodian that has to come out to aisle 4 to clean up 3 broken jars of baby food?

That was who I was trying to avoid eye contact with.

I bet my mom won't want to take me to the commissary with her ever again.

Don't Eat My Face!

With Lauren's first birthday party coming up, I've been swept up in party planning craziness. I love me a big party! Problem is, I get carried away sometimes and need someone to reel me in.

For example, I've been trying to think of an alternative to the party goody bag. A bag filled with candy and cheap toys that kids are going to play with for 5 minutes and then throw away? There's gotta be something cooler than that.

I thought I'd found the answer. Did you know that you can order M&M's with your face printed on them? How cool is that? I've seen the personalized M&M's you can print names, dates, or sayings on, but this is a whole 'nother level of personalization. I headed to the website this morning to order some. What could be cuter than pink and purple M&M's with Lauren's gummy smiley face on them?

I uploaded the photos, chose the colors, and was about to check out when WHOA! 162$ for a 5 lb box? or 12.99 per itty bitty 7 oz bag? I thought about it for a moment and saved my order for later. I'd have to think about it first.

Later at lunch, I was discussing the M&M's with my coworker and she simply said, "I'd feel weird eating something with someone's face on it. "

'nuff said. No more M&M's. Don't eat my baby!

Feeding Time

Lauren won't let us feed her unless she gets to hold a spoon too. She likes to move the food around on her tray with it. Sometimes she dips the spoon into her food and it goes straight for her hair, her ear, or the mouth of whoever is feeding her...everywhere but her own mouth. At least she likes to share!

It's yummy daddy, try it!

Two Crazy Guys In Makeup

Last weekend was spent with two of my favorite guys in makeup. On saturday night, we watched Eddie Izzard's show in San Francisco where I laughed so hard I cried. My siblings and I (and Peter) went for our annual Family Show. You see, every year my brother buys tickets to a show for all members of the family for our birthdays. It saves him the trouble of shopping and it gives us all a chance to hang out on the town together one night a year. Last year it was Jersey Boys, this year it was Eddie Izzard. He really is brilliant (not in a faux wanna-be-British "Brilliant!" but really...he's so smart and a brilliant genius comedian). If you're into smart comedy, check him out (D.L. Hughley he's not).

While we were in San Francisco, we saw another crazy guy in makeup: the Joker in Batman: the Dark Night (in IMax, too! Woo!). An Excellent movie. I'm glad Maggie Gyllenhal is in it too. And there's not much else to say that hasn't been said about Heath Ledger, one of my favorite actors since Ten Things I Hate About You.

PS. Thanks Mom for watching Lauren while we were out gallavanting around the city!!!

Who's got your number?

Have you ever had your credit information stolen? It just happened to me! I received a call regarding unauthorized charges on my Corporate Card--somebody was trying to use it in Korea! Obviously, I wasn't in Korea so the bank rejected the charges worth thousands of dollars even though 1 charge of $540 went through (I won't be liable for it though, they're going to credit it back to me). Scary, isn't it?

Thankfully, this card was the credit card issued by the University and I'm only supposed to use it for work related expenses. The last time I used it was in May for my training class in Santa Clara. My coworker also attended that class and paid for registration with her own personal credit card. Now get this: HER credit card info was ALSO stolen! Somebody tried to makes charges on her account in Detroit!

We've already contacted the company where we took the class from (it's a pretty big company, a division of Hewlett Packard) and somewhere down the line, somebody stole our info from them because it's the only time that we used our cards at the same place. Kinda makes you think who's got your number? Do you use your credit card alot for online shopping? For gas? At restaurants? Can you really trust that cashier at the McDonald's Drive-thru? Makes me want to pay cash for EVERYTHING, nevermind the convenience of check cards or credit cards.

Now to explain the $540 for "breakfast" in Korea that just showed up on my University Expense Report...

Telemarketer's Suck!

We didn't have our new phone number for more than 3 hours when the phone rang. When I checked the caller ID it was an 800 number. Sheesh! Nobody but me, the phone guy, and the phone company had the number and ALREADY we had a telemarketer calling.

Erg!

Note to anyone trying to reach us: It's best to use our cell/mobile. The only people who call us on the landline are our moms...and sometimes we avoid those..hehe. Especially when they call early in the morning. Sorry moms! No calls before 7 am! haha.

Careful with your Crocs

Just wanted to remind Crocs wearers out there about the dangers of Crocs and escalators. Being a new disciple of the Fugly but oh so comfy shoes, andhaving recently been on an escalator wearing them, I thought I'd check to see if the rumors about crocs and escalators are true (they are). Check out this article to read about it (make sure to click through and read the Consumer Reports article about safety recommendations.) I just started wearing these shoes and so far I really like them (and Peter does too)Most likely we will not give them up...we're just going to be careful on escalators.

Blah blah blog..

Last week, my sister-in-law wore a tshirt with "I Don't Care About Your Blog" printed on it. "Shirley you don't mean Lauren's blog," I said (and no, her name's not Shirley). She assured me that she reads it often with the kids...it's those other ones she doesn't care about.

She got me thinking about who exactly is reading this...and sometimes I forget that other people are looking. Duh, of course other people are reading, it's a BLOG! But really, a large part of why I started this was to keep a sort of journal or baby book for my own personal remembrance. It's great because I can look back and remember when she started crawling...and when she went out for her first trip to the mall...etc. etc. I'm really flattered when I hear from a faraway cousin or a coworker "I ready Lauren's blog the other day and....yada yada yada." REALLY? You all really still check in? A friend truthfully told me once that she doesn't really read it...she only likes looking at the pictures, which is totally fine...I've got LOTS to share!

Oh, and while we're on the subject of blog readers, Lauren would like to give a big shoutout to her peeps out there from Manila to Alabama. Lauren says "YO!" and "abvoooszzhhh!"

Weekend in the City

We had a busy weekend. It started with a trip to Novato to visit my brother and his recently operated-on ankle (he's got pins and things going through his leg...OUCH!). We then traversed south on the 101 to visit with Peter's brother in San Francisco where we enjoyed a delicious dinner at an Indonesian restaurant. After spending Sunday morning partying on the rooftop and watching the Bay to Breakers we mosied on down the 280 to Cupertino to visit with Peter's cousin and her family. Lauren got to play with her cousin Bennett while I attended a training class in Santa Clara about the exciting and scintillating world of Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry Instrument Maintenance and Troubleshooting. We then headed back home Monday night. Very Busy. Very Tired. Very Fun! (well, except for the training class).

She really is your best friend, Ed. She's just playing hard to get.







Watching the runners/walkers trudge up the hill during Bay to Breakers.










Cover Your Eyes, Lauren!!!

Green Day

Well, today being Earth Day, I guess I'll jump onto the "Going Green" bandwagon. Although, the whole Earth Day thing is starting to get annoying...especially when you know people don't really mean it.

For example, we had a Vendor Fair today at work where different vendors gathered in a big room to see who could attract our business by giving away the coolest SWAG. By the end of the fair, I was pretty sick of all these companies with their GO GREEN! marketing plans....for example, one prominient office supply vendor asked us to GO GREEN! by not putting in an order until our total reaches 50$ to minimize shipping costs and packing materials. Ummmmm....if you wouldn't ship a 6 pack of sharpie pens that's about as big as my hand in a HUGE 12 x 12 x 12 box filled with styrofoam peanuts, maybe THAT would be a better way to GO GREEN! rather than ask us to spend more money! Erg... Also, the same vendor was giving out free pens! Individually wrapped! In a Plastic Bag! That contained more marketing materials printed on non-recyclable shiny glossy paper! GO GREEN! indeed.

Another vendor tried to convince me that buying from their local company would reduce emissions and transportation costs. I declined one of their HUGE 5 inch thick catalogs (it probably took a whole tree to print the things, I kid you not, it was about 1000 pages) and told the rep I'd rather browse the catalog online. I explained that we're trying to minimize getting paper catalogs and he kinda looked at me funny like it was a novel idea.

I'm not going to let them get to me though, I am interested in preserving the environment, so I guess whatever brings that issue to the forefront is commendable, no matter what the underlying commercial gain is...better than nothing, right? On that note, here's a cool list of 50 ways to Go GREEN!...little things that you and I can do to help out Mama Earth. I like # 17 (woot woot!)

http://www.wireandtwine.com/green/50/

Lake Tahoe

We spent the weekend at Lake Tahoe with some of my friends (my mom and sister came along too). Lauren went from snow bunny to poolside cutie and Peter and I had a bit of casino action too.

I wish I looked this good in a bikini!

A Long Week

It's been a long, eventful week.

Where shall I start? Well, it all began the middle of last week. Peter came down with either food poisoning or the stomach flu. Because we weren't sure what it was, I packed the baby up and we headed to my mom's house just in case Peter was contagious. It's a good thing we did, because it ended up being the stomach flu. My mom and I actually caught a mild case of it but luckily Lauren did not have any symptoms. Unluckily both Peter and my sister were out of commission for about 4 days and I ended up staying at my mom's for most of that time.

We then had to travel to Los Angeles due to a death in the family. It was a long drive but Lauren did so well in the car. She fussed a little as expected, but for the most part she was such a good girl that we only had to take one break during the 7 hour drive. While we were there, Lauren's not quite 2 year old cousin contracted pneumonia and ended up in the hospital (poor kid...but he's doing much better now, thankfully). To be safe, we had to avoid all contact with him and instead of spending some time with the family, we ended up at a hotel. The only bright spot of the trip was that Lauren got to meet her Great Grandma for the very first time. The drive back seemed even longer just because we were so tired, but Lauren again was a trooper and we stopped only once on the way back so she could stretch her little legs.

Exhausted after a long week...

To top it all off, my mom was in a nasty car accident while we were away (she's ok, but suffered whiplash and has some back pains). Whew, I'm glad this week is almost over!

Grandma's poor car...