All About Chloe

From Facebook:

"People need to understand that children with special needs don't have an illness, there is no cure & it's not contagious. They only want what we all want, to be accepted. Most people probably won't copy and paste this. Will you do it and leave it on your status for at least an hour? It's Special Education week, and this is in honor of all the kids who need a little extra help & understanding."

Meet Chloe. The most adorable 5 year old girl. She has down syndrome, but don't let that fool you. She is smart as a whip, and cute as a button. She is an extreme cuddle bug, she LOVES gold fishes, she has few words but the biggest heart. She loves piggy back rides, being tickled, giant bear hugs, and most of all, she loves your attention :) She has sweet dance moves and a curiosity for the ducks. This is Chloe's day at Irvine Park. Enjoy.

She has the most awesome dance moves! I mean really, Look at her!! I love it!!

Look at this sweet face. I adore her.

Funniest part of the day was this photo. Don't let it fool you, she had a great time--see the one below. She is all smiles. But this picture, ohhhh this picture, it was priceless.

See! All smiles =D

Kelsey + Ben [Teasers]

With no Cell reception, we found them.

With lots of sun, we shot them.

With lots of laughs, we loved them.

With lots of smiles, we captured them.

To Kelsey & Ben, Just a little Tease ;)

Babybagoo + A Tutu or Two

Tutus, hats, and wings galore. Its BabyBagoo! Custom Children's attire handmade to order.

When asked to do a shoot for Babybagoo we jumped at the opportunity. Not only is this a friends business (gotta support our friends!) it was so much fun to take a step back in time and remember how fun it was to run around in a tutu!! Oh nostalgia, how I love thee! But really, how adorable are these outfits!?? Hands down I would choose the zebra with wings. I mean who wouldn't want to be a flying zebra? Although Jerod would not approve. Perhaps for halloween I will surprise him in one ;) That would go over well LOL. Check them out. Tessa, our model was the cutest thing ever. Who knew M&M's and a Pony ride would be enough bribery to get a child to model. Note: I did not say "sit still", but model she did, and she did it well.

Sarah + Drew [Teasers]

5 hours in Santa Monica. Check.

Drinks at an English Pub. Check

Warning not to Poop. Check

Photos at the pier. Check

Graffiti wall. Check

Half Naked Man w/ Snakes. Check

Drinks at an Irish Pub. Check

Awesome Shoot day with our even more awesome friends. Double Check!!

Sneak Peek for Sarah + Drew. Thats all you get. More to come ;)

Funnybone Magoo

Meet Magoo. Aka HoebagMcSlutty. Aka my sister. I enjoy calling her bizarre names for no reason other than I find them amusing :) These are her many faces. Most of which I see on a regular basis. No joke. She enjoys long walks on the beach, drinking wine by the fire, lean cuisines and diet coke, her little puppy Elle Woods (Yes, like the movie), and her most favoritist older sister, Yours Truly. She enjoys playing "too close for comfort" with Jerod, and has recently found her funny bone. No, not the real definition of funny bone, but the abstract "I found my sense of humor" funny bone ;) She has quick one liners, has used Jerod's own jokes against him (well played my dear, well. played.) and no longer takes offense to jokes told at her expense.

So Cheers to you Magoo. You're Funny!

Its My Party & I'll Cry If I want To!

So this past weekend I celebrated my birthday, and it was by far my most favoritest birthday ever! I had a surpise party/DANCE Party in my living room, a nose gash, annnnd an Earthquake. Oh yeah, and I was spoiled with some fun camera gear. What more could a girl ask for?!

Ironically, I was not looking forward to my birthday in any which way or form. I have this thing about birthdays. I have always pre-planned/contemplated the birthdays/years I was going to like the most. I know, I know, how can you possible know which ones are going to be the best?? Its weird. Yes I know. But I always have had this thing against odd numbered birth years. Last year I was 26, and it was a good year, it really was! This year I turned 27, an odd number, something I was not looking forward to, and on top of that, it was on Easter. So I entered my birthday weekend in a bad mood. Not to mention, having a fat day and a bad hair day was not helping.

Friday night Jerod took me to dinner, to Opah's of course. We sat on the patio, drank some wine, and enjoyed a romantic dinner together. We had plans later that night to go to, where else, but the Gaslamp to see Knyght Ryder! Only the BEST 80's cover band ever -- thanks to Becca for introducing me to them =) . As we leave the restaurant I start texting my multiple friends that were coming to be at my house by 9:00, even though we wouldn't leave until 9:30. Most of them are usually late (sorry guys, you know its true! LOL) and I wanted to make sure we got in this year! (previous year we went, & the birthday girl -me- did not get in!!!).. When we pulled up to the house, my sister's car was already there..an hour early. Hmm. Weird, but then I decided maybe she was just bored, or wanted to borrow my clothes. So I blew it off. Once we were in the driveway, I must have been looking down, because I almost didn't notice everyone was there in the driveway with giant letters spelling out HAPPYBIRTHDAY! I was SO surprised! They all got there right when we left for dinner, decorated my house, lit candles everywhere, had balloons in my favorite colors!! (Black, Green & Purple), and heated the pool! Now thats a party!

We drank champagne, danced in the living room to everything from Michael Jackson (the Beat it dance is a must) to AC/DC to Hanson, yes Hanson. I know all the girls out there reading this loved the MMmmm BOP! How could you not ;) We canon balled into the pool, I nose dived into the pool --a tragic mess. Which leads me to this:

note to self: never dive from the jacuzzi into the pool even if you think you can make it through the floaty tube. Chances are, you will successfully make it through the tube (which I did! With my bathing suit intact!!) but you are also most likely to smash your face at the bottom of the pool, resulting in a lovely gash on your nose (which I also did :o/ ) ..Leaving you with a lovely scab and fat nose for the rest of your birthday weekend. The end.

In light of my pool incident, I did not really smash my face, I just grazed the bottom at the right angle ;) I did have an AWESOME time. So cheers to the most amazing husband, the best friends in the whole world, the bottom of my pool for giving me this beautiful scab, and mothernature for shakin things up a bit. Welcome to your late twenties Lauren! ;)

See! Fun Stuff!

DANCE PARTY!!!!

Delicious Flour-less cake! MMmm

A One, Two, Three Strikes Your Out at the Old Ball Game | ihavethoughts... v6

Early morning inspiration… ya right!!... I barely have enough energy in the morning to comprehend the “error message” spelled out in gibberish on the coffee maker so inspiration that early is usually way off in the horizon but this morning seemed different. Most likely influenced by the start of baseball season (GO Angels!!), I started to ponder life and business in baseball terms and all the sudden the complexities became simple. Life became a series of at-bats or pitches rather than an entire season. Lately, life has been in a bit of a slump, not a “grow a homeless beard” or “not wash your underwear for months” kind of slump but more a general lack of enthusiasm toward the next at-bat.

(WARNING.. Baseball terms ahead... lol)

For a while, I was batting great; double, triples and a few homeruns, but all of the sudden nothing. It’s like the pitchers found kryptonite and started to take advantage of my weaknesses. I didn’t see anymore inside fastballs that I crushed to the upper deck; all I saw was a wicked split-finger that had a bottom that dropped out like a piano from the 5th floor and I whiff it like a fool. After about a week repetitive embarrassment and a severely punctured ego, I started to lack the confidence to even swing. So instead of looking like a fool, I started to take pitches. At first I drew a few walks... a couple shimp (baseball for poorly hit ball) singles to left field but this did not last for long. After about two games, the pitchers started back up with the heat (baseball for fastball). I used to hammer that pitch out of the park but I was still standing there, blown confidence, staring at the fastballs wizzing by for yet another backwards “K” (baseball for strikeout looking).

Now I’ve got a real dilemma, I can’t hit the split-finger and can’t hit the fastball either. My strikeouts are mounting and I am coming to the realization that looking at a fastball for strike three is more embarrassing than swing at nothing but air. Sooo… back to swinging at air. A few games went by and those Ks started to rack up but out of nowhere a hard hit double, then a single up the middle then another double. Something had changed, I started to see the ball again and I was starting to hit it well but the weird thing was I could now hit the fastball and that dreaded split-finger. Wait… what just happened!?!?!... I can hit the splitter and the fastball now!!!?!??!.... SWEET!!... My confidence rose and so did the doubles and homeruns.

Then I had the epiphany… even though I may have been striking out every at-bat I was learning how to hit that dreaded split-finger with every swing. So even though my efforts weren’t immediately rewarded at the moment they paid off in the end with the ability to hit both pitches. Now I’m a better hitter overall and I can attribute that to all those embarrassing strikeouts. Striking out is just part of evolving as a player. It’s a vital part of the next step as a player or in life. For now on, I’m not going to be embarrassed with striking out as long as I go down swinging. I’ll take a strikeout swinging any day because I know I will learn something along the way.

Now its time for the curveball…