Real estate notes, music, photos, and us oh my!

Wine Festival

Hey New Mexicans,

Labor Day weekend is upon us, and you know what that means, it's time for the 19th Annual Bernalillo Wine Festival. So if you aren't headed to the lake go and enjoy, there are plenty of activities for the whole family (by now you have probably figured out the main one, make sure you have a designated driver).

For now,

Lauri

New Photos

Hello,

As I promised a few days ago, I have finally put up our Professional portfolio. Feel free to check out the new and old photos. In the next few days I will add a few more.

For Now,

Lauri

IN THE NEWS

MIKE TYSON IS A SIDE SHOW

If you were to meander your way through the Vegas Strip looking for one of the famous dollar drinks or  perhaps to win your next million on one of those Vegas Black Jack tables, or perhaps you just want to find the ever changing Vegas attractions, you have a fair share of Casinos to choose from. Rumor has it that if you are tired or tigers and dolphins you can stop by The Aladdin and find Mike Tyson "training" in a fighting ring right in the middle of the casino.

After many ups and downs in the past few years (including the infamous ear biting incident) 40 year old Tyson is in need of money to pay off the creditors he owes money to. Reportedly he has said that he has no interest in fighting again but as he has need of money he has decided to take The Aladdin up on their offer to have him as an attraction throwing a few swings while "training" with his trainer in the ring. For more check here Tyson Story.

WORLD'S OLDEST PERSON DIES

ECUADOR:  Maria Esther de Capovilla, 116, died Sunday after contracting pneumonia. She was born on Sept. 14 (which also happens to be my son's birthday) in 1889. Born the same year as Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler, married the year the U.S. entered World War 1, and widowed in 1949. Her family had expected to celebrate her 117 birthday soon unfortunately she didn't quite make it. But to be quite honest, She probably had an amazing life. Imagine all the things she must have seen. For more on her story look here USA Today.

PAINTINGS RECOVERED AFTER TWO YEARS

"The Scream" and "Madonna" masterpieces by the great artist Edvard Munch have been recovered after two years. In August of 2004 they were stolen at gun point from the Munch Museum in Oslo. For more check here USA Today.

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

AUSTRIA: A confused bank robber attempted to rob a bank but mistakably ran into the town hall yelling that it was a stick up. For more on this and many more wacky stories look here The Alibi.

For Now

Lauri

A baby in need pt 5

Hey all,

Guess what, the baby is back home as of yesterday! The stitches are being taken out today after a checkup from the cardiologist. Thanks for all the support.

For now,

Lauri

Our Wedding

I was going through some old and not so old photos looking for favorites when of course I had to stop and look at wedding pictures. The people in the first photo are my mom (left) myself (duh) and a very close family friend Carol (right) who took all of the other photos from the wedding that I uploaded for your viewing pleasure along with being the biggest help during our wedding (thanks Randy and Carol).

What a day. We wanted to be wed outside at the farm where my horse Khali was being boarded at. I know it may seem somewhat stupid to those of you who are still getting to know me (which is quite a few) but my horse has played quite a huge part in my life (as I will explain some other time), and I thought it would be beautiful to have a few pictures taken with him. He is after all a beautiful animal and horses have and always will be a life long passion of mine so a farm wedding was only befitting. Dwayne didn't object and it was beautiful.

I happen to be extremely in love with my husband and have been for the 7 years we have been together (well I have to admit that I loved him even before we were a couple when it was just a friendship). He puts up with a lot (as I am a very strong willed person) and never complains, and he actually loves my mom. You can't say that every son-in-law likes their mother-in-law nor does every daughter-in-law like their mother-in-law but we got very lucky on both planes. This is a picture of Dwayne dancing (which is rare) with my mom at the wedding. Isn't he cute?

This is a picture of my siblings who will probably kill me for posting a picture of them (as I didn't ask) but I like this picture too much to pass it up, we are never together at the same place at once... ever. (from left to right) Becci, Jason, and Shauna. Jason was the Best Man or actually one of two best men out of 4 groom's men and Shauna was one of my two Maids of Honor out of 4 brides maids (The other maid of honor was my friend Angel and The other best man was one of Dwayne's friends Effie) we had a really hard time choosing who would have what position in the wedding (sorry if anyone was hurt). Don't they look great though?

We had the typical wedding where just about anything that could go wrong, did. But it all worked out in the end (which by the way, we were the last ones to leave our own wedding, just an example).  Angel stayed the night with me after the rehearsal dinner so we could show up together and I wouldn't have to leave my car at the farm (which worked out great) and Dwayne stayed at his parents house and drove his mom's car so that we could sneak out of the wedding without anyone knowing what we were driving (not that it mattered, ha ha).  As Angel and I were on our way to the farm the cake guy (who was apparently 90 years old and hard of hearing) called to get directions for another man who was delivering the cake, big mistake. I was almost in tears after repeating myself (at the top of my lungs) for the twentieth time with the directions which weren't hard, and then proceeded to ask for the drivers number several times before Angel decided to take matters into her own hands and take the phone from me and yell (One time by the way) at the guy, who promptly gave her the drivers number (thank you Angel). We got to the farm just as she finished with "the hearing aid spokesman", ran in and started to get ready for pictures being sure to avoid Dwayne (which actually did go right). However, when you are getting married and there is a communal building for the women to get ready in, be prepared to not only have pictures taken of you while half naked (normal) but every one in the family, male or female, feel it necessary to come in and talk to you while you are getting dressed (lucky for me I'm not that shy). Oh, and the building we were getting ready in was also where the buffet would be and the guys running the buffet did not feel the need to knock. The DJ had a flat tire and showed up 5 minutes to time for the wedding to start and somehow managed to miraculously set up in less than 10 minutes (In the words of Guido from Disney's Cars "Pit Stop")! And later on some key members of the wedding party kept going missing during pictures, so we didn't get to spend more than a few minutes with the guests (some of which left before we had finished with our bride and groom pictures) because we were looking for those members of the wedding party for pictures. In the end we danced with a few of our closest family and friends and had a wonderful time. At the time it felt as though the sky was falling with all the mishaps, but looking back now... I wouldn't change it for the world. What's like with out a few deaf cake men?

You gotta love Oprah

For those of you who melt when someone big helps someone small like I do, be sure to watch Oprah today. It is the ANGEL LANE episode, where she gives 12 Katrina victims (let me rephrase that, 12 families who were victims of Hurricane Katrina) fully furnished homes in Houston, Texas.  All of which are located on the properly named Angel Lane (named for her charity, The Angel Network) For more on the show check this link: The Oprah Show.

IN THE WORDS OF MARTHA "IT'S A GOOD THING"

Hello world,

Last night while Dwayne and I did our ritualistic veggitative state watching TV last night, I saw a show that I thought might spread a little cheer. No, it wasn't anything on the food network! TBS had a show called worlds funniest commercials or at least something like that. Some of them had me rolling (keep in mind I am 34 weeks pregnant, now theres a visual), check it out.

For Now

Lauri

Where Have All The Parents Gone?

I have a question. Before I get to the question I have a short story to tell you. I found this appalling and would like to know if I am the only one bothered by this, so please leave a comment if you feel the need.

A few days ago Dwayne and I stopped at our local Target before heading off to a house warming. Of course the first thing I had to do was run off to the restroom as that seems to the only thing pregnant women can count on to be a definite event at least every five seconds. As I entered the restroom the first thing that I and every other person (which was at the very least 11 other people) noticed was a small 5 year old child in one of the stalls screaming her head off. At first, I thought that her mother had taken her in there to reprimand her so that she wouldn't make a scene in the store. But as I finished my business and went to leave the restroom a few of her inaudible words became audible

"I want my mommy!!!"

I looked around the room to find that, though a few people had noticed, no one was doing anything other than looking moderately concerned or shaking there heads and leaving. It didn't take long to figure out which stall the little girl was in, even from where I stood on the other end of the bathroom I could see two bare and filthy feet, as they were covered in her own fecal matter (apparently she had diarrhea). She had kicked off her sandals and her underwear which were laying on the floor next to a pile of and covered in you know what. Out side of the stall stood another small girl (about 6 or 7 years old) guarding the door looking very uneasy. So to show my disgust with other peoples lack of concern I let every one know she actually had a problem.

"Does anyone know where her mom is?" heads shook no in response.

"Is anyone aware that she has pooped all over herself and the floor and crying for her mom?" yet again heads shook no in response.

One woman decided to help asking the sobbing child through the door if she knew where her mom was. The girl cried no. So I asked the little girl outside the stall (Who we found out later was the 5 year olds cousin) if she knew where the girls mom was, she said that she didn't. The only thing that she did know was that mom was shopping.

I asked the kind woman to stay there with them and said that I would get the female security guard and have her page the girl's mom. She agreed to do so and I wandered off to find security, who in turn got the store manager (also a woman).  She paged the mom and guess what?!?!? Not only had mom left a 5 year old and a 6 year old to go to the restroom by themselves (which by the way was right next to the stores entrance and exit where they could have easily been dragged out and had God knows what done to them) but she had two other adult women and a teenage girl with her shopping!! That little girl had been screaming for at least 20 minutes by the time mom and friends showed up (looking pissed that she had her name paged across the store) who knows how long they had been in the bathroom, but I guarantee no one from that group had gone to check on those 2 small kids!! I'm still fuming about it.

Now for my question, What ever happened to parents that give a damn? Where have all the parents gone? When will it ever occur to any of these people that these children (who they gave birth to and consider to be either an inconvenience or a subject not important enough to worry about) are not only their responsibility but THEIR FLESH AND BLOOD!!! Furthermore, OUR CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE! Whether any of them believe it or not, what we choose as a way of parenting will mold our futures as the elderly. So many parents out there seem to be teaching their kids that the only thing in life that counts is taking care of numero uno. And no, I'm not saying to teach kids to be pushovers, but what is wrong with them growing up caring about someone else at least once in a while?  We are raising future leaders, presidents, doctors, mechanics (yes, they are important too, think about it. would you want someone who doesn't have a conscience working on your brakes?), teachers and so many more. Whatever they choose to be will still impact you in someway, even if it is the kid back on the grill at McDonalds. Your Medicare, Medicaid, physical and mental well being will eventually be decided upon by your children, how much do you think they will care about you if you don't give a damn about them?

For Now,

Lauri

IN THE NEWS

DRUNKEST CITY

Forbes.com has named Milwaukee the drunkest city. A few of the residents wanted to defend their beloved home town in this article from JS online. Also to be found in the top 5 were Boston and Austin. For any of you who are curious you can find out who America's Drunkest Cities are you can check out this link to Forbes.com. I just want to know how much time the person who comes up with these statistics has on their hands.

TAMPA TIGER GETS LOOSE

In Tampa's Lowery Park Zoo the other day a 14 year old tiger was accidentally loosed in the zoo. Apparently the zoo keeper had forgotten to lock the gate to Enshala, a Sumatran Tiger's, night house. Lucky for the zoo, the the exhibit was empty because the zoo was closing for the day, although there were a few people left in the zoo who were (quite obliviously) quickly escorted out or at least to safety. Unfortunately the Tiger had to be shot by the president of the zoo (who had known the tiger ever since it was a cub) when she made her way towards the zoo Veterinarian and a 7 foot wall which opened to the public. The Vet had shot her with a tranquilizer dart hoping to save the tiger but instead the dart just agitated the animal, leaving the president with no choice but to kill her. Rather unfortunately for the tiger and the forgetful zoo keeper there are some mistakes that can not be made and now the tiger is dead and the zoo keeper is looking at being charged for the accidental release. for more on this look here.

THIS WEEKS WHAT THE @*$*?

INDIANA

A group of 10 to 15 masked individuals entered a Taco Bell with trash bags holding an estimated 25,000 packets of hot sauce explaining with a note explaining that they had been collecting the hot sauce for a few years storing them in the trunk of a car but felt that it should all be returned. Believe it or not there was a police investigation on this. for more on this story and more check out The Alibi.com site.

For Now,

Lauri

Pregnant Album

Hello,

For those interested I have added a new album just for Pregnant picture rightfully named Pregnancy Pictures. Later on I will be adding a new album just for my professional portfolio.

Oh and while I was browsing today I found a fun weblog for parents, which by the way was a featured blog on Typepad.com yesterday called CityMama. Check it out.

For now,

Lauri