Lazy

I’ve been meaning to post for a few days, but I’ve had a serious case of procrastination. Or maybe I was bitten by the lazy bug – who can say? Since my last post, let’s see what’s happened…I turned 35, spent 3-4 days in Palm Springs, and missed Cori’s first word.

One thing at a time – my birthday was very nice. I’m really enjoying the Keurig single pod coffee maker! Unfortunately my impatience to get this item ruined what Dave had planned to get my as his gift. Whoops! So instead he got me alterations… romantic huh? Actually it is what I asked for. I had my first experience at a tailor, and suffice to say that the reason they treat you like royalty is that they think you have the bank account of royalty! Yikes. I should’ve paid more attention when my grandmother was teaching me to sew.

A few days after my birthday, I flew out to Palm Springs for work. Well, technically it was for work, but not much work was involved. And my refusal to pay $15 a day for internet access sealed the deal. This was for an award ceremony for top sales on a team in which I was a member. Thursday made for a long day with much time spent in airports and on flights. CA can feel as far away as France at times. But landing in 85 degree sunshine kind of makes you forget that. And coupled with prepaid spa treatments, pool side bloody marys and good food, it was pretty easy to relax! (Good thing another parternering company paid for this trip, considering I just took a week off to save my company money!)

On Saturday my dear friend Jennifer came to visit me from LA. We hung out by the pool and had some lunch and girl talk which was wonderful. Later on Jen took me to my first casino ever… That was quite an experience – both good and bad. I apparently had the wrong impression of what casinos are really like. For those of you who are “casino virgins” like I was, let me tell you what may and may not happen:

• People will not be dressed to the nines like George Clooney & Julia Roberts in Oceans Eleven. I felt over-dressed and should’ve worn jeans.
• You will not hear “clink clink click” of coins hitting the dispensing tray. If you win, you get a paper pay out ticket?!?! Where’s the fun in that….
• Not once did someone come up to me and offer to get me a drink from the bar.

The place REEKS of cigarette smoke – blah!

I think overall, I just had the wrong impression. We still had a blast, and played some bingo which should’ve made me Grandmother smile from the great beyond… Things sure have changed from the days I schlepped hard bingo cards at the Knights of Columbus. They have ELECTRONIC bingo!?! And all kinds of crazy configurations like “Chinese Kite” and “Crazy Rail Road”. I used to think playing 4 corners was flashy. But I did win $24 on the slots, which I promptly fed back into various machines. No biggie – I think I spent a total of $25 all night for a few hours of entertainment. In the spirit of channeling my Grandmother, I never won at bingo.

But there are some pictures scattered here of my hotel in Palm Springs and a cute picture of Jen and I at 4 AM as I was preparing to leave Sunday morning.

While I was gone, Cori spoke her first word! The magical word…. Kitty. But it sounds more like “gitty”. We always point to Zoe and say “kitty” when we see her – Cori is fixated on our cat which is funny because of course Zoe wants nothing to do with Cori. She tolerates her at best. But Cori pointed to Zoe and said “gitty”. What a proud moment! She’s always very talkative and babbles ma-ma and da-da over and over, but we never know if she gets what she is saying or not. But I think pointing to Zoe and saying “gitty” would qualify as her speaking with intent.

It’s just amazing how Cori seems to be turning into a little toddler from our baby. She is always trying to pull up onto her knees or feet. We think she may just skip regular crawling and go to walking. She still army crawls and has “regular” crawled at daycare but doesn’t seem to show much interest in it. Here’s a little video of her playing with her favorite new toy – her kitchen from Pop Pop & Grandma Kathy at Christmas. Sorry that you have to turn sideways half way through – Dave turned the camera.