smoky hair?

Ever find yourself in the situation where you get back at 1 AM from a karaoke dive bar that specializes in attracting both surprisingly amazing singers and chain-smokers? And you know you have to be at work taking care of children at 6:30 the next morning? what a coincidence, me too. To get smoke out of your hair, spray liberally with Febreze and blow-dry. It works better than actually washing your hair. And volumizes! Seriously, whoever invented Febreze deserves a Nobel prize. I don't even care if it's a science category, they should get the peace prize. Way more deserving than that fruit loop Al Gore. And for those keeping track, yes I am a semi-closeted karaoke junkie. It brightens my day... and hopefully yours.

Oh, and the makers of the tide stain removal pen should also get a prize.

things I love and hate.

I'm not creative today but I am feeling contemplative in a very self-centered and simple kind of way. Ergo, here's a simple love/hate list from me. Because of course you were dying to know. Only shallow things are included because you already know I love God/My Family/the USA and hate cancer/terrorism.

Things I love:

• Half Price Books
• reading cookbooks for fun
• Alfred Hitchcock movies (newly discovered love)
• English Muffins
• Goljan audio files (yay passive learning)
• Mondays. I'm not even kidding, they're my favorite
• getting up before sunrise
• big trees
• salsa bars (not to dance, like they have at taco cabana where you can mix and match salsas for your taco)
  

Things I hate:

• being less than 0.5 points away from the next grade up in Clinical Medicine AND Microbiology this year (Micro was less than 0.1)
• Lactose intolerance
• the egrets (or whatever) on our campus that poo all over the place and make it smell awful outside for 5 solid months out of the year
  
• picky eaters
• the speed limit signs that start to blink at you when you go 31 mph in a 30.
• the continued coverage of gas prices in the news. We don't need interviews with some random person complaining about gas prices. That isn't news. I see like ten gas stations on my way to school every day. I know that the rise in prices is annoying--there is no need to assign a reporter to cover the "gas crisis" unless there is actually something new to say.
• when I go running and get really sweaty and then I take a shower but I'm still sweating after the shower even though I used cold water so it's almost like I never showered at all.
  

i have the most recognizable face on earth*.

*That is if you went to elementary school with me. Over the past year or so, I have been recognized by three different people with whom I attended first grade (Las Colinas Elementary, Mrs. Miller's class 1990-91). I was not particularly close friends with any of them, and only one of them was in my actual first grade class. Two of the people were also named "Lauren". None of them recognized me in the same city where we went to school. Why is my 6 year old self so freakishly recognizable in my 23 year old self? Because I look almost exactly the same as I did when I was born. True, there have been slight changes (eg I no longer have bangs) but all in all I look exactly the same:
The next picture was taken when I was 4 or 5. I was a hipster before hipsters knew what it was to be hip. Now all the coolest people in Austin are wearing vintage t-shirts, high waisted jeans and suspenders with pageboy haircuts. All I need is some non-perscription oversized glasses and I'd be ready to start an indie rock band that did intensely-felt covers of pop songs (not because we couldn't come up with our own, but because we wanted to comment on the factory-production of pop stars and break down overproduced Britney songs to their core meaning, a stark and emotive crying-out for the overmanaged artists' needs: gimme gimme MORE, gimme MORE, gimme gimme MORE! More of what? you would begin to wonder... because that, my friends, is the real underlying question.This shot was taken at the age of 5: I know I look like I'm nearer to 10, but I know that this was taken in San Antonio so I was 5, tops. This is the only picture I have of myself with well-defined abs. I started swim team at age 4 because my sister Shannon was doing it and I wanted to tag along. That's why as a 5-year-old I had such great definition in my delts, biceps and abs. I think this picture may go in my gym locker to remind me that if I had a 6-pack once, I can get one again.
happy new year from lauren losefast.