I’m so excited! In 2 1/2 hours, Paul is taking me to the airport so I can get on a plane and fly, far away from the House of Twins. I’m going to the Sony Mommy Blogger event in Southern California, where they are NOT expecting 4 to 8 inches of snow by tomorrow morning! I’m joining a bunch of other cool mommy bloggers to check out some new products from Sony, including the Sony Cybershot DSCW170, Sony Alpha DSLRA350 Digital SLR Camera, and the Sony HDR-SR11 10MP 60GB High Definition Hard Drive Handycam Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom. Quite a step up from my 6-year-old, 4 megapixel Sony Cybershot.

I’m also really excited about meeting with photography expert Me Ra Koh. We’ll be shooting pictures on the beaches of La Jolla, and honestly, I’m tripping out a little bit that I’m getting to go somewhere beautiful to do fun things with cool people, all because of my blog. Is that just crazy?

And! I’m really, REALLY excited about meeting up with my girl Julie! I’ve only seen her a handful of times since she moved to Sacramento, and then, San Diego. Julie! Denver misses you! I’ll be back Friday night, but actually – I’ll probably blog the whole time I’m gone, since I’m taking my laptop and all that. And I’m going to try to take lots of pictures and upload them to Flickr, too, so check ‘em out!

Um…I moved this post from my other blog, so I just c/p’d the original comments below. Lazy!

Comments:
5 Comments posted on “Sony Mommy Blogger Event”

Erica on April 16th, 2008 at 11:14 am #

You will have a blast! The San Diego area is the perfect place for photography – and the weather.. oh I miss that sunshine!

SadieCass on April 16th, 2008 at 11:36 am #

That’s great, LAura!! I hope you have a blast!! Drool over those cameras for me, would you? I’d kill to go to that event!!

SadieCass’s last blog post..A quick mention?

Kim from Utah on April 16th, 2008 at 11:46 am #

Don’t forget to put on sunscreen!

Domestic Chicky on April 16th, 2008 at 1:17 pm #

Yay!! Can’t wait! Have a safe trip-see you there!!

Domestic Chicky’s last blog post..On my way..

BigHeavy on April 16th, 2008 at 2:31 pm #

Awesome!!!

BigHeavy’s last blog post..Holy Father

A month or so ago, I ordered a DVD for Pablo from a series called Spectrum Connections. The series is designed for children on the autism spectrum, and each DVD is based on using music therapy as a way to connect with children and help them learn new concepts. The DVD we ordered was all about emotions, and it had some great songs about feeling sad and mad and happy and silly. Pablo communicates and understands fairly well through music, which I think is fairly typical for autistic kids. We really liked the DVD and I was planning to order more.

Anyway. Fast forward to today, when I was on my new favorite blog, Redefining Perfect, and discovered that this series is now being marketed under the name Bounce and is being shown on the cable channel Sprout, with LOTS of episodes available for free right this very minute on OnDemand! Dude! We are sitting right down and watching them all. These are FANTASTIC for autistic kids and for typical kids as well. The one we just watched helps teach a coping mechanism for when kids are feeling “scared because there are so many kids and noise” – holding up their hand and saying, “Break!” I think I might be able to teach that to Pablo fairly easily. Awesome show. Here’s the press release from the Spectrum Connections website:

Created under the guidance of autism professionals and leading family entertainment producers, BOUNCE is hosted by certified music therapist Elizabeth Balzano. “We created BOUNCE for children with autism and related disorders,” said Executive Producer David Snyder, President of Brandissimo! Inc . ”We quickly found that all children love and learn from the series.”

BOUNCE is a 5-title developmental series that encourages cognitive and social learning through music, fun and established teaching tools. Titles include “Let’s Go!”, “Let’s Talk!”, “Emotions”, “Body Movement”, and “Routines”. 8 additional titles are in development for completion in 2009.

Each episode of Bounce! finds host Elizabeth Balzano and her music class exploring a new preschool developmental topic through music. Every Bounce song is carefully constructed to be fun, engaging and contain numerous opportunities for repetition, modeling and practice. Song content is reinforced with quizzes and real world examples. “For each DVD, we carefully selected “building block” topics relevant to all early learners, but ones that children with autism and delays have especial difficulty with,” said Snyder. “For example, recognizing and understanding emotions is important for all children to learn – and especially difficult for children on the spectrum.”

The Spectrum Connections BOUNCE brand is the first to bring the concept of inclusion (the practice of educating all or most children in the same classroom, including children with physical, mental, and developmental disabilities) into children’s entertainment. “All children learn the same things, but at different speeds,” said Snyder. “BOUNCE is about exploring universal themes like Routines and Talking through songs and interactivity. It’s pure entertainment rooted in the science of music therapy and child development techniques.”

Currently in development of eight new titles under the Spectrum Connections’ BOUNCE brand, Bounce is the 2007 winner of the IParenting Media Award and is approved by the Dove Foundation and the American Music Therapy Association. This year, Elizabeth will be performing at Autism Speaks Walks around the country.**

You can also check out clips right on their website. And! You can win the entire set of DVDs right here on Sadie’s site! She’s been in communication with the creators of the series, and they’ve generously offered up a whole set of DVDs for a giveaway she’ll be doing soon. Ooooh, I hope I win. Go check it out!

I’m not much of a beer snob. I know plenty of people turn their noses up at piss-beer like Budweiser and Coors Light, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s all good. I enjoy a nice Fat Tire when I’m in the mood for it, but I can drink a whole lot of watery Sprite-like beer too. And this is my latest obsession: Bud Light Chelada – it’s beer mixed with Clamato. I first had it at Paul’s niece’s house a couple of weeks ago, and when I first heard about it, I thought the very idea was just horrifying. I’m not a tomato juice fan. I’ll add a little Clamato to my ceviche, but that’s it. And mixing it with beer? HEEB. But I’m here to tell you, it’s heavenly. It’s so crazy good! I drank four of them at Paul’s niece’s house the Saturday before Easter, and spent a full week obsessing about it in my head until I finally made Paul’s friend go buy me a single can at the supermarket when they bought brats on Sunday. I drank the whole thing, and felt so good and happy inside. Last night, while we were on the sofa watching Medium, all I could think about was how good one of those Cheladas would be! Screw ice cream. I want a giant tomato beer. So, I popped into the liquor store today and bought myself a little four-pack. Yay! I’ve been thinking about it all afternoon, too. Kind of pathetic, really. It’s the little things, I guess!

The other night, I spent a delightful evening with some of my favorite gals. We started out at someone’s house, drinking mimosas and talking about trying to get pregnant. Pretty weird being in a room full of women and being the only one NOT hoping to get sperminated! I offered to let them rub me for good luck, but nobody took me up on it. Maybe they were afraid they’d have twins?

After hanging out for a little while, we headed over to Northfield and had dinner at a place called La Sandia Mexican Kitchen and Tequila Bar. The ladies with me had all been here before and had great things to say about it. As soon as I opened the menu, though, I knew it was the kind of restaurant I just can’t get into – they serve yuppie Mexican food! I know people just can’t get enough of grilled chicken, black beans and pomegranate margaritas, but dude. Give me a Tecate and some pork green chile and pinto beans cooked in lard, and I am a happy chick. My friend Courtney was even laughing at me a little – she’s married to a Mexican guy too, and she complained about the “authentic” Mexican food that HE loves. She said, “It’s all just GREASE! Grease on a plate!” YEAH, baby. That’s what I’m talkin’ about! I was trying to find a website for the place, and stumbled across this review of the restaurant by an 8th grade girl – I loved reading this! I’m a little partial to girls that age, since I have one of my own. You can call them snarky if you want, but doggone it, they tell it like it is.

I still enjoyed my dinner. How could I not enjoy myself, listening to Courtney and her college friend sharing tales about their drunken days at ASU? It was an awesome night! And the guacamole was superb, even if the waiter asked if we wanted to make it ourselves. As if! That’s all I DO is cook for people! But, yeah. I should have just gotten the seared tuna salad. I’m a picky little thing, aren’t I?

I can’t blame Paul completely, though. Even though he is one picky Mexican, our tastes have always been very similar. I’m sure it comes from having grown up in a small little town where everyone’s mama served dinner every night with beans and tortillas. I’ve always loved hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants, and it’s just hard for me to embrace a Mexican restaurant where they don’t serve Horchata. I’m a reverse food snob!