I Wanna Be a Cover Girl!!

My parents tell me I was a beautiful baby. So beautiful that, apparently, I could have landed a modeling contract when I was two. And, been living a life of leisure, today, from all the money I made.

Yeah, right.

When I was 12, I landed a modeling gig for Sears. It paid $500 and I got to take the day off of school. I was told that it was for the catalogue the buyers used to choose which fashion lines would be carried in the stores the following season. It didn't sound very exciting, especially since no one would see it, but I got to miss school and pretend I was important, so I didn't care. (Several months later, during the holiday shopping season, my grandpa was in Sears picking out pajamas for my sister and I, and saw my face staring back at him from thousands of packages of PJ's.) That was my funny 15 seconds of fame.

I've never had a burning desire to be a model. Not really. Well, maybe a little.

I possess zero of the qualities required of models. I'm short. I'm not a size 2. Nothing fits me without needing drastic alterations. I have a bump on my nose and a scar on my forehead from the many times I flipped over the handlebars on my bike or ran through a plate glass door.

The only thing I really had going for me was that I was blessed with good skin. That, and I'm told I look younger than my 49 years. Apparently a lot younger. Up until a year or so ago, when they made it a law to ask for ID on everyone (even if there was no doubt you were over 21), I was still getting carded.

A. Cameron, a local salon and spa in Rochester, is having a contest to find the next face for its marketing campaign. The prize is a year of free salon services. I submitted an entry.

As a frazzled mom to a busy four-year-old who is lucky when she can take a shower in peace, I entered because I really want the salon services (and to be a pampered princess for a year and not feel guilty.)

But, as I get ready to turn 50, a teeny tiny part of me wants that modeling contract I never got. With your vote, I might have a shot. Vote for me!