Thompson has to wake up at three o'clock in the morning for her "Morning Drive" showGOLF CHANNEL
Golf Channel’s LAUREN THOMPSON currently pulls double duty hosting “Morning Drive” and NBC’s “The Champion Within.” Thompson has been with Golf Channel for nine years and notes that even though she used to be a “diehard Tampa Bay Buccaneers” fan, things are “all golf all the time,” even on her weekends. Thompson caught up with THE DAILY to discuss her unorthodox weekends and why she usually winds up hiding unhealthy snacks.
REST IS BEST: Thursdays and Fridays are my off days. First of all, I like to take a big, ol’ beefy nap right after work. It’s funny, because a lot of people when they join almost any morning show, but especially “Morning Drive,” they say that they’re not a napper. We just kind of look at them with that look in our eyes because they will be in a period of time. When your alarm goes off at 3 o’clock in the morning, you have to get your sleep somewhere. And if you’re a night owl like me, which isn’t exactly the most conducive personality type to a morning show job, you just kind of have to break it up. I tend to get really good sleep during the day because my kids are away and at school, so when mom comes home, she can close the blackout shades and turn on a white noise machine and get some serious sleep done in the afternoon before I pick them up from school.
MORNING ROUTINE: My Saturday is most people’s Friday and I like to get up, and most times I take my four-year-old -- because I have a four-year-old and almost one-year-old baby, so a lot of times, that gives me some really good one-on-one time with my four year old -- I usually take him to breakfast, drop him off at school, get in a good workout after that. Then, I’ll try to get some stuff done around the house usually; I’ve got to try and get organized at some point. By that time, there’s usually some live golf that I can take in, so I’ll get caught up on what’s going on, watch some highlights if I’ve missed anything. From there, I’ll watch some coverage and see what’s going on social media because that’s always a good time and very informative in sports, especially.
WE ALL SCREAM: Something I’ve been caught doing so many times but doesn’t even necessarily happen on the weekends -- my son has a major sweet tooth and I’m always trying to fight this with him. Every day, it’s like this big hunt around the house where he wants to find candy, and he can’t find candy, so he asks for ice cream. I am a 100% admitted ice cream addict. I’ve loved it forever, I’m pretty sure I could live off of it alone, and I’ve told him a few times, ‘No, there’s no ice cream, buddy. I’m sorry.’ I’ll try to give him the healthy alternative. Meanwhile, if that craving hits at the wrong time and, say he’s taking a nap and then he flings open his door, I’ll hide the ice cream bowl in the sink, so he can’t see it but I’m stuffing my face with it. So, a lot of hiding unhealthy snacks happens in this house where mom is partaking and absolutely lying through her teeth saying there isn’t any available to the kinds, and I think that’s not terrible, right? I have their best interest at heart!
BEST WEEKEND: It was several months ago, and I promise we’ve had good weekends since then. But right before I came back from maternity leave after having my second son, I was feeling really good health-wise, the baby was doing really great, I have awesome in-laws and my parents are awesome with watching the kids so we’ve got a really good family support system, so I was like, ‘You know what? I’d love to take a quick trip to the Bahamas.’ It’s not a long flight at all. We went to Atlantis and we just took our four-year-old, we left the baby back home. He was a little too young to take on a vacation like that and be out on the beach, and it was a blast. We swam with dolphins, hung out at the beach, my husband and I had some really good drinks while we were out there, and it was just quality family time where our oldest son had some one-on-one time with his parents. Things can be all about the baby when the baby arrives, so I wanted him to have a good weekend, and that was just a blast.
