The power of babies

The time change (and a sleepover that didn't involve much sleep) has been very grumpifying to our entire household. But this afternoon catching a glimpse of this three day old baby, born on Sunday, completely altered my mood.

Gentle brown eyes, spindly elegant legs, a short stubby tail, long whiskers, a fuzzy bay coat, two socks, a star, a snip giving way to pink, and a total inability to stay still for a picture made my day.

The power of babies.

Participating in Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and A Lot of Loves.

Sylvester Stallone's riding helmet

My riding helmet belongs to Sylvester Stallone.

At one point when I worked in Hollywood one of my best friends was an assistant (the film biz's fancy way of saying secretary/ runner/ script reader) at Sylvester Stallone's production company.

My friend had a lot of interesting duties. I used to tag along regularly for day trips to Sly's Malibu beach home to "check it out" and makes sure everything was as it should be. This particular duty included lounging on the beach and taking a dip in the sparkling pool that had SLY emblazoned on the floor. I changed in one of the bedrooms, a shrine to Sly that was filled with framed photos and posters of his holiness and that was painted an unlikely pink.

Another of my friend's duties was was sorting through the fan mail, much of which included gifts -  everything from golf clubs, food, books, pictures to, yup, riding helmets.

I don't know if Sylvester Stallone rides or is even interested in horses. But apparently one of his fans was into horses enough to go to Millers, an upscale equestrian store in Manhattan, purchase a black velvet riding helmet, package it up and ship it out to Sly care of his production company.

I've ridden horses my entire life so as soon as my friend opened the riding helmet he was on the phone to me asking me if I wanted it. (Note to anyone thinking of  buying the perfect gift for your favorite celebrity: Save your time and money. The celebrity will never see it; assistants take everything.)

The helmet didn't fit. It was too small. Who buys a size 6 1/4 riding helmet for Sly? I called up Millers and explained I had received the wrong size helmet as a gift. With no questions asked and no receipt they told me to mail it back COD and they would send out the right size. I had to send two helmets back before the perfect fit arrived. I've been wearing it ever since.

By the way, the pony in the background is Mary-Kate Olsen's old pony, CD.

Such is life in Los Angeles.



This post is participating in Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and A Lot of Loves.

Snow in Los Angeles

Snow in Los Angeles is a rare event. So Saturday when it started snowing as we were driving home from lunch everyone started squealing in excitement.

Even this gal who grew up in the snow squealed.

Those of you who live in snow, please refrain from laughing.



Participating in Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and A lot of Loves.

Boxing champ The Executioner takes a jab from my daughter

Tim and Katie take a Mixed Martial Arts class together on Saturdays. 

So when they ran into former Undisputed World Middleweight Champion, Bernard Hopkins, also known as The Executioner, on Sunday, Tim told him Katie was in MMA training.

"Put your fist up! Gimme a punch," The Executioner said to Katie.

She hesitated. 

The Executioner's a pretty big guy. 

Especially if you're six.

"You're not scared, are ya?" 

"No!" She countered. 

Then she threw a punch. Right into The Executioner's chin.

This post is participating in Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and A Lot of Loves.

What's around the corner?

A few days ago I walked up this fire trail, my favorite hike. When I reached this point I stopped and took a picture because the moment seemed worthy of  a digital capture. Even though I've walked this path so many times, I found myself wondering what I would encounter around the corner.

Would I find something dangerous? Scary? Beautiful? Unexpected? Comforting? Inspiring?

Just beyond the curve I discovered some shade under a walnut tree. A place to rest from the warm February sun.

I continued climbing, the insistent call of birds following me all the way up.

At the summit I paused to enjoy the view that stretches across green canyons, out to the valley floor before it stops at the mountains whose peaks reach up to open skies.

Then I started back down the trail.

I'm rounding a corner in my life right now and I'm looking forward to getting to the top so I can enjoy the glorious view.

Do you like to hike? What kind of thoughts does nature inspire for you?



This post is participating in Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom.

George Clooney, lime green, a purse, and a cat

Have you ever wanted to crawl into a purse and hide?

There have been a few times in my life where I would have liked to do just that. Like the time George Clooney teased me about my funky, lime green, suede shoes. They really were funky. Maybe just a little too funky. But what does George know about style?

For the record, I didn't crawl anywhere and I didn't hide anywhere. No, instead I laughed along and when George apologized later, saying he hoped he hadn't offended me I assured him he had not and laughed it off.

I never wore those shoes to work again.

So I took Cooper to the vet for a check-up last week. He was not happy about this expedition. He suffered through the indignations of being weighed and having his temperature taken by the vet tech and then he was done. He was desperate to get back into his carrier. But it had been a little tricky getting him out and I had wisely locked the carrier door.

We had to wait a few minutes for the vet. Cooper quickly realized no matter how many times he circled the carrier and pulled on the door, it was staying shut. So he looked for something else to crawl into. Something safe. Something stylishly funky.

My favorite purse with the lime green interior was sitting on the chair. Somewhat awkwardly, Cooper maneuvered himself into the purse,  He tangled his legs in the handles in the process, but eventually he got his whole cat-self inside.

Then he hid his head.

This post is participating in Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom

Sisters

So similar. So different.



So together. So separate.



Such a team. Such individuals.

Best friends. Worst rivals.

Inspire each other. Infuriate each other.

Always sisters.



This post is participating in Wordless Wednesday at 5 MInutes for Mom.

Our new kitten

Our new kitten arrived on Saturday. The girls named him Emory in honor of our first Emory who died last year when he was just 8 months old.

The new Emory is very busy! He's in the refrigerator whenever there's an opportunity. He's particularly interested in the vegetable drawer.

He loves it when Caroline carries him around in this basket.

He collapses at 8 o'clock every night.

This post is participating in Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom.

A hint of spring - Wordless Wednesday

It's a balmy 80 degrees in Los Angeles. It's January. After all these years of living here, the Canadian in me is still surprised. We'll get more "cold" weather, more rain. But just around now there's always a hint of spring. Our privet bush is sprouting new leaves and the camellias are blooming. In pink. One of my favorite colors.

This post is participating in 5 Minutes for Mom's Wordless Wednesday.

Just breathe

It's been a rough week.



participating in Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom

Melted chocolate |Wordless Wednesday

I took this photo outside, under the overhang of our many trees, on a day when I was baking and taking pictures of the process. It was gray and cloudy when I started baking and when I got outside for my first shot it started to rain. This picture emerged as one of my favorites but I wasn't able to use it in the baking post since it doesn't look like melted chocolate!



This post is participating in 5 Minutes for Mom's Wordless Wednesday.

Christmas Past | Last year

Christmas 2009

Christmas Past | The first four years

Some of my favorite pictures from Christmas pasts. Come back next Wednesday for the next four years!

Caroline's first Christmas, 2002.



Holiday card picture, 2003.



Katherine's first Christmas, 2004. Sisters in their great-grandmother's dresses.



The first year cookies and milk was left for Santa, 2005.



What are some of your favorite photos from past holidays? Post and link back here!



This post is participating in wordless wednesday over at 5minutesformom.

Wordless Wednesday|Our first professional photo session

In memory of Charles - Wordless Wednesday

Charles was my beautiful, loud, loving, one-of-a-kind, unforgettable Siamese cat. He had the most gregarious, out-there, demanding and hilarious personality you can imagine. Everyone who met him adored him. Everyone. Even cat-haters.

I was lucky enough to have him with me for 17 1/2 years. He was my first baby, my companion, my friend.

Part of my heart.

Part of our family.

June 2002. Checking out Caroline, the new arrival, with his brother, Jasper.


September 2002. Reading with Tim and Caroline.


June 2004. Watching over Katherine a few days after she arrived.


February 2006. Hanging out with Caroline before bedtime.


November 2010. A few days before he passed on.

Charles
April 21, 1993 - November 19, 2010


Katherine to me when she heard Charles was gone: Mommy, it's okay because now his body isn't hurting him anymore and he's with his brother. Charles will live in out hearts forever.