I SALUTE YOU

I am your friend, and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not; but there is much, very much, that, while I cannot give it you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today.

Take Heaven!

No peace lies in the future that is not hidden in this present little instant.

Take Peace!

The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it yet within our reach is joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness could we but see, and to see we have only to look. I beseech you to look.

Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the covering and you will find beneath it a living splendor woven of love, by wisdom, with power. Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the Angel's hand that brings it to you. Everything we call a trial, a sorrow, or a duty; believe me that Angel's hand is there; the gift is there and the wonder of an overshadowing presence. Our joys, too -- be not content with them as joys. They, too, conceal diviner gifts.

Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty beneath its covering, that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it, that is all! But courage you have: and the knowledge that we are pilgrims together wending through unknown country home.

And so at this time I greet you: not quite as the world sends greetings, but with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks and the shadows flee away.


~Fra. Giovanni - A.D. 1513


As we enter into a new year my prayer for you, my family and friends is this... that you have peace of mind, you experience all the beauty there is to share, keep faith in your heart, courage in your soul. Appreciate all the precious divine gifts bestowed to you and may you have many bestowed upon you. Remember above all there is love, the greatest gift. I love you. Happy New Year!

Barbies, Poker, Midnightini's and Tears...

Christmas was pretty nice. We had a quiet one this year. A bit somber, very emotional. I personally had a very hard time on Christmas day. I cried through most of it. I miss my Mother so deeply, so desperately it hurts more than you could imagine. I miss my brother too. I have tried to surround myself with friends and family as much as possible. To be left alone with my thoughts only tends to feed into my depression and makes it worse. That's not to say that I don't think about her every 5 minutes. I surely do. It just makes it easier for me to not get mired down with all the feelings that come to me while I'm alone. Guilt, sadness, longing, anguish. All are I'm sure, just normal mourning symptoms that I must go through. It's just hard. My friends and family have been A+ supportive and wonderful. I'm so blessed to have them in my life.

Which brings us to the happy things that have happened this holiday. The good memories that were made! Christmas Eve Eve, we had several of our friends over for a little Christmas cheer and games! We played Celebrity (our L.A. version of Charades) and shared in great quantities of food and drinks. Speaking of drinks, my dear friend and sis, Bonnie came armed with all the fixin's for a cool new drink called the Midnightini. It's vodka, cranberry juice and champagne. Served chilled and straight up in a martini glass. Absolutely scrumptious! My new favorite drink! Our friends the Lindsay's brought a TON of delicious food! And we also enjoyed the company of good friends, Kathi, Weston, Eric, Robin, Marc, Rose and Keith. Aleta, Homer and David brought gifts for everyone! We got a coffee machine!!! I haven't been able to make coffee since we moved into our new home. Let me tell you... that was a delicious cup of coffee that next morning!!!

Christmas Eve was was spent shopping with Mike and Ashley. We had so much fun grabbing up everything we could for Maddie and Sean and loving the fact that so much stuff was on sale! The biggest delight? No batteries or assembly required this year!!! YAY! Well except for Maddie's LeapPad. Which we happily supplied for that since it's a great educational tool. And, her favorite present. She has hardly put it down. So what else do you get a 3 year old who already has plenty of toys and is the sister and daughter of actresses? Why dress up clothes of course! So we bought lots of princess costumes, slippers, purses, tiaras, feather boas and a tea set! She was very happy! My Mother would have relished in watching Maddie squeal with delight at every present she opened on Christmas morning.

Christmas Day we had friends over. Sean received a few games for Christmas and so everyone had to break them in! It started with a little chess, went to Risk-Lord Of The Rings Edition and culminated in a great couple of rounds of poker with our new set, chips, felt and cards with shoe! Mike cleaned everyone out! Our friend Roger stayed 2 days as did Brad and we had a giant breakfast the next day! Oh! And Roger brought a kitty home with him!

The day after Christmas we were invited to our friends the Lindsay's for a Day After Christmas Feast! It was a lovely time in a very intimate and quiet atmosphere. A very nice ending to a beautiful Christmas weekend.

I hope your Holiday, however you celebrate it, was as beautiful and memorable as you hoped it would be!

Yeah, I'm pretty proud!

Let's see. What's been going on in my life since election day? Well, aside from moving into a new home in L.A. from the O.C.. Mostly just prepping for the holidays and working on the career. Spending time with friends and spending a lot more time with my kids. We found the box of childrens books we had misplaced for a year and Madison has managed to get someone to read her just about every one! She looooves to be read to. Almost every morning is met with her asking, "Mommy, can you read to me this one?"

My oldest baby is on location shooting a feature film until Christmas Eve. I just heard from her a few hours ago. She's had a grueling couple of days of filming. Her voice is hoarse from being strangled for over 2 hours yesterday. She's got a lot more physical stuff to do yet. She still has to have her eye gouged out and her arm cut off! Most of their scenes are shot outside at night. They don't even get done till the wee hours sometimes. And it's freezing out there! I'm so dang excited for her. What a great experience this has been for her!!!

I'm also very proud of her. Some of the crew members were pouring out the praises for her the other day when I was visiting. I went up on Friday which was to be their day off. They ended up telling the local High School that they would do a little workshop thingie with the drama dept.. So the 5 lead actors--Ashley included--sat onstage with some of the crew and talked about the movie, the business of acting, getting started, etc.... Ashley was her lovely self. One of the crew members told the kids how professional Ashley was in the worst of circumstances. It was late and dark and freezing out and she had been filming for hours, scenes of her running through the woods screaming and crying. Her contact got folded over and caught up in the back corner of her eye. It took a minute for her to get it adjusted. They stopped so that she could take a break and fix herself up and she insisted that they not hold everyone up and just keep going. He said, "And BAM Ashley went right back into character and didn't skip a beat. She was awesome. So professional." Later we all met for lunch and more of the crew told me how impressed they were with Ashley's acting. The writer was there and told me he loved what Ashley brings to the character.

Then there is this from one of the producers. "[Ashley] is a true find. A very talented actor with a real warmth and inner glow. We know we are fortunate to have her in this production."

Sooooo proud of her!

Yep. She's ready.

Oh Goodness!

I've been linked to from one of my favorite sites on the web!!! How exciting! I was wondering what was with all of the increased traffic around here. I guess this means I have to do a little updating! Teehee!

Here's the link! Be warned it's a very addicting site!

Grow a Brain