Thought I'd share a poem I wrote not that long ago. Let me know what you think.

EMILY

Born amidst thunder and lightening
A gentle being came

A bright smile with a joyous laugh
Brought me sunshine

Her small hand sought mine
For safety and comfort

Now she holds my hand
To comfort me

My child, my daughter, my friend
My reason for being

Okay, it looks like I didn't put the websites in right. So I'm giving them again so you can just click on them.

First was for Philippes (which I spelled wrong anyway...geez): philippes.com

Next, Wumbloozo: wumbloozo.com

Last, the Arcadia Blues Club: arcadiabluesclub.com

So I bought a book on blogging (yes....it's a "....for Dummies" book; had to make it easy on myself!). I started reading it and so far it's kind of interesting. I actually wasn't aware that you could do so much with a blog. Hopefully I'll get it down to a greater or lesser degree soon and be able to to do something with this little thing I started. Who knows where it will take me....or those that are following me!

Burten, my sister, her husband and I took the Metro to Chinatown this past weekend for the Chinese New Year. Year of the Ox, if you're interested. The parade was disappointing. It had one really cool dragon, way too many political & community figures in cars, mostly mediocre school bands and several martial arts schools demonstrators. We left before it ended & went window shopping.

Before tho, we went to lunch at Philippes just up the street from Chinatown (& Union Station & Olvera St). The place claims to be the birthplace of the French dip sandwich. Whether they are or not the food is great (um, that's pretty much all they serve, but the do it w/ beef, pork, lamb or turkey). And they celebrated their 100th anniversary. Not too many places in LA can boast being 100 years old. Go to philipps.com for the history, menu and location. It's a great place and I highly recommend it. We hit Olvera St later in the day and had dinner there. Then took the train home. All in all, it was a really fun day.

Angus, our new pup, has now been with us for a month. He's coming along but like any puppy has some way to go. Being that it's been raining most of the day, he's only peed once in the house. So that's pretty good really. hehehe There are a few of you who've met him, and you know how cute he is. Once I figure out the picture thing I'll post some pix of him. He actually is really, really cute.

I just finished a book called "Enchanted". It's a biography of Audrey Hepburn. Some of you know that Emily just loves her. I actually bought the book for her but she's in the middle of another one (The Time Traveler's Wife - a fantastic book, which if you haven't read, you really must, and soon). Em doesn't get a whole lot of spare time for reading so I read this one meanwhile. All in all, it kind of appears that Audrey Hepburn led a kind of boring life. Tho probably not to her. So maybe it was the author of the book that made it sound boring. She lived through Nazi occupation, tried to become a classical ballet dancer, danced in some musical shows and then started making movies. She married and lived unhappily for many years.... It just kind of goes on like that, lots of facts but not a lot of life. The only true passion that comes out in the book is when she started working for UNICEF in her later years. But whatever her life was or wasn't like, she's still one of my most favorite actress. If anyone happens to read another biography of her, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

REMINDER: tomorrow night Wumbloozo (wumbloozo.com) is playing at the Arcadia Blues Club (arcadiabluesclub.com) from 8:00-10:00pm. Come on down!!!

So that about does it for me again. I encourage, urge and hope you will comment and follow this blog. There's lots more to come!

Love, Jill

Well, hello!

Here we are again. Things are as usual hopping and popping around here.

Saw a move last night called Appaloosa (think I spelled that right), starring Ed Harris, Viggo (always reminds me of the Ghostbusters 2 movie!) Mortenson and Renee Zellweiger. It's a western...duh. Harris & Mortenson play gunslinging lawmen and Zellweiger plays the Wider (Widow) French. Hmm. It started off really, really good. Excellent banter dialogue between Harris' & Mortenson's characters (good ole buddy Western type dialogue). The bad guy (I don't know who played him) at the beginning is a real good bad guy. hehehe Even the Zellweiger character is decent in the beginning, where you're not sure if she's purely innocent or if she's part of the bad guy's scheme or if there's something else going on with her. Then about the middle of the movie things start to get a little muddled. It kind of goes down hill from there in terms of story and plot. Harris & Mortenson, as well as Zellweiger, are very good throughout the whole movie, but there's something lacking in the story itself and there's not much that the actors can do with it. Cinematography is beautiful....not sure where it was shot. And the sets of the old west town of Appaloosa are excellent (I love when they remember to make the window glass wavy). Go ahead and see it now that it's on DVD or On Demand (for you cable people). It's worth the $3-$4 of a rental.

For those that are not affiliated with my Church, there are a series of books called the Basics that Mr. Hubbard wrote. Last year these were newly issued, having been fully restored to the exact writings of Mr. Hubbard. I have been studying these books at my local Church (okay, not so local, me being in Sunland and the place I'm studying in Hollywood, 30-45 minutes away). I have am having such a phenomenal time studying these books!!!! I have learned sooooo much about the way the human mind works. Now, whenever I read anything-watch anything-talk to anyone-I am constantly thinking with the data that I have been learning. I can see things that are described in these books. I can think with this and know how to handle people better and more effectively. And I don't mean that in a bad way ("handle people" has such bad connotations to it). I mean I understand them better and can therefore better communicate with them. It's really so incredible!!!! I highly recommend these books, whether you're interested in Scientology or not. These are books that give you data to help you live your daily life and of those around you. Seriously, who wouldn't be interested in finding out how the human mind really works (and no, I am not talking about your brain). And the neatest thing is you don't have to buy anything!! Check out your local library.....really!! They will have these Basic books. Tho I should warn you that there might be a waiting list to check them out as the books are very popular! I do suggest that you start with Dianetics, The Modern Science of Mental Health. If you have any problems with finding any of the books, please let me know. Emily, my daughter, now works for the organization that manufactures the books!! hehehe

Okay, how about something fun and exciting to do next month? This is really only for those of you that live in the area, but.....Wumbloozo is playing at the Arcadia Blues Club on Friday, February 6, 8:00pm-10:00opm (heh, a time that we can all do!!). Check out Wumloozo at http://www.blogger.com/www.wumbloozo.com and you can get details about the Arcadia Blues Club at http://www.arcadiabluesclub.com/. The band has a smokin' hot new keyboardist and world class guitarist. With Michael's music, and the rest of the intensely rockin' band, it will be two hours that you will not want to miss!!!!! I would LOVE to see lots of you there!!! (Anyone interested in coming in from out of town.....hahahaha!!)

I am going to learn how to put pix on this thing this week!! Plus, I now have a Facebook page (omg....what it is happening to me!!!!!!) that I also need to figure out how to use. My friend Kate says I have to put a picture on it......I don't know if I can confront that!!!! hahahaha!

Please feel free to comment. I want to hear from you and your comments about anything I write. :-)

Much love, Jill

Well, here it is. I've taken a plunge and started a blog. Don't really know exactly what I'll be putting in here yet, and I'm learning things as I go, as I don't know yet anything about this form of communication or how to do some of the things yet (like put photos on here). But I guess I'll figure it out! :-)

Years ago I used to send out emails to friends and families that were reviews - movies, DVDs, books, etc. I've thought about doing that again but felt that it should be in this format rather than just an email. So, with that in mind, that's at least where I'm gonna start.

Movies
I recently saw the movie Grand Torino, starring Clint Eastwood. Really excellent movie. Eastwood stars as a grisly, cranky old man, who's a sort of bigot. He's just lost his wife, he's retired, his kids are jerks (as are his grandkids) and he lives in the same neighborhood that he's been in for many years. The neighborhood has changed a lot tho in the years he's been there. And that's where the story lies. Eastwood is incredible - I can't believe he didn't get an Oscar nod for his performance in this movie. This role is totally his. The movie is stark, moving, funny and poignant. If you haven't seen it yet, you need to. It's absolutely incredible.

Last night Burten & I watched Burn After Reading. Omg, this movie was hysterically funny, a very dark comedy. There are a lot of stars in it - John Malkovich, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, George Clooney are the main ones. It's a Coen brothers movie and if you know their work, well, then you'll know what I mean when I say they've done it again. (Some of their movies - Fargo, Oh, Brother Where Art Thou, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski.) Truly bizarre and funny. Some really unexpected moments and I laughed out loud many times. Rent it, it's worth it.

Another movie we saw recently was Hellboy II. Now I know what you're thinking - you're kidding right? Well, I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed watching this movie. I never saw the first Hellboy so really didn't know what to expect. This was a cute, funny, enjoyable movie. And there's a scene with a Barry Manilow song (I Can't Live Without You) that was incredibly funny.

Books
I am now on the last book of an incredible series of books - the Outlander series by Diane Gabaldon. There are six books in total and each one of them is HUGE - one being nearly 1500 pages long. The books are about time traveler Claire Randall and her 18th century husband Scotsman Jamie Fraser. There's a lot to give away that I won't do. Suffice it to say that the books are fun & quite exciting. I've actually learned some things too about the medicinal use for maggots and much about Scottish Highlanders (apparently quite a stubborn lot - at least according to this author). I highly, highly recommend these books. But definitely be ready for a committment. Each of the books range from about 800 pages to nearly 1500 (as noted above). You won't regret it tho.

Oh! We got another dog. Our dog Chance had cancer and it finally got bad enough that we put him down. (Our cat, Genghis, was also put down somewhat prior to that, being old and ill. He had quite a life tho. Not much of him wasn't scarred, tattered and such.) We put Chance down several months ago, back in August/September. Right after the New Year we decided we wanted to get another cat. We went to the Glendale Humane Society but they didn't really have any cats that we were interested in at the time. They did, however, have this little 6-month old, brown Terrier mix who was just as cute and sweet as could be. We brought him home about a week or so after seeing him. He's a charmer, incredibly cute and pretty smart.

So I think that's it for now. I hope to hear back from some of you - comments are welcome. And any advice you might have as to how to do things on a blog are welcome too.

L, Jill