Slip-slidin' away...

This isn't actually a Slip n'Slide. It's a Banzai Water Slide. But it worked out pretty well just the same!

Bri's pix are WAY better than these, but I was too eager to share to wait for the offload from the big camera. :-)

Celeb sightings

So, last weekend when we were out with our photogs (see previous post), we ran into Miley Cyrus. This got me to thinking about how we used to run into celebs ALL. THE. TIME. So often that we had an annual column in our Holiday newsletter detailing the encounters!

We've kept a running list -- a list that is now like 15 years old -- on an old piece of notebook paper on our fridge. I thought you might get a kick out of seeing who's on it.

This is in somewhat chronological order, starting around 1990, and coming to a virtual standstill when we moved from Burbank to Northridge. ;-)

Hal Holbrook -- Brand Library
Shari Belafonte -- Ventura Blvd.
Daniel J. Travanti -- Norton-Simon Museum
Dustin Hoffman -- Monica 4-plex theater
Corbin Bernsen -- Rose Bowl Flea Market
Bo Derek -- Sebastian International headquarters
Ian Buchanan -- Rose Bowl Flea Market
Paul Dandridge*
Ernest Borgnine -- 101 fwy, in a mercedes with the plates BORG9
Jay Leno -- several times, on freeways in various vehicles
Kelly Lange*
Bob Hope -- several times around Burbank & Toluca Lake
Judith Light -- 3rd St. Promenade
Rick Chambers*
Fritz Coleman*
Curtis Armstrong -- bookstore at the old Golden Mall in Burbank
Gary Coleman -- Islands, Burbank
Doug Savant -- can't remember where!
Maureen McCormick -- Virgin Megastore Sunset
Hal Fishman -- Virgin Megastore Sunset
Will Smith -- in a San Diego elevator
Bree Walker & Jim Lampley -- Longs Drugs Burbank
Rob Morrow -- LA County Museum of Art
Mark Thompson of radio's "Mark & Brian" -- Northridge Mall
Dr. George Fishbeck* -- 101 fwy; licence plate said KABC7
Richard Simmons -- in white Corvette, plate said YRUFAT
John Goodman -- Burbank Airport
Robin Christopher (soap actress) -- Burbank Vons
Shelly Duvall -- near Studio City DuPar's
Carla Aragon* -- Burbank gas station
Joe Rico* -- Pavilions Burbank
Avery Schreiber -- at a restaurant in Santa Barbara
Grant Schaud -- Burbank Vons
Grant Show -- Burbank Vons
Stu Nahan -- Solley's Sherman Oaks
Ellen Cleghorne -- Burbank Vons
Rosalind Chao -- LAX
Ira Reiner (local politician) -- Toluca Lake Bob's
Louis Farakhan -- O'Hare Airport
Barbie Benton -- The Music Center
Billy Crystal -- at Penn & Teller show
Daniel Petrocelli (celeb attorney of sorts) -- Starbucks Northridge
Ron Howard & parents -- Mo's Burbank
Marta Waller* -- Hollywood Bowl bus
Barry Gordon -- can't remember where
Dylan McDermott -- Toluca Lake Starbucks
Lisa Welchel -- Starbucks Valencia
Reese Witherspoon -- Storyopolis Beverly Hills
Roddy McDowall -- BookStar in Studio city
Dan Schneider -- Ventura Blvd. in his Miata
Eric Spillman* -- Starbucks Northridge
John Sununu -- Sheraton Torrey Pines
Laurie Metcalf -- Vons Burbank
Merrill Markoe -- AMC Santa Monica
Lou Diamond Phillips -- at Ev's old preschool
Jodie Foster -- Griffith Park carousel
Marcia Clark (notable attorney) -- Bloomingdale's Sherman Oaks
Frank Sinatra Jr. -- Nate & Al's deli in Beverly Hills
David Clennon -- Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks
Ron Rifkin -- The Music Center
Penny Marshall -- Rutles concert
Peter Bonerz -- Rutles concert
Miley Cyrus -- Old Pasadena

* denotes local news personality

I may hafta revise this later, cuz we KNOW there are people we're forgetting...

Photoshoot teaser...

As many of you know, who have followed my histrionics on Facebook and elsewhere, we had a photoshoot on Saturday. LOL

From the looks of this sample, I would guess we're gonna have some BEAUTIES.

This photo was taken by an awesome young lady named Jenny, who clearly has a long and lucrative career ahead of her. She currently works with the spectacular Gina Lee, whose work has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show and in People Magazine, as well as newspapers across the nation. ;-)

Can't WAIT to share the rest!

First time for everything...

Y'all aren't gonna believe this... but tonight, for the first time EVAR, me & Mr. Siegel HAD MARGARITAS TOGETHER. I KNOW! How bizarre that we never had, after 20 freakin' years together! It hadn't even occurred to me til today!

Not only were these awesome margaritas, but this Los Toros place in Chatsworth is an INCREDIBLE find! It's been there since 1967. The food is FANTASTIC. ¡Muy bien! ¡Yo recommendo mucho!

Boys and their Toys!

The Ev's lucrative online video-game selling business (well, okay -- Dad helps a little!) has afforded him enough mad money to buy this little beauty:

To say that this young man is excited IS. AN. UNDERSTATEMENT.

And now... TO iTUNES!!!

Disney's California Adventure

Today, we went to California Adventure.

I dunno what to say about it, other than: "Good thing it was 'free'."

__________________
UPDATE: 5/18:

SHEESH! Note to self: Do not blog when depressed. It wasn't THAT bad! Just kinda crowded and annoying for the last couple hours of our visit. Pardon my drama.

Another Mother's Day prezzie...

Late in the day on Mother's Day, The Ev let me open the present he'd made for me at school:

SOOOOOO beautiful! Thank you so much, my baby. I absolutely adore it. xoxoxo

Mother's Day Fun, 2009

I had a lovely Mother's Day!

After a breakfast of hamentaschen and tea, we went out into the backyard, where my present was bestowed upon me:

Next, we took my new camera and the dog to the lovely Simi Valley Dog Park:

I spent the rest of the day Facebookin', watchin' baseball, and generally chillaxin.

Then Bri made me a beautiful dinner.

Thanks so much for a great day, boys. I ::heart:: you. :-)

Pre-Mom's Day visit with Grandma

We went to Grandma's today to take her out to lunch for Mother's Day. After lunch, we enjoyed Grandma's pool! It was a lovely day!

Dinner was had at Wendy's in Monrovia, where we could sit outside with the puppeh.

Now, I shall make plans for MY Mother's Day tomorrow... Hmmm... What to do...

Blogger's Choice Awards, 2009

I have several blogger peeps I would like to recommend for this year's Blogger's Choice awards.



First of all, there's Matt Logelin. I like him in the category "Hottest Daddy Blogger," just cuz I know how much he'd hate that. BWHAHAHHHHAHAHHAHAA! If you prefer, you can vote for him in another category.









Then, there's the beautiful & talented Lauren Farmer. I nominated her for "Best Photography Blog," because she is ::awesomesauce::.

And finally, I nominated my buddy Sean, who has a fun music blog that I want everyone to check out. Strangely, there was no "music" category (WTF?), so I stuck him in pop culture.

Let the voting begin!

Ev's orangutan art

Look at the rad orangutan drawing Ev did in art class! I like his little cartoon-character people in the background, too.

I ::heart:: Sbux... AND my Sbux peeps!

I believe everyone knows by now how much I *lurrrve* my morning Starbucks. But what you may not know is that I also love having fellowship with my rad Sbux peeps every morning. Megan & crew at the store next to my campus are sooooo, so awesome, with their warmth and humor, always offering to make me a 27-shot mocha... I don't wanna start my day without them!

Sometimes they even write somethin' zany on my cup... or my husband's, when I'm buying for him...

Thank you, awesome Sbux peeps!!!

New Simi Valley Dog Park!

After several weeks of threatening to do so, we finally got around to checking out the new Simi Valley dog park today! (No thanks to Google Maps... when you input the dog park address, you get a location which is very much NOT the dog park, thankyouverymuch! So, it took us half an hour longer than it should have, but we did eventually find it.)

The park is in a lovely location on the north end of the valley, and somewhat hilly, making it a little more interesting than the LA-city dog parks we frequent. Plus, it's new, so all the benches are pretty and clean. Our only quibble with it is that there is only one watering station; everytime Bri tried to give Kelsey water there, 5 dogs ran up for a drink. Timid pups like our Kelsey just back off when there are other dogs around, so it was a challenge to get her to drink. Other than that, tho, a good time was had by all... even The Boy, who does NOT like dog parks. ("They're BORING!" sez he.)