Lunch at a cemetery?! I'm SO there!

Today, I went over to Westwood to have lunch with my delicious girlfriend Jessica. We decided to meet at the cemetery that's just off Wilshire. Most people don't even realize it's there! Jessica brought us some yummy Thai food and we sat on a bench in the shade.



I made sure to get a pic of Jessica with the cemetery's most well-known occupant.



I was especially happy to see that Don Knotts has gotten a new grave marker! It's gorgeous! For comparison, I've included a photo of Mr. Siegel with Don's previous marker -- that photo was taken in 2009.




I love Jessica. I love cemeteries. I love beautiful southern California days. I love Thai food.

So, I guess it goes without saying that I loved today. :-D

BEST. MOTHER'S DAY. EVAR.

Mother’s Day. It’s like Christmas for Moms! At our house it is, anyway. My boys knock themselves out every year to give me everything I want on Mother’s Day. I LOVE it! It’s also one of the few days per year where I fully DEMAND everything I want, and enjoy it all, guilt-free.

This year, I got flowers; breakfast made by The Ev; a trip out to Hollywood Forever cemetery where I have not been in well over a decade; and my favorite dinner of grilled flank steak and potatoes, as expertly prepared by Mr. Siegel. For dessert: brownies! SQUEEEEEEEE! I had a wonderful, wonderful day.

Thanks so much, fellas. Ah *lurrrve* yew. xoxoxoxoox

The Holy Grail of Celebrity Graves

As one might imagine, for people interested in celebrity graves, the one currently garnering the most lust is that of Michael Jackson. Mainly because it's off-limits to the general public. Those are always the most fun to be able to see!

I happen to have the good fortune to be super-tight buds with a gal who is a property owner, not only at Glendale Forest Lawn... not only in the Great Mausoleum... but actually IN Holly Terrace, which is the precise wing of the Great Mausoleum where MJ is currently interred.

Having said that, when we set out for Glendale this morning, we were not setting out to see MJ. When Forest Lawn sez something's off limits, it's OFF LIMITS. THEY ARE NOT KIDDING, PEOPLE. So we had no reason to believe that we would be able to find MJ, let alone see his tomb.

So imagine our surprise when, after visiting my friend's dad, we rounded a corner and there it was -- the final resting place of the King of Pop. The only reason we knew this was it was because we'd seen this photo on the internet. Otherwise, near as I could tell, there was no indication that it was him. It was quite dark in there, and if his name was on the sarcophagus, I didn't see it. It was SURROUNDED by prezzies sent in from people, so if you've sent him a prezzie, they do leave it there. For awhile, anyway.

Sadly, I could not photograph this for you folks. Security cameras were EVERYWHERE, and I was afraid of gettin' us kicked out (there are signs everywhere that say "no photographs permitted", and they WERE watching us on the security cams). So what you see below are the few pix I was able to sneak when there WASN'T a security camera trained on me, before I got caught and told to knock it off.

I do not expect to go into the Great Mausoleum again, because it's really NOT friendly to visitors. That kind of takes the fun out of it, feeling vaguely like a criminal. (This is probably why I've only been inside this mausoleum once, like 25 years ago -- that time, I got to see Gable & Lombard!) I will also say this: It is the last place on earth I would want to be laid to rest. It is extremely cold, very dark in places, gothic, foreboding, and depressing. Creepy music is pumped in. It's kind of like a place your 80-year-old parents would bury you, if you were rich like Michael Jackson, but it's not anywhere he would want to be, I'm quite sure, and not anywhere *I* would ever want to be. Don't get me wrong -- it's absolutely beautiful inside, and VERY cool to see... but too creepy for eternity, IMHO.

These are my thoughts, by me.