How cute are my parents...

How cute are my parents? They drove into town for a visit over this last weekend.










We celebrated birthdays and took a trip to the old Farmers Market on Fairfax. The Grove has been built onto the back of it...but the Market remains the same, thank goodness.
We ate at the market,



walked around and enjoyed all the colors...

and marveled at all the goodies...

and then we meandered through The Grove and went to see "Little Miss Sunshine" at the theatre there. Loved that movie...what a hoot.

Time with my parents zoomed by...as it always seems to. I try to clear my schedule so I can spend quality time with them...so this past week I spent catching up on what I had put aside and started making lists...I'm a good list maker...plotting out the rest of the year so I don't go crazy...wishful thinking? perhaps...but every day I get something done so I feel good about that...
To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to.
~Kahlil Gibran
I have been trying to watch the new shows on TV so I can stay up with what's happening. I've watched alot of television the past week...(thanks to Tivo)...but I like to keep on top of the biz and at least catch the premier show...anyone have any favorites out there?

I love this sign...Sarah Fishburn and Christi Wich gave it to me after my visit to Fort Collins, Colorado earlier this year. Sarah brought it with her when she came for her visit this summer. I have been wanting to put it up for the longest time (you rub the letters onto the wall)...and finally I found the time to do it. I put it over our front door...and everyone loves the way it looks...I love the sentiment...big thanks to you ladies...Home truly is where your story begins...

loose ends

I have been busy tying up some loose ends this week that seem to get unraveled when you are nearing a deadline. Thank you all for the birthday wishes you all sent my way...No matter how old one gets...it's comforting to think you are in someones thoughts...

Speaking of birthdays...ever since July I have been meaning to post a few pages from the altered book I made for my daughter Becca's 25th birthday. 25...I can hardly believe it...I called it XXV and included 25 of my favorite photographs that I have taken of her over the years along with 25 powerful words to keep floating in her life at all times. I started altering the book in Celine Navarro's class which I took at The Creative Underground in Fort Collins, Colorado when I visited there in April. I completed it right before her birthday on July 15th. In the back of the altered book I attached an envelope that holds a DVD her brother Jesse edited together compiled from the thousands of feet of video footage that my hubby Steve has shot over the years...They went through the footage and Jesse edited it together with music. It lasts over an hour. There are moments that are downright hilarious but when Andrea Bocelli sings...'Because We Believe' at the end...I cry everytime.
Anyway...back to the altered book...Becca was always such a willing model...(a photographers dream) she would revel in playing dress up in a wide array of outfits and then having her picture taken. Over the past 25 years I have acquired a huge library of images of my kids at all moments in their lives...so the hardest part for me was choosing the photographs I wanted to put in the book...most of them I picked because of the memory attached to them...I could easily do a XXV part deux.
Here are a few pages...

If you want to see more I posted it here: XXV

I love this link...give it a try...
Be An Artist

perfect

Yesterday was my birthday...I spent it doing some art, playing on the computer,(reading all the good wishes sent my way - thanks all) and watching a movie with the family and going out to dinner. It was perfect.
The picture on the left is a picture Jesse took of me at the dinner table having a grand old time. He took it with my brand new birthday gift...the Canon SD 600 which I love, love, love... It's lighter and smaller then the Canon I used to carry in my purse...and SO much fun to play with. He really liked this shot...and I must say the movement caught the energy of the dinner...we had lots of laughs.
Here's the first picture I took with my new digital camera of my kids Becca and Jesse...

Our waitress took this family photo of us all...there I am breaking the rules and wearing white after Labor Day...how bold am I in my old age!

and then she brought me out a huge slice of chocolate cake to go with my cosmopolitan...pure decadence...

white is out

It is a shame we cannot wear white now that Labor Day has passed...
I may just do it one day to be wild and crazy and out of control.

I just finished my picture for the bio page of our new book, 'In This House'. Sarah Fishburn posted her picture on her blog and I thought I would do the same. They will probably crop into it...so here it is in it's entirety. Pretty exciting that it is posted there on Amazon. No cover picture yet, but there it is.
It was a relaxed weekend. The family came over for a Happy Birthday Bar-B-Q for my brother Chris, and though it was really hot outside it was cool to see everyone together. We called my parents who sang Happy Birthday over the phone with all of us to my little brother...My parents will be coming in for a visit the middle of the month, and hopefully this LA heatwave will ease off a bit.
I've been meaning to congratulate Jack Bauer aka Keifer on his Best Actor and Best Drama Emmy's for '24'...the show won 5 in all I think. I can't wait till January 2007 rolls around and off we can go again on another E ride...I have been trying to add a picture of Jack Bauer to this blog entry but it just won't download...all I can think is Jacks identity is so secret, so undercover...even computers can't capture his image...hope you are doing ok in Singapore Jack...
In the meantime I have become addicted to 'Prison Break'...just need that rush of adreneline every week...

While looking through some old photos I found this illustration of 'The Sound Of Music' cast drawn by Hirschfeld...I had completely forgotten about it and had'nt seen it for years...I have always loved caricatures...mystifying how a few lines can capture the look of someone...some day maybe I will reveal some of my sketches in my artbook....
maybe some day...
I was so sad to hear about the tragic accident of Steve Irwin. I loved that guy and he educated so many with his enthusiastic style...'Crikey' he brought us some interesting moments on film and you could tell he loved his work. Things like this remind us how life can be so unpredictable...