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Man have we aged........
On this date 11 years ago, Garth and I were married. I couldn't imagine experiencing life without him. He keeps me sane, knows just how to take care of me when I need it, and most importantly, he makes me laugh. He makes me feel good just being me, with all my quirks and everything. Garth invests time in his 2 daughters lives and he enjoys spending time with me. I do appreciate Garths help with domestic chores, and I readily admit to being organizationally challenged. ( Okay, okay---I'm lazy, there I said it! However, I prefer to think of it as being more "laid back") My husband has obsessive- compulsive traits in his personality, and he cannot relax until his world is in order. And though the last year has been rough for us, I'm stronger because of his love, and we're stronger together for it. I love the life we're building and I can't wait to see where it takes us.I love you! Happy Anniversary!
Swirling...Twirl.....Whimsical.....Gypsy...Mist.....Scrumptious.....Spirit....Bohemian....Sass...Love.......Tender.....Bloom...Peace...Serendipity...Blessing...Mystery...Effervescent....Imagination...Magnolia...Cuisine...Twilight...Justice...Ambiance... .Seduce....Gloss...Calliope....Soliloquy......Sizzle......Felicitations...Voluptuous...Epiphany.....Entice.....Willow....Vixen..Mahoghany...Intuition...Lilac..Nurture.....Destiny....Tranquility...Passion ....DejaVu ......Luminous....Quintessence......Aqua.....Paradise.....Zamboni.....Melodic....Mesmerize.....Sunshine...Ethereal...Soothing.......Twinkle.....Bliss...Extravaganza...Delicacy......Loquacious....Lullaby...Mimosa.....Sashay....Vivacious....Renaissance....Peruse....Poinsettia...Moxie...Illusion..Luscious.... Thrill..Facilitate....Enchanted...Radient....Haiku.... ..Patchoulli.......Snuggle.......Loving....Coffee........Merci....Turquoise.. ...Inspiration.....Glimmering......Delicious
There are some words you just can't help but fall in love with--the meaning and the images they evoke, the way it rolls off your tongue, the way it dances on the corner of your mouth. There are some words that are pure magic. There are words that make people smile when they are tossed into conversation. And then when you take them and string them together, they take on a whole new meaning and begin a brand new dance. They are delicious to savor and your mouth waters with expectation.
Sunday Night I headed into TO to see INXS at the ACC with my husband, my galpal Heather and her neice Rita. I have always been a fan of INXS and the last time they did a big tour it was the fall of 1997 which I missed. Sadly, Hutchence was dead 3 weeks later and INXS was no more. But in the summer of 2005 we got "Rockstar:INXS" on TV and my guilty pleasure became the star-making machine for JD Fortune and INXS was back. I must admit, initially I was never JD's biggest fan on the show but the boy can sell it on stage. He had so much energy bouncing around from one side of the stage to the other. JD loves being a rockstar. He has gotten to the point where his confidence has become seductive and he works it. He is a genuine frontman he does the upbeat tracks really well. I couldn't have asked for more,they sounded fantastic. Their new material fit in really well with the classic hits. The original members of INXS had huge smiles on their faces all night, and lots of energy on stage. Great concert all round.Stabilo (Formerly Stabilo Boss) was great as an opener, by the way. A Vancouver band worth checking out. I found them endearing as they thanked us for our appluase many times, knowing that we were tolerating them on stage, and the real reason we were there was behind the big black curtain. As it got closer to show time, there was a projection of a switch up on the 2 side screens, which eventually changed to a countdown to when the show would start. When it got down to one minute left, the place went nuts. We counted down when there was ten seconds left, and everyone was up on their feet cheering. I loved the feel of the energy in those couple of seconds. The lights went down, came back on, and the band was up on stage, JD front and center. They launched into "Suicide Blonde" right away, the whole place going nuts. When they went into "Devil's Party" next, JD yelled; "Welcome to the party,Toronto!"Set list:Suicide BlondeDevil's PartyMystifyHot GirlsBy My SideAfterglowTaste ItOriginal SinHungryNever Let You GoKickNeed You TonightWhat You NeedDevil InsidePretty VegasEncore:New SensationAmazing GraceNever Tear Us ApartDon't Change
I will always try....-To recognize that as children, you are people too.-To laugh with you, instead of at you.-To admit my mistakes.-To validate your feelings.-To be patient.-To respect your choices.-To cherish you -To hug you and kiss you at every opportunity. -To love you unconditionally. Forever.
Having four Children meant her days were filled with silly songs, diapers, birthday parties, soccer games, music recitals, homework, and school dances. Mom would spend sleepless nights when the curfew had come and gone. She would pace hospital corridors after my heart surgery. She would fill stockings and Easter baskets at midnight. She would run here and there between extracurricular activities, spend countless hours repeating spelling words and helping with homework assignments. Dinner was always on the table, followed by snacks and televison time during the evening. Small tiny things were done, barely noticed, but all with great care. The ''thank you's'' were usually few and far between.Then the day came when her young grew wings and left the nest. The cycle continues now as her children have children of their own and learn what Mom had so selflessly done over those many years. A mom puts down her life to raise her children to help them reach dreams, achieve goals, be joyful, and have good character. Alot of my childhood was spent living in various places throughout Canada and other places of the world. Throughout it all she was my constant. Whether we were living in Ontario, Alberta or Venezuela, dinner was on the table and we were still bathed and read to and loved. The heart of a mother is a place to call home. Mom means security, trust, care, and unconditional love.As I've grown older our relationship has matured, and I've grown to appreciate her in different ways and even though our attitudes and opinions don't always match up, I respect the way she approaches everything with kindness. Thanks for everything, Mom...you're the best!Love, JillYour favorite daughter in the whole wide world.
The films highlighted in Orange are the ones I have seen.
"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) Stanley Kubrick"The 400 Blows" (1959) Francois Truffaut"8 1/2" (1963) Federico Fellini"Aguirre, the Wrath of God" (1972) Werner Herzog"Alien" (1979) Ridley Scott"All About Eve" (1950) Joseph L. Mankiewicz"Annie Hall" (1977) Woody Allen"Apocalypse Now" (1979) Francis Ford Coppola*"Bambi" (1942) Disney"The Battleship Potemkin" (1925) Sergei Eisenstein"The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) William Wyler"The Big Red One" (1980) Samuel Fuller"The Bicycle Thief" (1949) Vittorio De Sica"The Big Sleep" (1946) Howard Hawks"Blade Runner" (1982) Ridley Scott"Blowup" (1966) Michelangelo Antonioni"Blue Velvet" (1986) David Lynch"Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) Arthur Penn"Breathless" (1959 Jean-Luc Godard"Bringing Up Baby" (1938) Howard Hawks"Carrie" (1975) Brian DePalma"Casablanca" (1942) Michael Curtiz"Un Chien Andalou" (1928) Luis Bunuel & Salvador Dali"Children of Paradise" / "Les Enfants du Paradis" (1945) Marcel Carne"Chinatown" (1974) Roman Polanski"Citizen Kane" (1941) Orson Welles"A Clockwork Orange" (1971) Stanley Kubrick"The Crying Game" (1992) Neil Jordan"The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) Robert Wise"Days of Heaven" (1978) Terence Malick"Dirty Harry" (1971) Don Siegel"The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" (1972) Luis Bunuel"Do the Right Thing" (1989) Spike Lee"La Dolce Vita" (1960) Federico Fellini"Double Indemnity" (1944) Billy Wilder"Dr. Strangelove" (1964) Stanley Kubrick"Duck Soup" (1933) Leo McCarey"E.T. -- The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) Steven Spielberg"Easy Rider" (1969) Dennis Hopper"The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) Irvin Kershner"The Exorcist" (1973) William Friedkin"Fargo" (1995) Joel & Ethan Coen"Fight Club" (1999) David Fincher"Frankenstein" (1931) James Whale"The General" (1927) Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman"The Godfather," "The Godfather, Part II" (1972, 1974) Francis Ford Coppola"Gone With the Wind" (1939) Victor Fleming"GoodFellas" (1990) Martin Scorsese"The Graduate" (1967) Mike Nichols"Halloween" (1978) John Carpenter"A Hard Day's Night" (1964) Richard Lester"Intolerance" (1916) D.W. Griffith"It's a Gift" (1934) Norman Z. McLeod"It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) Frank Capra"Jaws" (1975) Steven Spielberg"The Lady Eve" (1941) Preston Sturges"Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) David Lean"M" (1931) Fritz Lang"Mad Max 2" / "The Road Warrior" (1981) George Miller"The Maltese Falcon" (1941) John Huston"The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) John Frankenheimer"Metropolis" (1926) Fritz Lang"Modern Times" (1936) Charles Chaplin"Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975) Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam"Nashville" (1975) Robert Altman"The Night of the Hunter" (1955) Charles Laughton"Night of the Living Dead" (1968) George Romero"North by Northwest" (1959) Alfred Hitchcock"Nosferatu" (1922) F.W. Murnau"On the Waterfront" (1954) Elia Kazan"Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968) Sergio Leone"Out of the Past" (1947) Jacques Tournier"Persona" (1966) Ingmar Bergman"Pink Flamingos" (1972) John Waters"Psycho" (1960) Alfred Hitchcock"Pulp Fiction" (1994) Quentin Tarantino"Rashomon" (1950) Akira Kurosawa"Rear Window" (1954) Alfred Hitchcock"Rebel Without a Cause" (1955) Nicholas Ray"Red River" (1948) Howard Hawks"Repulsion" (1965) Roman Polanski"The Rules of the Game" (1939) Jean Renoir"Scarface" (1932) Howard Hawks"The Scarlet Empress" (1934) Josef von Sternberg"Schindler's List" (1993) Steven Spielberg"The Searchers" (1956) John Ford"The Seven Samurai" (1954) Akira Kurosawa"Singin' in the Rain" (1952) Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly"Some Like It Hot" (1959) Billy Wilder"A Star Is Born" (1954) George Cukor"A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) Elia Kazan"Sunset Boulevard" (1950) Billy Wilder"Taxi Driver" (1976) Martin Scorsese"The Third Man" (1949) Carol Reed"Tokyo Story" (1953) Yasujiro Ozu"Touch of Evil" (1958) Orson Welles"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948) John Huston"Trouble in Paradise" (1932) Ernst Lubitsch"Vertigo" (1958) Alfred Hitchcock"West Side Story" (1961) Jerome Robbins/Robert Wise"The Wild Bunch" (1969) Sam Peckinpah"The Wizard of Oz" (1939) Victor Fleming
I am not a fan of Woody Allen films and interestingly, this did not seem like a typical Woody Allen film. Instead what you get is a straight forward thrill-ride of a tragedy. Jonathan Rhys Meyers assumes the role of leading man with considerable comfort and style. The character interactions and dynamics are intriguing. Scarlett Johansson is sexy as the ultimate object of desire.The movie's ending twist is a classic that Hitchcock would love. It can take your breath away, if you weren't already holding your breath
Today we are headed to the Toronto Science Centre to celebrate my eldest daughters 9th bithday. She is stubborn, hard headed, emotional, she yells and stomps, she holds a grudge, and her heart breaks so easily. It is a constant test of my patience to find ways to parent her that are effective. It can be really hard to remain calm in the face of a high spirited child, especially when you know that they are upset about something that doesn’t matter at all, or when she just “thinks” that something has happened, or is going to happen, and it never has or will. It is like talking someone off a ledge. If you don’t approach her just the right way, then she jumps….you have to calmly try to explain what is happening and why. I am sure that parenting her is teaching me all kinds of wonderful skills! She is the best teacher of "life" that I could ever have.She is so pretty! I love her blue eyes. And her laugh just warms my heart. I love that she loves her Daddy. (I at least have Alley who hasn’t gone traitor on me…yet.) She loves music, she's ornery, she's sweet, she's a charmer, and she is a messy slob.
She's mine, lent to me for a short time to try to guide and impart what wisdom I might have aquired over the years and through my lifetime of experiences.. Hopefully she will carry the heart of my words and teachings onwards and perhaps pass them on to her children. Hopefully she will do great things in her life, and if that means being safe and happy, content and secure, compassionate and fair, then I will be happy with the job I've done.
Today was the traditional Easter Egg Hunt. It was cute watching the kids run from egg to egg and getting so excited about their find! Afterwards the kids enjoyed a eggs+tra special breakfast that their Dad made. I'm working nights so it was off to bed for me.
The Kids and I were busy, between soaking up the sun and having fun baking. Happy Easter Everyone!!
Mark May 23 on your Calander. Arriving in stores will be, the new Dixie Chicks album, "Taking the Long Way", produced by Rick Rubin, primarily a rock and rap producer who also crafted Johnny Cash's last albums. The record has been described as more rock-oriented, featuring musicians from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tom Petty's band, the Heartbreakers. I have been following the Dixie Chicks controversy very closely since it first happened. In 2003 Maines told a London audience on the eve of the war in Iraq that the group was "ashamed" the president was from their home state of Texas. Natalie Maines was just exercising her right to free speech (and let's not forget that many Americans died trying to protect this right, and not on foreign soil, either). What resulted was a witch-hunt against the Dixie Chicks with many country stations boycotting their music. The Chicks said they received death threats,leading them to install metal detectors at their shows. Maines later said she regretted the phrasing of her remark, but remained passionately against the war. I think a lot of these pro-Bush people were shocked, that a good country girl from Texas dared speak out against their glorious leader, Lord Bush. I think a lot of these people don't like opinionated women and when they do speak up, well they feel they must shut them up. The chicks have stood their ground and they have came back swingin'! Their new single "Not Ready To Make Nice" has reached No. 36 on Billboard's country singles chart in it's first week. Most stations have completely refused to play the song, though. It is only getting frequent airplay in Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, Cleavland, And Minneapolis. Historically, many musicians have spoken out against the war and despite the reactions of radio stations and right-wing media personalities, all deserve our support. Lets strike back this time by listening to these musicians’ music and by making the Chicks’ new single number one on the charts. Lets support the rights of socially conscious musicians by attending their concerts and purchasing their albums. It’s the right thing to do. It’s important for citizens – whether musicians, actors or ordinary people like you and me – to be able to express our political views without censorship or violent reactions. "Forgive, sounds goodForget, I’m not sure I couldThey say time heals everythingBut I’m still waitingI’m through with doubtThere’s nothing left for me to figure outI’ve paid a priceAnd I’ll keep payingI’m not ready to make niceI’m not ready to back downI’m still mad as hell andI don’t have time to go round and round and roundIt’s too late to make it rightI probably wouldn’t if I could‘Cause I’m mad as hellCan’t bring myself to do what it is you think I shouldI know you saidCan’t you just get over itIt turned my whole world aroundAnd I kind of like itI made my bed and I sleep like a babyWith no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach herDaughter that she ought to hate a perfect strangerAnd how in the world can the words that I saidSend somebody so over the edgeThat they’d write me a letterSayin’ that I better shut up and singOr my life will be overI’m not ready to make niceI’m not ready to back downI’m still mad as hell andI don’t have time to go round and round and roundIt’s too late to make it rightI probably wouldn’t if I could‘Cause I’m mad as hellCan’t bring myself to do what it is you think I shouldI’m not ready to make niceI’m not ready to back downI’m still mad as hell andI don’t have time to go round and round and roundIt’s too late to make it rightI probably wouldn’t if I could‘Cause I’m mad as hellCan’t bring myself to do what it is you think I shouldForgive, sounds goodForget, I’m not sure I couldThey say time heals everythingBut I’m still waiting"
Stay has its strengths and weaknesses, but I’m not too sure that it will appeal to most. The camerawork in Stay is terrific. The story of a psychologist (Ewan McGregor) trying to unravel the twisted trauma of a suicidal young man (Ryan Gosling) and convince him that life is worth living. As I watched this movie, I wondered where are they going with this. The movie can be confusing at times, but it all makes sense in the end. You have to stay with the film the entire time or you will get very frustrated. As the credits begin to roll you'll begin to take in what just happened and piece some things together. It's a puzzle that tells you not to blatantly trust what you see. It just asks you to trust in your imagination.
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Capote" is set during the five years that Capote spent researching and writing his most famous and last finished book, "In Cold Blood," about the true life story of the senseless killing of a Kansas farm family of four. Hoffman truly immerses himself in this role. He becomes the gay, peculiar, eccentric, self-absorbed writer complete with mannerisms, vocal inflections, and facial expressions. The film's mystique comes from the bond that Capote forms with the murderers. He forms a weird attachment with them, yet, when he gets all of the information he needs, he readily abandons them. He's a master manipulator at getting people to open up to him. I also really enjoyed the background progression of his friend Harper Lee who during these 6 years has "To Kill A Mocking Bird" published. Though not many can recall the name of her book at this time, it will become one of the most famous novels of all time and one of my personal favorites. Over the course of writing "In Cold Blood", Lee's novel is published to great acclaim and made into a film starring Gregory Peck. Capote attends the New York premiere, but he is still so wrapped up in his own book that he can't come to terms with Lee's success, putting a strain on their relationship. This movie will stay with me for some time........
