Boston wins...

Oh Jaime...I believe our bet was for dinner at Lucille's...
Looking forward to it!

So many great friends & one (truly) amazing daughter!

My darling friend Marla (and her husband Tom too!)

Allison sang at "big church" again tonight and was so incredible! I made sure everyone around me knew that THAT was my daughter!
It was the first time that I had seen her new adorable haircut too!
The night was filled with the JOY of seeing old friends too! The picture above is my long-time friend Marla who worked in Children's Ministry with me for many years. I sat with my Jan (who I've known for almost 20 years!) and Christal(who lived across the street from me for 8 years!)
I was finally able to spend a little time with Heather too! Then my baseball buddy, Cathy called me after the service...she knew I was there somewhere!
It was a reminder of just how many great people I am blessed to have in my life!
The evening was an absolute GIFT...just in time!

Movies (off the top of my head) that make me cry

It might actually be easier to make a list of movies that DON'T make me cry, cause I am a real crier. But these are movies that make me SOB out loud. I gotta admit, there are times when there's nothing better than a good cry...it's so therapeutic and cleansing! These movies are pretty much guaranteed to get you going.

1. Ghost
2. Titanic
3. Lorenzo's Oil
4. Dead Man Walking
5. Dumbo (come on...you know the scene)
6. Shadowlands
7. Field of Dreams
8. Terms of Endearment
9. The Way We Were
10. Steel Magnolias
11. Finding Neverland
12. The Patriot
13. Glory
14. Babel
15. It's a Wonderful Life
    

Funeral for a(nother) friend

When I got to work this morning, I could hear the piano being tuned upstairs in the lobby. It was not a melody being played, just random notes being repeatedly being hit here and there...as the player tried to get it back in tune. That's how I have felt this whole last week-- completely out of tune. Random things have filled my heart and mind these last seven days and I am doing my best to get everything back to normal--back in tune...I gotta admit, I'm not there yet.
The constant fires have been a nightmare for everyone in Southern California. A tragedy of incredible proportions. Montage opened up many rooms for evacuees and the place bustled each morning with people on cells hoping for news of saved homes...children, dogs, cats and even a few birds wondered by my desk, not knowing what the next moment would hold. This went on all day, every day...
What else did the week contain? My sister's father in law died suddenly and she and her family flew home quickly from Hawaii to be here for all the services and to help pick up the pieces. The up side of that was my niece, Sunny's shining presence in my life for a few days. And her smiley little face among the crowd gathered to celebrate Allison's 25th birthday. Thank God for that.
The hardest part of the last seven days was the news of my dear friend's suicide. I have just returned from his funeral...and I still just cannot believe it. You would have sworn that you had never met anyone who loved life more...happy, upbeat...PQ was the life of ANY party. He was successful in every aspect of life. The church was packed--standing room only--and people sobbed out loud, tears streaming down every face. Those speaking made us laugh remembering Patrick's incredible love for every single person. There was no one in the place who did not have a "PQ name"--he called me "J-lady" or "Jewels" and most recently, "Baseball Julie" or "BJ". He KNEW people. And we all THOUGHT we knew him. But no one saw this coming! Senseless. Heart breaking is the perfect description. A great video of his life was shown at the gathering after the funeral. Pictures of him with friend after friend after friend...surfing, skiing, playing baseball, doing yoga, dancing, laughing. Pictures of him in his classic cars, with his dog, and in Hawaii, Australia, Japan, you name it! I wanted to say, "See PQ, you really had a wonderful life!" But like the beautiful piano in the lobby of the Montage...he was out of tune. And no one knew.
On the drive home from La Jolla tonight, I realized that the funeral I went to a couple of months ago was also for a friend who was just 44 year old. Ironically, she died of cancer after suffering for years and doing everything she could to try to save her life!
I just flipped on the TV and the "Vitameatavegamin" episode of I love Lucy is on. I'm sipping on a Corona in my jammies, laughing at Lucy and saying the lines along with her..."Hello Friends!"
And so life slowly gets back in tune...

a few old friends at the funeral

David Hanna and Steve Keefe (Steve and I were "Class Flirts")

PQ loved Elvis

Happy Halloween (a tad early...)

Earlier in the week Montage had a Halloween party for the Banquets Staff and their families. I was lucky enough to catch my niece Sunny in town, so she was able to go with me...Sunny wore my "prom queen" costume and I wore the dress that Allison wore in Alanna's mom's wedding AND the dress I wore at Crave's "Ugly Prom" a few years ago...

Beauty and the Beast #1

Beauty and the Beast #2

Shadi and Trisa

Beauty and the Beast #3

Beauty and the ???

Tara and Shadi

Laura

I love hanging out with Sunny and
I absolutely love the people I work with!

Pumpkin Ice Cream

I know many of you are not fans of anything pumpkin flavored...
but if you are you will LOVE this ice cream! And it's LOW FAT which means I can eat it and not feel guilty (cause I would eat it anyway being that it's only available for a limited time...)
I highly recommend it be served with just a drizzle of chocolate syrup...of course I eat it with a lot of chocolate syrup. (Fat free)
Delicious.