Happy???

You Betcha!!

As a result of working a 12-hour day earlier this week... I am out of here!! Yes... I worked an author appearance on Tuesday evening, so today I am cutting out of work at 12:15!!!

Tonight's plans: Sushi... martinis... and watching "The Holiday" and "The Pursuit of Happyness" with my best friend!! Life is good...

Have a great weekend, my blogging buddies!!

Tuesday's Top Three

Here are three more Katharine Hepburn movies that are among my collection.

Alice Adams (1935)

Katharine Hepburn is Alice Adams, a naive young woman who aspires to greater social status. Wanting to escape the confines of her middle-class upbringing, she presents herself to friends as a member of high-society. Then, one night as an elegant party where she really doesn't belong, she falls in love with Fred MacMurray--a veritable Prince Charming who believes Alice's fabricated stories of family wealth. But, when he's invited to meet the Adams, the ruse becomes painfully obvious. The comic highpoint of the film is the dinner party, where the family has hired a maid (Hattie McDaniel) to help with what becomes a total disaster. But, in the end, love conquers all.

This film was a smash success in the 1930s, winning Katharine Hepburn an Oscar nomination. She played the role with such innocence...

Pat and Mike (1952)

Kate plays Pat Pemberton, a college physical education teacher who excels at just about every sport there is. She's also a great athletic competitor, except when her overbearing, worrywart fiancé, Collier Weld, is around. All Pat has to do is see Collier's face on the sidelines and her golf swing loses its power; her tennis game goes haywire. It takes crooked sports manager Mike Conovan (Spencer Tracy, of course) to recognize Pat's outstanding talent. He takes her on as his most important client and handles her with the same loving care that he gives to his favorite racehorse. Naturally, Pat and Mike's relationship is destined to overstep its professional boundaries. The mutual attraction grows from the moment they meet.

I always like this movie... it showed off Katharine Hepburn's amazing athletic ability.

Summertime (1955)

Katharine Hepburn plays Jane Hudson, a jaunty as well as attractive middle-aged secretary from Akron, Ohio, has finally made it to Venice, Italy, for her long-awaited dream vacation. Never-married Jane is a self-described "independent type" who's content, or so she claims, to go it mostly alone, armed with her movie camera. Jane soon discovers that even in a city as beautiful and fascinating as Venice, going it alone can still leave one feeling terribly lonely. All that is about to change, starting with a brief encounter at an outdoor café in the Piazza San Marco, where Jane draws the attention of a handsome antiques-shop owner named Renato de Rossi.

This movie is the reason I had to go to Venice, Italy. Director David Lean understood that Venice could speak without words. Perfect!

Take A Good Look...

This is what a hero looks like.

My nephew, who is 27 years old, pulled into a local pizza place last Saturday and saw what he thought was someone pulling out of the parking lot. In fact, the truck was rolling backward toward the main highway that runs through our hometown.

He heard screaming but he saw that no one was in the driver’s seat. He then realized there was a child in the car. His instincts kicked in. He said… “I just did what anybody would have done.”

He proceeded to jump in the driver’s seat, with the child in the back seat, and hit the brakes before the vehicle entered the highway. By the time he had stopped it, the mother of the child was on her way out of the pizza place.

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I have always thought my nephew... actually all my nieces and nephews… were special. But in one moment my nephew became someone who is much more than special… he became a hero.

You were there for a reason, M.J.W.… and your Aunt Jodi is so proud.

My heart overflows….

Do You See What I See???

I know it's getting to be spring when Lilly spends her waking moments pressed up against the window watching the birds "fluttering about" outside!

Freaky Friday...

I am feeling much better today. So much so, that I have been thinking about spring... summer... and one of my favorite things to do.... ride rollercoasters!!

I love heading to Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio for the thrill of getting tossed around every which way!!

I get there before the gates open... and stay until they shut down the rides... I LOVE IT!! Although, I must admit... with age comes a few more aches and pains after a day of jostling the body around!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and a safe St. Patty's Day!!

What a Week...

I don't know if it was the time change... the stress of spending money on a new laptop... or the fact that we went from 72 degrees to 37 degrees for a high in a 36 hour period...

But now I am sick!

I woke up this morning with a stuffy, yet runny nose and that feeling in my chest when everytime I breathe in deep... I have to cough. I have isolated myself in my little area of the office. I think I may take tomorrow off if I don't feel any better. I don't want to contaminate my co-workers. But I could think of better ways to spend a three-day weekend!!


UUGGGHHH!!!

Tuesday's Top Three...

I am a huge Katharine Hepburn fan. So, I have decided to dedicate my Tuesday posts to her and her films.

Here are the Top Three films for this week.

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

When Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn), a scatterbrained young woman, takes a shine to Dr. David Huxley (Cary Grant), a sober palaeontologist, mayhem ensues. Dr. Huxley, engaged to be married and intensely interested in the arrival of the brontosaurus bone required to complete his project at the museum, is inextricably bound up with Susan's escapades when she finds herself responsible for Baby, a tame leopard shipped to her New York apartment and intended for Susan's aunt in Connecticut. The plot thickens when George the Terrier steals the priceless bone and buries it, Baby escapes, and an untamed leopard escapes from a circus convoy (resulting in a twist on the mistaken identity ploy). Will Susan's love for David be reciprocated? Will David get his bone back? Will Baby be brought up - or brought down?


This is a funny, light-hearted movie. Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn have a wonderful chemistry that shines throughout the movie!

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Tracy Lord (Hepburn) is a wealthy Philadelphia socialite who had divorced C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) and is about to marry George Kittredge (John Howard). Wedding preparations are complicated when she is blackmailed by publisher Sidney Kidd (Henry Daniell) into granting an exclusive story to tabloid reporter Macaulay "Mike" Connor (James Stewart) and photographer Elizabeth Imbrie (Ruth Hussey). In exchange, Spy magazine agrees to refrain from exposing the antics of Tracy's philandering father Seth (John Halliday). Dexter has cooked up the scheme so he can try to derail the marriage--he still loves his ex-wife. As the wedding nears, Tracy finds herself torn between Mike, Dexter and George.

The night before the wedding, Tracy gets drunk for only the second time in her life and takes an impromptu, innocent swim with Mike. When George sees Mike carrying an intoxicated Tracy into the house afterwards (both of them wearing only bathrobes), he thinks the worst, that his bride-to-be has disgraced herself. The next day, Tracy takes exception to his lack of faith in her and breaks off the engagement. Then she realizes that all the guests have arrived and are waiting for the ceremony to begin. Mike volunteers to marry her (much to Elizabeth's distress), but Tracy graciously declines. At this point, Dexter makes his successful bid for her hand.

I hold this movie close to my heart. Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn are at their best in this film!

Woman of the Year (1942)

The first film starring the legendary screen team of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, this savvy dramatic comedy from 1942 plays off the unlikely match of polar opposites--the brash sports reporter Sam Craig (Tracy) and the brilliant political commentator Tess Harding (Hepburn) from the New York Chronicle--whose marriage grabs front-page headlines. Balancing her flashy career with marital bliss turns out to be a complicated challenge for the worldly Tess, whose down-to-earth husband struggles to support her ambition while keeping their marriage from falling apart. Though some of its sexual politics are sure to seem outdated, this sparkling comedy is still relevant to today's demanding professional lifestyles, and the Hepburn-Tracy chemistry is a wonder to behold in some of their all-time favorite scenes.

This was the beginning of a love affair between Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn that lasted over 26 years. It's true magic!

If I Could Save Time In A Bottle...

The first thing that I'd like to do...

Is to sleep for another hour!!!

I can't believe how one measly hour can screw me up so much!! I couldn't fall asleep last night, I woke up at 2:30am, I strangled my alarm clock when it jolted me awake at 6:15am... and could barely get myself together to get to work by 8:00am.

I am dragging... if I make it through this day without my head hitting the keyboard I will be amazed!!

Let The Sunshine In...

Little Miss Sunshine is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. It's a hysterical... and at moments... touching adventure about a very dysfunctional family. The wonderful cast (Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin, Paul Dano) brings to life the amazingly written characters.

This movie will definitely be a part of my DVD collection!

Best Friends Forever...

Tiger, Orangutan Babies Playmates at Zoo

CISARUA, Indonesia - Call them the odd couples. A pair of month-old Sumatran tiger twins have become inseparable playmates with a set of young orangutans, an unthinkable match in their natural jungle habitat in Indonesia's tropical rainforests.

The friendship between 5-month-old female baby primates Nia and Irma, and cubs Dema and Manis, has blossomed at the Taman Safari zoo where they share a room in the nursery.

After being abandoned by their mothers shortly after birth, the four play fight, nipping and teasing each other, and cuddling up for a shared nap when they are worn out.

"This is unusual and would never happen in the wild," said zoo keeper Sri Suwarni, bottle-feeding a baby chimp on Wednesday. "Like human babies, they only want to play."

The four have lived side-by-side for a month without a single act of hostility, she said.

Indonesian tigers and orangutans are both endangered species, threatened by rapidly shrinking habitats.

The exceptional friendship will likely be short-lived, said veterinarian Retno Sudarwati, because as the animals grow up their natural survival instincts will kick in.

"When the time comes, they will have to be separated. It's sad, but we can't change their natural behavior," she said. "Tigers start eating meat when they are three months old."

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Okay, so maybe they won't be best friends forever... but it's nice to see something so sweet and innocent between natural enemies.... at least for a little while.