Positano

I've been a bad little blogger. After an amazing trip to Positano, Italy, I returned to reality and got swept back into day-to-day life. How mundane of me.

So Positano. We stayed in a villa with four levels nestled into a cliff overlooking the town. Arriving by car on the Amalfi coast, which is south of Rome and Naples, it's like stepping into a fairytale. The entire town is built into the cliffs overlooking the crystal clear sea. Our villa had a pool and staff of three, who cooked some of our delicious meals, my favorite being lemon pasta. We visited Capri Island, not once, but twice, and nearby Sorento and Ravello, and the ruins of Pompei destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

Tomorrow, I'm off on yet another adventure. Jetting off to NY and on Tuesday we're setting sail on the one and only Queen Mary 2. Six nights transatlantic to Southampton, England. Never been on a cruise before, so I'm totally pysched. It's truly a trip of a lifetime. So, Bon Voyage!

Celebrity sightings: Academy Award-winning actor, Forest Whitaker; Seth Green; and the actor who plays Bo on "Days Of Our Lives" at Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood before and after SPIDERMAN 3.

Ciao, Bella!

I'm departing on the red-eye Thursday night for NY. Then, Friday night, Raul and I jet off to Rome where we'll rendezvous with some friends and drive down to the Amalfi Coast south of Naples. We're taking a villa in Positano overlooking the ocean (one of the most beautiful places in the world, imo) to celebrate our ten year anniversary.

Wasn't sure I was actually going to make it because my renewed passport didn't arrive until yesterday by Federal Express. Talk about cutting it close! Before I depart, though, I need to apply for a California driver's license and register my car because my NY plates and insurance expires while I'm in Italy. Off to do a smog check on my car during lunch ....

Ciao, ciao!

Celebrity sighting: Brian Austin Green ("Beverly Hills 90210") eating lunch next to me at Topz on Santa Monica Blvd.; producer Dan Jinks (American Beauty) and a former "Will & Grace" producer at the Arclight watching the movie Disturbia. Yesterday, however, I missed seeing the Governator and Rob Lowe who were eating in Disney commissary. We suspect Arnie was shooting a cameo for "Brothers & Sister."

April Showers

Bring May flowers. Except, it never rains in SoCal. Though, it's been very foggy and cloudy as of late. Gloomy comes to mind. So much for sunny California.

Anyway, it's been a VERY long time since my last post. Things have just been crazy busy. Landed at ABC supporting a VP in Business Development. We're adjacent to the Disney lot and situated between casting and the movie dpt., so there have been celebrity sighting galore (more on that later).

My producers are in the process of optioning my script and bringing in a new writer in to beef up my characters. I'm done with it, so it's all good. Started a new script a couple weeks ago that's going exceptionally well.

Also, a few weeks ago, I injured myself playing tennis. Wacked myself in the face, right above my eye. Cut myself open, but no stitches. My eye swelled and I had a nice shiner for about a week. It's still healing, however.

Did anyone hear about the Hollywood fire recently? Some kids visiting from Illinois accidentally started it and the hills behind Warner Bros. erupted in flames. The hill behind our office bld. was on fire, and when the smoke shifted north, it engulfed our entire building. So they let us go early because the smoke seeped in and it was hard to breathe.

So celebrity sightings: Ryan O'Neal (who patted me on the shoulder), Dave Navarro & the actor who played David Palmer on "24" at Hollywood staple, the Palm Restaurant; Leonardo DiCaprio & girlfriend at Pinkberry's on Santa Monica; Queen Latifah & her girlfriend at Crunch doing the elliptical next to me; and at work: Eva Longoria, Sir Ben Kingsley, Luke Perry, Scott Wolf, Jerry O'Connell, Debi Mazur, director Christopher Guest, Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry, director James Burrows, and a host of other character actors you all would recognize.

Cold Snap

It's been rather cold here in SoCal the last few days. The coldest it's ever been since I moved here a year and half ago. We're talking high 50's, low 30's. It feels like fall back East. In fact, California winters are like a nice, sunny cool fall day on the East coast.

Anyway, it's been a while since my last posting. Happy New Year to everyone. I'm looking forward to 2007. It's going to be a good year, I can feel it in my bones.

Had a wonderful Christmas with my family in Chicagoland and a very fun New Year's in Palm Springs with Raul and friends. We met one of the writers of our favorite show on CBS, "The Class" and one of the producers of NBC's "30 Rock." The writer gave me some inside dirt about "The Class" that I probably shouldn't repeat .... We also played tennis one day and rode the Tramway to the top of Mt. San Jacinto, where there was five inches of snow and a beautiful pine tree forest at the top.

Currently, looking for a new job and/or temp assignment. Had a very good interview on Friday at ABC and will have another one at ABC on Tuesday in a different department. Then, I have an interview on Wednesday at Fox.

Meanwhile, I sent the latest revision of my script to my producers over the holidays and awaiting their latest round of comments. I see a light at the end of the tunnel, so I need to start a new script soon. Oh, and Raul and I went to see a taping of the "Ellen DeGeneres Show", which was fun. My former co-worker at the CW (my temp job ended at the end of the year) helped us get VIP tickets, as Raul is a big fan. In fact, Raul got to sit in Ellen's mother's chair when she comes to the show. It has a plaque on the back that says "Mama's Seat."

Celebrity sightings: actor Michael Rappaport (second time I've seen him) at Arclight Cinemas; Alicia Witt ("Cybill" & TWO WEEKS NOTICE) at the Apple store at the Grove; and actor Jeffrey Tambor ("Arrested Development") on the ABC lot.

'Tis The Season

To be Jolly. Or something like that. I’ve barely started my Christmas shopping and I’m departing for Chicagoland on Friday for the holiday. But what’s far worse is my step-mother has to have chemo again on Tuesday because it looks like her cancer may have returned. Talk about a short-lived recovery! And, one of her sons was hospitalized and the doctors weren’t sure he was going to make it over night, so they returned to upstate NY from Florida for a week to be by his side. Talk about a one-two-punch.

And in other health news, my mom’s sister was recently diagnosed with MS and my mom’s brother has Parkinson’s.

Oh, and did I mention my nephew was released from prison last week?

On a brighter note, I had a busy week when Raul was in town. We attended a few Christmas parties, one of which was aboard a friend’s yacht in Newport Beach where we watched the annual Christmas Boat Parade. Various boats are decorated in different themes with lights and decorations. It’s very festive.

Celebrity sightings: Lance Bass and Bobby Brown at work on the same day; Ian Buchanan (ex-Duke “GH”; ex-James “The Bold and the Beautiful”) not once, but twice; first, at a holiday party at East/West on Santa Monica and the second time yesterday having brunch with Susan Flannery (Stephanie “The Bold & the Beautiful) at Hedley’s on Robertson.

What Else Is New?

Not much to report, except more celebrity sightings. Had a great time visitig my family in upstate NY for Thanksgiving. The holidays are almost here and my temp job ends at the end of the year. There's possibly two openings at work that I may apply for. Sent the producers the new intro for my main character. I've made her much more extreme in her actions and not so soft as before. Awaiting their approval before I write any more because her attitude will change the dynamic and her interraction with others. Or, maybe that's just an excuse not to write. In any event, I haven't had much time lately. Will get back into it today, though. Right after I do the laundry and go grocery shopping ;)

Celebrity sightings: Anthony Michael Hall (SIXTEEN CANDLES, THE BREAKFAST CLUB, "The Dead Zone") on my flight to NY for Thanksgiving; Nate Gonzalez, who recently got the boot on "Survivor: Cook Islands", sitting next to me in first class on my flight back to LA (he chatted me up and is a really cool cat); Jason Lee ("My Name Is Earl") riding his bike onto the Warner Bros. lot as I was exiting after lunch; and Star Jones at work for a meeting.

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad World

Emmitt Smith voted the winner of "Dancing with the Stars"? Um, okay. Sorry, Mario, you was robbed! At least the Democrats are back in power. Maybe there is a God after all.

Have a Happy Turkey everyone! And go see CASINO ROYALE and BLOOD DIAMOND in December. Both are good to great films.

Celebrity sighting: while writing this from LAX, I just saw the actress who plays Carly on "General Hospital."

Old celebrity sightings: Jai Rodriguez from "Queer Eye" at Fiesta Cantina on Santa Monica Blvd. and Jackie from that other Bravo show "Workout" at Hamburger Mary's on Halloween.