The Sunny, Silly Side...

Tracey May, all hooked up...



















This,

+

+

=

In other words, tiddlers equate to hotdogs for dinner : )

Tangled line, sucken pliers, mis-thrown casts, drowned corks. Let's just call it "accident prone"...

Hats off to a great weekend!

We all got bigger fish to fry...

Josephine's was the place to hang out before catching Edward Osborne Wilson at Jones Hall. E.O., as we affectionately refer to him, is the most respected pioneer of biodiversity in the world, aside from which he's a fanatic entomologist, which adds a slice of mystery to his otherwise nerdy occupation. After all, who could be more enigmatic than someone who can write a whole book about nothing but ants? The topic of the evening was simple, and something that was driven home to me more than once this week: we are killing the world we live in, and if we don't start to take it seriously and do something we are all toast. There was no toast involved at Josephine's that evening, but the fish was pretty darn good : )

SMPS National Conference - Hollywood

Keith Ferrazzi of Ferrazzi Green Light saved us on the last day... he's a great motivational speaker, so great we all stood in a long line to buy his book and have him sign it. Funny, I went all the way to Hollywood and came back with the autograph of someone I'd never heard of. Much more rewarding in my book...







Our view only from Kristy's 20th floor room (opposite the Penthouse Suite; that's what happens when you ask for an upgrade...) The Magic Castle is on the left, the Hollywood sign is about 2/3 from the left and the Griffith Observatory is somewhere there on the right...







View from Marlene's 12th floor room looking out at Capitol Records and Downtown LA somewhere to the right in the distance...













The Renaissance Hollywood by day and by night...















I took this photo from my bed - what a view, huh?




















Streets left and right were blocked off for all but VIPs...

From our room we could see several star's houses including Penny Marshall, Marilu Henna, Bob Barker and Lawrence Fishburn

The Oxygen Bar, stick these up your nose! Yummy : )
















Mel's Drive-In where American Graffiti was filmed. Cool interior but the food is mediocre.
















Out by the pool: the perfect place for a late-night phone call...
















The Renaissance Hollywood Hotel is linked to a huge multi-level shopping center. It was a handy cut through to Hollywood Blvd.





















Ms. Marlene enjoying a box lunch




















Ms. Tracey enjoying dessert : )
















Ms. Elyssa figuring out what the heck to do next...

Sid Grauman opened Mann's Chinese Theater in 1927. Hollywood stars have been leaving their mark in cement outside the Theater ever since.
































I've always had a thing for Danny Kaye, Hayley Mills I'm still presuming is my name sake, and Marilyn and Jack go without saying...

The Hollywood Walk of Fame opened in 1960 and contains more than 2,000 stars... here's some of my favorites

Thursday evening started out at the hotel bar with Raymond, Marlene's friend. Raymond is a hairstylist on Rodeo who is famous for the hair of such greats as Shirley Bassey, Jaqueline O'Nassis, Darryl Hannah, Julian McMahon (Christian on Nip Tuck), and is responsible for the famous Farrah Flick!















We smuggled Raymond up to the pool for the Gala champagne reception















The Gala was full of glamor and good food provided by Wolfgang Puck whose restaurant Vert is next door to the hotel















Don't even ask how we managed to end up on the Red Carpet for the Snakes on a Plane premier...

Although we didn't manage to get in to the event...




































This guy must really like coconuts...




















Here he is, third tree from the left, that's him, the tiny red speck!















We actually saw gas at a higher price, but I thought this was painful enough...















A photo of a photo















The Wax Museum; not quite Madam Toussourd's but then my ex-art teacher, Paul Bainbridge doesn't work in Hollywood...