It was so beautiful on the lake, I want to back already!

Finally, now I know where the London Bridge is................... in Lake Havasu.

Can you believe that last week was my first trip to Lake Havasu? What a great place, I had the best time!

Hanging out in the river at Laughlin.

Security was tight in Laughlin with deva's patron "Tee" Man. He did manage to keep me out of trouble:)

These were the most fun people to hang out with during the slot tournament in Laughlin last week. I actually came in 16th place, which is better than I normally do. I just love going to Laughlin, the river is freezing and it's 120 degrees outside...... perfect! Winning money helps along with great food, service, and genuine people!
I just love those Blazing 7's! They seem to come up every time I go.

I'm sooo behind with everything, I'll update shortly!!

I didn't think I could make it through last week. Two wedding receptions, a dart banquet, off to the doctors that can't figure out what's wrong with me, a trip to the hospital to visit a dear friend who just had surgery, and a funeral. That's leaving out all the legal stuff. Uhhhggg!

At the funeral I felt like it wasn't real. How could a friend you just shared a drink and a laugh with a few weeks ago be gone, just like that. The weirdest part was the fact that Larry H Parker made me cry. My friend Jim worked for him for 15 years. Larry told a story that just got the water works going. Not what I expected from the Attorney in the TV commercials that promises "to fight for you!" That followed by " Crying in the Chapel" by Elvis, just made it somehow okay as I looked in the back of the Chapel and saw all his friends standing there. The hardest part was shaking the hands of his devastated young children on the way out. It reminded me of how I felt at my own father's funeral. That's got to be the worst feeling I can relate to, losing your Dad. I'm glad I went there, I would want all my friends to show up at my send off. Only I think I would have everyone come to deva's and throw a big party to celebrate my life. Just play some Gypsy Kings and have a good time telling all the funny stories about me. That's the way to be remembered.

Congrats Jim & Cindy! 

Hold on Cindy! 

The happy couple! 

Okay, maybe a little too much Champagne:) 

I went to Cook's last night for "Bike Night," there were some nice bikes! Cook's is a bar & restaurant at the end of a beautiful drive through the canyon. They have bands, picnic tables, sawdust on the floor........... but I think my favorite thing is the port-a-potties out back:) It's a fun place to go if you like bikers, beer, and broads. Well, okay so I was sipping a Stoli and there were some good looking young people there as well. The ride back was the best part. There's just something about watching the sunset on the back of a Harley:)

Congratulations to deva's patrons, and good friends, Cindy & Jim on getting married on Tuesday. We had a little reception at the bar on Tuesday night. We are going to miss them, Jim is moving her to Texas where he moved last year.

I'm sad and frankly shocked that a friend of mine just passed away. He was having some problems and finally seemed to be getting his act together. Now he's gone. Apparently he was helping put out the brush fires and died somehow. I am going to put his name here in case anyone knows him that is reading this, his funeral is on Friday. E-mail me if you need the address. He was a nice guy, always the life of the party, he hung out at the Claimjumper, Chat Noir, and a few other places around South Coast Plaza.
Jim Rowley will be missed by many friends!

Good friends and a great band at the Hideout yesterday. 

Out at the Hideout. 

Jaime's Birthday bash at deva's Saturday night. 

Just some fun guys I met at Outback steakhouse.  

A friend of mine sent me another awesome link to check out:

http://www.wtv-zone.com/Mary/THISWILLMAKEYOUPROUD.HTML

There's so many good sites out there that show you the real stories.

I'm still waiting to hear from a friend of mine visiting London, the mood there must be a bit erie and quite scary. The "Tube" is already spooky enough with the dampness and humidity down there. I feel so sorry for all those people, my heart certainly goes out to them and their families. The British seem to be handling this rather well by going on with their daily lives the way they are portrayed on TV with their stiff upper lip. I guess you have to, we eventually did here. That's why it's called Freedom. What happened was just plain murder by evil cowards.

Once again, something like this puts perspective on your own life. What's really important? Count your blessings. I'm just thrilled to have my hand start to heal.............. along with my heart. I'll eventually get the "back" thing figured out.

Have a good weekend!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! I had a great time hanging out with friends all weekend. My very dear friends surprised me on Saturday by showing up at my house with cleaning and gardening supplies. They gave my home and backyard a much needed super cleaning. It's been difficult for me to do much of anything with my back and hand hurting so it was very appreciated. It's a nice feeling to have such good friends in your life. We spent the whole weekend cleaning, workin' the BBQ, and lighting up those fireworks Monday night:) There were so many good fireworks around the neighborhood, who needs the beach with 100,000 people? It was sort of funny watching the police chopper try to keep up with the illegal fireworks. As soon as the chopper spotlighted an area, someone else would set some off in another neighborhood. Finally they just gave up all together and took off. The fire department, police, and several Fire Trucks must have passed by at least 5 times. In the end we were all safe so they obviously did a good job preventing us from blowing ourselves up:)

God Bless the USA! 

Rachael, our former "deva" came by the pool to hang out. 

I'm trying to get the pics posted from Vegas but they're not all getting through. I'll try again later. I need to get ready for a fun 4th of July. Lots of "Safe & Sane" fireworks to light on fire!

Please check out this site, it's awesome!

http://www.iwo.com/heroes.htm

Freedom Isn't Free! Thankyou to all the military protecting us so that we can enjoy and celebrate tomorrow's holiday knowing that they are keeping us safe.

Happy 4th of July!

Tilted Kilt bartender, I wonder if he had anything on under there? 

I got offered a job here......... wonder why? 

My latest piece........ the Kareem Abdul Jabar picture, not Micheal....... he just sells me everything:) 

Me & JJ at Field of Dreams spending all our winings. 

Just got back from Vegas, too much work to catch up on! I'll have pics up by tomorrow.

Isn't it funny how you can be so behind in your work, stressed out, and worried and then something happens that just makes you smile? I'm sitting here trying to put a dent in my paperwork with my aching back, broken hand, and the lingering affects of a shot given to me yesterday, and I get an e-mail from just about the last person I would expect to hear from. A friend of mine that I haven't seen for about 14 years found me on the internet. It's a surprise because last time I saw him it was in Ohio and now he lives half way around the World. I cared deeply for this person at one time, even thought about moving back to Ohio at the time. It'll be good catching up. Anyway, it was a wonderful surprise and now I'm smiling. Sometimes it's the little things that make you the happiest:)

I spent the day in court yesterday to obtain a restraining order. The police told me that I needed to do that to help them protect me. Basically I was told I'm stupid if I don't follow through with it. I realize that a piece of paper doesn't stop anything from happening, but allows the police to arrest that person if they come near me. I'm hoping that this ends up being unnecessary, but better safe than sorry. It is a very time consuming and tiring process. It took from 8:30am until about 4pm to have the papers in hand. The court room I was in was so over loaded. I was sitting there scared, with my back hurting, my hand throbbing from filling out all the paperwork, listening to the longest testimony from a "never mind the prenupt agreement" divorce, and thinking how could things be worse? That's when the 4.9 earthquake hit, the building was on rollers so it was quite a ride. I guess that was my answer along with the reason my cat was crying all night and hiding behind the toaster in the kitchen. They're still making a fuss, they have been all week because of all the quakes we've been having. There must be more on the way. Either that or they just sense how upset I've been. Cats are by no means stupid creatures.

I wanted to let everyone know that I'm doing okay. Don't worry about me, I always land on my feet. I'm just really sad that what took place had to happen for things to end. I'm sure once the bump on my head goes away I'll be able to think more clearly. Gotta get back to enjoying life......... it goes by way too fast, with or without you.

I didn't mean to worry anyone with that post the other day. Thanks for all the e-mails asking if I'm ok. Let's just say that after a very scary encounter last night I have an Emergency Protective Restraining Order. My neighbors called the police, Thank God. I'll be just fine as long as he leaves me alone. I'm just happy to escape with a bump on my head and a big dent in my driver's side door.

Life is too short for all of this drama.

Very appropriate sign on the Orco building off the 55 Fwy:

"Honesty pawned can never be redeemed"

I don't even know how to begin this post or even if I should write it but I can't ignore the fact that my life has just dramatically changed. My current relationship is now completely over. I just went through another man. Apparently I forgot to check the expiration date on this one. Apparently I thought that a "promise ring" meant that they were making a promise. I mistakenly bought into the idea of "I love you " meaning just that. I don't want to sound like a whining, crying, overly-dramatic, hysterical, scorned female......................... but I just had my heart ripped out! I didn't realize that when someone has your wedding thought out, picked the area where to buy a home together, picked out the name of the child we were possibly going to have ( it was Zachary, or Zack for short,) and professed their undying love over and over again, that it was all a fantasy story. A screen play, written and directed by a pathological liar. To have the ability to take a tiny little part of a truth and twist it into an elaborate collection of never ending fantasy stories is frankly a scary, evil, disgusting individual! The sad thing is that there's no happy ending for anyone involved. I will spare the details of this tragedy in hopes that he receives some serious help so that an absolutely adorable 3 year old will one day have a decent father to be there for her. I couldn't imagine growing up without my father, he shaped who I am today. I wish he were alive today so I could go cry on his shoulder. We are all still "Daddy's little girl" no matter what our age.

The Chili Cook-Off in Tustin was last Sunday and us Republican Area Ladies had a great booth. We registered voters and had people write messages to send to the Troops. I even got talked into the "Hot Legs" contest..................No, I didn't win. A mere second place with no trophy:(
It's always a fun day with about 18,000 people roaming the streets of Old Town Tustin while drinking beer and eatin' chili.

In a totally un-related story on E-Online:

http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,16711,00.html?tnews

I talked to this reporter a while back after mentioning Majestik Magnificent in this blog. Didn't think I would be included in the latest news story covering the Michael Jackson trial. Very bizarre.

Tustin chili Cook Off June 5th 

Okay, on the broken hand deal, here's my unofficial statement:

"I had a short conversation with a long winded liberal!"
(Come on, it sounds better than smashing my hand in a car door.)

I received an interesting e-mail from a school teacher that I corresponded with during the recall campaign. It's somewhere back in the archives, his class actually read my blog and one of his students did a report on me. Anyway, he's obviously an outstanding teacher with some pretty amazing students. They have been working on getting the "Mississippi Burning" murder investigation reopened. You can see their progress one the following website:

http://www.mississippiburning.org

I'm pretty impressed with Mr. Bradford and his students. I don't have a complete understanding of what happened, but I guess I'll learn from them.

I went to the Angels game against the White Sox Thursday night to see if they remembered how to hit the ball. It was a good game, too bad I had to leave the stadium to watch the end of it. I may be a little spoiled with the Diamond Club seats, but left field is definitely not happening in my future attendance. It started out okay, made it in time for the national anthem........ one of the best parts of the game. Nevermind the fact that only about 20% of the fans were there 10 minutes before the game. Hey, it's California, where getting to the game slightly before the 4th inning is the norm. The trio behind us could've been the cast from Will & Grace, "Oh my God, I just totally got a free beer cuz I chugged it cuz there was a hole in the bottom of the cup and the bartender lady said if I drank it real fast I totally wouldn't have to pay for it! Goodie, it's like I'm so lucky!" He said while primping and then commenting on the nice tight pants the players were wearing heading back into the bullpen. Don't get me wrong, I like Will & Grace, just don't want to listen to them at the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California of the Western Hemisphere. Then it was time for playing dodge ball with a broken hand. Try watching the the tiny little ant like figures play ball while 99Cent store beach balls are coming at you from every corner. I saw a 6 year old take out at least 2 full beers with one serve. Try eating nachos (of course with a pound of jalepenos,) with one hand, drinking a perfume smelling thimble glass of the best box wine available with a generous 2 ice cubes, dodging balls, taking pictures of some die hard, 45 year old Chicago fan wearing a White Sox belt buckle who's carrying a 50th Anniversary Disney tote with his diposable fuji who practically cried when a Sox struck out( he was making me want to become chatty with the Will & Grace cast,) having to stand up every 2 minutes because now the other 16 people in our row have decided to show up and we're on the end seats, some 16 year old is trying to swagger up the stairs completely drunk out of her skull, and watching a ball game! We left and watched the end at a sports bar.

Wow, I really lapsed this time. Time flies when you're busy being a Republican in the most Republican County in the Country:)

Last week I went to the Grand Opening of our new OC Republican Headquarters over by the Anaheim Pond of Anaheim, OC, southern California(it's no where near LA, but it's right next to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Any questions? Anyway, Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas was the guest speaker. At least what's left of him, apparently he has lost a lot of that "gravy" weight they put on in that part of our Country. Very likeable guy. At least I was able to stay for that speaker, sorry to miss Governor Pataki at the Summit earlier this spring.

I went to another Angels game a few weeks ago to watch the Indians pound the crap out of us. Third row behind home plate would've been a nicer place to sit if we had won. There were even fans left at the end of the game, and we lost 9-3. I remember years ago when the stadium would be half empty by then. I guess winning the World Series in 02 helped OC stay in the spirit.

As for my health.......... not much change in the back. I have another MRI tomorrow. Lovely. Oh, and I broke my right hand. Caught in a car door, ouch! Well, not the whole hand, but enough that I'm a lefty for at least 6 weeks. Figures. At least I'm getting more coordinated with my left. I'm practicing right now, so forgive my errors. I got a cool cast that's water-proof. That may have been a bad idea. I drove through tar leaving the Registrar of Voters (it's in such a lovely area) so I ended up washing my car. Then a nice neighbor ( not the one who threw razor blades in my pool,) came over and loaned me some kind of "magic clay" for my car. So of course I ended up basically detailing it, I'll pay tomorrow. At least I got a good tan:)

This weekend is going better than the last one. I attempted to sit through the Republican Summit last Saturday morning and, well, let's just say I made it out of the very warm room without an incident:) this cold/ flu thing that is going around is weird. I think I'm over it now.

I sent my Mom 20 tulips to Tennessee for Mother's Day...................say that five times real fast! My brother didn't do anything so I get to be her favorite kid for today. It was 78 degrees there today where my Mom is at, about the same here. Where's the global warming? I'm cold! My pool water is warmer than the temp out side, where's the heat?

Arnold will be in Santa Ana tomorrow morning, he turned in something like 2.6 million signatures for his initiatives. I'd go support him but I've got to do some work to balance my own budget:)

Having a great time running around the Capitol! 

Inside the Senate Floor. 

Arnold speaking at our meeting in Sacramento. 

Sacramento is always an interesting trip. Arnold spoke at our meeting on Monday before lunch. Hopefully we gathered enough signatures for his ballot initiatives:) We could really use that redistricting plan, it may help get rid of a certain Congress person in the 47th.
On Tuesday we ran around the Capitol and visited with several of our local representatives. I ducked into a Senate committee hearing, that stuff goes quick! I think they even speak a different language:) Back at the Hyatt we heard from the Honorable Matt Fong, Howard Kaloogian ( Co-Chair, Move America Forward www. moveAmericaForward.com ,) Tom Campbell, Budget Director, and State Senator Tom McClintock.
There are always protestors outside the Capitol, everywhere. There were several gathered on one side to protest the regulation of acupuncture. I'm not big on regulation, trust me, but if someone is going to stick needles in people................ well, maybe it calls for some sort of guidelines. It's never boring up in Sacramento!

We were such the Gangsters! 

Mary is always the life of the party! ( Is that an Assemblyman in the bcakground?:) 

Me & Jeremy @ Roaring 20's Party 

I'm just getting caught up on things so here goes..........

I went to a Roaring 20's party for Aliso Viejo Republican Women Federated the night before I took off for Sacramento. Mary always puts on a great party every year! Pictures to follow...

I went to Sacramento last Sunday and I guess the politicians made me sick................I have a cold which turned into the flu today. More later.....