A Day With Bailey

Yesterday I picked up Bailey at noon-ish and we went out, just us, for the first time. It was unbelievably hot so I decided to take her to Ikea, which she'd never been to before. We pretended that we had a castle and needed to decorate it. We hopped from showroom to showroom picking out the furniture for the guest rooms, the boys' room, the balcony, and selected the poshest and comfiest pieces. 

Then it was lunch at the cafeteria and afterwards we went to a different table and put together two little puzzles that I brought. 

Finally it was time to go, but not without a pit stop for an ice cream cone!

All in all it was a wonderful day and the highlight was Bailey saying how happy she was that we were spending time together and how she "really needed to get out of the house." Hilarious!

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World

I was so excited to see that this classic film was playing at The Colonial. I met up with Wayne Sunday afternoon and we settled in for three and a half hours of hilarity. It had been years since I saw it and to watch it on the big screen was so fantastic. Jim Backus and Dick Shawn provided the biggest laughs for me and more than once I was crying from laughing. 

April 2022 Books

* Here's Hank: How to Hug an Elephant ¹ by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver - Audible had a great sale not too long ago and I took advantage and snapped up most of the Here's Hank books that Henry Winkler narrates. They are only about an hour long each and are absolutely adorable.

* Here's Hank: Robot on the Loose ¹ by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver

♥ Here's Hank: Everybody is Somebody ¹ by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver

♥ Here's Hank: A Short Tale About a Long Dog ¹ by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver

* Here's Hank: There's a Zombie in My Bathtub ¹ by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver

* Endurance ¹ by Alfred Lansing - An extraordinary story that had me on the edge of my seat, often times in tears, and always in awe.

* The Gabriel Method ¹ by Jon Gabriel

♥ Hello, Molly! ¹ by Molly Shannon - What an absolutely fantastic memoir! I've always liked Ms. Shannon and when I found out about her book I just had to order the audiobook. Her narration was perfection and her life stories range from heartbreaking to inspiring to hilarious. I will definitely listen to this again.

* Beyond the Gender Binary ¹ by Alok Vaid-Menon - Being a cis-hetero gal I feel like I need to learn more about non-binary peeps and keep expanding my open mind!

* 84 Charing Cross Road ¹ by Helene Hanff - One of my all time favourite books. 

♥ Here's Hank: Everybody is Somebody ¹ by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver

♥ The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene - I am so enamoured of the Nancy Drew series and this one was one of the best. Nancy has the best adventures and it's so nice to know that everything will work out and everyone will be okay in the end.

♥ Here's Hank: A Short Tale About a Long Dog ¹ by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver

¹ - audiobook
² - abridged version
* - liked
♥ - loved
Any unmarked titles were, in my opinion, so-so.

Roberto Lugo

Philadelphia artist Roberto Lugo has an exhibit at Grounds for Sculpture and his artwork is super unique and absolutely beautiful.

Forty-six

Happy bday to me!! Today I woke up to a slew of texts from friends and family. My lovely sister-in-law Mary wins for the funniest:

Then I went to Grounds for Sculpture at ten to walk around a bit and snap some photos.

Once it got too hot I headed to Philly to pick up Kayla and see sweetie-boy Zuko. Then Kay and I were off to Goldie Falafel for lunch and to finally have their Coconut Tahina shakes! Oh and they were dee-lish!

After I dropped Kayla off it was time for me to head home to watch a little Hart to Hart and take a disco nap, but not before setting up a FaceTime date with Natalia! 

A couple hours later I caught up with Natalia for about 70 minutes. We discussed my day at GFS, her morning walk with Miss Lola, the Johnny Depp trial, and of course, books! Then it was time for part one of Stranger Things season four! And Natalia spilled the beans and told me that Amybeth McNulty, our very own Anne With an E has a role in the new season! Look at how my television worlds have collided. It's a beautiful thing!

(photo kidnapped from nerdist)

Bonus! Look at the cool cards I got!

This year I scored two cards from Bishop:

From Autumn:

From Helen:

Oh and that vegan Cadbury bar? Absolutely scrumptious! 

Ray Liotta

This was a real shock. Bishop texted me this afternoon to let me know the news that Ray Liotta had passed away today. I immediately messaged Marina since she has had a longtime crush on him. We are getting together Saturday night and plan to celebrate Ray's life with LesbiVeggies grub and a marathon of our most cherished Ray Liotta films. 

Back when I first signed up for Instagram I followed only two celebs: Ray Liotta and Liv Tyler. Ray didn't post a lot but this was one that I saved and it endeared him to me even more.

Liotta has had so many truly great performances and here are ten of my personal faves:

• Corrina, Corrina - I remember seeing this in the theatre and just loving it. Not tons of chemistry between Ray and Whoopi but his character was so damn loveable and Tina Majorino was beyond adorable and turned in a heartbreakingly brilliant performance.

• Dominick and Eugene - I think I originally saw this movie when I was in high school in the very early 90s. It starred Ray Liotta, Tom Hulce, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Todd Graff. Tom Hulce was extraordinary in that scene where he is struck dumb by witnessing a horrific event. Even now, just thinking of it I get teary eyed. Oh and Ray was the frustrated brother who cares for Tom Hulce's Nicky. It was so good. I wish it was available on streaming. It's a gem of a film.

• Modern Family - Ray's little cameo where he's watering his lawn made me scream when I saw it was him. Such a surprise and absolutely hilarious.

• Shades of Blue

• Muppets Most Wanted

(I recorded the above off my TV purely to re-watch again and again because it's so, so funny!)

• Field of Dreams

• Cop Land

• Blow

• A Place Beyond the Pines

• Unlawful Entry

Honourable mention!: Operation Dumbo Drop 

And in closing, this is a clip from The Bonnie Hunt Show (Now this is a show that needs to be streaming somewhere. I mean, come on. Bonnie Hunt? She's wonderful.) that really shows what a laid back and warm man Ray Liotta was. Every time I watch it and it gets to this certain moment I get the chills. He was THAT good. 

(Bad things come in threes: First we lost Tony Fitzjohn then Ray and finally Andy Fletcher. So very sad that they are all no longer here.)