So I Met Francis Ford Coppola Today..

My parents, sister and I headed out to Rubicon Estate Winery for a reading of Francis Ford Coppola's magazine All-Story. The magazine is composed of short stories submitted by people both famous and not. The event was small but wonderful. There were three readings out of the magazine, one was written by Coppola. The piece was written as a short story of what happened before what happens in his new movie Tetro.

There were only around 15 people at each reading. My sister sat next to him on a sofa and they bantered back and forth. He showed her pictures of his grandchildren on his iPhone an wanted to see pictures of her in her costume from the performances (which ended yesterday) of The Tempest and was really excited to hear about how it went and that he was disappointed that he hadn't gotten a chance to see it.

My sister came away on cloud 9 and I'm so glad I got the chance to be there!

Francis Ford Coppola and I

The window at the top of the staircase.

Coppola collects "magic lanterns" which are lanterns that used to be used in the 1700's by candlelight (then by limelight-ie. "You're in the limelight") as projectors with painted glass slides.

The collection of 12 glass plates at the bottom of this picture actually tell the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

There were also full scenes on long single slides.

This was a piece lit from behind that changed colors throughout the picture until it cycled through the entire rainbow spectrum.

Definitely an exciting day!!

A Medical Update And A Frustrated Me

Note: If you have a suggestion, a comment, anything, I'd love to hear it..I'm at my wit's end.

I thought I'd hit a home run when a week and a half ago I noticed there was lactose in one of my medications that I took numerous times daily (I can't have any dairy.) I called the pharmacist and had them look up the rest of my medications for evidence of lactose as well.

7 or 8 of the 11 came out positive with lactose usually being the second or third ingredient. I am apparently one of the few people who are so incredibly sensitive to food allergies that that small of an amount of lactose effects me-big time.

So, once again I thought that I was in a great place. I now knew of the situation, could stop taking those medications and start taking ones that didn't have lactose.

Heh, not so much. Each and every batch of medications has different inactive ingredients, even if it's the same medication. The cheapest at the time is always bought. So there is no way for the doctor to know the ingredients before prescribing them. It's purely a guessing game. And not a fun one at that.

Lactose is used in 98% of tablets (medications in pill form) as a bonding agent. There's no way to separate the medication from the lactose. Therefore, there are no options for me in many medications.

I was able to get two of my medications in liquid form (and may be getting a third one soon) but one of them must be refrigerated and the others I rarely take at home. For example, I have anxiety and panic attack disorder. I don't think I've ever had a panic attack when I was at home near my refrigerator. So in theory, yes I still have a couple of the medications but in reality, chances are I won't have them when and where I need them.

I am at such a loss of what to do at this point and just want to scream. I'm supposed to go on a road trip with my sister on Monday down to Disneyland but am currently, constantly in so much pain and discomfort and have no medical relief in sight that I'm getting scared.

If anyone has any ideas, suggestions, or even know of anything herbal for nausea (even morning sickness!), anxiety, stomach pain, dizziness or cramps I'm willing to take any advice or suggestion or bit of hope and hold on with all my might.

Thanks for letting me do my little rant. I'm now off to sleep.

Oh! P.S. I'm taking my first driving lesson tomorrow (yes I know I started late, I've also had my permit for 6 months now) and I'm really nervous. If you wouldn't mind wishing me a bit of luck that would be amazing. =]

G' Night and Sweet Dreams.

Friends Swap

I participated in a "Friends" swap recently where my partner Melissa and I swapped a present for each letter in the word Friends. I loved how creative Melissa got in this swap! I came out with so many wonderful gifts, many of them homemade!!

For my swap I received:

F-Fantastic

R-Rest

I-Image

E-Exotic

N-N

D-Did Ya?

S-Soothing

Thank you Melissa!!

We Have A Winner! - (100th Post Giveaway)

Congratulations Rachel!

And thank you to everyone who entered!

The Tempest

My sister's been performing as Miranda in The Tempest on our town green this summer. This is the second weekend, tonight being the 5th of 7 performances in this location. While she has been sick, she's having a ball!

The Littlest Plant

Remember my poppies I planted HERE?

Look how much they've grown! I'm so excited!

I can't wait until the buds start appearing!

My Best Shot Monday - #11

This is one of the pictures I took when I was back at school in Virginia.

I miss the gorgeous scenery of the blue ridge mountains.

My 100th Post! (and giveaway!)

It's my 100th post!

Can you believe it!? I don't think I expected to make it this far but I'm so glad I have!

I was afraid when I first started my blog that I wouldn't know what to say or what to talk about. (I still ask myself this every once in a while.) I shoved those thoughts aside though and pushed forward and so far havn't been able to stop! I'm so glad to have found the incredibly supportive, caring and intimate group of people in this gigantic blogosphere. I knew blogging was big but I couldn't have imagined how big or how it was possible to become connected to so many wonderful people.

Thanks for commenting and continuing to come back!

I love the friendships I've made with you all so far and can't wait to meet many many more of you!

Now for the giveaway. What better way to celebrate than sharing the love!?

The giveaway ends Friday the 17th.

You want to know what you're entering for?

My good friend Cynthia was gracious enough to offer me to give to you one of her medium sized canvas prints from her shop More Than A Card.

I specifically picked this one out out because of my love of butterflies and the quote is one of my favorites.

There will be numerous ways to enter.

Make sure to add an additional comment for each entry!

How to enter:

(each thing is worth an entry and you must do one of the first two to be eligible for the rest of the entries)

1. Leave me a comment telling me your favorite quote. (You can enter up to three)

2. Leave me a comment with a quote about Hope. (You can enter up to three)

3. Follow Me (and if you're already a follower, that counts too!) (leave an extra comment so it's two entries for this one!)

4. Check out Cynthia (the prize donator)'s blog A Shimmy in My Spirit and leave her a comment. Then come back and tell me you did that.

5. Tweet about this contest on Twitter and leave me the URL.

My Snowflake Angel

I had to share the excitement in my discovery of photoshop stamps.

This picture came out a little rough but I think anything would make my little snowflake look adorable so I'm content with it.

My First Guest Post

Don't get settled in yet!

I'm excited to announce that today, my first guest post ever is over at A Shimmy In My Spirit!

Go check it out HERE!

Wordless Wednesday -#13 Friends, Cats and Tahoe 4th of July Style

This Wordless Wednesday is a bit of an update for the past two weeks.

Two weekends ago I got to go to San Francisco and see one of my amazing friends that I hadn't seen for over a year and a half!

(Celia and I)

Yesterday when I got home from Tahoe I set up my "dog/cat tent" that I've had for a few years. Both cats immediately claimed it.

While I didn't have my nice camera, I did have my handy dandy point and shoot. Here're the pictures from my week in Tahoe..starting with the beautiful fireworks!

(Mom feeding the Stellar Jays peanuts off our back deck in Tahoe)