Hi – this is me.

In April 2011, Max entered the world.  Serious, smart and empathetic.

A year later, Sarah made her debut.  Umm… no she wasn’t planned. Who plans kids only one year apart? But, I am so lucky to have her in my life. She came into the world smiling (literally) and she keeps warming hearts every day with her big easy laughter and adorable cuddles.

This is Stella. I adopted her from the Pasadena shelter. She came with the name Princess and a pink carry tote with ‘Princess’ on it. I just couldn’t have a dog named Princess NOR a pink dog tote. Eww! So I changed her name to Stella. She is well behaved, polite, smart and sophisticated.

This is Pixie. She is a trouble-maker, but I wouldn’t trade her for anything. More creature than dog (think dog meets gargoyle meets mystical bat. That talks a lot).  I adopted her from the Heigl Foundation with 2 front broken legs and healing from a bad case of mange which caused her to lose all her hair. She probably won’t ever grow it all back, but she doesn’t mind. And neither do we. Most importantly her legs healed and she’s all better now. Her name was Jolie and I changed it to Pixie.

I’m an actress in Los Angeles. Or is it PC to say actor? I don’t know, and don’t care. I’ll let you decide whichever you prefer. I starred in the Emmy Nominated ‘Sophie Chase’, but no one gives a hoot about that. They only care that I was Angelina Jolie’s double.

I grew up in Minnesota in your average American family. I have one brother who was always (and still is) coming up with new ways to annoy me. There were a couple of dogs. And my hard working parents who saved every dime.

I was a tomboy and played every sport including football. OK, it was flag football, but it was still football! My favorite sport was softball. I played short stop (sometimes 3rd base) and was the clean up batter since I hit home runs often enough! I still love that crack o’ the bat feeling – hitting the ball just right and out of the park.

Then a friend talked me in to trying out for cheerleading. Me, a cheerleader? This tree climbin’ girl became a cheerleader? I made the Varsity squad. And it was my downfall – couldn’t hit a home run after that. It’s like it sucked all the athletic ability right out of me.

I’d always dreamed of moving West. I couldn’t understand why anyone would choose to live among all the cold and snow. The lack of sunshine was depressing.  On the few days a year it was sunny in Minnesota – I always felt happier, had more energy. I thought about how much more I would accomplish if I had sunshine every day!

My Grandparents on my Dad’s side lived in Arizona and that just made way more sense to me. So, in my 20’s I moved out to California. After all these years, I’m still grateful every day for the easy living, great weather, plenty of sunshine and green, green, green all year long!

A lot of crazy things (and mostly normal things) have happen out here in Los Angeles. My Grandma (on my Mom’s side) says “That’s the way it goes out there in Hollywood.” Isn’t that funny? I never thought that would be her take on all this chaos in life.

She has also always told me to keep a journal. Every time I would tell her about something funny, or an adventure – she’d say “You should write that down, keep a journal.” I have kept record off and on, but nothing substantial. So this blog is a tip of the hat to my Grandmother, who at 98 is still going strong.