Happy Birthday, Heather!

I get so excited for my friends when good things happen to them. They are my friends so of course I think they deserve nothing better than the best. Here's the other exciting news.

Most of you either know Heather or know of her because I talk about her so much. She is one of my friends whom I have known for like 26 years. She has been through a lot in her lifetime . . . I won't go into it, but she's been through things in her short lifetime that none of us would even want to fathom. She's a trooper and I respect her and her strength more than almost anyone I know. She's also one of my truest, dearest friends. I call her one of my very best friends. And today, today is her birthday. And I wish her the best birthday ever. Unfortunately zoo things called (she is the head zoo keeper at our zoo) but tomorrow she is having some pampering which she is so deserving of.

Not that her birthday isn't exciting, but I have some news that is even more exciting than cake and candles. Last weekend Heather, her fiance, Lee, and Lee's son went with us to a local water park. We had a blast. (Our boys are the same age.) While there they talked about a house that they really loved. They wanted us to see it. Of course we were more than happy to (and secretly really wanted to see it anyway!).

Here's a picture from the water park -- I love this of them. Cole is on the right. One of Noah's friends whom he likes to get in trouble with. Gotta love boys!

Back up a bit. Heather and Lee are getting married in September. They're living in an apartment right now and really really want a house. Neither have ever lived in a house since they've been "on their own". So this step was a big huge one just to begin the "looking" process. And their goal was to find something before the wedding date.

So we went with them to see the house, and to make a long story short, we loved it (you know, they don't do anything without Val's approval! tee-hee!) and they loved it all over again but even more, and so right then and there they put an offer on it. The guy took it and in just a few weeks they CLOSE on their new house! Talk about a fabulous birthday present. This is going to be quite an exciting year for Heather and Lee. And no one deserves that more than they do.


Happy Birthday, dear wonderful forever-loving friend. I love you!

My 2-day Matt Damon journey

I'm still on this huge high! It almost doesn't seem real that I saw all the filming that I did and that my determination paid off with getting to see and meet a huge celebrity. Wow, what an AMAZING moment.

Here's a little bit more about the movie and the characters in it. A really big lineup of celebrities!

This taken from cinematical.com:

"There have been some questions raised about the accuracy of Kurt Eichenwald's account of Mark Whitacre and ADM, but whatever might be the truth, The Informant should make for a pretty darned entertaining drama. Imagine a man who becomes the highest-level whistleblower in US history, switches sides to work for the FBI for three years, defrauds his company, lies, and ultimately reveals that he suffers from bipolar disorder.

Paul Greengrass' film already has Matt Damon signed on to play Whitacre, and now The Hollywood Reporter posts that more cast have hopped onboard -- all of which, surprisingly, have notable comedic work. The new players are: Scott Bakula, Joel McHale (The Soup), Mike O'Malley (Yes, Dear), Andrew Daly (Semi-Pro), Adam Paul (Hollywood Residential), Melanie Lynskey (Two and a Half Men), and "comedian-actors" Tom Wilson, Rick Overton, and Tom Papa.

If you think this looks like more comedy than could possibly be coincidental, you'd be right. A source told THR that Soderbergh wants the thriller to have "dark comedy elements. He chose comedic actors who haven't been overexposed on film, planning to have them play their roles seriously and have a humorous tone emerge naturally."

Bakula and McHale play FBI agents working with agri-business insider Mark Whitacre (Damon) to stop a price-fixing scam. Eddie Jemison plays Kirk Schmidt, a guy my husband, Neil, works with! It's crazy in a really cool way!

{ I took down the slide show because it was just slowing things down here. You can still see all pictures at my flickr. }

Matt Damon . . . here??!

Never in a million years would anyone think that Decatur, Illinois could be famous for anything but Firestone (remember the recall?) and ADM's smog. But this week they are famous for Matt Damon. He is in town shooting a movie . . . in Decatur, Illinois . . . my hometown . . . it's pretty crazy. My friend, Vickie, knows a girl who is an "extra". And this morning I received all kinds of pictures from his shoot this week. He was downtown shooting a "snow scene" at an old Firestone tire shop that I've driven by a million times.

Remember the Ice Storm of 2006 and the apartment our family stayed in for 9 days? Well, that building back there behind Matt (I mean, "Mark Whitacre"), over his left shoulder, is where we lived.








Oh, why is he here? He is in a movie by Warner Brothers called "The Informant" based on the book "The Informant" which is about a man named Mark Whitacre, who was a top executive for ADM, my father-in-law and husband's company. Mark was an informant for the US Government for price-fixing in other big companies and in turn ended up being caught as a price-fixer himself. Boy, was he in trouble. He went to prison, blah blah blah . . . this was a big big thing. Not only because he committed a major crime, but also because he lived in a small farm town of 1800 people. This was BIG NEWS for our area.

Now, as you can see, it's turning into a movie and Matt Damon is the star. Sorta unreal, eh?

One of the craziest things of all is that Alexis happens to be in town this week and tonight she and I are heading downtown to "our" place for dinner. That is, if we even go to dinner. We know where he's staying, we both have our cameras, do you really think we'll go eat? Hmmmm . . . maybe ;c) So tonight should be interesting and fun and exciting and hopefully we're lucky and run into Matt . . . I mean, Mr. Whitacre :c) And we're going to ADM also . . . hmmmm . . . maybe we'll see him there? He is to still tape there . . . hmmmm. . . .

Oh my goodness, I am such a complete freak (as Alexis would say) :c) That's okay . . . gotta make the most of the exciting parts of life, right? :c)

Here's some more pics . . .





Update: I posted more info in the comment section!

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"Valerie Photography"

Just for fun I googled "Valerie Photography" and here are some sites that came up - some very creative, fun and unique fellow photographers! Thought I'd link'em.

Valerie Pyke Photography
Valerie Fischel Photography
Valerie Cochran
Val Burton Photography
Valerie Pedersen Photography
Valerie Simmons
Valerie Fleming
Valerie O'Sullivan
Valeri Hoffman
Valerie Yong Ock Kim
Valerie Baron Photography
Valerie Santagto
Valerie Benvenuti Photography

There are a lot of us "Valeries" out there with love & passion for the same thing. So very cool. My favorite, however, is still, kid you not, this one and this one.

And I came across another Valerie & Neil, married in Italy. I only wish I could say that is me! Take a look under "wedding galleries" - I believe "we" are the first gallery there. (hehe)

$600 later

Thanks to Anissa's suggestion, I did it "right" this time. After having emerged a phone in liquid twice within 2 months, not only did I buy insurance this time, but I also got the pink phone. I think I probably bought each of you a pink phone with all the money I spent replacing phones, but unfortunately all I have is one phone to show. But isn't it snazzy?