Winter, chills, spills and magic moments.

Well The Big Chill is back but it IS winter and I guess I'd rather bear with it than if it were too warm and icebergs were floating down the East River.  Then I'd know the greenhouse effect is really upon us.  I'm all for being eco-friendly with EVERYTHING!

I'm probably the last person left on the planet who hasn't seen AVATAR.  I guess I am just lazy to walk the 9 blocks to the movie theater especially in this weather.  I'd rather sit home and watch movies on my DVD player or on my laptop on Netflix which has practically most movies I'd like for free. So sue me!

I watched some figure skating last weekend and yes, corny of me I know, but I still love it.  Remember when we all used to live to watch Holiday on Ice in Manila?!  What did we know from ice skates and skiis.  One afternoon, I decided I was going to do some iceskating of my own, so I took the hose and wet the garage floor in our house on San Marcelino Street, put on my roller skates (you know what's coming don't you) and did a twirl, slipped and landed on my face and cracked one of my front teeth!  And I looked gorgeous already with braces on. I was about 13 and I would give Ugly Betty a run for her money.  Anyway, when the braces finally came off at 15 or so, my dad had me go to the dentist to have that tooth capped. (The only tooth in my mouth that has a cap on it to this day.)  But, of course, BEFORE capping it, it seems that when I cracked the tooth, the nerve got infected and I didn't know.  So, the dentist had to cut the gum, drain it and I had a couple of stitches in - all this because I thought I was going to glide across my garage floor like a figure skater. When I got to New York, years later, I tried to ice skate ONCE (thinking how hard or how different could it be from roller skating) - hah! Joke on me. It was a catastrophe, so nix that winter sport.  I also tried skiing while I lived in Spain.  Went with a girlfriend to Andorra.  The only thing I did well then, was get expertly off the t-lift at the top of the hill (the ski guy complimented me on that.)  Anyway, again, how hard could this be, right? Wrong! Especially if one's skiis are way too long for petite me and there was a blizzard going on.  Don't ask me how I got down that hill without killing myself but all I can say is that, from then on, let me just hang around the ski lodge and hope to run into Jean Claude Killey (Sp?).  As you can see, and as I've said  before....give me sun, sand, beach and palm trees. A sailboat and balmy breezes and I'm in heaven.  Short of that, a nice swimming pool will do - thank you very much.

I was born on a hot tropical island in July - so let me watch the Winter Olympics on TV and pretend I'm Peggy Flemming or Michelle Kwan or watch Brian Boitano from the comfort of my couch.  The only time I like the cold is by a cozy fire.  The best fireplace I remember when a teen was the one at the Baguio Country Club or at my Aunt Trining Legarda's house in Baguio.  My mother and I would sit by the fire after dinner and talk or listen to her favorite musical "My Fair Lady."  Magic times those.

Golden Girl, Golden Couples, First Loves and Haiti Telethon

Well, you heard it here first.  In my last posting I mentioned that it was a wonder that a beautiful woman like Jennifer Aniston was still playing the field.  I talked about the Golden Globes and though I noticed it, I forget to mention that the Golden Couple - Brad and Angelina, did not attend and his film Inglorious Bastards was up for an award.  Last night at the SAG awards (whose only highlight for me personally was watching Betty White get the Lifetime whatever it is award), Inglorious Bastards won for Best Ensemble Cast Movie and conspicuous by his absence from the whole cast on stage was - Brad.  Again, he and his beautiful partner were not in attendance.  Now (drum roll)  - the item below is from today's BARCELONA REPORTER -

"Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie DIVORCE lawyers and signed a £205 million split

HOLLYWOOD golden pair Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have seen DIVORCE lawyers and signed a £205 million split deal, we can reveal.
Magazines are taking Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s relationship on the rocks to a whole new level.The world's most famous couple legally agreed how to divide their fortune and who gets custody of their six kids.
The megastars have agreed to equally divide their vast fortune - and to SHARE their six children.
Dynamite legal papers secretly signed by the couple this month detail how all their homes and assets will be carved up.
The agreement gives them joint custody of the kids - but all six will actually live full-time with their mum.
Preparations for a split began in early December when "Brangelina" visited a top Los Angeles divorce firm to begin thrashing out the deal.
An announcement of their separation is expected to be made soon - ending months of speculation that the five-year relationship is on the rocks.
A source told the News of the World: "The document was signed in early January. Both Brad and Angelina had signed it.
"The contract was like a tailor-made version of a pre-nuptial agreement except for an unmarried couple's split.
"It seemed clear they want the world to know they'll both play a part in the upbringing of the children.
"But Angelina will actually be the one who lives with them full-time."
The divorce lawyer they consulted is based in Beverly Hills and has worked on a string of celeb divorces and splits. He is widely regarded as "the best in the business".
Our source added: "There's no date for when the contract would come into effect.
"But the paperwork is already organised for a break- up - and for it to be as unmessy for them as possible. It is clear it's a case of when they break up rather than if."
The troubled couple have not been photographed together in public in recent days. On Friday night, Brad, 46, was snapped backstage at the Hope For Haiti concert in Los Angeles without Angelina, 34.
His ex-wife Jennifer Aniston was there - although not with him.
"Brangelina" fell for each other when they played a warring couple in Mr and Mrs Smith in 2004. They have three adopted children (Maddox, eight, Pax, six, and Zahara, five), and three biological kids (Shiloh, three, and 17- month-old twins Knox and Vivienne).
Both stars have been through high- profile splits before. Brad shocked the world when he split from Hollywood golden girl Jennifer, 40, in January 2005. They had been married for 4½ years.
He was first photographed with Oscar-winner Angelina three months after the split. Before Jen, he was engaged to actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
Jolie has been divorced twice - from Monster's Ball star Billy Bob Thornton in 2003, and Trainspotting actor Johnny Lee Miller in 1999.
Her joint fortune with Brad of $322 million (£205 million) includes mansions in France, California and New Orleans. But rumours have been circulating for months that the couple's relationship is doomed.
Last week they failed to show at the Golden Globe Awards even though Brad's film Inglourious Basterds was up for a several gongs.
Instead he went to watch the American football team New Orleans Saints, while Changeling star Angelina stayed in California. Also last week, Pitt bought the mansion next door to the family's LA home for £800,000.
His pals Guy Ritchie and wife Madonna famously bought their next-door pad in London before their split so they could share living space with their kids but keep away from each another.
Earlier this month, Angelina was snapped looking tense with an unsmiling Brad in New York.
And last month she said fidelity was over-rated - and if she or Brad had an affair it would not be a problem.
She told German magazine Das Neue: "Neither Brad nor I have ever claimed that living together means to be chained together. We make sure that we never restrict each other.
"I doubt that fidelity is absolutely essential for a relationship. It's worse to leave your partner and talk badly about him afterwards."
Angelina, whose new film Salt is due in British cinemas this summer, also said: "The sparks fly at home if the nice Brad fails to see that he's wrong and reacts in a defiant way.
"Then I can get so angry that I tear his shirt."
Also this month, best-selling American biographer Ian Halperin released a revelation- packed insight into the Jolie- Pitt relationship.
He said when the couple first met they had 20-HOUR sex sessions.
In his book Brangelina: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Ian writes: "Brad had never had such incredible sex.
"My sources say that they sometimes spent 18 to 20 hours a day in bed. But sex eventually wears off.
"She has brought a lot of good things to him - the children, for example.
"But he didn't know what he was getting into, and that's why I think they're going to split."
We asked Brad, Angelina and the legal firm for their comments but they did not respond. "

Now, I'm not saying that Brad and Jennifer will get back together.  I think Jennifer has more gumption and pride than that BUT, does one REALLY ever get over that FIRST, full, complete, madly-in-love (or lust) LOVE??!!!  I'm just sayin.....

Now, on a the really important tragedy of the new millenium - Haiti.  Hope you all watched the telethon hosted by George Clooney on Friday night.  I thought it short.  It could've gone on an hour longer.  All the performances were great but I thought Taylor Swift a bit out of place.  Christina Aguilera is one fantastic singer.  She's beautiful and has a voice!  All the rest were great too and I hear they raised more than 50 million dollars!  Way to go guys.

And now, back to padding around in my pajamas on a gloomy Sunday morning.  Went to Mass yesterday afternoon.  A friend wanted to see "Avatar" today and I'm still undecided.  Everyone says its fantastic but I never was into fantasy movies and as wonderful as it is, can I stand watching blue people for over 2 hours and a half?  Maybe not.  Rather see something else or stay home and watch really GOOD movies free on Netflix.  I rate whoever thought up the idea of Netflix right up there with e-mail, Amazon, the Kindle and the world wide web!!

Hasta pasta folks.....