Hi all, just wanted to let you know that yes, I do know that the website is down right now and apparently has been for quite a while. I’ve been using GoDaddy for years and lately they’ve just been screwing up left and right, not contacting me when the site is down or they have a problem, so once I get back to the States and things get settled I’m going to get a new host company and be done with them forever.

So if you’re ever considering getting your own website, don’t ever use GoDaddy. I’ll even pay you to not use them.*

Other than that, the trip has been fantastic. Just saw the Mona Lisa and Winged Victory today at the Louvre.

*Okay, maybe not, because I’m not rich. But don’t use them. They’re rubbish.

The news hasn’t been up long, but actor Mel Ferrer died yesterday (Monday, June 2nd) at his home near Santa Barbara. He was 90.

Mel was Audrey’s first husband, and he and Audrey had one child together, son Sean Hepburn Ferrer, who now runs The Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund with his half brother Luca Dotti. You can read a little more about Mel in the few articles up so far [here and here], and I’ll keep checking back to see if any more news comes up.

Living in Southern California (again) means having to drive, lots of freeways, and access to Target stores again. I’ve been going a lot lately — hey, I need things and they have them — and I always see at least one Audrey portrait hanging in the art section. Today I went to a different Target, because variety is the spice of life, and found this cute tote!

Continue Reading

Hi all, I hope you had a good start to 2008? I wish I could say I was just taking a little holiday break between the last post and now, but unfortunately I was without Internet from Boxing Day until a few days into this year, and my computer was also in the shop. While all of my files seem to be intact, I lost all of my programs, so I don’t have my website building programs back yet. I didn’t even have Word, and that came with the computer! So it’s a big mess behind the scenes here, but at least Internet’s back. I’ll catch you all up with all the good Audrey news, and it’ll [almost] be like nothing happened. Thanks for being so patient and enduring the mess.

At long last, here are the three lucky ladies who will receive fabulous Audrey Hepburn prizes for entering the costume contest. Before I announce them, though, I’d like to say thank you again to all of the beauties who took the time and effort to put together such great costumes and show the world how much they admire dear Audrey. And now, without further ado:

Continue Reading

To all who celebrate it, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a good holiday.

Also, thank you all for your infinite patience. Updates may be a little spotty for another week, since I decided to head south to visit my family at the last minute, so I’m away from home for a while. But I’ll try my best to make updates as often as possible!

I’ll also hold off on announcing the contest winners until I get back, since I can’t ship the goodies until then, but I promise I will make it worth the while of all of the contest entrants.

Thank you again for your understanding and patience!

Hi everyone. I’m sorry I didn’t get to talk about the contest winners yesterday like I promised, but my mum was in a very nasty car wreck yesterday morning, and obviously that threw me off my game a bit. I didn’t even get around to drawing names from a hat. Mum will be okay, just some awful bruises and four stitches and a totaled car. So tomorrow afternoon I’ll post the winners and we should be all caught up.

Thank you for your understanding!

Actress Deborah Kerr died Tuesday at the age of 86, according to her agent. I know she never directly worked with Audrey Hepburn, but I feel that she is definitely worth remembering because she was in the same class of actors as Audrey and they did end up having quite a lot in common, actually. Deborah was a refined European woman known for her poise and modesty, like Audrey. They were both dubbed by Marni Nixon, Deborah in The King and I, and Audrey in My Fair Lady. Both women dreamed of being ballerinas and looked up to dancer Margot Fonteyn as their idol as children, and both grew too tall to ever become prima ballerinas. The two were even pitted against each other at the Oscars in 1954, Deborah being nominated for her career-altering performance in From Here to Eternity, and Audrey for her breakthrough performance in Roman Holiday. Audrey won, as we all know, but there were obviously no hard feelings when Deborah went to meet Audrey backstage during the run of Ondine (above left). If you would like to learn more about Deborah Kerr, the L.A. Times wrote a beautiful three-page memorial to her, which you can read here.

Andrea Dotti, Audrey Hepburn’s second husband and father of her youngest son Luca, died Sunday in Rome after a botched medical procedure. He was 63.

There still isn’t a whole lot of information about him on the wire yet, but sadly all of the obituaries mention his unfaithfulness to Audrey during their 13 year marriage. Isn’t that a horrible thing to be remembered for? Either way, if you feel moved to send Luca and half-brother Sean your condolences, I think the best way to get your message to them would be through the Audrey Hepburn Children’s Fund website.

I was making huckleberry jam last night — yes, huckleberries really do exist — and needed to look them up on Wikipedia since I didn’t have a recipe on hand and wanted to make sure it came out alright. While I was reading up on this strange fruit, something caught my eye. Apparently, the huckleberry came to be known as something tiny and insignificant culturally, and from there on to something reliable. The slang evolved from “a huckleberry to a persimmon,” meaning the tiniest bit beyond what you could do or achieve, to “I’ll be your huckleberry,” which meant “I’m your man,” or “I’m the one for the job.” So, long story short, is this the true meaning behind the mysterious “my huckleberry friend” line in “Moon River”? I’m convinced! What do you think? You can read more about the evolution of the huckleberry as a cultural reference here, if you need more information.

The berries themselves, by the way, are very similar to blueberries but are more tart in flavour, and the jam came out perfectly.