Today I want to wish a very happy 45th birthday to English model and actress Elizabeth Hurley. Hurley’s first film appearance was in 1987’s Aria and has appeared in numerous films ranging from Passenger 57 and Bedazzled to Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
Her film credits include cameo appearances in numerous shows as well as hosting the first season of Project: Catwalk, a British version of the popular American show Project Runway.
Hurley began modeling in 1995 for Estée Lauder and has worked on numerous product lines ranging from clothing to cosmetics ever since. Currently, Hurley owns a swimsuit line.
Perhaps best known as Hugh Grant’s former girlfriend, Hurley has been married to her current husband, Arun Nayar, for three years.
Happy birthday Elizabeth, here’s to many more birthdays!
72 years ago today, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, making it the first full length animated film produced in America!
Despite being over 70 years old, the film has remained a favorite of fans and critics alike!
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was one of only two animated films to make it into the American Film Institute’s list of top 100 American films of all time in 2007 — and in 2008, AFI named it the greatest animated film of all time!
Other AFI animated favorites? Check out their top 10:
One of history’s most famous entertainers, Mr. Walt Disney, turns 108 today!
When I think of Disney, I think of Mickey Mouse, Snow White, and his amazing theme parks, but Walt Disney was one of the most acclaimed producers in history — receiving 58 Academy Award nominations and winning 26 Oscars (including 4 in 1 year) and 7 Emmy Awards!
In honor of Disney’s 108th birthday, a photographer named David Roark created “A Model Day at Epcot” by shooting scenes from the rides in Future World and the international pavilions. The new tilt-shift video was released yesterday on the official Disney Parks blog and I think its great!
Now if only I were celebrating Disney’s birthday at Epcot!
Today, actor Owen Wilson hits the big 4-0. He’s quite accomplished, having been in everything from Zoolander to Meet the Parents, and dating the likes of Demi Moore and Kate Hudson. IMDB has more:
Self-proclaimed troublemaker Owen Wilson grew up in Texas with his mother, Laura, a photographer; his father, an ad exec; and his brothers, Andrew Wilson (the eldest) and Luke Wilson (the youngest). Expelled from St. Mark’s Academy in Dallas Texas in the tenth grade, Wilson finished his sophomore year at Thomas Jefferson School and then headed to a military academy in New Mexico. He then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he met his future mentor and friend, Wes Anderson. They wrote a screenplay, Bottle Rocket (1996), and sent it to their family friend, screenwriter L.M. Kit Carson, who sent it to producer Polly Platt, who gave it to James L. Brooks, who gave the Texans $5 million dollars to make it into a feature film. Despite critical praise, Bottle Rocket (1996) only grossed one million dollars. After making the film, Wilson moved to Hollywood, setting up house with his two brothers and Anderson. Fairly quickly, Owen found himself acting in a series of big budget films [...] such as The Cable Guy (1996), The Haunting (1999), Anaconda (1997) and Breakfast of Champions (1999). This led to more work in [films] such as Shanghai Noon (2000), Meet the Parents (2000) and Behind Enemy Lines (2001). He’s known not only for his nose, which has been broken several times, but also for his ‘free wheeling ways’ with a script. He co-wrote the film The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) with his oft partner Wes Anderson.
Following right on the heels of actress Salma Hayek’s party planning crisis, Hollywood has a silver-screen take on the same situation. In the movie Motherhood, which opens this weekend, Uma Thurman plays an insanely-busy mom who juggles kids, her marriage, dog, and a blog. The movie builds up to, what else, a birthday party Thurman’s character is throwing for her 6-year-old daughter.
iVillage interviewed Thurman, a mother of two, and asked her how her real-life self compares to the party-planning mom she plays on screen.
I get caught up in the birthday party situation. I had a pirate party for my son and I designed this cake myself. I drew it on a napkin: There’s a beach and the boat in the water and I had to get it right. And the baker used brown sugar instead of cookie crumbs to make the sand. So I produced this incredible birthday party under this pressure that my life depended on it, that my entire definition as a person depended on it that day. Cut the cake up, pass it around, and one boy turns to my son and says, “Brown sugar, that’s disgusting!” And my son, who I’d hyped up with so much effort, just fell apart crying. What the hell are you going to do about it? I try too hard. In the end, there’s all the hysteria, the desperate effort, that create an overdoing, so that makes someone else resentful, so that they to turn to a 6-year-old and say, “Your cake sucks.” Of course, I overdid it a bit. As my mother said, my name should be “Overdo It Uma.” I never feel like I’ve done enough.
Check out this great post from Karyn Brianne, Blogger Advisory Council Member, at the Fab Giver:
Health has always been an issue close to my heart. Growing up, I had my heart set on becoming a doctor because I’ve always believed that if you don’t have your health, everything else suffers. In college, however, I decided that being healthy starts before the treatment process. Every day that we wake up, there are things that we can do to take steps to being as healthy as we can be. So, I decided to study marketing and use those communication skills to promote healthy behaviors and empower others to take an active role in their health. And, as a member of the American Cancer Society’s Blogger Advisory Council, I’m committed to using my online presence to do just that.
This week marks National Minority Cancer Awareness Week, and recognizing this issue is very important to me. As an African-American, I was blown away to learn that we have the highest death rate and shortest survival of any racial and ethnic group in the US for most cancers. National Minority Cancer Awareness Week is about recognizing the health disparities that exist within our communities and encouraging action to help shrink the gap. About fifty percent of cancer deaths can be prevented through regularly scheduled screenings, healthy eating, regular physical activity and quitting tobacco use. However, minorities continue to have lower screening rates than whites; report less physical activity than recommended, and consume less fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
These simple lifestyle changes can go a long way towards ensuring that we are around to see more birthdays for ourselves and those that we love. I’m dedicating this post to my maternal grandmother, maternal great-aunt, maternal great uncle, maternal great-cousin, paternal great-grandfather, and paternal (step) grandfather. They passed away due to cancer and build a strong case for why I have to take the necessary steps to be as healthy as I possibly can. I’ll admit that I don’t know all the facts and haven’t been as healthy as I should be, but I’m committed to making that change. This week, I’m setting up appointments ranging from a general checkup to screenings necessary for my health and I encourage you to do the same.
The ACS is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-227-2345 to help answer any questions about cancer and provide information on what resources exist for free or low cost cancer screenings. Get the facts, understand your medical history, and commit to your health! Some might say that it’s easier said than done, but when has that ever stopped us?
To learn more about the American Cancer Society, please visit cancer.org.
You never forget birthdays that are special to you… for me it was my 7th birthday and my mom orchestrated a surprise party in our garage. She did it with such secrecy and pizazz and that I will never forget… It was a typical Saturday at our house. I had a soccer game in the morning and my mom had made cupcakes for the team instead of the usual orange slices. I had told my mom I wanted a party but it was a week or so away so I wasn’t really thinking about anything happening until then… After the game was over, we headed home and as my mom opened the garage door, there were my friends and family waiting to say, “SURPRISE!” Indeed I was suprised. My mom had pulled off an unbelievable birthday celebration for me and managed to keep both of my older brothers from spilling the beans!
The reason this story is so memorable is because this was the last time I remember my mother healthy… shortly after this, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and although she was a fighter, she gave up her battle on June 14, just 2 1/2 years after her diagnosis. She was 41. She died 1 week before her 42nd birthday…
So you see, birthdays are not just special, they create lasting memories when there are no more birthdays to celebrate with loved ones gone before us…
Treasure each birthday and treasure each day… remember someone, somewhere is making a memorable birthday today.
This weekend, my 12-year old daughter and her friends are hosting a surprise birthday sleepover for one of their friends whose mother lost her very short battle with lung cancer this past July. Each year, her Mom would have a huge sleepover birthday party for her which all the girls looked forward to. This will be the first birthday she will have without her Mom and it will probably be difficult for her and her Dad and brothers.
I am so touched by the extraordinary compassion and sensitivity displayed by my daughter and her friends. While they are just 12 years old, they instinctively knew what to do for their friend. So, Saturday evening, think about the 10 twelve year olds who understand the meaning of more birthdays!
Birthdays…for some it’s a special day to acknowledge another year of life and for others it’s just another day. For me, something always comes up on a birthday whether it be my own or that of someone I know…
In the summer of 2002 birthdays took on a whole new meaning. For 7 months I was sick on and off. I had suffered from fevers of 102, 103, and sometimes 104 degrees. I had drenching night sweats to the point that I would wet my clothes and the sheets of my bed. My lymph nodes were enlarged and in less than a couple of months I had shed a little over 20 pounds. These symptoms would come and go during the 7 months and when summer came I knew this all couldn’t be, “just another cold.”
In July, my mom who is a nurse had me stop by her clinic to see the doctor that she had worked for. There I told him my symptoms and he had examined me. When he was done he told me that I had Lymphoma. At 23 years old I had no clue what that meant. He had left the room to tell my mom the news. When she returned to the room it was clear she had been crying. I thought to myself, “Oh God, I am dying…” I asked my mom, “What is Lymphoma?”
On July 24, 2002 which is my dad’s birthday I was officially diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Stage 3. From there I underwent chemotherapy for 6 months and my cancer went into remission. Four short months later while randomly scratching my neck I found a lump. The cancer had returned. For my 2nd battle with cancer my oncologist suggested that we do an Autologus Stem Cell Transplant. It’s a transplant procedure where they harvest your own stem cells and re-infuse them back into your body. It’s like taking apart an old car, getting rid of the bad parts and rebuilding it with new parts. So, since the cancer didn’t hit my bone marrow, I was able to be the donor and recipient of my own stem cells.
On June 21, 2003, my 23rd birthday I sat in a chair for several hours with an IV drip of various chemo drugs instead of behind a table with a birthday cake. For several weeks after that there was more preparation for the transplant. In August I was admitted to the hospital for more chemo and to complete the transplant process. I was scheduled to be there for 30 days straight.
On August 18th, my oncologist’s birthday; he re-infused me with my stem cells and I also had 5 blood transfusions that week. Weeks later, I was released from the hospital on August 31st, the day before my son’s 3rd birthday. Jacob was born on September 1st which was also my OBGYN’s birthday. I made her miss dinner with her family that day due to Jacob’s arrival which was actually 3 days late. I have been in remission since October of 2003!
As you can see birthdays are not just another day for me…even if it’s not my own. Prior to my transplant my friends and co-workers celebrated my several times in the month of June to make up for having chemo on my special day. Every day of life is precious! Celebrate the birthdays in your life because you never know what someone else is going through that day. This year is my 30th birthday and 6 year cancer free anniversary. It’s also the 25th anniversary of the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life. So, how am I celebrating all these special events? I am attending 25+ Relay For Life events this summer from March through August. I’m a 2 time cancer survivor so what better way to live out the rest of my life than to… CELEBRATE, REMEMBER, FIGHT BACK!
For my 18th birthday, I was a senior in high school. I was at school for 15 hours that day because on top of school, it was Tech Week for our Winter Play. When school let out for the day, my friend and I hung out with our friends down in the Robotics Lab before grabbing a bite to eat for dinner and heading for rehearsal. Rehearsal went very well, and when it was over, the Stage Manager told my friend and I to organize the prop closet. Later, she came back and told us to sweep the stage. When I came onto the stage, the entire cast and crew was standing there, and started to sing Happy Birthday to me, and my other friend brought out the cake he made for me. I was completely surprised, and that made me so happy!
Posted by 
Today I want to wish a very happy 45th birthday to English model and actress Elizabeth Hurley. Hurley’s first film appearance was in 1987’s Aria and has appeared in numerous films ranging from Passenger 57 and Bedazzled to Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
72 years ago today, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, making it the first full length animated film produced in America!
One of history’s most famous entertainers, Mr. Walt Disney, turns 108 today!
Today, actor Owen Wilson hits the big 4-0. He’s quite accomplished, having been in everything from Zoolander to Meet the Parents, and dating the likes of Demi Moore and Kate Hudson. IMDB has more:
Following right on the heels of actress Salma Hayek’s party planning crisis, Hollywood has a silver-screen take on the same situation. In the movie 
This weekend, my 12-year old daughter and her friends are hosting a surprise birthday sleepover for one of their friends whose mother lost her very short battle with lung cancer this past July. Each year, her Mom would have a huge sleepover birthday party for her which all the girls looked forward to. This will be the first birthday she will have without her Mom and it will probably be difficult for her and her Dad and brothers.
