How 'bout them cowboys.....

You know not a lot of people know that Clare grew up in a little village in Surrey, called Cobham, that was her home and she still goes back there whenever she's in England. Well for some reason she spent all her growing up years watching cowboy and indian films and somewhere along the line she fell in love with everything American, and particularly southern. Her first love was Elvis and first ever american boyfriend was from the south, he even had a confederate flag painted on the roof of his car. She spent her teens listening to Lynyrd Skynrd Freebird and hanging out with American boys at The American Community School in Cobham. So when she moved here she took to listening to Go Country radio station, George Strait, Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, she loves her country music. She watches Bull Riding on ESPN, she loves the smell of horses and adores a guy in a checked shirt and wranglers....she's basically crazy. Well you know you have to be careful what you think too much about because suddenly we are surrounded by southern boys and girls, and now even the new puppy is coming from Tennessee so he'll fit right in. Well last night was the highlight of our southern chapter.....we went with Gil (who's from Texas) to The Roxy (second time in one week!!) to see his friend John Corbett play.
Well this is Sex and the City week, the movie is out this weekend and you can't get away from Carrie and the girls, and although I am happy that she ends up with Mr Big, especially as I am named after him, I have always had a deep and abiding dog crush on her guy Aidan, the one who got away. Well John Corbett is the guy who played him in the show, and let me tell you he is a whisky shooting, guitar playing, West Virginian, hip shaking, easy on the eye, tall glass of water.......yes I have quite possibly lost my mind but he just makes me dizzy. Well I wish I could post a picture....it was the most fun ever....but Clare's camera was out of batteries so all I have is my memories. My two favourite songs he sang were Wichita and Good To Go. You can download them from i-tunes or go to his website for The John Corbett Band......he's amazing. I stand and salute you John Corbett with my little paw.....it's a long way from Cobham to West Virginia but I am definitely a southern dog at heart. Thank you for an incredible night......yeeehaw....Oh and of course my vote is going to David Cooke, good Kansas City, Missouri boy that he is......duh

Just jump.......

You know sometimes in life you take a look around at your life and it's just not as good as it could be.....it pretty much could always be better, that's what makes it brilliant. That there is no finishing line, there is no winner's medal, there's always room for improvement, within and without.....that's what makes me jump out of my basket every morning with a sense of purpose and enthusiasm asking myself what I can do to improve and help this world I live in. Of course sometimes you look and realise you want to make changes but it just seems scary but trust me, just jump and the net will appear.
We had a day full of friends today where I looked around me and was amazed at all the talented, incredible, wonderful people sitting around the pool, all of whom take that leap every day, do their best, take risks and get amazing results in their lives as a result. They truly were inspiring to me....and I'm a dog!!
To mention just a few.....Clare's two beautiful girlfriends Emma Parker Bowles and June Sarpong were here, both of whom have taken the Los Angeles leap and have incredible jobs out here presenting American TV shows. One of the funniest things was that when Clare moved to LA the thing she found the hardest was not having her best girlfriends here and she hoped and prayed and they have appeared. And the boys are amazing too.....Paul Sculfor is just one of the best guys you could ever meet and doing so well, he never stops working, both here and all over the world, then there were the two gorgeous (actually beyond gorgeous) actors Gil McKinney and Joe Manganiello
who both moved here to chase their dreams which are definitely coming true, they probably appear in Clare's dreams regularly too ;-) there was the geniusly funny David Walliams who is here filming Little Britain for HBO, wonderful Sacha Gervasi, the amazing writer, who recently directed his first movie ANVIL! The Story of Anvil about which there was half a page in the NY Times today which is incredible.....what I am trying to say is that they all had a dream, and they followed it, and believed it could come true and it did and they are an inspiration to me every day in RISK BEING THE CURRENCY OF THE GODS.... ..and just to prove my point, they all decided to jump off the top of the house into the pool, just for the fun of it, and it was quite an amazing sight watching them all jump fearlessly into the unknown and the smiles on their faces as they surfaced the water was fantastic to see......jump and the net will appear, just trust, have faith and follow your dream......went to see Russell Brand do his stand up at The Roxy later with David and I laughed so hard I had to go to the bathroom to recover!!!!!! Now that was a perfect day........

Timing is everything....

You know we just had one of those days where we felt out of sync with the universe and our timing was just a little off. Clare has this funny theory about being in the flow with life, and when you're in it you just know it. It feels as though you have the wind in your back, pushing you on, like you're in the current of life and flowing with it not against it. It's as if every traffic light turns to green as you reach it, a person you think about calls just at that moment, everything in your day seems to work out just right and life is effortless and you suddenly realise how important timing is in the grand scheme of things......“Life is all about timing... the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable... attainable. Have the patience, wait it out It's all about timing.” Today seemed like we were just a little off....It started with the parking.....we pulled up at pinkberry and there was nowhere to park so we ended up driving round and round for ages and parking a mile away but when we walked up to the store there were now three parking spots free, it happened again at Beachwood canyon, there wasn't a spot anywhere, which has never happened before, we just arrived at the wrong time..... then somebody we really really wanted to speak to for the longest time finally called but it was just too late.....then we were invited to something we would have loved loved loved to go to but we realised we will be away.....it was just a day like that and it was kind of annoying until we realised that when that happens you have no choice but to laugh it off and just accept that timing was off today but that tomorrow would most likely be better. The best thing you can do when it happens is just throw the towel in and sit still....just do as little as possible until the planets re-align. So we jumped in the pool and had a great day lazing about and doing nothing. It was absolutely baking hot and it really was the best place to be. When the sun finally went down we drove down the hill to have a drink with the most fabulous girl in town, June Sarpong and Mr David Walliams joined us and suddenly everything just clicked back into place and we knew we were exactly where, when and how we were supposed to be and it was perfect and it reminded us... “Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over.” Enough said.....

Thank you....

Thanks to a beautiful friend who sent me this...

Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.
A sharp tongue can cut your own throat.
If you want your dreams to come true, you mustn't oversleep.
Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.
The best vitamin for making friends.... B1.
The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.
The heaviest thing you can carry is a grudge.
One thing you can give and still keep...is your word.
You lie the loudest when you lie to yourself.
If you lack the courage to start, you've already finished.
One thing you can't recycle is wasted time.
Ideas won't work unless 'you' do.
Your mind is like a parachute...it functions only when open.
The 10 commandments are not a multiple choice.
The pursuit of happiness is the chase of a lifetime! It is never too late to become what you might have been.
Life is too short to wake up with regrets.
So love the people who treat you right.
Forget about the one's who don't.
Believe everything happens for a reason.
If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it.
Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.
Friends are like balloons; once you let them go, you might not get them back. Sometimes we get so busy with our own lives and problems that we may not even notice that we've let them fly away.
Sometimes we are so caught up in who's right and who's wrong that we forget what's right and wrong.
Sometimes we just don't realize what real friendship means until it is too late.
I don't want to let that happen so I'm gonna tie you to my heart so I never lose you.

I love that.....we had a perfect night last night. Dinner on the patio with David Walliams and Matt Lucas, I love them. And our favourite welshie Matthew Rhys came by too which always makes any night perfectly perfect.....these are people who are tied to my heart and I hope they never fly away.....

Insecurity.....

Ah, the wonders of the human mind never cease to amaze me. Thursday, Clare sent out a lot of texts, left a few messages for people and by Friday morning, most of them hadn't replied, which is unusual. Now, where a dog might imagine that possibly they are busy, forgetful, getting round to it, didn't get the message.....Clare spiralled into one of her insecure days, where by the end of it, all of these people had got together, bumped into each other, or called a meeting and decided they weren't going to be friends with her anymore and that she was an altogether silly person. It's so funny to watch and makes no logical sense but she can convince herself of anything if she is having a moment of self doubt. She will collect evidence that possibly people don't like her after all and that she imagined all these friends who have now all disappeared.
Well, by Friday afternoon/Saturday morning of course most of them had called or replied and she had to shake her head and wonder how on earth it is possible to cause yourself so much heartache and hurt over absolutely nothing, but sometimes you just have to go there, no matter what the incontrovertible evidence to the contrary is.
Friday night we had the best dinner at CUT with Nick Jones and the truly beautiful Kirsty Young....in my opinion she is one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, and beats LA Hollywood beauty hands down because her beauty is so real and natural and she is such a lovely person with it. Saturday night, we went to one of the best Hollywood Parties we have ever seen. My utterly favourite woman in LA....Ellen's
50th Birthday at Warner Bros. The whole lot was turned into a circus, with rides and gambling tables, an entire Pinkberry stand, sushi stand, every kind of food and drink you can imagine. Pink sang three songs, which made me cry it was so good. What party can you go to and see Tom Hanks dancing up a storm, next to Janet Jackson, with Gwen Stefani watching and Matthew Perry, The Jonas Brothers, Samantha Ronson DJ'ing...
..oh just about everyone was there, it was wall to wall celebrity. We went with Ryan and gorgeous Sophie, and Ryan upstaged everyone by arriving on a helicopter straight from Miley Cyrus and Wango Tango......we had the utterly best time ever and then on to drinks and a very late bedtime.....feeling more secure and more loved than I can ever remember....what a difference a day makes.....

Zulu Caine.....

Well we've had a lot of emails from people shocked at mean things written about Clare.....don't worry, she doesn't read them so they don't worry her. She always says that what other people think of you is absolutely none of your business. They should worry though, I'm a big dog and have a very big mouth and I hope I never meet any of these ridiculous people in real life. I doubt that will ever happen though, as I can't imagine they ever leave their computers for a second to live a real life.
Enough said.
We were very excited yesterday as a new picture was delivered to the house.....we love it. It's called Zulu Caine, and is a portrait of Michael Caine in his uniform from the film Zulu!!! The amazing thing about it is that his face is made up of lots of different pieces of beautiful wood, like a jigsaw, it's gorgeous to feel and beautiful to look at. We are trying to keep a British theme going in the house, especially since we recently found out that the Rolling Stones rented this house back in the seventies and having seen some film footage of them here, it certainly has some history!!! The artist of this picture is an amazing guy called Sean Alexander....he is brilliantly creative and talented and we're honoured to have his work hanging in the house. I really have the hugest admiration for people who can be this artistically genius.....
Speaking of artistic genius....Clare's book is coming along as well. Each one of the chapters is named after a different Elvis song, which was actually Emma's idea (another creative genius)....and it has brought the book and the themes of fantasy and obsession into a reality. Most of all it is one of my favourite times of the day (second to our hike) when Clare sits down to write for an hour or so and I can sit next to her in my basket enjoying listening to her tap away, it sends me straight to sleep.
Went to see Iron Man with the lovely Christian Moore, in the big screen at The Arclight yesterday and absolutely loved every single minute of it. Here we are pictured with the actual suit that Robert Downey Jr wore in the movie, he is just awesome, it was the best film I have seen in ages, you have to see it if you haven't already.
Tired as a dog now.....thanks again lovely friends.......

Shake it off, step up.....

So we woke up this morning to an e mail telling us about a story somewhere linking Simon and Clare. OK don't even get me started on this....just to nip it in the bud before it goes any further....of course they are not dating. Clare got miserable looking at it and made the terrible mistake of reading what they wrote.....fatal. They never say nice things but those horrid things can easily get stuck in your head if you don't shake them off immediately so she re-read a story one of you sent recently and it cheered her up.
"One day a farmer's donkey fell down a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally he decided the animal was old and it wasn't worth trying to retrieve it so he would just bury him. He invited all his neighbours to come over and help him and they all began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realised what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was amazed at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something incredible. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off. Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up. Shake it off and take a step up."
Remember the five simple rules to be happy : 1 Free your heart from hatred. 2 Free your mind from worries. 3 Live Simply 4 Give More 5 Expect Less.
Genius.
Everybody falls into that well sometimes but you just have to take some small action and before you know it you'll be back on good ground again....and don't let the dirt get you down....but Clare probably won't wear her Joseph and the technicolor dreamcoat cardigan again anytime soon ;-)