FALL 2002

Eric's Visit Home

Eric spent 11 days "Back East" in September visiting family and friends in Pittsburgh. And, he continued the tradition with some college buddies of visiting NYC every 4th year. This was an especially good visit with trips to Little Italy, the Staten Island Ferry to see The Statue of Liberty, Greenwich Village, the Empire State Bldg. and Times Square. The most moving aspect of the trip was visiting Ground Zero. At this time, the debris had all been removed from the former World Trade Center and the city had begun the earliest stage of rebuilding. Looking at the 20-square acre and 7-story deep emptiness in downtown Manhattan couldn't help but fill you with a sense of awe. Though Eric was never a resident of New York, he felt part of this devastation as never before.

After returning from New York, Eric made a dash to Cleveland to see an old high-school friend, Grant Reed, who had himself driven from Canton, MI. It had been nearly 3 years since they had seen eachother, and they had a blast smoking cigars, driving all around Cleveland, and catching up on the last 3 years.

Pictures here

Women's Retreat

Laurie helped to plan the Annual WPC Women's Retreat this year, and it turned out to be a much-needed time of rest, relaxation, and fellowship at the end of September. She finally unwound the knot in which she was tied at the beautiful Mary & Joseph Retreat Center. The guest speaker, yoga, song, and meditation were not just relaxing but also inspiring. Hopefully, that knot will not tighten again for a while!

Croptoberfest!

No beer, but lots of pictures, papers, stickers, and bratwurst! This was Laurie's first Croptoberfest (next to National Scrapbook Day, the biggest scrapbooking event of the year). She was able to use the church's fellowship hall, so everyone could spread out and enjoy themselves. There were many prizes and games, and best of all, lots of completed scrapbook pages!

Laurie is loving her Creative Memories business, and she hopes to fill that hall every month with more people preserving their memories.

Cheryl's Visit

Our friend, Cheryl Young, visited us from Pittsburgh to see if the City of Angels was a place she could call home. We showed her a few of the LA sights, but mostly just enjoyed her company. She even got to experience the Steelers crowd during a Monday night football game at Lisa's house! We look forward to the not-so-distant future when she becomes a permanent part of our LA family.

Eric vs. the Army of Spiders

...and other films in progress.

Eric had the chance to act in a student film for Jack Sullivan, a director Eric's known since his college days at Penn State. This time Jack was taking a class at Los Angeles Film School. They shot the short film in a weekend to great success and Eric now has some good footage to add to his reel.

In October, Eric was asked to be a production assistant and to play a minor role in a film about giant mutant spiders. But when one of the lead actors couldn't meet the schedule requirements Eric was asked to fill in for him on less than 24 hours notice. So, Eric now plays one of the main characters in "Creepies". We hope this movie will be available at Hollywood Video sometime next year. Stay tuned for more developments...

Eric working behind the scenes on "Creepies"

Halloween

Though we hadn't planned anything special, this turned out to be a very interesting day! Laurie's office had a costume parade and contest, and pumpkin carving. That night after Eric got home from filming, he donned many items from our costume box and we went to West Hollywood for their annual street party on Santa Monica Blvd. The pictures say it all!

Some of the interesting characters in West Hollywood

Laurie and her co-workers, Jeff and Camilla at Qiagen's Halloween Party


Eric raided the costume box and wore a little of everything! He went as "indecisive."

Aunt Kizzy's

We all celebrated Eric's birthday at Aunt Kizzy's Back Porch in Marina Del Rey, one of Eric's favorite restaurants for down-home cooking with a soul food flair. Sally, Lisa and Colin came and we had fun with the waiter. Eric got a birthday song and peach cobbler decked out with candles.

We're not sure why the waiter had us all lean in so far!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving Day with the "Dodson Family West," in the mountains near Big Bear Lake in a town called Running Springs. After the 2 hour drive, we arrived to find a beautiful house in a very rustic setting- the perfect location for Thanksgiving!

We caught up with family, ate the traditional fare, and admired the beautiful mountain views, lovely house, and Don's impressive car collection.

Sandy and Cindy put out the pies.

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