Giving up chocolate for Lent was one of the best things I’ve ever done. Fortunately for me, I’m blessed with a great bunch of chocoholic friends, who were horrified at what I’d done and set out to make it worth the effort. First up was Nancy, who was dismayed at the thought of me waiting until after Easter to purchase Cadbury eggs, a confection to which I’ve been addicted for many years. Knowing that the leftover eggs would be stale, broken, mushed and nasty, she presented me with a sweet Easter basket shaped like a chicken, full to the brim with Cadbury eggs. Next Vennie sent over a huge chocolate bunny - solid chocolate, not one of those rip-off hollow bunnies. Thursday Cheryl gave me a Target bag which turned out to be full of Cadbury eggs, Nestle crunch caramel eggs and Dove chocolate bunnies. Then yesterday the Easter Bunny (who quite frankly I am beginning to suspect of being my mom) left an Easter bucket (yeah, a bucket) full of treats, including Cadbury eggs and a Spongebunny! I got a stuffed Spongebob who is wearing a pink-and-blue beanie with big, floppy, pink bunny ears attached. Man, I have the greatest friends - it’s like Cheryl says: friends are gifts you give yourself, and as for me, I choose only the very best.

Movies I watched this weekend: The Missing, which was okay. It was a bit predictable and nothing special, but had some good moments. I was more disappointed in it because I’d expected great things from Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett so when it was just a good-to-average western, I felt kinda cheated. Then I saw a preview of Wonderland, which appeared to be a murder mystery starring the lovely, talented and blessed-with-beautiful-teeth Val Kilmer - good enough for me so I decided to watch that, too. It turned out to be even more interesting as Wonderland is based on the true story of some brutal murders with which porn star (and incidentally, cokehead) John Holmes was involved - perhaps peripherally, perhaps more actively. The story was told in flashbacks from a couple of different points of view and was very interesting, if a bit violent. Side note: Kate Bosworth plays Dawn Schiller (John Holmes’s girlfriend) in the movie. She looked very familiar to me and I was eager to learn where I knew her from, but when I looked her up on the imdb, I hadn’t seen any of the things she was in previously. I hope I never see The Horse Whisperer - blecccch. Some things I just know right away aren't for me and movies touted as "heartwarming" are paramount among them (pun intended).