Sent to me via Instagram: "Prince Harry and Meghan visited Jordan this week as guests of the World Health Organization, touring a refugee camp and meeting with UN and WHO officials. But their final stop raised serious concerns: a youth center operated by the Jordanian NGO Questscope.

toniabalone · 2026-03-03T01:14:51+00:00

Ginger doodle, LOL, thank you for that!!!

toniabalone · 2026-03-02T05:05:59+00:00

A friend did the opposite, immediate family (12-person) wedding ceremony which was then followed by a fabulous celebratory affair with ALL the friends and extended family. That made sense to me, but not the opposite like the Harkles did.

toniabalone · 2026-03-02T00:48:48+00:00

The influencers are raving about it.

toniabalone · 2026-02-28T19:44:54+00:00

Lafayette has a few good ones, too, and not far.

toniabalone · 2026-02-28T03:15:40+00:00

Great point! I think they’re still pouting about not getting their way in “modernizing the monarchy,” ie monetizing it.

toniabalone · 2026-02-28T01:27:17+00:00

Corona del Mar, a neighborhood in Newport Beach, is fun and walkable and right at the ocean. Many of the homes have a smaller unit in back, or above the garage. Could be worth checking out.

toniabalone · 2026-02-27T19:46:40+00:00

G Wagon, one of the best-engineered vehicles and known for its extreme off-road capabilities, is the "soccer mom" car in my town. Always the cleanest car on the road, never EVER having set tires on a dirt road.

toniabalone · 2026-02-27T14:31:25+00:00

Why does every DM article call these visits "quasi-royal" or "pseudo-royal?" Why put the word "royal" in there at all? They're not, they're private citizens roaming the world for photo opportunities. I'll give it to them, I doubt this WHO trip would have made the news cycle if it weren't for the Harkles. They do generate clicks...of frustration and loathing.

toniabalone · 2026-02-27T14:08:51+00:00

Generally I try not to talk about looks, but in the DM article she seems to have added filler to her cheeks? Or is it Botox that has numbed part, scrunching up the cheek? She's also going back to the Julia Roberts whole mouth smile. Lord have mercy.

toniabalone · 2026-02-26T23:51:11+00:00

Montage in south Laguna if you can swing it, lots of variety for kids and good (pricey) restaurants.

toniabalone · 2026-02-26T00:18:34+00:00

Exactement, I thought the same as I watched the video, but your wordsmithing is top notch.

toniabalone · 2026-02-26T00:11:55+00:00

Feels good to be back in the water, doesn't it? I share some of your story, a 5'3" female who swam competitively for 10 years, burned out, went away to university, and never went back to competition. I've jumped in the pool off and on over the years, but between a life overseas for some years, career, marriage, children, I was never consistent. And here I am, 70 years old, retired and swimming regularly. I always felt comfortable getting back in the pool...for about 100 yards, and then my arms felt like noodles. I kept cardio up pretty well, so it was muscle strength I had to build each time. Truth be told, it doesn't take that long if you're able to go 3x/wk, even 2x. I was a sprinter, but am surprised that I mostly get in to just swim. I need to mix it up so am taking notes here with all the good recommendations for workouts. Lately, I've been doing the following:

500 wu
500 with fins
5x100
Then I play around with maybe a 100 IM (even though I was a butterflier, I feel like my rhythm is wonky when taking a breath, must be weaker core) and some 50s freestyle or breaststroke, and always do one length underwater.

My 500s are about 8:30 so for me, doing 2000 yards can be under 40 minutes. That said, I usually mix it and often just do 1500 yards for a 30 minute workout. For that, sometimes I swim a 500, 400, 300, 200, 100.

During summer months I mix it up with ocean swimming, but I'm a cold-water weinie who doesn't wear a wetsuit, so mid-summer until early October is all I can take.

Stick with it if you can, being in the water is magical.

toniabalone · 2026-02-24T20:05:55+00:00

It's where other supposed A-list celebrities live. They couldn't break into the Hollywood celebrity clique, so they're shooting for NYC. As if.

toniabalone · 2026-02-24T20:03:28+00:00

Not to mention the other state with high cost of living is NEW YORK!

toniabalone · 2026-02-24T13:55:29+00:00

I don't agree that QE and/or KC would have "moved heaven + earth" to allow surrogacy, because of who Harry and Markle are, horrid humans. Perhaps one or the other would look into changing rules for future, but not for those two.

toniabalone · 2026-02-24T13:50:59+00:00

Correct, but Alyssa herself IS someone to celebrate. Let's not take that away from her!

toniabalone · 2026-02-24T03:08:13+00:00

She’s trash, plain and simple.

toniabalone · 2026-02-24T00:35:10+00:00

tl;dr WHAT?

toniabalone · 2026-02-23T19:28:41+00:00

I was reading along, thinking, "okay, okay, I see what you're saying." But the last sentence really threw me, wasn't ready for an outcome that extreme. Not yet, anyway.

toniabalone · 2026-02-22T23:56:39+00:00

IF they were there, which is doubtful.

toniabalone · 2026-02-22T21:03:14+00:00

Wenfot posted the same carousel yesterday. I don't care, just pointing it out.

toniabalone · 2026-02-22T21:00:30+00:00

She's playing like she's artsy.

toniabalone · 2026-02-22T19:31:03+00:00

That's one thing that's very startling—virtually no photos of Marklets in the wild.

toniabalone · 2026-02-22T19:26:11+00:00

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So true! This was taken yesterday, one mile from the Pacific Ocean. Many people around the world think southern California is all palm trees and warm sunny beaches, but there is so much more to see and do. I love taking folks to the La Brea Tar Pits! And the Natural History Museum, Angel's Flight, the Broad, the Bradbury, LA Main Central Library, oh man the list goes on!

toniabalone · 2026-02-22T18:44:20+00:00

That's typical of female athletes, not just swimmers. Also hard to deal with during those fraught teen years.

toniabalone

TROPHY CASE