Love

NEWPORT BEACH — Sitting on an oversized plush chair in baseball legend Chuck Finley's Newport Beach home, actress Tawny Kitaen seems to be in a much different place than she was eight years ago. A soccer goal is visible in the backyard, and her daughter's art covers the refrigerator in the family home. Her adopted dog, Woody, nuzzles Kitaen as she talks about a new off-camera passion: helping others. A volunteer at Kathy's House, a shelter for at-risk women in San Juan Capistrano, and a member of the board of directors at Testimony Life Resources, an alternative counseling center, Kitaen appears to be a far cry from her role as the eccentric star of "The Surreal Life," or the woman battling a dependency on prescription pills on "Celebrity Rehab.

NEWPORT BEACH - It's a new year in more ways than one for Laura Wilkening, who is celebrating her 100th birthday Sunday. The Chicago-born centenarian will celebrate with 40 long-time friends and family at her daughter-in-law's house in Newport Beach. But Wilkening has no need for New Year's or birthday resolutions. "I make a resolution every day," said Wilkening, who lives on the Balboa Peninsula. "I'm a determined person. If I'm going to do something, I do it - and that's it. " Maybe that explains how the talkative, upbeat grandmother of five has lived to see so many birthdays.

A couple of years back, I thought I would die if I had to have one more meeting in a Starbucks, so I set out to find some new places. What I found was Amorelia Mexican Café at 2200 Harbor Blvd. This gem near the corner of Wilson Street sits by Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts Store. Amorelia has become my go-to meeting place. I always order the café de olla — a sweet, rich coffee — and, for lunch, a grilled vegetable salad that is not on the menu but is worth asking for. My favorite thing to eat there is the mole verde; the chicken is so tender, the flavors just perfect.

A little less than four years ago, Paul Briggs gave me a quote that basically summed up what he thought of his life. Briggs, a former Orange Coast College football assistant and a high school coaching legend in Bakersfield, died on Monday at age 90 while in an assisted care facility. He coached for 57 years, including 20 seasons at OCC. At Bakersfield High, he guided the Drillers to a 210-99-15 record. He was such a great mentor to many, and one of my all-time favorite people.

The Daily Pilot visited Eastbluff Elementary School and asked: "What does Valentine's Day mean to you?" "You get together with people you love and spend time with them to get to know them better." Megan Lambert, 11 Newport Beach "Valentine's Day is to spend with friends and relatives and to show them how much you love them." Hannah Hagemann, 12 Newport Beach "It's about cards, kisses and presents." Tyler Wright, 11 Newport Beach "It is for people to express feelings to people they love."

CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON "Love is the greatest thing that God can give us; for he himself is love: and it is the greatest thing we can give to God." -- JEREMY TAYLOR Last week after church, I walked around the church patio to have a cup of coffee and to connect with some friends. As I waited in line for the coffee, I watched a little girl who was in the line near me, waiting to get some water. She wore a pink and red jumper over a white turtleneck with little red hearts around the neck.

We love our daddy, Coby Sonenshine, because he gives us lots of hugs and makes us laugh when we play hockey together. He is our best friend. SOLOMON, 6, and MAX SONENSHINE, 3 Dear Poppi, We love you so much! You are funny, crazy, silly, sweet, loving and strong. We are very blessed God made you our poppi. Thank you for all that you do for us. Love, KATIE, 3, and CODY HESS, 2 My dad is actually my sister's dad too, but she's only 6, and I'm almost 6, so I'm writing this.

Valentine’s Day is celebrated with greeting cards, flowers, chocolates, romantic dinners and other gifts — all in the name of love. Legend has it that St. Valentine actually sent the first valentine while in jail. It is said that he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and, before his execution Feb. 14, he left a letter to his beloved signed, “from your Valentine.” Not all tales of love are as sad as this. Check out some of love’s many highlights and lowlights in the following entertaining reads.

The missing link in human evolution is love. When love points the way, it defines intention, behavior and motivation. It sees into the potential of life and clarifies existence and purpose. Most of humanity is in a state of “human doing” stimulated by life’s revolving door of problems. Many are lost in ambition, working hard to defer need while providing the basic necessities. Frustrated by a narrow range of responses to the conditions from which they suffer, people work harder and harder with less and less, while experience chips away at their hopes and dreams.

Dear Jam, this Valentine's Day got me thinking... I have loved you for almost 15 years ... who would have thought that time would fly by the way it has? This year, I realized that Valentine's Day isn't just about you and I ... it's about us — the three of us! I luv us! Our family is the most important element in our lives, and having Bennett is the best thing that you and I have accomplished to date. He is such a miracle. He completes us, he has healed us, and he is a product of us, and for that I am most proud!

The great stuff of superheroes This could also be called "Cash of the Titans. " Featuring many classic Marvel Comics characters and a fun cast, "The Avengers" is the Super Bowl of superheroes. It's nearly 2 ½ hours of wisecracking, overblown annihilation. I loved it. Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor's adopted brother, vies for world dominance by virtue of his sleek helmet, intergalactic flying monkeys and posh accent. It's up to one-eyed Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson)

IRVINE - UC Irvine men's volleyball coach John Speraw spoke of the future during a celebration of the 2012 NCAA champion Anteaters in front of about 300 on campus on Tuesday. But whether that future will be at UCI, UCLA, or exclusively with the U.S. men's national team will not be known for at least a few weeks, said Speraw, whose 10-year tenure at the school has produced a legacy of three national titles in the last six seasons. UCI Chancellor Michael Drake addressed the crowd and saluted both the team and Speraw, whom he said he admires as much as any leader on campus.

"Songs for Amy," the debut feature film from Irish director Konrad Begg that premiered this week at the Newport Beach Film Festival, opens with a quotation. "After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. " Begg treats Aldous Huxley's epigram more as hypothesis than comment. His movie is as much about that silence as it is about the music. His protagonist, Sean O'Malley (played by Sean Maguire), is an inarticulate singer-songwriter. Sean falls in love with a girl called Amy (Lorna Anderson)

Any nerves of being poked with a needle were likely calmed by some Beethoven during a blood drive Wednesday afternoon in Corona del Mar. With Pacific Symphony musicians in one corner and medical equipment in the other, some 60 people came, heard and donated during the third annual Musical Blood and Marrow Drive at Newport Center United Methodist Church. The music of Dvorak and Schubert was also among the selections that helped serenade the donors, who gave 49 pints of viable blood to the American Red Cross, said Pacific Symphony violinist Nancy Eldridge in an email.

Nicholas Sparks writes romantic novels that often become chick flick movies. "The Notebook," "Message in a Bottle" and"Nights in Rodanthe" are films that demonstrate his formulas for depicting people in various stages of PG-13 love. "The Lucky One"is his latest book to reach the big screen. Zac Efron plays a soldier in Iraq who spots a photo of a blond woman on the ground after a firefight. As he walks over to pick it up, a mortar round explodes behind him. He survives and credits the girl in the photo for his good luck.

If there ever was a Hollywood kingpin — Lawrence Kasdan fills the bill. He's participated in writing and directing so many great movies, including "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "The Empire Strikes Back," "Return of the Jedi," "The Bodyguard," "Body Heat," "Silverado" and "The Big Chill," to name a few. Often, his writing and production partner has been his wife, Meg. You'd figure the studios would clamor for any script hot off their computer....

In a perfect world, parents can grab a beer, sit down to watch a game with friends while their children are perfectly entertained and well-behaved without them. Restaurateur Jeremy Foti can't guarantee a child's manners, but he is trying to provide the entertainment. Opening in about a month, Tapshack in Newport Beach and Taphouse in Huntington Beach will offer a wide array of draft beers, lunch and dinner menus, plasma-screen TVs and video game consoles. "It was sort of trial and error with my own three boys," Foti said of coming up with the concept behind the sports-themed bar and grill.

Paul Hadley doesn't pay attention to the miles logged on the odometer of his 1962 Jaguar Mark II. "It's the journey that matters," said the 74-year-old Costa Mesa resident. "It's not about the finish line. " Even if Hadley were counting, the vintage vehicle is a pure, strapping youngster when it comes to what's under the hood: a recently installed 2011 Corvette engine. "Basically, what I did was create a reliable Jaguar," Hadley said. "You could get in this thing and drive it to New York.

Billy Joe Rogers 1928-2012 Billy Joe Rogers passed away peacefully surrounded by his family Thursday, March 22, 2012, in Newport Beach, California. Bill was born on November 4, 1928, in Princeton, Indiana, son of Floyd and Beatrice Rogers. Bill was a caring and wonderful husband, dad, uncle, and grandfather, who was loved by all who ever met him. Billy was dedicated to his family, friends, and church. In 1952, he married the love of his life, Georgia Lois Mitchell. Together they had two children, Laura and Bradley.

Several days ago, a conservative radio personality despoiled the air waves with foul descriptions of a law school student who had made a reasoned and civil argument for her position on a health-care issue. He so vilified her that his words were repugnant to anyone who recognizes the boundaries of dignified discourse. Words matter. Noah Webster, a stickler for the proper definition of words, was responsible for standardizing American English. One day, his wife opened the kitchen door and discovered Noah kissing the maid.