Oscar's best and worst dressed according to someone with no fashion credentials...

Last night was of course the Academy Awards which, really, is the only awards show I ever watch.  My parents are pretty cute about it and we all fill out ballots (despite the fact that we have no idea what we're talking about) and it's a pretty darn good time.  Of course, we all LOVE to love/hate what the stars are wearing.  And before I get the whole "What do you know?" thing, I'm gonna start out with "nothing."  I know close to nothing really about high fashion and dress design and blah blah blah, but I do have eyeballs.  So I'm gonna say that gives me a little opportunity say when something looks awesome (in my opinion) and when something looks like a hot mess, minus the hot.  Which equals just a mess.  ALSO, I understand the whole "Who really cares, there are SOOO many more pressing issues than what some people wore to a big party" bit, I'm gonna agree with you.  But I don't feel like talking about any of those things at this moment.  So without further ado, here is the best and worst of the Oscar's according to me. Oh, and I didn't include the designers because a.) I don't know most of them, b.) I don't really care that much.

worst

Melissa McCarthy - Hey lady, I adore you.  You made me crack up in Bridesmaids, to the point that i almost* peed.  (*Almost was added in to avoid my personal embarrassment, but I may or may not have actually peed. Minus the may not...)  I understand that a curvier figure is going to be slightly more challenging that those other skinny minny starlets who wear whatevs, but this is definitely not the best I've seen you in.  The cape sleevey thing, I really just don't quite understand it.  And I don't like it. That's gotta go.

Anna Faris - You're adorable, but the hair is not awesome.  And that dress is very boring and cheap and tacky.  I'm sorry, but I probably could have picked up the same thing if I wanted to at Forever 21, which makes you silly for not saving your buckets of dough.

Jennifer Lopez - I don't like the arm cutouts and I'm about 98.5% positive I witnessed nip partway through your presentation.  And is it just me, or do you wear that bun thing a lot?  Very Jenny from the block, but let's mix it up a little bit.  And -10 points for doing that "I'm going to turn around and make everyone look at my bum while I present" thing.  You really need to make someone else's award about YOU?  Disappointed.

Emma Stone - I'm just not a fan of the dress with your hair color.  I L-O-V-E LOVED your pale peach dress and blonde hair you wore that one time.  (Anyone know what I'm talking about?)  But this bow thing on your neck.  Yeah, I'm not feelin' the love this time around.

Enough with that negativity!

best

Mila Jovovich - Asymmetrical sleeves are a little hit and miss with me, but this is definitely a hit and battleship sink.  I love the soft, glamorous hair that seemed trendy this year, and the red lips give the pop of color that her dress is lacking.  Kudos, Mila.  Kudos.

Cameron Diaz - Despite your involvement in making the presentation of Best Make-Up into a "look at me" joke (shame, shame), you did look stunning while you did it.  Beige has received a lot of criticism for being boring, but with her bronzy glow I think it looks bomb.

Giuliana Rancic - I think this dress is absolutely stunning.  The glitz, the flowy, the makeup, the hair.  I can really think of nothing other than perfection.  And for that, I salute you.

Penelope Cruz - This woman here always seems to be one of my favorites at award shows.  I feel like I have never seen her not looking beautiful.  The color is gorgeous, and there's that glamorous, vintagey hair I love.  

unsure

Viola Davis - I adore the natural hair.  People are used to seeing her in a wig, I understand, but I still am annoyed with everyone criticizing her for wearing her hair naturally.  You can't blame Hollywood for celebs setting false expectations for beauty for young girls, then get upset and bash someone for going au naturale.  On the other hand, this dress is still iffy for me.  Color: exquisite.  And I do like the bottom of the skirt,  but let's be honest, I'm seeing more than I would care to of the twins.  And I'm not even a prude.

Michelle Williams - I also think this color is fabulous, and I like that she's sporting her platinum Marilyn-esque locks,  but I'm not sure I'm crazy about that extra little skirty thing going on.  No, in fact I think I can say I do not like it much at all.

Stacy Whatever Her Name Is George Clooney's Girlfriend (That's your name from now on) - Once again, color yay!  Shape, possibly a nay...  You're a beautiful girl, and I love the hair and BASIC shape of the dress.  Just not quite feeling that whirlpool in your sea of gold.

Natalie Portman - You ladyfriend, are one of my favorites.  And I applaud you for your vintage Dior choice.  However my jury is still out on the polka dots...

Wow.  So that's where I'm at with this whole Oscar's fashion thing.  Congratulations if you made it all the way through!  Now I am going to go about my day in my holy socks and rag tag jeans.

Happy Monday!!

cheater, cheater, frozen yogurt eater

So you know that whole chestnut where I said no sugar.  Well I basically cheated.  Last night, after going to the performance of one of our favorite littles, we joined him and his family for dinner!  And to celebrate his outstanding acting performance, we naturally followed up dinner with some Blue Cow Frozen Yogurt.  BUT, a percentage of the profits went to a local elementary school!  I think that counts for something.  AND, last time I had sugar I did not KNOW it was my last time for a while, so I didn't enjoy as much as I should have.  AND, those are about the only excuses I can think of...

SO!  No sugar starting.....

now.
For reals this time.




Plus look at boyfriend's happy frozen yogurt eating face.  What an enabler.  He didn't even try to stop me from consuming that sweet sugary mess.  He practically forced me...  

Kickin' the habit

So, word on the street (Sesame, that is), is that Lent is comin' right on up.  And while I don't celebrate Lent as a part of any religion really, I do think it is good to, once in a while, see where in your life you can make sacrifices.  Almost like a mind over matter, test your self-discipline kind of thing.  So I am vowing to, at LEAST until Easter, and, hopefully maybe don't count on it, I will continue after.  Basically what I'm getting at is I'm going to be done with refined sugary oh-so-corn-syrupy treats.  No more orange creamsicles, which have become quite the obsession in our household, no candy, no cake, no dessert really.  Which is why you see me above so distraught.

BUT I am hoping that my body i going to take on that super hero like feeling inside that people say you get when you stop eating like a 6-year-old and start being a grown-up... Sometimes, from being a nanny full-time, I forget that I am not a child and while it is cute for my littles to get all hopped up on their Valentine's candy, it is less cute when I do it... It's mostly just sad...

BUT OF COURSE!  Without fail, this morning a stumbled upon these little sweetums the girls have:

and they are like, really freakin' good.  SO that's my last little bit of sweet sugary bliss.  Promise.

And that's all I got!

I eat what?!

Ok, maybe I'm a little late to the party here, but I just watched Food, Inc, and needless to say I was mortified.  I've heard bits and pieces of information about what this documentary is about, and I thought I had heard it all.  Yeah, meat in hotdogs is yucky, I get it.  Yeah, of course eating organically is a healthier option, duhhhh.  I really thought going into this, everything I saw was either something I had heard about, or something I suspected. But little did I know.  The information, images, and facts I learned from this movie were shocking.  The way we are raised thinking the romanticized idea of the rural corn farmer, or pig farmer, or cow farmer, still exists, when really only a handful, a small handful mind you, of companies control virtually all of the food you seen on the shelves of the supermarket.  Not to MENTION the effect these food companies have on the environment and our health.  The USDA and FDA claim to protect consumers, but just who's best interests are they looking out for really?  And the way vegetables, fruits, and animals are SO often genetically mutated, and they
DO NOT have to tell you.  I mean, how much of what we are eating is real?  Where's the food, bro?

Personally, I love the Capital City Public Market that takes place in downtown boise in the spring, summer, and fall.  I love going, but purchase food there occasionally.  But this movie made me realize just how important it is to support farmers markets and local farms.  Economically, environmentally, and just plain for our own health.  Believe me, I'm not pretending to be a health nut, organic guru.  I mean, you're talkin' to the girl whose high school diet consisted mostly of crunchwrap supremes.  But I'm learning, and if you want to too, here are some websites that I like:

Capital City Public Market

Peaceful Belly Farm

Think Boise First

Boise Co-op

Our V-Day

*Sorry for the blurinessa and funky greenish looking hair

There once was a time, long ago, when we would get SUPER fancied up, go to an expensive romantic dinner, exchange expensive romantic gifts, probably get some expensive romantic dessert if we were feeling EXTRA expensive and romantic, and then proceed to some romantic smooching (just sayin').  But then, somewhere between a LONG time ago (which actually was only really like a year ago) we decided, hey hunnie buns, we are probably going to spend lots of Valentine's Days together, maybe being so expensive and romantic is a little unoriginal these days.  So this Valentine's Day we took a little different approach.  

First, Nicklaus had a basketball game to coach, which I went and watched.  I could say that they got their booties kicked, but they asked Nick at the beginning of the season if when they lost a game, they could just pretend like the won anyway (what an amazing concept courtesy of 5th/6th graders, I think I will start applying to my life.  Oh, I didn't get the highest test grade in the class?  I'm gonna pretend like I DID!  Take that!), so I'm gonna say that they actually KICKED bootay.

Afterwards we got dressed up,  and may I say Nicklaus looked preeeetty dapper!  Then stopped by the grocery store to pick up a lil sompin' sompin', then we cooked ourselves dinner!  You dressed up and got all fancy just to cook dinner, you may ask?  WHY YES.  That is precisely how it went.  I think it's important to, no matter how long you've been together, never forget that it's so fun to get all dolled up for each other (even if you decide to change into pajammies for dinner, but that is besides the point.)  We sat across from each other and ate our chicken and mushrooms in a white wine sauce, over a bed of wild rice, and zucchini.  Which, was DE-LICIOUS!  Hate to toot our own horns, but toot tooooot!  

Then there was the Valentine's episode of Glee and mucho snuggling.  Just writing that sentence makes me wish I could be watching Glee and snuggling right about now.  

So that's it folks! It was a low-key, comfortable, romantic, good-eatin' Valentine's.  And, by the way, it totally rocked.  But I guess I'm pretty lucky, because everyday is pretty much Valentine's Day when you've got a dreamboat like this guy:

        Doesn't this picture just say, "Well hello ladies, my name is Nick, and I'll be your romance tour guide this evening..."  Just me?  Coool.

I'm in love, I'm in love and I don't care who knows it!

4 Valentine's Days

4 Christmases

4 Thanksgivings

8 Birthdays

10 Road Trips

2 Homecomings

2 Proms

1 Graduation

2 Homes Together

1 Kitten

Too Many Bills

1420 Days

Infinite Laughs

1 Indescribable Love

We have shared so much together, and yet all I want is to share more.

P.S.  Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams have NOTHING on us!

That's so sick.

Oh, wait.  THAT'S not so sick, I'M just so sick.  Yeah, I basically feel how Lola looks in these pictures. Except I don't get to sprawl out on my belly, I have to work.  And do homework.  Turns out you can't call in sick to online classes...

Hope your Monday is oh so much better!

We have quite a love affair...

With this marvelous green veggie they call zucchini (what were you thinkin', you nasties).  Anyhoo, sometimes for dinner Nick will just cook up some of these babies in some olive oil and garlic and it is, in a single word, woah. We have had the pleasure of introducing this under appreciated deliciousness to a few of our friends, and the general consensus is that zucchini basically rocks.   Lola looks longingly and follows the fork as it goes to his mouth or mine, as demonstrated above^.  Definitely a way to have a great time on a weekday night. Now that I've officially endorsed a vegetable (I really got work on this whole blogging-about-interesting-things-not-about-what-vegetables-I-eat thing), let's move on... (But for the record, zuchinni really is, in the words of my beloved Ferris, so choice).

Onto bigger and better things, it's almost the weekend!  Woo woo woo!  Don't really have a lot planned, but you better believe there will be some cleaning (probably) and some cuddling (not negotiable), and trying to finish up this whole Grey's Anatomy thing I've gotten us into.  Also some Netflix documentaries (suggestions?), maybe a hike, and checking out the Jason Wu collection at our local Target (!).

May your weekends be sunny and fun!

And try out zuchinni, you know, if you get around to it...       

And then I became a hardworking college student...

I'm not sure if it's because I was nervous about going back to school after taking a nice big long semester off, but THIS semester is the one to change all semesters. I have been keeping all my assignments and due dates recorded in a nice little agenda  my mommy gave me.  (I have recently given up my hatred for agendas that began when teachers began doing *agend checks*, what the heck is that about?)  And I have been doing ALL (lenient usage of the word all) the reading for my classes, and you know what?  I hate to say it but it feels, PURRRTY GOOD.  I had that whole "I don't need to study, and I can procrastinate" angsty thang going on in high school and whatever, but perhaps an old dog CAN learn new tricks!  Unfortunately, all this teacher's-pet-do-gooder stuff leads to me looking like the above picture more often than it leads to me looking like the below picture.

 Which is what I'd prefer to be doing.  Or, you know, something like that...

If you are studying like I am, then happy studying!  If not, then don't rub it in.  THAT is ruuuude. (Said with Stephanie Tanner like attitude, because, obviously!)

Springtime!

*Top pictures found via Google Images

I'll save you my rant on how ridiculously sunny, warm, and beautiful the weather has been in Boise lately, and how afore mentioned warm sunshiny wonderfullness has me feeling all sunshiny on the inside, and how feeling sunshiny is probably my most specialest feeling (most specialest is a common phrase we, we being my nanny children and myself, use to describe things that are the bomb diggity), and how my most specialist feeling of being sunshiny inspires me to look at pictures of pretty colors and those pretty colors inspire me to have a most specialest day.  I'll save you that whole chestnut, and just let you look at the colors I like.  And maybe, if you're lucky, you will get to experience that sunshiny feeling as well!

You know.... only if you want...

YAY WARM WEATHER AND SUNSHINE!

- OK I'm done for reals now.

love love love mushy gushy

*Pictures found via Pinterest

So, something about me that goes back as far as I can remember... I LOVE VALENTINE'S DAY.
Back in the days of show-and-tell and 3 recesses a day, you know, elementary school days, I used to bust out the hot glue gun and Mommy and I would go crazy.  Construction paper, lacy, frilly kind of craziness making homemade valentines.  No offense to you guys who are fans of the Scooby-Doo carton box Valentines, don't get me wrong, LOVES me some good old fashioned Care Bears valentines.  But this was just sorta my thing.  Seriously one of the best memories, getting your valentine bag and looking at who gave you those double-wide valentines (because obviously, that meant they LOVE loved you), throwin' down some refined sugar.  That's what's up.  Since then I guess Valentine's Day hase changed it up a bit.  You know, it's all romantic now, and those without a lov-ah talk about how commercialistic it is and blahblahblah.

BUT I DON'T CARE!  Because it's still one of my faves and i FULLY plan on making it awesome.  These above idears are some possible plans I might put into the works.  Unless I decide I'd rather BE pampered, than pamper...  haven't decided yet.

How are you planning on making V-day 2012 awesome?

All I have to say is

Breakfast is the best for dinner.

That's all.