Oscars

And the winners are. . . . .

Best quote: "You're only two years older than me, darling. Where have you been all my life?"

– Best Supporting Actor winner Christopher Plummer, to his long-awaited Oscar

 Best fashion:

Giuliana Rancic

 Gwyneth Paltrow in Tom Ford

 Louise Roe

                                                                            Milla Jovovich in Elie Saab

Rachel Smith

Best Picture - The Artist  *my prediction

Best Actor - Jean Dujardin (The Artist)  *my prediction

Best Actress - Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) 

Best Supporting Actor - Christopher Plummer (Beginners)  *my prediction

Best Supporting Actress - Octavia Spencer (The Help)  *my prediction 

4/5, not bad.  Maybe I should play PowerBall?

Knocked Up: Month 1

 Felipe & I are over the moon to be expanding our family.  First came me (circa 1982), then Elo (2004), Felipe (2008), and Jackson (2009).  Can't wait to welcome our newest addition in 2012!

Stay tuned for monthly pics.

Oscar Nominees - Best Picture

Best Picture

• "The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer
• "The Descendants" Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
• "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Scott Rudin, Producer
• "The Help" Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
• "Hugo" Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
• "Midnight in Paris" Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
• "Moneyball" Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
• "The Tree of Life" Nominees to be determined
• "War Horse" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Hmmm, this is a tough one.  Again, the Descendants has been rocking the awards circuit as has  The Help.  Midnight in Paris was excellent, but I don't think its up for the win.  Moneyball was solid.  Tree of Life was terrible, could only make it through the first 15 minutes Oddly enough, Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain are both in that film and are both nominated for other awards as well.  Good year for those two.

I'm going to say The Artist, though I haven't seen it.

Oscar Nominees - Actor in a Leading Role

Actor in a Leading Role

• Demián Bichir in "A Better Life"
• George Clooney in "The Descendants"
• Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"
• Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
• Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"

Handsome George has been sweeping the awards leading up to the Oscars, but I think him and Brad may split the vote leaving Jean Dujardin for the win.  I'm dying to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and can't wait for it to come out on RedBox.

Oscar Nominees - Actor in a Supporting Role

Actor in a Supporting Role

• Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"
• Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
• Nick Nolte in "Warrior"
• Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
• Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

I've only seen Moneyball, which was fantastic.  I was expecting a sports movie, which it was, but I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did.  Jonah Hill was good, but I think he's a long shot.  Maybe Christopher Plummer for the win?

Oscar Nominees - Actress in a Leading Role

Actress in a Leading Role

• Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs"
• Viola Davis in "The Help"
• Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
• Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"
• Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"

I've only seen two of the nominees in action, and still really want to see The Iron Lady and My Week with Marilyn.  I'm going to have to go for Miss Mara, for having the guts to go all the way with her character - 

(all those piercings were real!)

Oscar Nominees - Actress in a Supporting Role

Actress in a Supporting Role

• Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist"
• Jessica Chastain in "The Help"
• Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
• Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs"
• Octavia Spencer in "The Help"

While I loved Melissa McCarty in Bridesmaids, my vote goes to

Reading is Fun: Less Than Zero

Just finished reading a very disturbing novel from the writer of American Psycho.  Turns out they even made it into a movie that never really took off despite the acting talents of Robert Downey Jr and James Spader.

Set in Los Angeles in the early 1980's, this coolly mesmerizing novel is a raw, powerful portrait of a lost generation who have experienced sex, drugs, and disaffection at too early an age, in a world shaped by casual nihilism, passivity, and too much money a place devoid of feeling or hope.

Clay comes home for Christmas vacation from his Eastern college and re-enters a landscape of limitless privilege and absolute moral entropy, where everyone drives Porches, dines at Spago, and snorts mountains of cocaine. He tries to renew feelings for his girlfriend, Blair, and for his best friend from high school, Julian, who is careering into hustling and heroin. Clay's holiday turns into a dizzying spiral of desperation that takes him through the relentless parties in glitzy mansions, seedy bars, and underground rock clubs and also into the seamy world of L.A. after dark. 

Makes me very grateful for my sheltered life growing up.

Sunday Slow-Cooker

What better way to spend a Sunday then lounging around in your robe, visiting your in-laws, and catching up on DVR?  I think there's really something to this lazy Sunday thing.

It gets even better when you get to smell some Slow Cooker Chipotle-Lime Chicken Thighs with Jamaican Rice & Peas cooking all afternoon!

And it gets double better when you can feast on some Jam Kolaches made with my favorite HEB preserves (thanks mama!)

Weekend Movies

Racked up some couch time this weekend thanks to Redbox.

Friday night we watched Contagion, not a horror movie but definitely scary.

Saturday I watched What's Your Number curled up on the couch with Elo, Jackson, and my knitting.

Both were entertaining and the perfect escape.

Lazy Saturday

After lounging in bed for a nice portion of the morning, I crawled out of bed and feasted on some Greek yogurt topped with mango, coconut, and almonds.  For any of  you who haven't tried Greek yogurt, it is totally worth the splurge and absolutely divine.

Next, I plopped down on the couch in front of a movie with a blanket and some knitting.  I was promptly joined by two cuddle bugs.

 Take a look at my little GQ man modeling my latest knitting project.

Reading is Fun: Motivational Interviewing

Just finished reading a text on Motivational Interviewing for my communications elective.  It was a fascinating read.

The most recent definition of Motivational Interviewing (2009) is: 

“. . . a collaborative, person­‐centered form of guiding to elicit and strengthen motivation for change.”

Basically it's like guiding your husband to pick the restaurant you want to go to for dinner.  He's happy because he thinks he picked the place, when really you got him to pick it.  By having patients come to these decisions themselves rather than being lectured to, they are much more likely to take action.

Reading is Fun: An Object of Beauty

Steve Martin is a total renaissance man -  actor, comedian, author, playwright, producer, and musician.  He's won an Emmy, several Grammy's, and has been nominated for both a Golden Globe and Academy Award.  More than one of his novels has been on the New York Times bestseller list.

Not too shabby.

Doctor of the Day

Spending the day in Topeka taking care of the legislators, senators, and support staff.

Free health care for all!

(Currently, just free health care for the above mentioned government employees.)

This Means War

Went on a lovely quadruple date  (4 couples!) last night for Valentine's to the AMC Fork & Screen.  It was the perfect Valentine's day flick - good looking men (and women), romance, and a bit of action.  

Now if only I can get Felipe to quit texting on dates!

Monkey goes on an adventure!

Just knitted this monkey for my friend Kelsey who just had a beautiful baby girl!

Sweet Weekend

 Felipe & I have had an amazing weekend.

After sleeping in Saturday morning, we bundled up and piled into the car headed to Lawrence for a weekend getaway.  First stop, Footprints, where we each scored some new (and comfortable) shoes!

After that we wandered around doing some shopping, stopping for lunch at one of our fave restaurants, Free State Brewery.  Felipe scored a new bowtie at Urban Outfitters, which he is still learning to tie.

We finished the evening hanging out with some old friends and catching an art show.  We shared a hand-dipped corndog and an order of duck-fat fries from The Burger Stand for a midnight snack.

I stayed up way too late watching chick flicks after Felipe fell asleep.  If you haven't seen Something Borrowed, I wouldn't particularly recommend it.

We lounged around the house this afternoon, sauteed up a delicious broccoli stir-fry for dinner which we served with some chicken-cilantro wontons and are snuggling on the couch watching the Grammy's.

Stay tuned for Grammy fashion later this week!

Vroom! Vroom!

I scored these hot motorcycle boots on super-sale at Steve Madden!

Can't wait to rock them like these sassy ladies . . . . 

Geriatrics Champions

Today after our Geriatrics Champions* session, I was photographed and interviewed for a piece the Medical Center is doing on IPE**.

I felt like I was competing for Miss USA, it was all ladies and we took turns answering prescripted questions in front of each other complete with head-set and microphone.  

I tried to keep it together and say nothing like the poor Miss Teen USA contestant featured below.

*Geriatrics Champions - a lecture series bringing together family medicine residents, nursing students, social work students, and pharmacists to learn about geriatric medicine.

**IPE = Interprofessional Education (ie, FM residents, nursing, social work, and pharmacy)

Soup

To celebrate our perfect winter I made a large pot of homemade Roasted Tomato Basil Soup ala Ina Garten.  Unfortunately, one taste of this and you can never go back to the Campbell's Condensed again.

This was served with her Plain Pound Cake - - which was perfectly named.  I bet its tasty with a cup of coffee in the morning.  Next time I'm not messing around and going straight for Paula Deen.

50/50

Felipe and I watched 50/50 last weekend.  He was rather loathe to watch it, due to the topic (ie, cancer.)  It ended up being both charming and heartwarming.  I highly recommend it for a lazy Saturday.

The New Girl

The other day someone told me I reminded them of Jess, the star of The New Girl.  Today I see it.  

Reading is Fun: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Hunger Games was the perfect twist of Twilight & The Running Man.  

The Forest of Hands and Teeth mixes together the Bella-Edward-Jacob love triangle with post-apocalyptic zombies.  

It's a teenage Walking Dead, and I could not put it down until I finished the very last page.

My Birthday

Here's me modeling one of my awesome birthday presents - a microwavable, aromatherapy, neck warmer.  Almost as good as a massage.  Perfect for when you lounge on the couch with a good  book (ps, the new book I started is awesome.)

Stay tuned for pics of my other awesome pressies.