Oscar 2011 Wrap Up...

I am a little obsessed with the Academy Awards. I look forward to them every year. Most years we have a party for them. I print out ballots for all of us to fill out our own Oscar picks. I love the dresses and the whole show.

This year, we actually had dinner plans for a friend's birthday. I had a bit of a hard time deciding whether or not to go, but in the end - real people win out over something that can be DVR'd. (So grown up of me, no?!)

After our fun dinner out and lots of laughs, I finally got to watch my show...EEEEeeee!

So, I LOVED most of the dresses that Anne Hathaway wore...gorgeous!

Here are a few more fav's:

Hailee Steinfeld - she's 14 and talk about a perfect, age appropriate dress that is just lovely!

Natalie Portman - beautiful & preggers ta' boot!

Mila Kunis - GORGEOUS! Except, I was continuously holding my breath, afraid she was going to sneeze or turn too quickly & make one of her boobs pop out...maybe a little more fabric in the breastal area might have been helpful.

My review of the actual show is this...

I thought Anne Hathaway did a fine job. James Franco seemed totally aloof (high?) and was a total misstep as far as I'm concerned. Overall, the Academy was trying way TOO hard to young up the Oscars. It was the equivalent of Amy Poehler's mom character in 'Mean Girls' who's telling the high school girls "I'm not a regular mom. I'm a cool mom." Both the video & musical montages didn't quite fit...HELLO, it's the OSCARS not the MTV Movie awards!?!

The Oscars don't need to be dumbed down for a younger audience...it's supposed to celebrate the excellent movies of the year. The Oscars are classic Hollywood. We already have the MTV movie awards - and it's fun in a different way.

And the glaringly obvious differences between classic Hollywood greatness & James Franco was never so obvious as when people like Billy Crystal, Kirk Douglas & Tom Hanks were on the stage.

I LOVED that Inception got a few awards, and that Social Network was acknowledged as well. I adored the King's Speech, so YAY for them! I also love that Harry Potter got a few nominations even if they didn't win. I really liked the end of the whole show with the kid's choir that sang & the Oscar winners joining them on stage. What a great way to end it all!

Yahoo!

Guess who's going to Cosmetology school????

Oo, Oo, Oo I know this one!

It's ME!

Whoop whoop! :-) Yep, I'll be starting this June. I am super excited! :-)

Doing better...

Thank goodness! I've pulled up a bit since my previous post.

Though, a funny addition to that is that I was stressing SO much that I had a dream that I was smoking. I haven't smoked in forever. And the last time I DID smoke, I got SO sick that even thinking about smoking makes me feel ill. I was actually thinking in my dream 'I don't smoke...I am so stressed that I'm dream smoking...wow. At least it's not making me feel sick!' Can anyone say *pathetic*? Yikes!

I left a message for the admissions guy at Paul Mitchell. Hopefully, I will hear back from him in the next few days. I think it will help me to have more information in general. It's the not knowing what to expect that is the hardest for me. It's also the putting myself out there to be evaluated with no feedback whatsoever. I need feedback...Patience is not one of my giftings, can you tell?! I was talking to Aaron and he said something about how I needed to be patient & that most people & places don't operate the way I do with communication. He then said 'you can be patient - you're a patient person.' which lead me to exclaim 'um, have you MET me? Patience is not one of my gifts.' To which he laughed and said that he was being sarcastic...we've been married for over 10 years...he's aware that patience is not on the list of things I'm good at. (Though he's no dumby because he then followed that up with something to the effect of 'you are good at a LOT of things, but patience just isn't one of them.' What a good husband - he will tell me the truth but also cushion it with something nice too.)

All of that to say - I'm having a much better attitude and things are looking up! Happy Monday! (oh yeah, Happy Valentines Day too....though I am one of those that thinks it's mostly a holiday for consumerism. I'm not really a crafter, so it's not an excuse to make crap at our house...I respect people that are & sometimes am envious of them too, but the plain truth is - that is just not me. And I'm okay with that. IMO - I shouldn't need a holiday to remind me to tell my people that I love them. And I, sure as heck, need to be told how loved I am more than once a year. SO, there you go. It's a nice enough day, but I don't really care that much.)

A rant of fear (don't read this if you are in a bad place)...

Lately, I have felt SO stressed, but I can't even specify what I am so stressed about. I mean, there's the expected things like money - there's always something financial to be stressed about. Needing more, what's the wisest way to spend the money we have, etc, etc. And though money has most definitely been a big part of the stress, I don't think that's it.

I finally turned in my application to Paul Mitchell Cosmetology School last week. I am really excited about it, but I am TOTALLY freaking out about it too. I haven't heard anything from them yet, which is nerve wracking (of course), but it is seriously getting in my head too. Can I do this? What was I thinking? Don't I realize how expensive it is to be a stylist? I mean - I may as well sell friggin' Mary Kay. They have to buy all their crap before they can sell it too - so do most stylists. AND I have not been one of those women that HAVE to look great all the time. And aren't I supposed to be my own like model or advertisement or something? I mean, shit - I feel like I'm screwed before I even get started. I am just not one of those women. I am a yoga pant wearing chic who likes efficiency and if I'm running to the gym, I may as well run all my errands while I'm out kind of girl...oops, I got in the car & realized that I haven't even LOOKED at my hair & wow - I don't have any makeup on either...awesome. *face palm* what was I thinking???

Holy self doubt batman...I think I've found my main source of stress. Gah!

On top of that - I had another bout with my dad. He acts like a douche & I can see it coming before it actually outs itself fully (in it's initially veiled manipulation). Yet, it still makes me totally crazy when it goes from veiled to outright douche-ary. It's been a week and a half and I feel like I should call him now, even though I don't want to. Because, of course, acting like a douche doesn't make people want to talk to you - it makes them want to avoid you like the friggin' plague. BUT being the responsibility whore that I am...I just feel stretched thin between obligation & the 'right thing to do' and what I want to do which is nothing. *Deep breath* Sorry, I know this is vague & probably annoying to read.

On top of all of this is my frustration over weight. The holidays kicked my ass. Actually - it started in NYC & got worse through the holidays. Now, I am here about 12 pounds from where I wish I was (okay way more than 12 pounds from where I wish I was, but 12 pounds from where I was this summer), and feeling defeated. I know I'm not defeated, but I am having a hard time making any headway on it now. I am trying to be consistently working out, but quite frankly it's the food thing that is my hardest right now. I'm just frustrated!! I felt like I was making good progress and then I got my period and along with my overnight 5-7 lb weight gain I also have the cravings from hell & loss of willpower. I keep vacillating between telling myself that it's just fluid & will go away as soon as I'm done with my cycle and panic that it won't. What if it isn't just fluid & I just keep going in this circle of idiocy every month - lose 4 pounds just to gain 5. Agh!

It's totally that time of the month, can you tell?! Maybe I should just shut up & wait for it to be over. I want to say I should go eat a brownie or something, but that's part of my problem. *face palm* Stop the insanity!

Sorry for the stressed out post of my crazy head talk. How the heck do I change this?? I have GOT to snap out of this!

Alright, I'm going to go have a cup of coffee & wait to say anything more until I can be more positive.