Fashion Wrap-Up // Oscars 2016

I loved the Oscars last night! I think Chris Rock was amazing and funny and handled the sore subject with perfect humor (although the Stacy Dash part was super-awkward). And my Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Picture choices all won! If you haven't seen Spotlight yet you really need to. The fashion was all over the place and I took notes, yelled at my TV screen and wrote it all down for you.

BAD

When you see someone as gorgeous as Isla Fisher wear something like this it's borderline criminal.  Her husband looked better than her and her husband is freaking Borat.  Heidi Klum has been in some sort of fashion disaster for the past year.  We have seen insane look after insane look from her. What is happening?  Too pastel, two uneven boobs, too many floral details, too bad. Get yourself together, girl!

WHITE-HOT MESS

Rooney Mara's dress was trying to be every dress in the history of the world.  Ruffles, lace, cut-outs, pearl buttons, collar-detail, slit, train...EVERYTHING! It's just too much.  Olivia Wilde bought this dress from the Star Trek-Osh Kosh collection.  It's a rare mix of toddler overalls, Commander Picard, and deflated boobs.  So sad.

ORANGE YOU GLAD YOU SPRAY-TAN?

Stephanie Bauer and Donald Trump have the same spray-tan operator.

LOCATIONALLY CHALLENGED

Kerry Washington should have worn this dress to the Grammy Awards.  Rachel McAdams should have worn this wrinkled dress to bed.

ALMOST 

Alicia Vinkander chose a great color, but those trinkets on the gown are so out of place and jarring.  This would have been great with embellishments that were a more harmonious match to the gown.  Brie Larson was SO close! The issue is those odd, frayed, edges to the ruffles.  Also, she had one too many metal accents: earrings, belt and hair clip. If she had taken away any one of those metals and lost the dorsal fin ruffle she would have been amazing!

Daisy Ridley was almost there!  The length on that dress is killing me! It needed to be shorter or longer, but not where it is!  Also, she is young and fresh, so she needed younger, softer hair. Kate Winslet had great hair and makeup.  I thought she looked really young and sexy, but that dress fabric looks like latex or a hefty bag.  I like that she strayed from her usual, but the fabric was all wrong.

PREGNANCY STYLE

Emily Blunt suffers from the same issue as Alicia Vinkander.  Those jewels look pasted on and out of place.  The contrast is too great between them and the gown color and they just look suspended on the dress in an odd way.  I thought Chrissy Teigen looked fantastic! I love this pregnancy red carpet look.

GORGEOUS IN GREEN

Cate Blanchett is just the queen of everything....including style.  I love this color so much! And she really stood out since no one else was wearing this shade.  She always looks amazing and last night she rocked it again!  Saorise Ronan looked simple and stunning and gorgeous in this look.  I love the soft hair! If she had gone with more styled hair this dress would have made her look too old, but the hair made it age-perfect!!

BLUE BEAUTIES

I'm fairly certain the world will be divided on what Naomi Watts wore, but I love it! And that necklace is to die for! Sofia Vergara made as slight departure from her Miss Universe gowns and bombshell hair and I love it!  The added structure and sleeker styling added elegance to her look that we haven't seen from her before.

BEAUTIFUL IN BLACK

Julianne Moore looks more edgy than usual and I couldn't decide how I felt about it at first, but the more I look at it the more I love it! And Jennifer Garner is always on fleek and last night she was again with a stunning gown and sophisticated hair, make up, and jewelry to match.

HELLO, HOLLYWOOD GLAMOUR

Priyanka Chopra took my breath away! This is near perfection and that berry lip!!!  Charlize Theron looked elegant and simple and gorgeous.

WORST DRESSED

Dear Sandy Powell, I don't know who you are, but WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO US?!!  I mean, it just seems cruel!

BEST DRESSED

Holy cow, Jennifer Lawrence! You NAILED IT! There is just too much perfection here to even articulate.  This is amazing.

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ALRIGHT BLOGGIES! WEIGH-IN!
Agree? Disagree? Who were YOUR Best and Worst dressed?

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Oscars 2016 Picks and Predictions

Wowza! I intended to post this earlier this week, but life got in the way.  Typical.  Chachi and I tried to watch as many nominated films as we could leading up to the Academy Awards.  We saw ALL of the Best Picture Nominees and then added a number of films with Best Actor and Actress noms.  Here's my rundown.

BEST PICTURE

My Pick - SPOTLIGHT

My Prediction - THE REVENANT

BEST ACTOR

My Pick - Leonardo DiCaprio in THE REVENANT

My Prediction - Leonardo DiCaprio in THE REVENANT

BEST ACTRESS

My Pick - Brie Larson in ROOM

My Prediction - Brie Larson in ROOM

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

My Pick - Christian Bale in THE BIG SHORT

My Prediction - Sylvester Stallone in CREED

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

My Pick - I only saw two performances (Kate Winslet and Rachel McAdams). Wasn't blown away by either.  Wish we had had time to see The Danish Girl and Carol.

My Prediction - Alicia Vikander in THE DANISH GIRL

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

My Pick - INSIDE OUT (but SHAWN THE SHEEP is great!)

My Prediction - INSIDE OUT

BEST DOCUMENTARY

My Pick - AMY

My Prediction - WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE? (Which I am DYING to see)

CINEMATOGRAPHY

My Pick - THE REVENANT

My Prediction - MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

COSTUME DESIGN

My Pick - CINDERELLA

My Prediction - CAROL

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Here is my list of Best Picture Nominees in my order from Favorite to Least Favorite.

1. Spotlight - This was an amazing film. Completely fascinating and well-acted. It's a must watch. It's rated R because of the subject matter and discussion of sexual abuse. There was very minimal cursing. Loved it.

2. Room - Wow. Just wow. Amazing movie with amazing performances by all the actors involved. It's not very graphic at all, but the psychology of knowing what's going on (even when it's unseen) is tough.

3. The Big Short - Really good movie. I kind of knew about the housing crisis, but not really. This film explained each part of the crisis - every step of the way- in a really clear, humorous, and unexpected method.

4. The Revenant - Okay, this movie was really amazing. And Leo...KILLED IT. I am not a person that is very affected by film violence, but I have never in my life closed my eyes so much in a movie. Broo-tull.

5. The Martian - Really good. Definitely NOT a comedy, Hollywood Foreign Press. Great acting by all.

6. Bridge of Spies - A really good movie, but I really HATE the Spielberg style of heavy-handed sentimental moments. This had quite a bit at the end, but still well worth the watch. Also, who doesn't love Tom Hanks?

7. Brooklyn - Pretty good movie, but Best Picture? Probably not. Although the acting by Saoirse Ronan was just amazing. She portrayed shyness and lonliness in such a powerful, but natural and subtle way.

8. Mad Max: Fury Road - Oh my gosh, you guys. This movie sucked so bad. I'll just mention that there was a blind man, strapped to an armored vehicle, playing electric guitar during the battle sequences. That's how bad it was.

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BUY THIS // Rad American Women A to Z

I have been absent on this blog of late because we are dealing with some very difficult struggles with one of our daughters.  Among other things that I won't mention here just yet, she is suffering from a low self-esteem these days.

We are trying everything we can to rally around her and bolster her up!  There have been parent/child dates, secret notes of love left in her backpack to find during school, lots of cuddles and lots of positive talk.  

If you follow me on Instagram you know I asked for (and received) the book, Rad American Women A to Z, for Valentine's Day. Because flowers are nice, but bad-ass woman power is better!  

It is even more amazing than I imagined!!  If you want to read about women who persevered against all odds, were brave and smart, and stood up for injustice...this is it!

My daughter and I are reading 1-2 profiles each night and both of us are learning so much about strong, powerful, AMAZING, women! I hope some of the lessons and actions of these women are sinking in and making her feel the potential of her own power.

I can't recommend this book enough!

BUY IT HERE

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January 2016 De-Fatting Progress Report

I started my goals for a more healthy lifestyle on January 4th of this year.  Many of you asked for updates, so here is a very long post about my feelings, goals, successes, and failures.

I started slowly by only working on tracking my calories using a calorie tracking app called LOSE IT! which was recommended to me by a Facebook friend.  It's free (there are options to go Pro, but I have had no need to yet).  So far, I have really liked it.  It's easy to log my calories, has every food you can think of in the database already, and is effective.

I had the flu for the first few days and I even entered my pathetic 4 soda crackers into the app to make sure I was creating a habit.  I would also like to thank that flu for jump-starting my weightloss! Ha!

I also bought this book for my Kindle about emotional eating and started reading it.  It is really resonating with me so far and I am only a few chapters in.

Next I tried a guided meditation app.  I have been considering trying meditation for a year or two now, since I used to be so easy going and now, with my family, I am a ball of stress all the time.  I used the HEADSPACE app (also free with options to add additional features for $) and found it also very easy and effective, although I didn't really keep with the habit.  It's just not in my mind to start each day with meditation.  I'll have to work on making that a habit.

Then came the exercising. Ugh. I checked our local library first in search of a Yoga dvd, another thing I have always wanted to try. I found a dvd hosted by Bob Harper from The Biggest Loser.  (1) He's hot and (2) he's not annoying.  Now, I have always thought of yoga as kind of a passive exercise method for skinny people.  I wanna sweat and move and feel like I'm burning calories.  But this dvd was called Yoga for Weight Loss, so I gave it a try.  HOLY HANNAH!  I was sweating like a crazy person. Like, dripping, pouring, get-a-full-sized-towel-for-your-face, sweat.  After I mentioned it on Instagram, my sweet friend actually bought the dvd for me as a gift.  I highly recommend it since there are people of truly varying fitness levels doing it with Bob and they do amended poses. So you can start by watching and following them and then follow Bob as you gain skill. It's under $8 on Amazon.

That same week I went swimming with my older kids and did laps in the Olympic-size lap pool and almost died.  It was so hard that I only last for 20 minutes and was huffing and puffing while the Junior High swim team were in the lanes next to me killing it.

One day I did a jog/walk with Evangeline in which she schooled me, but I was proud that we did it and how hard I tried to jog as much as I could. You'll be happy to know I'm on pace to clock the 19 minute mile. Ha! I'm looking forward to getting a little bit stronger every day.

The other major change I made was drinking a Green Smoothie every morning.  Now, listen, I have never had a Green Smoothie that didn't taste like lawn clippings.  Yuck.  But in 2015 I had listened to a podcast of The Lively Show with the founder of Simple Green Smoothies.  I really recommend listening to the podcast.  It was awesome and really got me excited to try Green Smoothies.  Also, the girls at Simple Green Smoothies offer all of their recipes for FREE.  My friend shared with me that there was an amazing sale on the NUTRI NINJA BLENDER with AUTO IQ at Costco.  I met her there and bought one since it came recommended as the best blending system you can get without going broke spending $400 on a Vitamix or Blendtec.  

I am loving these smoothies.  The key is blending your green with liquid FIRST, and once that is completely smooth, THEN add your fruits and ice.  Try THIS free recipe first. I love it.  I actually signed up for the Free 30 Day Challenge and it was great.  They just email you the recipes and shopping lists.

By the end of January I had lost 17 pounds.  My face looks different and so does my fatty tummy.  But mostly I am damn proud of myself. I am working hard and making changes and succeeding, even when it is difficult.

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