Academy Award Style Review.

Since everyone else has, I thought I'd weigh in on the ol' Oscars.

First, I think overall the awards were all well chosen. I'm not sure I would have chosen the ice queen for best supporting actress (I have problems with people who can't get the American accent perfect when they are playing an American), it is a bias I suppose, but other than that I thought the ol' Academy did a great job awarding the golden baldies.

As for the fashion, I think overall people looked great. I know nothing about fashion, but I know what I like so here are a few opinions.

Renee Zellwegger looked like she was on something. Her hair is almost cute, but it looked a little haggard and it was really pretty weird how she kept grabbing her hair. The dress was ok but I feel like she wears this dress every year.

I'm just not a fan. I guess she looks good, but I'm not a huge eggplant color type gal.

Yay. I thought she looked great. Funky shoulder loop, but pretty.
I like her "old Hollywood" approach.

I love Kerri Russel but I didn't like this dress. When I first saw it it struck me as the muslin pattern for the dress, not the dress itself. It was all a bit monochromatic for me.

GORGEOUS. First of all, this woman is beautiful and her makeup and hair were a perfect match. The dress was so unique, fit her perfectly, and I really wanted to TOUCH it, it seems like it would feel neato. Top it off with a French accent, I'm sold.

I like her. The sleeves were were weird but I think they actually looked neat and were a clever way for her to have sleeves without looking matronly. The material for the gown is so rich!

I think she looks great. She looks very feminine and
I think the dress itself is really unique and pretty.

Winner! She was my favorite! I'm already a fan, but I think her hair, jewelry, dress, and MAKEUP were perfect! I loved the smokey eyes and light pink lips- so pretty! She looked beautiful and I loved her reaction to the Gary Bussey moment... yipes! Go Jeniffer.

Yay! Love her. I like the color with her eyes and complexion, and I think its unique and interesting without being weird or making you say "huh." I also love that when Marion Cotillard won she cheered instead of making an uneasy smile like others- she was genuinely excited for her even though she had personally lost. Classy gal.

Yipes. I know being 20 changes the rules a bit, but this just seemed like a real schlumpy choice. I think its great she went for something different, but I think it missed the mark. The hair was blah too, but I've never been a fan of curls glued to your head.

Fab, of course. I love the part that swirls around her neck! The bust part is a bit weird- feels like it has some extra material though I know it doesn't since it was made for her- just not my favorite part. She and Seal looked awesome together and I love that she said "No one" when she was asked who she was excited to see. "Who else do I need to see when I'm here with the love of my life?" That's a good answer!

I like her. I kind of wish the dress was black because this color seems strange but I'm not huge on hunter green so what do I know? I've liked her since Drop Dead Gorgeous and it was SO gutsy of her to perform! Go girl!

I like her and think she's pretty (in a Julia Roberts way- anyone else?) but this one kind of looks maternity. Its unique and she looks great in red, it just wasn't my favorite. The fall of the fabric is reall pretty though.

Nice dress but ... didn't she wear this... 2 years ago or so? I like her hair OK but it still feels a little blah. I think the color is pretty but I tend towards the bolder colors so its not great.

And there you have my totally uninformed and useless opinion. :) I like the Oscars!

Superb.

A few definitions of the word super:

1.	admirably fine or excellent; extremely good.

2.	sumptuous; rich; grand.

3.	of a proudly imposing appearance or kind; majestic: superb mountain vistas.

Also:

1. Of unusually high quality; excellent.
2. Majestic; imposing.
3. Rich; luxurious.

Also:

Closer look:

Yes, I love this guy! Hermann! I mean, clearly he is a beautiful petit chat, but he is also extremely smart. I used to say that he was a dog stuffed into a perfect little kitten body, mais non! He is purely feline to the nth and delightful degree.

If you've met him, you know what I'm talking about- he's just magnanimous, fabulous, hilarious! And boy, is the guy friendly!

If you haven't met him, I'd like to tell you the latest Hermann tale. There lives a bidet in one of the bathrooms in the house. It doesn't get used for its natural purpose but exists to complete the European style bathroom in which it makes its home. My mom was walking by this bathroom and heard a little tinkling of water. Worried that there might be a drip or leak, she peaked in. What did she see?

HERMANN. Not doing something a little kitty shouldn't -- marking his territory or anything so base-- rather he was perched atop the bidet relieving himself. Perhaps inappropriate fodder for a blog except my friends let's remember this is a cat!

So, what does it all mean, you ask? Simply this: the cat has learned to pee in the bidet.

I, personally (what else?) find this fantastically high-minded of him, and am in no way surprised at his cultural revolution.

CHEERS TO HERMANN!

I miss the little guy so much, I haven't seen him since we left Utah, obviously. I'm in animal withdrawal. In NY I got to check in on Gilbert and Sullivan once a week or so and here- nothing! Once we get to Ketuck we'll be kitty-kaddy shopping ourselves.
I can only hope for half the cat that Hermann is!

Subscribe.

Ten Magazines I like. Don't worry, I don't buy these every month, nor am I subscribed to (any of) them. I just LIKE them. Your top three? Do tell!

1) Cooking Light

2) Every Day with Rachel Ray

3) Shape

4) Gourmet

5) Bon Appetite

6) Women's Health

7) Food and Wine

8) Martha Stewart Living

9) In Style

10) Real Simple

Molto Bene!

Now THAT's my kind of toddler!

Che Bello!

Conquered!

Yesterday I tried a baguette recipe and it turned out hard as a rock! I went back and read the recipe reviews and everyone said they added more yeast. Unwilling to be defeated I tried again today with a bit more yeast, and voila! Che bel pane!

It was quite tasty with the garlic butter I made! Mmm, mmm good!

Pictorial: H-ing Out.

Here are a few pictures from a few weekends ago h-ing out with some of the dudes in Matthew's class. Good times!

Hinchey of New Jersey, Lee from Mississippi.

Barker of Atlanta.

Matthew of Utah.

Wes of Alabama (an Auburn boy! And his last name is Turner - weird.
We're probably long lost cousins or something).
In this he'd just begun his cheeto-stuffing contest he challenged himself to.

More cheetos.

The focus.

Lots of 'em in there.

Matthew watches, unamused, unimpressed.

It was a fun night. The next day we went to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. I'd love to say there's a post coming soon but unfortunately there's not... we forgot our camera! Ugh! But we'll be back, we loved it there!

Recap: Valentines Day!

Here are a few pictures from Valentines day. Since Matthew had to work we just did dinner at home but it was so fun to get to cook for him and actually be together!

The menu was:

Champagne (though we ended up saving this...)
Filet Mignon with Peppercorn Cream Sauce
Green Bean Casserole
Garlic and Herb Creamy Potatoes
Rolls
Wine!
Berries and Hand-whipped Cream (only because we don't have beaters- thank you whisk)
Mini Chocolate Molten Cakes

It was delicious if I do say so myself, and fun to make!

I also mad some decoration and hung them about- see below. Unfortunately we didn't take pictures when everything was all pretty and set up :)

Matthew brought me some beautiful red roses. We've been wanting some fresh flowers in the fairly dark apartment so it was a fitting gift for this place! The roses were a great bright spot in the place for a week!

He (Matthew) also thoughtfully gave me a card for every day of February until (and including) the 14th. He knows how I love getting cards!

We had a great weekend following V-day and had some fun dates and adventures. What a sweet man I married! It was great to be with you! Thank too to the friends and family who sent us cards in the mail- we felt loved! :)

Pictorial: Washington, DC.

Another update! This was Matthew's first time to see our nation's capital and of course, he loved it! It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a great time walking around. Sadly, the American History museum is closed until the fall, so the museum Matthew has most wanted to go to his entire life is a no go on this round. BUT... I suppose that means we'll be back! We did check out the Air and Space museum and then walked around to some of the memorials. It was about a 40 minute drive to the subway stop and then about 15 minutes into the city -- its so close! So... we WILL return!

For now, here are a few of the shots we got! Most of these are by monsieur Matthew- you have to be armed with a camera on your first time in DC!

The pictures are a random smattering of numerous photos- thought I'd spare you looking through every single Washington Monument angle :)

The Wright Bro's plane- we're talking the first thing to fly made by man in the form of an airplane that we know about! WOW!

And that's all for Air and Space museum pics..... Our on the mall:

There's our nation's capital! I always forget how BIG it is.

Directly on the other side of the previous picture, the Washington monument!

Close up.

This is at the VERY lovely World War II Monument. This is the newest monument in DC and I hadn't seen it until this trip. Here is a picture of Matthew standing by Kansas- there is a picture of his Grandpa Teter standing next to it (he served as a bomb-loader during WWII in England and is, as you guessed, from Kansas).

WWII Memorial.

I love this picture so much.

The Lincoln.


From Lincoln looking back on ol' Washington.

The Whitehouse.

Matthew and the White house!

We had a great time in DC. We both love the city and it is definitely on the list of possible post-KY places to live, though as you might guess there is one city in particular that, for both of us, rings in ahead of our Nation's capital.

Pictorial: Virginia Trip! (Finally)

Over Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend we had a four day weekend- woo! Party time! So, on Saturday morning of that weekend we woke up and got on the road down to Virginia.

On the way we drove by Quantico Marine Base and went to the National US Marines Museum- let me tell you this museum is SO interesting and well done!

Matthew was interested of course because it is military, and I have a special place in my heart for Marines since Gavin IS one! (but not active, thank you Lord)

The displays were all very vivid and informative. It just opened in the last few years and it really is awesome.

A sideways Marine in his dress uniform.

Me on the balcony of the beautiful open air entry way of the museum.

Matthew!

So after that we headed down to my cousin Becky's house. We had dinner that night with my Aunt Sue, Uncle Ed, Cousin Ashleigh and her husband Eric, their three kids Josiah, Anna Claire and Micah, and Becky, her husband Richard, and their three kids David, Caris, and Joseph. It was SO wonderful to see them all again! And Matthew got to meet some of the people who didn't make it to the wedding (Becky's fam was in the middle of a major move from TX to VA. Her husband is career Air Force so we learned a lot from talking with them about military life which was so great). Unfortunately I don't think ANYONE took pictures! Dang it!

The next day we went to church with Becky and her family which was great. After that we headed down to the Colonial highway and stopped at the Yorktown Battlefield.

Here I am with G. W. (the first)

The visitor centers all have small films about the battles fought in the area which Matthew loved, and I.... learned from. Here we are at the battlefield (I think).

This is a monument in Yorktown. It is so pretty, right on the Chesapeak.

There were some really beautiful old homes in the historic
Yorktown along with some cute shops and little cafes.

Right next to the bay there is a new little area with shops and restaurants. We went to dinner at a delicious little place furnished with dark wood and pretty blue curtains. They seated us right by the window looking out on the water- a perfect lunch near the battlefield!

Walking in to the restaurant....

This sign said Yorktown Battlefield :)

The actual battlefield.

The battlefield and some earthworks.

Canons!

The colonial highway is a road that is a scenic route around Yorktown, Jamestown, and Williamsburg. It was SO pretty! Lots of water and trees and natural beauty!

Heading out towards Jamestown.

Me and Pocahontas!

Matthew and Pocahontas!

Me and John Smith!
(he faces the water and it is really a nice memorial)

John Smith is behind us...

The other view from ol' Smitty's statue.

After Jamestown we DID wander around Williamsburg a bit, but it was getting late and it was VERY cold so we cut our time there short (after visiting a little cheese shop that was so super neat! Those William and Mary students have an awesome college town). I'm hoping to make it back there sometime to stay in the Williamsburg Inn- it was absolutely GORGEOUS.


Back at Becky's house-- here are Becky and Caris :) Caris is 7 now- wow!

Little Joseph - he's THREE years! He's standing next to Caris's cardboard box kennel left over from her "puppy party" birthday. When we first arrived there were about 6 little girls with noses and whiskers painted on and little puppy ear headbands on- we caught the tail end of her party and it was so cute! Made me miss all my super awesome kiddie birthdays.

Joseph and Caris in their well-loved box.

I loved watching them play and just hearing them come up with their stories. They are so creative and fun and have such wonderful imaginations! They are athletic, smart, and creative- there ARE still real non-computer-head kids left in the world!

Aw! He still looks so much like my Uncle Joe to me :)

Richard, Becky, Caris, and Joseph King. David is missing- he was unavailable for photography but he is such a sweet and boyish little 9 year old! (I LOVE Joseph's face in this! LOVE IT!)

For Caris's birthday I brought her a little tea set- you can see it here. She wanted me to come to her room and take her picture with it before we left- voila!

I also got a tour of Joseph and David's room. Here is a (terrible of me-my apologies) picture of the three of us on the tour :)

After a great two nights with the King family we headed back north to King George, VA where we teamed up with some Teter relations! Drs. Glen and Diana Moore hosted us at their beautiful home in the Virginian countryside. Yet again, we have not a SINGLE picture of the four of us (or even two of them) together.

Once we got settled at their house we went to tour ol' George Washington's place o' birth. It was absolutely beautiful- just in the twilight of the evening we saw a bald eagle too! It was so awesome. And kind of perfect- GW, bald eagle, yay America.

Some of the grounds of George's house.
There are, of course, reconstructions- many of them are right next to the original foundations. It used to be a working farm with chickens and a working kitchen and blacksmith,
but the park (run by National Parks) has lost funding. Sad.

Its us!

Then we popped over to Robert E. Lee's plantation. It was really neat. We were there after hours because the Moores' daughter lives there
(her husband is in charge of the grounds there- cool job!)

The next day, after some delicious banana bread, we went to Fredericksberg.
Here is the stone wall of "Stone Wall Jackson" fame. History people. HISTORY!

We had lunch in the town of Fredericksburg before we headed back to the house to get packed up. The little town is SO neat! It has a very historic feel and has awesome little pubs, restaurants, and stores. We really liked it and would love to go back and explore more!

We saw so much in a very great and busy weekend. Thank you to our hosts the Kings and the Moores! And so... back to the big MD.