My Oscar Favorites

So of course I watched the Oscars yesterday from start to finish and loved every minute of it. There were a few moments that I found a little uncomfortable, and some wins I didn't agree with, but that's true of every year. Lets start with arguably the most important part of the Oscars: fashion. Here are my top picks:

#1: Jennifer Lawrence
Her dress was so simple but it fit her beautifully. I'm a big fan of simple dresses and she looked just flawless. The only thing wrong with her? It kind of irks me that she was in Winter's Bone. My college professor's friend wrote this film and as students we had to use it for scene studies. We all hated it terribly and dubbed it "Winter's Boner." Ironic that it was nominated for best picture....



#2: Amy Adams
I'm a huge fan of Amy Adams. I think she's a terrific actress. No, I did not see The Fighter, but I loved this dress! The blue brought out her eyes and I'm a huge fan of sequins. At first I thought the necklace was too much, but overall, I really loved this look. You didn't see any other blues of this color on the carpet either.


#3: Halle Berry
I mean come on, does this girl ever NOT look good? No. This dress was the essence of Oscar glamor and she looked flawless. There's really no need for other words.


#4: Hillary Swank
I loved this dress! Usually, I'm not a fan of feathers, but this was really elegant and very "Oscar night."




#5: Celine Dion
Although this was a really simple dress, she looked really stunning. I would kill for that hair! The dress was also very age appropriate.


#6: Scarlett Johansson
I'm not sure this really qualifies as an Oscar dress but I really liked it, especially the opening in the back.


#7: Sandra Bullock
This is a classic Oscar dress and I thought she looked really good, though I would have liked to see er wearing a more dramatic earring or necklace.


#7: Mila Kunis
Once again, not sure if it is really an Oscar dress but I loved it! The lavender is really unique and the lace is so feminine. I wasn't expecting to see her in something so soft.



Honorable mentions:

Reese Witherspoon. I loved her hair and earrings, but I thought her dress was a bit bland.

Michelle Williams: The nude color looked really good on her and I loved the sparkles, but I wasn't so crazy about the high neck, which made too many appearances, I think.

Anne Hathaway. She looked really good in the red dress she arrived in, and I'm going to consider that her official Oscar dress despite the 8 costume changes, all of which I loved.

Jennifer Hudson. She looks terrific! The red looked great on her and she seemed really happy. I wasn't a huge fan of the cleavage though.


And now onto the bad. My opinion seems to be clashing with celebrity fashion police on some of these but I just cant figure them out. Here are my top picks for worst dressed:

#1: Nicole Kidman
It pains me to say this because I like Nicole Kidman, but what was going on with this dress? It washes her out and is unflattering. I don't like the red shoe with it, I don't like the hair, and I don't like the little man tagging along behind her. I'm disappointed, Nicole.




#2: Cate Blanchett
Lots of people seem to like this dress. I can't understand why. Ok, the color is good....but what's with the big circle on the chest? And the yellow on the back with the cut off cape-looking thing?



#3: Florence Welch
Remember those dresses your mom used to make you wear when you were five that itched and zipped up the back so you couldn't get them off yourself and you were claustrophobic and couldn't breath and your skin turned red??? That's what this is. But worse.


#4: Marisa Tomei
Ok. This just looks like a cat got a hold of one side of the dress and tore it to shreds but she decided to wear it to the Oscars anyways.

#5: Gweneth Paltrow
I know a lot of you won't agree with me on this, but I think this dress sucked. What is with the rectangular neckline? She looks like she was trying to promote an upcoming film which takes place in a future in which women dress really badly. I will admit I like the silvery color, but the design totally turned me off. And her hair. And her awful performance which was painful to watch much less listen to.


Honorable Mentions:

Mandy Moore. I liked the dress until the camera panned down and the glitter ended. It was just weird.

Penelope Cruz. She always looks fabulous! So then why did she look like she was going to the prom? I'm not going to say anything about her cleavage being too much because I know she just had a baby. And I guess I just said her cleavage was too much.



An interesting year for Oscar fashion that's for sure. A lot of red and a lot of high necklines. I thought Anne Hathaway did a good job hosting. I really liked her even though some people are complaining that she was a bit over-the-top. I mean come on people, she had to do something to counteract the weirdness that is James Franco, right? Speaking of which, he's a weirdo. I'm not sure what else I can say about that. You know who really freaked me out? This guy:


I literally had to put down my cheese and cracker.

Now, onto the awards. Yay for Natalie Portman and Collin Firth! Both totally deserving. I'm really happy that The Social Network didn't win for best picture and that it was The King's Speech. While I thought that Black Swan and Inception would have been better picks, I still enjoyed The King's Speech and thought it was well done. I was happy that Inception won best visual effects, but thought it was also deserving of best score; Hans Zimmer is a genius.

Going back to The Social Network: can someone tell my why this movie was so special? I can't believe it beat out Black Swan for best editing, nor that it won best picture at the Golden Globes. Besides the fact that the film is incredibly relevant, I honestly can't remember one thing that I thought was outstanding about the film.

Inception was an interesting choice for best cinematography; I would have liked to see Black Swan win, or even The King's Speech, but I am happy Inception picked up some awards; it was definitely deserving.

Well that's it for another year! Can't wait to see what comes next.

Disney tunes

Currently, I'm sitting at my desk listening to a playlist of the best Disney songs that I found on StumbleUpon, the website which I find myself visiting increasingly each day. It's a very gray rainy day but that's ok because it's not snowing and it's not freezing.

Work has been really fun lately. I've been staying later, but I'm getting to know the people more and I really enjoy my coworkers. We have a new intern who I'm teaching phone duties so that I can hopefully take some time to go and sit in with the editors and learn some things.

The Oscars are on Sunday!! My picks are for Black Swan and The King's Speech. I thought they were the best, though I haven't seen True Grit or 127 Hours. Frankly, I'm not sure why Social Network did as well as it did. I didn't find it that good and I honestly can't say I was impressed by anything about it. I did like The Kids are Alright, but it doesn't stand out in my memory as much as the others do. I don't have plans yet for the Oscars. I might invite a friend over to watch or something, I don't know.

On a sadder note, Jake, my cat had a lump removed yesterday which we think might be cancer. Poor little guy is so sickly. I hope he recovers well and turns out to be ok.

Friday came so fast this week! We should have three day weekends every week, that's my verdict. Tonight I think I might be having cocktails with some friends from my past internship, and I look forward to that. I'm really anxious to get out living room set up so that I can have friends over and not feel embarrassed about the apartment. It's difficult to make plans during the week because sometimes I have to stay late for work, but I really don't mind because I could really use the overtime right now. I figure it's best to stay late and save up in the winter months when I don't want to be outside.

I've been feeling stressed out lately, though I'm not sure why. Everything has been going my way and I've accomplished everything that I've wanted to and everything I came here to do. For right now I'm pretty satisfied. I suppose I'm feeling a little homesick. I miss my family and my house. I'd like to spend a pool day with the fam boogie board surfing. Oh yes, I do miss the California sun and I'm so looking forward to my next visit...whenever that might be. I'm not used to not being able to jump on a plane and fly home for the weekend. I was looking up flights yesterday and to go next month it would cost me $700!!! Oh well. I'm sad that I'm missing everyone's birthdays, but I think my sisters are going to visit in July so I'm looking forward to that. Now if only I could get my dad out here...

I guess these uneasy feelings could be due to a lot of things. This year has been one of the most stressful in my life. I've graduated from college, moved 3 times, (once across the country), been unemployed and job searching, been discouraged in the job hunt, lost my cat I had my whole life, about to lose my childhood dog, have a cat with cancer, and two ailing grandparents who haven't had the best years themselves, health-wise. On top of this, paying bills and learning how to live independent is difficult for a first timer. And man, working 5 days a week up to 10 hours a day really wears on a person! In Tucson I just wanted to be out but I do miss the days of one class and then an open schedule. Oh well. That's life I guess.

Now who wants to come visit me in New York?

Spring is in the air

Everyone has been saying that February is the most brutal month. "You think it's bad now...wait till February." But I have to say the weather has really been lifting my spirits. I never thought that I would speak a sentence like, "it's gonna be 40 degrees?!?! Sooo warm!!" But let me tell you, it's a lovely 44 degrees outside. I might just go lay in my bikini in Central Park. Well, maybe not quite yet.

My room mate is going to be gone this weekend and, as much as I love her, I'm really looking forward to spending some quality time alone. I don't think I've had a nice alone day since I got back from winter break. I'm going to clean the apartment to my liking, cook nice dinners, go grocery shopping (and put the groceries in my full-sized fridge!!!), and go for jogs/walks along the Hudson. Yes! And tomorrow is Friday so the weekend is almost here.

This last week was good. The dreaded Valentine's day was this past Monday, but I did not go without! My mom sent me a really really awesome snake ring and a new DVD to workout to. And I got roses and chocolate on the big day from a very good friend of mine. Very thoughtful and surprising. The roomie and I had planned on going to dinner and then out to a club on Monday. Her friend from high school was in town and we thought we would get a bunch of girls together for single fun. We got all dressed up and went out for dinner, but near the end of the meal we all felt too tired to go clubbing. It was a Monday night after all.

Work has been good. Honestly, sitting in the same chair for 10 hours a day is really starting to wear on me, but I just need to be patient. I really like my office and all the people in it, and I want to stay here and advance in this company. We'll see!

New Yorkers beware: Rapid Realty

So everything has been going great. I'm almost completely settled into the new place. Roaches are under control thanks to my mom purchasing the "roach hotel." It's worked wonders, although it is gross to find dead roach bodies, but I suppose that's what vacuums are for. Once my room mate sets up her bed we can begin to get all of her things out of boxes and really get settled.

Work is going really well. I persuaded two of my friends from my summer internship to come and look at my new office and I think they want to bring projects here in the future which is great. It will be so nice to see my friends in the office and I really think it helped to earn me some brownie points at work.

The past few days have been wonderful! The weather has been great (a warm 40 degrees!) and it has really lifted my spirits. I can't wait till spring!! I went for a run on Sunday and worked out this morning. I'm feeling good now that my life is starting to figure itself out.

Now for the griping. As you may recall, it took K and I three weeks and many threatening emails and phone calls to convince Rapid Realty to finally give us a check for our Brooklyn deposit refund. After taking an hour to get to the Brooklyn office and waiting for three for an incompetent woman to write a check, K and I thought we would finally be through with them. Ha. Upon returning home yesterday I received a copy of the check in the mail; it had bounced. Fuck fuck fuck. I was so pissed I could barely speak clearly as I left an irate message on the woman's cell phone. I then proceeded to call the office and handed the phone over to K who told her that she would be a check for our owed amount plus the bank fee I have been charged to us or we would be going to small claims. I really really hope we get this money. I will be thoroughly upset if this does not work out. Our treatment by this company and, in particular this woman, has been completely outrageous. I don't understand how one person can treat another this way. I can safely say that I will NEVER deal with them again and I warm everyone else against them. This is just ridiculous.

Anyways, griping aside, Valentine's day is coming up and I am really excited. K's friend C is going to be in town and the three of us are going out to dinner and then out after that. We're putting on fancy dresses and celebrating the couples' holiday as singles. I'm sure it will be a blast!

More later...

The Move

I sit here composing this blog with aching shoulders, weak biceps, an quads that feel like jelly. The big move was this past weekend and my body is still feeling the effects. I have to say that after moving all of that stuff I don't know if I'll ever move out of there....until the lack of closet forces me too.

So Saturday morning my mom arrived at the apartment. Of course, the people who were supposed to be there to help us unload did not show. But such is life. So K and I schlepped a truck-full of boxes and furniture up three flights of stairs. After two hours of hauling, K was able to get a few of her guy friends to come and move the larger furniture pieces, thank god, and so they took care of the hardest bits.

After emptying the last of the Virginia boxes, we drove the truck over to West End, where we proceeded to load all of our clothing and such into the truck. We had a lot more stuff than we originally thought. By the time we finally managed to load all of our stuff into the truck, it was full again! Did I mention that we were not allowed to bring our things through the front door and instead had to wheel them from the side of the building around to the front (through the snow) using a little cart the doorman lent us? Ya....it was not very fun and many of our things ended up in muddy snow puddles. But, we got the truck loaded for the second time and made it over to the new apartment where K and I started the moving process all over again.

The apartment looks even smaller with all our things in it- especially when everything is in disarray. Before we could even begin to figure out how to start unpacking, we had to drive the truck all the way uptown to return in to the nearest Uhaul location. By the time we returned the the truck and subwayed back downtown it had been 12 hours since we started! Exhausting.
The good news is that we went for dinner at an Indian place which was delish and were still able to somehow get my bed set up and go to sleep afterward.

Saturday was part 1 of "room organization." I spent a lot of time cleaning dead roach bodies off of everything (freakin eaw!!!) And my mom and I were able to build shelves in my room and put together the garment rack. Not having a closet is going to be really challenging for me. I know I'll get used to it and figure out where everything will go, but right now it's a little frustrating not having a lost of space.

Speaking of frustrating....I'm still working on the cockroach situation in our apartment. So far they have seemed less....around...but I've still seen a few live ones since moving in. Yesterday, K left a bag of grapes on the counter and within the hour there were two inside the bag. Disgusting. I really need to get some spray and work on keeping those suckers exterminated. And we need to keep the trash in the hall instead of in the apartment. Hopefully K can keep up with that so we don't end up living with roaches everywhere!

I'm at work today but feel bad that my mom is still here by herself while I'm working. It's good she's here because she's going to get a lot done, but I wish I could be working on the apartment with her instead of working. I guess I better get used to this whole 9-6 job thing!

You ain't got no manners!!!

After a few days of sickness I'm starting to feel better! This was the worst week I could have been sick. There's so much I need to do! I have to clean both apartments, pack, get my cable and electric all set up, and get my freaking deposit back from the Brooklyn apartment, among other things. Today K has a snow day (lucky!) so she's going to the Brooklyn Ikea to buy a bed. She better get that all figured out or she's not gonna have a place to sleep and I know she's not gonna be crawling in bed with me and my mom. Anyways, tonight we're going to clean the new place. Hopefully all the roaches will be exterminated!! If not, I'm going to buy some foam stuff that supposedly keeps them out of cracks and such...I dunno....I heard about it from my current landlord. Eek.

Another problem we've been having (which I'm hoping will be resolved today) is getting our deposit back from the Brooklyn apartment. We were told two weeks ago that we would get it back and up until this morning I've STILL been calling people trying to make sure we get refunded. I wrote my first big threatening real-life email yesterday! I told the broker that I would expect our refund by Friday or he would be hearing from my lawyer. I then proceeded to give him the name of a family friend, as my mother advised. Upon emailing said friend I realized that as a California lawyer he really has no pull here. It wouldn't matter anyway, as I seemed to light a fire under the broker's ass. I got a call from one of the office assistants right away. She gave me the number of another woman to call, who would supposedly write our checks. Why it takes 4 people to relay this information, I have no idea. Anyway, I called this woman repeatedly and, each time, she asked for my name. I must have given it to her three or four times. I soon learned that this could be a more difficult process than I thought. After several angry calls, she proceeded to ignore me, which caused me to look into small claims. The good news is, K texted me this morning to tell me the checks had been written and she is going to pick them up this afternoon. Thank god that's over with...now hopefully the checks are there. Just another lesson to be learned in the big city.

So, as for the title of this blog: I observed something in the Time's Square station yesterday I thought was quite ironic. I was just making the train change between the N train and the 1 when a hurried bleached blond walked right in front of a woman pushing a large cart of some sort, nearly running into her. The woman who had been cut off immediately started screaming, "say excuse me! Come on fuckin' bitch, you ain't got no manners!" She continued to scream until I was far enough away that her yells were muffled by the clopping of commuters' wet boots against the ground. Now, I'm not suggesting that that the blond is in the right; both women were wrong to do what they did. I simply found it interesting that a woman would tell another she was impolite by screaming profanities for a good two or three minutes. I read a really interesting article yesterday about hypocrisy. It read "everyone is a hypocrite, and if they don't believe so than they are delusional." The article then went on to explain why, using scientific experiments to back it up. So as I watched this event unfold, I realized how true this statement must be. I've been hypocritical once or twice...ok...maybe more than once or twice. But what this woman did on the subway completely nailed it.

Oh Shit.....Roaches...

It was lovely to have my mom in town this weekend, although she was only here for one full day. I can imagine she was anxious to leave after sleeping on my ironing board bed. Quite literally when she said down on the bed she made a horrid face. Ironically, my bed is the most comfortable in the apartment.

Upon first inspection, she said she thought the apartment was cute, and not so bad. However, by the end of the second day she said, "I don't know how you've stayed here so long." It's true. And I'm excited to be moving....but after Saturday I've come to realize just how much work I have ahead of me.

Saturday morning my mom and I got up early, went to breakfast at Lalo, and then over to see the new apartment. According to my dad, buyers' remorse happens frequently, and after stepping into the apartment that freezing morning, I think I developed a case of it. The kitchen radiator is leaking huge amounts of water onto the floor. The stove is not hooked up at all. The wood is coming off of the floor in my room, the "light fixture" (bulb) in the bathroom is loose and ugly, and the smoke alarm is not working. On top of all of this....there are roaches! Gross. Three dead ones in my room, one in the bathroom, and two in the kitchen. In addition to that, there were live ones crawling up the wall, in the oven, and in the bathroom sink. I live with a room mate who does her dishes as often as she updates her will, so I foresee us having a major roach problem. Things really need to be kept clean, and I know that I'll be the one that has to maintain that.

I know that once we get in there and clean it and get our rooms set up I'll feel differently. So I'm anxious to get on with the process.

I think I'm going to buy a loft bed for my room, and I'm trying to think of ways to make it feel less like a college room. I just really need the space. With the exception of my room, there are no closets in the entire apartment and even my closet is too small to hang hangers. Plus is doesn't even have a rack to hang them on, so I have a garment rack for my clothes. I just hate clutter and I want to feel excited about my room.

My mom is driving up from D.C. this Saturday with a Uhaul full of my grandfather's furniture for the new place. I know that once she leaves it will feel like home. It will be a big change! I can't wait to have my own room! I really need my space. K and I are going over to the apartment tonight to meet the super and have him help us with all the little things that need to be fixed in order to move in. Hopefully it doesn't take long and goes smoothly. The subway is a ways from the apartment and today it is really freakin freezing outside. Good thing spring is just around the corner.....right?

Other news? Not really anything. Work is going well. I'm not really dating anyone anymore. And yesterday I came down with something. So far its just been a nose-throat kind of thing although, it's starting to make my back feel achey. So hopefully I don't get too sick! If I do take a day off, I'd rather do it next week when my mom is in town. We'll see how it goes.