Oscar Predictions

I love watching the Academy Awards!  I usually manage to see most of the movies that are nominated for the big awards and I like getting ideas for independent films to check out.  Plus, I'm a total celebrity gawker and the hosts of tonight, Anne Hathaway & James Franco, are two of my absolute favorite celebs.

Here are my predictions for the following categories:
Best Picture
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech- winner!  Although Inception and the Fighter were also amazing.
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in "Biutiful"
Jeff Bridges in "True Grit"
Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network"
Colin Firth in "The King's Speech"- winner!  He was so incredibly amazing in this movie.James Franco in "127 Hours"

Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in "The Fighter"- winner!  I would love to see Geoffrey Rush win as well!John Hawkes in "Winter's Bone"
Jeremy Renner in "The Town"
Mark Ruffalo in "The Kids Are All Right"
Geoffrey Rush in "The King's Speech"

Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in "The Kids Are All Right"
Nicole Kidman in "Rabbit Hole"
Jennifer Lawrence in "Winter's Bone"
Natalie Portman in "Black Swan"- winner!  Without a doubt the best acting/dancing ever!Michelle Williams in "Blue Valentine"

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in "The Fighter"
Helena Bonham Carter in "The King's Speech"
Melissa Leo in "The Fighter"- winner!  I could not stand this woman in the movie, which means her acting was that good.  I also love the little girl from True Grit.Hailee Steinfeld in "True Grit"
Jacki Weaver in "Animal Kingdom"

Animated Feature Film
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3- winner!  Is these even a close competition?

Cinematography
"Black Swan," Matthew Libatique- winner!"Inception," Wally Pfister
"The King's Speech," Danny Cohen
"The Social Network," Jeff Cronenweth
"True Grit," Roger Deakins

Costume Design
"Alice in Wonderland," Colleen Atwood
"I Am Love," Antonella Cannarozzi
"The King's Speech," Jenny Beavan- winner! "The Tempest," Sandy Powell
"True Grit" Mary Zophres

Director
"Black Swan," Darren Aronofsky
"The Fighter," David O. Russell
"The King's Speech," Tom Hooper
"The Social Network," David Fincher- I don't agree with this, but I think The Social Network has to win something during the evening."True Grit," Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Music (Original Score)
"How to Train Your Dragon," John Powell
"Inception," Hans Zimmer
"The King's Speech," Alexandre Desplat
"127 Hours," A.R. Rahman- winner!"The Social Network," Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)
"Coming Home" from "Country Strong," Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
"I See the Light" from "Tangled," Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater- winner!"If I Rise" from "127 Hours," Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
"We Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3," Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Happy watching!

Some Randoms

So I meant the title of the post to mean random photos, which I will post in a minute, but "random" reminded me that some RANDOM ass man tried to walk into our house today!  Jason, Eva & Tyson were napping upstairs and I was doing homework.  I was still in my PJs and not expecting anyone, so when the door knob started to turn I panicked a little.  Thank God it was locked.  Then the person became more forceful and I could see a shadow stepping to the side, trying to see through the blinds.  I froze up for a second, because this person had not rang the door bell or even knocked, just tried to come in.  I was inching towards the stairs to yell for Jason when the doorbell rang.  So, I figured, maybe wrong address?  I didn't unlock the door, but pulled the curtain to the side and saw a middle aged, foreign man standing there looking impatient.  He saw me and looked as shocked as I was.  He quickly did a wave motion to say "sorry, wrong house" and left.  Awkward, unintentional break in avoided- whew!

And Jason says Tyson is a good guard dog- HA! 

On to the photos.  Here are some of Eva using her pink dirt devil vacuum and then playing the game memory. 
P.S. I realize she is wearing Santa PJs, don't judge me, it's laundry day and we were running low :-)

The handheld part detaches, very realistic

Oh just vacuuming in Mommy's shoes

Match!

"Mom, this really isn't that hard."

Decided she needed her magic wand to help...

Matches all lined up

4,000

We have reached 4,000 views people!  I know I was pretty bad at posting for awhile.  Damn job and class.  Who do they think they are getting in the way of my blogging? 

I'll be taking photos today as we head to Baba's house for a UFC pay-per-view fight with Uncle Noah and his friends. 

And then I believe someone has a 33rd birthday coming up veeery soon... so stay tuned for the photos from the mayhem that the birthday bar crawl (held in conjunction with the Olssons) is sure to produce!

Montessori Anyone?

Since Eva went back to daycare 4 weeks ago we've noticed something; sass.  She is sassier and more defiant than ever and I can't decide if it's the daycare/kids she's around or just her age... or me!  My best friend Katie suggested Montessori school for Eva, since she's pretty independent and go-with-the-flow, so I did a quick Google search and sure enough, there is a pretty decent Montessori school right on my way to work.  In addition to the curriculum, it would actually save us money.  Right now we pay for full time daycare, even though I only work part time and Jason only has 2 classes.

So does IMPROVED CURRICULUM + LESS MONEY = OBVIOUS GOOD CHOICE?

I'd really like to think so, but I'm afraid moving her will cause stress.  And what about my precious alone time after work to run errands, stop by church, go tanning, get dinner ready!?  Decisons, decisions...

Build-A-Bear

We took Eva to Build-A-Bear for the first time and my test was if was could pass by the store without her asking to go in, then we wouldn't go.  We made it 98% of the way past the store front when her eyes lit up and she said "I wanna go in der mama!"  So in we went, and the fun began. 

She picked out a panda bear and despite much encouraging to name him something Chinese, such as Po or Ling-Ling, she picked "Baby Panda."  She's an original one I tell ya.

The madness begins

Explaing the computer to Baba

Picking out Baby Panda's heart

Pushing the lever to fill Baby Panda with stuffing

Help from Baba

Crossing her fingers to make sure his "surgery" goes well!

Eva paying the bill

Camp Snoopy

I know that the amusement park in the center of the Mall of America is now actually called "Nickelodeon Universe" but it will forever be Camp Snoopy to me.  We took Eva on lots of rides and she loved all of them except the merry-go-round.  I tried to put her one of the horses and she had a meltdown and wanted to sit in the stationary bench type thing that specifically said it was for handicapped kids...

Examining her ride ticket

Waiting in line like a big girl

Trying to ease her nerves on the merry-go-round

Swiper the Fox ride

It was actually ridiculously fun!

Driving the bus

She was a bigger fan of this merry-go-round...

On the train with Baba!

Choo choo

Baba Turns 39!

Okay, okay so Baba didn't really 39.  However, if you actually know her, you know her real age... and if you don't, then you don't need to.  Simple enough :-) But today was her birthday so we celebrated by doing a girls' day at the Mall of America.  It was a great time and other than Eva sassing back a few times (we have yet to determine if this is from going back to daycare or the fact the she is almost 3...) it was damn near perfect.

We did so much that I'm going to split it up into multiple posts because I'm afraid I might otherwise jam the interwebz with my papparazzi worthy number of photos.

Admiring the Victoria Secret lotions

Jewelry shopping

Matching BFFs!

Burning off energy in the Women's Department

Cat nap in the greatest stroller ever

Admiring the fish in the shoe department

Trying on shoes- she was a natural!

"Why of course you may assist me, sales woman."

Benihana

Jason and I went on a triple date last night to Benihana's.  It's a Japanese (teppanyaki) steakhouse in Maple Grove and it's sooooo yummy.  We went with Maria & Jimmy and Tina & Tim; our other friends Matt & Erin had to cancel last minute because their 3 year old had pneumonia- poor thing.  The night was a lot of fun, even with Jason (after not eating half of the items that come with the dinners, such as salad and vegetables) that it was a nice "snack."

And this picture would have been cute, if Jason was actually looking at the camera!

Blog Shout Out

For those of you who don't know, my bff Maria is ridiculously witty and has her own blog.  I recommend checking it out!

http://youdonttellmemybusiness.blogspot.com/

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day 2011 everyone!  Eva had a party at school and now has more candy than she can count.  Daddy also got gifts for "his Valentines" :-)

Eva got a Dora dress, ballet slippers and princess accessories kit and Mommy got a gift card for clothes (much better than Jason trying to shop for my clothes!) and books!  Probably a bad idea for him to give me even more books because now I'll have my nose buried in them for weeks.

Love my husband!

Card she made at school!

Roses for his girls!

Daddy helping put on her ballet slippers