Tag: yoga

Oscar Weekend Things

LaurenLeave a comment

They came, they saw, they awarded Green Book Best Picture?  My first reaction was “WHYYYY?”  But my second was “at least it wasn’t Bohemian Rhapsody!”  There were so many good moments during this show — Brian Tyree Henry in that outrageous costume, Keegan-Michael Key descending from the ceiling holding an umbrella, Spike Lee jumping on Samuel L. Jackson, a surprise Olivia Colman win — but to end it with a speech from a guy who backed up Trump’s claim that Muslims in New Jersey were cheering when the towers went down on 9/11 is a bad look.  Roma was robbed!

img_7674img_7675

In other news, we had a for real blizzard on Friday night and I’ll be honest, I didn’t even know it was supposed to snow.  One minute you’re driving to dinner and the next, you’re walking back to your car through 3″ of snow!  Vine Street Pub was still packed though and even though I ordered and drank a stout, I still don’t like a stout.  We rented A Star is Born afterward because: “I just wanted to take another look at you.”  Upon re-watching, I still think it’s very very good.  I’ll watch the Streisand version soon though, for all you Generation X-ers who still think it’s the best one (is it though??).

img_7676img_7677

Saturday started with 6″ of glittery snow + Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Pancakes, then ended with a family birthday celebration and baby time.  (Actually, it technically ended with Carrot Cake ice cream and You Were Never Really Here but I’m still totally confused about that movie, so let’s not get into it.)  In between was grocery shopping, kombucha brewing, catching up on TV from the week and an exciting time of me cleaning the bathroom.  Elliott is still the cutest and the smallest ♥

img_7678img_7679

Please be proud of me for actually taking pictures on Sunday!  We woke up and headed to Onefold for giant breakfast burritos and March plans (we’re going to make green pasta!) but mostly because my sister had gone the morning before and I was jealous.  Afterward, I walked to Base Coat to have my nails done for our vacation on Wednesday and a Mardi Gras trip to New Orleans seemed like a good time to pick a purple sparkle polish.  Also, on my walk back, I helped an older man with a cane and a boot get over the snow-packed curb and who needs drugs, alcohol or exercise endorphins, when acts of kindness work just fine?

img_7680img_7682img_7681

Before I headed to yoga, I filled out my ballot and made some Buffalo Wing Popcorn — it turned out amazing, but man, making caramel is incredibly stressful! — so I’d be all ready for the Oscars once I got home.  Joey surprised me with an Oscar Gimlet and I was so happy and excited, plus it tasted amazing.  Say what you want about that performance of “Shallow” but I thought it was perfect and I don’t know, maybe we don’t need a host ever again?  I went 15 for 24 on my ballot, which isn’t great, but Glenn Close not winning really threw me for a loop and even though I said I didn’t want her to win, I felt instantly bad when she didn’t.

In all sincerity, I actually quite liked Green Book after we saw it, but then so much was said about it afterward and it really made me re-evaluate and ultimately, change my mind about it.  Plus I saw a lot of movies afterward that I found more interesting, more honest and more willing to engage with the messier parts of this world, so I can’t agree with this outcome.  Just going to focus on Greta Gerwig ‘s Little Women reboot, starring Emma Watson, Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet that’s coming out later this year instead 🙂

What did you think of the Oscars?

Weekend Things

Lauren3 Comments

If I had to name a theme of the weekend I guess it would be: good food, depressing movies.  And lots of down town in between.  We were at the movie theater every day this weekend!  And between the utter horror of the Live Action Shorts, finishing up The Assassination of Gianni Versace last night and just being in the cold throes of winter, I could really really just use some warmth and humor right now.  Thank god a new season of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt just came out!

img_7598img_7599

As Joey was bowling last Thursday, we relocated our Valentine’s Day celebration to Friday and hit up The Way Back for the first time in TWO YEARS (oops!).  They’ve also relocated and the new(ish) spot is much bigger and beautifully arranged.  We had a seriously hard time narrowing down our order, but ended up splitting the white bean fritters, pappardelle and sirloin.  Man, it was all SO good!  And to top it all off, a warm apple cake that we nearly licked the plate clean of.

img_7600

It wasn’t until we were en route to the Mayan that I realized I hadn’t even read up on the Oscar-Nominated Shorts, which is VERY unlike me!  The result being I had NO IDEA what we were getting ourselves into, which was legitimately nightmarish.  First up, a child calling his mother because his father has left him on a beach and his phone dies just as he tells her a strange man is approaching him.  Next, two boys messing around when one drowns in a pit of wet concrete.  Followed by the true story of two 10-year old boys who brutally murdered a two-year old.  Lastly, blatant racism and violence that ends with a child shooting his father.  Okay, I left out the happiest one which was still about an old woman dying alone.  WHY???

Sitting through this barrage of sadistic hell was truly traumatic.  You guys know I live for all things Oscar related, but like, maybe just don’t see these.  No one needs to feel this sad.

img_7601img_7602

Saturday started with begrudgingly-made waffles.  Don’t get me wrong, we LOVE waffles, but we don’t love the time it takes to make them.  I whipped these out pretty fast though!  Later on, I made some granola bars for the week and then we ran some errands, mostly motivated by the promise of lunch at Chook.  It’s a bright and beautiful order-at-the-counter type of place, that offers rotisserie chicken with choice of sauce and a bunch of delicious sides to choose from.  I went piri-piri and grilled carrot salad alongside my quarter dark meat and was blown away by how good it all tasted.  Why are all my new favorite places in Wash Park??

I got a facial later that afternoon and then we headed back to the Mayan for the Animated Shorts, which though they had some sadder moments, were overall MUCH LESS DEPRESSING than the Live Action Shorts.  At one point, I was actually laughing out loud and thought “well this feels good!”  We actually thought one of the “highly recommended” (but not nominated) shorts (Tweet, Tweet) was one of our favorites.  Joey liked One Small Step best (it is beautifully animated and touching) and I just loved Weekends.  

img_7609img_7625

I managed to take ZERO pictures on Sunday so please enjoy this picture of the manicure I got on Valentine’s Day and a recycled photo of the dinner we had, thank you!  This is actually a good way to mention I’ve been feeling unusually low picture-taking motivation.  It’s probably a good thing to NOT feel the pressure to photo-document every moment of your life but it also makes for less interesting blog posts.  I’m very at odds with it all so any advice you have would be greatly appreciated 🙂

Anyway, we started Sunday at Snooze with Joey’s grandparents, then went to see They Shall Not Grow Old, which is a World War I documentary, directed by Peter Jackson.  I legitimately haven’t seen any of the Lord of the Rings films, but I felt like that name-drop would be impressive to someone who has.  It was really interesting!  They restored, colorized and added audio to all of the old video footage and it was truly impressive.  I took myself to yoga later and we ended the night with that super satisfying dinner.

How was your weekend??