I had a weekend full of fun, really good cheese, friends, dancing, and my favorite TV event of the year, The Oscars.
Here’s the thing with the cheese – we went to a cheese tasting sponsored by a local food group. It was great and I learned so much about buying cheese, storing cheese, and what kinds of cheeses I like. Okay, that might be all the cheese but still, I learned a lot and my new favorite cheese is Oma by the Von Trapp Family. Yes. That Von Trapp Family.
The fun included a night out for the Dale and the Duds Valentine’s Dance. We danced and we drank and we laughed and had a really great time. It’s good for me to see Dale perform now and again, it brings back so many memories of our early years together and it reminds me why I fell in love with him in the first place. Plus, those 5 guys in the band are some of my favorite men in the world.
As if that wasn’t a great weekend already, Sunday was Oscar day. I watched E! most of the afternoon while prepping some delicious food for us, including the wedge salad bites pictured above. We also had buffalo shrimp and cheeseburger sliders and, of course, champagne.
I had seen all of the Best Picture nominees this year and I enjoyed them all. I loved Imitation Game best of all and I also thought Grand Budapest Hotel, Theory of Everything, Whiplash and Selma were fantastic. American Sniper was terrific and Boyhood was good but a bit too long for me. As for Birdman, well, I just didn’t get it.
And of course, that won Best Picture. I knew it was coming, though, so I was prepared. And I was glad to see Grand Budapest Hotel pick up awards in other categories, Whiplash got some great attention, Selma won Best Song and the performance by John Legend & Common left everyone crying, Eddie Redmayne won for Theory of Everything and American Sniper picked up some technical awards. While I wasn’t super crazy about Patricia Arquette in Boyhood, her acceptance speech was fantastic and empowering – equal pay for women! YES! And J.K. Simmons gave an excellent acceptance speech and reminded everyone to call their parents. (I would if I could and I sure wish I could, Mr. Simmons.)
Neil Patrick Harris did a great opening number and the addition of Anna Kendrick and Jack Black made it even better. After that, though, I thought he fell flat. His jokes weren’t very good and the thing in his underwear (yes, I know it was a Birdman reference but meh) just wasn’t funny even if he is hot. Lady Gaga was amazing in her Sound of Music tribute although I found whatever that was she was doing with her dress to be distracting.
As for the fashion: Rosamund Pike, yes; Julianne Moore, no; Patricia Arquette, yes to the dress and no to the hair; Reese Witherspoon, maybe: J.Lo, OH YES; Emma Stone, no, Naomi Watts, yes, Felicity Jones, yes, Anna Kendrick, YES, Lupita Longo, yes (although I wondered what it was like to sit down on all those pearls).
Those are the highlights for me for this year’s Oscar show. Did you watch? What did you love and, even more important, what did you hate? And for those of you who don’t watch the Oscars, shocking as that may be, how was your weekend?
I was so happy to see Eddie Redmayne win best actor! I totally agree with you about Neil Patrick, but I disagree about Emma Stone. I LOVED her dress!
I agree about NPH, though I’ve not watched the entire show yet. I wish I had been eating those lettuce bites!
I flipped back and forth between the Oscars, Downton and a couple of other shows. J Lo’s dress was amazing! I think the E channel before the Oscars is sometimes more interesting than the actual event. Melanie Griffith and Dakota Johnson? Yeah – the typical teenage mother/daughter relationship right there apparently.
I watch, although I have not seen a single movie and thought NPH was terrible and the whole show was boring. Lady Gaga, John Legend and Common where the best part of the whole thing. I liked seeing the gowns, the good and the bad.
The Valentine’s dance sounds a lot more fun!!
I am so with you on Julianne Moore’s dress–I think whitemis a poor,choice for someone with her fairmskinmand red hair. Lupita looked stunning and so did Gwenith Paltrow! J.Lo has come a long way–but I’d love to see her do something totally radical and cover the top half of her body lol (probably the voice of green eyes).
You didn’t like Julianne Moore’s dress? I thought she looked lovely. I too liked Felicity Jones dress with the paniers, although it has been “panned” (heh heh) in the reviews. Didn’t make it past 11 PM although did see the thrilling Pettus bridge moment, and Arquette’s acceptance speech. Lady Gaga can really sing – thought her upper arm tattoos were a trifle distracting from the total picture. NPH fizzled out a bit; though I’m not averse to viewing an attractive male physique, I didn’t get the reference since I haven’t seen that movie – or any of this years’s movies, except for Into the Woods, due to the wretched weather.
I saw all the nominees for best picture and I didn’t get Birdman either. I loved Boyhood and The Theory of Everything. I thought the Oscars got really boring. I fell asleep and watched the rest this morning. I loved the song, Glory – had to watch that part twice!
Having not yet seen any of the Best Picture nominees, I didn’t get NPH’s underwear thing and thought it (like the rest of his performance minus the opening number) to be a bit bizarre. Some of the jokes were funny, most were not. I loved Julianne’s dress, and J-Lo? Holy smokes! I was really nervous when they announced Gaga was singing the Sound of Music (I was worried she’d totally change it and ruin it for me) … and was so pleasantly surprised and impressed with her performance. That woman has so much talent, it’s staggering! I also loved Emma Stone’s fluffy dress, and thought Reese’s dress was fantastic.
YES! to the cheese. YES! to the dance. and YES! to Emma Stone’s dress. (Sorry. I thought it looked great with her hair/coloring.) I thought it was one of the most boring Oscars ever. My favorite dress was Anna Kendrick’s coral number, although I also loved Reese Witherspoon’s, and I was kinda digging Cate Blanchett’s, too. (Sorry, but I can’t even with J-Lo. . .) I was really happy to see Grand Budapest and Whiplash get some love last night — because they were my favorites of all the Best Picture noms (even though I really liked them all. . .)
I haven’t watched yet but I taped it so I can watch it this week.
kudos to you for having seen all of the Best Pic nominees. That’s a lot of movies!
I’ve seen few and I particular loved The Grand Budapest. It was so much fun!
next year, I want to be texting with you for the Red Carpet Show (seriously!) … that is really my favorite part since I don’t see the movies. I thought NPH did a pretty good job as host. I’m not sure who could do it better (who would even do it?) – and that makes me wonder how much longer this TV show about movies…will even be a thing?!
No oscars. Watched my kids sing instead. But cheese? Hands down Humboldt Fog by Cowgirl Creamery. That is all.