Oscar Predictions

For the first time since I began my Oscar predictions, I'm not 100% sure of my "Best in Costume Design" pick. It's usually such a clear and obvious choice for me. I decided to go with the movie I wanted to win this year, rather than the one I think might win. The best I've ever done is 18 out of 24 categories correct. Let's see how I do this year:

Best Picture: The Artist
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, The Artist (George Clooney is the possible upset here...)
*Best Actress: Viola Davis, The Help (wow....congrats to Meryl Streep)
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, The Help
Best Animated Feature Film: Rango
Best Foreign Film: A Separation, Iran
Best Original Screenplay: Midnight in Paris
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Descendants
Best Art Direction: Hugo
*Best Costume Design: Jane Eyre (the Artist is probably the safer pick, but how can I fully appreciate the costumes when it's in black and white?) yup...the Artist won. I respectfully disagree with the Academy.
Best Original Song: "Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets"
Best Original Score: The Artist
*Best Documentary: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (congrats to Undefeated....once I saw PDiddy on the Red Carpet for Undefeated, I realized I was probably gonna lose this category).
Best Documentary (short): Saving Face
*Best Cinematography: The Tree of Life (congrats to Hugo)
*Best Film Editing: The Artist (congrats to Hugo)
Best Makeup: The Iron Lady
Best Sound Editing: Hugo
Best Sound Mixing: Hugo
*Best Visual Effects: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (congrats to Hugo)
Best Short Film (Animated): The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
*Best Short Film (Live Action): Raju (Congrats to the Shore)

17/24...not my best year, but not to shabby either. What kills me is that I got some of the more difficult categories right this year (I got two of the 'shorts' categories right), but there were a few upsets that tripped me up. Oh well. Until next year!

Birthday Weekend in Charlottesville

Yay! I'm actually posting something on our blog for a change. Dave and I escaped DC and Rolling Thunder by heading out to Charlottesville, VA with our friends Laura and Kathleen. My sister-in-law was awesome and let us borrow her convertible:

MUCH fun was had by all. We spent Saturday shopping, shopping, shopping, and eating. When it was lunchtime and our feet were hurting, I suggested the strategy of eating at the next restaurant we saw. Apparently it was a good strategy because we found this amazing French place called Petit Pois:

We couldn't go to Virginia wine country without visiting several tasting rooms at the local vineyards. Dave and Laura seemed to enjoy this part of the trip:
While Dave and I were just along for the ride enjoying the wine tasting, our friend Kathleen was on a mission to stock her wine cellar and made some serious purchases:
Sunday was my birthday, but we seemed to spend the whole weekend celebrating. Saturday Dave found this great cupcake store called Cappellino's Crazy Cakes. We got to learn some local lore about the cupcakes - a very pregnant woman was in line ahead of us getting a free lemon drop cupcake. Apparently the cupcake is supposed to help you go into labor if you're overdue. The store claims this has worked for 43 babies to date. I'll have to remember this trick...eating cupcakes sounds way better than doing jumping jacks or eating spicy food.

I'm soooo excited about my birthday present from Dave. He got me a pair of red 18th century walking shoes. They're being made, and I should get them in a few more weeks.

On Saturday night we celebrated my birthday at the Ivy Inn Restaurant. I looked around for a nice meal online and came across this place that's known for cooking with sustainable meats and local produce. It sounded like fun, so off we went. If you are ever in Charlottesville you MUST go to this place. It was amazing...and I've spent more eating at Joe's Crabshack. Definitely order the Shrimp & Grits (I don't like grits...and I LOVED this). The waiter was very nice and helpful, and since it was my birthday, we got a free Champagne toast and I got a special dessert:
Sunday we went out to Monticello. The estate was beautiful, but it was a very hot day and we had to wait quite a while before our tour began. If I ever go back I need to remember to reserve a tour ahead of time online. I'm a bit of a history buff, but there was quite a lot of new stuff for me to learn about Thomas Jefferson...and I have to say, most of it wasn't very flattering. I'm definitely glad I went. We found a fun purple shamrock plant to that was grown at Monticello's nursery to bring back to Jennifer as a thank-you for letting us use her car.

After all his patience with the shopping/wine tasting/touring, Dave finally caught a break on Monday when we stopped for lunch at the Blue Mountain Brewery. My Dad would love this place - they even grow their own hops right in front of the restaurant. Dave tried a sampler of all their draft beers:
Every time we turned around there was a gorgeous view (especially at the vineyards). I considered going back to school to become a vintner for about five seconds...before I remembered that I have a black thumb and am terrible at chemistry. It was a fabulous weekend. Thank you to everyone that helped make it so wonderful!

Oscar 2011 Predictions/Outcome

Okay...I didn't get this posted before the award show, but I promise I didn't change any of my answers (the categories with stars at the ones I got wrong). I got 18/24 right this year, which is one better than last year. I will, as always, be posting an Oscar fashion round-up after the Oscars on my sewing website, but here are my guesses for this year:

Best Picture - The King's Speech
Best Director - The Social Network* (King's Speech won)
Best Actor - Colin Firth
Best Actress - Natalie Portman
Best Supporting Actor - Christian Bale
Best Supporting Actress - Melissa Leo
Best Animated Feature Film - Toy Story 3
Best Foreign Film - Biutiful* (In a Better World won)
Best Original Screenplay - The King's Speech
Best Adapted Screenplay - The Social Network
Best Documentary Feature - Inside Job
Best Original Score - The Social Network* (King's Speech won)
Best Original Song - "We Belong Together"
Best Film Editing - The Social Network
Best Cinematography - True Grit* (Inception won)
Best Costume Design - Alice in Wonderland
Best Art Direction - Alice in Wonderland
Best Makeup - The Wolfman
Best Visual Effects - Inception
Best Documentary (short) - Strangers No More
Best Short Film (animated) - Day & Night* (The Lost Thing won)
Best Short Film (live action) - Na Wewe* (God of Love won)
Best Sound Editing - Inception
Best Sound Mixing - Inception

It's going to be all about the King's Speech this year. I saw the movie and really enjoyed it, so I'm happy that it's in the lead. Social Network will probably be the runner-up this year. On costumes: I think there are a lot of people saying the award will go to the King's Speech designer, but I really think Colleen Atwood should get it for Alice in Wonderland.

New York, New York!

I spent the last few days up in New York on business, but managed to take a few hours to play. My brilliant friend Liz managed to get us reservations at Per Se for dinner Monday night. I've never had any food that comes close to the Per Se culinary experience. It really deserves it's three Michelin stars. The staff treated us like princesses, we dined enjoying an amazing view of Central Park, and the nine course tasting menu was fabulous.

After 2 amuse-bouche, 2 starters, 2 fish courses, 2 meat courses, 1 cheese course, and 2 desserts, we were shocked when a the waiters bombarded our table with a final flourish of sugar:
As if two desserts weren't enough, we got candy, doughnuts, cappuccino ice cream, truffles, macaroons, chocolates, and caramels (all made by Per Se). Liz compared it to the grand finale of the firework show. It was dessert shock and awe!

I also managed to catch a Broadway matinee on Sunday. I had always wanted to see Wicked. I managed to read the book which really didn't impress me (and was terribly sad), but I heard rave reviews of the musical. Now I know why. The show is a beautiful production with a compelling story.
This is a shot from my favorite musical number: Defying Gravity. Check out the link which goes to a YouTube clip of the song. In the scene, Elphaba learns to fly...because "Everyone Deserves the Chance to Fly."
Of course any Broadway show wouldn't be complete without my own commentary on costumes! Above, I've included a photo of some of my favorite costumes in the production: the Emerald city costumes were visually stunning. Galinda's costumes are by far the flashiest, which makes it easy to overlook the delicate and beautiful gown that Elphaba wears during the peak of her "Wicked Witch" years. Take a good second look, and note the amazing details/frills/lace that went into this costume.

I was amazed by the evolution of Galinda the student to Glinda the good witch:When we first meet Galinda Upland, she's a pampered young woman from an affluent family on her first day at Shiz University. We begin to see Galinda evolve. Here, she has adopted the new name "Glinda" and wears a traveling gown as she and Elphaba visit the Wizard at the Emerald City. After agreeing to work for the Wizard, Glinda takes on a more sophisticated look. I love the hair and hat! It reminds me of the styles popular in the 30's and 40's. We next see Glinda at a ball. Her gown is clearly evolving into a style more reminiscent of the Glinda we all know and love from the Wizard of Oz movie.SPOILER ALERT! Stop reading unless you want to know what happens at the end of the musical.

Finally, we see Glinda in her prime. A large fluffy dress, enough sparkles to blind, and the bounciest curls of the North. I really like that the costume designer steered away from pink and instead chose a soft blue for Glinda. But Glinda is no longer a puppet of the Wizard - she is a strong and confident sorceress. She ousts the Wizard, and is ready to take up Elphaba's cause and lead Oz.

History, History, and Halloween

I've been meaning to make a few blog posts...but now that I've finally sat down long enough, we'll do three postings in one! First up, Halloween! Dave and I spent this afternoon searching for the perfect carving pumpkins. I give you Dave's amazing cannibal pumpkin:

I stayed very simple this year, and chose to carve a kitty pumpkin. It took me an hour from start to finish. I don't think I've done a pumpkin this quickly since I stopped doing the classic jack-o-lantern with triangles for eyes when I was twelve. I normally go for the most complicated pattern in the book.
Here I am with my pumpkin:
And here's Dave:
Last weekend Dave, Kathleen (a friend from work), and I all piled into our cars and went to Colonial Williamsburg. My favorite stop, as always, is the Milliner shop. Check out my costume blog for info on the this year's visit. We caught the noon parade, and Dave snapped this amazing photo. Very professional looking, don't you think?
There were LOTS of dogs on Duke of Glouchester street. We saw this guy walking around and just HAD to get a photo:
The weekend before Williamsburg, we were at the Renaissance festival. We had an amazing time. I think it's been several years since I've enjoyed the festival this much. We got to actually chat with the King for a few minutes, and the actor was very kind to allow us to take a picture with him (posed exactly like the festival's brochure that Dave is holding in his hand):
The Rogues happened to be performing when we walked by one of the stages. They were performing one of my favorite songs. It's actually a classical song that I've danced to at Gatsby's tavern, but most will recognize it as the theme song from Last of the Mohicans. We were very amused to note that the Rogues have groupies that dance at their performances (apparently these are their wives and girlfriends):Even more amusing was the burly guy in a kilt, guarding the stage and wearing a security T-shirt. I wasn't sure if he was seriously security, or if it was a joke.Finally, one of my festival favorites (she's actually new to the festival in the last three years) is Lady Merilee Effingham, the English courtesan. Dave and I were thrilled to find out she had her very own performance this year. Last time we saw her she was a street act.
I LOVE her costume. Check out her venetian chopines:
We actually saw her walking around in these! Very impressive.

New York, New York!

I got to visit New York this week for business. The visit kicked off on Thursday, when I arrived in Penn Station in NY, and promptly bumped into Beth, my college roommate. I haven't seen her since my wedding. What blows my mind is neither of us live in NY. She lives on the West Coast, and we just both happened to be in the train station at the same time. It's a small world!

I checked in to my hotel (the Hudson), which turned out to be a very hip building. I didn't even recognize the building as a hotel when we pulled up in the cab...there were no signs indicating this was the place. It was very close to the Time/Warner building, which had fun shopping. Other observations - I paid $25 for a not-so-impressive breakfast, $5 for a soda, and my room was the size of small cube. There was literally one foot between the foot of my bed and the wall. But, the bed was comfortable, so it worked.

Thursday night, I met up with Julie from high school. We went to a Jazz at Lincoln Center concert in Bryant Park, and then had yummy french fusion cuisine. Lots of fund catching up with her!

Friday, after my meetings, I decided to go check out the costume exhibit at the Met...only to find out that there was no costume exhibit. In my defense, I DID look this up before I went, but I couldn't tell from the website that there was no exhibit. I did check out the bookstore before I left, and was happy I did. There were two books that I'd been considering purchasing, but I didn't like them after thumbing through them.

Disappointed by the lack of costumes, I ran down to the Garment District to FIT's fashion museum. It was a small exhibit, but there were several pieces that I really enjoyed, and it focused on eco-fashion. There was a really cool green dress from the 1860s that was dyed with a process that used arsenic. Gives a new meaning to poisenous green.

Since I was already in the Garment District, I couldn't resist going to Mood, the fabric store featured in Project Runway. It was amazing!! One floor was almost exclusively silk. I had a really good time checking everything out, but managed to resist buying.

I definitely want to visit NY again soon. Dave should come along next time, and I want to have time to see a Broadway show (specifically...Wicked).

Funfilled Weekend

I was pleasantly surprised this past Friday to get home and find out Dave was on his way up. We had a nice weekend together. First, we went out to Homestead Farm in order to pick up some fresh white peaches and blackberries. I later turned the peaches into a peach crisp, and the blackberries into a blackberry pie.

Next, my tastebuds were demanding a trip to Georgetown Cupcake. I watched the premier of DC cupcakes on TLC this last Friday, and have had a craving for one of their cupcakes ever since. Dave had a chocolate cupcake, and I had a strawberry cupcake. Plus, thanks to a rain shower that ended just as we arrived at the cupcake shop, there was no line!
Finally we went to see Despicable Me. It was lots of fun to watch, and we caught it in 3-D (honestly I could take or leave the 3-D, but the showing we wanted to se happened to be in 3-D). The previews gave away a lot of the funniest moments in the film, which was too bad. My favorite line remains the little four year old neurotically shouting: "It's so fluffy!!."