Red Carpet Recap: SAG Awards

I broke my own tradition by being too lazy to post my Golden Globes picks this year.  I'm sure the whole blogosphere (and our 1.2 readers) were shaken by this.

On to my SAG red carpet faves, in no particular order...

Marion Cotillard in Dior Haute Couture.  Playful but elegant and a great color.

Sally Field in J. Mendel.  Such a flattering choice for her all-around.

Julianna Margulies in Chado Ralph Rucci.  Rocked it.

Last but not least,

Bradley Cooper in Tom Ford.  You're welcome, ladies.

Wow....We are Old?

Early 30's doesn't actually classify as old, especially when the median age in America is 37 (fun fact from "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" today).

However, in the past few months there have been some light-hearted comments and some serious events that terrify me and make me realize that we are getting older.  

Now, even though I've seen many friends marry and have children, somehow that doesn't make them old to me.  Maybe it's the fact that they are always willing to have a good time, or after a night of no sleep, their behavior reminds me of a time when they had one too many cocktails...or I had one too many...or we both did :)  For the most part, the ones that have had children are still "young" except with a new mini-me.

Here are some highlights that have sparked "woah - when did we get to be so old?"

• Conversation with a coworker in Vegas (after we got in for free after some name dropping but that's another story):  "What is happening here?  People just make out in clubs?  What would their moms think?"
• Conversation with N:  "I hate standing at bars, and I hate lines...and I hate having things spilled on my shoes.  Why is the music so loud?!"
• Conversation with myself:  "I am over push up bras...they make my back hurt"
• In the car with G, I will often times turn up the radio so I can dance around to catchy tunes (Hello Will.I.Am and Britney!) and sing along, G will quickly turn the radio down and say "if you want me to hear you, this needs to be at 3-4"
• My brother driving me around in my car.  (sidenote:  i was just learning to drive when he was born)
• Same brother's honor's biology (who also teaches AP anatomy) teacher was the assistant wrestling coach when N and I were mat girls in high school.  The teacher was also young enough to meet one of our high school peers when she was in college (he in grad school) and get engaged to her.
• Seeing friends go thru real events - like health scares, tumors, cancer, divorce.  
• Sitting with a Financial Planner and having a "real" retirement plan to execute on.  Good bye Ferragamo dreams made of calfskin.  

There are so many conversations and events that spark this "wow we're old" moment.  Except for the scary stuff, being "old" is better than being 19 and in college trying to figure out who I was.

Forget the serious stuff, what lighthearted things make you feel old?  Oh, did I also mention that I creak when I stand and my lower back always hurts after sleeping in beds that are not my own?

N's Friday Food Porn

Spaghetti Squash Baked "Pasta" Boats

January Meet + Greet (inspired by yes and yes)

One of the blogs I read, yes and yes, is doing a monthly meet and greet where she answers three questions.  This is a cool way to keep things interesting and reminding me to blog at least once a month :)

The questions for this month include:

1. How are you going to make this year better than last year?
2. Tell us one you've-gotta-buy-this-right-now product you love.
3. Do you have a best friend? How did you meet him/her?

So let's get started!

Question 1:  How are you going to make this year better than last year?

This one is a hard one, as I've been thinking about it since the end of December 2012.  My main goal is to continue trimming the fat in my life.  Not only is this applicable to my waistline, this is also applicable to keeping people in my life that aren't good friends, tossing out old clothes and shoes that don't make me feel my best, and start cleaning out makeup and accessories that I'm not using.  Once I really remove the clutter, I will be able to focus on the people that make me happy and the products that I truly love.

Question 2:  Tell us one you've-gotta-buy-this-right-now product you love.

I've done many blogs specific to beauty products I can't live without.  I'm currently in love with the Gap Sherpa Popover that I purchased over the holidays.  It's the coziest sweatshirt and super soft.  I've told all my male coworkers to go purchase one for their lady friends ASAP.

Question 3:  Do you have a best friend?  How did you meet him/her?

Well, for anyone who reads this blog knows that Miss N is my best friend.  We met when we  were 5 years old, didn't become friends until the end of middle school (when we were both in band playing the flute) and then transitioned to best friends at the beginning of high school (when we both realized that two cool people such as ourselves needed to join forces).  We've gone thru so much of our lives together, and have so many more adventures to look forward to :)

N's Friday Food Porn

Vegetable Wonton Soup

Scary World

Lately, I feel like I've heard of different crimes, comments, and behaviors that trigger me to think how hard and scary it is to be a woman.  Didn't we already fight the civil rights movement in the 70's and proved that women deserved the same rights (which includes safety) as men?

Yesterday, I was at work and heard a story about a girl I personally know that freaked me out.  This girl drives her car to the train, and then takes the train to work.  The other day she was walking from the train to the car, which was across the street.  As she neared her car, she saw another car of 4 men following her.  Her instincts kicked in and she turned around, and walked back to the train station.  As soon as she turned around, one of the men jumped out of the car, grabbed her and told her she wasn't going anywhere.  He was reaching into his pocket, and she took the opportunity to run.**

She ran back to the train station with the man chasing her, and she finally found another man who offered to help by stalling the chaser, while she went to the police.  She found a policeman, escaped the original chaser and learned that in the past two weeks the same situation had happened to another woman, who was kidnapped, raped and beaten.

This story terrifies me.  This woman did all the "right" things, this incident happened in daylight, in a crowded environment and wasn't calling attention to herself.  The other part that terrifies me is that other strangers saw this incident happening and chose not to do anything about it.  When did we become a culture of ignoring our fellow man?  This poor girl is now terrified to be alone and doesn't want to leave her home.  What exactly did she do to deserve this?

Hearing this story in the US after the rape in India makes me truly believe this is a worldwide epidemic.  A good friend of our's uncle, wrote an amazing article about how India has let women down.  But I don't think we can only focus on India - the world has let women down.

We have politicians who feel like they can make decisions about our bodies and well being.  People who say that if you're impregnated thru rape, it's a blessing.  Women shouldn't wear jeans, as a way to stop tempting men.  A guru in India said that if the woman had asked God properly, the rape would have stopped. SERIOUSLY?!  PROPERLY?!

This is just sick.

And what kind of men have the thoughts of "today is a sunny day, maybe I'll rape a woman today."  

This is just a sad world we live in.

**I can't imagine running away from a bad guy with my work attired - laptop bags, purses, heels!  And the fact that no one helped is insane to me.  Even if you don't want to get involved, call 911!

N's Friday Food Porn

Butternut Squash and Black Bean Enchilada Skillet