Oscar Wrap Up

So I never like the Oscars. But I watch them anyway. This year I was more excited about them because I had actually seen quite a few of the movies that were nominated: The Departed, Dreamgirls, Little Miss Sunshine, Marie-Antoinette, The Queen...so anyway I felt more attached or more invested in it this year than previous years, when I hadn't seen any of the movies nominated.

Again, I was disappointed. I always ask myself why I watch. I mean I love the gowns and all, but its always too political and I just get annoyed about how self-aggrandizing it is. I always find myself saying, "What a waste of my time", yet I still watch. It's just a show to be like "look how great Hollywood is" when really Hollywood ain't that great. Yet I still go and see their movies.

Jack Black and Will Ferrell were the only good parts. Okay, and Jennifer Hudson.

But I was quite excited the departed won and so did Martin Scorcese. But I still dont endorse seeing it. It really was highly offensive. Even though it was good.

Can you see how I feel here people? I'm totally divided on this Oscar issue.

So...to sum up, I love and hate the oscars.

I'd date him

More Bounce in California

When I booked my ticket in October, little did I know that my flight to Huntington Beach to visit Katie and Corey would come at the perfect time. Two weeks into winter and I was definitely ready for some warmth and sunshine.

Upon my arrival (my flight was a little late and the direct TV was out...sadness) Corey picked me up and guess where we went first...that's right IN and OUT for my favorite cheeseburger with grilled onions. *sigh* Thank goodness for DVR b/c I didn't miss Greys and The Office. Both hilarious.

Friday morning I realized that the 6 1/2 hour flight was totally worth it when I got to take a nice long run along the beach in shorts and tshirt and being blinded by the sun. While Corey was at work I just slept in and took the run and got ready. When she got home we went to this fantabulous hole in the wall taqueria in Newport Beach and then headed straight for some high quality shopping at South Coast Plaza. I had heard about South Coast for years and was very happy to finally go there. I was in heaven with a Saks, Nordstrom, Chloe, Tory Burch, JoMalone, Coach, Barneys, Cole-Haan, Zara, all in the same place. My only gripe was that it was inside and we didn't get to soak up more sunshine. We got to the mall at like 4 and closed it down at 9 pm. The last stop was Ted Baker where I got this absolutely fabulous coat. (I had buyers remorse the next day, but heh lucky for me they didn't take returns so I"m stuck with it :) Then we headed to Claim Jumpers for a later dinner and Katie joined us. We all had the seared ahi tuna salad that had beets in it...just divine. It came with this garlic cheese bread that was oh so tasty. Followed up by some amazing dessert:


Mud Pie for the Masses is really what it should have been named.

Saturday we slept in. (The whole time I was there I slept like 11 hours every night, it was heaven). Then we went on a run, then we went to downtown HB for guess what...more shopping. The Shoe Lab on Main St where we all bought a pair of hot shoes. Here is Katie and I checking ourselves out.





It's a good thing Corey and I live in different cities b/c great fashion minds think alike and we ended up with the same pair of shoes. And they were on sale...even better.

We went to Wahoo's Fish Tacos for lunch. Simply heaven. If I lived in HB I think I'd have these everyday. It was great when I watched the first season of Laguna Beach this weekend that they had a scene in Wahoos. I felt all special.

When we walked into The Closet on main, I felt like I was back in Haight Ashbury. They had some fabulous pieces, but thankfully I didn't walk away with anything b/c I had done my damage the day before (plus that pair of shoes I bought on saturday, see above) But I did kind of like this hat. It looked better on sideways though.

My favorite pic of the trip. This happened in Burlington Coat Factory. Enough said.


Me & the one girl I know who loves Big Gulps more than I do.

Saturday night we saw Catch & Release. Nothing to write home about but I thought the leading guy (timothy olyphant) was kind of cute (even though he was the slimy guy...whatever). I still love Jennifer Garner even if this movie was trying to do too much. Kevin Smith made me laugh too. I wanted more of a romantic comedy, not like 5 plots shoved together incoherently. But I still enjoyed myself.

Sunday was Stake Conference and we got to hear L. Tom Perry speak which was a treat. I really loved his talk because he was so positive and really down to earth.

After church we headed south to Laguna Beach to meet up with my brother for dinner.

As we stood on the beach watching the sun set, I couldn't help but be overcome with gratitude for how beautiful the scene was. I think I appreciated it more being away from the sun and warmth for so long. For some reason the ocean was really turquoise too which made me very happy. I just stared at it for the longest time.


Dinner in Laguna was amazing..I had some Salmon something. Cam and I love taking pics together. haha.

So we were driving back and I decided I really couldn't leave just yet and I stayed for a couple more days. Monday and Tuesday I shopped, read, ran, and watched some more TV. It was simply the best weekend...I LOVED it. Not to mention Corey and Katie are two of my favorite people. Miss you guys!

Presidents Weekend Looked A Lot Like This

Pretty much my weekend in a nutshell.

Travel Log...Oh well

You know, I realized that all my blog is are posts about my travels and pics of those travels. I mean I have other stuff posted, like random thoughts and the like. But ya know, I dont really mind that my blog is really just a travel log because guess what, I go on trips a lot. And by a lot, I really wish it was more often.

I know you can't wait to see my SoCal pics. My dear sweet KC has promised them. :D

Patience my child.

My girlz

These pictures make me really happy. Lauren bought us all the same Tshirt that I absolutely love when she was in Canada over break. Here's our little photo shoot.

Avoiding Responsibility

Can you blame me?

I went to SoCal this weekend to visit Corey and Katie and I was supposed to leave last night but couldn't. Its too beautiful here.

Its freezing in here Mr. Bigglesworth..

Let me tell you a little story. It's made up 4 characters...Lauren (pronounced Lore-N), Kodie (KO-d), Bryson (B-love) and Whitney (Uhhh..Whit-NEY). One day Whitney said to Bryson, I've always wanted to go to Montreal. Bryson thought for a bit and said, I have always wanted to go too! And for some reason the four of them agreed to go at the end of January when temperatures were dipping below 0. No one objected to the cold factor, they just decided to go. Plus, they were getting tired of being back in Boston (well at least Whitney was). So, here are some fun illustrations to the Montreal Canadian adventure/random road trip.

So on the way up, I denied knowing any French, for I didnt want to be responsible as the translator when I hadn't spoken French in a long time. Sure, I could read road maps but I didn't want to suffer the wrath of a snooty French Canadian when I had to ask in broken French for directions to the nearest metro stop. When Lauren was reading us the pronounciation guide for common french words and having us guess what they meant, I got them all right. Then Bryson was like, 'whoa, you know a lot of french'. So the cat was out of the bag. And I served as a mediocre translator. Not like we needed it, everyone spoke English there.





Here's a pic of the outside of the Basilique notre dame in Montreal. First built in the 1700s, its been restored numerous times and is GORGEOUS inside. This was one of the highlights...going inside and seeing all the intricate stained glass work. It reminded me a lot of Sainte-Chappelle in Paris, one of my favorite stained glass churches. Lo and behold when I read about the history of the chapel, it was based on Sainte-Chappelle. Dang i'm good.

Interior of Sainte Chappelle.


It was SO cold on Friday when were walking around--- like -20 so we retreated to the underground shopping mall. I was amazed when we walked in the dollar store to find out they had some great things for a buck. I got a fabulous spatula to flip my pancakes with. Bryson and Kodie made out like bandits with their styrofoam swords. Little did we know the extent of the underground mall and tunnels...it covers the whole city...crazy.


Saturday it was so sunny and gorgeous and COLD. Here is a great pic of the ice skaters outside on the frozen lake with the montreal skyline in the background.


I loved some of the buildings in Montreal...lots of French architecture in Vieux Montreal.

For some strange reason, we weren't cold enough walking around so we walked to the river to see all the ice chunks. I've never been so cold in my LIFE.

And I found a swing set to play on.

Couche-tard, the french canadian version of sevie had this hilarious add for slurpees. If you can't tell, those are big balls of fat that are showing the sizes of the cups. I really dont get french canadian advertising. but whatever. It made me laugh. :D

Poutine is a french canadian traditional dish. I dont really know how it survived, but probably the high fat content makes it popular. Its french fries, gravy, cheese, and cheese curds. YUM.


Kodie kept picking up and more and more layers on our journey. I had some fun with the hats.


This is my favorite pic.


When we rolled into Montreal, I saw this mural with fighter planes and canadian geese. I thought it was funny.

Kodie and I freezing our butts off. Check out his expression.

Lauren and I being tourists.


On our first day we were trying to figure out what to do besides sight see. Lauren is getting excited to look up what to do. We kept asking the locals and they were like "uhhh...yeah...in the winter? I dont know..." It was not a good sign and we laughed about how cold it was, again.


This was the first day we came in. It was SO cold. I really can't say that enough. Like really, it was really cold. No foolin'.

This was the first night we were in. See Lauren's breath? That's right. COLD.

Me in front of the Basilique Notre Dame.


Kodie all bundled up.

Okay this sculpture was hilarious. We figured it represented a typical person who lived in Montreal in the winter..."why do i live here!? Its COLD"



Bryson.


We meant to take a pic of the cute houses, but Bryson got all of the gross street in with the dirty cars too. plus you can't even tell how cute we are. *sigh*


Sunday morning it was SO gorgeous. It warmed up a bit...it was like 10 degrees which felt like a heat wave. Here's a beautiful pic of our street bathed in sunshine.


For breakfast we went to L'Avenue which Sirisha told us we had to go to. We got there early b/c we didn't want to wait...and I can safely say it was best eggs benedict I've ever had.

It was poached eggs, the best hollandaise sauce ever made by man, brie, asparagus, roasted eggplant, all over an english muffin. My mouth is still watering when I look at this picture. It was DIVINE.


Lauren got eggs benedict too over a bunch of colorful veggies. So good!



After church on our way out we drove out to Olympic parc to point and laugh at the funny dome with the funny thing on top. Then we drove away and back home to Boston! I can't tell you how greatful I was that it was 38 degrees in boston, which felt like 70. The feeling of warmth only lasted a week and then i was freezing again in boston. Montreal is a beautiful city and I would LOVE to go back in the summer. So my tip: dont go when its freezing. Seriously.