Twofer

Spent the day catching up on laundry, have my delicates (knit dresses, nice shirts, etc) to do tomorrow since they have to hang up to dry, but just about everything else is done! Yay!

I'm almost done with Season 1 of Bones, and I'm not really sure why I didn't like it in the first place. I absolutely love it now, especially the episode "The Man in The Wall". It's about the rap industry and I find that geeks + the rap industry (at least in TV) equals hilarity and awesomeness. Don't believe me? Check out this one or the NUMB3RS episode with Three Six Mafia-- both are classics, and actually give the rap industry its due through the geeky main characters.

I did pick out a china pattern, I went with the Mikasa Cameo Platinum-- I thought the little details added enough cuteness without being overly done. I liked the Parchment one E liked, but it was just a bit too much, I think. With a simple design, it won't take away from whatever I'm serving, but it will be enough to stand out on its own. Plus I don't have to be paranoid about whether or not the raised dots will come off... I also picked out good silverware, Oneida "Jackson" which is quite reasonably priced for the quality you get with Oneida (fun fact, they were originally a small company of silversmiths out of Pennsylvania, I believe Quaker) and they've got a little bit of the curve from the plates.

Work was slow tonight, only one table, but it was a really fun couple from the neighborhood who came in and had a couple bottles of wine and talked to us for like three and a half hours. We talked about airline stuff, dentists, cars, silly things we did when we were younger, living in Atlanta, living other places, college, just about anything you can think of. I don't expect this week to be too busy, since Valentine's Day is Saturday. I brought Jon the cards I did up for Amy (one from him and one from Carter), and though I forgot to take pictures of them, they'd be easily re-doable. I need to remember to send Valerie's card tomorrow-- though at this point it'll be late, so I might just wait and let Jeremy sign it for himself!

That's about all for now, I'm going to pop in some Six Feet Under (since I have seriously under-used my Netflix potential for the month) and keep plugging through my room. I won't have my chest of drawers or vanity back up for another month or so because I'm going to sand them down and re-paint them before I bring them up. I haven't decided what color I'm going to use since I'd like to keep them around for my kids and obviously I don't know if I'll have girls or boys! I'd really like to do red, but that's a given, so if anyone has suggestions other than red let me know and I'll gladly post pictures of the finished product.

My Oscar Picks

Best Picture:
I haven't seen any of them yet, but I'm betting it'll either be Benjamin Button or Frost/Nixon. We love a good political movie for best picture.

Leading Actor:
Frank Langella- Frost/Nixon

Leading Actress:
I haven't seen any of these yet, either, but I'm going between Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet... I really want Winslet, but Streep's a shoo in...

Supporting Actor:
Heath Ledger. If for some reason he doesn't, then I'm hoping they'll go with Robert Downy, Jr. I mean, I love Phillip Seymour Hoffman, but it's about damn time comedic roles won more Oscars. We started with Streep a couple years ago, if we can't give it to Ledger (who does seriously deserve it), let's give it to Downy.

Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams and Marissa Tomei are both good choices, but I'm going to go with Marissa Tomei on this one.

Best Director:
From what I hear, it'll be between Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire. I'm hoping for Elyse's sake it's Slumdog-- It's on my queue so I'll hopefully be able to say more about it soon.

Best Screenplay:
It'll probably be Milk, but I'm rooting for WALL-E.

Previously-Based Screenplay:
I'm voting Frost/Nixon

Cinematography:
The Dark Knight

Costume Design:
Australia

Makeup:
This is a tough one-- all three of the movies nominated (Benjamin Button, Dark Knight, and Hellboy) all took some serious talent and design prowess... I'm going to put my money on Benjamin Button though since they do the whole aging backwards thing.

Music:
WALL-E

Best Original Song:
WALL-E

Sound:
WALL-E

Sound Editing:
WALL-E or Dark Knight

Visual Effects:
Another toughie-- Benjamin Button, Dark Knight, and Iron Man were all really well done, but I'm going to go with Iron Man or Dark Knight; especially if Button wins for makeup

Animated Feature:
WALL-E, duh. I mean, I liked Kung Fu Panda and I heard Bolt was cute, but let's face it-- WALL-E is the best.

I'll end with Foreign Film just because usually the one I've actually heard of when I'm not paying attention wins-- we'll say Vals Im Bashir (Israel) takes it.

If you want to see the full list, check out IMDB. I'm excited-- this is the first year it hasn't been a total disappointment, even though I will hurt someone if Angelina Jolie wins. No, really. I'm serious.

Anyway, we'll recap on the 22nd and see if I was right about any of them. Again, I've seen almost none of these so I'm going on what little I know. I'll feel very special indeed if I get any of them right!