The Oscars

I'm watching The Oscars as we speak, but rest assured, I have already watched the Red Carpet special and been through pictures online, so I feel well prepared to make assessments on the fashions.

First, I don't understand the big deal about Angelina Jolie's dress. Yes, there was a major slit up the leg, but she didn't stand any different than anyone else posing on the red carpet. Actually for Angelina, I thought the dress was tame and anticlimatic:


Octavia Spencer looked wonderful in her dress and I'm so glad she won for "The Help." Well deserved.


Who put gold lame back on the fashion map? Eeek. Even Stacy Keibler, who I think makes good fashion choices, couldn't save this dress:

Thankfully, she had the dashing George Clooney there to save her from complete failure. Does he ever look bad?

While I loved Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids" and still can snort and laugh my way through it, I just didn't think her dress did anything for her:



I loved Viola Davis's dress. The color, cut, and design looked great on her:


Tina Fey!! She looked so pretty- loved her hair.


I'm not on "The Artist" bandwagon and don't know that I ever will be. I admire that it stepped out of what we consider to be normal Hollywood movies, but I'm just not sure about it.
And I'm not sure about Berenice Bejo's dress, especially with her hair color:


I really wanted to like Missi Pyle's dress, her being a Germantown grad and all, but it just wasn't there. The strap coming off the shoulder look like an ill-fitting gown instead of fashion statement and the bottom didn't match the top. I liked the color, though:


It takes a special man, more specifically, a special 82 year old man, to pull off a purple velvet tux. Christopher Plummer did it and did it well. And if you haven't seen "Beginners", you should.


I also loved Kelly Ripa's and Nancy O'Dell's dresses. I think Nancy O'Dell's could have been a little less yellow, but the design and cut of it were perfect. And Kelly Ripa is pretty much a Barbie doll, so how hard could she have been to fit in a dress?



My favorite- hands down- was Emma Stone. If I could pull off wearing a big bow on a dress, I would everyday.


Billy Crystal did a pretty good job hosting, much better than Anne Hathaway and James Franco. I thought Chris Rock presenting the animation award was hilarious! I did think it was shameful that those that made the documentary "Undefeated" about the Manassas football team didn't even thank the players and coaches who, without them, they wouldn't have had a movie.

The real awards season is over, sadly, so it's back to Pinterest and Cooper update posts. Sorry to all 2 readers!

Happenings with the Radfords

I think I forgot we had a blog the past few weeks. That, or I didn't have anything relevant to contribute or fell asleep before I had the chance. One of those.

We're a really boring family, but with Cooper being in full-fledged Terrible Twos mode, we are just looking to survive. He takes after me with his temper and Jeff with his mischievous ways. It's like the worst of our qualities merged into Cooper. At the same time, out of nowhere, he'll walk up and say, "I want to give Mommy hug!" or "Hey! What's going on?" He never ceases to crack me up and normally when I need it the most.

Here are a few more Cooper highlights:
*Sings along with his tone deaf mother to Adele's "Rolling in the Deep." We discovered this while I was singing along with her Grammy performance and Cooper chimed in.
*Requests Foo Fighters, hums along and "plays" guitar or drums to them. I am most proud of this. What? I knew the lyrics to most Jimmy Buffett songs before the alphabet and look how well I turned out.
*Can count to 10 and recite the alphabet in addition to singing "Happy Birthday", "Rain, Rain Go Away" and "Wheels on the Bus", so no need to call DCS on us not giving him a proper childhood.
*Says "please", "thank you", "excuse me" in context
*Still loves Sesame Street and WoodyBuzz (aka Toy Story). Also into tractors and firetrucks (we have to drive by a construction site and fire station every day for his fix)
*Can run, jump, gallop, and enjoys using stamps more than coloring

Spring is my busy time of the year with state testing, so I'm just bracing myself for the next few months. Jeff is doing well at work and just returned from a successful trip to Georgia.

On a sad note, my aunt Cynthia passed away last Saturday. She had been sick for over 18 years with 5 different types of cancer, Crohn's disease, heart valve issues, and finally kidney failure that resulted in dialysis. An infection in the dialysis port is ultimately what ended her fight. 18 years. Can you imagine being that sick for that long? And y'all she was sick. Things were so bad a few years ago that she couldn't eat- there was no point because it would just go right through her system. I'm glad she's out of pain and she had been suffering for so long, but I'm sad she leaves so many of us that loved her behind. In the last 6 years, my dad and Aunt Leigh have lost both parents and their sister- they're the only 2 left in their family.

Better Than Crack Brownies

How can I not have your attention with a title like that?

I really do try to watch what I eat, but sometimes Chick-fil-A and holidays get in the way. Yes, I consider the Super Bowl a holiday, which was the reason for making Better Than Crack Brownies. I'll give you 3 guesses as to where I got the recipe.

To make this dessert (and I cannot speak on whether or not they are better than crack for obvious reasons, but they were really, really good), you will need:
-1 box brownie mix and the ingredients to make the brownies
-1 bag mini Reese's peanut butter cups
-1 bag chocolate chips
-1 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
-1 1/2 cup Rice Krispies

Make brownies according to package directions. Take brownies out of oven and immediately sprinkle with mini Reese's peanut butter cups. Return to oven for 5 minutes. Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter together, stirring until smooth. Add Rice Krispies and stir together. Spread on brownies and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Voila:

They taste a lot better than they look. I promise.