Oscar Loveliness 2011

To start, I love Hathaway and Franco, but last night's Oscars were a tad bit boring...just sayin'.
With that out of the way, here are my fave dresses from the red carpet.

Hailee Steinfeld in Marchesa

This was an amazing dress for this young lady.

I thought it was age appropriate

and was a natural look for her.

Turns out...she helped design it!

Amy Adams in L'Wren

I love AA and I thought she looked FAB.

I loved the green jewels.

It made this "plain jane" dress stand out!

...and the jewels,

that's another story:

1.35 million dollars worth!

Gwyneth Paltrow in Calvin Klein

I loved her look, tres' chic!

However, I think she should have

either darkened her hair a tad,

or wore the same dress

in a darker tone of this color.

Does that make sense?

I thought she kinda looked washed out...

but I loved it...

and her!

Reese Witherspoon in Armani Prive

I didn't love it,

but I thought she looked nice and comfortable

...and I own this dress.

OK, so not the Armani version,

but one very similar,

 that I wore for Mardi Gras

several years ago...LOL.

I'm not even joking.

To end though, I must say, "NO ONE stood above Hathaway".

I loved EVERY outfit she changed into for the night!

(Except, maybe, the tuxedo.)

Anne Hathaway 2011 Oscars

That pretty much sums up what I thought was the best dressed.

All in all though,

pretty boring overall.

What did you think?

CBB

P.S. Congrats to The King's Speech.

I love Colin Firth.

I have loved him since he was Mr. Darcy

in Pride and Prejudice

over 15 years ago.

*In fact,

Helen Fielding said that

Colin Firth as P&P Mr. Darcy 

was the direct inspiration for her Mr. Darcy

in Bridget Jones's Diary.

Don't you just love that?

Christy is Crushin' on...

For my birthday week,
my post of what I'm really crushin' on:

Blog:

Royal Mail

Marianne over at RM,

 is the sweetest thing on the World Wide Web.

She is part of the internet posse

 that I follow

made up of such characters as:

Claire, Faiza, and Karina.

They have not let me in, yet...but I am working on it.

I am pretty cool,

but they do seem cooler...

or maybe just younger!

Go check them out!

Music:

Adele

This "super lady" is awesome.

I love her last album,

but the new one is even better.

Head over to Ellen

to see her performance of

"Someone Like You"

from the new album, "21".

I cried.

Outfit:

Jeans, Heels, and a White Shirt

This is my "go-to" outfit.

I add jewelry, a belt, and a big bag,

but I love nothing more,

clothes wise, 

than a crisp, white shirt!

It goes with anything!

Place:

Vancouver, BC

OK, so maybe it has to do with this show,

but when I visited Seattle years ago,

I missed getting to journey up to Vancouver,

and have always regretted it!

The Olympics renewed my yearning for this majestical city!

Good thing is...

I think my hubs and kids would love this city, too!

Celebrity:

Nathan Fillion

You know, you're all watching Castle,

but I have loved him since

One Life to Live,

2 Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place,

and now...

everyone is loving the cult classic,

Firefly.

Nathan, I love you...

if for no other reason but this one:

Kids Need to Read.

WR4W...and birthdays, like mine!

Since today is the glorious day that I arrived, not so long ago, I am going to try and keep with the wed theme, but showcase a birthday-ish idea, as well.  I thought I would provide ideas for table settings. Regardless, of the amount of money that one puts into a wedding, a dinner party, a birthday celebration, etc. there is always room for class, presentation, and fresh flowers. These are some examples of great table settings that I think are "somewhat" easy!

yellow table
This table reminds me of waking up with sunshine on my face...LOL.
...and what do you do right after you wake up...
you go eat a healthy, hearty breakfast.
Most important meal of the day, right?

red table
This is so easy and yet so elegant.
I could see this table done in any color
and still look Fabulous!

white table

This is the perfect table to me.

All the different flowers for the centerpieces

are so inviting and goes perfect with the light blue tablecloth.

brown and green

I love these 2 colors together.

There were lots of settings,

 using Brown and Green,

that really inspired me.

simple setting

This link shares great "simple" settings.

I love them,

but I would say that...

I am a big fan of Real Simple.

If you look for table settings online, be specific!

It is unreal.

The more descriptions you use,

the better the search.

Now to close, here are my table setting rules:

1. NEVER use plastic tablecloths. (I loathe them.)
2. Centerpieces should never block eye-contact.
3. Mix couples/guests up. How else will they meet other people?
4. Good food. Good wine. Good fun.

Cake stands

Vintage Inspired Cake Stand

Am I the only person crazy for cake stands?
I love these things.
They really are an asset to any kitchen, baker, or decorator.
These days, I'm a bit obsessed with them.
I have made nearly a dozen,
mainly for gifts,
but how easy is making a cake and putting it on something pretty?

There are many different styles,
with a wide price range,
of these stands out there.
However, you can make one in 3 easy steps!

• Buy a plate and something to put plate on.
• Get out the E6000(or any epoxy)
• Put them together

Repurposed Cake Stand

Not a lot of rules,
but remember,
if something heavy is going on the plate,
the base has to be able to hold it up!
I have seen many, many stands:
round, square, cupcake, wood, glass, etc....you get my point.

Below, I am going to share a few that I like,
and the link for you to go see what they are
...and how to do it!

A word to the wise, though:
cake stands made from wood, may need more steps than three
...sometimes a drill may be required!

Wood Cake Stand

Christy is Crushin' on...

I have enjoyed having a theme for the last 14 days...and LOVE the WR4W that kristi started, so now I am going to use Fridays as my CRUSH blog posts day.

Every week, I'm going to give a shout out to blogs I'm reading, music I'm listening to, outfits that I just have to have and some place I'd like to be that weekend. Oh, and who I'm crushin' on celebrity wise!
Here goes this week's crushes:

Blog: Bicoastally

Claire is an amazing writer and person.

Who she is, comes off in what she writes.

100% talent!

Music: Bruno Mars

I love this guy.

The way he sounds and his style,

2nd to none.

Outfit: One-Shoulder Dresses

I love these dresses.

They have been around forever,

but I still like them!

Place: Portwenn

The real name of the city is Port Isaac.

It is in North Cornwall, England.

The city is from the PBS series Doc Martin.

One day,

my family and I will "summer" there.

Celebrity: Liam Neeson

Met this awesome guy in Hazard, KY.

I was 15 years old...

and he has done nothing, but get better with age.

Class act!

WR4W...Photography.

Today, I want to talk about wedding pics and photographers. First of all, I do not like staged wedding pictures. I am a huge fan of wedding photojournalism.

What I mean is, I like great pics taken of an event

without telling anyone

what to do

or how to look

or how to pose.

From what I read and see on most wed blogs, lots of folks are doing it.

It is a trend that will be around for a while.

Therefore, just wanting to show some great examples of wedding photojournalism

on the blog for this Wednesday's post.

These were from my big day.

None were taken by professionals...at the time.

CBB

P.S. Not a fan of the backside photo, but it was a wonderful moment shared with my daughters!

Making a quilt

I AM pretty crafty, but I have never "completed" a quilt and I have trouble tying fancy bows. As many of you know, I am working on a t-shirt quilt for the hubs to give to him on our anniversary this year (I started this project on our anniversary last year)...after I see how it comes out, I am doing one for my eldest daughter, too. I am using all of her "spirit" shirts from school. So, today, I will not talk about bows, but come back soon and I'll go off on that as well.

Now, the t-shirt quilt is coming along, but it brings me back to a quilt I started while living by myself in Winchester, KY back in 2007. I decided that I wanted to make a BOW TIE quilt. Unless you are a professional quilter, this seemed like an easy quilt...well, it was...is not. I have one strip sewn together for a king size bed...LOL. I have most, if not all of the fabric cut out...just haven't sat back down and started on it. That is getting ready to change, my friends. I am going to make this quilt and I have been on-line hunting down ideas, directions, and motivations.

I loved the directions given over @ http://eliseblaha.typepad.com/golden/2011/02/sweet.html

They were simple and true. You may have to do a little research, but the steps are about right.

She says:

pick color scheme
buy fabric for top
wash fabric
cut squares
sew squares into strips
sew strips together
trim edges
iron top of quilt
read about how to bind layers together
buy binding supplies
pin back, batting & top together
sew, sew, sew
trim edges
read about how to finish off
buy fabric for final binding edge
cut fabric
read again how to finish off because it seemed ridiculously hard
iron fabric
machine stitch binding on
pin binding
hand stitch into place

I am not putting a time limit on this quilt, but I am going to dedicate the next few weeks to putting a little more of it together. Today, think about something that you could leave as a legacy and attempt to do it. Future generations will thank you AND you could share it on your own blog.

CBB