ooh la-la oscars. by orange

How I love the Oscars each year.  Friends gather, good food is served and there is plenty of dazzle and glitz on the TV.  While taking in the Oscars this year, the fashion themes seemed to be:

- off the shoulder
- metallics
- sweetheart necklines
- red

Here are some of my favorites showing off the styles:

metallic

one shoulder

sweetheart neckline

red

And my favorite dress of the night by far:

Violet's favorite dress of the night:

My favorite "taking a risk" dress:

My least favorite of the night:

And this lady just annoyed me during the pre-show.  What was with her non-moving right arm and strange posture.

all pictures from abc

mimosa by the pint. by orange

For some very odd reason, growing up I wasn't a big fan of crepes.  I think it was because sometimes they can have a slightly slimey/gooey consistency to them.  Well, my palette has matured over the years and I've come to like things like asparagus, eggs over medium and crepes.  Maybe it's because my husband makes delicious crepes...

This past weekend my friend Kelli and I met up to catch up at a place named Citizen Coffee in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle.  I've known Kelli for over 6 years, we met when we were both studying abroad in London.  Although we didn't stay in touch a ton after we arrived home after the quarter overseas, we ended up both working at Starbucks Corp after college.  During about her last year at Starbucks, we'd meet up for coffee every once in awhile.  She recently joined another Seattle mega-company - Amazon.com.  Since she has left, we get together about every 3 weeks or so.  I'm very happy that we actually are the friends to really "keep in touch" after she left Starbucks.

So this weekend, we choose Citizen Coffee for our meeting grounds.  I was there for my first time about 4 weeks ago with my friend Shelby who introduced me to the place.  I'm the type that when I find out of a good place to eat, drink, shop, etc - I latch on and latch on strong.  No surprise then that I'd be back so soon.  The beauty of Citizen Coffee is the architecture of the building, the sweet and savory choices of crepes, the unpretentious environment and the best part: selling mimosas (with either grapefruit or OJ) by the Pint.  Yes, I said Pint.  Yum.

If you live in Seattle, quickly head to Citizen Coffee and enjoy.

pint o' mimosa and coffee

lemon curd with strawberries sweet crepe

  savory breakfast sandwich

wood, brick interior

a few tricks. by orange

This past weekend a few friends and the husband and I packed up our car and headed down to our good friends' house in Eugene, OR, aka home of The Oregon Ducks. 

Going to Stacy and Ray's house is like a trip back home, visiting mom and dad.  They are around our same age, just have always had that "big brother/big sister", more "mature" persona to them.  Going to their house is the perfect escape from the day to day blur of work, stress, etc.  There were 3 main reasons for our trip to The Eug:

1. Halloween Party

2. University of Oregon vs. University of Southern California football game

3. Haunted Corn Maze

As violet's J. photo-documented the weekend festivities I'll leave #1 and #3 to future violet posts.  I'm digging into #2 reason.

Now I've never been really into football.  Of course I made all the normal football appearances during college however, by half-time I was the one ready to head home for a post-pre-funking game nap.  With marrying the husband, who Loves football, and all the college football Saturday/Sunday get togethers it was time I figured out what was going on during the game.

Here are the few things I've picked up over the past few seasons to help me through the game:

1. The computer imposed First Down line is Extremely helpful when watching a game on TV.  Basically, the offensive football team has 4 tries to make a First Down.  Once they make a First Down, they get to start the four tries over.  If they don't make the First Down within four tries then the other team gets the football.

2. In order for the football team to get the First Down, they have to move the football 10 yards down the field towards their end zone.

3. Main Penalities: False Start, Holding, Pass Interference and Face Mask (see below for the referee signals and a few more)

4. Main Scoring Opportunities:

Touchdown = 6 points
Field Goal = 3 points
P.A.T. (Point After Touchdown) = 1 point
Going for Two (where the offensive team runs it in after a touchdown) = 2 points

Any other tips you know of in order to get into the game?

And, by the way, this game (UO vs. USC) was EPIC. Pete Carroll (USC head coach) has never been beat by an opposing team by more than 11 points before this game.  We just happen to beat them by 27 points - it was amazing.  And I was really glad I could keep up with all the scoring during the game :).