52 Lists - Week 5

I really like this week's list. Its always good to list what you're grateful for on a regular basis. It someone makes the no to great part seem really trivial, and even makes some of the other dramas more comical.

WEEK 5 // LIST WHAT YOU ARE GRATEFUL FOR

• The Boyfriend, his love, and his support
• Best Friends, their love, and their support
• Creative Outlets, even though I don't get to create as much as I like, its nice to be able to escape in it whenever I can
• The Apartment, this little place has become our home
• The Cat and his silliness
• Traditions and Keepsakes
• My Job, it keeps the bills paid and gives me health insurance
• Living in Southern California, the sun, the culture, the beach, the diversity
• Health, it wouldn't hurt me one bit to loose weight, but I've lost enough that I've been my healthiest in my adult life
• Coffee, it makes me less grumpy in the mornings

** The 52 Lists Project is by Moorea Seal 

Found: Silver

The Boyfriend and I have really gotten into thrifting and antiques. While I absolutely love antiques and visiting antique stores and malls, the prices are often on the high side. It's not often that you find a good deal in California, but every now and then you can come across some really good steals at Goodwill or Salvation Army.

We can across two very tarnished pieces on our last trip to the Salvation Army. After looking up the markings on the bottom, we confirmed that the bowl is 100% silver ($15.00) and the plate is silver plated ($6.00). With it being a 40% off day, the items were a only $9 for the bowl and $3.60 for the plate.

Even though both pieces are very tarnished, they were both still shiny with a nice patina. The plate had a few visible scratches, but for $3.60 we took at chance.

I looked up a homemade cleaning solution online that uses foil, baking soda, salt, and boiling water. I didn't really measure anything (like it said I was supposed to) and I ended up using one of those foil baking dishes (like it said not to - I know, I'm a rebel). In the end we ended up with this:

I absolutely love what we found underneath. I can't wait to go back again and unearth more treasures like this!

Monthly Movie Recap - January

The Boyfriend* and I are big movie watchers. HUGE movie watchers. We go to the movies at least once a week and we watch Netflix movies or something from our personal collection at least twice a week. Now that we have HBO, there is a whole other source for us to watch movies. These are the movies that we've watched in the month of January:

In the Theater
Inside Llewyn Davis
Her
August: Osage County
Wolf of Wall Street
The Past 
Frozen

Netflix
My Sassy Girl (US Remake)
20 Feet from Stardom
Broken Circle Breakdown
The Croods
Singing in the Rain

HBO
Hurricane
LA Confidential
Despicable Me 2

Personal DVD/BluRay Collection
There Will Be Blood
Steel Magnolias (1989)

Just call me a linkamapotomus. hehe. My Favorites of January include: Her, August: Osage County, Wolf of Wall Street, 20 Feet from Stardom, Broken Circle Breakdown, and Steel Magnolias. Despicable Me was cute, but I prefer the first one over the second one.

*I've decided that even though we are now engaged, the Boyfriend will continue to be called The Boyfriend on this blog until he officially becomes The Husband. :)

2014 Oscar Nominees

Last year was the first year that The Boyfriend and I decided to watch all the Oscar Nominated Films, make our own predictions, and then watch the Oscars live to see how well we do. The 2014 Oscar Nominees were announced last Thursday, and this year we actually have seen most of the films. A full list of the nominees can be found on the Official Site. Here are the nominees in the categories we are considering:

Best Picture

American Hustle (Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, and Jonathan Gordon, Producers) 
Captain Phillips (Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca, Producers) 
Dallas Buyers Club (Robbie Brenner and Rachel Winter, Producers) 
Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón and David Heyman, Producers) 
Her (Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze and Vincent Landay, Producers) 
Nebraska (Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa, Producers) 
Philomena (Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan and Tracey Seaward, Producers) 
12 Years a Slave (Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen and Anthony Katagas, Producers) 
The Wolf of Wall Street (Nominees to be determined)

Actor in a Leading Role

Christian Bale American Hustle 

Bruce Dern Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey Dallas Buyers Club

Actress in a Leading Role

Amy Adams American Hustle  

Cate Blanchett Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock Gravity
Judi Dench Philomena
Meryl Streep August: Osage County

Actor in a Supporting Role

Barkhad Abdi Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper American Hustle 
Michael Fassbender 12 Years a Slave
Jonah Hill The Wolf of Wall Street 
Jared Leto Dallas Buyers Club

Actress in a Supporting Role

Sally Hawkins Blue Jasmine 
Jennifer Lawrence American Hustle 
Lupita Nyong'o 12 Years a Slave 
Julia Roberts August: Osage County 
June Squibb Nebraska

Directing

American Hustle David O. Russell 
Gravity Alfonso Cuarón 
Nebraska Alexander Payne 
12 Years a Slave Steve McQueen 
The Wolf of Wall Street Martin Scorsese

Writing - Adapted Screenplay 

Before Midnight  (Written by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke)  

Captain Phillips (Screenplay by Billy Ray) 
Philomena (Screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope)

12 Years a Slave (Screenplay by John Ridley)

The Wolf of Wall Street (Screenplay by Terence Winter)

Writing - Original Screenplay

American Hustle (Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell)
Blue Jasmine (Written by Woody Allen)
Dallas Buyers Club (Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack)
Her (Written by Spike Jonze)
Nebraska (Written by Bob Nelson)

 

We have seen everything on this list already. In fact, when the nominations were released, the only one he had not seen at the time was Wolf of Wall Street. We are probably going to add the animated, foreign, and documentary categories to the above list, however I'm pretty sure that I will not be getting through those categories.

52 Lists - Week 4

I am a total dreamer, so this is a fun list to compile. Some of them might be totally out there, but none the less, these are my real goals and dreams (or fantasies...haha).

WEEK 4 // LIST YOUR CURRENT & FUTURE GOALS & DREAMS

• Make a living doing something that I love
• Be more brave
• Watch all of AFI's top 100 movies
• Buy a house and customize it to fit us
• Plan the wedding of my dreams
• Go to grad school at USC
• Blog more
• Live a healthy lifestyle
• One day be a Mama
• Complete one year of Project Life
• Have a vacation property
• Travel to Italy, Greece, Japan, France

** The 52 Lists Project is by Moorea Seal

Wordless Wednesday

52 Lists - Week 3

WEEK 3 // LIST THE THINGS YOU SHOULD BE PROUD OF

This is the weird list for me because I as I typed it up I felt like I was bragging about myself/calling attention to myself, which is totally not me. Anywho. It was interesting to do a little bit of self reflection and take a moment to say "Yo. This is Me and I'm Awesome." haha.

• My Boyfriend and our ever growing Relationship
• My education and that I paid/am paying for a majority of it myself
• I am living my life for me and my happiness
• I've made a happy home for me and my Boyfriend
• I have a good work ethic and work habits that keep me focused
• I am patient which has helped with dealing with difficult people
• My creativity and artistic ability allows for me to unwind from work and also document me and my life at the same time.
• I am responsible and dependable
• My confidence and how I feel about myself is growing and improving everyday
• I am happy

52 Lists Project - Weeks 1 & 2

I've decided to participate in Moorea's year long project called 52 Lists. As a fellow list lover, this project seems like it would be my jam. I'm only a little bit behind, so I will bust out the two weeks in one post and then follow up weekly for the rest of the year (I hope!)

WEEK 1 // LIST THE WORDS THAT TOUCH YOUR SOUL

I Love You, Trust, Warmth, Change, Always, Family, Thrive, Happy, Open, Believe, Acceptance, Wanderlust, Unconditional, Magic, Create, Evolution, Relationship, Movement, Freedom, Randomness, Growth, Dreaming, Sunshine, Exploring, Relaxation, Balance, Truth, Reality, Motion, Home, Heirloom, History, Tradition, Connected, Inspired, Honesty, Composition, Depth, Nesting, Color, Revival, Strength, Endurance, Spirit, Togetherness

WEEK 2 // LIST YOUR GREATEST COMFORTS

Sleeping in my freshly washed sheets and lots of pillows, Warm hugs from the Boyfriend, Pajama Bottoms and a Sweatshirt, Soups and Chili, Snuggles with Bubbas, Movie Watching, Staying in on a Rainy Day, Baking and Cooking, Hot Showers, Singing along with the Radio/iTunes, Nachos, Cross-Stitching, The Beach, Sunsets, Visiting the USC Campus, Taking my shoes off after a day's work, A clean apartment, Design Books/Blogs, Random days off from work, Vacationing where there is no internet or television, Getting Crafty, Iced Coffee, Sammie & Bhoo, A clean kitchen, Pinterest, Journaling/Writing, Antiquing

One Little Word 2014

I've have chosen a word for 2014. Its a word that in the past week alone has been said around me, to me, about me, etc. So, without further ado, my One Little Word for 2014 is:

HAPPY adjective \ˈha-pē\

: feeling pleasure and enjoyment because of your life, situation, etc.
: showing or causing feelings of pleasure and enjoyment

: pleased or glad about a particular situation, event, etc.

The full Definition of Happy (from www.merriam-webster.com)

HAPPY 2014!

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I enjoyed seeing how my 2013 word THRIVE unfolded in my life and I'm looking forward to a HAPPY life in 2014 and beyond.