what i'm lovin' wednesday!

I know, I know- I've been a little MIA lately. Of course, I have to lay the blame at the feet of two people:

     #1- This trainwreck

Jodi Arias

I spend basically every free second I have at work checking the live blog for this trial. Seriously, it's an obsession, a sickness, and I can't stop. I was the same with Casey Anthony. I'm sure I'll be the same when the Aurora psycho goes on trial too. If I had been old enough to understand/care during the OJ trial, there's no doubt I would have been addicted to that as well. When I get sucked in and am convinced someone is guilty/deserves justice, I follow the trial with the same passion that I watch, for instance, the Iron Bowl. For all you non-Bammers and non-Barners, that's an in-state college football rivalry, and I am fiercely passionate about the outcome of the game. Likewise, I'm absorbed by every detail of this trial and find myself subconciously "cheering" whenever the prosecutor makes a slam-dunk in court. This trial has read like some sort of trashy romance/criminal suspense novel. The kind you can't put down even though you're embarrassed to admit it. Sex, lies, deceit, cheating, religious scandal, murder, blood... you name it, this trial has it. It's riveting to watch, and hopefully when it is over, I'll have a little more time on my hands.

     #2- Matthew Crawley

So now that you know how I spend every free second at work, it's only fair to tell you how I've been spending every free second outside of work. That's right folks- I'm 100% on the Downton Abbey bandwagon. I kept hearing so many good things about it that I just had to give it a shot. I watched an episode or two on Netflix a couple of months ago, but got busy and never got back to it. A few weeks ago, a friend loaned me Seasons 1 and 2 on DVD, and since then I've been living on a British rollercoaster of love, war, and social class division. LOVE IT. The hype is for real y'all. I'm almost done with Season 2, and I dare say I'm a little nervous to see Season 3 after hearing so much recently about the finale. DON'T TELL ME if you have seen it! I've heard so many people discussing it that it's been almost impossible to avoid a major spoiler. But so far, I've successfully managed to stay in the dark until I watch.

So there you have it, my two very time-consuming guilty pleasures of the moment. And how appropriate that I shared this secret for "What I'm Loving Wednesday" because I'm most certainly loving the courtroom dramatics of the Arias trial and the "Will they or won't they?" saga between Mary and Matthew on Downton.

Here's a VERY brief recap of some of the things we've been up to since my last post:

Valentine's Day

Pink Sugar Cookies

Red Velvet Milky Way Cookies

Whole morning at the spa courtesy of Mr. M

Birthday Celebrations

Group birthday celebration at Cocina for our friend Jesse

Sweet Tate's 2nd Birthday Monster Party

Nashville Trip

Paradise Park- our fave

Love some Mal

Traditional group guitar pic!

And last but not least, I leave you with some of my favorite Oscar looks (via):

Charlize

My absolute favorite- Naomi

Jennifer

Cutest couple - the Tatums

Royal Reese

Jessica

Amy

wednesday loving

I'm linking up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday to share a few of my current random loves.

1. Nutella Muffins with Cream Cheese Icing

I've made these delicious muffins the last couple of weekends and we are hooked! Here's the how-to if anyone is interested.

• 1 can Pillsbury Grand Biscuits
• 1 small jar Nutella
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 4 oz. cream cheese softened
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees

- Roll each of the 8 Pillsbury Grand Biscuits out into a flat circle with rolling pin. Coat with sugar on both sides.
- Spread a couple Tbsp. of Nutella onto each rolled out dough.
- Roll up each dough.
- Cut each rolled up dough into 3 equal pieces.
- Place 3 pieces, with the cut side up, into each muffin tin slot.
- Bake at 350 F for about 15 minutes. Once cooked, let cool in the muffin tin for 5 minutes, then remove and let finish cooling (or if you are like me and like them warm, then you won't have to wait long :) )
- For Icing, beat softened cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar together until smooth. Top Each Nutella Roll with Icing.

 Recipe via Chef In Training

2. Carrie Diaries

It's no SATC, but you take what you can get. And I think this new series about high-school-age Carrie Brashaw is a fresh, pleasant surprise. Check it out!  

3. SAG Awards
I thought the SAG fashion was a bit of snooze-fest this year, but I did see a couple of looks that I loved.

Jennifer Garner

Amanda Seyfreid



Katrina Bowden
All SAG images via Yahoo

4. THE Kiss

Nick and Jess FINALLY locked lips last night on New Girl. On a side note, if anyone knows where Jess got that super cute ruffle robe, please tell Mr. M that yours truly would like one for Valentine's Day.

Have a good Hump Day!!!

miscellany monday

Happy Monday pretty people! I am not sure who actually reads this from time to time, but if your part of the country is anything like mine- I hope you are managing to stay dry. Enough with the torrential rain and dreary gloom!

Lucky for me, in addition to my normal Sunday night programming (Once Upon a Time, Revenge, and Good Wife), I also had the Golden Globe red carpet to enjoy from the comfort of my sofa and away from the nasty weather outside. Let's talk fashion, y'all. How about we start with the most fun- what I hated:

Get over yourself J-Lo. I'm certainly over your nude, see-through look. We get it- you're hot.

What the what?! Poor Sienna. This is just BAD.

I love you and your pregnant belly Kristen Bell, but I'm pretty sure there HAD to be a more flattering dress for you.

Love this color on Jessica and I like the dreamy, romantic concept of this dress. But in reality, it kinda just looks like she has saggy boobs. There's plenty of time for saggy boobs down the road; why try to achieve that look now?

This dress is as crazy and inappropriate as Halle is these days. Act your age.

Ummm, no Lucy. Just no.

Yellow is my favorite color. But somehow this frumpy satin mess makes it my least favorite color. Ever.  

Helen Bonham Carter is always a hot mess. I love seeing just how ridiculous she will look at each event.

And now, for the lovely ladies who did everything right last night:



I adore Jennifer.  She isn't afraid to bust out the mom jeans when spending the day with the kids, yet she's still a perfectionist at glamming it up on the red carpet.

Ann Hathaway- always stunning.

Only Kate could pull off this dress, and I love it. She's another hot mama!

Vavavoom! I kinda hate Jessica Alba. It's not fair that she's that gorgeous.

Isla looks so pretty in sparkles.

I've got the McPheever. Katherine looks SMASHing. Ya like what I did there?

Helen- true timeless beauty.

Hayden- representing Nashville well.

Love Amy's ballet pink dress. That mermaid silhoutte is gorgeous on her!

I'm biased because I'm 100% obsessed with Nicole, but I adore this ice blue color on her. So chic!

Loved seeing Emily in gold. Her hubby made a pretty nice accessory too.

Another Nashville standout. The hair, the sparkles, everything...

And finally- my favorite look of the evening. I love the sparkles and romantic skirt paired with the fiesty, spunky hair. Julianne is breathtaking!

Aaand back to real life....

Instead of walking the red carpet, I spent my weekend like this:

Mr. M's pick for movie night. Pleasantly surprised.

Candace hosted a "Roaring 20's, Rolling 30's" surprise party to celebrate Jonathan's 30th!



My favorite flappers



Such a fun party! Candace outdid herself!

And then Monday started off like this...

FINALLY! New tunes from the one and only JT!

All Golden Globe arrival images via Huffington Post.

Go ahead: link up for Miscellany Monday!