The Oscars Inspire Me

After watching the Oscars this past Sunday, I am inspired to see a few movies and add them to my movie collection. I thought I would share them with you:

The first is God is Bigger than Elvis. This documentary is about Dolores Hart, who starred with Elvis in films in the 1950s, and at age 26 left Hollywood to become a nun. I think it is so interesting and had to take such courage to leave a promising career as an actress and fulfill her bigger calling to God. I can't wait to see this and see her story.

The next movie I want to see is Hugo. This is based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. I started to read this book to my students before I heard about the movie. It is a fun and adventurous book about a boy named Hugo who is an orphan who works as a clock keeper in Paris. He starts a wild adventure when he encounters a wind-up doll. I don't know if there is anything that Martin Scorcese cannot do.

I also want to see The Help.I know this movie has been out on DVD for awhile and I should have rented it by now, but for some reason I haven't. Everybody has great reviews for the movie and the book. And after seeing Octavia Spencer win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress I wanted to see the movie even more.

Moneyball is next on my list. I am not a huge Brad Pitt or Jonah Hill fan, but this movie looked really interesting and funny. I like baseball movies, so I think this one needs to be added to my baseball movie list.

And last, but I am sure there are more, The Artist. I really want to see this movie. I love movies based in the early 1900s and especially anything that might remotely look like a musical. I have been drawn to more French movies lately thanks to my British husband. And this one looks very enjoyable with a great storyline. It will be much different watching a silent movie. It will definitely be a new experience.

What a weekend

Chris and I went on our mini-honeymoon to Galveston this weekend and had a great time. We left on Friday morning and headed for the coast. First, we had to attend a time share presentation. 5 hours later(?!?!) we finally got to get something to eat. We went to The Spot and had gumbo, Shrimp Kisses, fish sandwiches, and of course, cold Shiner. Shrimp Kisses are shrimp wrapped in bacon and seasonings and we highly recommend them.

Afterwards, we headed back to our hotel. We had read online that our hotel had been renovated in the past couple of years. I think the only thing they did was give the outside a new coat of paint and made their lobby look nice. There were bars on the doors and furniture that needed to be thrown out. But, we took it with a smile and slept soundly in our room.
The next day, we woke up to rain and our electricity flickering off and on. We laughed it off and reminded ourselves how we had been through much worse when we went to England a few years ago. We decided to go to lunch at Fish Tales. It was a bit pricey, but we shared fish and chips and mushroom stuffed crab. The mushroom stuffed crab was delicious. I would definitely go back for that alone.

 We went to walk on the beach and headed back to our room for a game of Scrabble. I know that sounds so "old married couple" of us, but we love word games and used to have an ongoing Scrabble game, so the thought of completing an entire game in one sitting was very exciting to us. We completed our game and headed to Mass at St. Patrick's. It was such a beautiful church and had a very welcoming congregation.

Sunday, we went back to The Spot and had calamari, shrimp po boy, fish sandwich, and more Shiner. While we were there, a Mardi Gras parade was going on that was just a parade of people walking their costumed dogs. It was really cute and we saw a basset hound that was acting just like Doris.

We went back to the room for another game of Scrabble and then to see This Means War with Reese Witherspoon and Chris Pine. The movie was really funny, but I didn't care for the ending.

For our last meal, we went to Brick House and just ate starters. We shared chicken strips and Meat Loaf Sliders. The Meat Loaf Sliders were meat loaf slices with ketchup, a pickle, and mashed potatoes on a bun. It sounded a little crazy, but they were really good. I have to figure out how to get the meat loaf like that to make them myself.

We headed back early this morning to get home and get things done around the house. But we had a wonderful mini-honeymoon and cannot wait for our real one this July in England.

I love Pinterest

I am such a list person and write it down person. If I see it written down I will remember it better. Chris and I have a list of things we want to do to the house and how much we are budgeting for it. Now that we have found Pinterest, we have seen so many DIY versions of ideas we have for our house, plus adding more to it. I have to say that when I first saw Pinterest, I had no idea what it was and my ADD was kicking in. It was too much. But after taking the time and realizing what it actually is, I've realized that this is probably how my brain works. I feel like I put so many ideas on "boards" in my brain and now I have a virtual place to put them.

On that note, I have been trying out quite a few recipes that I found on Pinterest and even encouraged our guests at our Super Bowl party to bring a dish that they found on there, too. Here are some of the ones I have tried. Note: They were all super-easy and did not require a ton of ingredients.
My first and favorite one is Taco Cups. I made these for Super Bowl and they were a hit! They had a kick to them, but very delicious and perfect finger food at a party.

Source: bricelife-gabrielle.blogspot.com via Savannah on Pinterest

Next, I have been on a Crok-Pot Fest. Getting home so late from work and then making dinner is such a drag. I am so glad I got a Crock-Pot for our wedding and it is getting its full use. The first thing I made was Chicken Tacos. All I had to do was put chicken, taco seasoning, and salsa in the Crock-Pot and left it for 6 hours. When I came home I had perfect chicken meat for soft tacos. You could also use this for soups.

Source: mychocolatetherapy.blogspot.com via Savannah on Pinterest

Crock-Pot Chicken Parmesan was my second favorite. I only had to make pasta when I got home and served tender-breaded chicken that had been marinated all day in sauce. I made the last 15 minutes before I walked out the door.

Source: chef-in-training.com via Savannah on Pinterest

And last, but definitely not least, are the Ranch Crock-Pot Pork Chops. Chris and I both loved these! I forgot to make it the morning of and Chris happened to be home that day, so I read the recipe to him over the phone. We put frozen pork chops, a can of cream of chicken, and ranch dressing packet for 6 hours. This was the best meal. I didn't follow the rest of the recipe for their mashed potatoes, but I used the leftover juices for gravy on our mashed potatoes. I will most definitely make this one again.

Source: realmomkitchen.com via Savannah on Pinterest

I plan on finding more recipes and adding my reviews. I am not a great cook and will not try a recipe if it asks for strange ingredients or has more than about 6 ingredients. I just like to try new things and keep it simple and easy.

And he called it a Man Cave

Well, the patio is just about completed and Chris has claimed it as his "Man Cave". I guess I'll let him have it as long as I get to keep my massage room and big closet. I promised to post some pics of the closed in patio, so here you go:

And it never ends. Now that this is almost complete, we are moving on to finishing our bedroom. Chris is going to build us a headboard and bed frame. And the list grows from there. I still cannot believe how much we have changed this ole' house and making it into our home. It has so much character and we want to keep a lot of it, but we also want our own personal touches.