Oscar Reaction

The telecast for the Oscars just ended and I can't remember a year when I had some major problems with the outcome. I am happy that Octavia Spencer won best supporting actress and that Man or Muppet also won. I also loved the Cirque du Soleil thing. I did have two big problems with the Oscars this year.

Fist minor problem is the fact that in my opinion the category for best original song keeps getting push under the rug. Don't get me wrong I am super happy for the muppets movie won, but I always looked forward to hearing all the songs sung before the award was presented and this year both songs were playful and fun to listen to. Also only TWO nominations this year. The academic could not find two other songs to nominate?

Second is that just because Meryl Streep is in a movie does NOT mean that she needs an award for the movie. I have not seen Iron Lady yet but from what I hear it is not that good of a movie. Meryl Streep is a great actress. the majority of her roles are great but than there are some of her performances that are not good. Yes she was good in The Devil Wears Prada but it was not mind blowing like her performance in Doubt. She got an Golden Globe nomination for Mama Mia and that movie was at time painful to watch (including times when she was on screen!). it is just annoying that when there are better performances out there that they get out shined just because it is Meryl Streep. I mean come on Viola Davis was AMAZING in The Help and in my opinion her performance was flawless. Ugh!!!!!

I will try to post more of my reaction later I just had

Reason I love Chicago.

The walnut room Christmas tree!

"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave." -Elmer Davis

On this Veterans Day all I can say is Thank You to all the men and women who bravely serve our country in any conflict that our nation has gotten in to. You have all done something that I can never truly thank you enough for. You protect and defend our nation in times of need. we as a nation need to help you all in return for your service to us.

I also want to say Thank You to all the families who have a loved one serving. Your families also serve our nation and we also can not forget about you.


Our military is something that makes our nation great and I can not thank all the men and women who have served enough. So on this day and everyday I say thank you.

"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself." -Joseph Campbell

It's a new Day, Its a New Life and I'm feeling GOOD :)

So recently I have started a new journey in life. That journey is my weight loss journey and as of today I have lost 50.4 pounds!!!!! It feels so great and it is AMAZING!!!!!! I can not explain how this makes me feel. I am OVER THE MOON with excitement.

The two biggest tools that I have been using in my journey are diet and exercise. I know everyone says that when they are loosing weight but that is how I have been doing it. For me the diet started back in February when I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting. Weight Watches is such an easy diet that I don't even notice that I am on it some days. For instance my family and I went to Connies and have a slice or two of pizza and not have to worry about it. If you are someone that is thinking about joining Weight Watchers all I can say is JOIN! It is the easiest lifestyle change while dieting that you will make and if you follow the plan you will start to loose weight. Not to mention that the food they sell is very good and very addicting!

The next big thing is going to the gym. For me it is my ultimate me time. It is an hour of time where it is just me and I have to focus on what I am doing. I have even found some classes that if I don't goto them I just feel off for the week. The first class is Zumba. It is SOOOOOO much fun and it is a great way for me to start my Saturday mournings! I have no dancing skills what so ever, I have to left feet, but this workout is upbeat and energetic that the hour just flies by and I don't even realize how much I have done. I have also gotten into spinning. Everyday after I work out I always feel good and it keeps me going back for more.

So that is a quick snap shot of how I have gotten here, there is a lot more to go but the first is gone and that is a start. I am not completely sure on what my ultimate goal weight is but I will know what it is when I see it.

My kind of Town Chicago is!

So my computer is down right now and I can only blog from my phone. I have decides thought that I am going to blog why I LOVE Chicago along with everything else. Here is the first of many!

Beautiful days on the lake! Happy Sunday October 9!

The Emmys: My thoughts on it

So last night I like many other people watched the Emmys. Here is a quick rundown on what I thought about it:

- Very Happy that Melissa McCarthy and Julie Bowen won top prize's for women in Comedy!

- I thought Jane Lynch did a good job as host but there were some bits that they should have stayed away from (The singing actors and the fact that Fox used the Glee font for all the words, We get it Glee is extremely popular but come on Fox!)

- More love for the Daily Show just shows how amazing that show is! (I think they said that the Daily Show has won one of the awards 8 years in a row or something like that)

- The bit that all the nominees for best actress in a comedy took the stage as if it were a beauty pageant. They alwase do a bit together and it is fun to see them change from year to year!

- I am SO MAD that Jim Parsons won for outstanding male and not Steve Carell! Yes I do like The Big Bang Theory but Carell KILLED it this year on The Office! Michale Scott is one of the best office bosses in television history and every year the voters of the Emmy's passed him up for someone else and now he can never get that recognition for his work as Michale Scott. Also I am not the only one that fells this way.

- The Office also has not been getting the recognition that it should be. I think that it is still one of the funnest shows on TV right now and I think a lot of the supporting cast deserved nominations like Rainn Wilson.

- While talking about people I think should have been nominated there are more on my list like Community, Joel Mchale, Bones, Joe Montana, and Nick Offerman just to name a few.

- I might be in the vast minority but I did not like the fact that they put Ryan Dunn in the in memorial section of the show. Sorry he killed someone when he died and how he died should not be glorified.

- No love at all for Too Big To Fail! I think William Hurt killed it in that move!!!!

- I loved the look that Steve Levitan's wife gave him during his acceptance speech for Outstanding Writing. It was perfect and I loved that the camera panned to her at the right moment considering the episode he won for.

Well that is what I thought about the show last night. I am not much a drama person so I can't comment on that part of the show but I was happy The Good Wife won something!

The end of an era for me!

So this week I start my last semester of undergraduate work. Wow!!!! It seams like it has just came up on me but it is such a great feeling! It has been such a long and rewarding journey. I just hope this last year goes by slowly because who knows when I will go back to school because it has become so expensive to go to school. I think that the education system in the United States is screwed up! I would love to go on and get my masters but it cost so much money to do that. The fact that it cost an arm and a leg to even go to college is crazy!

Besides the fact that higher education cost so much money, another problem that I have is how teachers are evaluated. So much emphasis is put on exams and how many students in one teachers class can pass the exam. Personally I think that the results of the exam should be used in teacher evaluation but I don't think that they should a major part in teachers evaluation. I say this because I think that an exam does not accurately show what a student is learning instead what it does is shows that a student can repeat information that is given to them. I know this for a fact because I am a horrible test taker but that does not mean the teachers that I have had are bad teachers. Instead it had been the absolute opposite, I have had great teacher that have made a big impact on my life (my mom is Facebook friends with one of them even!) Although I am not a teacher I have a feeling that the reason that we are currently so many cases of teachers cheating on exams for their students is because they are afraid for their jobs and all they want to do is mold the minds of the next generation. Exams cannot test for a students environment. I am lucky that my parents made education a priority in my life and the neighborhood education is important to everyone, but that is not the case for everyone.

Plain and simple the United States needs a massive education overhaul and we need it fast! We are doing a dissatisfaction to the generation by continuing to ignore our failing education system. The biggest change that needs to happen is the repeal of No Child Left Behind. Trust me when I say I can go on a another rant about how that policy is absolute ridiculous and does not work. It is probably one of if not the most dangerous policies that came out of the second Bush administration. I say this because I went to an amazing High School that has been recognized for being one of the best High Schools in the state of Illinois yet because of No Child Left Behind the school has been placed on probation year after year. Needless in my opinion something had to be done and it has to be done fast because of we as a country continue to neglect our education than we will fall from grace and we will fall hard!

With that being said hope everyone who is in school has a great school year!