Oscar night

So I am an admitted award show junkie, I love them. I love the gowns, the jewels, the cheesy montages, acceptance speeches that go too long and the E channel reporters chasing celebrities like dogs in heat. (I'm looking at you Guiliana Rancic). Given my award show love, of course the Academy Awards is like my Christmas. The day I look forward too more than any. I even spend time and money preparing as I try to watch as many of the nominated movies as possible. This year I managed to see 6 of the 10 nominated so I quite pleased with that. The only dissapointing aspect I felt was that I didn't love or have strong opinions about which movie I wanted to win. I really liked Up in the Air and The Hurt Locker and would have been happy to see either win (The Hurt Locker did, of course) but it wasn't a year where I had specific movie that I loved and stood behind. I didn't have "a team", and that makes the awards show a little less exciting to watch. Last year I was firmly team Slumdog Millionaire and had a blast watching it win so many awards, that was my guy and I enjoyed seeing it do so well.
An added obstacle was having a six year old on hand who needed to be entertained and kept from getting too bored. I have to hand it to Carolina, she hung in there longer than many adults could have and only had to be reminded to stay quiet once or twice. I made sure she stayed busy with games and fun Oscar night food options. My friend Julie also joined us for part of the show so it had the feel of a little viewing party and that definitely made the night more enjoyable.
My Oscar "party" consisted of bagel pizza. Everyone was given a couple bagels, tomato sauce, pepperoni, Canadian bacon and cheese and given the chance to create their own. They were so simple to make that they are definitely going to become a staple Carolina weekend food! We also made some chocolate chip cookies, of course!



I also put together a party pack for everyone. All attendees received a folder containing a photo badge that must be worn at all times so we knew they were invited guests, a ticket, 2 Oscar bingo cards, stickers for marking your card, and an official ballot for marking both who you wanted to win and who you thought would win. Isaac won the bingo game and I forgot to tally the ballots, but...I think it's safe to say I won! :) I was doing very well the last time I tallied up that night. I love when you don't know any of the nominees so you just randomly pick one and win it! Carolina did that with foreign film, she just made a mark on her ballot and got it right! She put a lot of thought into most of choices. I was so proud when she was completing best animated film. "I want Up to when" she told me seriously, " but I think Coraline will, it was a good movie!" I was so proud at the thought she put into it!


All in all it was a really fun night, with playing cards handed out as prizes for everyone for playing. Normally I'm not in the everyone gets a prize camp, but I forgot to tally the ballots for that prize so I just handed them out! We let Carolina stay up until about 10 and paid the price the next morning trying to wake her up. As we walked downstairs I was scolding her "I guess you won't be allowed to stay up late anymore." She replied "Well why did you let me stay up late?!" Touche...I did what any self respecting non parent would do. I blamed it on the parent! Sorry babe!
I drove her to school that morning for the first time, Isaac needed to get to work early, it was surprisingly fun! We played "Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar" and used voices to blame it on everyone we knew. Ultimately though, it was pinned on me, apparently I left a note. I will say though, I think I was framed, there's an undercover cookie monster in our house and he knows who he is! Those protein drinks aren't fooling anyone! ;) All was fine until I dropped her off and the safety patrol kid who was assisting with unloading closed the door and told me to "have a nice day ma'm." Was he kidding me? Ma'm. I was shocked, betrayed, and devastated. I was ma'med. You don't come back from that sort of thing easily, that's leaves a mark on the ego and soul. I bit back the urge to yell "that's not my kid, I don't have a kid!!!" but that probably would have caused even more problems! So I drove on, wallowing the injustice of the ma'm.
The sting is still there but I'm going out for a bit of St. Patricks day, I thinking a good old fashioned carding may help the pain! That and several beers, if I can't get it back, I can at least forget! :)