Five for Friday: In Front of an Audience

So this 5 for Friday comes from a book John got me for Christmas called "Listography". It's not like my usual ones but still...

My top 5 times that I've been in front of an audience:

5. Mr. Pacilio's English Class, 9th grade
Deathly afraid of public speaking, our assignment to teach the class how to do something was my worst nightmare. I believe my softball instructional speech ended with me pitching a ball straight into a bookcase at the back of the room. Don't think my fellow students forgot that speech that year.

4. Camp Counselor, high school years
For some reason my fear of public speaking did not translate to the I had to lead 100 campers in camp songs. Maybe because I had fellow counselors up there with me.

3. Staff Meeting
This isn't much of an audience I guess, but my meetings with my staff were around 10 people. It was easy if it was a good meeting, not so easy if I was trying to tell them they were sucking and needed to do better.

2. Career Fair for high school students
My mom is very involved in college counseling for high school-ers and once a year they have a career fair for a couple hundred students. They ask a couple of people to speak and I've had to speak a couple times and describe just how glamorous Hollywood life is.

1. UCLA campus, lecture series for visiting Korean Entertainment professionals
Through what I can only assume was a ridiculous misunderstanding, UCLA asked me to give a lecture to a group of Korean men and women who were visiting the US and who all worked in the entertainment business. I gave a two hour lecture with a translator. Let me just say that I'm pretty sure my sarcasm did not translate very well. Man, tough audience.

How about you?

11 Months Old!

Well, this month he didn't mind sitting for his photo shoot. That's the good news. The bad news is that there was no way in hell he was just going to let that paper sign sit next to him. Nope. He had to play with it.

Phew...it's hard work being this cute.

Growing Like a Weed

Our little boy is growing at a rapid pace. Or at least that's what it seems like to me. Literally two weeks ago he could not reach the piano and now he stands up with help from the piano stool and starts playing. And at New Years he definitely couldn't touch our top kitchen drawer which he now does.

And then today he did this.

Holy moly. It's all starting. Yikes.

New Toy

No, not a toy for Jack, a toy for me. My husband was nice enough to get me a toy for my camera for Christmas. It's a dolly for my iPhone or SLR camera. You know what a dolly is? Usually it refers to a moving platform that a film camera is put on when you're shooting a movie. But this is a miniature version and it's pretty darn cool. It could just serve as a tripod for my camera but it can also be a dolly for when I shoot video.

We shot a video a week or two ago as a test and it's pretty cool. Now I just have to get better at shooting video.

We interrupt Jack programming...

...to bring you Golden Globes fashion coverage.

Yes, not really mommy-centric but it's why I couldn't write a Jack post last night...I was too busy watching the Golden Globes. While the awards weren't that exciting (Gervais was bland and boring, the speeches were, for the most part, uninteresting), the red carpet fashion choices were, for the first time in a long time, pretty unpredictable and interesting! Yay! Of course, that means there were a lot of bad dresses but at least they weren't all one shoulder asymmetrical gowns in red. In fact, there were very few one shoulder gowns. Is my least favorite trend dying?! Here are my thoughts. Please excuse the snark.

The "You have to sacrifice walking in order to look hot" award is a tie:

Sofia Vergara and Reese Witherspoon both looked pretty hot though I'm not sure how you walk when your knees are tied together. But I guess it worked. In John's words, "wow, reese really brought out the sexiness."

The Most Improved Award goes to:

Tina Fey. I mean, she looked good! That's so rare. Remember this atrocity from a year or two ago?

The Most Comfortable Dress award goes to:

The one dress that might not kill me if I wore it. Didn't look tight, had pockets, was normal. Yeah, it's not amazing but she just had her THIRD KID. Give her a break.

The "Most Unlike Her" Award goes to:

Sarah Michelle Gellar. Watching the E! coverage, they did a long shot of her and I couldn't figure out who it was. My husband was like, "that's Buffy" and I said, "no way, Sarah Michelle Gellar never wears anything like that." She's a pretty safe dresser. So I was pretty stunned that she chose such a crazy dress. And it is crazy. And I'm sure most people hate it. But I kind of like her for choosing something so different. Cool.

The "I'm wearing artificial turf" award goes to:

Zooey Deschanel. Terrible. Bad wig (or I hope that mop is a wig) and her torso looked like it was covered in fake grass.

The "I'm gorgeous so I can wear a sack" award goes to:

Look, it's not much, but she's pretty. And I like the necklace.

The "Ha ha I'm going to shock you all by finally NOT wearing a sack" award goes to:

Angeline Jolie wears a loose fitting caftan sack dress 99% of the time. But I guess last night she wanted to be the glamorous movie star that every one thinks she is. And yeah, she's gorgeous.

The "Your show is annoying, you're annoying, and now your dress is annoying" award goes to:

Lea Michele from "Glee". I just think this dress is hideous. Blake Lively wore a similar Marchesa a few months ago and that was also hideous. The color is bad, her hair is bad, the cut outs and mesh and metallic is all bad. A perfect choice for Lea.

The "my hair color is too dark" award is a tie:

Kristin Wiig and Jessica Biel. I don't know, for some reason I don't like their hair this dark. Then I also don't like Wiig's 70s inspired pseudo jumpsuit dress. And Biel's lacy Victorian high collar is just dowdy. Maybe she's just sad because she has to play this on-again, off-again girlfriend role to Justin Timberlake. That must be exhausting.

The "something is slightly off with my face" award goes to:

Michelle Williams. Seriously. Help me out you guys. Her face is just a tiny bit off. Older pictures of her have a slightly different face. But it's so slight that it's hard to pin point. The nose? The chin? The eyes actually look different too. I don't know what's going on. I mean, she's clearly in her Mia Farrow phase and she is so damn fragile on stage that a soft wind could blow her over. Though I think purple patterned crushed velvet can stand up to anything. Thank god.

The "maybe if I dress like I'm 16 you won't notice my botox" award goes to:

Okay, that was mean. I like Julie Bowen. I LOVE "Modern Family". And I emphasize with Claire's type A mom personality now. But this dress was a little too pink and princess-y. And her hair styling didn't suit her. And the color washed her out. So, all in all, not good.

The "showing the young starlets how it's done" award goes to two classy ladies:

Viola Davis and Helen Mirren. I mean, Helen Mirren. Are you serious? The woman is 76. Viola Davis seems so nice and looks lovely. I think she's a newbie on the red carpet so I want to tell her you don't have to stick your leg out quite that far...but that's okay.

The Cool Chick award goes to:

I think Emma looks awesome. And very her. It's pretty but sort of has an edge with the eagle belt. And I love the colors. And she really is a cool chick so bravo!

The "I am literally a Barbie Doll" award goes to:

Charlize Theron. She is sooo pretty. In a very typical obvious statuesque blonde way. At first I only saw her from the waist up and thought she looked stunning. They I saw the hip bow. Why is that in style now? It's ridiculous. But if anyone can pull it off, it's her. Let me add that she said the jewel piece at her waist was a Cartier museum piece from Geneva. Because obviously you can't wear jewelry from a regular store.

And the "fire your stylist right now" award goes to:

Jessica Chastain is the new "it" girl. This year she was in "The Help", "Tree of Life", "The Debt", and "Take Shelter". She's young, skinny, and pretty. That's pretty much all you need to have when it comes to the red carpet. I assume designers were throwing dresses at her. And this is what she picked? I'd say it was an anomaly but in all her other red carpet appearances she also looked pretty bad. But I don't like this color on her, I think it's unflattering, I hate the top and I hate the way her hair looks. Sad too, because she's the best part of "The Help". And I liked that in her red carpet appearance with Giuliana Ranic she just kept going on and on how she watched Giuliana's reality show. Awesome. Don't worry, Jessica. Just do better at the Oscars.

Photo Challenge Week 18 - Reflection

Okay, I'm cheating because this is from two years ago. But I love it!

Me and my sis in Venice, Italy.

Next week...photo animation. (I have no idea what this means.)

Today Jack is...47 weeks old.

This week Jack learned a bunch of new things which I think will just make my life a tad more difficult. I can't help but be amused though because he's so darn proud of himself. First he learned how to flush the toilet and now he just loves the noise.

Then he decided to help me wash the dishes which I would have appreciated more if he hadn't been brandishing the dirty knives. Might have to watch him with those sharp objects. That's what moms do, right?

He also helped me with my laundry which was quite nice of him. But then he got pretty mad when I actually closed the door and started the dryer.

Of course, what I really have to look out for is his climbing. Climbing on his little rocking chair to be precise. He just grabbed hold, climbed right up, turned around and sat down.

Then the little bugger decided to stand on the chair. This might not be so bad if it wasn't a rocking chair, but man it was tipsy.

In other news, we put a fence up around the pool and we feel a lot better about that. Jack is a little confused though.

But although his beloved pool is no longer reachable, he does love his newfound freedom. I sort of "let go of the leash" as it were outside and he's been crawling around from one end of the yard to the other. Man, he loves being outside.

Our best outing this week was to the little play area at the local mall. I thought I'd let Jack run around after a thrilling trip to Bed, Bath, and Beyond. As usual, he was the youngest by a mile and the only non-walker. Usually he tries to make friends with the older kids and they rebuff his advances. But, for some reason, these kids just loved him. They fawned over him and got down on all fours and crawled all around with him. And when the little guy reached out to wave/pet one little girl, she reached out and grabbed his hand. I think it was the cutest thing I've ever seen.

And now, more pictures from the week!

Yes, those are nail clippers. But it made his teeth feel better...

Riding the giant frog at the park

He loves pulling every book off the shelf and making a mess

Shopping for a birthday card for his daddy

Mesmerized by an ant on the ground

Upset that the Steelers lost their playoff game (and wearing a handmade Steelers onesie from Aunt Julie)