Oscar Party

Last Sunday we had our Second Annual Oscar Party...

 Nope...not that Oscar...

That's the one! Anyways, Tyler and I have started to make it a tradition to see as many of the Oscar nominee movies as possible. Most of the time that doesn't happen, but we do at least see all of the Best Picture nominees, and this is the third year we've seen all of them...and the second year that we've seen all of them before the Oscars (by they way...they've apparently stopped calling them the Academy Awards...whatever). Last year we had a very successful watching party that included theme foods to represent each of the Best Picture nominees, so obviously we did it again! We also each filled out our own Oscar ballot to see who could predict the most winners...SPOILER ALERT: Aaron won...he correctly predicted fourteen out of twenty-four! Not sure that was a spoiler alert.

 

The following are pictures of all of our theme foods this year:

Amour - "French" Fries

Beasts of the Southern Wild - "Hushpuppies" (name of the main character)

Zero Dark Thirty - Middle Eastern Kebabs and Naan

 Silver Linings Playbook - "Crabby Snacks" (aka crab cakes)

Les Miserables - Chocolate Eclairs 

Django Unchained - Bloody Dentist Cupcakes

Lincoln - Honest Abe's Top Hats

Argo - Shredded Paper Brownies

Life of Pi - Life of Key Lime Pies

The food was a HUGE hit, and the night is definitely one we will repeat next year! We missed all of our friends that we started this tradition with, but we were thankful to have a new group of friends to carry on the tradition! Cheers!

Chopped (Family Style)

One of my favorite things about my family is how crazy and weird and...awesome we are! Here's an example of what I mean:

Last week, Tyler, Kayla, Aaron, and I were eating dinner and trying to decide what to do that evening. Aaron and I wanted to go bowling. Tyler and Kayla wanted to play laser tag. Naturally, we ended up doing something completely different and completely new...Chopped (Family Style).

Now, if any of you have not seen the t.v. show Chopped on Food Network, I will explain what goes on. There are four contestants and each of the contestants has a picnic basket filled with four different ingredients. They all open the baskets at once and have to make different dished based on the "mystery ingredients."

So, the four of us headed to the grocery store where we each were allowed to choose one item for our basket that might be incorporated into a dessert. We each took an oath (not really, but I wouldn't have been surprised if we had) not to spy on what anyone else was choosing, and headed back to our apartment to start the challenge.

Now, since we are operating in one of the tiniest kitchens known to man, and since you can barely get four people into it without someone accidentally "moon landing" or chest bumping into someone else, we changed the rules to our Chopped challenge. After discovering what was in the basket, we would draw for positions in the kitchen line-up (who cooks first, second, third, and fourth) and each person would get three minutes to do whatever they could with the ingredients (plus the use of our pantry and refrigerator) but could not communicate with each other what we were thinking. What was in our basket?...

Giant flavored marshmallows, pie crusts, Cookie Crisp (or Crispy Cookie Cereal...Chopped isn't allowed to use brand names), and coconuts. So, who purchased what? If anyone has read Heckedy Peg you'll understand that the following feels like I'm reciting food children (don't get it...READ HECKEDY PEG!): Aaron brought giant marshmallows; Erin brought pie crusts; Kayla brought Cookie Crisp; and Tyler brought coconuts!

So the cooking/baking (whatever you want to call it...not sure what I would call what we did) commenced! After about four rounds of each of us having a chance to completely screw everything up, we finally plated our masterpiece!

Half a Ding Dong with an umbrella (nice touch Kayla) next to a mini Cookie Crisp, marshmallow, and coconut milk pie (aka "gruel cake") on a bed of caramel sauce and topped with cinnamon-sugar sprinkles.

 Amazingly enough the kitchen didn't burn down, and our "gruel cakes" tasted better than the stale Ding Dongs on the plate! What's next??? Chopped Family Style: MAIN DISH!!! Don't worry, we don't invite people over for these...unless someone wants to volunteer to be a guest judge!?!

It (Was) The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I know...pushing my deadline to blog three times a month...again! Oh well, we make it happen here folks. So, since I've finally uploaded pictures from our Christmas, I'll share with you what the Ellis (Tyler and Erin) Christmas looks like!

Also, like mother like daughter, I tend to pour my heart and soul into decorating for the season...Christmas tree in every room...check almost check! Here are some pictures from our lovely home during Christmas:

 Living Room and Fireplace

Again...so cozy!

Fireplace up closer...see our stockings! Also, the fireplace was amazing. We went through a lot of wood this Christmas, and I am sad the cold weather didn't last longer so we could still cuddle next to the fire. In fact, one of my favorite things we did was pull our mattress out to the living room and watch movies by the fire! Tradition...YES!

These are the tree jars we made during Girls weekend! They turned out so cute.

This Christmas tree (Christmas Tree #1) is full of nativity ornaments that Tyler's mom gave me. They all fit perfectly!

  

Saw these Santa Gnomes (?) at Spice and had to make my own. I love the way they turned out...I'll probably need to come up with some names for them...any suggestions?

 

Here are our stockings. I tried to get new ones this year, but Tyler didn't want to let them go...after all they were our first stockings.

Candy cane jar...nothing too special.

Here's the table behind our couch. I made the garland from scraps of fabric and the Santa under the table belonged to my Grammie (dad's mom). It is so fun to fill my house with some of their things. Our Christmas tree skirt was also hers. 

Speaking of Christmas tree:

 Christmas Tree #2

 I took way too many pictures of it...but I just loved it so much. Here are more...

 

 

One of my favorite things this year was our Christmas card collection. We have never gotten so many cards before. I smiled every time I walked by this...and Tyler knocked off three or four every time he walked by this. And of course...couldn't put them back without more falling off...it was a good lesson in marriage...can't wait to see what we learn about each other next year when we have (hopefully) more cards on this thing!

 

 

Apothecary jars filled with ornaments and pine cones, and cute Christmas sign my mom painted for me.

Here is the Christmas tree in our bedroom:

 Christmas Tree #3

 This tree holds all of the ornaments that Tyler and I have given each other since we started dating. There are now 20 ornaments on this tree folks! 

 

This church was a part of a huge collection of village buildings that my Grandma (mom's mom) had. When she passed away, everyone took a piece of the collection. I absolutely love this, and it lights up!

 

Bathroom!

 

  

We made the Christmas tree and star garland during our girls weekend. They were so easy...way to go Lynley and Danielle.

 

  

 Christmas Tree #4

And I have already purchased Christmas Tree #5...can't wait to put it up next year...not really sure where it's going, but it will be up! Also, had to buy another plastic container to hold all of our new decorations this year. Poor Tyler...so thankful he's a good sport about all of it! Merry Christmas (two months later)!!!