Hello Monday and my Oscar Best Dressed Picks and Monday Mingle

Hi!  Happy Monday!  At least I'm trying to convince myself it is.  It's chilly and raining here and my daughter decided that 5:30am would be an awesome time to wake up.  Of course that wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't been up until 3am with one of my insomnia bouts*.  I didn't get to watch the Oscar show itself, but I watched the "pregame" on E! where I saw Sacha Baron Cohen dump the "ashes" on Ryan Seacrest live!  It was so funny because you could tell that Ryan was not amused and was scrambling to act like it was no big deal.  Didn't work.  Hey Ryan, we know it ticked you off and that, my dear, is why Mr. Cohen decided to do it to you.  Did anyone else see it?  Did anyone else notice how Ryan kept bringing it up to everyone he talked to the rest of the night?  He practically cried when he was talking to J.Lo about it.  Tee hee.

Okay, now to what really matters - the fashion!  In my opinion, there were three ladies who knocked it out of the park.  First up, Jessica Chastain in a gorgeous Alexander McQueen dress.  The dress is incredible and her hair was just perfection.  She was my top pick.

Next up is Octavia Spencer.  This Tadashi Shoji dress is perfect, the fit, the color, the way it pulls in at the waist.  She looked amazing! (And how happy was I that she won?  So happy!)

My last pick is Gwyneth Paltrow in Tom Ford.  I love the drama of the cape with the dress.  Without the cape, the dress is okay, but the cape adds an almost architectural element, which I find really interesting.  Her hair was a fail in my opinion, it was weird.

So what do you all think?  Was the show as boring as I've been hearing?

*On a side note, TLC had a "My 600 Pound Life" marathon on last night while I was up and what a riveting show.  Oh man, heartbreaking, inspiring, happy, sad - there's a whole range of emotions that bubble up watching the struggles.  Has anyone else watched that show?  I would love to hear your thoughts.

I'm joining up with my girls over at BonBon Rose Girls today for the Monday Mingle.

Have a great Monday!

Images via UsWeekly and Style.com

My Take: Gwyneth Paltrow shorts chic

Okay, I have a love/hate thing with dear Gwyneth.  Yes, she's beautiful, tall, has great style, but she just comes off as uppity and a bit self-important at times.  Good grief my first blog post was about her.  Anyway, not the point, the point is she looks totally fab in this shorts outfit:

I love this because it's cool, casual/dressy and comfortable.  It's an outfit where you look totally pulled together, but it doesn't look like you are trying too hard.  Hey, how much better can you get for a "my take"?  I put together a few options in regards to the length of the shorts.  Look Gwynnie and I may be the same age, but I can't pull off shorts this short and I know I'm not the only one out there who would be uncomfortable rocking that much leg.  Also, a few shoe options as well, always nice to have a flat and heel option.

Shorts by Express
Sandals by Gabriella Rocha

Gwyneth Paltrow image via InStyle

Defending Gwyneth

Okay, there's been a lot of fuss in the press and on blogs about Gwyneth Paltrow's new "lifestyle" website and newsletter - Goop.com. Most of the press has been very hateful and negative - people are wondering why she's doing this, what is the point? I'll admit that when I first heard about it, I immediately signed up, I wanted to be first in line to get this in my inbox. I lead a very dull life and I wanted to have some good material to make fun of. I mean, what sort of information could this rich, priviledged, tall, blonde, skinny celebrity, that's just a Mom like me - HA! - "bless" us with - this should be hilarious! I waited for a couple of weeks and then one day my first newsletter arrived "signed" by Gwynnie herself! Well, the first one was okay, not much to make fun of, in fact not much of anything. Then the next newsletter comes and the next and the next with the guidelines of "Do" and "Make" and "Go" and they actually had good info and recipes and advice. I was shocked that I actually started to like them. Granted these aren't life altering bits of info, but some are useful and interesting. I started to turn from a hater to a lukewarm welcomer. Now there are a lot of things to dislike about Ms. Paltrow (for me that would mostly be the beautiful, rich, always in Vogue thing) but this website is not of them. Go in with an open mind and take it for what it is - she really doesn't come across as snotty as you would think. Check it out and give the girl a break, at least she's putting something positive out there.