I finally saw The Blindside this weekend...amazing! It was a huge deal here in Mississippi, because Michael Oher played for Ole Miss. I didn't realize, until the Oscars, that the movie was a huge deal everywhere else. Bech and I don't go to the theatre very much, so we just not saw this movie. If you haven't seen it yet...you need to!

Sandra Bullock plays Leigh Anne Touhy. She does such a great job. Her accent is pretty good, and she plays the southern woman personality really well.

The movie is actually a true story, about how the Touhy family took in Michael Oher. Here are the real people: The Touhys and Michael. Apparently, Sandra and Leigh Anne have become friends through the process of making the movie.

I had to share some of my favorite quotes from the movie:

"If you so much as set foot downtown you will be sorry. I'm in a prayer group with the D.A., I'm a member of the NRA and I'm always packing."

"If you go to Tennessee, I will be there at all the games. I will be there to support you, but I am not wearing that gawdy orange "

"Ms. Tuohy, there is something that you should know about me. I don't usually tell many people but I feel that if is something you should be aware of before you hire me. ("Uh, what is it?") I'm a democrat."

(speaking on the telephone after leaving a message about this years' Christmas card) "This is Bobby, Happy New Years. Listen I've had about five cold ones and, uh, I'm just going to go ahead and ask -- did you all know there's a colored boy on your Christmas card?"

Okay, enough quotes...go watch the movie now!!!!!!!!!!

Spring Break?

This week is spring break in Jackson, so my Millsaps students are gone. I thought this week would be slower, but I've been pretty busy. I work in a children's clothing store every Friday afternoon. This week, other people who work there are on trips, so I have worked 3 full days (I don't think Bech has much sympathy for me!).

I also spend two days in Brookhaven helping my mom spring clean. Someone (I'm not naming names) puts random things in random rooms, and so two rooms in our house have been totally stuffed with ridiculous stuff. Plus my mom has a hard time getting rid of old clothes (I think it's my Nana coming out in her). So we cleaned out my old room (which is now a guest room/Katy and my room), Ansley's room, and the back sunroom. We threw out three bags of trash, sent 12 bags to a garage sale at my dads clinic, and packed up a bunch of clothes for resale.

Part of the random stuff in my old room was wedding presents. We had managed to bring most of our presents to our house in Belhaven (very little of it made it up to Oxford after we were married). Now we have all of the rest, including our wavy annieglass chargers (which I LOVE, and which are really called "ruffled", but I'm too used to "wavy." Aren't they beautiful?

They look amazing with our china (I brought the rest home from Brookhaven, so now we have a full 12 place settings!). I love our china because its sort of modern (it's Vera Wang by Wedgewood) but the salad plate is vintage-y.

Now, of course, the only problem here is that we have yet to use our china. When we got married, some people would say (never older people, usually people our age), "I wouldn't get china...you'll never use it." And I swore to them that I would use my china all of the time. Of course, I know the older I get, I really will use it. But I do want to use it now...I will just have to find a time soon! Maybe a special birthday dinner for Bech?

7 things

Nikki tagged me for a "7 things" blogger award. I think this means I get to talk about whatever 7 things I want. Maybe it doesn't, but I'm still going to!

1. It is finally spring in Mississippi and I am LOVING it! I like to say that I love cold weather. I also like to say that I want to live where it snows a lot. But I think the truth is that I love warm weather. I love to wear skirts. It all started when I first went to Malawi in 2003. I wore skirts every day and came back wanting to buy more and more skirts. In the winter, I still wear skirts, I just have to wear tights. And while I love tights, because they somehow make me feel sorta like Blair Waldorf, I was getting a little tired of them. So thank you warm weather!

2. Nikki talked about the "red juice" Crystal light makes. I love that, because that's what I call it too! Right now my favorite "red" flavor is Cherry-Pomengrate. Second favorite, which is an orange-y color, is Sunrise Tangerine Strawberry. I will drink diet dr. pepper from Sonic (with vanilla added!) and also sometimes a drink at a restaurant, but I don't really like to buy soft drinks. So I drink massive amounts of Crystal Light.

3. I still haven't seen "Alice in Wonderland." I am not happy about this. But I have been really busy lately, so hopefully this week. It's spring break at Millsaps, so no Bible Study or Tuesday large group. Maybe I can watch it Tuesday night.

4. Part of the reason I have been so busy is because I had a Greek test to study for. And I wanted to ace this test (it was last Friday). I have always been a grades person. I will do whatever it takes to make an A. Well, maybe not so much in those pre-med classes...I got some B's in that and was totally okay with it. Really, I think I will be okay with a B in physics...I'm just happy I finished that class without having to be committed. I have never cried while doing homework before, but I did all the time in that class.

But back to grades. At Ole Miss, anything over a 90 is an A. But Millsaps uses minuses and plusses. So 93 to 90 is an A-. I was feeling pretty happy after the first test with my 92. But then I realized, wait, that's an A-. And of course, it doesn't matter what I get in this class. I am a non-degree seeking student technically (because I graduated with a B.A. in classics). And really, an A- is great. But now my competitive A loving side has come out and I want an A.

I probably won't know how the test went until after spring break or maybe even later. And now you all now how dorky I am and how I like to waste my energy and anxious nature. But there it is.

5. I learned how to make pasta this weekend! As you know, I had the ravioli night for my girls last week. But I didn't roll out any of the dough. I was just making sure everything else was going okay. But this Saturday night, Bech made spinach pasta dough. So I got bold and decided it was high time for me to learn how to use the pasta machine. I made ravioli to eat with his homemade tomato sauce and he made fettucini noodles to eat with the the sauce and some sauteed mushrooms. Then yesterday, for lunch, I made some fettucini noodles and ate it with leftover alfredo sauce...so good!

6. I am going to the beach for two weeks this summer. Sadly, neither of those weeks are for a real vacation, but both weeks will be fun. The first time is the second week of May when David, Sam, and I will be taking Millsaps students down to Panama City for RUF Summer Conference. John Stone, famous for his past dating talks (my favorite quote of his: "the couple that prays together, lays together"), will be the main speaker. I am hoping for an appearance of Paige Benton Brown for the seminar talks, but she didn't do last years...so maybe not :( Basically tons of colleges bring their RUFs (and Millsaps brings their fake RUF) to the conference center. You attend two seminars every morning (some seminars last 4 days, some just 2), eat lunch, spend all afternoon on the beach, then have a really large large group, with John Stone speaking. It's going to be great.

The second beach trip will be as the chaperone for Faith Presbyterian in Brookhaven. We are taking them down to RYM also in Panama City (same exact place). It is exactly the same as Summer Conference, just with high school kids. There is one new aspect: the romance! RYM is notorious for love connections. I actually got my first kiss at RYM, but that was NOT a love connection and is a very embarrassing story. But my point is that I may get to do "beach patrol" in which you walk along the beach at night with your flashlight making sure no one is kissing (lets hope that's all I see!).

7. I am sure anyone who has made it to point 7 is ready for me to end quickly. So I will. My seventh point is that I watched "Hotel Rwanda" and it was amazing. That's really all I can say about it right now. I am still processing it all in my mind.

things i love right now!

1. America's Next Top Model--okay, so I always love this show. I know some people think its cheesy, but I think its amazing. This is the one show I followed even while in Malawi. And cycle 14 starts tonight! I can NOT wait! I actually have church during the show, so I usually watch it the next week online. But I am still so excited.

2. Toms--Bech got a pair of Toms for Christmas, and I've been drooling over them ever since. So this weekend I got my first pair. I got the light blue linen ones and they are really cute. Plus, they are super comfortable.

3. OPI's Mad as a Hatter nail polish--I love OPI polishes. I think they are better than all other polishes plus they have the cutest names. OPI released a set of polishes just for Alice in Wonderland. Since I have always love that book, I knew I had to have one of the polishes. This one is fun and sparkly...two things I love. It looks really purple-y in this picture, but its a lot lighter in person.

girls night!

This semester, I am trying to have several "girl nights" with my MCF girls from Millsaps. Last semester, we had a sushi/movie night that was really fun and went really well. So far this semester, we have had one Pizza Shack night and our first cooking night.

This past Friday, eight girls came over and made homemade ravioli! It was amazing. Bech taught the girls how to use the pasta maker, which is a good thing because I have no idea how to use it (well hopefully I do now).

We stuffed the ravioli with a 3 cheese (ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella) and roasted zucchini mixture. Plus we made homemade alfredo sauce, caesar salad (just from a bag), and garlic bread...so good!

One of the girls, Casey, is a photographer, so she took some fun pictures for us:

Here ^ is the alfredo sauce!

Our cute little ravioli squares!

We'll have another girls night in April...I'm thinking maybe a Japanese night with homemade sushi? Any suggestions?