March Madness

Okay, it's a pain the butt to list all those games, so I'm just going to update with point totals today. There are quite a few less teams now, though, so you might actually get teams again at some point. Anyway, Work Sarah is in the lead with 52 points (and tied for 2nd with 3 other people at work), The DF is in second with 50 points, and I had a couple of bad games over the weekend and only have 47 points. One of my Final teams is out too (Texas) so that's not going to help my cause. Anyway, I don't think there are any games for another couple of days, but I'll give you an update then. :-)

More March Madness!

I'll include the last two games from Thursday on today's (marked with an *). I actually stayed up to watch the ends - good stuff.

*UCLA - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
*Western Kentucky - Sarah = yes DF = no Work Sarah = no
Kansas - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
Marquette - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
Oklahoma State - Sarah = yes DF = no Work Sarah = no
Arizona State - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
Syracuse - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
Pitt - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
Missouri - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
Dayton - Sarah = no DF = no Work Sarah = no

So far today I've only missed one game. You blew it, West Virginia! Meanwhile, the DF missed 3!! I'll update again after the evening games or tomorrow morning. Happy Friday, everyone!

Edit with more games!

Louisville - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
Arizona - Sarah = yes DF = no Work Sarah = no
USC - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
Xavier - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes

I'm kicking butt!

March Madness!

As many of you know, the DF and I always fill out NCAA Men's Tournament brackets. This year I was excited to find out that they have a competition at work as well. The DF and I both filled ours out on Sunday, and I made a mash-up of both of ours for work (although I mostly stole from the DF's...). Throughout the tourney I hope to post each day's results for your entertainment.

For Thursday, as of around midnight, the winners are:

UConn - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
Texas A & M - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
Purdue - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
Washington - Sarah = no DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
Maryland - Sarah = yes DF = no Work Sarah = no
Memphis - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
UNC - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
LSU - Sarah = no DF = no Work Sarah = no
Villanova - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
Gonzaga - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
Michigan - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
Texas - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
Duke - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes
Oklahoma - Sarah = yes DF = yes Work Sarah = yes

We've both missed 2 so far. UCLA vs VCU and Illinois vs Western Kentucky are still going on. We both picked UCLA, but I picked Western Kentucky and the DF (and Work Sarah) picked Illinois. Would I rather win the bet with the DF or win the office pool? Hmm...

Happy Saturday!

On today's agenda is doing three loads of laundry (when did we get so many "gentle wash" clothes?), baking some yummy St. Patrick's Day sugar cookies, and then heading to Stacy's for a St. Paddy's Day party. Usually I make sugar cookies from scratch, but it's just such a pain. My recipe has to be refrigerated for at least a few hours and I hate rolling out dough, so I just bought some Pillsbury sugar cookie dough for these. I'm baking some for work for Tuesday, so that would have been even more that I would have to make from scratch. I'm sure these will taste just as good. To remember what my St. Patrick's Day cookies look like, see this post from 2007 here. Look at how young the DF is!! Have a good Saturday, everyone!!

Edit at 3:22 - Here's a picture of the cookies; I think one package made between 30 and 35. They taste really good. I kind of like mine a little thicker than the sheets Pillsbury makes, and the scraps I rerolled I did make a little thicker so they're more tasty, especially when they're warm. But lazy people can't be picky, so I'm not really complaining. I went with sprinkles this year instead of icing because they'll be easier to transport. :)

Confessions of a Shopaholic

During another girls' night out, this one with Stacy and Tara, I went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic. This one stars Isla Fisher (Rebecca) and Hugh Dancy (Luke) as main characters. The supporting cast includes her friend Suze (played by Krysten Ritter) and her parents Jane (played by Joan Cusack) and Graham (played by John Goodman). Rebecca always hated wearing thrift store clothes as a child and as a result has turned into a shopaholic as an adult. She carries a ton of credit card debt, but it's not until she loses her job that she realizes how much debt she has. She is desperate to get a job at her favorite fashion magazine but instead settles for one at a sister company's financial magazine. Of course, what does she know about finances? She surprises herself by actually being a very successful columnist, and she begins to fall for her boss Luke. Of course, her debt and shopaholic tendencies are still lingering, so she has to find a way to get herself out of those messes. This movie has less depth than He's Just Not That Into You, but it's still a great movie to watch with gal pals. It's very funny and of course has its cute, romantic moments as well. Isla Fisher is hilarious, as anyone who has seen Wedding Crashers knows, and Hugh Dancy is super cute. I give this movie a B+ on the chick flick scale, a C+ on the regular movie scale.

He's Just Not That Into You

A few weekends ago, I went out for a girls' night along with Katie, Stacy, Stacy's sister Robin, and one of Robin's friends. We went to dinner and then saw He's Just Not That Into You. Here's my review!

This movie has an ensemble cast of well known actors - some of them are split into couples for the movie and some are single. Jennifer Aniston (Beth) and Ben Affleck (Neil) play a couple who've been together for a really long time, but aren't married because Neil has never wanted to get married and Beth's been okay with that. Jennifer Connelly (Janine) and Bradley Cooper (Ben) play a married couple who are remodeling a new home. Ginnifer Goodwin (Gigi), Drew Barrymore (Mary), Justin Long (Alex), Kevin Connolly (Conor), and Scarlett Johansson (Anna) are single. The major theme in the movie is that Gigi cannot understand why she keeps getting the wrong signals from men. Her friends (most of the above women) try to keep her upbeat by giving examples like "I know a woman whose boyfriend cheated on her 7 times like your boyfriend did, but now they're married and have 9 kids" etc. They keep trying to make her feel like each guy will work out. Along comes Alex who openly tells her that she's the rule, not the exception. Throughout the movie there's the theme of "You're not the exception, you're the rule!" to the point where now I find myself saying that to the tv when some girl thinks her doomed relationship will miraculously work. Throughout the movie, the rest of the couples encounter their own obstacles and struggle to figure out if their seemingly good relationship is going to last after all.

I was a little afraid that this movie would be more dramatic than I hoped. I didn't want to cry and feel like every relationship was doomed to fail (hello, "Closer"!). I was pleasantly surprised when the movie was funny and likable and did not make me cry. There are definitely moments when you feel for the characters, but you don't leave feeling like you should call your significant other and give in to the inevitability of a break up. Overall, I really enjoyed this one and definitely plan to rent it to watch again when it comes out on video. Though I will not make the DF watch it. It gets an A on the chick flick scale, probably a B- on the regular movie scale. Remember, you're the rule, not the exception!!