It's Oscar Season!

Starting with the 2009 Academy Awards (for 2008 movies), we decided it would be fun to see all of the best picture nominees before the awards were handed out. We thought the task was daunting when there were only five nominees, and ended up cutting it close and seeing two of them back to back at two different theaters at the Santa Monica Promenade (Frost/Nixon and The Reader). This made the show so much more fun to watch because we felt invested in all of the best picture nominees as well as quite a few of the other awards.

Then in 2010, they upped the ante and nominated ten movies for best picture. We had so much fun the year before that we decided we could pull this off too (we did), and thus created a tradition. We usually try to squeeze in a few extras if there are best actor/actress or supporting actor/actress nominees where the movie hasn't earned a best picture nod.

It seems like every year the nominations are announced and we say "oh man, we better kick it into overdrive -  we are waaaaaaaaaay behind". It's never been as bad as it is this year. I hope we can do it!

With 33 days left, our task at hand looks like this:

Best Picture - 3/9

• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
• The Help  ✔
• Hugo
• Midnight in Paris
• Moneyball
• The Tree of Life
• War Horse

Best Actor - 2/5

• Demián Bichir - A Better Life
• George Clooney - The Descendants  ✔
• Jean Dujardin - The Artist
• Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• Brad Pitt - Moneyball

Best Actress - 1/5

• Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs
• Viola Davis - The Help  ✔
• Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo  ✔
• Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
• Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn

Best Supporting Actor - 2/5

• Kenneth Branagh - My Week with Marilyn
• Jonah Hill - Moneyball
• Nick Nolte - Warrior
• Christopher Plummer - Beginners
• Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close  ✔

Best Supporting Actress - 1/5

• Bérénice Bajo - The Artist
• Jessica Chastain - The Help
• Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
• Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
• Octavia Spencer - The Help  ✔

So, right now we are 9 for 29. Uh oh. I'm hoping to watch The Help tonight - I've seen it, Alan hasn't, so that improves the score a little, but oh geez. We better get moving. I checked off my votes (for now) - two for best actress because I can't decide. I LOVED Viola Davis as Aibileen, but Rooney Mara is my exact vision for Lisbeth Salander, so I can't choose. It's a good thing I don't really have to vote. Either way, I think Meryl Streep will take it because she can transform into anyone. Oh and who knows if we'll actually see Albert Nobbs. Alan thinks Glenn Close looks positively creepy in it and thinks it's weird that she [he] somehow convinces a girl 20+ years her [his] junior to fall in love with her [him]. I tend to agree. Totally weird.

33 days - not enough time! But I can't wait!!

Santa Barbara

The best part about Alan's job at Kaiser is he has EVERY Monday off. This is awesome because quite a few holidays fall on Monday, so then we both have the day off! We decided to take advantage of this and the great weather and head up to Santa Barbara for the day on Martin Luther King Day.

We drove up Monday morning after traffic and headed to lunch at a place Melissa recommended called Silvergreens, which was really good. The only drawback was they only had this really weird mint green tea or tropical tea. No good.

After lunch, we went to the Coronado Butterfly Preserve. It was SO cool. I had read about how the Monarch butterflies fly there every winter to avoid the cold temps, but I had no idea how many there would be. When we first got there, we turned the wrong way on a path, but it turned out to be Dexter's favorite part of the walk. We ran across some clover and he FLIPPED over it. He was rolling around on his back having a great time. After we realized we walked the wrong way, we turned around and headed into the preserve. There were butterflies flying everywhere. It was so neat. We walked up the dirt paths and emerged out onto this big cliff that overlooked the ocean. We had perfect weather and it was really clear. We walked around a bit more and then decided to head back.

Before going back to the car, we debated walking up a path we hadn't gone through and decided we might as well. We were so happy we did. We got to this one area where there were thousands of butterflies. Some were flying all over the place while others clustered together and just hung out. I took this video on my phone, so it's kind of shaky, but you can still see the butterflies. Pretty much all of the clusters that look like leaves are actually butterflies all huddled together. It was insane.

After hanging out with our butterfly friends for a while, we decided to head over to Arroyo Burro Beach.

This was the coolest dog beach ever. Dexter could be off his leash and run forever. The waves were way too scary to go near, but he had a blast running through the sand and even humored me by playing fetch for about ten minutes. He and Alan ran up and down the beach for a really long time and every so often Dexter would find another friend to play with. The dog in the collage below was digging a massive hole and Dex decided the smartest place to stand would be right behind him where the sand he kicked up would fly right into Dexter's face.

We thought we might get lucky and the sand monster wouldn't be making his appearance, but never fear, Dexter soon figured out that the sand here was just like the sand in Laguna. Only this time, he didn't have to be on his leash, so it was way more fun!

The coolest part about this beach was the doggie showers in the parking lot! They work like those coin operated car washes and for a couple dollars, you can bathe your dog before getting back into the car! Dexter was so well behaved and within a few minutes smelled like a clean puppy!

After leaving the beach, we had dinner at Pizza Mizza in Santa Barbara and headed home with a very tuckered out pup. We stopped in Ventura to kill some traffic time and have some ice cream at McConnell's, which ended up being the perfect amount of time and we hit very little Monday evening traffic. It was a very fun day trip and we can't wait to take Dexter back to his beach!

Life Lessons from Kramer & Enzo

Alan had class Saturday and Sunday, so Dexter and I headed to Redlands for some fun.

While we were there, Kramer and Enzo showed him how to react when someone else gets to go on a walk!

The Terrier Shakes, You Say?

Yep, he's got 'em.
Not sure we can do anything about it, either.
It happens every time he's out hunting badgers.
Or in this case, those evil bath towels...