Anniversaries, Puppies and Movies

So...an update on what's been going on in the Lambert House.  (Disclaimer: This whole post will not be about the dog.)

Theo is fully adjusted to our place and has made his mark (literally).  He is learning to run to the door when he has to go, but hasn't gotten the whole 'ring the bell on the door' thing yet.  The spray bottle is working wonders on getting him to not bite our feet, chew up my new leggings, or Zac's computer bag.  We get to sleep through the night, then just wake up a little early to take him out.  Then, as Zac showers, Theo cuddles with me in bed.  Lunch time I run home to let him out to run around in the snow, and I can hear him whining all the way from the sidewalk when I leave to go back to work (major working-mom guilt is what I have).  After work when we come home and let him out he acts like we created the cure for cancer, and is so happy he proceeds to jump around and follow us anywhere for the next couple hours.  He then promptly crashes at 9 p.m., which is great. 

 Verdict: after all the puppy horror stories and warnings I have heard, from, like, EVERYONE, I would say it hasn't been so bad.  Sure, there have been moments when I want to put him KSL, but from what I have heard about mothering, I would say this is pretty good practice.  So, we're loving our resident reindeer and his bundle of personality.  Seeing Zac interact with him I think has been my favorite part of having a dog.  Zac is a total softie and I am the waterbottle nazi. I did not expect that. But Zac is so sweet with Theo and so encouraging.  I can already tell he's going to be a great father. 

We spent a lot of Saturday wandering around Home Depot looking for solutions to our freezing cold Downton Abbey.  Theo was somewhat alarmed when we brought home two radiators, and didn't understand why we were blowdrying plastic to ALL the windows in the house.  I'm happy to report that now if you come to stay with us in the guest room (lovingly named, 'The Icebox') you won't think you're filming 'Ice Age 5.'  

Let's see, what else has been going on...

I just bought our tickets for Disneyland for our 1 year anniversary!  What, what!  We're flying into Anaheim February 8 and partying in Disneyland and California Adventure, then spending a day in L.A. (no Lakers game, already checked) and two days in San Diego.  I've never been to any of these places, so Zac is going to be my tour guide.  80% of my waking time these days is spent picturing eating one of those Mickey Mouse ice cream things and riding "It's a Small World.'  My days have also been busy with looking at every hotel in San Diego on hotels.com trying to pick the best one. Because when we went to Myrtle Beach this last summer, I picked the worst hotel ever (there were hairs on the towels) because I only read a rating or two.  

We've seen a couple great movies.  I'm going to pretend I'm on the Oscar committee for a moment and tell you the 'must-see' movies at the box office.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi---this is one of my favorites I've seen in a while.  It's a documentary about a sushi master in Japan (his bites of sushi start at around $300) and how he rose to the top, watching him make it, etc.  Sounds boring but I was so inspired. He is 80 something and still working, loving his job.  I saw all sorts of metaphors there.  Unrated and totally clean. It made me want to go to Japan so badly I was desperately trying to think of things to sell so we could go.  We ate sushi over the weekend and the best miso soup ever at Simply Sushi.

Silver Linings Playbook has been one of my unexpected favorites--I found it touching and funny.  I'm not usually a Bradley Cooper fan, but I love Jennifer Lawrence and Robert DeNiro and ofcourse the message that every family has its quirks and some dysfunctional element that binds its members.  Some F bombs made the rating 'R,' but hey, it was touching.  

Zero Dark Thirty was great--Zac dragged me to it at like a 10:50 p.m. showing after his Jazz shift (the only enticement for me was holding his hand, trying to be 'the cool young wife who can still do these things' and getting my Megaplex mug filled up for a $1.00).  But I have to say I was totally into it and biting my nails even though I knew what was going to happen.  Superbly acted, it was great.  R for a brief torture scene and some F bombs, but I equated it to watching a CNN special and getting some American history in.  It was great.  

Beasts of the Southern Wild was one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time.  We couldn't even finish it.  Boring as all get-out.  Good for Deswani-however-you-spell-her-name for getting an Oscar nod at 9, but man, that movie was like a bad English AP poem.  I still don't know what was going on.  It was about a girl in New Orleans (?) during a floo-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.  

In other news, I've been emailing this employee at work for months regarding shirt orders for his uniform and just now discovered she is a man.  Whoops.  So all this time I've been sending him women's shirts.  His name is Shannon.  How was I supposed to know? Better yet, didn't he figure out he was getting v-necked womens' shirts?  I finally figured it out when I wrote to him I didn't have that size in women's, and he replied, 

Thanks, but I need 4XL mens.  I'll let my wife wear the women's clothing.

Whoops.