"It's better to feel pain than nothing at all..."

Highs/Lows of the Morning

High: Morning spooning with Mr. Deuce. Cuddles with a sixty pound dog breathing in your face are vastly different than cuddles with a fifteen pound kitty, FYI. But equally full of love.

Low: The fact that the cuddles occurred at six am.

"But it's so eeeeearly I don't want to go outsiiiide."

"SQUIRREL!"

Low: Forgetting to grab a yogurt on the way out the door and starving half the drive to LA until...

High: ...remembering the clementines hidden in my purse. I LOVE FORGOTTEN FRUIT.

High: Pre-tracking my whole week and planning out my yoga days.

Low: Putting on my freshly laundered jeans and realizing no, I didn't magically lose five pounds, they were just stretched out from wearing them a billion days in a row. And now they fit again.

Assorted Oscar thoughts and a link.

*I predicted quite a few of the awards, include some of the random ones, just 'cause I'm psychic like that.
*Who knew Charlize Theron could dance like that?
*Mmmm Channing Tatum.
*And Joseph Gordon Levitt.
*Anne Hathaway is officially cloying and annoying.
*Jennifer Aniston's dress is awful.
*Seth MacFarlane tries sooo hard.
*He's such a pervy douche, but I have an awkward crush on him.
*I wanna win an Oscar.
*OH ADELE I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

And via Buzzfeed:

Who Wore It Best At The Oscars? Animals Edition

Congratulations to my J.Law!

My Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress at the Academy Awards!

1) I love that she fell up the stairs. I would totally do that. I bet she is mortified. WHATEVER YOU'RE AN OSCAR WINNER!

2) She looked beautiful.

3) She was so genuinely overwhelmed.

I am going to go see Silver Linings Playbook again next weekend. I think the second time around I will really connect with it more, and it will be great to see it without such high expectations.

CONGRATS TO MY FUTURE BEST BUD.

I'm just happy to be linked.

The Fug Girls are live blogging over at Vulture!

And check out some more Oscar links. I'm tucked up on the couch watching Ryan Seacrest's hair interview people's manicures.


The 12 Best Acceptance Speeches in Oscar History

A little retrospective. Oh, Julia, your ego amuses me.

The Red Carpet Project

The New York Times archives fifteen years of Oscar fashion. So fun!

One of the worst in history.

Via NYT.com

An Oscar Voter's Brutally Honest Ballot

Bahahaha. He's so cranky. Most Academy voters are dirty old white men so this is particularly appropriate.

Four Oscar Campaign Tactics Consultants Swear Will Work (Unless They Don't)

Interesting if you like the behind the scenes drama, which I do.

And Holy Shit, Here Are The Dog Oscars

'Cause HOLY SHIT.

Puppies in Paradise

At this point, I've been blogging for nearly a year. I'm sure I've been to Santa Barbara at least a couple dozen times and have posted pictures probably half the times I'm there.

I'm sure they're all starting to look the same.

But I just don't care. The views are always beautiful and the puppies are always adorable. 

YOU GET WHAT YOU GET.

Santa Barbara City College

The BEACH

The Balcony

Oscar Sunday Rundown

I just love the Academy Awards.

The glitz, the glamour, the gossip. Pretty dresses and parties and power plays. Long winded speeches, camera shots catching eye rollers, hosts making fools of themselves.

Today is pretty much all Oscar, all the time. And puppies.

I did pretty well on my goal to see all the nominated films. Not all of them, alas, but close enough to feel confident in my opinions for the main categories!

Let's briefly assess.

2013 Oscar Nominated Films

(bold I have seen, italics I want to see, normal are ones I have little interesting in seeing.)

Amour: SO SAD. It just made my heart hurt. A beautiful, painfully realistic film. There were honestly moments I forgot I wasn't watching a documentary. There's a lot of buzz that Emmanelle Riva may slip in and snag the Best Actress statue, and she would absolutely deserve it.

Argo: Great. Truly an awesome, entertaining, suspenseful film. If it wins, I won't be mad.
Beasts of the Southern Wild: Really enjoyed it. Q was so good. Depressing subject matter and yet it didn't depress me. A little too "artistic" in spots but overall a beautiful film.

Django Unchained: You know, I liked it, and I like Tarantino, but I just love Inglorious Basterds so much that Django just wasn't as good for me. It was awesome, though, of course.

Flight: Denzel was so amazing, but the Best Actor field was so packed this year it's like he didn't even factor into the conversation.

Les Miserables: You know, as good as it was going to be and no better or worse. Anne Hathaway will win. Eh. Hugh Jackman should. Love him.

Life of Pi: I really enjoyed it and I didn't expect to. I thought I'd be bored. But it was beautifully told and while animal death movies make me sad, I did like it.

Lincoln: Yeah yeah history is important and Daniel Day Lewis is incredible in it, I know this, but I just had no desire to watch a way too long docudrama blahblah shooting slaves freedom big hat I don't know. I don't care. 

Moonrise Kingdom: Was planning on watching this last night on Netflix Instant with the Biff, but it was no longer streaming. Those stingy bastards.

Silver Linings Playbook: So, I loved it, I did. But I did think it was overrated. But with some distance from when I saw it, I think it was just built up too much for me, and I really want to see it again now. I hope Jennifer Lawrence wins. I think when I see it again I'll really relate to her character more. You know, 'cause she be crazy.

The Impossible: Awesome. Tense and gripping and amazing performances all around. Ewan McGregor should have been nominated and Naomi Watts would deserve a win. Honestly, all the Best Actress nominees could win and I wouldn't be bothered. 

The Master: I do want to see it, since I'm fascinated with that whole cult 'o Scientology nonsense, but I just never got around to it. Don't think either nominee will win.

The Sessions: Looked good, never got around to it. Don't think either nominee will win.

Zero Dark Thirty: Eh. I was one of the few who wasn't crazy about The Hurt Locker, war movies aren't really my thing, and it just didn't really interest me. I'll see it eventually, especially if Jessica Chastain wins.

Southern Asian Fusion

My beautiful Biff made me lunch today, after an awesome calorie-burning beach walk with the pack of pups. (Pictures in a bit, of course!) We dined outside in the gorgeous sunshine, and it was delicious.

Check it out.

• Trader Joe's orange chicken
• Sauteed collard, mustard, turnip, and spinach greens with sugar snap peas
• Corn bread

So good. So healthy. Thanks, Biff!

My Day With The Biff In .Gifs

I have officially decided to nicknamed the BFF "the Biff". (At least for now.) It's a little '70s. I'm digging it.

We're house sitting for my parents. We're smothered in pups. We're facing a marathon of movies, a feast of delicious childhood nostalgia pancakes for dinner (Bisquick mix, Jif peanut butter, and Log Cabin syrup), and a night of gossip.

We're gonna have a blast.

Here's our day in gifs.

Laundry.

Salad.

Pitch Perfect.

Day drinking.

Puppies.

A peek into puppyland.

These videos were just. Too. CUTE.

I had to share.

Meet Deuce. Meet Jojo.

See Jojo meeting his reflection.

See them fall in love.

Yes, that's my voice. Sensual, no?