spoiled rotten

Our dog, Jaci, takes her role as Princess of the Universe quite seriously. We brought her home about three months ago, and not a moment has passed that she has not taken the opportunity to remind us exactly WHO is running our house now. When she wants something, she will look you dead in the face, DARING you to deny her, and bark these yippy little princess barks, unleashing the full force of the spaniel eyes until you have totally forgotten what you were doing and are making yourself crazy trying to anticipate her every need. What is it, little princess? Bathroom? Food? Treat? Complete devotion of my time and energy?

Because we are suckers, the dog has been sleeping in bed with us since we got her. This, I feel, is where the diva in her truly comes out. I always imagined I'd someday have a dog that would curl up lovingly at my feet, but to do so would be to admit that we are the parents and she is the child, so JACI sleeps WITH HER HEAD ON MY PILLOW. The first time she crawled up next to me and laid her head next to mine, I almost fell off the bed from laughing so hard. She positions herself between Greg and I to achieve maximum attention from both of us. No matter how close together we are laying, she will wedge herself between us. Because why be loved by one parent when there are two available?

Husband is going to kill me for posting this picture, but one night when I came home really late and he was already in bed, this is what I found.

There are no words.

some will appreciate this more than others

In college, Husband and I were both in the Christian college equivalent of Greek houses. His "fraternity," Chi Lambda Phi, and my "sorority," Gamma Rho, were a big part of our social lives and really part of the reason that we met in the first place.

There is something you should know about Husband's brotherhood, Chi. They are incredibly..... proud of themselves. Now, they have good reason to feel that way, as they win everything and generally attract the best guys (and the hottest girlfriends, of course). Still, this is part of their reputation. The good thing about these guys is that they know their reputation and they can laugh at it. And those of us who know the guys personally know that, as Husband puts it, they just can't help being AWESOME.

One of the things that Chi always wins is Spring Sing, the yearly show at our school that involves each club singing and dancing around like manic idiots for 6 minutes at a time. These white, Church of Christ boys are somehow magically gifted with the ability to dance, flip, and sing as a unit. Even when I wanted to kill them all for beating Gamma a bazillion years in a row, I still got little goosebumps watching them. I always felt like these were my boys.

WELL, flash forward to our trip to DC last week. [PLEASE KEEP IN MIND WE GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE TWO YEARS AGO.] We had just finished watching the changing of the gaurd at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. This ceremony, if you haven't seen it, is amazing. These soldiers perform this intricate series of marching, saluting, and arms presentation in the sweltering heat that makes saps like me tear up.

As we were walking down the hill right after the ceremony, I observed:

"That was incredible. It was like a dance, so sychronized and exact and perfectly executed."

To which Husband replied,

"Like a Chi Spring Sing show!"


Totally the same, right?

he should really think about the potential of his actions to end up on the Internet

On one of the last nights of our vacation, Husband and I were absolutely exhausted. After four days of walking around in the heat, we couldn't do much more. We decided to go back to our hotel around 4:00 and rest a little bit before dinner. Once we'd taken off our shoes, changed into more comfortable clothes, and settled into bed, we started channel surfing and landed on HBO. HBO is one of those luxuries that we only enjoy in hotels because I am too cheap to pay for anything more than basic cable. During vacation, we watched a LOT of movies on HBO.

This particular late afternoon, with the sun slanting behind the DC skyline, I had control of the remote. When I came across The Devil Wears Prada on HBO, I thought I would see how long I could watch it before Husband started wrestling me for the controller. To my GREAT surprise, Husband was absolutely ENTHRALLED by Meryl Streep and the fabulous clothes in this movie. WE WATCHED OVER AN HOUR OF THIS MOVIE with not a peep from him. Finally, around 6:30, I was getting really hungry.

"Babe, I'm really starving."

"But we're watching this movie."

"Ummmm, yes. I'm actually really surprised that we are still watching this movie."

"Really? Why?"

"Well, it doesn't strike me as your kind of movie."

"Babe, its FASHION." [THAT IS A DIRECT QUOTE.]

"I see."

"Well, what happens to her?" [The movie had reached the moment where the main character has to decide if she will continue in her horrible job in hopes of getting ahead or be true to herself.]

"You're concerned about how this movie ends?"

"What does she DO!?"

"Well.... are you sure you want me to tell you? You don't want to watch the rest of it later?"

"If we're going to eat, you have to tell me."

So, barely stifling my laughter, I told Husband how the movie ended. He seemed satisfied with the ending, so we could finally go eat.

As we were walking to dinner, I decided not to let this little incident go without comment.

"Babe, don't worry, if you really want to watch the ending of the movie, I have it at home. We can watch it when we get home."

"What movie?"

"The one we were just watching."

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"The movie you were just dying to know the ending of. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA."

"I've never heard of that movie before."

"So we're gonna play it that way, huh?"

"You can't prove a thing."

"I've got one word for you, sucker. BLOG."

dinner time

Husband: "So, where do you want to eat?"

Me: "Ummm... I don't know. What are we close to?"

"Van's Pig Stand?"

"Eww."

"Well, you suggest something."

"OH! I want ARBYS. We're right by one, too!"

"No."

[Silence]

Husband: "Well?"

Me: "I don't know. Its your turn to suggest something. I want Arbys, but you turned it down. Thus, you have to make a suggestion."

"Fine. McDONALDS."

"Ummm, no."

"Well, then I guess its your turn, isn't it?"

"Fine. Benvenuti's. [really expensive Italian restaurant where we only go for our wedding anniversaries]

"Jerk. You know that's not a valid suggestion. You're just trying to get out of suggesting. Charlestons?"

"Since we're both wearing shorts and ball caps, I'm gonna say no."

"HA! Your turn again."

"Ummmm.... [glancing out the window] CiCi's pizza? [NOT SERIOUS.]"

"Ok."

"What? NOOOOOOOO!"

"Ha! Gotcha!"

[I'll give you three guesses where we ended up going, but you won't need them. Husband likes to talk big and put up a fight, but he always gives me my way.]

close one

Greg has this feature on his Iphone that lets you check the weather in cities around the world. While we were on vacation last week, we would check the weather in DC, but also at home in Oklahoma and in Spain where Brother Robby is studying right now. We mostly enjoyed the fact that it was 10 degrees cooler in DC than in Oklahoma at any given time. But our glee was abruptly cut short.

"Oh my word."

"What?"

"Oh my word. Do you see that?"

"What?"

"The temperature in Norman on Monday."

"OH MY WORD."

"Yeah, 98 degrees. 98 DEGREES IN NORMAN ON MONDAY."

"Just think, babe, that's about the temperature it was on our wedding day. Doesn't it make you think about our wedding?"

"I don't want to think about it."

"What?! You don't want to THINK about our WEDDING DAY?!"

"No, I meant the weather. The heat."

"Oh, ok."

"Not really. You got me. That was a nice save though, right?"

One of the best Husband quotes ever

Whilst getting dressed one morning...

"Babe, your underwear matches your shirt today."

"Well, sometimes a girl needs a secret to get her through the day."

"I always have a secret that gets me through the day."

"You do? What?"

"That I'm AWESOME."

Jaci, or "the princess" to you

Six weeks from now, our lives will change forever. We'll work out a feeding schedule. We will lose sleep. We will have less spending money. We will be responsible for the well-being of another living thing.

That's right. We're getting a dog.

Because I am me, I started researching puppies a long time ago. Like, two years ago. Before we even got married. I decided on a breed, and spent hours on my laptop researching breeders. Finally, in March, I went to visit a breeder in southwest Oklahoma, and fell in love. It was an immediate and irreversible love. The kind of love that would result in drawing hearts with our entwined initials in my Trapper Keeper.

Yes, I am now one of those women with a small dog that she considers the equivalent of actual human offspring. I promise to never carry her around in one of those bags or take her to the mall with me, but are you seeing this face? Seriously? I couldn't think she was any cuter if I'd created her with my own genetic material. Luckily, I am not alone:

She is going to render him utterly powerless with her cuteness, no? I cannot WAIT for the softie he will become when she is around all the time. It makes me want to have a daughter just so we can gang up on him and bat our eyes until he hands over his wallet FROM THE SHEER FORCE OF OUR CHARMS.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned, we have to wait 6 weeks until we move to bring her home. She is living with the breeder until then and being immensely spoiled, which will be good practice for when she moves in with us. There isn't a treat in the world that face couldn't get me to hand over.