If you know anyone...

We have to part ways with Stella. JJ's set on keeping the Jetta, which, I guess makes sense, so we're going to be selling the blue Hyundai.


We're listing at $8,999, but let's just say we're flexible. It's only got 34,450 miles on it, and has never been in a wreck! We have a CarFax thing on it... It's got cruise control, 5-speed manual, gets like 35+ miles/gallon, has a good crash test rating, electric windows and door locks, good airbags... it's been a good, reliable car--no mechanical errors thus far!

If you know anyone, PLEASE send them our way! We're trying to get this thing gone ASAP! Have them email us at marikaandjohn@gmail.com, or call us, or whatever.

Remember... we're flexible! Haha. Thanks for your help!

BIG OL' NEWS!

It may not be the news you were all hoping for.... but, we're MOVING! It's official. There's a moving truck reserved, and I'm getting ready to face my fear of driving it. Boxes will soon be stacked in our apartment and we'll be making a big donation to D.I. (we're getting rid of a lot of clothes... if you want some, come on over! WARNING: they're mostly from high school (for me) and mostly bootcut jeans (from him)).

And the date is..... APRIL 25th.
A week before real finals, so I'm taking all m'tests early.

JJ TOOK THE JOB!!

JJ TOOK THE JOB IN DC!!!!!!!!!!

He accepted this morning, and told them he can start in Mid-May. I'm very proud of him, and excited for the opportunities that this job provides (Master's Degree, higher pay, more chance of being promoted, he'll work close to where he lives, etc.)! As in the rest of life, there are always some downfalls (2 semesters living apart is really the only real one). There are so many things to do before we leave!

I also was planning to do my internship this summer, which means that I have to find a summer internship in a hotel/bed and breakfast/restaurant/institutional culinary management, so that we can be in DC for the summer, and start our sad 2 semesters apart in fall.

If anyone has a contact that could hook me up, lemme know! I'm having a hard time even getting started--I have this fear:

DC isn't just a summer tourism place. It's a year-round tourism place. So it's not like people are generally hired for 3 months of the year.

I need to get 450 hours between May 15-Aug 25... ugh. SOMEONE HAAAAAALP! I'm willing to do just about any job in a hotel, except laundry/housekeeping. I just need something!! Please just comment/email me and I'll love you forever and like you for always :-).

JJ's Sad Finger

We were having a superbowl party at my parent's house, and were innocently preparing the guacamole, when all of a sudden, THWACK!

. . . . . . . .JJ chopped off his finger. . . . nail. . . . . well. . . . part of it.

It's so sad/gross! It's literally just a chunk out of his fingernail. EEEEEEEW.

It looks even gross-er close-up. I feel so bad for him! I'm sure it's painful, but he's got a problem with his machismo, where he can't admit that it hurts. Whatever.

I'll let you know if it turns green and falls off.

EW, it's so gross.

January Madness

So, there have been some things that have happened this month, but none that we have taken pictures of so far.

1. I got my grades from last semester. I may or may not have done well. It's all going to remain a mystery for the rest of your lives.

2. I started school again. I'm taking 15 credit hours this semester. Should turn out okay.

3. JJ got a job offer! The job is in Washington DC, but will be moving locations sometime in 2010. We've decided that he'll take the job, which means that we'll move out there sometime around the beginning of summer, then I'll move back and finish school--Fall and Spring, graduating in May 2010. It'll be hard, but the job opportunity is awesome.

4. The Eagles choked.

5. We got new tires (ugh).

6. JJ's mom is in town right now, working on their Provo apartment. We've been able to hang out quite a bit.

Sorry no pictures, but now you all know what's up with us!

CHRISTMAS!

We decided to spend Christmas with my family this year (we spent last Christmas with his), and we had a lot of fun! My family is really big on Christmas traditions. On Christmas Eve, we have a fish and unleavened bread dinner and read the Bible.

We don't always get Christmas PJ's, but we did this year (just the 3 girls)! They are super comfortable and cute. My sister Micia really went all out this year (again). The Christmas tree and presents all looked so coordinated and everything was perfect.


It was JJ's first Christmas with my family, and I was excited. He seemed to have a lot of fun.

We got a GPS (my parents couldn't find it for a while, but then it turned out to be in plain view in their mudroom--we got it a couple of days after Christmas), a breadmaker that's on our return list, I got some clothes, JJ got hunting gear, and lift passes. I gave JJ some nice brown dress shoes, pocket squares, a tie, and some cuff links. He gave me a panini press, a jewelry box, and the iPhone headphones from Skullcandy that I wanted really really bad.

After we opened presents, we played a lot of rockband. Notice the matching pants:


We then ate Prime Rib for dinner and then saw the (whatever) Tale of Benjamin Button. It was meh. When we got back from the movie, we played more Rockband and then got ready to leave the next day(Friday).

When we woke up, it looked like this outside, except you could see tons of snow falling at the same time. My sister took good pictures, so I'll upload them later. We definitely wouldn't be able to make it out of the driveway, let alone all the way down the mountain where my parents live.

So we decided to stay and have some fun with my family (we had brought our PS3 and Tiger Woods '08, too). It was actually fun to be stuck in the house, eating Christmas treats and drinking hot chocolate and not feeling one bit bad about stuffing our faces.

We played this funny board game called "Would You Rather...", in which one of the challenges is that you have to let someone draw a moustache and glasses on you and leave them on for the rest of the game. JJ got to draw on me, and everyone thought it was really funny.

He tried to make me look like my dad:

And I decided to kinda act like him:

Later, my dad got to draw on my mom, which ended up so funny that she almost peed her pants when she saw a picture of herself:

On Saturday, we decided to just stay through Sunday night, since we go down every week for Sunday dinner anyway. Micia and Stewart had already planned a party for the UFC fights that night, so we joined them at Stewart's house and it was a lot of fun. Then we came back to my parents and went to sleep.

On Sunday, we were lazy. We woke up extra late, played some TW'08, and then watched the Cowboys (Micia's team) get beat by the Eagles (JJ's team)... it wasn't a major loss for the 'boys, though... just 44 to 6 ;)

Dinner was delicious, it was my mom's homemade clam chowder, which is better than your mom's/favorite restaurant's, and Steak 'n' Everythings (they're sandwiches like philly cheesesteaks but with onions, mushrooms, and peppers. And tomatoes that JJ and I don't eat during the winter because hydroponic=nasty) .

Overall it was a way fun holiday, and I was glad to be at home. There really is no place like home for the holidays, and, even if you try to have a lot of fun, it's not the same. Next year is JJ's family's turn, which made me appreciate my family extra this year. Thanks everyone!

A Very Shady Maple

Every Christmas Eve, JJ's whole family goes to a buffet in Pennsylvania called "The Shady Maple Smorgasbord". This year, we're going to be at my parent's house (side note: This blog may be called marikaandjohn. etc... but I think we've all realized that JJ likes me writing, he never gets around to it) for the Holidays, and JJ said the day he'll miss the most is Christmas Eve.

That's what got my new brilliant surprise plan in the works. I decided to make our own version of Shady Maple for dinner tonight (he always gets up too early for me to surprise him with a breakfast). So I went to the grocery store, bought all of the stuff, and got started at 3--since JJ was going to be home at 5.

I made biscuits and gravy first, then I made the bacon (a whole package, because Shady Maple is all about eating copious amounts of fatty meats and eggs). Then I got working on the pancakes. One of them became quite a pain in my rear.

Here's the story of the epic pancake:

Number One: I'm allergic to bananas. Like, eat-a-banana-and-die type allergic. But JJ's favorite is banana and walnut (I'm also allergic to walnuts). After figuring out how to get a banana open, I started making a GIANT pancake, pictured here:

The pancake filled up the whole pan! I swear I didn't start it this big--It GREW. Good thing I have a GIANT pancake spatula:
It's almost as big as m'face! So I go at the pancake with the flipper, and....
I think you can tell how I feel about this:
I decided just to put it in the oven with everything else while I made another of JJ's favorite pancakes, Peach and Brown Sugar. I made a peach, brown sugar, and pecan one for myself.
Then I decided to make our house look more like Shady Maple...

Seeeeeeee? Almost as awesome as my Christmas decorating scheme.

JJ was very happy with the dinner, anyway, and here he is after he ate his first course, a biscuit and gravy with eggs:



This picture is of the bacon after we were done:

And JJ after he's done eating 2 giant pancakes, a few strips of bacon, and 3 biscuits with gravy... and more than half of the 4 eggs I scrambled:

It was so much fun to see JJ happy! It wasn't the same as regular Shady Maple, because there weren't any whoopie pies, shoo-fly pies, doughnuts fried in LARD (which is a word you hafta capitalize always), plethora of soda machines, or millions of fat people, but... I made it feel more like Shady Maple by wearing a soup strainer on my head (like the Mennonites that own the place...okay, they wear traditional hat-thingies. But they look like soup strainers!).


...I'm officially Shady Maple Crazy.