Christmas in Arizona

It was so nice to be able to visit with our family and friends in Arizona for Christmas! We were thankful to find fairly cheap flights which made that possible. It was a little stressful trying to organize when and where to see everyone in such a short amount of time and having to get rides/borrow cars. We got see almost everyone we wanted to, but we know there are some we did not get to see, and we sincerely hope we can see you the next time around!! Thanks to everyone who helped get us places--we really appreciate it!

Again, we failed with the pictures...(or the lack of)...we were too busy catching up with all of you to take pictures!

But for some visual stimulation, here are some pictures of Jon's most recent project--a footswitch pedal for his amp. He used his dad's workshop when we were in AZ to build the housing and just finished wiring it up with the lights and everything today. We decided it wouldn't be a good idea to wire it up in Arizona because it might have looked like a bomb when we went through security at the airport. Jon is happy with how it turned out!

Thanksgiving

This year we had our first Turkey Day apart from our families. It was weird, but we still had a nice Thanksgiving. Our friend Joe came to visit some family here in Seattle so we got to spend Thanksgiving with them. They were fabulous hosts...and it was so nice to spend some time with an Arizona buddy! We hope we get more visitors in the future :) Sadly, we have no pictures from that to share with you all...sorry!

JuiceSmash!

We decided we want to get more fruits and veggies in our system, so yesterday we bought a juicer from a lady on craigslist for $20. She never used it and the model gets good reviews online so we think we got a good bargain. Today we juiced 4 apples, and then we juiced 6 carrots and a tomato. The apple juice was yummy, but we didn't love the carrot/tomato combo. We're going to consult the web for better proportions and recipes for next time.

The only drawback is the cleanup!

After our juicing adventure, the apartment manager and a random guy came to our door and asked Jon to go outside. The guy was backing out and hit Jon's car (that's two strikes in one week--just by being parked on the street)! Fortunately, the guy was apologetic and cooperative and gave Jon all of his information. We're hoping this will be a smooth process with the insurance company. Jon should be getting a quote for the damage on Friday. Apparently this in an unlucky place to park.

Broken Mirror

Jon has been having to park on the street because the parking lot for our apartment is small--only one car from each apartment is allowed to take a spot. We don't live on a very narrow street, but there are a lot of those around here so you'd think an experienced driver could avoid doing something like this to a parked car:

Mustaches

Yeah, we know...we stink at updating our blog. It's just really hard to get ourselves to write about our boring every day stuff, which usually consists of looking online for jobs, hanging out, eating, watching movies from the library, and keeping warm. It kind of works with the rainy weather though. We haven't been getting out a whole lot because we don't want to spend much money since we are both still not collecting a paycheck. Our biggest adventures involve going to the grocery store and the library. And many of you have told us that it's okay to blog about ordinary, every day stuff, but we sincerely think our current daily routine would bore you. We might start reviewing things we try...like meals or movies. We'll try to do better. Thanks for your patience.

We were invited to meet some people at a mustache-themed party this weekend. Here's how we turned out:

Sarah kept getting homemade cheesecake on her mustache (eating was a difficult task)! We met some interesting people and got to try all sorts of other homemade goodies like pumpkin-curry soup, candied nuts, samosas, rum cake, and chocolate-coconut bars.

Jon plans on wearing his mustache more often.

Autumn

We kind of neglected the Halloween festivities this year and didn't feel like figuring out costumes, which we were totally okay with. Our way of celebrating was getting clearance candy a couple days later. In the end, isn't that cheaper and quicker than making a costume and going trick or treating? The only disappointment was the Airheads. Well, the Airheads themselves were okay, but they included a "super sour gel pack" that came in a little thing that looked like a ketchup packet. They make condiments for your Airheads now? It was neon yellow and it tasted like Pine-Sol. Ew.

After Halloween we realized we missed the changeover to Daylight Savings Time. So for those of you in AZ, we are now one hour earlier than you. Let us know how things are going in the future, we feel so behind...

Here are some autumn pictures we took while the weather was still kind of nice.

Soggy Leaves

Today was the rainiest day we've had since we've been here, but it was still a beautiful day. We walked down the street to a very convenient auto licensing location to register Sarah's car. Jon was able to take care of his earlier this week since he was not required to get an emissions test. It was only about a 10 minute walk, but we were pretty soaked by the time we got there. We were wishing we would have brought the camera so we could show you all how pretty the trees and fallen leaves are now that it's getting cooler. The sidewalks are covered with red, orange, and yellow leaves. This is our first real autumn!


We have so far managed to avoid using the heater, aside from one day when it was still warm outside when we turned a mysterious, unlabeled knob on the wall of our bedroom. It got a bit toasty and we realized it controlled the heat in our room. Now we know. We are curious to see what the electric bill will be like, which we have yet to receive as it is sent out every two months.

On another note, we are continuing to apply to jobs and are checking our e-mail every five minutes hoping for responses. Sarah has gotten a couple emails back about teaching assistant positions but doesn't know for sure if she's still being considered. As sort of a last resort, she applied for a job at a nearby dry cleaners and surprisingly got a phone call back very shortly after to schedule an interview for Monday. Not her dream job, but it may have to do for the time being. Kinda brings her back to senior year of high school...and hanging out with her sisters at the old dry cleaners in Chandler.

Jon is in constant search of decent, like-minded musicians to record and play/write with. He has met up with a couple of different people through Craigslist but hasn't found anything too promising yet. He did find one guy who wants to pay him to record a few tracks, so that's a start!