If wishes came true...

So we live in a basement apartment with crappy neighbors and currently a lot of mud. If I could wish anything I'd wish a new apartment (and preferably not a basement) and a brand new puppy. I had cats once upon a time and sadly it didn't work out. You can give me all the crap you want : ) Chris and I started looking at ksl.com because of a friend's success in finding a cute new edition to his family and came across the idea of a jackapoo. Its a mix between a jack russell terrier and a poodle. I know it sounds a little douchey but the poodle half simply makes the jack russell a little more scraggily. Unless of course you find a dog who has parents with more poodle in them. So a word to the wise if you are interested in getting and like the pictures get a puppy with more jack russell terrier in him or her.

But being an adult I have accepted the fact that I could not welcome into my home a brand new puppy until we either move into an apartment that is pet friendly or find an apartment in Texas that will be accepting of a cute little doggy.

Water for Elephants

Hello everyone! So I just finished Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It was a great book to read because it sucks you in quickly and you fall in love with the characters. The setting is placed on a circus by train and you learn a lot of the lingo and experiences an older circus would have. The book was a little on the erotic side (compared to some of the books common to Utah reading i.e. Mormon lit.) but, I would recommend it to anyone. I was really surprised by the ending by it was truly picture perfect. I read a critique calling it escapism and I agree completely. Not only does it embody the idea of escapism for an individual but serves that purpose for the reader as well.

I am currently out of literature to read, so if you have any to suggest go right ahead. Although my next adventure might be a collection of short stories by Joyce Carol Oates, I still do respect her for her blunt reality.

The Polar Bear Plunge

Alrighty... we had an interesting Friday night. After getting off of work I came home to find Chris ready and willing to participate in the Polar Bear Plunge at Hyrum Dam. I was a little skeptic, I will not deny it, but he was ready. So after Larry and Ami came and picked us up we headed to the freezing water. We of course stopped at USU credit union to get the "donation" that is required to participate and Chris got yet another handful of pens for free. These pens are probably the best pens you could ask for. I am sure about 60% of the inhabitants in Cache Valley have at least one of these pens. Anyways, sharing our spoils with Ami we felt lighthearted and ready to face anything. When we finally got to the site there was already a lot of people huddle around the metal bleachers that were erected. Chris and Larry left us to go register and I got to look around. There was a group of guys that looked like they belong to a frat house, a group of girls huddling together, and a few other stragglers. As we situated ourselves I made the best move of the night and bent over and let all of my newly acquired pens fall out of my pocket to the ground below the bleachers... it was GREAT! Then all of a sudden Ami told me they were going! I raced to get the camera and they were already jumping in : ( So sadly none of my pictures turned out and I will forever feel sad about that fact.
This lovely gem is sadly not my very hairy husband, but a man who at one point did a polar bear plunge. Chris and Larry decided to go with a pajama theme and even had matching Christmas pj pants. It was adorable to say the least. The slowly walked to the edge of the ice and began to slowly fall face forward into the freezing water. They even carried teddy bears that matched. It was funny to say the least. When they were changing, Ami and I, were able to watch everyone else go. The frat boys even started chanting about their manliness (because they suck c*%k in a group). I think they bonded....

I have finally read and finished this novel by Hosseini. It such a startling depiction of the life many families lead and especially women suffer through in Afghanistan. It serves as a great eye opener for me and I can not think of any trial in my own life similar or on the same level as the characters in this book. I have never known war, I have never known an abusive member of my family, and I have never know everyday suffering like the women in this book. I enjoyed Hosseini's first novel The Kite Runner because it introduced to me one aspect of the Middle Eastern culture that is rich in heritage. But this book shook me to my core. The lives of the characters first seem so opposite, but are entwined into each other at the end of the novel. I have never witnessed the sacrifice for another's happiness and welfare that take place in this book in the real world. However, I see a mother's love and sacrifice in my Mom's own life story. She gave up her happiness for mine and I will always love her for it.

I still do not know the hardship that face many women in the world today but this book will serve as one of the foundations to my future knowledge. A woman from Utah can't do everything but I hope to find a way to help in the future, perhaps I will be able to touch someone's life in my future teaching. Each day that I go to another ESL class I am surprised by the plight immigrant children have in our own country. America might be blessed with its freedom, but the intolerance that is just below the surface in its citizens can be our own doom.

Some Clarifications

So I received the much anticipated phone call from the academy and they informed me that they had already filled the position and the part about the males goes into every rejection letter. So I guess Marissa doesn't come off as manly, they just thought that if the position that I wanted opened up again and a male friend of mine was planning on applying I would be willing to pass on the information. Anyways... happy Friday!

January... Its been interesting!

Alrighty, so January has been an interesting month to say the least. School started for me and Chris sadly is still slaving away at Cafe Rio. He still doesn't get the recognition he deserves (then again no one in the management team does) from the corporate office. I can't wait for the day when he can walk out of those doors forever and never have to work there again. Oh, and the fact that I absolutely dislike and disagree with Trevor's view of a good manager. Anyways, life is not perfect and he's making the best of it. Today we gave him a much needed hair cut. We spent $60 on a great hair stylist to buzz his hair shorter... just kidding we did the work. Afterwards he stated that he would go "trim" up his beard and he walked out of the bathroom with this masterpiece. Its not my favorite but it shows his personality so well on the outside and that's why I married him. So I guess I love it entirely because it is the essence that is Chris.






And he is also wearing the best shirt that we got from Hawaii. It states that his Hawaiian experience was "heavenly"





I also had the opportunity to break my Ikea lamp for a second time. Sadly the small glass shade isn't the strongest structure in our tiny apartment and one misplaced step made the super glued glass shatter again on the carpet. So I decided on my mission and set out to re-glue the already super glued edges... I didn't find all the pieces and there is still a small hole. But the small Ikea lamp will live on, just not on my nightstand any longer. I replaced the cute lamp with a more utilitarian dollar store purchase.








The cherry blossoms won me over in the store.





This picture is a great Internet find that links to the sad misfortune that I received in the mail today. While researching possible jobs in Logan in the classifieds I found a great opening for a youth counselor for struggling female adolescents. I anxiously sat by my cell phone day and night to answer the promising phone call offering me salvation from my current retail slump. Sadly that phone call was transformed into a rejection letter stating that the "[academy] does not hire males for direct care staff due to licensing procedures"... in other words I was rejected because the academy thought that I had a penis and they got this from my resume. I don't know exactly how Marissa came off as masculine or how anything else came off as manly but I was rejected on false assumptions. I called the academy and left a message with the receptionist that I would like to clear up the mistake and get more information for the reason that I was pulled from consideration for the position. I still haven't heard back from them, but hopefully soon I will. If not the experience will go down as the funniest refusal I have ever had.



Our last two pictures refers to the hilarious story of the business man wearing jeans at Cafe Rio. So Chris was called by the alarm company yet again with the information that the alarm in Cafe Rio had gone off. Usually its a false alarm and the company can turn the alarms off remotely. However, on this occasion the company was positive it was a break in. On his way home Chris saw that there were police at Cafe Rio and decided that it might just be important enough to stop and offer the fine police department any additional help they might need. That is when he saw for the first time the businessman who was wearing the douchey pointed shoes that are shown below. This said businessman was from Rexburg, Idaho and had come down to a meeting with his security company. You are all probably familiar with this type of company, they wrangle college students into committing the majority of their summer to travel to a distant land and sell security systems to senior citizens without the money and other by scaring them into it... okay that's is the personal opinion that I have. On top of that I have had several friends/family members who have been royally screwed by such companies. Okay to paint an even more descriptive picture of the man, he was also wearing very stylish jeans with his professional button up shirt. When Chris arrived on the scene the police were standing on the outside of Cafe Rio and the businessman was standing on the inside, not knowing how to unlock the freaking doors to find freedom. His story claims that he came back to Cafe Rio after closing hours to drop off a friend and decided to use the facilities before his drive back up to Idaho. While using the restroom the closing manager left and secured the building. To his shock while exiting the bathroom, our business friend set off the alarms at Cafe Rio... This in my opinion is one of the funniest stories that has happened while I have lived in Logan.

Nothing Much

Each day we live in our small basement apartment, I realize I hate the people who live above us more and more. There is no denying it, I hate them.