gr8 d8

When I got off work today, I had a text from Marcus that said to check my email when I got home. And then the email said to go look at the printer. It was like a quick scavenger hunt :) Anyway, in the printer was a confirmation page for tickets to go see the Princess and the Frog! I know I'm a little ridiculous, but I have been dying to go see that movie. I love just about everything Disney, and Amy (my equal in movie liking) recommended it. So I was crazy excited all afternoon waiting for Marcus to get back from class and a test. Of course, I got hungry waiting, so I texted Marcus about dinner. But he had planned to take me to one of our new food finds, Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches, which is conveniently located across the parking lot from the lovely, not really a dollar, Dollar Theater. Man, I am hard to please... Disney movie and a great sandwich! Dinner was amazing, as JJ's always is, and we both really enjoyed the movie. (And the movie was even better due to big boxes of Charleston Chews and Whoppers.) Marcus was smiling the whole time, which helped me not feel too lame for being so excited to go see this movie. Plus it was cute when all the kids in the audience giggled. Marcus loved the jazz music and specifically the line "Come, we pucker." Haha. And I am already planning on owning it at some point in life, even though there were alligators in the movie. Five stars from me :) It was a great little date. One of my favorite things to do. Thanks for the fun surprise evening out, Marcus!

And the results are in...

After much anticipation, Marcus received an email from the Department of Communications telling him that he could pick up his application results letter. So off he went to get it as soon as he could. However, I was a jerk and made him wait to open it until we were both home. For the record, it wasn't much later because we both get back by 3:00.



And so we celebrated with the cutest mini cupcake ever! Marcus being the PUBLIC RELATIONS MAJOR, not the cute cupcake ;)

He's going to talk to a counselor once all the paperwork is completed, and then he'll have an expected graduation date! (We're anticipating two to three more semesters.)

CONGRATULATIONS MARCUS!!!

Valentine's Day

Let me start off by saying Happy Arizona Statehood Day! Definitely worth noting :) We had a fun day. Only three kids were in our Primary class today, so we sent them home on sugar highs due to some delicious pink funfetti cupcakes we made. The majority of the evening was spent in the kitchen working on our masterpiece dinner. Marcus made amazing Artisan No Knead Bread, and those pictures are about half way down. All the rest are the preparation of Penne Rustica, which turned out incredible! It was difficult to make, dare I say extremely complicated, but with some last minute tips from Mimi, we did it! Most of Marcus' comments after dinner praised the wine in the sauce, but hey, it was good. :)

This is only a fragment of the mess we had!

Saucin' up the chicken

Marcus' fancy bread right out of the oven

I'm not sure what this facial expression means in context with the bread...

the penne goin' in the oven

the table almost completed. p.s. the strawberry salad was way good too!

finally the timer went off

All done- hooray!

Just about ready to eat

...left overs. haha. Only the top Tupperware isn't Penne Rustica.

We'll definitely have to make this again sometime. Maybe when we're having around six other people over for dinner. We definitely had enough, as you could tell. So no mocking us, we made our impressive Valentines meal with complete success!

Our Day Off

Gotta love how Utah celebrates more holidays than Arizona! And today was an awesome day off. It started out... late. I think the clock said 10:30 when we got up. I hadn't realized how tired I was. And lucky Marcus, the first thing I said was that we were going to clean the apartment before doing anything else. He wasn't thrilled, but I will love not having to worry about the mess it was right before cello lessons tomorrow morning.









I know our apartment isn't too exciting, but it's never been this clean. Well, it hasn't in a long time! :)

And in the process of cleaning, we noticed that our cactus was looking a little sad, so we put him in the window. I figured you'd all want to see Cody the Cactus. Yes, he's from Arizona!

After our apartment was all clean, we started running errands, which definitely included In-n-Out!!! And to Marcus' dismay, several other stores. However, that was his idea. We went up and down about what to do for Valentines Day. We debated all kinds of gifts and trips. After much indecisiveness, we decided on a bluetooth for Marcus and 101 Dalmations (the Glenn Close version) for me. Here's some great pictures of Marcus with his bluetooth. He loves it! He didn't waste any time setting it up and testing it with computer stuff.









While we were out today, Marcus told me that the movie didn't count as my Valentines Day. I could pick something at any store that I really wanted, but didn't need :) Once again, I started debating all the things I almost got originally for Valentines, but then, we went into Pier 1 Imports...









And this is not just any piece of furniture... It holds all my cello music! Almost all, but still. And I love it! It looks so much better than the cardboard boxes by the dresser in our room and can sit beautifully in the living room, conveniently located for lessons.
Marcus also agreed to get the pretty flower for the top. The wedding picture was in our room, but I think it looks even better here :) Marcus' grandma made the Establish a House sign for us for Christmas, and we couldn't find a place worthy of it. But something about this place looks great... probably the thermostat :) JK.









I was so excited about this, you have no idea. Thanks Marcus!!!

Website!

I had been using a blog as my cello website, and I just (with Marcus' help, of course) finished my new website. That's right, my new WEBSITE! So go check it out, please :) And tell all your friends and other family about it. I would love to get some more cello students due to it. Plus, I am so excited about it, since I did something techie. Woo-hoo!

www.ericascellostudio.com

Application Process: Finished.

Marcus has been working crazy hard to finish his application for the Communication Department at BYU. That included the infamous Independent Study class (with a 55 page report), a timed case analysis, and an interview on top of the normal grade/class requirements. Trust me, it's been stressful. However, it was all over on Monday after an extremely successful interview. Marcus couldn't have been more excited, nor jump off any more walls.

The stud himself:

I was so proud of him for finishing the whole process. There was awhile where it didn't seem very likely, so this was quite the accomplishment. I wanted to show him somehow how awesome he is for following this application through and working so diligently to the end. So these are the treats I got him:


Nothing too big, but he loved it all! A Sobe, a Kit Kat, and yes, a cow. Marcus has always wanted a cow, so I hoped this would satisfy him. And it was a hit. He fondly named the cow Fergie... after the singer ??? The coolest part was that this cow was linked to the National Star Registry, so we were able to name a real star after Marcus! He is a star for finishing his application, so it was fitting. (Insert awwhh here) haha. But seriously, a real star. It's in the constellation Draco at the location 15h 34m 31.87s 61* 41'50.56". Pretty sweet!

But anyway, we're both crazy happy that the applying is all over and that Marcus felt great about all he did. He'll find out in the beginning of next week how it really went :) Keep your fingers crossed! Good luck, Marcus!!!

Skiing

Last weekend, Marcus and I went to Brighton with Jen and Misha to go skiing. I won't lie, it took a lot of convincing to get me to agree to ski with everyone, but it was fun to go out. Marcus had a blast! He loves skiing, and he probably would go back next weekend if he could. I enjoyed it... for the most part :) I loved hanging out with Jen (& Misha), quoting How I Met Your Mother, and being up the beautiful canyon. And thanks to Cozette, I was never a tiny bit cold. That lady sure knows how to stay warm while skiing! :)

Marcus and Erica going up the ski lift. This must have been after one of my better runs down the mountain since I'm smiling. :) (Sorry about the quality of the picture-- it's from my phone.)

Feet!

Jen sticking out her tongue, while Misha is pondering a way to conquer the mountain on his snowboard.

I'm sorry, I had to include this. Marcus spend the better part of the evening trying to convince me that skiing is great and that I won't freeze to death. Of course, for some odd reason, that included this demonstration of the wonders of snow pants as he loaded the car- hahahaha