MAKI - Create Your Own Sushi Rolls!!

Matt and I have been meaning to tell you guys about this sushi place we've recently discovered that we love!

Sometimes we go in there and it's busy, but a lot of times there has been know one else in there, and well... quite selfishly, we want this place to succeed.

One, it's good. Two, it's affordable. Three, I don't even have to use soy sauce. Basically, you get custom-made sushi rolls w/ fresh ingredients! I saw someone else call it the Chipotle of sushi, but I think that is a disservice. Same concept, but it's better than Chipotle. :)

It's located in the Arbor Walk shopping center at MoPac and Cap of Texas Hwy. Here's the website.

My favorite part is that after you pay the guy at the checkout counter (who is also the guy that started it) says, "Thanks for rolling with us."

Check it out!

(BTW, New York trip details coming soon.)

big city, bright lights

We leave tomorrow for our trip to NYC!

weather proof

What could Matt possibly be watching??

teapot

Matt bought us some fair trade tea at an event at our church last night. Today, he set out to make it.

Matt: "How do you work this teapot?"
Leah: Stares and smiles.
Matt: "Do you put water in it?"

Three minutes later...

Matt: "Is this thing gonna hum when its ready?"

You're welcome.

Christmas

I'm remembering this year the way that God displayed his love for the world. If you ever want to know how you can know that God loves you, think of what happened on Christmas.

"In this the love of God was manifest among us, that God has sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him." 1 John 4:9

Amen and Amen!

random musings & updates from "the gibsons"

1. Wintery Mix. You know you live in Austin, Texas when people get excited about sleet. You know you are married to Matt Gibson when you were not one of those who was surprised that it was going to sleet/snow because you had already seen it on the radar.
2. Gas. I have sitting next to me two receipts. One is from June 16, 2008- 13.34 gallons at $3.86/gallon = $51.47 to fill up! The other is from December 9, 2008- 13.73 gallons at $1.59/gallon = $21.82!!! Now this brings something else to mind. Has anyone seen the bumper sticker that says, "When Bush took office, gas was $1.46?" Politics aside, what are those people going to do with their bumper stickers?!!
3. The Gibsons. Last night while we were eating dinner Matt referred to us as "The Gibsons." I told him that I thought it was weird and that it makes us sounds like his parents and to never do it again.
4. MSG. After a conversation with some friends yesterday, I decided to google "MSG" to educate myself about it. You see, 'till recently I had always thought MSG was just something sort of bad for you that they put in Chinese food to make it taste better. I'm not going to go into a spiel, but MSG or "mono sodium glutamate" is not good for you. Anyway, after reading these articles, I started checking the ingredients on about everything in my pantry and guess what! This stuff is freakin' EVERYWHERE! Are we going to have a complete diet overhaul at the Gibson household? Possibly.
5. Real Estate. It's an EXCELLENT time to buy a house if your credit is good (or refinance) because interest rates are so low right now. Tell your friends to call me!
6. Blogging. I am sorry for the lack of posting on BOTH blogs...and especially sorry to those of you who check blogs at work to pass the time. Contrary to what you might expect, this is not because I have too little to blog about but because I can't seem to narrow it down to one thing.
   
7. New York. Matt and I leave for NYC one week from tomorrow!!! My sister and brother-in-law are going with us. We are in the process of making an itinerary which is so not my style, but very necessary. Personal recommendations please!

Wow, you made it through the musings. Thanks for caring! We love our blog readers.

Introducing... MITCHELL!

Big apologies- Mitchell does not look like this anymore at all; it turns out that we have no recent pictures of him. Now, he is probably almost as tall as (and bigger than) Matt. Mitchell is Matt's youngest brother, and he is the third youngest Gibson child. He is almost 16 and a sophomore at Westwood HS. Where shall we begin?

Well, for starters, if there is anyone who eats more candy than me, it's Mitchell. If sugar or high fructose corn syrup is the first ingredient, then Mitchell will eat it. About 50% of the time, Mitch is consuming Mike and Ikes, Skittles, Lemonheads, or something of the sort.

Speaking of "consuming." Consumption is one of Mitchell's strong suites. He will shamelessly beg for treats anytime he is with anyone who has buying power.

Mitch is without a doubt the social butterfly of the family. He could be with friends all day everyday and never come home, and that would be perfectly fine with him. Rumor has it that even though he usually makes the a-team in school sports, he'd prefer to be on the b-team so that he could hang out with his closer friends more often. Most other things come second to social life for Mitchell.

Usually when the whole Gibson family goes out to dinner together, Mitchell can be found doing one of two things. He is either 1) playing games on his cell phone or his ipod touch, or 2) spitting ice through his straw at one of his siblings. This hasn't changed since I met him 6 years ago. I should add that his brick-breaker score is like 500,000 or 480,000 or something like that.

We love Mitchell! He is a warm-hearted, easy-going extrovert who loves to consume things and socialize. He is also good at ping-pong, and based on the one football game we saw this year, he's a really great quarterback too.

the price we pay for being scared of rats

I thought you all might be interested in an rodent update. To put it nicely, I think we got screwed. I think the pest control guy was trying to scare me. Yes, I saw a rat, and they caught a rat, but an infestation? Doubtful.

Next time, if there is a next time, I will have to brave the attic by myself... that or I will insist that Matt do it. A word of advice if you are ever in this situation: seal up the holes and put down the traps by yourself...or at least try to check the situation out by yourself first because the pest control people are so not worth it!!!!!!

And shout out to ABC Pest Control! Your rat inspector guy should get an award for his acting... or a bonus or something.

P.S. A friend told me about a story she saw on Dateline about how pest control people will actually put down fake rat poop so they can talk you into paying for their service. I am not saying the guy did this, but I do find it odd that there were some random rat droppings in my driveway (right next to my car) after this dude left.

Whatever dude.