I guess St. Joseph got tired of standing on his head...

... Because we SOLD OUR HOUSE!




Last Sunday we got a call about an offer on our house, we met with our agent and counter-offered. And Labor Day we found our our counter-0ffer was accepted! BOOYA!

Cross your fingers that the inspections and appraisal go well. Our closing date is set for September 25th. :-)

(It's actually a very bittersweet feeling, because while I'm happy that we won't have a mortgage while we're overseas, I'm going to really miss this cute little house where we created many of our first memories as a Mr. and Mrs. And, as my fabulous sister-in-law pointed out, this development makes it seem so much more official that we're actually leaving...)

Just a cool pic

K: Emily sent us this picture of her favorite store (I believe it's located in Korea). Doesn't it look adorable?

Delayed post...

K: This post is about a month late in coming, but I've finally uploaded the pictures. Hannah and Michael went with us to the Korean Restaurant we blogged about earlier. Here's the evidence!

This picture can be very deceiving because it looks like the restaurant is very fancy and nice... definitely not the case. I think we posed in the one area of the restaurant with greenery and wood paneling. And that's not a white tablecloth, it's a big sheet of white shop paper. But the food is very, very tasty.


It's kind of funny the number of sides that come out when there are four of you! It's like these little white bowls went on as far as the eye could see!

Anyone else interested in trying out some Korean food? Just let us know! :)

Cross your fingers!

K: Our house is officially up for sale online! It won't be ready to show until next Monday, thanks to some scratch marks Riley left on our window seat and window sill. But we're making progress.

You can check out the official listings here or here.

Cross your fingers it sells fast! (My mom says she buried a St. Joseph's statue by our house - the patron saint of selling houses. She read somewhere that if you bury him on his head, the house'll sell faster since he doesn't like being on his head. She cracks me up...)

My lucky day!

K: Yesterday at my office's annual award's ceremony my name got randomly drawn... for the BIG GRAND PRIZE! (I almost fell out of my chair when they said my name.)


Look what I won...............




For the camera buffs out there, it's a Nikon COOLPIX P80. So now I'll have no excuse not to snap some awesome pictures while we're in Korea!

Reservation Confirmation

K: We have confirmation! Mark and I will officially be staying in KoRoot for the first two weeks in Korea -- January 2-17 -- in a couple's room (so much better than bunk beds). We're making progress!

Metro Olympics 2008

M&K: My brother, Kevin, here in the United States, has been endlessly complaining about his lack of recognition on this blog. So Kevin, quit your whining, this one's for you.

Kevin and his wife, Alicia, spent the last 8 days here in St. Louis with us. Instead of going to the same old St. Louis landmarks, Mark decided a day of drinking and competitive bar games would show them the TRUE flavor of our city. Ever the responsible citizens, we did not want to drink and drive. So we decided to use the wonderful St. Louis metro system as our mode of transportation. Thus, the idea of the "Metro Olympics" was born.

The original intent was to play 10 games at three or four different bars, but as the day wore on (and Mark and Kim were getting solidly crushed at every event) we only ended up playing 6 games and visiting three bars.

Here are some pictures highlighting the day's events:

Kevin and Alicia showed up with team t-shirts and sweat bands for all. They got themselves these cute t-shirts that said "It's not my fault I'm AWESOME."

And, well --- to our chagrin they got us pink shirts that said for Mark: "shortie" and for me, something about being cranky but cute... Thanks guys.

After some mimosa's and breakfast, our first event was beer pong. As evidenced by this picture, the Roaches won 2-0. Kevin broke it down to his favorite singer, Nelly Furtado. Is that the air guitar we see?

Riley was on Team Pink, but after eating a ping pong ball, he was disqualified. He got so angry about being thrown out, his teammate Mark had to restrain him. It was not a pretty sight.

We took the Shrewbury MetroLink to the Maplewood exit and after a "short walk" made it to the first bar, Schlafly Bottleworks. We started with a game of pool. This was a nailbiter! On the first shot, Kevin almost knocked the 8-ball in, but it clung to the edge of the corner pocket. Alicia took charge knocking in a majority of her team's balls. After knocking in a stripe, Kim's cue-ball ricocheted into the black ball and amid tears and shrieks, all was lost for team Johnson.

Desperate for a victory, Team Johnson was determined to win the next event: fooseball. But that dream would not be fulfilled due to some questionable game play by Team Roach. Team Roach won 5-3. They, ahem... spun... into victory.

Starting the day off 3 and 0, Team Roach is all smiles.

Mark is still in shock. Both about the losses and the fact he's wearing a pink shirt in public.

We then took the Manchester bus down the street to one of everybody's favorite bars, Nick's Pub. We were the only ones in the bar and took full advantage of the facilities upstairs.

A very animated game of shuffleboard included: a hate crime by Alicia, aggravated assault by Kevin, and another crushing defeat of Team Johnson, losing the series 2-1.

Realizing that games of skill may not be their forte, Team Johnson suggested a game of luck: Pull Tabs. We purchased $20 worth of tickets and divided them up...

Well --- the gods were not on Team Johnson's side this fateful day. The Roaches won AGAIN with $18 to the Johnson's $1. This is the most money we expect this social worker to ever see in his lifetime. ;-)

FINALLY, after years of practice at Lacledes, the Johnsons were able to clinch a victory in an old favorite: Photo Hunt. In a fit of ecstacy, Kim hopped on Kevin's back for a victory lap.

But the joy was not to last long as Kevin miraculously managed to hit a double 11 to win in darts.

He took two laps around on Mark's back.

Realizing that skill and luck were not on their side, the Johnsons realized their only hope for winning was to get the Roaches drunk.

AND IT WORKED.... on both teams.

Alicia, still in competitive mode, challenged us to a fist eating contest.

She was the only competitor.

Drinking took its toll and we decided to end the competitions/beat down early. We concluded the day by taking the bus to Lemon's on Gravois and sharing some chicken wings and pizza.

When it's all said and done, we're still family and are able to put our differences aside.

........ until next year's Metro Olympic follow-up in Seoul..............

It was a great day and we really enjoyed getting to hang out with Kevin & Alicia. And to all the St. Louisans out there reading this blog, you should really consider setting up your own Metro Olympics. It was a blast... just don't ask The Johnsons to be on your team.