Sunday, September 30, 2012

I’m a Hulu addict

Hi, my name is Marissa and I am addicted to Hulu. Maybe just TV in general but I am very selective about what I watch and Sean says I have a really weird selection that I follow.

I never have time to watch shows most days during the week so when I do have time it’s a binge session. Since so many new shows have started lately, I have turned to Hulu to help me pick out new shows to watch and to keep up with my old favorites.

Here’s my Hulu list!

~Glee

~Grey’s Anatomy

~The Mindy Project

~The New Normal (PLEASE watch this if you are looking for a new show!)

~Bunheads

~New Girl

~Modern Family

~Vampire Diaries

Other shows I enjoy watching when they’re on:

~Bones on Netflix

~How I Met Your Mother on CBS.com since Hulu doesn’t get it

~Breaking Amish

~Married to Jonas

~Anything on HGTV

~Good Luck Charlie (don’t judge me)

~Phineas and Ferb (this show is hilarious no matter how old you are)


Don’t judge me. You already have. I don’t care. Hulu understands me. I have been sick since Wednesday and Sean has been out of town since Thursday so you know who has been taking care of me? Hulu.  Not Carver, he won’t have anything to do with me and my cooties. Hulu gets 100 gold stars for being a good friend.

~Marissa



Thursday, September 27, 2012

Nursing was not my first career choice...


If I could choose any career if would be house wife and stay at home mom who coaches cheerleading for fun. Nursing will be amazing but there is 50% chance nursing school will kill me first.

When I’m not studying, I love to decorate my apartment, shop and craft. Mostly shop though. I’m a bargain shopper, I love finding a sale or something on clearance and trying to find some way to alter that item to make it work with my decor.

My apartment is always a work in progress and I’m never really satisfied with it but I thought I would share some for our move-in photos and some of my latest deals I’m really happy with. Then I can have something to post about besides how much my life sucks and how much I hate nursing school.

Move-in 12/28/11: The day from hell
Who decides to move 3 days after Christmas and one day after returning from Colorado? My boyfriend, that’s who. Luckily, there was no snow on the ground. We survived the move but he learned how much shit I owned when we had to move it out of my third floor walk-up apt mostly by ourselves after my friend Kelsey had to go to work. That’s why I suggested hiring someone to do it!
Kitchen/Dining Area
Living/Dining Room Area
Master Bedroom
MY closet that I don’t have to share!
Master bath
Laundry Room
Guest Bath
Old guest room which is now my roommate Sophie’s room

Sophie’s massive walk-in closet
Carver’s patio and yard space



Those are all the move-in photos. A ton has changed since then. I have redecorated the entire place. Luckily it was already painted in a color I like because the ceilings are way too high for me to force Sean to tackle a paint job like this. :)

I finally made some thrifty hurricanes like Katelyn’s at A Wife’s Life, you can see her adorable fall display here or how to make a burlap banner here. We both borrowed Chelsea’s tutorial at Two Twenty One for her Thrifty Hurricanes. I’m a blogaholic.

Before: I purchased my candle sticks from Hobby Lobby because they were 50% off and I happened to be there. Plus I wanted mine to look a little different from Katelyn’s and anyone else who made them, I like to be different! Plus I feel like I do my part to keep Hobby Lobby successful in business. I bought the glass vases from the dollar tree on the east side of Des Moines, the store in West Des Moines didn’t carry them so I had to make the journey to the East side for the the sake of crafts. I got the E6000 from Hobby Lobby as well.

After: I added a few Halloween touches and fake candles because the vases are too narrow for pillar candles and to add decorations around them but haven’t gotten too carried away with them yet. I do love them though! 

My new favorite things: We decided to replace Sean’s useless craigslist dresser with two bookshelves we can actually use in our bedroom. They were on sale at Target and although they still need to be jazzed up, I think they look pretty nice. Much better than his tiny dresser that he just threw stuff on.

While at Target I also found a bookshelf on clearance for $40! I love the look of these leaning bookshelves but didn’t want one that had to actually lean against my wall so this worked out perfectly. Plus Sean wants to move all of his TV components down from the TV nook so we can use the fireplace this winter and not worry about everything melting. I think I am obsessed with displaying things. And colored glass from Hobby Lobby….especially when it is 50% off!
Bookshelves in the bedroom
Living room bookshelf
 See? There is more to me than nursing school. I’m good at spending money too!

~Marissa

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Fall Must Haves

So anyone who is anyone in the blog world does a must have post….here is mine.

I honestly do not have time to make you one of those cute picture displays and organize the links, I’M IN NURSING SCHOOL

Marissa’s fall must haves:
1. 1,000+ kcups of coffee, teas and cider in the delicious fall flavors for my kuerig machine
2. Reusable travel mugs
3. New scrub jackets to wear to clinical and work
4. Ipod transmitter for my daily commutes (just got it last week!)
5. Pumpkin scented everything
6. New scarves, hats and gloves

I really don’t need any new fall clothes, I wear clinical clothes one day a week and my work clothes to class two or three days a week so I either dress decent or rock the sweat pants the remaining days.

Carver’s Fall must haves:
1. A fall sweater to wear after her gets a hair cut and he’s chilly
2. 6 new toys (seems excessive to me also but he said 6)
3. A Green Bay Packers jersey
4. New harness
5. New leash
6. New, different treats

Why is his list as long as mine?

Friday my goal is to post some picture of my apartment and show off some of my decoration skills and the craft project I finally finished.

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!

~Marissa

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Carver’s Weekend

Carver and I got to spend the weekend at my mom’s house. Yay!

That dog certainly loves a car ride. It’s really odd how much he loves them. He passes out as soon as the car starts.

He did wake up when I tried to eat a cheeseburger without him and he scared the crap out of me and I almost wrecked the car. Moral of the story? Inform the dog when you’re about to eat to make sure he knows and she if he wants any. I ended up giving him almost half of it out of guilt. How dare I try to eat something I purchased without sharing.

Mom’s puppy Brutus is getting really big and Carver is really starting to tolerate him…kind of. Brutus is a manipulative jerk though and cries if anything doesn’t go his way. Carver doesn’t play into that game and just knocks him on his butt. “If you want to cry, I’ll give you something to cry about.” Well put.

Carver had to stay home and babysit the puppy while Callie, mom and I went to watch his uncle Chod play in his homecoming football game Friday night. He was NOT happy about it but sometimes life isn’t fair. The Indians lost their game but played pretty well.

Saturday Carver’s cousin Marlee (my uncle’s dog) came over to play. She was not impressed with either of the boys and refused to play. So much for a playdate. Uncle Chod got ready for his dance, which he had a date to….an actual girl! Again Carver had to babysit but only for a little bit so we could go take pictures. Chod and all the kids looked very nice. It’s hard to believe they are all juniors and seniors now and not still in middle school like I picture them.

Sunday on our way home Carver and I stopped in Cedar Rapids to help mom with a 31 party and Carver got to have a playdate with Genghis the pug. He didn’t play much but he’s been passed out ever since. I’m surprised I didn’t have to carry him in the apartment.

It was a nice relaxing weekend but now I have two exams to study for. :(

~Marissa

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Nursing school blues...

As I sit here between classes having my daily battle whether to stay for my last class of blow it off I see another class get canceled and suddenly it's like I'm 6 again and I want that kid's blocks. I want the freedom of easy classes, getting out early and teachers not worrying about cancelling class because it can easily be made up or dropped off the test. Not the case for science or nursing classes. I just want to go to bed before 2am off sleep in and not worry about homework. I want a nap. And to kick this caffeine addiction I've developed in just 4 weeks.

Which reminds me I need to go find a soda...

I would also like for my boyfriend's friends to stop harrassing me about how long I'm going to be in school. Nursing can't be learned in a year, that's how we keep people from dying. So yes, I have 3 years of school left. Yes it's going to be hard. But I will have my BSN when I'm done so it will be worth it. So they can all shut their faces. There is a good chance my Sean will move to Colorado for work before I graduate but I'm totally okay with vacations in Colorado...as long as he's paying. Carver is going to be pissed though.

Right now with working 24 hours a week, 14 credits at school,commuting 30 minutes to and from work, 20 minutes to and from school, entertaining and raising Carver, maintaining a relationship and keeping the apartment in decent shape is really taking it's toll on me.

Sean is going to the land of the Vikings next week for work to help his coworker Caleb open his store so I'll be without him for 5 days. Haven't decided if it will be a nice break or if I'll lose my mind. Either way, Carver will be super sad.

By the way, I'm staying for my class. I haven't skipped one class yet this semester. I'm sure I'll get hit hard with the flu and need all the sick days I can get so I'm saving up. Plus I have two exams next Monday so I'm in panic mode.

Nursing school really sucks sometimes.

Honestly, it sucks most of the time.

~Marissa

Friday, September 14, 2012

A week in the Life

I have survived three weeks of nursing school. Hurray!
I here it’s all down hill from here. What? No? Shoot.
It’s been chaos getting adjusted to my schedule and the system of things but I finally have it figured out.
I got to meet my mentor V, short for Vedrana, this week who is supposed to help me with classes, papers, the NSA convention, plan my spring schedule or anything else I need help with that pertains to nursing school. She’s one year ahead of me in the program and luckily she’s my age and not a year or two younger like most of the juniors and mentors. I would probably have had a hard time listening to someone younger than me give me advice on succeeding when they’ve been in school two years less than I have.

Here’s my week in a nut shell:
Monday:
Class 11-2
Work 3-1130
When I get home at midnight I start homework and do that until at least 2am.

Tuesday:
Clinical 9-1150
Classes 1-8:15pm then home to do homework

Wednesday:
Class 11-2
Work 3-1130
Homework 12-2am
Sleep if there’s time

Thursday:
Class 9-250
Work 3-1130
Homework 12-2am
Very little sleep because I was drinking coffee at 11

Friday:
Class 9-2
FREEDOM!!!
crash. [insert nap here]

By Friday I’m ready to snap and walking around by a zombie but now that I’m out of class I’m on a weekend energy high and ready to do anything that doesn’t have to do with nursing school. At least for a day. Tomorrow I’ll do homework. Or Sunday.

~Marissa

P.S. Carver hates that I’m gone so much but I don’t think he minds our late night study dates. We cuddle up on the couch and his snoring keeps me awake. He’s such a team player.

Friday, September 7, 2012

When the CyHawk Rivalry is more than just a game..

The Iowa vs Iowa State game is tomorrow. I will be working but most of my other friends will either be at the game, drunk in the tailgating areas outside the stadium, drunk watching the game at home or like me they will be working and hopefully not drunk. That’s frowned upon….don’t drink and work people. 

In my house, the cyhawk rivalry is quite serious. I went to Iowa and my boyfriend Sean graduated from Iowa State. We don’t get into huge fights over it but we avoid each other on game days. Last year I cried when Iowa lost. Mostly because I was stuck in Ames for the weekend with a bunch of cyclone fans and I was not mentally prepared to deal with listening to them taunt me. It was bad. 

Aleah and her boyfriend are also a divided couple
This year, I don’t really care who wins. I went to Iowa but I also want to support the school Sean went to. Plus I look way better in red…

So go team! I’m not sure which shirt I will wear tomorrow….I guess I will wake up and decide! 

~Marissa