Road Rage

Turns out it’s Christmas Eve. Hooray!

I just got done working my 24hour weekend so I’m a zombie.

Iowa had a storm this week. Winter storm Draco was his name. Ankeny got 13.5 inches, Des Moines got 12 inches and the Quad Cities got like 8.

Anywho, it was bad. Like shut down all the highways because there were jackknifed semis everywhere kind of bad.

I was supposed to work Friday at 6:30am but the storm hit the Quad Cities where I was Thursday morning and the roads got TERRIBLE so I had to call-in.

Finally on Friday the DOT website said the roads were clearing up and there were no accidents so I decided to head back to Ankeny at 2:40pm.

The backroads getting the highway were rough, as I expected them to be, but I had no trouble.

As soon as I hit got on I80 in Davenport though, I was stuck in traffic.

I checked the DOT website again and they reported no accidents or reasons for the roads to be slow which pissed me off even more.

It took me 90 minutes to go 20 miles to discover a semi was having trouble getting up and off-ramp so everyone was slowing down to 10mph of some freaking reason.

I would get to drive like 40mph for a mile and then have to slam on my brakes because there was an accident from yesterday and everyone decided to slow down and look at it.

This went on for the whole trip.

It should have taken me 2.5 hours to get from Camanche to Des Moines…..it took me 5.5

The most frustrating part is the roads weren’t even bad!

The DOT site Des Moines roads were the best in the state and still covered but drivable so I new once I got past Newton, I would be in the home stretch. Wrong.

As soon as I got to Altoona, it was like driving on roads from a fresh snow storm, not roads from a storm that had happened almost two days ago.

I80 and I35 cross each in Des Moines and one would think with the busy holiday weekend and Des Moines being a busy epicenter of travel for the midwest, they would have the roads plowed but one would be wrong.

I was completely stopped on the interstate and when I was able to drive it was like off-roading. The roads were covered in at least two inches of packed snow/ice mixture but there were big patches missing which made giant potholes. Not optimal.

My car was shaking so violently my back door came unlatched some how and Carver of course decided to look out that particular window. So I’m screaming at him to get down so he doesn't open the door and fall out onto the interstate and trying to get him in the from seat all while driving through the mix-master of I80 and I35 and narrowly missing being hit by a semi. Good times.

I would normally take I35 North to my apartment but the exit was stand still and I could see and accident from I80 so I decided against it and took Ankeny Boulevard instead. Probably an equally bad idea but at least I eliminated semis, dark interstates and fast speed. Once I got to Des Moines it took me about an hour to get 30 miles to my apartment in Ankeny.

Ankeny’s roads were bad but since we got the most snow in the state I’m was as mad. I just wanted to be home. Door to door this trip which normally takes me 3 hours took me 6.5 hours.

I’m pissed at Polk county as a whole for their lack of effort on clearing the roads. I passed 4 plow trucks in Des Moines and not one of them was actually plowing.  You'd think since the Governor works in this county we could get some shit done in a timely manner. He must be on vacation.

Our roads were much better by Sunday but I feel bad for the unsuspecting travelers that had to drive through Des Moines on our shitty roads this weekend. I hope they all made it to their destination, if not might I suggest they send their complaint letter to building with the big gold dome.

Safe travels and enjoy the holiday!

~Marissa

It’s OK Thursday

I had a long day yesterday and wasn’t able to post for OHP… :(

I had class, went to the art museum with Sean for a project due Friday, had to take my laptop in to be fixed, visit a friend in the hospital, thought I had to work, rushed home, rushed my homework to class before work and then got called off work!

SO

It’s OK…

That I worried my laptop would need surgery as if it was my dog or a family member. I have papers to write and social media to keep up with!

To hate shopping with Sean sometimes. He’s so picky and has to look at every item and stuck in this ‘I’m holding on to college but want some grown-up perks’ style mode that I HATE. He bought swim trunks with a pattern on them over a pair of solid ones on clearance for his work trip to Puerto Rico. I don’t get him

To question if our shopping roles are reserved in the relationship. He likes to wander and I wanted to get in and get out most of the time. Or maybe I can just tell when the store doesn’t have a good vibe and we need to move on?

To do a happy dance after finishing homework early

To be jealous my friend Callie got to take Jax out for Halloween and I was stuck quilt-eating mini twix bars and coors light. At least her candy was free. But I had beer. I guess it was a draw.

To want to sleep ALL the time. I’m in bed by 11 most nights and asleep by 12.

To miss my friends and having them nearby or in my apartment for late-night rants.

That I packed up my Halloween decorations tonight and replaced them with Thanksgiving decor.

To call my mom three times in one day and be counting down the hours until I’m home on Friday.

Have a great Thursday! I’ll be in class and then at work!

~Marissa

HIgh Five for Friday

In my blog surfing I have discovered a new theme. High Five for Friday.
A fun way to sum up the week in photos.

I already do this sans photos and made my post when I got home but I wanted to take a stab at this new creative way to sum up the week. And I’m choosing to exclude anything that has to do with nursing school, high five Friday is supposed to reflect the POSITIVES and if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

Here goes:
1. I got a TINY bit of fall decorations! And look how fabulous my hurricanes are! I have added a dish of candy that is constantly empty thanks to Sean’s sweet tooth so I may have to rethink the candy dish.

2. This little princess’s mommy put up photos from her first birthday and I got the steal some to hang up in the apartment since the only ones we had were her 6 month photos. 

3. I am in love with the new bookcases in our bedroom. They still need some more decorating (I’m working on it) but I love that everything has a place now and I’m having a blast rearranging, sorting and tossing out things. 

4. I got to take a cruise between classes today and headed towards downtown. I had better photos but they got deleted thanks to my awesome phone. I absolutely love driving or walking around downtown Des Moines whenever I get the chance, so much action and excitement!

5. Carver’s picture was submitted to Dog-Shaming! He never destroys things like the terrible dogs on the website but he sure knows how to make a mess with his toys so I thought I would capture it and submit his photo. Hopefully this will lead to a dog-modeling career for him and he can start being the bread winner around here. Yeah...maybe not.

That’s all folks! What a great way to reflect on the great things that happened to you over the week! I will definitely be doing this weekly!

~Marissa

Epic Weekend.

It was like The Hangover meets Iowa but with a lot more class and less blacking out. We did it up well. We made a plan and we stuck to it. It was epic. Hell, it was legen- wait for it- dary.
Let’s start at the very beginning….21 years ago the a baby girl was welcomed into the world….wait too far? Well the story does revolve around her birthday! My best friend Alison’s birthday was in the middle of July. Not just any 21st birthday. She had never ever had a drink of alcohol before in her live. I swear on Carver’s life. So of course I had to plan something HUGE. Like 120+ jello shots huge. Every color of the rainbow huge. Yeah, I’m the jello shot girl. 

On the day before her birthday Lindsey, Carly, Ali and I met in Iowa City to meet up with a few of Ali’s other friends so we could go out at midnight and Ali could have her first legal drink in a bar. Since it was a Monday night in the middle of summer, downtown was dead. We chose Sports Column because there was more than 5 people inside.

First drinks of the night

Ali’s first drink was a Sex on the Beach. She hated it. She hated Diet Coke and vanilla doc and bud light also. And every other drink she took after that. =( She took little baby sips of every single sweet girly drink we could possibly think of that we thought she would like and she hated them all except UV Blue and lemonade. The bartenders at Brother’s looked depressed and stumped. And like they wanted to slap her. She even hated a dreamsicle shot which is the best tasting shot I’ve ever had. Finally after 2 hours and 20 sips of 20 drinks she said to me, 

She didn’t drink this shot

“I don’t think I like alcohol. I don’t think I’m going to be a drinker”

I texted Callie this the next day and told her as soon as she told me this I knew we could know longer be best friends (she later made up for this and I took it back) Callie responded: Well you tried your best.

So Iowa City was not as much fun as we had hoped. Lindsey and I considered canceling our weekend plans if she wasn’t going to do any drinking at all but Ali insisted we proceed. Ugh she’s so hard to say no to.

THE WEEKEND

Watching the ponies!

Friday Ali, Callie and Jenna met Lindsey, and I at Prairie Meadows for a little gambling. Afterwards we picked up some Olive Garden To Go and spent the evening at my apartment hanging out and playing drinking games. Aleah joined us when she was done working in Ames too! We played flippy cup, baseball, beer pong and card games. We had plenty of jello shots to try to tackle and we did our best to make a dent!

Saturday I woke the girls up with french toast and turkey bacon. Yum! Then we got ready to head to the mall and packed up all of our stuff we needed for the hotel also. But not before some morning jello shots! I made them in orange peels which was not easy but well worth the effort!

That’s a lot of crap for one night

It took us 20 minutes to get all of our belongings (mostly booze) to fit into one car because I refused to accept defeat. After lunch and shopping we checked into our amazing hotel that Ali found for us for a great deal! The Renaissance Savory was just two blocks from downtown and was old on the outside but modern on the inside. The other guests were in tuxedos as we wheeled in our duffle bags and cases of busch light. Little did they know my cooler on wheels was full of jello shots! We felt just a little out of place. 

Restaurant mirror shot

Our room was pretty darn fabulous! We had two bathrooms which helped since five girls had to get ready. We blasted the tunes and pulled out the jello shots while we got ready for the night. Even Ali couldn’t turn down the delicious jello shots! Once we got ready we planned to go to Fong’s for pizza but they were very busy, the bartender was rude, we were on a  schedule and really hungry so we decided not to wait for a table. We walked down a block and finally decided on Court Ave Brewery for dinner. On the way we passed a bar we all thought looked fun because it reminded us of MacLaren’s Pub from How I Met Your Mother and decided we had to stop there that night. We spilt pizza for dinner and everyone but Ali had beer, she had a soda. After dinner it was still early so I suggested we hit up the bar we passed which was called Forth Down for one drink before we headed back to the hotel to switch shoes and head out for the night.

One drink. Good joke right?

Dirty girl scouts!

Scott the bartender was awesome. He suggested Ali try a Smirnoff with grenadine and she actually liked it! Ali drank for free since we were celebrating her birthday and since it was early and the bar had 4 patrons besides he was telling us about the area and we were having a great time. Someone at work said I sound have Ali try a dirty girl scout shot that tastes like a thin mint so that was our first of many shots of the night. Several shots and drinks later we finally left to head to the hotel to get some of our jello shots and drink some free alcohol for a little bit…although I don’t think Ali had paid for a single drink of her own that night. 

Getting a little crazy...

 We did our best to act poised through the lobby and our friend Bree met us at our room to down some serious jello shots. We packed a Victoria’s Secret bag with some jello shots and headed back to the bar. We made our moms proud and shared the shots with new friends. Shots her, shots there and it was hitting everyone but Ali very quickly…. BUT THEN while visiting the restroom which had stairs leading to the toilet Ali says 

The room is spinning!

“Riss when I close my eyes the room is spinning"

Goooooooooal!!!!!!!!

Boom got her drunk! We did it! We did it! We did it! Yes! Yes! Yes! 

We love Des Moines!

We stayed for several more drinks because we were loving that bar. When we finally decided to leave we took Scott’s advice to go to Liar’s Club to dance but stopped at Big Red’s Irish Pub and Pong. Lindsey and Callie played and game but said there were no rules which made the game really weird. Jenna, Ali and I were not feeling Red’s so we went to explore downtown Des Moines and find Liar’s Club. 

Liar’s Club was was awesome. It was crowed and loud but not overcrowded and overwhelming. The perfect place to drink and dance. Ali was in heaven. All this girl wanted to do was dance and we had finally found her the perfect place to do that. Callie and Lindsey met up with us after their beer pong game and we were ready to dance all night long! Or at least until 2am when the club closed. 

Best photo of the night. 

We all made it back to the hotel safe and drunk and ate some snacks, drank some water and went to sleep. Then next morning we woke up in pretty good shape and decided to do it all again before school started. Cue tomorrow. 

~Marissa