10 Reasons I Need to start Blogging Again.

I've been seriously MIA while I get my life's n order. But I think I've finally got some of it in order and I'm ready to play again. I've been thinking about blogging for the past month and today's the day. I've been reading blogs daily while on my hiatus and decided I need my outlet back.

Here are the 10 reasons I need to blog again:

10. I miss having a place to vent everyday
9. I have adventures that need to be shared
8. I moved halfway across the country to Colorado
7. I obviously am at a new school
6. I have two new jobs
5. My boyfriend and I live in his parent's basement...
4. I'm enjoying helping his mom decorate their massive house
3. My boyfriend's niece doesn't hate me anymore
2. My dog is still adorable
1. The boyfriend is getting pretty good at building stuff and it's something that needs to be shared

It's going to take me a while to get back into the habit of posting but I'm ready for the challenge.

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

Silence and Support

Today is a blogger day of silence for all those that have been affected by this tragedy. 

God bless those that have been lost and those that will keep their memories in their hearts. 

And God bless you all. Hold your loved ones close and tell them how much you love them. 

~Marissa

12/12/12- The Day no more shits shall be given

Today at 11:44 I finished my last final of the semester. It was my only final of the semester because I had hell week last week and turned in 3 massive papers and projects. #nursingschoolsucks

Right now, at 11:30 I am waiting to see one of my nursing professors to find out my final grade.

I have to do this again tomorrow morning again at 10am.

What happened to posting them online so I can cry in the comfort of my apartment and start drinking immediately?

Now I’ll have to walk through the whole nursing department if I didn’t get the grade I need, drive home 20 minutes, stop at Fareway to get wine and start drinking then.

And do it all again tomorrow. They’re setting us up for disaster.

But I don’t care. I gave this semester my all. Maybe not that Chemistry class because even the teacher was confused but I gave it 85%. I did get an A+ in lab so that makes up for my lack of effort in lecture.

The semester is over and no one had to commit me.

Cheers to that.

I will be spending the rest of the day in front of the TV doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

It will be glorious.

Everyone who is carpe diem-ing 12/12/12, enjoy your day. I have a date with Gossip Girl season 2.

See you all on the flip side.

~Marissa

Migraine Inducing Centerpiece

Anyone who knows me can verify that I love making projects from Pinterest. Well I like taking an idea from pinterest, researching at least 5 other versions of how it is made and a few other variations of it and THEN I make it.

And of course I can’t find either of the pins where I got my ideas from They are probably on some random board. I shouldn’t drink and pin.

Since I survived hell week and finished all my papers and projects in amazing fashion and only one all nighter this week I treated myself with new something for the apartment from TJ Maxx.

I got one of their AWESOME and massive glass pieces for $12.99 and knew I had three matching candles that were collecting dust and needed to be used pronto. I spent WAY too much on coffee beans that I’m using for decoration but they look great and support the candles perfectly.

One of the pinterest posts showed coffee beans and tea lights set on top and the author said the smell was amazing! Sounded good enough to me.

What a great glow!

It looks perfect on my coffee table and I was enjoying it for a few hours but then I started to develop a headache because boy are those beans STRONG. Very strong. Actions had to be taken. 

Foil on top of centerpiece to hold in smell. 

Hopefully the smell will fade a little, otherwise I’ll only take the foil off when we leave. But it looks pretty cute if you ask me! 

Happy Saturday! I’m going to bed early to try and get my sleep schedule back to normal. 

~Marissa

A Little Christmas Spirit

I love Christmas as much as the next person but one I do hate is spending a ton of money on decorations that sit in a box in a closet for 11 months. That’s valuable closet space around these parts.

My mom has 9 totes of Christmas decorations. I think we use two of them each year. The rest of them sit in the garage and wait to be put away because it’s too cold for us to sort through it and decide what to get rid of. It’s a tragic cycle. I’m trying to avoid it. She has some fantastic stuff but it’s from when we lived in Colorado and had a house twice the size of our current house and she used to go ALL out and even use special snowman dishes. She’s still a holiday baller but she doesn’t have room for it all.

Anyway back to me, I said I wasn’t going to decorate but the Christmas gene runs deep and I gave in. I’m keeping it simple. I really wanted to go buy a big tree but I’m going to way until next year. My Charlie Brown wannabe tree will do for now.

On the left is our ‘big’ tree. Good joke, right? On the right is my barbie tree. My mom has been buying me a barbie ornament since 1994 and this year we decided I should take the ornaments after her dog ripped the veil off bridal barbie. He’s an asshole.

                            

 

Sean’s vase arrangement 

My vase arrangement

               

Kitchen island display

My hurricanes filled with inexpensive beaded garland 

Cube wine. Why have a never heard of this? Everyone should go find some (I got mine at Super Target) and try it. I like it and recommend. 

I love my floor vases. And Tinsel is dirt cheap. Ta-da.  

I’m not sorry for the following pictures. I feed him, water him, buy him treats and toys, lets him outside and share more than of the bed than I should with him so he can sit through a few harmless picture. Not sorry in any way. He at another dog’s poo last week and then threw-up on my carpet and I had to clean it up, he had this coming. 

So much for our cute Christmas card :(

For those of you who don’t live in Iowa, we have been experiencing some wicked fog lately. I had to stop in Iowa City on my way home from Des Moines for Thanksgiving break because it was so bad.

This is what we experienced Sunday here in the metro area:

9am

1pm

The weather lady in Des Moines said it would clear up my noon. Lies. I drove through fog on my way home at 8 that night. And today it is 70 degrees. There is no such thing as a winter or summer wardrobe  in this state, it all stay out all year round because crap like this happens.

Exit 94

I don’t know about you, but I am pretty damn happy right now. Why?

Not because of the ever growing pile of work I have to complete by next week. I don’t want to effing talk about that.

But we can talk about my new love. Exit 94. For the past 11 months that I have lived in Ankeny, I have had to drive through town 10 minutes to get to the highway. This is usually fine unless everyone is heading to work or school, coming home or if I’m late.

BUT NOW…. NO MORE! They have finally finished the new exit just a few blocks from my apartment! Apparently Santa was listening.

It’s shiny and new and I’ve been waiting for it so long I just can’t describe eke excitement about it. It’s the best damn thing. Now my friends have no excuse to not come and visit because it takes 10 less minutes to get here from Des Moines and you can take the highways from Ames.

I don’t want to tell you this new interchange has made my entire life better but it pretty much has. Did I mention the new gas station and other building that looks like it could be a fast food place? Seriously all we have up by my apartment is a Casey’s and the Fareway unless you drive like half a mile so this is huge for us.

The next two weeks are going to be hell for me but I promise I will return. Pinky promise. Until then take satisfaction in knowing each day my commute is glorious thanks to exit 94.

~Marissa