From College to Cubicle

My Thoughts on Life, The Bachelor(ette), and the Pursuit of Happiness

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Germany!

March 14, 2012 / / 0 Comments

I made it to Germany! And now that I have internet I’m of course blogging about it! The first few days were mostly spent catching up on sleep, walking around finding shopping and wi-fi cafes, and of course eating. I’ve been here 4 days and I’m already in love with Schnitzel. Problem? Probably. I have been running to counter my Beer and Schnitzel consumption though so I’m not too concerned.

The first thing I did with my internet? Watched the bachelor finale and After the Final Rose! Since Chris (my usual Bachelor watching partner) was at work I was sad about watching it alone, but Courtney (my college roommate) was watching it at the same time so I still had someone to voice my “WTF is she WEARING?” “He said WHAT??” and “I still hate Ben’s hair” comments. Chris still got sent some thoughts his way though… My final thoughts on this season of The Bachelor? Thankfully it’s over so Emily’s season can start!!!

Oh and lots of people have asked me for pictures. I haven’t uploaded pictures yet but luckily Google Earth has my back. So the above image is the view from my apartment according to Google Earth (keeping in mind this picture is taken from the street and I’m on the 3rd, so American 4th, floor).

Shoe Therapy

February 28, 2012 / / 0 Comments

I have a problem. I love shoes. I love shoe shopping. I can’t walk past a cute pair of shoes without at least checking the price.

Those of you who know me well know that there’s always room for more shoes in my shoe closet. My limited college student budget and space stifled my creativity for awhile, but now I’m back in the shoe finding game.

Yesterday was my semi-planned moment of weakness. It’s been a long few weeks and I wanted to welcome in spring (spring you’re more than welcome to appear early by the way) by purchasing some new shoes! So I went in search of a pair of flats or two (fully intending to splurge on another pair of shoes or two if I found something I liked)… let’s just say despite keeping within my budget I still came out with more shoes than I intended.

My “watermelon” flats that are the new love of my life (the version appearing here is “coral” so it doesn’t show the color that I love so much):

And these I bought in red but can’t seem to find a picture of them not in black:

 

 

 

 

Let me tell you. Buying two pairs of pink shoes in the same day was probably the highlight of my month.

 

The Backer

February 26, 2012 / / 1 Comment

The Backer and I were reunited last night! For those of you who don’t know what The Backer is, it’s by far my favorite South Bend establishment. It’s sketchy, sure, but it’s wonderful.

I missed The Backer. The sticky floor, crowd, townies, smoke, and the pole. But this post is not to declare my love for the backer. It’s to show for those of you who’ve been to The Backer my new favorite photo of this fine establishment:

Yes, that’s right. It’s clean. The tables are out. The smoky haze isn’t present. You can actually see what’s on the walls. You see… this is the backer I know and love:

Full of people. Can’t usually see very well where your friends are so you plan out ahead of time to just go to the corner you usually meet in. And need to sneak in past the townies sitting at the bar to order a drink. This is the backer I know and love.

But I forget that during the day food is actually served. Which is why the second picture in this post – the clean backer – is my new favorite. Next football game I think I’ll attempt a backer meal. Just because.

 

Juice Glass

February 19, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Juice Glass

 

The juice glass. A band tradition. What did I do with my juice glass today that’s so remarkable?

I actually drank orange juice out of it instead of beer, pop, water, or various other drinks that I’ve used it for (none of which include juice)!

This makes me feel old. And somehow like I’m following directions.

My blog has moved!

February 18, 2012 / / 0 Comments

marissahenry.com

It’s here. And the new home of my blog!

Years ago my dad realized I might want this site, and I’ve kept it but never did anything with it – until now! I’ve finally decided to use my domain name for a good cause – blogging to the world! So welcome to the new home of my blog!

The Best Television Event of the Weekend

February 18, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Super Bowl weekend. A weekend advertisers and pizza companies dream of the rest of the year. But is the Super Bowl really the best sporting event this weekend? No.

That award goes to the puppy bowl. The cutest sporting event of the year! For those of you who don’t know what the puppy bowl is you really need to view some of last year’s puppy bowl:

watch?v=f9ZGOLs-7uE&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=SPDCB040E4FF4964D4

This year’s puppy bowl has some exciting changes! There’s now going to be a piggy pep squad and a tweeting bird! I agree with this video that this will likely be the cutest puppy bowl yet:

watch?v=NDRpWWwYOws

Who could resist watching puppies attempting to play football? Not me. If you’ve never watched the puppy bowl you really should tune in! You can watch it this weekend before the Super Bowl, or you can watch it later – the full replay is available on Animal Planet’s website!

Happy Puppy Bowl VIII Weekend!

One Mile

February 18, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Today I hit a milestone. For the first time since early October I was able to run a mile. While this would’ve seemed like nothing to me 6 months ago, today this mile means a lot. Why? Because I’m back!

I’m not someone who gets injured often. When I was a kid I never broke a bone. Not until late middle school did I even sprain an ankle. Having to hobble around at work on crutches, wear only flats to work (once the lovely black shoe/boot thing was off), and not being able to go out because I didn’t want to hobble a long ways from a train stop – these things were hard for me. But now I’m back!

Biking and ellipticizing and yoga have been great, but I’ve been going crazy the last few months not being able to run! When I could finally run I was only able to go extremely short distances. I don’t like being confined to a gym as my only option, and now depending on the weather I can once again make the great outdoors my gym!

So today, with my new(ish) shoes (Pink! Thanks Dad!) I finally hit the mile mark. I don’t have to consider my runs a warm-up to an elliptical session anymore! Now, my elliptical is a warm-up for running. And most importantly I can enjoy watching the US Marathon Olympic trials today without thinking “I wish I could run again.”

Winter Wonderland

February 18, 2012 / / 0 Comments

The last few years I didn’t need to do much Christmas decorating since Notre Dame did more than enough to make me feel festive. Now that I’m in the real world it’s up to me to feel festive. So what did I do? After a few trips to Target and recycling some dorm room decorations I have established a winter wonderland in my apartment… all for less than $200!

It all started with a $20 tree. Once I got the tree I wanted a tree skirt, and I immediately gravitated towards the ones with sequins. The tree skirt matched my purple tree from my dorm room, so I decided to get another small tree to match it, which led to buying a fourth little tiny tree. Naturally all of these trees needed the sequined tree skirts.

Then it came to ornaments. My number one criteria? Glitter. Lots of glitter. And big enough ornaments to make my tree look fuller than a $20 artificial tree. Once I found ornaments I of course needed a glitter-filled tree topper to match and the many other random accessories scattered throughout the apartment. And I can’t forget the silver mardi gras beads as garland…

My biggest struggle in developing my Winter Wonderland? The lights. I stood in front of the lights for a good 20 minutes trying to decide between the LED lights (Target was out of the color I wanted) or the pink normal lights. Eventually I decided that, while I love pink, it’s not a Christmas color, so I went with the blue lights for outside and the blueish white lights for inside. While I realize those of you who made it this far in the post probably don’t care about the color of my Christmas lights, I felt I needed to share the results of my most major Christmas purchase dilemma to date.

Now there is still one major thing missing from my Winter Wonderland. Snow. I’m not sure how to make it snow, but I assure you if I could I’d make it happen. Until then I’ll continue to pray for snow while enjoying my Winter Wonderland.

p.s. As a reward for those who read this far and might actually be interested in my glittery Winter Wonderland… I’ve included pictures!

There’s No Place Like Home

February 18, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Tomorrow I go back to Iowa for a week. I haven’t been home for a week since June. I’ve been to Notre Dame, Holland, and Minneapolis for more time in the last couple months that I’ve been home.

While I’m used to not being home very often as a result of attending college in a different state, I’m still excited to go home. What am I looking forward to the most? The surprising answer is watching my dad get this hilarious smile on his face and proclaiming it garbage night.

My dad decided when I was younger that to combat only child syndrome he’d make me do chores. Though of course I was always a perfect angel and did lots of cleaning around the house (I can almost see my mom reading this and rolling her eyes), but for some reason the one chore that stayed constant was collecting the garbage on Monday nights.

I’m not sure if it’s because my dad didn’t want to climb the stairs, combine the garbage, and repeat again in the basement, or if it’s because he enjoyed sitting in the chair and watching me actually do something that resembled the chores he did as a boy that have (undoubtedly) been exaggerated more and more as the years have gone on. He would of course deny both.

In middle school I had a theory for awhile that he used it as a way to take the remote away from me and watch on the good TV what he wanted. I quickly realized if he really wanted to watch something he’d watch it whether I had the remote or not.

So I’m not sure why it stuck, but garbage night was one of the more constant rituals of my childhood. Things like doing the dishes and cleaning happened, but not as a ritual like garbage night. So when I go home I’m looking forward to garbage night. Why? It’s a tradition.

This garbage night I’m looking forward to that smile of my dad’s and the announcement of garbage night. I even have grand plans. Dad – if you’re reading this consider yourself warned, I might have a good joke up my sleeve. It might be a chore and a tradition, but I’ve been away from the tradition for awhile and I want to come back in style!

Christmas in October

February 18, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Today I started celebrating Christmas.

Those of you who know me well know that I HATE anything Christmas that appears before Thanksgiving (probably my favorite holiday of the year). Stores forget about Halloween and Thanksgiving and all the wonderful colors and scents of fall. I usually avoid department stores between whenever I hear they’re putting out Christmas items (which sadly might as well be year-round anymore) and Black Friday. Today I made an exception.

Macy’s had a big luggage sale today. So, I headed to Macy’s and bought some luggage (an early Christmas present from my parents)!!! I needed normal sized luggage. When I was little I remember getting my purple luggage set (which I still used this past week) as a gift. I remember expecting an American Girl doll and instead getting luggage… big let down to a young girl. Don’t worry – Santa came through for me and also got me the American Girl doll.

Now as a 22 year old in the real world who sometimes needs socially appropriate (read: not purple) luggage, I appreciate my early Christmas gift more than I can explain. Thanks to the luggage sale and my parents, I was able to get two pieces of luggage that normal people would expect to see a 22 year old rolling around the airport!

When I was little Christmas and birthdays were times to look forward to new toys. Then as I got older new gadgets. Now, as I become a (somewhat) fully functioning member of society, I really enjoy the practical presents that I probably wouldn’t buy myself. The last few holidays have involved presents such as an iron, vacuum, microwave, and kitchen supplies (shout out to Grandma Henry for practically providing everything a 20-something could ever need in her kitchen plus some – all in super cute colors!!!). I know, these all sound extremely boring, but these are probably some of my favorite Christmas presents.

I love that my family recognizes what I need, yet might not be willing to spend my money on. I don’t hesitate to do some shoe shopping therapy every once in awhile, but an iron? My mom knew I’d just continue to use Wrinkle Release if it were up to me…

So Christmas came early this year in the form of a practical yet really exciting gift. The stores of course forgot fall and went straight to Christmas, but I braved my way through for an early present.  Oh and don’t worry, while I was shopping I bought a few pairs of shoes (Dad: $10 off coupon, and yes I had some areas of my massive shoe collection that needed reinforcement). Some things will never change…

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