This Is It

I've been putting off writing this post, but it's been a long time coming. This will be my last post on this blog. I've tried to keep it up, but I really am not cut out for this kind of writing. Which sounds crazy because isn't all I wrote about before my life? Day to day craziness and what not. It's true, that is what I wrote about but my life was in a completely different place then and writing about it was fun, almost therapeutic. But now writing about my life, as much as I love it, just feels like a chore. No one wants to read a blog that sounds like it was forced, that while reading it you can tell the writer would have rather been doing a million other things. Like watching more episodes of Top Gear or Castle. 

So this is it. Final post. The Single Girl is single no more and it's time to move on to other things. That isn't to say I won't write anymore. I will. You just might not know it's me. I can't believe this little ole blog of mine reached as many people as it did, and I've very grateful to have met the people that I have through it. Of course I still plan on reading all of your blogs and keeping up with you in real life and on twitter. Not falling off the face of the earth or anything. So to everyone who's stayed tuned all these years, thank you. It's been a privilege. 

Cheers, 

Marisa 

Um....Hello?

Oh hey there. It's been a while. A really looooonnngg while. I kept trying to come back to blogging and every time it ended in an epic fail. I'm not really sure why. I have my speculations. Mostly being that I didn't have my own "space". Which perhaps is a lame excuse, but I just couldn't get into it without having my own room, or area or what have you. Now though, and those of you who follow me on twitter and instagram already know,we've moved! No we didn't buy a house. While we were still looking and living in our old apartment, the landlord sold the duplex and we were served 60 days notice to move out. Kind of killed the house buying plan. We did however, find a sweet condo to rent that is 1 bedroom + den which means that Drew has is own office area and I have the bedroom. While not my own office, it works just fine for me. So, now that I have my own place where I can write comfortably and in solitude I will be back! For good! I've missed blogging so much and I've had so much I've wanted to write about. This has been such a long hiatus, and I for one am glad it's over. Looking forward to catching up with all of you!!!

Cheers,

Marisa

25 Days of Birthmas Day 22: Guest Posting on Birthmas Cheer

Hello my loves! I'm over here today. Go check it out. Very big thank you to Marilyn for including me in her 12 Hours of Christmas Cheer project!!!!!

Keep spreading that Christmas Cheer, we're almost there!!!

Cheers!
Marisa

25 Days of Birthmas Day 21: Only 4 Days Left...

Wow, I can't believe it's almost here! 4 Days. FOUR!!!!!! This week has been hell as Tuesday was a 13+ hour day and today is a 15+ hour day. However when talking to my best boy he had this to say: "You can do it. Then you can come kick it and let me take care of you." I died. That right there was the best Birthmas present ever. I'm looking forward to pancakes and birthday cake and potato pancakes (Happy Hanukkah!) and whatever other cakes come with Birthmas. I'll take them all please! Eff the gym this week, you only turn 27 once right? And then come January....Ass kicking Pikes Peak Ascent training. Better enjoy being a fatty while I can. And on that note, I would like this cake for Birthmas please

Pink: Check. Crown: Check. Sparkles: Check. Yup this is my Birthmas cake!!!

Happy Holidays to you all and your lovely families! I hope everyone gets everything they wanted and more. I'm going to take a little Birthmas hiatus and will be back Monday to tell you all about it! Hugs to each and every one of you!!!

Cheers!

Marisa

P.S. Check it out, I suck at money and so does my friend so we started a blog about our quest to not suck at it anymore. Read about it here.

25 Days of Birthmas Day 15: Weekend and Winner

Quick short post today. I am so excited for the weekend and relaxing. I need it. Not that this week has been particularly rough or anything, perhaps I'm just resting up for next week which will be rough. However, it's almost Birthmas!!!!!!!!! I am really excited to go to Minnesota next weekend, I'm hoping they can provide me with a white Christmas. Don't fail me now Minneapolis.

Moving on it's time for a winner!

Using a random number generator ,the winner is Amy from Tastes Like Red ! Congrats girl I'll be emailing you soon to get your info and mail you your little present :)

Have a great weekend everyone! Last big shopping weekend before Birthmas! Are you all done????

Cheers

Marisa

25 Days of Birthmas Day 12: Holy Holiday Busy!

Well it has been a busy weekend, and the business is just continuing! In true Marisa fashion I've procrastinated until the  last minute, and now have to go go go. I've got my blogger Secret Santa all taken care of and I'm so excited for it! I can't wait to get my present :) I've gotten Drew's present all done. ( It's a half fail. He just told me what he wanted and I bought it....it counts right???) So I'm crossing things off my list and it feels sooo good. How is everyone else fairing in the Holiday Madness? Hopefully everyone's gifts are coming together nicely! Here are a few scenes from the weekend. 

Drew and I enjoying PechaKucha night at the Jasper Winery. It was so much fun as always and Drew really enjoyed his first PK experience.

The next night was our company holiday party that was held at West End Salvage which Drew also absolutely loved. We had a great night full of food, fun and friends. Oh yeah, and I was named employee of the year. Woo!

Keep spreading the holiday cheer guys! Remember it's the most wonderful time of the year!!!!

Cheers,

Marisa

p.s. Don't forget there is still time to enter my giveaway! 

Some Fail Mixed With Some Win

Okay, so obviously totally failed on Motivate Me Monday....AGAIN! Only this time worse because I didn't even post about my fail. EPIC FAIL. Unfortunately I was at work until 11:30 Sunday night and by the time I got home and in bed it was after midnight. Needless to say Monday I was anything but motivated. However, I did drink more water last week. Perhaps not 8 glasses a day but definitely an improvement from my usual. This week the challenge is to BE GOOD during Thanksgiving. It's so easy to over indulge during the holidays, but lets stay focused and help eachother out!

Okay onto some winning. Sooooo excited for this :) The fabulous Summer and her best blog pal Melina are hosting a blogger secret santa! I can't wait. If you would like to participate (And you know you do) click on the cute little owl button on the left and get started! Who knows, maybe I'll get your name and you will then be the proud owner of some awesome Des Moines things. Which I know you're all dying to have. So get a clickin' on that owl!

In other news, Friday is not just any Friday...it's Black Friday. I work Midnight to 7am, this is my 5th Black Friday and for some reason, I'm dreading it a little this year. Maybe because I closed last year and the insanity had died down by the time I got there. Better stock up on some Redbull!

How about you guys? Anyone braving the Black Friday madness? If so please be kind to the sales associates, we're truly doing the best we can.

Cheers!

Marisa

Motivate Me Monday

Hello! Welcome new followers and thank you to new commentors! I appreciate you stopping by. Today is the start of something new and I'm very excited to be a part of it: Motivate Me Monday. It is a link up hosted by Ashley , Amanda , and Whitney to help keep us motivated, support each other and trade tips, tricks, recipes and the like. This weeks question for the link up was what area or muscle of your body is your favorite to work out, why, and what work outs do you do? Without a doubt my favorite area to work out is my upper body. I love it all, weight machines, free weights, "dance arms" exercises. I was always teased because of my tiny arms growing up and now I love working them out, building muscle and seeing that beautiful definition. Take that every one who made fun of my puny arms! If I had to pick a favorite muscle in my arms that I love working it would definitely be the deltoids. I love my shoulders so much, they've never looked better! I love doing lateral raises in front of the mirrors (whatev don't judge me, I enjoy looking at my muscles!) so I can make sure that I'm doing it correctly and avoid injury. Physical therapy for a bum knee and a stress fracture are quite enough for one year. So what about you guys? What do you love working out the most? Or better yet, what do you hate working out? (Abs for me!)  Post any questions you may have on fitness/working out etc... and I will gladly answer them. And of course, join the link up and get motivated!

I Swear I'll Never Give In, I Refuse

Holy hell. This week is never ending. And what's worse? I am in a rut. A workout rut. I worked out today for the first time since Saturday and it was a pretty pathetic attempt. Half assed at best. I don't know what my problem is, but I just cannot get back in the swing of things coming back from this past weekend. Normally it takes me a day or two to get caught up on laundry, cleaning ect...but come Tuesday this week I still wasn't ready to face the gym. I have a bunch of things going on in my head that are driving me mad, and usually working out helps with that. However now, my immediate response to stress is to sit on the couch and knit. Which I mean it could be worse, it could be to sit on the couch and stuff my face. Still, I have worked too hard to just say oh well it's winter, and the days are shorter and it's cold out. More importantly it is just not me. I go to the gym, I run. It's who I am. So tomorrow morning, we're hitting the gym...hard. I don't care how many excuses my brain comes up with to go back to bed, my ass will be at that gym at 5am. I don't care if I cry about it the entire way there. Because I refuse to walk out my door staring at this and feeling guilty anymore.

I refuse to give into my excuses again. 

Anyways! On a happier prettier note, Jessica over at The Embellished Life is having a fabulous giveaway! One lucky reader will get a product line from Paul Labrecque ! Go scope out her blog and enter to win, your hair will thank you ;)

Cheers!

Marisa

title lyrics: Foo Fighters-Best of You

A Lost Feather

No this is not an APB for a feather that I have misplaced. It's a post about Sarah at A Lost Feather!!! She is basically my first blogger/internet friend and is an artist hailing from New York. She runs a brilliant Etsy shop (here) where she sells her artwork and also jewelry! She is nice, funny, talented and most importantly she is the proud owner of this little love muffin:

(meet Boo)

I know what you're thinking, how could someone who owns such an adorable furry friend NOT be awesome at life? So, I'm here today to share with you some of my favorite things from her shop and to encourage you to check out her shop and her dog blog .

I love the simplicity of these wood plaques painted by Sarah. 

This might be my favorite though. Constellations over *insert your city here* How awesome is that?

She also does jewelry too, and I loooovveee her bracelets.

So there you have it folks. My super awesome amazing artist friend Sarah. Go check out her shop AND if you love it as much as I do (and her!) write your own post like mine and receive a free print and a 10% off coupon to her shop! You have no excuse not to check it out because I linked her blog and shop 29298359874592359852 times in this post. Yeah, that many. 

Blog Friend Cheers!

Marisa

And when she came back for high school, all her hair was cut off and she was totally weird and now I guess she's on crack.

Holy balls it's been forever! How have you all been? What has everyone been up to, whats the cool jams? Me, I've been hitting the gym like crazy and am pretty proud to say the 30 Day Challenege has been going well. Had to take a few days off due to some nasty shin splints (barf), but other than that still going strong. Literally, my arms are buff. It's awesome.

In less awesome news, I had to change email addresses due to some hacking. Yeah biggest pain in the ass ever. I was terrified that I'd lose access to my blog, but I googled that for myself and got if figured out. So luckily here I am still! Wooo!

So I took a break from blogging because I was super busy and feeling overwhelmed, and I guess I wanted to test my love for it. Could it be something I could just walk away from? Answer is: No. I missed you all, reading your blogs, tweeting with you. It's definitely a part of me and always will be. So with that, it's safe to say I'm back and hopefully with some direction this time. That was part of my being overwhelmed. I felt like I was just writing aimlessly, just trying to think of anything to make a post out of. So time to brainstorm, get some new ideas and get back in the game! Can't wait to reconnect with everyone!

Hearts and Stars Cheers,

Marisa