Sweet Summer Time

Hello all you beautiful people!

Again, long hiatus from blogging. Not totally my fault though, not a whole lot to write about now that school is over and it's summer time.

Everyone goes nuts about getting out of school for summer and laying out in the sun, pool time, tan lines and friends.

Expectation:

Reality:

Currently I'm still out in good ol' Salukiville. I'm in Carbondale for the summer. Yay.

Believe it or not, it was by choice. I need to establish residency for in-state tuition and the thought of paying for my apartment but not living in it is an abhorring thought, and it's very hard to find a summer job that will only last a little over 2 months anywhere, even Cali. So I'm taking summer class, life guarding at the Rec Pool and working out and going out to the desolate bars now that most of the students have vanished.

Hurrah.

My GA deal doesn't extend through the summer so I'm now a regular working student, getting paid hourly to guard lives with my red floaty and whistle as I sit on a stand and watch people try to swim in a poorly ventilated indoor pool. But it's a job and I have some pretty cool coworkers that I'm not going to lie, I was kinda nervous if they'd like me. Life guards are different than your average student workers. We sit up on a stand for 30min at a time in solitude. Yeah, we're supposed to be scanning for potential drowning victims but it's a lot of alone time. Almost too much. So we get kinda weird. *Raises hand* I'll confess, it's even happened to me. But they're cool people, albeit we get weird and we got weird very fast with each other. Something about pools and life guarding that just makes you want to talk about nonsensical stuff with anyone willing to listen. I'm pretty sure I've heard at least 5 life stories, shared my own probably more than that and other random topics have been discussed in the brief 2 minutes that we actually get to interact with our coworkers when we rotate shifts. And I've only been working for 3 weeks.

I'll give you a run down of a typical day for Marissa-

Get up- put on my life guard uniform- (swim suit, shirt that says Aquatic Staff, swim trunks, and flip flops.)
Go guard lives - involves 20/30min shifts for 3 or 4 hours that we switch out from on break in the aquatics office, to chair 1 and to chair 2.
Go work out
Go home
Watch TV
*Sometimes* (Cough rarely cough) do online homework (my classes are all online)
Make food
Eat said food
Sleep
Repeat

Yep. I'm living the dream.

The town is desolate, as is my life and for a few days there I was going nuts I was so bored. I would drive around aimlessly just to get out of my apartment.

But on the weekends I do have some fun. Kaylee is in town over the summer as well but she interns every stinking day for like 28 hours a day and so she doesn't have time to entertain me during the week. So we have fun on the weekends. We go kayaking on campus lake, eat ice cream, and go out to the bars. Sometimes. But the bars are kinda dead now or full of townies we don't know so it's not the same. So it does get kinda interesting.

But summer school starts soon so I have quite a few friends who are coming back to get some credit so I'm hoping my life gets a whole lot more interesting.

And this week it definitely did so here's to more excitement! It started with Memorial Day weekend that I spent kayaking with Kayln and then grabbing a few beers with some townie friends for friend's birthday and going to Herrin Fest. A nearby town throws a fun festival that includes vendors, fair rides, and music. We saw Thomas Rhett, an up and coming country singer and it was super fun! I got to wear my cowboy boots and my american flag vest, I was killing it. The booze was expensive but the music was good and it was fun to people watch. We saw some friends that were leaving soon since they graduated so it was good to catch up for a bit and it was cool to see how the locals do fun events. We of course wriggled our way up closer to the stage, even though I didn't even know who the guy was by just his name, I had to listen to a few songs and go "Oh I know this song! I didn't know he sang it!". I'm slowly learning the newer country music songs and singers. I don't have much of a choice as that's about all we hear down in So. Ill. But it was fun and I was glad to do something and be social.

Herrin Fest photos…my new phone case made the photo quality less than stellar but it was a fun time indeed.

A night out on the town with the Townies!

"Sure I'll take your picture, but first lemme take a selfie."

The OGs, Original Goons.

Gonna miss ya, Unkie! (my eyes are open I swear)

It was a short week due to the holiday which made it nice. I worked as a life guard, and most of the time that means baby sitting for school groups that come in and use the Rec Pool.

 Talk about the best form of birth control ever…picture 115 screaming middle schoolers swimming around, jumping off the diving board and high dive. In an indoor pool. So it's slick tile, stuffy, and loud. REALLY LOUD.
And little kids can be ass holes! I whistled at one kid to stop running and he turned at me and stuck his tongue out! It took all my will power to not jump off that stand and grab him by the ear and drag him to the bench and ban him from the pool for life. Grrrr… we had another incident where a kid panicked after jumping off the high dive so the other guards had to jump in to help. It's protocol for us not in the water to get the other kids out while they attend to the injured. So I blow my whistle tell kids to get out and one of them goes "What? Why? He's not dead." Are you freaking serious???  Rude!! GET THE HECK OUT OF THE POOL!
I immediately retorted back "Because I said so! Get out of the pool. NOW!"

So I guess I'm the pool bitch. Sorry I'm not sorry that a bunch of 5th graders don't like me. How will I ever sleep at night…


Most of the time it's not that bad. We have our regular swimmers who keep to themselves and we don't have any issues. Until we have to change lane lines and that's a pain in the ass because we have to get into the pool to do it but that's usually the biggest problem of the day.

Almost every day I work out too. Not much to do and since I work there and have more than enough time, might as well. I work out with a friend, well more like I work out and he teaches me how to. I just don't want to look like an idiot in the weight room, so I asked my buffest friend to just show me how to weight train so I wouldn't end up being an internet meme sensation. And I avoid having a packed weight room with a bunch of tools and really intimidating guys since it's summer so it's perfect.

My luck without WannaBeTrainer, I'd be this guy. I don't want to be that guy.

And then it turned into him being my amateur trainer. Ok, Mr. FormAboveEverythingElse and NoCheatingAllowed. But I can tell it's working and his work outs are freaking hard. I'm dripping with sweat after about 45minutes (not an exaggeration by any means I'm gross and can't keep up with laundry b/c of it) and usually unable to function normally for a full day afterwards. After leg day I can't walk, it's like I'm 83 years old, arms day usually means I can't open a door without strenuous effort, etc. I abhor chest day with a passion and whenever I get too sassy he ups my weight and I struggle and want to quit but I shut up real fast.

On Thursday my good friend Ally came back into the Dale and so we met up at a friends and had a little girls' night in with wine and popcorn. It was good to have them back and be social again. We plan on doing the wineries and hanging out more this summer as Ally heads to France to study abroad for a whole year! I'm going to miss her dearly but I'm glad to be around this summer to hang out before she leaves us.

Friday I got asked to help volunteer at a golf tournament put on by the Rec. I didn't really know what I was getting into but didn't mind helping out for a few hours. Turns out me and one of the pro staff, Amanda, were to drive the beer golf cart around providing beverages to our golfers.

Ummm best job ever! We drove around and put on our biggest smiles and ended up scoring big time on tips. I remember seeing the beer girls when I went golfing with my grandfather one time and thought she was the coolest chic ever and so much older and cooler cuz she knew all the guys and was pretty good at golf too. Looking back it was kinda weird since she got hit on by old men all the time (blek) but we didn't get much of that but we did have a lot of laughs and a lot of beer and a lot of tips. Score.

But then it rained and I mean the heavens really opened up, like TORRENTIAL down pour. For all you Cali peeps who are so used to being in a draught it's kinda like wait what's rain again? I'm not even joking that the term raining cats and dogs means absolutely nothing to you until you've seen rain like that. Flash flooding is a very real thing people. So we all drove back to the club house as fast as that cart could get us there but didn't matter, just 30 seconds left you soaked to the bone. I looked like I took a shower, my hair was all wet, we took our shoes and socks off and ran in the rain and puddles that were the size of Lake Michigan barefoot because wet socks are the worst thing on the planet. Attractive much? Oh ya. But the golf tourney was fun and I will always volunteer to be the beer cart girl for just about every golf outing I ever attend.

And I went to Chicago on Saturday but I'll save that for my next blog.

To be continued!

Year 1: Done and DONE

Hello Lovies!

Sorry for the long long longgggg hiatus from blogging!

But let me explain why…

April was full of crazy, fun, stressful events that literally consumed my life. After my weekend at Davis for Picnic day it was a dead sprint to the finish line—aka May and the end of the year. Thank goodness for semester schools as I'm now on summer vacation.

A quick over view of the last half of April:

-Week long conference for the professional staff and all the 2nd year GA's. The first year GA's were left to rule the roost.
-Softball, volleyball IM playoffs
-Club sport games and tourneys
-A triathlon put on by the Rec
-A 5k put on by the Rec
-Finance project (37 pages long)
-Final global marketing paper (10pages long)
-Brand Management Presentation (30min long)
-Brand Management paper (15 pages long)
-Rec's end of the year banquet
-IM's end of the year party
-Life guard training
-Finals week
-(now May) Graduation

All of that in roughly 20 days.

You know I did exactly that.

Eww.

Oh and did I mention that it rained, like poured for most of those days? Yeah. Like sheets and sheets of rain, no way you can play softball and the fields were ruined. And the triathlon and 5k were in danger as well.

Everyday I was stressed about whether or not we could finish playoffs or continue planning for other events and than trying to run an office on your own is less than fun but we did it.

I'm still not sure how. Not a lot of sleep, a lot of coffee and lots of phone calls to my boss, my staff, my coworkers, etc. But I survived. We finished softball and volleyball. The triathlon and 5k went off swimmingly. The banquets went well too. And I finished all of my projects on time. (Some I turned in literally 60 seconds before they were due but it was on time)

And now I'm in Chicago visiting my friend and relaxing before I head back to summer class and my new job as a life guard for the Rec's pool. Recap of the last week though:

I said good bye to a lot of people who became my dear friends. The other GA's, the 2nd years are moving on with their lives and are heading out into the real world. I was sad to see them go though, as I had gotten used to seeing them almost every day and we became like a little gang of GA's, always there for when we needed to get the job done but still a bunch of goofballs too.

The hardest good bye was to my student staff. My first year staff. They will all have a special place in my heart. For the ones who were graduating and also moving on, I have to admit I was very sad to think about never seeing them again. I hate how people come in and out of my life. Terrible at change in this regard. But they were in it for a reason but time was up. I gave them all graduation gifts and little notes saying how much I appreciated their hard work and that I was proud of them. They made me feel at home when I was so scared 9 months ago. I'll never forget how even when some would call me up and have some sort of problem at the IM field, or make me want to pull my hair out, they still made me laugh and were a great group of people.

One in particular, I'll really miss, was this kid from way up north in Illinois who kinda has a voice of yogi bear. "Hey Boo-boo" type with a deep but funny tone.

He was literally a pain in my side, showed up late, always wanted to leave early and was the life of the party no matter where he was. But he was always knew how to make me laugh, even when he forgot he had a shift and I had to run to the fields to cover his dumb ass. He would walk up and I would try to keep a stern face but than end up laughing as he said "Hey, Mariss, real sorry about that, I'm a real big idiot…" and blah blah some excuse but I couldn't be mad for long. I'd be like "oh, Tim.." and then start laughing. We had a few good talks about his future too, and what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Most of these happened at the bar too, or in a hallway between classes, never in a normal spot. But for as silly as he came off he is a very intelligent, deep guy and I loved being able to see that side of my student staff. Getting to know them on a more personal level than just a work level. Knowing they opened up to me and felt they could come to me made it all worth it. I do it for my staff and seeing them all work hard for me was probably the best part of my year.
I gave all my gifts out, and tried to hide them, as I think it's so incredibly awkward to give gifts in person. I leave them at doors, on people's cars, etc. And the best part was the little calls and texts of thank yous. I really will miss them and I'd rather not start crying in front of them so that was the best way. But it didn't really hit me until after graduation.

Oh Tim…I will miss that guy.

I had spent graduation night out at the wineries celebrating with my friend Amy. She came back into town to walk after taking this semester to student teach. She and I had kept in contact over the semester and I had really missed her. It was a great time and I was so sad though that it was such a short time. I'll come back to Chicago though and visit her during the summer. I absolutely loved her family and we had a blast talking and drinking and reminiscing and it was all around grand. It was later that night though when I was out with some friends and I saw Tim (the Yogi Bear guy) out too. He thanked me and said how he'd keep in contact and all I could do was hug him and say Ya keep in touch before the water works started. And he was just my student staff after 1 year, what was I going to act like when I left after 2 years?!

Ugh. I am such a girl.

But I was glad to have seen him and get to say good bye. Then it all hit me so hard after that.

It's just like last year all over again. I'm super sad to say good bye and graduations really do suck. Like really though, their long and not that much fun and it's mostly just remembering nostalgic times that you don't get to relive no matter how hard you want to. 

My first year. Done. Gone in what feels like the longest and fastest year of my life. One of my 2 year stint is checked off and I'm that much closer to being done for real for real.

Whoa.

Looking back it was definitely anything but easy. Lots of tears and phone calls home and to friends. Lots of reevaluations and wondering what in the hell am I doing with my life moments. Lots of fretting. Lots of frustration. Lots of disappointments.

But lots of laughs. And lots of good times. Lots of smiles, lots of happiness and lots of love too.

But before I get all sappy…let me just say this. I would not change it for anything. I mean it.

I learned more about myself than ever before. I learned who my real friends are and that change can be amazing. I learned how to be honest with myself which I think is half the battle. I never stopped learning. And I learned that I never will stop.

I still have a lot of room to grow. I'm still the shy girl from California who is insecure and scared a lot. I still cry whenever I say good bye. I still care way too much about others who don't care for me. But I'm working on it. Always a work in process. I'll never be perfect but I can be better.

I'm heading back to Carbondale tomorrow. This was a quick trip to visit and mostly just some time to relax and recover from a very crazy year. I loved it but today I took an accidental 3 hour nap. Oops, guess I needed it though after everything. Still hard to imagine that it's summer and I'm still out in Illinois.

So here's to finishing strong, finding even more about myself, but also to change. It's not going to be the same next year, and I'll make new friends and lose some people too. But change can be an amazing, and I have come to really love the place I'm at right now. And that's all I can ask for.

True story. 

To be continued!

Hostest with the Mostest

Hello there!!!

It's a FABULOUS 60+ degrees out at 9am and I am wearing shorts and sandals! Finally!

But since I haven't been totally caught up with my blogging since oh probably ever, I have even ore adventures to tell you about.

So sit back and enjoy the ride!

My mom and brother went to Columbus, OH for his spring break to see the Ohio State University. The little dude has set his bar pretty high, as he should. He's an Allen. I applied to Duke U, and UC Davis was my safe school. It turned out to be the best decision ever (I only applied to 4 schools and so I was more or less forced to go but I loved it obvi) but we were taught to not only reach but achieve the goals we set. I knew I was going to go to a 'big' 4-yr university, SeaStar (sister's nickname) was going to make a name for herself in the show world and went to major competitions across the nation and now baby Brudda (nicknames are kinda my thing, if I love you, you have a nickname) is trying to make a name for himself outside his sisters' shadows. He'll do fine and if he does end up at Columbus maybe I'll be around the midwest to just be at least a mental comfort for him to know that big sissy is only a drive away instead of a couple flights.

The Brudda is sorta rad. He's working on his mustache too.

But on their way back they drove from Columbus to Carbondale and spent the weekend with me.

I was so excited to see my mom and brother, it hadn't been since Christmas that I had seen any of my family and 4 and 1/2 months is a long time.

But the day before they came into town, I went slightly crazy.

Remember when you were little and your grandparents came to visit and mom would start cleaning frantically, pull out her best recipes and if you didn't help clean and dust and vacuum you were better off dead? "Pick up your legos RIGHT NOW, Nana and Poppy are coming in 7 hours!" and there was always a timeline for when they would be waiting at your door.

Well I sure felt like that. Something about having your mother visit that makes you start cleaning like a madman "I can live on my own! I can do this, Mom! I'm not barely getting by, I have my life together, I promise! Look, my laundry is done, my bathroom is clean and toilets are scrubbed, and look no dishes in the sink!!!"

Must. Clean.

So mom and brudda got into town and came to see me at work. They got a tour of my rec center and then went to the club baseball game with to me before we went to my very clean (i hadn't had time to fold my last load of laundry so I hid it behind my bed. Mom found it. Go figure.) apartment. I even had all my decorations up and it looks homey even. Go me.

We went to dinner to a local restaurant that even I hadn't been to yet and we had delicious food, an even better dessert and the waiter was funny and we laughed and caught up and I was so incredibly happy to have them here.

Brudda talked about high school and his friends who I still envision as the bratty 12 year olds that I often had to watch after little league or basketball practice and that would play hours upon hours of video games at my house and eat all the chicken nuggets and pizza rolls we had. Brudda was the littlest always, shorter and weaker than his friends but that's no longer the case. He's almost 6'3 and he can pick me up when we hug. He's definitely not the 12 year old little guy I left when I went to college all those years ago. He's super witty and he gets himself into trouble because he has a smart mouth but he's quiet and reserved at times too. He's got that sneak attack sense of humor. He's shy and takes awhile to open up and then he'll say something sassy and you're like 'Whoa! Where'd that come from??'

How I'll always thing of him. That little one ruining our awkward tween photos.

All us Allen kids have lots of sass. It must be genetic. Sarcasm is spoken fluently in our house.

We spent the rest of the weekend looking at furniture for my place (mom said it was cute but that I needed a tv stand and a coffee table) and just checking out Salukiville. I got a tv stand and then before we got ready to go to dinner, Brudda goes 'Let's just stay in and make dinner. I don't want to go out, let's just watch movies and cook.' Ok. Brudda wants to just chill and hang with me? Chalking it up as a win.

We watched the Lord of the Ring and Horton Hears a Who and ate fajitas that mom made in my little apartment. It was perfect.

That night was also when the rec students were headed out to all meet up at the bars. Everyone from IM's to Fitness and Facilities were invited to hangout as they all had the Rec in common. So after mom and brudda went back to their hotel (my apartment is nice but little and my mom likes a nice bed and a bathroom not full of make up and hair straighteners and dryers) I met up with some friends and went out.

It was a fun night and we walked all over from place to place and it's nice to not have to bundle up like an eskimo. I saw my colleague and talked about how she just got back from an on-campus interview for a big girl job. She said it went well and I hope that she gets it. I'm already getting anxious about finding a job next year and I haven't even finished this year yet. She has more interviews upcoming at the big conference everyone in our field (minus me and the other 1st years. still kinda bitter about it but i'll get over it) so she has lots of decisions to make. But if she has options than here's to hoping I will too.

Even though it was meant to be an outing all together, immediately we split off in our distinctive groups. I was with the IM guys and said hi to the others but really, I know my people better so we're going to hang out, sorry bout it. One of the guys on my staff was there, I call him A-Team since he likes to say that he's the best supervisor we have. He kinda self dubbed that nickname but it stuck. That's up for debate but he's not a bad sup. I see some officials and more club people and I know of them but not really well. We officially get introduced and are talking about the NBA playoffs and how Jabari Parker just officially entered into the draft (and I was upset about it) and how I work a lot with club sports and will work with them even more next year. A-Team kinda butted in there and goes hey. *points at me, looks at his baseball crew* respect. *nods and continues talking to someone else*

Definitely chalking that up to a win. Huge win.

He's a leader of the team as he's older and the guys look up to him. And he just gave me the approval nod and let his whole team know that he respects me as a leader and they should do the same. He may not even know that what he did meant so much or that he was doing anything other than hey guys, that chic you just met, she's not half bad. But it was a big deal to me.

It may have taken almost an entire year but I finally feel like I don't have to prove myself anymore. Right there, he did it for me. And my own boss has given me so  much more responsibility and I know that he doesn't worry anymore when he's not around. He's gone from now until next Monday and we have playoffs and are finishing up everything this week but I got it. I'm going to be just fine, so is this program and everyone knows that. I think they know it more than I do.

I did it.

I am at the spot I have tried to get to for so long and their were lapses and there is still going to be but I won. And I couldn't be happier. It's still stressful, I still make mistakes and my staff and boss know it. But they know I work hard and they work hard too but I think they work hard for me. And that's the biggest win I could ever get.

Cue the hair flip, I'm walking on cloud 9.

Fast forward to me and mom and brudda to spending a wonderful Easter together making breakfast in my little apartment, walking on campus and showing them everything that had become my little home in Carbondale.

And then they left for the airport and I cried a little but then I had to get back to my life that is school and work. But Brudda did say that I was kinda cool and that was kinda cool and a win so it was ok and then I punched him and he shoved me and it was ok.

This is how we show our love for each other. xoxo

Work was going to be crazy because my boss, coworker, some staff, other professional staff were all leaving mid-week to go to a conference. The same conference I got my job at last year, but there was a catch now…I had to stay back to hold down the fort. Lame.

Not gonna lie, this is the biggest conference of the year, THE conference of all conferences and all of my davis peeps were gonna be there, old and new and the friends I had met at all the tourneys and conferences I had gone to.

But that's the deal, only those looking for a job or ga get to go and the little first years do their time and stay home.

Ugh. Green is so not my color.

But on Monday the new GA who is going to be my partner in crime next year came down to Carbondale from Notre Dame for an extended pit stop before heading to the conference with the boss man.

We'll call him PJ and we had met a few times before but didn't know each other well by any means. Well that sure changed after just a day and a half of hanging out. We didn't plan it, or plan much of anything and what we did plan didn't end up happening. But long story short we hung out a lot, he stayed on my couch, we talked through the night, we went apartment hunting for him, checked out local eateries, he watched me panic and stress over im's and then we went to a concert together and then he left.

Whew! What a whirlwind! But it was fun and we got to talk and bond and I'm SO excited for next year. He's creative and good with new ideas and quiet but funny and we have similar tastes in music and we both like hot wings from Buffalo Wild Wings.

Later that night was a concert at SIU, Capital Cities. There a little bit electronic, indie, hipster, fun, dance, whatever you wanna call them that would maybe fit. They have a trumpet in the band, they play that super catchy song 'Safe and Sound' and their fun. It was for $5 so ridiculously cheap and as soon as I found out I texted all my friends to get tickets.

They were like ummm idk, i only know like one song umm yea probs not.

WHAT

Meanwhile in Davis…

All my friends were like WHAT that's so COOL! OMG I'm super jealous they're awesome i would love to go! And for $5?!?! Stop. That's not fair. Stop. You're lying. That's stealing. You can't get anything for $5 not anything. I don't believe you.

And therein lies the difference between Southern Illinois and Northern California people.

We like our music. We pay a lot for our music. We're spoiled by having super cool bands and no namers come out to the west coast that we totally claim to have known about first before they got big and started playing on the main stream radio. snaps to us. we're like so hip, brah. music, sunshine, and the beach, that's california.

No that's lies. But I and a lot of my friends would totally pay to go to a concert or a music festival over pretty much any movie premiere, trip to vegas, etc. like between coachella vs. a night out at vegas we'd go with coachella. hands down.

At the concert there's hardly anyone there. I feel bad but we sit and wait for the band to come on and when it does, they probably see the little crowd, go well, fuq it, let's do this. and they put on a show.

The music was awesome, the light show was super cool and the band was living it up. They had moves and were funny and looked like they were trying to have a good time. So we did too. PJ and I danced like weirdos, took snap chats and had lots of fun. If you would have told me that one of my first times hanging out with my to-be coworker was at a concert dancing I'd have told you that was a good one but nice try.

You can bet that we got down on the dance floor. 

Jk, I'm white and can't dance.

So it was a interesting but fun beginning to the week and PJ and I got to know each other outside of IM's and sports. So here's to having an awesome time next year! And am I the best host or what? Chya!

And now I'm chilling (freaking out) with my staff and it's just me and the other first GA's trying to get ready for this weekend's big triathlon event and continue with Im sport playoffs oh and try to throw some school in there. Nah better not. Who needs to go to a conference in Nashville anyway?

Let the freaking commence.

To be continued!

Adventures in Aggieville

Happy Monday!

Well, it wasn't that happy. Never are. But I did have THE BEST weekend. Why?

Because it was PICNIC DAY in Davis, California!

Oh, how I miss the infamous double deckers! 

PICNIC DAY!!! I can't say it enough, HAPPY PICNIC DAY!!

It's hard to put into words what exactly Picnic Day is. It's a festival, it's open house, it's homecoming, it's tons of parties, bars open at 9am, music playing in the street, a big parade, wiener dog races, bikes everywhere (that's normal for Davis) and just way too much fun all in one day. About 90,000 people come every year, 30,000 of which are students, the others are alumni, family members, or just visitors. Not even joking in the slightest on the numbers, you can google it.

It's kind of a big deal.

Basically every apartment complex in all of Davis looked like this.

It's the biggest UC Davis tradition, I went as a baby with my parents, they talked about their Picnic Days when they went to UCD and it's always the best time. And it has been going on for 100 years. Talk about school pride, Go Aggies!

Call me crazy, or plain insane for traveling all the way from Carbondale, Illinois to Davis, California just for one day of festivities. But it was so worth it. I am an alumni (still weird to say that) and had to go back. HAD to. I planned on it since last Picnic Day and it didn't matter where in the world I was, I would be back for Picnic Day 2014. Number 100 and first as a grad. Can't miss that.

And it was everything and so much more. I made a full weekend out of it, flying in on Thursday night and back to Carbondale on Sunday.

Beautiful day for a Picnic!

So without further ado, let me tell you how I had a lot more fun than you probably did. Actually, I know I did so just read along.

First day- Flight from St. Louis to Phoenix, Phoenix to Sacramento. Get on the ground, get picked up by my friend who I was staying with, we'll go with Kelly, and her roommate Kimmy. First thing we do, after exchanging girly screams and hi's and how we missed each other we go straight to In-N-Out.  And I'm mid-burger and downing my fries that are just so much better than another burger and fries I've ever had and then Kelly goes…

"So it's Thursday night. And it's 10:30. You know what that means?"
"MOJITO NIGHT!!!"

Mojito Night is a super fun night out at the bars, where mojitos are on special (for much more than Illinois folk are willing to pay but it's cheap for us Davis kids) and it is my absolute favorite of all the special themed nights. So it's only natural that we go pretty much straight from the airport to In-N-Out to the bars.

Welcome back, Marissa.

We get there and are waiting in line and I already see people I haven't seen since I graduated last June. Ensue lots of hugging, high pitched OH MY GAWD WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?'s and HIIII's and I MISSED YOU SO MUCH's.

I loved it.

I finally got to see my old crew. The co-workers turned best friends, the ones who joined me on countless mojito nights past and shared too many laughs with. And just like that I'm back in my happy place catching up, drinking mojitos and enjoying the super warm night. Like I never left.

Sometimes the best memories are a little fuzzy.

We go to another bar after the mojitos have been exhausted. The bouncer takes his sweet time on my ID, as it's from Illinois now and looks like a fake. After they scrutinize it and ask me all the info on it and I already know that this could be an issue for the weekend. But we had fun and everyone loved how I said "abSaluki" for absolutely everything. Sorry I'm not sorry.

2nd day- It's Friday and the girls have class and I make the rounds of Davis. I meet up with my old boss and go to lunch. It was cool to catch up but also talk work and I felt like such an adult. After lunch I went and biked to get my diploma from the admin office on campus. It felt super bizarre to bike on campus and not have class. Students I don't recognize, changes to the buildings, they repaved a lot of the bike paths. But it's my old home. I still consider it home because it feels good to be there. Even alone I loved just seeing my old study spots, lecture halls, the quads. And then when I went to get my diploma, they asked for my old ID number and I had forgotten it. I tried but was one number off. And as I walked out holding the diploma, a small piece of paper that has a shiny seal and my name on it that cost me 4 years and lots of moola$$$ it hit me like a wall.

That was it. My 4 best years amounted to that single piece of paper. I can't tell you much about all the different classes I took but I can tell you about the people in my life. The experiences and memories I shared with the people who would be much more important to me than any piece of fancy paper. If I could trade it to go back again I would. In a heart beat. Because that diploma means so much more than how many A's and B's (and definitely a fair share of C's and even D's) I got. It was the good times, mistakes made, life lived.

So I was feeling nostalgic and sad but then got to see another friend who has also graduated and I had met on my very first day at school. Jenn was like me, struggling to find her way when we thought we had it made. She was living but not thriving in New York, NY and I just trying to figure out what to do with my forever after. We aren't there yet, we probably won't ever be. But coming back and talking with old friends somehow make our problems a little less dire and a little more ok.

I went back to Kelly and Kimmy's and they snuck me into my old work place, the recreational center, called the ARC. Super weird to walk around and not be supervising basketball or getting ice for an injured soccer player.

So Friday was just a day for walking down memory lane. But I think it was the closure I needed.

3rd Day-PICNIC DAY!

Well said.

The day I was waiting for since I left in the summer. And it was epic! Yes, there was a lot of drinking involved. I don't think I had any non-alcoholic drinks all day. It's a marathon, not a sprint. I went from campus to house parties, to apartment block parties, back to campus to see the baseball game, checked out the cows and the animals, even checked out the parade. And by checked out I mean kind of accidentally rode my bike in it for part of the way. Bucket list item-be in parade- complete!

I saw friends who lived on my dorm floor freshman year and I saw friends who I traveled abroad with and those I worked with and had class with, etc etc. I biked downtown and spent time in one of our favorite joints just laughing and trying to enjoy a cold beer in a super crowded space but it was all in the name of picnic day.
Everyone wanted to know what Illinois is like, looked at my new ID and told their prospective stories of how life after college was so completely different than any of us could have imagined. But the main theme was happy and reuniting.

 I got to meet new people too, my friend's brother now goes to UCD and hearing his stories made me smile and feel excited for him as he's still enjoying college. People were impressed with how I'm getting my MBA and working to get it. Not to blow my horn or anything but it felt nice to hear that from the outside my life sounded cool. And there were some people who said they read my blog and loved it. Thanks for those of you that do!

Snap chats of the shenanigans.

We became friends after I bombed my econ test and was looking for a study buddy. I got life long friends and only a C in the class. Good trade for me.

He passed out before 11am. He may be 'hang'ing in a hammock but the dude couldn't hang for a Picnic.

Friends since the dorm days!

My favorite part of the whole day wasn't the vendors, or the booths on campus, face paint, the wiener dog races, the animals or even the bar scene. It was being with those people and being happy to see them, seeing them happy to see me and then just being with each other like old times. I went to a bar that wasn't quite as crowded with some very old friends who had been there since pretty much day one. The bouncer didn't want me to come in again as my ID was not valid enough for California standards. So I said screw it and walked away and then he goes "Hey, it must not be fake if you don't care to get in or not, come on inside." No you idiot, it's not fake, I just got it a few days ago under protest but in order to get in-state tuition, you kinda need to be a resident that lives in-state. What a concept. But I got in, told my story, laughed and then we even sat in silence, ok with it though, ok to just be together for a short time.

After a very eventful day of booze flowing, seeing the city literally stop and cater to all that was involved with the Picnic, I spent the night time with some old friends.

They are the crew, the boys, my best bros. A bunch of soccer-playing, beer-drinking, trash-talking, prank-playing, mess-making, crazy guys. And I love them all. They always know how to have a good time and I end up laughing more than anything because of their antics. And after a day spent biking back and forth to see the people I had missed, reminiscing of days past, all I wanted to do at the end of the day was be in that apartment with my boys watching them play beer pong and talking about soccer and other random things. I didn't want to talk about Illinois, or worry about how I had to catch a flight back the very next day.

And I did just that. I was tired and sleepy but it was so chill and good to hang out again. We played games or sat and watched others play. The music was loud, and the drinks flowing. And it was perfect. We talked about our dreams and how we had all these great plans and ideas. We talked about our lives and how we would one day go to Vegas together, and to that concert or music festival, how they would come visit me but maybe go see Chicago instead of Carbondale (they read my blogs too) and we talked about our past and present too. One of them looked at me at a point in the night and says "It's kinda good to see you." "Oh yeah? Just kinda?" "Yeah. It's kinda good." My boys kinda like having me around. Just kinda. It's the little things like those silly talks and moments that I'll always remember. I may miss them way more than they miss me but when we are together it's my favorite.

My goofballs, my boys. Best of the best.

Last day-I got locked out of the apartment I was staying at so I ended up on the couch at the guys', just like old times, only fitting that I did. But I woke up early, nursed my hangover and then got ready to say my good byes. I went to brunch with the boys and even though I was feeling like my liver had died it was really good food and bottomless mimosas. Can't say no to that. After a few more laughs and jokes I had to get up and say bye in order to catch my flight. And of course I got super sad and I'm awkward so I sort of jumped up "Ok, I'll see you guys later." and waved and ran out the door.

I don't cry when I break my elbow. I don't cry when I lose the high school basketball state playoff game. I don't cry often. But when I have to say good bye I am a total sap. Cue the waterworks, it's going to be a wet one. I cry at train stations, bus stations and airports a lot. I hate good byes and change and it's a problem. But I don't like to have anyone see me cry so I literally ran out of the place before they would start to fall. But I barely made it to the car and then at the airport when I said goodbye to Kelly, I lost it. The tears just wouldn't stop. It was super awkward at my gate when I kept trying to dry my eyes and people started to stare. So I was that girl wearing sunglasses inside and crying. Super attractive.

I got back on that flight and I still cried when we took off. But I know I'll be back. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

And so it may seem silly to you that I traveled across the country for a picnic. But it was the greatest picnic you could ever have.

Ok I lied, the best part was In-n-Out. Obvi. Sigh, until next time.

Now back to reality.

To be continued!

I'm the most awkward person I have ever met.

Hello there all you beautiful people.

It's me, Marissa here, blogging in class instead of paying attention. Again. Shocker, I know, I'm a graduate student and I'm not pencil in hand scribbling notes as fast as I can fretting over the exams, that you would think a typical MBA student would be doing. To be fair, it's an elective. My other classes are kinda kicking my rear but the kid in front of me is looking at cats, so yeah, I'm not too worried about it. And you're so busted dude.

Not going to lie, looking up cats on the internet is a fave past time of mine as well. 

But even though it's Tuesday, it's kind of like my Thursday…because in 2 days I will be headed to Davis, CA!

OH YEAH! WOOHOO!

Too excited. Way too excited. So excited that I'm worried that if I talk about it too much, I'll jinx it so I'll leave it at that and talk about my trip when I get back. 

So yeah, you're probs reading this because the title just screams "Marissa got herself into some hilarious trouble, let's find out what it was!".

It's true. The title. I am super awkward. I laugh at EVERYTHING because it's my go to, my security blanket. That includes in opportune moments. Like "oh why the sad face?" "Granny died" "…giggle, I'm sorry for your loss, giggle" "Why are you laughing, my granny died and you're laughing??" "Um sorry, giggle, I'm not laughing at you promise giggle giggle or your granny. giggle."

No that didn't happen but don't be surprised if it does. 

So this is my life…

It's been super rainy in good ol' Carbondale. That saying "April showers brings May flowers" was totally made up by someone from Illinois. It rains every day. Not all day all the time no, that's too consistent. It will rain and I mean RAIN for 45 min, just torrential down pour, raining cats and dogs, flash flood warnings, etc. and then BOOM, it's over and sunny. 

What the hell? What just happened? I thought it was the rain-pocalypse and then it decides to be beautiful outside? Southern Illinois weather is seriously bi-polar. 

But what happens when it rains so much? These lovely things called puddles. Big ones. For as much rain as they get, draining and pot holes on the streets is seriously subpar. I'm driving to all my classes, no longer walking haven't walked all Spring Semester. But I do have to walk from the parking lot to my class.

So yesterday we had a big powerpoint presentation for my Global Marketing class. Supposed to last 45min long and you had to dress super professionally. Meaning suit up. Wear heels, blazer, makeup, jewelry, curled hair the full 9 yards. 

I dress to the 9's. Not gonna lie, a business suit is probably my best outfit in my closet. Something about getting glammed up in a 'I run this show' way makes a girl feel good and confident. (Guys, if you all think we females dress to impress you, you're highly mistaken. We dress to impress other girls, to get those compliments on how our new heels inspire envy with your best friend, and how it boost our confidence like nothing else. If we wanted to dress for the males, we'd go around in bikinis, everywhere. Seriously though. If you want to feel good, dress good.)

But it's raining. Hard. And it just started but I don't have 45 minutes to wait for it to stop. So I take my heels off, roll up my slacks to my knees and put on my flats and my rain coat and run out into the rain. 

I know I look ridiculous, but heels plus Marissa plus rain is a bad idea. Baddddd idea. I make it to class in one piece, damp but we're ok. Heels on, slacks unrolled and we're good. 

My group does pretty well on our presentation. The prof is slinging us questions and bringing up points that are def not in the text but I'm firing answers right back. We did a powerpoint on the European Union. My Bachelor's Degree is in International Relations/Political Science, emphasis on Europe. I also have studied abroad in Europe. Twice. Hit me with your best shot dude, this topic is my jam. I may have come off as a little argumentative but all my points were valid and some things he said were straight up wrong and I called him out. In a professional way and with enough tact to allow him to save face but if you're going to interrupt me while I'm in front of the class, don't expect me to lay down and die.

We catered our presentation as well. Food makes people happy, and why not butter up our grader with food? No rules against it and it's an am class and everyone loved it. And by catered I mean bagels from Panera. (We're still college students, aka broke as a joke)

We finish, get up and leave and imagine that it's not raining this time. 45min is up. I take my heels off though still as it is wet and I'm not the best in heels, obvi. I walk to my car and RIGHT as I'm about to reach it, some jack wagon driving way too fast to be in a parking lot drives by me and hits a huge puddle next to the side walk I was walking on going into the parking lot. Full of water. 

It was like the flipping movies, water sprayed all over me.

I was LIVID. Oh my god it was cold, and gross and muddy. My pink blazer was completely ruined, I looked like a drowned rat. My bag, hair, pants, shoes, heels in hand, everything soaked.  I totally screamed and the girl stopped her car probably because of it. 

"Are you serious?!? Are you FUQING serious???!!!???"

And then she meekly waved and sped off. 

And then I laughed. I was so mad I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. (read above about how it's my reaction to all emotions)

So picture drenched me standing on the side walk in my what used to be nice dress clothes laughing. Hysterically. Laughing so hard that I'm crying and I don't know if it's because I'm cold and mad and I so have to trash my beautiful clothes or if it's because I'm laughing too hard from being so angry.

Closest representation of what I looked like I could find

And then I went home.

Still mad but no longer laughing. Just cold and wet and super pissed. I get home and start walking to my apartment. It's like everyone and their mothers happens to get to my building right then and there. 

My neighbors, complete strangers as I have never met them see me for the first time since I have moved in. And I'm the epitome of a mess. Cool. 

"Whoa, rough day?"

"Yeah you could say that."

"Jeez…what happened?"

"Oh a car sprayed me after hitting a puddle. Ya know, the usual."

"Dang, sorry to hear that. Oh wait you got something in  your hair…"

He proceeded to pull out a WORM from my hair. 

A. WORM.

"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god."

And I laugh. 

"Oh hahaha thanks for getting that, ew hahah so gross, ha so I'm gonna go take a shower. Giggle"

"Ok"

I could have died. I ran off into my apartment. Seriously? My neighbor just pulled a worm from my hair. I run straight for the shower and see myself in the bathroom mirror.

Makeup was obvi not water proof, hair is a wreck, and it looks like I got ran over by a car not just sprayed with water.

This can't be real life. It just can't.

Poor kid runs into me and I look like that and have a worm in my hair?!?! And I started laughing like a crazy person?!? Atta girl, Marissa. Atta girl.

I'll never be able to look that guy in the eye again. I hope I never ever ever see him again.

So yeah. Hope that was suffice in giving you all some comedic relief. 

To Be Continued!

Rugby Tournament from Hell

So it's Sunday, and before we start up again and head to our offices and/or class rooms or whatever the normal work week calls for I have to tell the story about my lovely week and weekend.

It all started a couple weeks ago. Looking at our event calendar, Rugby tournament coming up, we start to kinda plan, get the ball rolling…more like nudged, not exactly moving and shaking things but it's on our minds. Fast forward to this past week..BOOM here it comes!

Rugby tournament consists of 20 teams, men and women from around Illinois and it's a huge ordeal. It's tradition, it's well known, and it's going to be ran by yours truly. Cool.

Wait, hold on there's a catch (always is.)…

My other GA is out of town, Bridgette has a friend's wedding to attend. Oh and the Boss Man is out too.

And they're leaving mid-week. Cool.

So me, myself and I were the only people of semi-professional status (emphasis on the semi) running not only a Rugby tournament but the whole office. All Sport Clubs, all IM sports, all staff, office workers, sups, refs, yep all on me.
Cool.

No, not cool! Commence major freak out! I say "Fake it til you make it" all the time but this is it, this is the real deal. Ready or not, here ya go.

Haha real funny guys…April Fools. Ya almost got me. Wait. No? Tell me it's a joke! Tell me!

Nope. No joke. Not like on April Fool's Day when my staff tried to convince me one of them broke their leg and thus couldn't work so I prepared to go out there to cover for him since everyone was busy or already working only to have him show up without a cast or crutches and instead a big ol grin saying 'Gotchya'. Good one fellas, real funny. (it was a good one and pretty funny even if they are all goons.)

Since I feel like if I talk about each day I'll end up writing 10 pages I'll list out what my days as the 'BossLady' consisted of.

67 emails
4 meetings for Rugby
3 for other events in April
2 for Water Polo Club
(9 total)
2 days of rainouts (me calling it for safety and field conditions)
4 trips to the fields to check on conditions for the weekend and prep for the tournament
83 phone calls
(41 of them from JUST Saturday)
1 really bad sinus cold/sore throat
Way too many texts to count
1 water polo tournament
1 Rugby tournament
7 ambulance calls (rugby is a brutal sport and every time a kid says "My HEAD hurts/injured/etc" we have to call.)
and 1 very, very, very, long (7am to 7pm) and muddy Saturday

*whew*

But I did it! And I'm going to give myself a big ol' pat on the back because it was really good. My staff totally stepped up and worked hard during the tourney and were a big help and we even finished right on time (unheard of for most tourneys).

I got this, bro.

Even though I was nervous because of all the rain we had had that I might would have to cancel part of the tournament because the fields would just get absolutely ruined by large amounts of people pretty much wrestling in the mud. But it worked out that we didn't have to. And there was an SIU baseball game going on at the same time so we had to make sure we were out of athletics way but that was one of my meetings earlier in the week so that was accounted for. And as for the ambulance, that's just part of sports. People collide, get kicked in the face or shin and that's our job. Try to fix 'em and if we can't do it with a band aid or some gauze we send them to the ambulance (on sight to make it easy and way less stressful about travel time). Only a few gnar-gnar injuries (dislocated shoulder, a few sprains and one pretty badly injured knee) and dozens of ice bags handed out for the bumps and bruises.

Injuries are bound to happen when it's normal to do this in a sport.

and this.

But most of the time…

it's just a bunch of crude ruggers. Eww.

But we planned for the worst and it worked out that we didn't need to use all that we thought we would. Amazing how you prep for an apocalypse and you only get little bloopers. One of which was under staffed, so I was Interim Boss/GA/Sup for a lot of the day, another was the Baseball game kind of throwing off our groove but not too badly. And then the ambulance kinda got stuck in the mud. Imagine that, it rains 4-6inches just 2 days before but taking the ambulance out on the field made total sense…it wasn't for very long though and we all got a good chuckle out of it and moved on. Luckily no one was inside it waiting to get taken to the hospital. That would have been awkward.

I was really glad it went well though and throughout the week and on Friday some of the other pro-staff had asked if all was set, and good to go and that they may head out there to check it out. Gulp. Ok yeah sure I got it, *nervous shaking* but luckily none did show but had they, they would have seen a well oiled machine, everyone doing their parts. I always kinda jokingly/seriously tell my staff that their number one priority is to make me look good. And they did. High Five Team!

Stop. Really. It was nothing. I don't do it for the applause but oh ok, I'll take a bow.

So yeah, I can be the 'BossLady' and even though not everything went as planned, I proved to everyone including myself (which was the big one I needed to prove to) that I can do it. Not alone completely but moving and shaking things is definitely something I can add to my resume. And fun fact, a year ago at the same rugby tournament, my mom and I had traveled to visit Carbondale and we had watched a few matches. Fast forward 12 months and I was running it. Heck ya. But this chic is super tired even though today was a lot of sleeping in, school work and not talking because my cold is still around and I sound like a man or a frog or both. And I present tomorrow in front of my class. This should go well.

To Be Continued!