I actually did something this weekend.

Hold up, wait a minute. Can we just take a moment and reflect on the fact that I actually had a moderately decent weekend and tried to document it via my iPhone. I do believe that I deserve a round of applause for said happenings.  Ah, you may be seated.

My weekend started on Thursday which was Halloween. After a totally boring shift at work I came home and hurry-scurried myself into my outfit and boom. I went out to a party with a bunch of my friends from my church and we had a fun time gettin' crazy and loud and doing the Time Warp - it was more than enjoyable.

On Saturday after work Casey and I decided that grabbing Chinese food would be a wonderful idea; oh holy yum. I am a hardcore lover of sweet and sour chicken, and a little shop talk, boy talk and funny talk always does a body good after a nine hour shift. 

Sunday I grabbed an eggnog latte - yes, it's finally time for the winter beverage menu and I couldn't be any happier, I am pretty sure I died inside when I saw the advertisement - and indulged in a red velvet donut, which is another winter favorite. Christmas can't come fast enough.

Sunday afternoon I went out to lunch with my cousin Rachel to my workplace's restaurant. I love going to visit and seeing all my friends. You may ask "Marissa, why do you go to your job when you aren't working all the time?" Well, you see, I don't have many friends and they are all my besties, so leave me alone.

Have a good Monday, y'all.

Everybody's got a dark side.

For those of you that know me, or have read my previous blogs, you know that I was a proud and in-your-face blondie. I always proclaimed that Taylor Swift and I were twinnies - I mean, we even started the bangs and straight hair kick at the same time, holla! But...something has happened.

Yes. I must confess. This proud as a peacock blondie has now turned to the dark side.

As you may have seen in previous blog posts, I am no longer my old blonde self. I am a new and improved brunette who is ready to take on the world with a new edge. But, let me tell you, it wasn't easy to part with my long, golden locks. I took great pride in my lion mane, and people knew me by my blonde hair. I had a co-worker say to me "Uh, ya know, most brown hair girls try to go blonde, not the other way around, Mariss." Needless to say I walked away from that conversation. It took lots of thought and I finally took the plunge into the shampoo sink and washed away all the hair dye and saw a new me in the mirror afterwards. I am not the person I used to be; literally and figuratively. 

With all the change going on, I have been seeing a darker side to myself, or should I say a more real side of myself. I always usually put on a happy-go-lucky front and I honestly lived up to the blonde expectation. I was perky, peppy, ditzy and all other adjectives in the list, but I felt like something was missing. I was always worried that if people saw me in anything less than a great mood they would bother me with questions. Yet, I was pushed - against my will, and as a blonde - into situations filled with questions that I didn't want to answer and through the questions and the struggle I was going through, I find a more real side to myself, that I was okay to share with the world. I am no longer afraid of the questions and the pestering; I am going to be what I am that day. Hello, my name is tired, angry, upset, happy, excited, miserable, etc... I found my darker side, my more gritty and real side, and I am becoming more and more okay with that. 

My life has been in a crazy roller coaster of change and new things that I decided that changing my hair was the drastic change I needed in order for me to accept all the other changes what were going on in my life. Finally the whirlwind is starting to calm down and life is getting slowly (really slowly), but surely, easier. I have my good days and I have my bad days, just like everyone else. Some days I feel like I am still a blondie, and other days I feel like a brooding brunette. I change on a daily basis, and I think that that's okay. Life is a day by day, minute by minute kind of thing. Life is up, down, in, out and all things in between but that's what make life...life. 

"The cheesecake wishes you a happy birthday."

Monday, we meet again. But, I am not totally dreading you because, I am not stressed to high heavens this week. So maybe I can actually sit back, relax and have a nice leisurely chat with you, maybe buy you a coffee and a donut; it's only polite.

Well, now that I addressed the Monday in the room...let's talk about our weekends, shall we? #bloggernorms

Like every other Friday and Saturday in the history of my life since I was fifteen, I didn't do anything fun because I work both those days and I come home hot, sweaty and smelling like bread. I don't have time to get all pretty and go out and do fun things. I prefer to stay at home and bake cookies and watch Undercover Boss and Shark Tank, thank you very much. And yes, that's exactly what I did do; except on Saturday night I ate Cinnamon Toast Crunch and watched David Tutera. My life is better than yours.

But Sunday was my momma's birthday, so yay! As I previously wrote about I threw her a surprise birthday party a few weeks back. But today was her actual day of birth, so with tradition in our family we went out to dinner to The Cheesecake Factory and enjoy eating. I ate so much that I won't eat again until next Wednesday. Holy cheesecake, the chicken and biscuits fill me up so hardcore. 

Photo One | Momma & I 

Photo Two | Cousin Rachel & I - Rachel came and celebrated with us.

Photo Three | Our State House lit up in pink for Breast Cancer Awareness & Purple for Pancreatic Cancer Awareness, two causes near and dear to my heart. 

I don't really have all that much else to say, because I stink at writing weekend posts because I am never all that exciting. So, go out and conquer your Monday, you fools.

Ooooh, check out the new digs around here; lookin' nice, eh?!

I'll have a mocha iced latte, with a side of happiness.

I have been having this inward struggle for happiness in my life lately, anybody know what I am talking about? Yup, I see those hands in the air - waving like they just don't care. I have been trying really, really hard to be happy through the sadness, anger and all those other icky emotions I am having on the inside. I don't want to be a grumpy, annoying person who always talks about how awful they feel and wah-wah. I don't want to be a Pity Party Polly, no thank you. I just want to be happy, and not the fake happy that you have to be when you see your old high school class mates and you have to pretend like you care. (I personally try to dodge said people, but sometimes eye contact happens and you can't avoid it, ah!) I want to be genuinely happy. 

So, today, on this Friday, I choose to be happy.

I am choosing to wake up this morning and say "hey self" - yeah, that's how I talk - "you are going to go about your day with a smile on your face and you are going to appreciate your life". I am so sick of moping through days pretending like I am happy when I really just want to watch Kardashian re-runs and eat coffee ice cream. But that's not being a productive member of society like they taught me about in middle school. . I am not going to let stupid over thinking ways, frustrating situations and careless comments affect my day. Essentially, I not going to let being a girl get in the way of my happiness! I am going to get up and conquer this day; with a little bit of espresso

Shine bright like a diamond, wildcats. 

Keep your head in the game.

Yes, I'm Troy Bolton.

My brain revolts against productivity.

I have been in a motivational slump lately. I don't want to do anything but lay around in my bed, make ice cream sundaes and watch House all day long. Who needs to get an education and work for a living? Pft, not this brown haired girl, that's got stinkin' sure! (Sidenote: yes, I am a brunette now, who'da thought, right?!) 

I digress - I just haven't been feeling like doing anything, and trying to motivate myself is the hardest thing in the world. It usually doesn't end well, and me rewarding myself usually ends up with me eating every time I read a page in my historical literature book - yeah, that's a total yawn, I know. I mean, I want to do stuff, but I don't feeeeel like it. And you can't make me!

My brain decided to wander, and think about all the other things I could be doing, instead of doing actual productive things. I call this...

I should clean out my dresser drawer full of crap, but I am going to watch an ANTM marathon instead.

I should start writing the church's Christmas play, but I am going to drive 20 minutes to go to Starbucks.

I should do my 1000 page reading in my literature book, but I am going to listen to Bangerz instead.

I should really figure out what my Italian professor is saying, but I am going to refresh my Twitter feed.

I should start my Christmas shopping, but I am going to look up Christmas cookie recipes instead. 

I should wake up early and get ready for work, but I am going to throw a baseball cap on my wet hair.

I should go out and do my errands, but I am going to pin everything on Pinterest.

I should start writing that paper that's due next week, but I'm going to spend all my money at Target.

I should really do something productive, but I am thinking of what to blog tomorrow.

Well, I hope I inspired you to do something productive, or maybe I just inspired you to take the day off from life and drive around and find yourself a frappe while listening to Miley on your way to Target. Who really knows. All I know is that I really, really, really need to go do something productive. 

Aw, rats. This post is over.

Here I go, off to do something that would make me a well-rounded citizen.