because summer makes people happy.

all i have to say is that sublime knew what they were talking about when they said,

summertime and the livin's easy.

bbqs. u2. hiking zions. friends. family. fat kids favorite--sugar factory. sunshine. summer of dreams 2011. oh, good news minute: liddles is coming up to provs for a visit and some efy. i love my little bro.

facebook-like-button thumbs up for family time.

and good news minute number two: less than two weeks until i am reunited with one of provo and texas' finest. to whom i am referring? please see the glamour shot below. i am counting down the minutes until i can make sprinkled donut runs to sunshine donuts at 4 am with nik. aka new york nik. aka little meat. aka meat. what does nom mean? i felt it was only appropriate to include this model shot. what doing?

and ps, i know i'm about 4 years late on this one, but friday night lights? tim riggins? yeah. if you have yet to experience this incredible tv series i suggest you do it right now. i get the chills every episode. it's on netflix instant play. i've just been FNLing it for pretty much every night this past week and it's absolutely incredible. clear eyes, full hearts...can't loose.

because being a plastic surgeon's assistant is pretty sweet.

about a month ago a summer of dreams 2011 miracle occurred: i got a job. i'll be honest, going from working zero hours a week, and only having to worry about if the sun was going to shine that day for a good tan, to all of the sudden cranking a forty-two hour work week, was pretty tough. working felt good though. and it still feels good. i love that i am helping people. i love that i get paid to do good things. i love that medicine is so gratifying. dr. jensen, the surgeon who i assist is pretty amazing. he came from the mayo clinic in rochester, minnesota. the mayo clinic is like the mother of all clinics. it's pretty big time, and so is dr. jensen. i am so blessed to be working with such phenomenal gifted and talented individuals.


even though my work weeks can be a little out of control, and sometimes i don't like that i only get 5 hours of sleep each night because i am trying to live my college lifestyle AND my full-time-job-career-real-life-lifestyle, and even though the dodgers haven't won a world series since 1988, and even though the weather in utah is not 80 degrees and sunny with an ocean breeze, and even though i eat white chocolate macadamia nut cliff bars everyday and don't even care, life is good. life is real good. and for that i am grateful.

because i love babies and barbies.

i've been told that in my younger years if i ever saw a baby i would ask to pet it. pet it. like when you pet a dog. what in the world? i've also been told that one time i got a mcdonald's happy meal and inside of it was a barbie toy. apparently the skin color of my barbie was not the same color of my own skin. suffice it so say, i wasn't too happy so i threw it out the back window of the astro van on the 405 freeway. shortly after that incident i received a stern lecture on racism and my parent's have yet to buy me a happy meal since.

babies and happy meals. sometimes i wish i had both of them. but until then, i can just be an aunt to my friends babies and eat happy meals with them. about a month ago i was at a dodger game with two of my good friends and while i was ordering a dodger dog and swirled yogurt with extra sprinkles, i found out that my chemistry-lab-partner-bed-sharing-golden-spoon-loving-cafe-rio-eating friend was pregnant! i couldn't be more thrilled to find out that

Christina Mckay Koelliker Wilson 

aka Call was going to be having a baby! she and her husband will definitely be producing model children. (while at the beach in waikiki i witnessed a lady coming up to them asking if they were brad pitt and angelina jolie. truth be told). i was going to try and use one of those baby maker things online and put their faces together, but last time i did that unfortunately the child turned out slightly different looking. (see below).

They are going to be wonderful parents and i'm real excited for december. so cally and ally, cheers to you, cheers to cheesecake factory in waikiki and ken orton's house of midnight pleasures. i can't wait to "pet" baby wilson, and hopefully when he/she grows up they will love all of their happy meal toys.

while we are on the topic of babies, i can't wait for this babe of a mother to bring baby number TWO into this world!

prom 2006. 5 years later and now you have 1.5 kids. 

love this.
 

so christina and dani, and of course, matthew and alex, thank you for giving me two reasons why july and december will be great months.

love you all.

because youth is only a state of mind.

it's funny because sometimes i have to remind myself that i am a twenty-two year old college graduate and cannot still ride the kiddy rides at disneyland. in my mind i still picture myself being twelve years old and having sleep overs with my friends and wearing matching puffy paint pj's. i'm going to be honest, sometimes i yearn for the days of my childhood; when the only thing I had to worry about was perfecting my slicies on the handball court. Or whether or not i had dunkaroos in my lunch. or when recess occurred multiple times a day on a daily basis. minnie mouse was, and still is pretty legit, but now in this time frame there are much bigger and better things to worry about aside from meeting mickey's mrs.

life happens. you graduate college and realize that the map you had meticulously planned out for the subsequent years following is not the map you're supposed to be following. i was talking with a good friend today about how scary it is to not know what's ahead. how scary it is to go new places and live a life you're not quite sure how, but yet you do it anyways because that's kind of the only thing you really can do. for most of the recent college grads, you realize that you are no longer living life on a semester by semester basis. where all you had to worry about was making sure classes didn't start before noon, and that fridays consisted of absolutely no school and only cafe rio and matinee movies. but then you finally reached that light at the end of the tunnel and finished. now it's the big leagues. it's real life. and all you can do it live it.

i kept asking myself if this was real life when i was taking these pictures. i mean really? done? i still can't believe it, but i do have a diploma hanging on my wall so i guess it was real life. woo COLLEGE! 

so after the big hoo-rah-wing-ding of awkwardly trying to wear the cap hat and the gown that makes you realize what life in the wardrobe of judge judy might be like, i headed home for a mini vacation in some california sunshine. 

dodgers never disappoint. i don't care that they haven't won a world series since 1988. i always have and always will bleed dodger blue. mike piazza 4L.

 call and gillz. words just don't do these two justice.

but sometimes, i do make an exception for the inland empire 66ers. the 909 deserves some respect.

but probably my favorite thing about being home is hanging out with two of my brothers.

creeper smile.

and finally, this gem of a girl who has been my sister for the past 19 years and will be for the next 19+, had a bridal shower shower yesterday that my mom and i gave her. it was perfect. but then again i wouldn't expect anything less than that for a perfect bride!

1998.......................................................................................2011

sometimes i consider giving up my current career goal and just going into the wedding planning business.

but here's the thing, at the end of the day, as much as i loved being twelve with my beanie babies and puffy paint, i love even more being twenty-two with my uncertainty and excitement. i love planning countless wedding showers and giving catherine heigal a run for her money in 27 dresses. i love having 80 years of life ahead of me (yes i plan to live until i am 102 years young). youth is only a state of mind. 

because i love nature.

there are two real great things occurring in my life right now: jimmer fredette and netflix instant play. there is no need to elaborate on the first mentioned, just ask google, espn, twitter, facebook, nbc, or the biggest cougar fan you will ever meet in your entire life; justin hicken.  but the second, well, what in the world?! absolutely incredible. i wish i would have known about this gem of resource sooner. i kind of feel like the time back in 2001 when everyone was getting high speed internet but the hicken family was still on stone age dial up, and then finally i convinced my dad to get dsl so my aim chickenhicken35 chats could be more efficient. once we got it, the greatness of life was increased tenfold. with that being said, i guess you could say that the greatness of my life has been increased tenfold because of netflix instant play.

so a few nights ago i was just instaplaying around on the flix and decided to watch a documentary. a good friend had recommended 180 Degrees South to me awhile back and i finally decided to watch it. now i've never really considered myself a die-hard environmentalist who only eats, sleeps, and breathes organically. But, i mean, i've always loved a good granola bar every once in awhile, and i thoroughly enjoy kirkland signature trail mix (the ratio of 2 m&m's + 1 almond is incredible). i just have to say that this movie was absolutely mind blowing. you just have to watch it to experience the thrill for yourself. after watching it all i wanted to do was get in a boat and sail down to south america and climb patagonia. i realized that we really have been blessed with an exquisitely beautiful earth, and that there is so much of this world to experience. i keep telling myself that now is the time to do it. so i need to stop making excuses because it's not like i'm going to have more free time 2 years from now. and extra cash isn't just going to magically appear. i need to set aside the certain limitations that will prevent me and just go. right? please watch this movie and you will agree 100%.

in the mean time, here is some nature loving i've been experiencing lately......

i love being a park city instructor and wearing my fire engine red uniform everyday.

shut up and shred 4L.

because i miss sister holmes.

sometimes i like to give people nicknames. sometimes i like to give people multiple nicknames. sometimes when i go to call someone in my phone i forget that their name really is not their nickname. sister elle island (not to be confused with ellis island found in new york), has officially left the mtc and is now in russia. the current temperature in novisibirsk is negative twelve. tad bit chilly. today i ate a bowl of cherrios for breakfast and i couldn't help but think of sister elle. anytime elle and i had a hula--hooping through a cherrio competition, she would always win. for some reason i could never actually fit into the cherrio. this girl really is a gem. the decision she made to dedicate 18 months of her life to serving the Lord and the people of russia is something that i admire so much. although there are numerous days where i think "why the h is elle not here right now?" i realize that the work she is doing and the people she is meeting have been waiting 23 years for her. missionaries are rad. 

island sunshines and fun dipping for life, elle. see you in 15 months. keep it real in russia.

because, i mean, let's be honest, this day was eventually going to come.

for sunny.

so i guess it's one of those things where you either get engaged or you get married or you have a baby or you have a real creative nitche with blogging and so you start a blog. unfortunately, neither of the aforementioned items are applicable to me. nonetheless, i feel that being an official college grade has come with not only a diploma, but also a monopoly style community chest card that instead of reading "you have won second place in a beauty contest collect $10," it says "marissa start a blog." just to preface, this blog will be periodic updates, or costco samples of my life. seeing as how everyone loves a good costco sample, i really don't think i can go wrong. so come back as much as you want. take as many samples as you want--you don't even need to lie to and say this sample is for your brother.