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.