in commemoration...

(I know this is a little late, seeing as winter is already wrapping her fingers around this side of the world, but this past fall completely deserves to be remembered via blog).

Fall is...

that "walking down a sidewalk under grey skies" feeling

that football and poetry and quiet feeling

the backpack, jeans, and coat feeling

the book-from-a-public-library feeling

creativity and words and music and color

marble composition notebooks and hay rides and bonfires

leaves that change and fall and turn into piles for jumping

hipsters and wallflowers and homecoming queens

philosophy

slowness

togetherness

golden sun cascading down on the bare field with the hay bales

beautiful orange leaves in the gutter of the street

hipster cardigans

frozen toes, kind people, a billion second chances, and spilling my heart out on note cards

tents and stargazing and camping and s'mores

school plays and novel-writing

moments that feel like a scene from The Perks of Being a Wallflower

when the world comes to life, but in a quiet sort of way

the "mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter," in the words of Carol Bishop Hipps.

Fall Break Fun

Hey friends!

Today is the last day of my Fall Break. I was supposed to visit my In-Mayberry-Living friend Hannah this weekend, but it didn't work out. Bummer. She's supposed to visit in December though! Aside from those plans falling through, I've had a pretty nice break. It hasn't been super relaxing because I've had to work on a few things for school and we've been cleaning our disgusting house all weekend, but it's still nice to have some semblance of a break, you know.

On Friday I got to spend some time with my lovely friend Kendyl. We went to the football game at her school. It was really fun; she lives in this little town and everyone walks to the football games. And it felt somewhat fall-ish. And we won by a lot. After the game we walked to her place of residence and watched about ten zillion episodes of The Office. So great.

On Saturday I had my first Rita's experience. It was wonderful. It really was "Ice. Custard. Happiness." just like they promised. Sunday we went to church (for a few minutes, at least) and to lunch with the family. It was my dad's birthday so he went golfing and we had some birthday festivities when he came home. So far today I've pretty much just been reading the paper for Knowledge Bowl. Fun times. I still have 7 things left on my to-do list. At least it's only 12:30!

Forgive the awkward layout of my blog right now. I'm a little challenged when it comes to all these layouts and formats and such. I'm trying to get it fixed though.

In other news, school is going really well. I'm learning a lot and meeting some really nice people. Best/hardest year yet. I also quit band: good call. I'm trying to, you know, keep chill and enjoy all the mundane things.

In approximately 20 days I will embark on my first novel-writing journey as part of National Novel Writing Month. I'll have 30 days to write a 50,000-word novel. I'm so stoked but I'm sure it's going to be rather intense. Goodbye sleep, for sure. If you would like to participate, just go to http://ywp.nanowrimo.org and sign up!

Well, I should be going. Have a good day!

Much Love,

Marissa

Facts

Oh, hey there folks. It's been a super duper crazy long time since I've written on here.

I was just listening to some of For Today's new stuff. It's really amazing. I've definitely been slightly in love with them lately. I mean, the vocals are extraordinary, the lyrics are beautiful, challenging, and convicting, and the music is just stunning. What's not to love?

Speaking of music, I got to see Since Forever tonight! My friend Maddie invited them to play at her house for her birthday. They were really good. They did this amazing cover of one Mayday Parade's songs, along with lots of their original songs of course. Live music really is one of the greatest things in the galaxy.

So I started back to school a few weeks ago. It's going pretty well, but between school and band, I am insanely busy. Thank goodness for a day off on Monday!

I was thinking last week about how boring my life is. I mean, I always hear people talking about their plans and their lives and their friends and I doubt they wake up thinking to themselves, "Wow, my life is so exciting! I love my exciting life. I bet other people are really jealous of me because of how exciting my life is," but still. Anyways, I saw this quote on this precious book I bought a few weeks ago, and it's changed my perspective a bit.

"Boredom is a matter of not paying attention, of waiting for life to jump out at you rather than hunting it."- Rebecca Solnit

Isn't that true? We close our eyes to so much. We forget to breathe in everything around us and breathe in every moment. And I don't want to live my life waiting for the next moment. So I've started a list of all the goofy little things that are exciting to me...like attending my first football game at a public high school and stepping on a dead armadillo and dropping my first Gigi's cupcake. I told you they were goofy. ;)

The weather in the HL has been a bit awkward lately. The past two nights I've literally felt cold and in need of a jacket...ah, heaven. But if it does not rain here soon, I may go insane. I hate sunshine a lot...it's so annoying and depressing and hot. Fall is kind of an annoying time of year. Especially on Saturdays. A) It's usually cold, which is great except... B) It's usually sunny. C) Band competitions are kind of annoying. D) Football. E) That just generally weird feeling/vibe you (or maybe just I) get on Saturdays.

Well, I guess that's all. Just wanted to give you guys an update and a taste of all the things that have been running through my mind lately. Thanks for reading!

Much Love,

Marissa