(Note: This applies to people like me living in crazy high-density areas with college kids & used furniture all over the place, but still could be useful for everyone else.)

Ever hear of bedbugs? Well they love used furniture, especially in high-density college areas. After dropping $80 on an IKEA bed frame from a girl at Harvard, storing it in my basement for four months, and assembling it in my new apartment, a bedbug-sniffing dog revealed that the bed had bedbugs in it. (I know, sounds ridiculous, but who was I to argue with a professional bug-sniffing beagle?) I had no choice but to throw it away. And then buy a brand new IKEA bed, which ended up costing me more money in the long-run. Learn from my mistake and just get the new bed.

A friend came to visit this weekend. To be honest– we drank a lot. I’m talking an epic Boston weekend: brewery tours, dancing at Faneuil Hall, watching the Red Sox and Pats game in Kenmore Square, then mourning the Red Sox and Pats on the couch in sweats.

Did I want to work on an “optional” holiday when I could catch up on some much needed zzz’s? Not really. But I’m only 4 months into the “real world” and I proably don’t deserve a holiday when the higher-uppers are working. And to validate my point– every single person in my office was give the “optional” holiday office and they all came in. I would’ve been the only lazy person to not have shown up.

This could have easily been a “learn from my mistake” post but this time I did it right. Score one for Lisa!

Just like it’s okay to go on spontaneous shopping sprees or stay in on Friday nights and watch reality TV. As long as you don’t make a habit of it. After Super Size Me came out in 2004, I spent the past 5 years with an unnecessary fear of even looking at a McDonald’s. But you know what? I went there today and rediscovered that Big Macs are DELICIOUS. Once in a while, I pledge to turn a blind eye to the 43.7g of fat and artery blocking ingredients just to say WHAT UP CALORIES while I savor in the juicy deliciousness of a Big Mac. You should too.

If you’re as lucky as me, you’ll end up finding a broken piece of junk umbrella in the back of the closet that will keep you dry enough to prevent the flu, but make the fancy businesspeople with their sleek designer umbrellas stare while they pity you and your not-so-put-together life.

This whole “real world” thing really freaks me out, and I’m trying my best to adapt when life throws me these giant curve balls. (Like that time I was forced to move in with a pot dealer and his suicide-watch cat, or that other time when I locked myself in a stairwell within 5 minutes of arriving in a foreign country).

That’s me, and that’s why this blog is going to be super entertaining for you, and probably embarrassing and demeaning for me. But hey, that’s life right? I’d like to think that you will laugh “with” me and not “at” me. Because I’ve found that laughing at myself is the best way keep sane through the craziness. I hope you enjoy the daily lessons and laugh with me as I figure out my life.

Cheers and beers,
Lisa