Spinsters I Know and Love: Sarah Marion
Without further ado, below are Sarah's uproariously funny answers.
Name: Sarah Marion
Age: 27
Profession: Although I am an interior designer by education, I now work in commercial construction as a project manager. One of my favorite things in the world is to see the facial expressions when people ask me what I do, and I tell them I work in construction. It is completely priceless because I think it is the last thing anyone expects me to say. Responses range from “but you’re so feminine!” to “that is so cool!” and pretty much everything in between. And in case you were wondering, yes, I do have a pink hard hat, yes, I actually wear it and no I am not ashamed J
Dream Job: I have always loved old buildings and studied historic preservation in graduate school so my dream job would be to do design and construction for the adaptive use of historic buildings. I would also like to teach design on the college level some day.
What you love to do when you have an afternoon/day/weekend at home alone: Somehow, even though I am a super spinster, this doesn’t happen extremely often. So when it does, my goal is to do as little as possible. You will most likely find me curled up on the sofa wearing sweatpants with a glass of wine in one hand and the remote control in the other catching up on DVR for hours on end because I somehow mange to stay perpetually behind on my TV watching.
Favorite Breakfast food: I’m really not a big breakfast eater most of the time. At least not at the normal breakfast time of day. If I’m going to eat breakfast food, it will most likely be after 11 am, and if eggs benedict is a choice, it will win every time. I also really like chocolate for breakfast.
Favorite Takeout: I think I’m really breaking spinster code here, but I’m not a huge takeout eater. I like to cook, and if I’m going to go out, I will usually eat it there. If I do get takeout, it’s probably either a salad from Panera or fast food Japanese hibachi.
Favorite treat (food or otherwise): Hands down, Coke Icees from Burger King. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, please get yourself to the nearest BK Lounge ASAP. You will never be the same.
Favorite Beauty product or what's in your beauty bag: I received a Clarisonic as a Christmas gift this year and it’s pretty much the best thing since sliced bread. I wear pretty minimal makeup, but the amount that comes off of my face when I use the Clarisonic AFTER I have already used a makeup removing cloth is astonishing and disgusting all at the same time. Your face will never feel so clean.
Favorite nail polish or nail polish color: About a year and a half ago, I discovered gel manicures and they changed my life. Seriously. It is dry as soon as it sets under the LED light so you avoid the catastrophe of ruining your freshly done manicure as soon as you grab your car door handle. Plus, it lasts forever. On average, I go 3.5 weeks between manicures. But before I had mine redone 2 weeks ago, I had kept the same polish for 5 weeks with no chips. I finally relented only because my nails grow ridiculously fast so at that point I had about half of my nail painted. I have tried just about every color in the OPI GelColor line and take great pride in the fact that since this life-changing discovery, I have only had the same polish color twice. True story.
Favorite Art or Office supplies: Paper-Mate Flair Felt-Tip pens, Prismacolor markers, Prismacolor Turquoise drafting pencils
The thing you love to do that you probably wouldn't do if there was a boy in the picture/around your apartment: On Saturdays when I don’t have anything planned, I revel in the ability to stay in bed until I decide I want to get up, drink my coffee leisurely and not change out of my pajamas, fix my hair or put on makeup until 2 pm, if at all. I’m also really bad about hanging up my clothes/putting them in the laundry bin so I let them pile up until I decide it’s time to put them away.
Something enjoyable about being single: You don’t have to factor anyone else into your decisions. If you want to eat froyo for lunch, you do it. If you want to spend 3 hours wandering the aisles of Target and TJ Maxx, you do that too. If you want to buy a new car, you get to pick it out. And no one else can tell you not to.
If you had a one-sentence spinster philosophy, what would it be? I do what I want.
What's your loungewear style? In the summer, Norts (Nike shorts) and one of the 1,000 t-shirts that I have managed to collect over the years because I refuse to get rid of any. In the winter, either flannel pajama pants or sweatpants and a long sleeved t-shirt or sweatshirt with fuzzy slippers.
What's your uniform (include a sketch if you want)? I’m not really sure I have a uniform per say, but my style is classic, southern and preppy. I like timeless pieces that I can wear in a lot of different ways, and I still wear things I’ve had since middle or high school (yes, you’re inferring correctly that I haven’t grown since 7th grade). I generally prefer to be overdressed, especially when I am going out in public. In college, my friends made fun of me for supposedly looking put together even when I wore sweatpants. And I thought the whole campus would pass out when I wore pajamas to an end of the semester exam one year. People I hardly knew came up to me and made comments about it. Generally, I prefer skirts and dresses to pants for work attire. On the weekends, I’m usually wearing jeans (most of the time colored), a button down and driving mocs or loafers. And no matter the occasion, 9 times out of 10, at least one thing I’m wearing is monogrammed. I subscribe to the Reese Witherspoon philosophy of “if it’s not moving, monogram it.” That’s probably another good reason that I’m a spinster—if I were to ever get married and my monogram changed, a large percentage of the things I own would need to be replaced.
Complete this sentence: People think that I am really straight-laced and “proper” (as I have been described), but really I know all of the words to most gangsta rap songs.
Coffee or tea? (and what's your favorite of the one you like) Both. I have always liked coffee but was generally only a coffee-with-dessert kind of girl. I swore when I was in college that I would never be one of those people who had to have their morning coffee to function. Well, I made is successfully through college with that philosophy still in tact, but graduate school trounced that notion forever. A friend whose family was from Louisiana insisted once that I try Community Coffee because it would change my life. I rolled my eyes and thought he was being overly dramatic, but tried it so that I could say that I did. Well he was right, and it’s pretty much the only coffee I will drink now. At that time, it was super hard to find, and I even had to import it to North Carolina from home when I was in grad school. Thankfully now it has become much more widespread, and they even recently starting making K cups, which are excellent for spinsters who have no need for an entire pot of coffee most days! Most nights when I settle in on the sofa in my sweatpants for some quality time with my DVR, you can find me drinking a cup of hot tea. I’m not as choosy with my tea and will pretty much try anything, but my usuals are English breakfast, green or chai.
Your go-to desk snack: Conversation Hearts. I am obsessed and used to stock up for the whole year at Valentine’s Day. I am still bitter about the fact that Necco changed the flavors 4 years ago. That’s like changing the flavor of candy canes. You just don’t. Anyway, thankfully, I recently found a company who makes them with the original recipe, and I can order them in 3 pound bags year round. In the 6 weeks since this discovery, I have already made it through 2 bags.
I have seen every episode of...: Way to many shows than I care to admit. You know it’s bad when keeping with television becomes a source of stress in your life because you watch so many shows and can’t manage to keep up with them all. But, if we’re going to name names, Sex and the City, Brothers and Sisters, Suits, Covert Affairs, Grey’s Anatomy, Downtown Abbey, Gilmore Girls, the Following, ER and the list goes on…
Your favorite spinster jams: As much as I love television, if I had to choose between having a radio or a television, I would choose a radio because I can’t live without music. So this is a hard one, but if I have to choose favorites, here are some gems of my very widespread musical collection. Hold On by Wilson Phillips (as a child I insisted that they were saying “someday, somebody’s gonna MICKEY wanna turn around and say goodbye” and no one could convince me otherwise. I was clearly hard-headed from an early age.), anything that Josh Groban sings (he professed his love to me at a concert when I was in high school and I have never given up hope that we will end up together one day), the soundtrack from RENT the musical, Copperline by James Taylor (and pretty much anything else of his), anything by Hootie and the Blowfish (Cracked Rear View was the first CD I ever owned in 3rd grade and I haven’t looked back since), good ol’ South Carolina beach music (Carolina Girls, Summertime’s Callin’ Me and the like), and last but certainly not least Fantasy by Ludacris. Yes you read that correctly.
Currently in your Netflix and/or Hulu queue: 1,000 random movies and tv shows that I somehow never seem to find the time to watch, yet I still continue to add things to the queue.
The question on everyone's mind: Kittens or Puppies, and why? Puppies all day every day. Cats are too aloof for me, which makes my aspiration of becoming a crazy cat lady one day quite a conundrum.
Complete this sentence: "I probably shouldn't admit this but...." one of my favorite possessions is a police scanner. Weird, right?
In Another Life I would be... a math teacher. I would work math problems all day just for fun if I didn’t have to make a living. Nerd alert.
Age: 27
Profession: Although I am an interior designer by education, I now work in commercial construction as a project manager. One of my favorite things in the world is to see the facial expressions when people ask me what I do, and I tell them I work in construction. It is completely priceless because I think it is the last thing anyone expects me to say. Responses range from “but you’re so feminine!” to “that is so cool!” and pretty much everything in between. And in case you were wondering, yes, I do have a pink hard hat, yes, I actually wear it and no I am not ashamed J
Dream Job: I have always loved old buildings and studied historic preservation in graduate school so my dream job would be to do design and construction for the adaptive use of historic buildings. I would also like to teach design on the college level some day.
What you love to do when you have an afternoon/day/weekend at home alone: Somehow, even though I am a super spinster, this doesn’t happen extremely often. So when it does, my goal is to do as little as possible. You will most likely find me curled up on the sofa wearing sweatpants with a glass of wine in one hand and the remote control in the other catching up on DVR for hours on end because I somehow mange to stay perpetually behind on my TV watching.
Favorite Breakfast food: I’m really not a big breakfast eater most of the time. At least not at the normal breakfast time of day. If I’m going to eat breakfast food, it will most likely be after 11 am, and if eggs benedict is a choice, it will win every time. I also really like chocolate for breakfast.
Favorite Takeout: I think I’m really breaking spinster code here, but I’m not a huge takeout eater. I like to cook, and if I’m going to go out, I will usually eat it there. If I do get takeout, it’s probably either a salad from Panera or fast food Japanese hibachi.
Favorite treat (food or otherwise): Hands down, Coke Icees from Burger King. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, please get yourself to the nearest BK Lounge ASAP. You will never be the same.
Favorite Beauty product or what's in your beauty bag: I received a Clarisonic as a Christmas gift this year and it’s pretty much the best thing since sliced bread. I wear pretty minimal makeup, but the amount that comes off of my face when I use the Clarisonic AFTER I have already used a makeup removing cloth is astonishing and disgusting all at the same time. Your face will never feel so clean.
Favorite nail polish or nail polish color: About a year and a half ago, I discovered gel manicures and they changed my life. Seriously. It is dry as soon as it sets under the LED light so you avoid the catastrophe of ruining your freshly done manicure as soon as you grab your car door handle. Plus, it lasts forever. On average, I go 3.5 weeks between manicures. But before I had mine redone 2 weeks ago, I had kept the same polish for 5 weeks with no chips. I finally relented only because my nails grow ridiculously fast so at that point I had about half of my nail painted. I have tried just about every color in the OPI GelColor line and take great pride in the fact that since this life-changing discovery, I have only had the same polish color twice. True story.
Favorite Art or Office supplies: Paper-Mate Flair Felt-Tip pens, Prismacolor markers, Prismacolor Turquoise drafting pencils
The thing you love to do that you probably wouldn't do if there was a boy in the picture/around your apartment: On Saturdays when I don’t have anything planned, I revel in the ability to stay in bed until I decide I want to get up, drink my coffee leisurely and not change out of my pajamas, fix my hair or put on makeup until 2 pm, if at all. I’m also really bad about hanging up my clothes/putting them in the laundry bin so I let them pile up until I decide it’s time to put them away.
Something enjoyable about being single: You don’t have to factor anyone else into your decisions. If you want to eat froyo for lunch, you do it. If you want to spend 3 hours wandering the aisles of Target and TJ Maxx, you do that too. If you want to buy a new car, you get to pick it out. And no one else can tell you not to.
If you had a one-sentence spinster philosophy, what would it be? I do what I want.
What's your loungewear style? In the summer, Norts (Nike shorts) and one of the 1,000 t-shirts that I have managed to collect over the years because I refuse to get rid of any. In the winter, either flannel pajama pants or sweatpants and a long sleeved t-shirt or sweatshirt with fuzzy slippers.
What's your uniform (include a sketch if you want)? I’m not really sure I have a uniform per say, but my style is classic, southern and preppy. I like timeless pieces that I can wear in a lot of different ways, and I still wear things I’ve had since middle or high school (yes, you’re inferring correctly that I haven’t grown since 7th grade). I generally prefer to be overdressed, especially when I am going out in public. In college, my friends made fun of me for supposedly looking put together even when I wore sweatpants. And I thought the whole campus would pass out when I wore pajamas to an end of the semester exam one year. People I hardly knew came up to me and made comments about it. Generally, I prefer skirts and dresses to pants for work attire. On the weekends, I’m usually wearing jeans (most of the time colored), a button down and driving mocs or loafers. And no matter the occasion, 9 times out of 10, at least one thing I’m wearing is monogrammed. I subscribe to the Reese Witherspoon philosophy of “if it’s not moving, monogram it.” That’s probably another good reason that I’m a spinster—if I were to ever get married and my monogram changed, a large percentage of the things I own would need to be replaced.
Complete this sentence: People think that I am really straight-laced and “proper” (as I have been described), but really I know all of the words to most gangsta rap songs.
Coffee or tea? (and what's your favorite of the one you like) Both. I have always liked coffee but was generally only a coffee-with-dessert kind of girl. I swore when I was in college that I would never be one of those people who had to have their morning coffee to function. Well, I made is successfully through college with that philosophy still in tact, but graduate school trounced that notion forever. A friend whose family was from Louisiana insisted once that I try Community Coffee because it would change my life. I rolled my eyes and thought he was being overly dramatic, but tried it so that I could say that I did. Well he was right, and it’s pretty much the only coffee I will drink now. At that time, it was super hard to find, and I even had to import it to North Carolina from home when I was in grad school. Thankfully now it has become much more widespread, and they even recently starting making K cups, which are excellent for spinsters who have no need for an entire pot of coffee most days! Most nights when I settle in on the sofa in my sweatpants for some quality time with my DVR, you can find me drinking a cup of hot tea. I’m not as choosy with my tea and will pretty much try anything, but my usuals are English breakfast, green or chai.
Your go-to desk snack: Conversation Hearts. I am obsessed and used to stock up for the whole year at Valentine’s Day. I am still bitter about the fact that Necco changed the flavors 4 years ago. That’s like changing the flavor of candy canes. You just don’t. Anyway, thankfully, I recently found a company who makes them with the original recipe, and I can order them in 3 pound bags year round. In the 6 weeks since this discovery, I have already made it through 2 bags.
I have seen every episode of...: Way to many shows than I care to admit. You know it’s bad when keeping with television becomes a source of stress in your life because you watch so many shows and can’t manage to keep up with them all. But, if we’re going to name names, Sex and the City, Brothers and Sisters, Suits, Covert Affairs, Grey’s Anatomy, Downtown Abbey, Gilmore Girls, the Following, ER and the list goes on…
Your favorite spinster jams: As much as I love television, if I had to choose between having a radio or a television, I would choose a radio because I can’t live without music. So this is a hard one, but if I have to choose favorites, here are some gems of my very widespread musical collection. Hold On by Wilson Phillips (as a child I insisted that they were saying “someday, somebody’s gonna MICKEY wanna turn around and say goodbye” and no one could convince me otherwise. I was clearly hard-headed from an early age.), anything that Josh Groban sings (he professed his love to me at a concert when I was in high school and I have never given up hope that we will end up together one day), the soundtrack from RENT the musical, Copperline by James Taylor (and pretty much anything else of his), anything by Hootie and the Blowfish (Cracked Rear View was the first CD I ever owned in 3rd grade and I haven’t looked back since), good ol’ South Carolina beach music (Carolina Girls, Summertime’s Callin’ Me and the like), and last but certainly not least Fantasy by Ludacris. Yes you read that correctly.
Currently in your Netflix and/or Hulu queue: 1,000 random movies and tv shows that I somehow never seem to find the time to watch, yet I still continue to add things to the queue.
The question on everyone's mind: Kittens or Puppies, and why? Puppies all day every day. Cats are too aloof for me, which makes my aspiration of becoming a crazy cat lady one day quite a conundrum.
Complete this sentence: "I probably shouldn't admit this but...." one of my favorite possessions is a police scanner. Weird, right?
In Another Life I would be... a math teacher. I would work math problems all day just for fun if I didn’t have to make a living. Nerd alert.
Happy Monday!
