Time to give thanks.

It's just after Thanksgiving, and we had a fantabulous weekend at home, surprise! We thought we would be here, but since Seth was sent up to Norfolk for work, we got to see both families, I got to play with his cousin's kids (sitting for long periods of time is still difficult for me), AND we got to see Nightmare Before Christmas on the silver screen (yay, Naro!) So much happiness.  For anyone who doesn't know, I seriously have a Nightmare Before Christmas obsession, rivaled only really by my love for all things Alice in Wonderland and Jane Austen (so long as you don't count Sense and Sensibility. Puh.).

In the spirit of the season, here are things we are thankful for:
1. Our families. We have the world's cutest shepadoodle, amazing parents, and fabulous brothers. I got to see my brother and sister-in-law, Seth's brother but not the future sister-in-law this trip (we'll see them for the wedding in a year), and will hopefully see the other brother sometime in the not super distant future! I did get to talk to him, though, which is awesome! I am going to rally him after the Navy to live within a day long driving distance, just like the others do.
2. His job and my school. We both leave happy and come home happy (exam days not included). I seriously LOVE the OT program at MUSC, and I still love R-MWC. And, of course, we both love Virginia Tech!
3. Our friends. We are blessed to have awesome friends, near and far! I had a phone date with the one and only Chachushka, and it made my world a better place. Thank goodness for the internet making it easier to keep them in touch.
4. Not having kids. While in a couple years we will be thankful to have kids, right now, we're enjoying each other. :-) Rosie's definitely our baby girl for now!
5. Charleston. I <3 the weather, the people, my campus, the warmth, James Island County Park, the food, Fetch Doggy Daycare, the Spanish moss, the amazing estates, and our apartment here.
6. That Virginia Tech just kicked UVA's butt. Again. Because that just makes my day complete.
7. My ability to eat real food again! Even eggs. I think real milk tastes weird, but that's okay. I also still prefer dark chocolate, but it's nice to not worry about being sick and/or needing an epi pen when I eat out!
8. Cooking. Seth loves to eat, and I love to cook and eat. It works out well. Cookbooks also go into this category. It kind of goes with the above, but food is amazing and should be appreciated.
9. Our church. We found a church we both adore, and it's officially advent, starting tonight! Advent is my favorite time of the year, by far.
10. Life. We're so blessed between everything going on. Even when things seem difficult, it's definitely worth it because we have amazing pretty much everything.

So, that's it! We will be tree hunting tomorrow-- I promised Seth we can look for a White Pine tree, since it's what he used to have growing up and we got the fir I prefer last time we had a real tree. I am so excited to decorate for Christmas! Seth's parents are coming into town, and I am excited to explore Charleston with them and do all the touristy things we haven't had time for yet.

Now, to do my horrendous SOAP note and finish other homework so I can start studying for exams!!!

<3 Cassi

Anniversary time!

Although it doesn't seem like it, it's already been two years since Seth and I got married! It's hard to believe in some ways-- no way are we two years older-- but on the other hand, we're like, wow, what an awesome start to the next 198 years. :-)

Seth and Rosie spent part of today chasing Sandpipers. They are Rosie's new goal in life to catch.

It's been an amazing journey, filled with a low key start that morphed into mild insanity with my return to school for prereqs, then our subsequent move to Charleston, which we agree is probably the best move we've made, both in terms of my higher education and career goals and Seth's. He has an awesome job with great people, we live in a nice apartment, and we actually have more time for each other, despite our (well, my) busy schedule. We have a dog, who is the love of our lives and totally our kid atm; we've talked about our plans for the future, with everything from houses to jobs to kids; we know where we want to end up, relatively; and we're just enjoying life, one day at a time. We've been blessed with amazing friends and family along our way, too, that have just made married life that much better! Best of all, we've been able to work through some negatives and come out ahead, which definitely is awesome for future stresses.It's a pretty solid start to our marriage. :-)

Today, we celebrated our anniversary with a walk on the beach at Isle of Palms. We haven't made time to go to the beach as much as we should, which is a shame, but we're making up for it now that the tourists are gone. We'll be spending part of Thanksgiving at the beach now! Here are some shots from today's walk.

Okay, not from the walk, but still awesome. Seth got me knives for our anniversary! Pretty, sharp, high-carbon knives. <3

Rosie was not okay with our trip at first. Cars are not her friend.

Rosie has discovered she kinda likes water. And hunting Daddy.

First Sandpiper spotted. She got kinda excited. :-)

The handsome love of my life!

Seth hunting shells, Rosie checking out the world.

Happy 2 years! The windbreakers were much appreciated. It was a wee bit windy.

Seth and Rosie exploring after they failed to catch the Sandpiper.

Cool wind pattern we saw on our walk.

Rosie's, "Oh, hey Mom" face. 

Take 2... Not much better than the first. 

So, that was it! I got for Seth prints of our wedding photos, and actually framed them. My next step is to put them on the wall, but we're working on it. I need to remember before 10 o'clock at night that I want to hang things up! There are some computer things he wants, but we're waiting until Black Friday to get them, since he thinks some of the more expensive dohickeys will be on sale. :-)

Cheers,
Cassi

Finally, an update!

It was exam season, which has finally slowed down, but is part of why I am super slow at updates. Fortunately, I did well on all my midterms, even the one I thought I bombed! Yay me. :-) And now, as a study break from musculo, an update!

Seth is doing super well at work, and I am still loving my classes. Rosie is of course loving life, especially now that cooler weather is here! It is snowing in Rockville today, which I know would make her sad if she were at all aware that she's missing it, but Seth and I are super stoked that we get a "cold day" in the 60's. And that we're not pulling out our winter gear yet. Probably good, since most of it is still packed away. :-)

We have a shower curtain! It only took us like 2 months to choose it....

We're working on getting the books out of the bathtub. We have 5 full bookcases so far, and even with overpacking them as much as possible, I still definitely need to get another bookcase and clear this out before guests come to visit!

Our awesome couch and my grandma's painting. The setup is much better now!

Rosie has apparently been trained that if Mommy is taking pictures, she needs to sit and look adorable.

Bookcases and games! Including Nightmare Before Christmas Yahtzee.

Our kitchen! And on the fridge, you can see my romance novel magnetic poetry. It's entertaining.

Our bedroom! With mess from Rosie, but you can see our Rhode Island painting.

Seth, Rosie, and all the loot we got today to get our guest stuff ready! Everything from towels to sheets to pillows, since we realized we didn't have much to share.

We're finally getting the house set up! Eventually, I will break down and get a real camera to take better photos, but for now the above will do.

And now, for what has been the most exciting thing about our move to Charleston! I got re-allergy tested, and I am finally unallergic to foods! Seriously. It's beyond amazing. I can eat corn and peanuts safely! There are still a few things I can't have, namely coconut, eggs, and onions, but two of those I couldn't eat like ever, so it's fine. :-) Eggs and I are recently not friends, but we're going to try those again in like 6 months. And now, the most exciting thing, which Seth and I just started experimenting with and praying that it worked....

I can have milk products!!! I have to have 2 lactaids to have it, but it's been working! It's amazing. Without the pills, I still end up super ill, but the headaches are less than they were, so the last couple of headaches may have been stress + normal allergens making me so ill. Which is amazing. I had pizza with cheese for the first time in 3 years, and I was seriously in shock at a)how yummy it was and b)how I wasn't wishing I could just pass out until the illness ended.  I still love some of my vegan baking recipes, especially since eggs are still off limits, but it's amazing to be able to eat more normally. As a caveat, if I don't take my pills, I still can't have anything even prepared near dairy, but I'm excited beyond belief (as is Seth, who has been on as strange a diet as me for the past few years) to have food approaching normal.

So, yeah! There's cheese in our fridge for the first time that we can both share, and cheese is allowed in our kitchen, although I continue to compulsively clean anywhere it touches, just in case. It's a wonderful thing, and just in time for us to decide what we want to do for our two year anniversary coming up November 7th. :-)

We are so blessed to have such supportive families with everything we do, but I know our families will be happy to not have to accommodate insane dietary restrictions the same way. Dad has the same non-onion thing, so that makes that part easier, and working around eggs isn't as bad as working around eggs with everything else in the world. My parents are coming for Thanksgiving, and Seth's for Christmas, so we're beyond excited to have our families around for the holidays.

More updates will come later, but that's a good start for now!

Cheers,
Cassi