Ready for 2013!

We went home for Christmas this year! We had enough time to go home for a whole week-- it was FABULOUS!!! Quick highlights: Family! Chachushka!!!! Food Processor! Cuisinart K-Cup Coffee Maker! Friends! Church! Avatar! CHRISTMAS TOWN!! Pretty much, everything was ah-mazing.

Right now, it's New Year's Eve, and I'm watching Alice in Wonderland (the animated version from the 1950's, aka one of my FAVORITE MOVIES EVER) while Seth plays his game. It's actually a wonderful night for us-- hopefully it's a sign of us getting ready for a much more relaxing year with all that we look forward to. :-) We're hoping and praying for the chance to travel and do our real honeymoon finally-- I just learned that I can actually eat eggs, which I haven't been able to enjoy for about 2 years now! So, I can eat what I want, and we can choose what and where we eat!!! If you've never had food problems, I'm sure this is much less exciting, but for me, and for Seth by extension, it's huge that my list is down to three things, 2 of which I don't like anyways! (I love Cabernet Sauvignon, but swelling throat = none of that for me.) Seth can enjoy it, but fortunately we have other options. :-)

So, while home, we got to spend some quality time with the Tweedles!!! I was super stoked to spend time with both of my brothers-- we went shopping, and just in general enjoyed our time with them. They seriously are the coolest. Jon and I had adventures just in cleaning the house for Christmas dinner, but in a good way. When everyone was out, I even got the chance to paint! Rosie was super excited by the painting adventure-- she wanted to stay in the room while I was prepping and painting, and it didn't work so well, so she got locked out. She's been looking for Dante for the past couple of nights-- she's sure that if we just open the door, he'll be there, ready to come hang out with her. Rosie loves my brothers, even Marc's pugs (although I think she relaxed more without them). She remembered Jon from living with him when we first got to Charleston! It was way cute.

We were able to attend my church and then go to breakfast with the Powells on Sunday, then enjoyed Christmas Eve at Seth's church after, which just renewed my conviction to find a church where there's more community service and a chance to truly participate this year.  It's just a matter of finding a church that suits us, and, if it's a Catholic church, one that doesn't use incense, which unfortunately sets off my asthma like none other. :-) It's a non-resolution, since I don't believe in New Year's resolutions. I've also started looking into the gym across the street-- there are tons of yoga and pilates classes that should work for my schedule for both rotations!! I start in just about a week, which is insane to me, in the best possible way. I am SO EXCITED (and sooooo nervous), but I'm also stoked to be one step closer to graduation and real life again (and a real paycheck). Seth and I have been looking forward to and planning for the future, but knowing where I can find employment will definitely have a major impact on how our lives go!

While home, we were able to FINALLY go to Christmas Town!!! I have been looking forward to it for 4 years now, and it was AWESOME. I loved it, wholeheartedly, although in the future I will bring a hat and a scarf to be warmer! We went with both sets of parents and Seth's brother, which was a lot of fun. Lines were much longer than expected-- we thought the line for the Mach Tower wasn't going to be that bad, but we were mistaken. The Mach Tower ride went up and down slowly, although Seth and I both learned that we are NEVER going to go on that ride regularly-- it's too high and feels unsafe. I spent the entire ride worrying that my shoes were going to come off. It was also odd in that they didn't let the ride down to the ground, which made getting out of the seats MUCH more difficult than necessary. It was so high!!! It was beautiful, and that and the trainride let us see all of the grounds, but omigoodness it was too high. I apparently am more scared of heights than I thought. :-) Oh, well. The shows were pretty good, although I had issues with the phrasing of the music for one of the shows. They did manage to do a "Santa Baby/Mama Kissing Santa Claus" mashup that didn't end in me professing my unending hatred for "I saw Mama Kissing Santa Claus," so props to them. I think that is my least favorite song pretty much ever.

What else... Overall, we just had a wonderful trip with family and friends! It was nice to spend so much time at home and getting to spend the time with everyone, both near and far. Chach and Seth and I went to lunch at No Frill and enjoyed delicious vegetarian nachos, an old favorite, which were awesome. I love food. We're actually getting ready to celebrate restaurant week in January, thanks in part to a generous gift from Seth's brother and SIL, and it'll be awesome-- we'll get to go right after my first week of fieldwork as well as a week after Seth's b-day. He turns 29 this year!!! Only 1 year away from the big 3-0!! Part of that celebration will hopefully happen early with our belated honeymoon trips.

I feel like I skipped over most of what happened, but overall, it was just an amazing trip. We loved seeing everyone, more so since we realized there's a good chance we won't see anyone next year with the new job and whatnot. This is, of course, dependent upon me finding a job. While I have loved having the time off the past few weeks, I think I'd go mad without a real job (and a real income), although little Roo would likely enjoy the endless mommy time. :-) We both really appreciated being able to spend quality time with both families, and look forward to seeing everyone again soonish.

Happy New Year!

Love,
Cassi (and Seth and Rosie)