Happy New Year!

Okay, so I stink at keeping this thing up to date, but since it's the new year, I felt it was time to finally add a quick post. :-)

Seth and Rosie with the Christmas stockings, and you can see my VT pj pants (originally intended for Seth) in the background as I cook!

Last semester was amazing! I had the best professors ever, and I looooooved Peds and Neuroscience-- so much fun! I can't wait for next semester, when there's more about treatments. I've gotten to work at CARES, too, which I loved. Seth's had a great semester time, too. He has an awesome place of employment, normal hours, time to spend with me, is back-ish into climbing (which will be better when the Charleston Bouldering Gym opens in March!), and had a fun Christmas party! I also got to use my sewing machine and made us all stockings (see above). We did an online Christmas card, and if you missed it and would like to see it, click here and enjoy!

We had a wonderful Christmas, although we discovered that we will never, ever, if there is any way around it, EVER go to the Children's Mass again. Kids are cute, but that was painful. We went to Christmas service again on Christmas morning with the McFarland Parents, which was not like normal service, but let them see our church, so, yay. :-) Seth was the bestest husband in the whole wide world and got me a Nook Tablet for Christmas with my parents! I <3 it an insane amount. My cover for it comes in on Tuesday, so I can actually leave the house with it! Rosie's tried to step on it already, so I'm a little paranoid, even with the awesome warranty that saves it from me (inevitably) dropping it. Rosie got an awesome present too....

She carries this rawhide bone candy cane everywhere she can.

My parents are coming into town this coming weekend, too! I am so excited. They'll be here for Seth's birthday, so we'll go somewhere fun to celebrate. I might make more champagne cocktails for his birthday to go along with his pie! We had a low-key New Year's, watching HIMYM and White Collar and playing a round of Cribbage on my eternally awesome cribbage board. I made us Seth's traditional-ish New Year's meal with greens, black eyed peas, and cornbread, and made the greens actually tasty since I could look up a recipe beyond "warm in the microwave." Last year was spent in a hotel room in Nashville, so cooking was limited, but we've been blessed to have two awesome years in a row! After Christmas, we spent a couple days with the McFarlands spending time around Charleston, including seeing the Angel Tree for the first time.

I don't believe in New Years resolutions, so all I'll say is I hope 2012 is just as fun as 2011-- I'm looking forward to finishing up with classes in about a year and starting my OT rotations! Seth and I will be celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary, and we'll be back in DC for Seth's bother's wedding, so we'll get to hopefully see some of our friends and Seth's family. Also, I am still growing out my hair, which should be long enough to donate in (hopefully) a few months. No matter what, we're going to live our lives as best we can and enjoy our time together. <3

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