This semester is a hot mess.

I have been awful about updating, but it's been insanely busy! We just got through our exam week (which was really a couple weeks of just non-stop exams and projects). Well, "just"-- it ended Monday. In addition to the exams, Rosie got sick randomly with a stomach bug, so we spent 2 nights in the veterinary ER-- the first night to fix the dehydration and tummy bug, the second to fix what they did the night before. Rosie got a lump from the water from the dehydration fix, so she got some antibiotics, but on Friday I had to take her to the vet yet again, because she couldn't walk at all. It was so sad! I literally had to carry her down the stairs... Then back up the stairs. She felt bad enough that she didn't even wiggle, she just sat in my arms as I carried her up the 4 flights. (It's the one time I really wished she was a tiny puppy.)

I feel like we've been really boring people, but it's been so, so nice to just be able to spend time together and talk! We started watching House Hunters on HGTV.com, and it was so much fun! HGTV and Food Network are pretty much the only things we really miss on Cable, so it was nice to catch up on our shows while I made a weighted snake! (Shown above with Rosie.) I want to make another one-- I apparently really like deep pressure on my shoulders, as it makes my upper traps relax. :-) We have been able to talk about where we want to end up, where we can see ourselves, and where I should look for fieldwork opportunities. It's coming up sooner than one might think!

Dr. Rosie agrees-- the real world is coming soon!

Also, I have the most patient dog ever.

This weekend was our catch-up-on-shopping weekend, so after a breakfast at Cracker Barrel (so much fun!), we went to Tanger Outlet. I am now in LOVE with JCrew, as their regular pants are long enough on me! They fit, too, in the waist, which is amazing. I also got 2 adorable knit tops in orange! I have an orange obsession right now apparently. JCrew has a 15% student discount, so we actually ran home so I could grab my ID before I bought anything. I also grabbed some super cute tops at Ann Taylor, which will be great for fieldwork in a couple weeks. :-)

Rosie decided that Daddy needed cuddle time when he was feeling under the weather. <3

Aside from that, Seth's doing the work thing, and I'm in school. Spring break comes after field work, and my only to-do is to finish The Hunger Games trilogy-- the first book was amazing, and I want to read the rest now! But I'm not allowed to pick them up until break. Books really are my one real addiction in life; I can give up anything else, except maybe music, but books = 100% needed, always.

Reason 145729 we <3 Charleston: It's spring in February, and we have pretty flowers on campus.

And the winter semester begins!

School started a week and a half ago, and thus far, it's been one heck of a semester. 8 a.m.s two days a week, and 8:30's the other two. It makes a girl wish she drank coffee! (And it definitely is a good thing for everyone else I'm near that I don't drink coffee, as anyone who's seen me on caffeine knows!) I actually really love our pathophysiology class, and have even been really enjoying musculo lab. I know that the basis for everything is needed before you get into the fun stuff for applications, but it's still nice to do more practical things now. :-) It just makes me feel like I'm going to be a real OT!

Seth is still doing well at work, and we're loving Charleston. We went to the Charleston Tea Plantation with my parents, and just in general had a lovely time with them as we celebrated Seth's birthday! Although I sadly keep thinking he's a year older he is. I made the mistake of doing bad math, forgetting the time of year when I added, so I am somehow convinced in my subconscious that his 30th birthday is next year. Fortunately, it's not, so there's a better chance that I'll get to spend his 30th b-day with him!

We got a couple last minute Christmas gifts, one of which included Chocolates from Seth's grandmother. I've decided I need to go down with Seth so I can learn how to make the chocolates myself. :-) I'm still madly in love with my Nook Tablet, although I did just order the Hunger Games trilogy in hardback so Seth can read it, too! I read the first one, and the library doesn't have 2 and 3, so I've been desperate to read them. Now I have to wait until next weekend, but still. I am currently a little in love with Peeta. I seriously hope the movies can live up to the book, because I was so ridiculously involved with the first one, and I know 2 and 3 are going to be just as fantabulous.

Although school just started, I am super glad that we have a 3 day weekend this week! Seth and I are enjoying a lazy day today, so tomorrow will be work day after church and grocery shopping. :-) I have a ton of objectives to do, so yay for long weekends to do catch up! Right now we're watching The Italian Job, which is always fun. "I said I had a bad experience!" So funny, every time. <3 Mos Def!

Best of all, we have some tentative plans for over the May break, just us and the Roo! I am ridiculously excited-- we're looking at a cabin in the mountains in North Carolina! We'll hopefully also have a chance to stop by Savannah either over May or over a long weekend while we're down here. I've been missing travelling to new places, as awesome as Charleston is, so I'm really excited to have a chance to go hiking and whatnot. :-)

And that basically covers all that's new in life until fieldwork kicks off.

Cheers,
Cassi

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