It's almost Christmas!

It's hard to believe this time last year I was in school! Now, I've completed my 90 days of orientation at work and am officially employed as a full time CHKD occupational therapist, and I absolutely, positively adore my job. It's amazing, and I am so thankful every day that I've gotten the opportunity to do this!

For anyone who missed it, here's our end of the year Christmas card:

So, in other exciting news, Seth and I were able to go look at what we thought would be our new house! It was gorgeous inside with truly amazing views. There's just one tiny problem.... It had major termite damage below and leakage, and a serious risk of the porch falling in one day. So, not so tiny problems... It did show us what we want, though, in a house in terms of layout, as it was pretty much perfect on that front. :-) So, the house hunt will continue when more houses come on the market this spring.

We have our families coming over for Christmas this year! My parents, Seth's parents, my brother, and his fiance are all coming over, then we have the group Christmas at my grandmother's, followed by what will be well earned drinks. That morning, I'm going to make a casserole for breakfast, and we have mimosa ingredients, eggnog, and pomegranate sparkling cider. It's going to be awesome! We have all the presents under the tree, and we even have Rosie's stocking stuffers! She was very excited when I brought home the candy cane braided bone from Target.... And super disappointed when I didn't pass it over immediately.


So, that's about it! We are excited about Christmas and family visits and all that good stuff. :-) And food, obviously. 2013 is almost over, and it's been a fantastic year!

It's Nearly Thanksgiving!

Omigoodness, it's nearly Thanksgiving! I've been working for over 60 days now as an Occupational Therapist, and I love it! It's amazing, and I'm so blessed because I have awesome, amazing coworkers. Plus, I can walk to work normally! That's pretty hard to beat.

Everyone's been doing the "things I'm thankful for" on Facebook, so I thought I'd do my own short one here.

Things I'm Thankful For 2013 Edition
1. Our family -- I am still madly in love with my husband, our awesome shepadoodle, and our parents and siblings.

2. My nephew -- he's so freaking cute! And special enough to warrant his own thankful number.
3. Being done studying -- Seth just passed and is now a CCNP. He's been studying hard for the past 6 months! And I'm done with school -- it's amazing!
4. Netflix! I love being able to catch up on random movies and share shows with my husband.
5. Having lived in Charleston -- it was the best choice for us for a couple years. And the food was fantabulous.
6. Moving back to Norfolk -- I love that we're here with our families again! We get to see everyone so much more, and go on trips!

7. All our friends -- new and old, we've been blessed to have good friends to help us along our way as we grow and have new experiences.
8. Holidays -- Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving -- they're all amazing!
9. Celebrating 4 years of marriage this year -- I cannot say enough how much I love being married to my best friend. He's my rock, and knows me better than anyone. And, he gives me hugs when I whack my head on the dryer and start to cry and try to explain incoherently.'

10. Life in general -- we have a great life here -- a walkable neighborhood (with sidewalks!), an awesome apartment, fabulous families, an awesome dog, a dog park less than 5 minutes away, good jobs, and just, everything.

So, that's about it! We're just enjoying life and each other, which is as I think it should be. Hopefully I'll remember to post more about this little adventures sooner next time!

Graduation, Moving, and Honeymoon!

Life has been busy since graduating July 20th from MUSC with my Master of Science in Occupational Therapy! Go me. :-) We graduated and then immediately moved from Charleston, SC to Norfolk, VA, where we got to work moving in and getting ready to take Boards in my case! We've had a couple friends ask us if we've explored the area more since moving in, and really, no. I was studying... like constantly. I finally took Boards (prayers that they went well are appreciated as I'll find out in a few days how I did -- I just hope I passed!) after some drama with our school, but it all worked out in the end! We've gotten to see both Tweedles and their S.O.'s and a couple friends! Always exciting. :-)

One thing I did do as a study break while dog-sitting for my parents (they went to PA for a conference/visit with friends/quasi vacation in the evenings for Mom and all day for Dad) was to make homemade baby blankets that are technically receiving blankets for Baby Chubbs, who should be making her/his appearance soon to my sister- and brother-in-law in DC. I had an awesome trip up with my mother in law and was able to get some extra studying in while there -- I probably came off as super obsessive, but I feel like it's earned. I also made a little beach ball for the bebe with extra fabric.

After finally taking Boards, it was time for our HONEYMOON! Only like 4 years late, but still. It was seriously amazing. We had wonderful food, met some cool people, and saw beautiful sights both on the boat and around the Bahamas. Adventures included snorkeling, a zoo/city tour, and a couple's massage. Enjoy the photos!

The Marching Flamingos!!

Mickey and Minnie, of course.

Mine? Mine? Mine?

With Stitch! The only character we got a photo with because we didn't want to stand in line.

This is as close as I could get to this bird without him freaking out majorly.

Me feeding the Lorikeet!

Before Formal night -- our deck was awesome.

Castaway Cay and our boat!

Snorkeling!

After Pirate night, we came home to a MONKEY!

In the adults only pool, enjoying the warmer water.

At Palo, the Italian restaurant, which had amazing food. We had tons of special meals prepared to be Cassi-friendly this trip.