Life by Cassie

But where is the snow?

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:24:00 +0000

I live in New Hampshire. I expect to have 4 seasons, that is what I love about this area. I enjoy the seasons, the long, cold winter makes me appreciate the warm lovely summers. Fall is my favorite season! However, the lack of snow this winter has gotten me really depressed. I don't need blockbuster storms (a la last year) but still SOME snow would be nice. I love how it makes the landscape look.

So I was wondering, is it possible to have the opposite of SAD? Ok, yes, I understand, SAD is more about the amount of light one gets, and with it being winter, our days are still shorter, despite the fact that there is no snow. But I must say, I am quite SAD that there isn't any snow! The weather has been quite mild, evening hitting 50 degrees last week, which is unheard of in January.

Every time we do get snow, the tail end of the storm usually turns over to a mix and then rain, which washes away most of the snow that would have accumulated. With no snow pack to absorb the sun's warmth, it's going into the earth, which means that we are staying warmer, and they cycle repeats. Le sigh.I'm just saying, that I'd really like some snow.

In other news, I was able to enjoy a girls night with my friend Kristen, she's so lovely and awesome. She's getting married to my friend, Mike this summer. And she graciously asked me to be her MOH! We went up to her venue to spend the night up there. I had a discounted rate, we thought we'd spend the night and check out the accommodations. She is getting married at the Common Man Inn and Spa in Plymouth, NH. For real-ies if you are ever in New Hampshire and need a place to crash, these people are top notch. They own several restaurants/properties in the state, they support local causes & businesses. And this property in Plymouth is very New Hampshire. The decor is fantastic, gives you a warm fuzzy feeling when you walk in. The staff is so pleasant and delightful, it's really wonderful

We got to meet with Stephanie the wedding coordinator, Kristen got a lot of her questions answered, I asked a few. They really go out of their way to help the bride have the day she dreamed of! And Stephanie said, she can be the heavy... and try to keep us on track!

We had a wonderful dinner in the Foster's dining room, we opted just to sit at the bar. We chatted and just straight up had a good time. We ordered our desert to go and went up to our room. We were hoping to watch Grey's but it was a repeat! So we watched the GOP debate. We girl chatted the whole time and talked about our futures, it was such a great night.

Friday morning I got up and hit the gym. Yeah you read that right, I went to the gym, at a hotel. I amazed myself with that move! Then after some breakfast, we backed up bags and then went to the spa/salon. Kristen had her hair trial for her wedding and I opted to get a mani. Her hair is stunning, she will be turning heads on her day for sure. As my brother would say, she's "sit down pretty". I love that girl, she rocks her confidence and it shows.

I am glad that I recovered from my cold so I could enjoy my girls night with Kristen. I really think that rest and fluids really helped me recover quicker from my cold.

But can I please get some snow?

Still here and still heavy

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:02:00 +0000

Just checking in, I've been losing weight, but it's coming off slowly, like in tenth of a pound increments, during a time when I know that I should be loosing poundage. But a loss is a loss, and I'll take it!

I am just getting over a cold. Not nearly as bad as I've had in the past, but I don't care to repeat that scenario anytime soon! Being sick sucks! I wasn't able to get a walk in or anything for the last few days. But yesterday I was feeling better so I trucked my behind to the gym and got a solid 45 minutes in on the treadmill, did 2 miles!

I basically hadn't driven my car in 2 days, so when I went to go leave for the gym, I couldn't find my car keys! It took me a solid 5 minutes of looking to find them! Opps! But I didn't use it as an excuse to slack off, I found my keys and off I went!

I may not be able to make it to Steve and do all the mileage but I am going to give it my best shot!

I have to be comfortable with the fact that exercise plays an important role in my life, and to never slack off on it again, I hate restarting like this because I know what my body was capable of, and trying to get back to that level seems silly, since I know I was there once. Lesson learned!

My eating habits have been very wonky over the last few days, I am trying to eat when I am hungry, not when I am "supposed" to eat, but at times, it's just a banana and then other times, it's a full on meal. Not sure if being sick has anything to do with that. But hey, I am going to eat when my body is telling me it needs something.

I have been trying to stay away from soda, I did need some ginger ale to help, but mainly I've been getting a lot of water, OJ and Crystal Light in... Everyday my pee has been clear! Which is my way of telling that I am properly hydrated!

So that's it, really. Getting a cold sucks... recovering from a cold sucks... just don't do it!

Photo Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:20:00 +0000

And trying to keep up with my photo challenge, here are some more photos, these are VERY out of order and I am missing some. But I plan on catching up soon!

Here's the original post about my challenge.

Day 6: Makes me Smile

I woke up that morning to find a dusting on my car! It made me smile, since we haven't had any snow this year! Little did I know we would get some a week later!

Day 8: Your Sky

You see what I mean about getting some significant snow just a short time later? It's a typical New England day.

Day 9: Daily Routine

I'm always in my car, it's really part of my routine. And always listening to my Cosmo Radio! I love that channel.

Day 10: Childhood

This kid made me giggle, she really wanted that beer! (the cap was still securely on!)

Day 11: Where I sleep

And Ben still makes fun of me for sleeping with a stuffed animal.

Day 13: In my bag

This is my work bag, which has everything I need for my long shifts at work. As well as a change of clothes that you can see (the jeans at least).

Day 14: Something I'm reading

I am taking a Ham radio class for work coming up in a few months, I've got to start studying!

So that's where we are at. I plan on making up the days in between that I missed!

Too busy to post?

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:06:00 +0000

Is it possible to be too busy to blog? But then feel like you've gotten nothing accomplished?

In an effort to give my challenge with Steve an honest try, I've been walking a lot more and logging some serious time. What I've realized, is that I've done all the "in shape" I was prior to the wedding. I get winded quite easily now even at a walk. I mean, I slogged a 5k not too long ago. I had to stop the C25K (now called E25K) program due to my knee pain/issues. But I was still walking a fairly fast/consistent pace. Those days are long gone! My pace is no where near what I was at, but that just gives me something to strive for. I know consistency is the key to me getting back into my routine. I've been walking at least 5 days out of 7 the last 2 weeks, for at least 30 minutes, usually longer.

We completed our first time home buyers seminar, our next step is to find a mortgage broker and crunch some hard numbers to see what we are eligible for and what we can afford. Ben and I have an idea of what we think we can afford, and then it's just going to be a matter of seeing what's out there on the market. In the meantime, we are trying to save our pennies to help with our down payment and all the other costs associated with buying a home.

Ben started another round of a weight loss challenge, I opted out of it since we are trying. I still am trying to lose weight, become a healthier person. I just didn't want to be in a weight loss competition and then get pregnant.

Work is going well. It's our "slow" season, I work for a resort seacoast community, so summer is our busy season. But with the snow storms we tend to get busy. Weird how much snow we DON'T have this year. Usually we have a lot by now, and we just had a storm yesterday. Out where I live, we got maybe an inch or two, which since the ground isn't frozen, will most likely melt. And at the Seacoast where I work, it was all rain yesterday.

During our "slow" season, I try to knock out some educational classes for my job. I signed up for the statewide dispatcher conference in April. This is a great networking opportunity, but also, I can learn some really incredible things. I also am signed up to take a HAM class, as in ham radio... not ham the pig meat. Part of my job is assisting in times of need to operate the town's emergency operations center. HAM radio is a backup form of communication, should our primary radios go down. You need to have your own license to talk on a HAM frequency and hopefully this class will assist me in passing the test to being a HAM.

I took about a 6 day hiatus from facebook after the New Year, my daily routine had become very engrossed with checking facebook, that I was really concerned about it. What I've realized, that I can take a step back from it, but that facebook is sometimes the only method of contact I have with a fair amount of my friends.

So that's about it! How's your winter going?

First Time Homebuyer

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000

One of the things on my 101 things in a 1001 days is to be a homeowner, it's the direction that Ben and I want to head in. This is a perfect time in the market to consider buying.

With that being said, I don't really have the slightest clue on where to start. Investing something this big, it's scary to me! That's part of the reason why Ben and I are going to a first time home buyer's seminar next week hosted by the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority.

I am looking forward to the class and learning about this whole crazy process.

Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could just find the perfect home for us and at the perfect price? Sadly that is more than likely not to happen. Past experiences from our family and friends are teaching us to be cautious. Thankfully, our current situation is flexible. We are month to month on our lease and in a good situation with our landlord. So we have the luxury of waiting until we find something that is right for us.

I am excited about this next step! But I also know it can be extremely frustrating.

Photo a Day Challenge Day 5

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:32:00 +0000

So today's photo was Something you wore, and since I just adore them so much...

My nails.

I am really enjoying my Shellac experience, it's really a great new product. I love that it's your real nails and yet the manicure lasts for 2 weeks, my last one lasted almost a month!

The first four days

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:41:00 +0000

Here are the first four days of my photo a day challenge, I am still not sure if I want to post daily, or just lump them together every few days, like this one is... thoughts?

Day One: You

This is me, at work obviously... ah, in my work life, I only exist in navy blue. Hence the nail color, got to spice it up a bit!

Day Two: Breakfast

Yum breakfast! I have been LOVING me some english muffins and peanut butter lately, not really sure why, but it's just so delicious! And also rocking some fruit punch Crystal Light since I can't get enough of it.

Day Three: Something You Adore

I love ice cream... I adore it... if I could eat it every day I would! This is mint chocolate chip, one of my faves.

Day Four: Letterbox

Not really sure if I got this right or not, but here is my work's outgoing mailbox. We don't have a letterbox like normal people, the mailman brings our mail right to us! So this it the outgoing mailbox, for when he comes in, so that mail can go out.

So that's the first few days of this challenge. I just have to keep reminding myself to see what's next!

Photo a day challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:46:00 +0000

I saw on twitter this morning a new challenge for January. Given that it's the second, I am a day behind! Thankfully the first day is fairly easy. Well, easy for some, I am not the type of person who likes to take photos of themselves. But I am sure I'll be able to accommodate the challenge.

Maybe this will be a way for me to ease into taking 5 pictures a day for 30 days for my 101 things in a 1001 days list.

I've received many lovely & supportive compliments on my last post. I wasn't doing it to be honest for others, but more or less be real to myself. And when I look back on my journey, I really want to be able to reflect on my ups and my downs.

Welcome 2012!

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 01:13:00 +0000

First post of 2012, and I weighed in the morning at 324. The highest I've ever been. That is not a good way to start my new year. I promise that on the first day of 2013, I won't be higher than I am right now. It ends here.

My New Year's was great. We had some friends over, we ate some Chinese food, played a board game and watched the ball drop. It was great to just be casual and a small gathering.

For December, and my challenge with Steve, I completed 28 miles. Which barely puts a dent into the 455 miles total I have to do. I really need to up my game.

I've got my work cut out for me.

Fourth Quarter Update: 101 Things in 1001 Days

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Well it's that time again....

For the original post, you can go here. For the last quarterly update, you can go here.

Current List:

Starting Date: Friday January 1st, 2010 Ending Date: Friday September 28th, 2012

~~1) Spend a rainy day watching films in my PJ's~~
2) Try two new cookie recipes this Christmas
~~3) Attend the midnight premiere of a movie~~
~~4) Get married~~ (10-9-11!! Here is the recap!)
5) Go skydiving
6) Learn to knit
7) Organize my closet
8) lose 15 pounds
9) Go on a cruise
10) Go whitewater rafting
11) buy a house
12) See a Broadway show
~~13) spend a day at the spa~~
~~14) Lose 5 pounds~~
~~15) Own an iPhone~~
~~16) Try a new (and possibly frightening) food~~
~~17) Watch two movies at a cinema in the same day.~~
~~18) Influence a person to make a day zero list~~
19) go fly a kite
~~20) Pay off at least one credit card~~
21) Have a housewarming party
22) Floss every night for a month
23) Tie a note to a balloon and let it go
24) Go sledding
25) Lose 10 Pounds
26) start a family - This is a work in progress ;-) !!!
~~27) help a stranger~~
~~28) Have a sleepover party~~ (I rented a hotel suite the weekend of my wedding, we gals had SO much fun!)
~~29) Have a friend choose a complete outfit for me~~
~~30) Play a new board game~~
~~31) Travel by train~~ (Did the Conway Scenic Railway Trip, but I'd like to do another)
32) Make homemade bread
~~33) Go to a casino~~
34) Take at least 5 photos a day for a month
~~35) Eliminate non-fitting clothing from my wardrobe~~
36) Save $5000
37) Read 100 books (36/100)
38) Compose a new list of 101 things to do in 1001 days
39) For every task I do not complete, donate $1 to charity
40) Put aside $5 for every completed task
41) Go to a Patriots game
42) Drink nothing but water for 2 weeks
43) Watch the sunrise at the beach
~~44) Host a giveaway on my blog~~
45) Organize photos and get and stay caught up with my scrapbooking
46) Climb Mount Washington
47) Attend a hot yoga class
48) Do 100 situps for a month (0/30)
49) Ask for someone else's advice and take it
50) Give a stranger a compliment
51) Write down something positive about myself for 30 days straight
~~52) Have “date night” one night of the week for 1 month (4/4)~~
~~53) Work out faithfully 3x a week for 2 months~~
54) Take a trip to Las Vegas
55) No swearing for a day x12 (0/12)
~~56) Play a game of 18-hole golf~~
~~57) Put change in someone’s expired parking meter~~ - I was so happy to be able to do this since the change meters are going away! Being replaced with those paper ticket systems.
58) Take the Cat ferry to Canada
59) Have a weekend getaway for SO and I
~~60) Start our own Christmas tradition~~ - I didn't even realize it, but we have a tradition where we go and tag our tree and then cut it down. Ben insists on a live tree for the house. And I look forward to spending time with him while we are on the hunt!
61) Get my HAM radio license
~~62) Participate in a 5K (run/walk)~~
63) Make my own candles
64) Climb Cadillac Mountain
65) Learn at least 50 ASL signs
66) Go one weekend "Unplugged" no phone/Internet
67) Send/Give 100 cards “just because.” (35/100)
68) Leave SO a love note/note of encouragement/surprise email 1x a week for 2 months
69) Complete 3 – 1500 piece or more jigsaw puzzles (0/3)
70) Visit 5 new states not previously in (driving through doesn't count) (2/5) - NJ, HI
71) Participate in a 10K (run/walk)
72) help a friend in need
~~73) take a class (work related)~~
~~74) Have one day off per week for 1 month~~
~~75) Make SO breakfast in bed~~ - I got off on a technicality, I had made him breakfast, but he got up, just as I was finishing. Also I realized, we don't own a breakfast tray table...*face palm*
~~76) Bring coffee in for the boys at work~~
~~77) hang pictures/art on walls~~
78) Buy flowers/edible arraignments for someone.
79) Be able to buy clothing in the regular women's section
~~80) Invest my money better~~
~~81) borrow books from the library; instead of buying them~~
82) get a makeover to include makeup!
~~83) Try a new recipe once a week for 1 month~~
~~84) Call one cousin per week until all Bridle Cousins have been spoken to~~
~~85) Host a girls night at my house~~
86) Host a couple's night
87) Prepare my will
88) Take a pole dancing class
89) Travel to Nantucket / Martha's Vineyard
~~90) Visit my grandmother at least once a month for a year (12/12)~~
~~91) plan a couples camping trip~~ - I love our Memorial Day Weekend camping tradition with friends!
~~92) Play Bingo with friends~~
93) Host a transit party
94) See an old friend once per month for one year (11/12) - Coming up, hopefully catching up with one of my old co-workers, Ms. Holly!!
95) See Rocky Horror at midnight showing
96) Go and shoot a gun at a firing range
~~97) To get a physical each year~~
98) To see a UNH/UMaine Hockey Game
99) To kiss the Cat at UNH
~~100) To go to a Red Sox / Yankees game~~
101) To complete this list in less than 1001 days

Wow, 9 tasks this quarter, I didn't think I did that much! The two Christmas ones I had to rush! Since this is the last Christmas holiday that is covered with this challenge! That's another $45 dollars into my Day Zero account. A total of 41 items have been accomplished, that still leaves a large majority open and only till September to complete them! I guess I've got my work cut out for me.

And I've come to the realization that I may not complete everything on this list, that some items conflict with one another, like starting a family and going sky diving... it's just not going to work out. But I don't consider it a failure, since it's still something that I want to do. Just means I may have to delay certain plans for other things that I find more fulfilling. (If that makes any sense!)

Wrapping up 2011 & looking ahead

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:54:00 +0000

I have so much to be thankful for in 2011, and in the same breath so much to look forward to in 2012. Did I achieve all of my goals in 2011? No, but that's what my day zero list is for.

I still had my version of a perfect wedding. I didn't go Bridezilla on anyone, but I made my point, that the day was about Ben and I, no one else.

Because of the wedding, I got to see my brother and my sister in law a lot as well as my cousin. I could grow to see more of them. And hope that someday soon, they all will call New Hampshire home.

I wasn't a fit bride, but I can honestly say, that I am more acutely aware of my overall health and what I need to do in order to change it. I've got a lot of big plans for 2012, and a looming blood work date from my doctor.

2011 saw less blog posts than 2010, but if you've been an avid reader, you saw my departure from all of the blog giveaways. I still manage to find one or two I like, but I no longer dedicate any significant time to the venture. I decided to get back to my roots and blog more about my day to day life, and largely about my upcoming wedding.

2012 will start off with a facebook hiatus. Not sure for how long, at least a week, but we shall see. I was telling Ben tonight that I still will play Bejeweled Blitz and Words with Friends, but from my phone only. I need some vices in life.

I made a lot of new friends in 2011, I listen to the Cosmo channel on Sirius/XM. And although I didn't make it to CosmoCon, I still was able to meet up with a few of the gals in November for Lo's birthday party. Team Awesome was forged, Steve and Kerri have been two amazing people in my life, we grew so much closer in 2011, though I hope in 2012, I will get to meet them in person. Also I had a blog redesign done, much thanks to Erin from Samantha's Day, and in the end her and I became fast friends through our emails.

My work life has been crazy. I don't have the exact numbers yet, but I must have made more than I did last year or at least matched it. These last two weeks of 2011 have been insanely busy. With the summer season being especially busy call volume wise. I am looking forward to a slow down after the first of the year.

I went on a kick butt honeymoon to Hawaii, I spent an amazing 10 days in paradise, with a promise to someday return. It was probably one of the best vacations I have ever taken and I was so thrilled at the chance to get to go. It was also my longest vacation on record.

Post wedding, I cut my long hair and donated to Locks of Love, I was more than happy to be able to donate. In return I got a great haircut, my hair was the shortest it had been in a long time!

Most importantly I married a man in 2011. The man of my dreams. Because of social media we met by chance, and fell in love. We had our perfect day with our friends and family and pledged all of ourselves to one another. He loves me as me, but also supports me in making myself a better version of me. He challenges me to be my best, and is there to support me if I fail. We can laugh at one another, but also be serious when we need to be. He is my rock and I love being the reason he smiles. I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for us.

Twitter Update

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

My pending facebook hiatus naturally has me gravitating to twitter more. I position has always been that facebook is for my real life and twitter has been my fake/blog life. More and more the two are blending and my real life friends know me on twitter and I am friends with my fake life or blog friends on facebook. I guess it's natural to have some cross over. I've even been cross posting more. Although I dislike when people's twitter feeds is just their updates from facebook, or visa-versa. I'd like to see some new content!

Anywho, here has been some of my stellar tweets from the past few weeks.

Yeah, I said it. What is she going to do, sue me? I did cross post this to my facebook page, I mean it was sweet enough to share with everyone. If you are getting a divorce after 72 days of marriage because you had a difference of opinions about where your life/marriage was going, you shouldn't have gotten married in the first place. These are questions you ask one another before you get married... ugh

With all of the hours I've been working I haven't been to the gym at all. I tweeted to Steve the other day, inquiring as to how he was doing with our challenge.

Truth of the matter, is I haven't been committed to this challenge. I knew going into this challenge, that December was going to be a challenge itself, between work and the holidays, it's tough just to keep up! So I tried to get some mileage in early on in the month and for the most part, it worked, but I know I am still behind where I should be and I've got some work to do in order to make it up.

And lastly, this tweet on Christmas:

I have been so blessed to continue to get to know and meet some fantastic people using social media.

I can imagine after the first of the year and my facebook hiatus begins, that you'll see some more twitter updates coming from me.

Christmas Wrap up

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:55:00 +0000

Merry Christmas! Oh it's been a nice holiday. Busy. But nice.

First off, I had been working for days on end. Christmas day was my first full day off in a week, and my next full day off will be January 1. So out of 14 days, I will have only 2 full days off. Ugh. It's a lot of work, but I've scheduled some me time for the first day or two of the new year. And I plan on not doing anything that I don't want to do.

Secondly, my holiday was amazing. It's the first time in several years that I had Christmas off! My work schedule is an 8 day rotating schedule, and it just happened to work out that I was scheduled to work most holidays. But I've finally come into the party of my schedule cycle where I get some of the holidays off. And it's been nice to enjoy the time with my family.

Holidays make me miss my brother and my sister-in-law. I got to talk to Nick on Christmas when he called to say hi, but it's not the same without them here. I look forward to the day when they can move back to NH and we can all be a close family again. They of course enjoyed their gifts that Ben and I had sent them. It was great to hear that they arrived and were still in good condition. I always get nervous about shipping stuff, especially with videos/stories like this one!

I worked Christmas Eve day, so after I had gotten out of work, I went home, changed and then Ben and I went to my mother's for our Christmas with her. We also brought all the professional wedding pictures so that her and Darla could see them. It was a fun night.

Christmas morning we got up and headed to my parents (Dad and my stepmom) for Christmas brunch and presents with them. My aunts and grandmother had come over as well, it was a morning full of laughs as that is typical for our family.

Christmas evening we went to Ben's mom's for dinner and presents with her. Again, it was great to see all of our families. And Ben and I were both happy that we were able to work it out. It's not easy to coordinate all those visits! Especially with my schedule.

We got home Christmas night and had our own Christmas. Very low key, as we both were just so tired from the days events and all of the traveling.

For those of you who may not know, I live in New Hampshire, that's in New England. We get snow. But this year, has been VERY mild, and such is the case, we didn't have snow on the ground for Christmas. There were hit or miss snow flurries, but nothing that stuck. When we went to Ben's mom's she had snow on the ground! Plus one for Maine! It definitely made us both feel a bit more "Christmassy" now that there was snow on the ground, as we were getting ready to leave it had started lightly snowing again. It was so lovely. Made my Christmas!

It was an exhausting day of travel, and I was so tired from all of the events. It was nice to have Monday day off so I could take it easy. We had breakfast with my cousin and his wife, I haven't seen them in years, so it was great to see them. But then it was back to home and napping before work that night.

It was great to see all of our families, but I do wish that we had more down time. I don't care to always be on the go. I am hopeful that next year we can combine some trips and condense it down. I still want the holidays to be enjoyable for me too!

My presents ranged from practical to very thoughtful and personal. They were all perfect to me, even though I didn't ask for much. All of our parents helped us out with the wedding so we weren't expecting anything really.

Of note, this is the first holiday season where I didn't get sick. I chalk that up largely to me not being as active in the Toy Bank program that I ran for several years. In years past, I was doing so much work that I would get run down and ultimately get sick from not taking care of myself. So after a lot of thought I stepped down from managing the town's toy bank, but in the same breath I guess you could say I got a promotion of sorts. I went from managing the town's toy bank to the Seacoast wide toy bank. Which mainly I do a lot of the public relations, website and facebook stuff for. I coordinate a lot of the seacoast wide efforts and stay away from the individual towns. I enjoy the work, it gives me a wonderful sense of fulfillment and it's the truly a reason for the season for me. To take care of your fellow man.

And if you were wondering what I got Ben... tools. It's what he wanted and something I know he'll be able to put to good use. Hopefully soon one day.

I am so bummed, I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures from Christmas. It would have been so nice to share with you all, but I'm sorry. I am a bad blogger.

So that is my Christmas wrap up! hopefully Santa brought you everything you had hoped for. And that you were able to spend time with your family and loved ones.

Hair no more!

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:33:00 +0000

So as I've been talking about for the last few weeks, but last night I finally pulled the trigger and did it. The post wedding chop! I've been growing out my hair since last July/August. Almost a year and a half of growing resulted in this:

All of the hair... like for realz

And after some talk about what kind of style I wanted, which I pretty much gave my stylist the green light to do what she wanted. My rule was simple, it needed to be easy to style, low maintenace. We got down to chopping it off

And we ended up with over 12 inches

That is a 12 inch comb next to my braids! I had no idea that my hair was really that long!

After the chop was done Rachelle, my stylist got down to business of giving me a proper hair cut and afterwards, she ended up looking like this

Bad day to wear a sweater to work...

It was worth growing my hair out for the wedding, my hair on my wedding day was beautiful and stunning, I even got asked if I was wearing hair extensions!

I will say towards the end, I was getting frequent headaches from the weight of the hair and from pulling it back. I couldn't really do anything with my hair it was just too long. It took way too long to maintain it. In the end, my long straight hair, became high maintenance!

I am so happy and pleased that my donated hair is going to help someone else.

So now that I've made you wait here is the after shot

All of the bags under my eyes! So tired!

My thoughts, my hair is SUPER short... shorter than I usually care for, but I know it won't be long before it grows out to a length that I am happy with. And I know that it was for a great cause. I love how much movement my hair has!

So there you have it!

The Salon was really awesome about it, they are going to mail my hair for me to Locks of Love, and all of the staff was really great.

Side Note: I stepped on the scale this morning and was legit 2 pounds lighter. I know it's not probably all hair, but still, I am sure it's some of it.

Hi, my name is Cassie, and I have a facebook problem

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:07:00 +0000

I am feeling like after the first of the year, I'll be taking a facebook hiatus. I feel as though I am a little addicted to facebook.

So I am going to start with taking a week off from facebook.(phew there I said it...)

I just feel like I've stalled out on my list of 101 things in a 1001 days, and that a lot of my time is eaten up by just killing time on facebook.Even my daily routine is sculpted around being on and checking facebook.

It's going to be difficult, I have a lot of open tasks going on in my life, that facebook is associated with. I am the admin for 3 groups related to my job/professional organizations. On top of that, I've got messages I've been going back and forth with on facebook for things going on in my personal life. Facebook truly is a social network, but I think every now and again we all need to step back and reevaluate the priorities in life.

Of course, I'll still be on twitter and I'll have my email. I'll have to put some sort of status up, letting people know about my hiatus and to please don't expect a timely response from me, if that's their method of contact.

PS - today is my hair appointment and my donation to Locks of Love! I am excited to see what my new hair cut will be and I hope that I love it! Stay tuned for pictures and a post of that experience!

Still Roughing It

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 02:51:00 +0000

Still very much in a funk, and not really putting myself first. There has been a lot going on this holiday season, and a lot of overtime at work. I am getting some miles in, but not nearly what I should be doing. I am going to have to step it up BIG time in January and February to make a come back!

I also am going to be working on another update for my 101 things in a 1001 days challenge. Crazy to think that it's going into the final year of that challenge.

I am still here though, lurking in the shadows.

Rough Start

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 21:24:00 +0000

So in my last post I talked about my new challenge with Steve, and since then I've only walked once and it was for 3 miles. So that means I have 452 miles to go.

I need to make this a priority for me. No one else will benefit from this, but there is such a great potential for me to reap some pretty amazing benefits.

Truth. I am back up to my highest weight, 321 pounds and I am not happy. Something has got to change. Those 3 miles I did, it wasn't pretty, I've basically lost all my stamina from before.

But I will get back there. I know I can do it.

In other, semi related news, my name change is final. So I went to the DMV and got my new temporary license, with my corrected weight.

My 30th birthday is in 6 months and I'll have to renew my license again. My goal is to be lighter than I am now. So I can update my weight on my license as well!

The bird is the word

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 04:40:00 +0000

I've been a bad blogger! I haven't blogged in over a week! Happy belated Thanksgiving! As I posted before, Ben and I opted to have Thanksgiving on our own. It was great that it was just the two of us. We got to do everything we wanted to do and it was great to spend a day together. We also cooked a full Thanksgiving meal. I was nervous about the timing, I wanted to make sure it came together at just the right time. And you know what, I rule! It was perfectly timed. I was so happy. Ben did an excellent job prepping the turkey. It came out beautiful.


Personal Photo

Isn't she beautiful? Very tasty and moist too! We of course had plenty of leftovers. Originally, Ben and I decided on a 6-8 pound bird, but when I went shopping, there was either barely 5 pound birds or 11 pound birds, so we went with the 11 pound bird.

We managed to go for a nice walk while the bird was cooking, it was great to get out and stretch our legs. I felt better about eating after getting some activity in.

Which speaking of activity, leads me into my next challenge. I am friends with Steve, we are both weight loss bloggers struggling with the weight loss aspect (and the blogging aspect). But we've quickly become fast friends.

Well we've issued a challenge to one another. It's 455 miles from my house to his house. And so we decided that we would complete that distance in 3 months. This challenge is going to start on December 1st. And I'll be tweeting about it. I am hoping to be able to plot my progress on a map and share with you. We can walk it, run it, bike it... anything, so long as we get the activity in and log the distance.

This is going to be tough, as I am already fighting my inner laziness, but on top of that, the fact that I have the holidays to get through is going to be tough for me.

Screen shot from google maps

Maybe one of these days, I'll actually get to meet Steve in person!

Yesterday's meatloaf is today's sloppy joes

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 17:20:00 +0000

Not sure if you read the news with any frequency, but I saw a story that really upset me. Talking about how Congress had blocked legislation that would have improved the standards for our children. This would have been the first update to the school nutrition guidelines in 15 years! A lot has changed about nutrition and what we know about food since then! Heck, they even changed the food pyramid to a plate.

My stepmom is a lunch lady and often her and I talk about the craziness that is trying to find something that the kids will want to eat, yet fit into the guidelines. And what is actually considered a serving of fruit or vegetable. I don't envy her job, it's not always so easy.

Kudos to the USDA for trying to do what's right by our children and try to help the growing epidemic that is childhood obesity.

Congress, go ahead and keep allowing the tomato paste on pizza to continue to be counted as a vegetable serving.

Really? Does anyone else see a problem with that?

And the government wants to run healthcare.

Oh Hi!

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:44:00 +0000

Do we remember this? I did... for a long time I had forgotten about it. But I've dusted it off and I am back to rocking it!

I've also starting logging in to My Fitness Pal again, I'm slowly warming up to tracking my food again.

Who knows, I may even wind up back in the gym again! I haven't been since before the wedding (truth). I've really been slacking.

Our First Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Ben and I are planning our first Thanksgiving as a married couple. We just wanted it to be us. Since it's our first time cooking a Thanksgiving meal, we thought it would be best if it was just the 2 of us. That way, if it's terrible, we can just order Chinese food or something else!

But we were both talking about what we wanted to incorporate from our individual families, into our new family. As far as traditions for the day. We planned out our menu, now hopefully we'll be able to execute it.

Part of our pre-martial counseling was talking about holidays and traditions, I think those conversations laid the foundation for Ben and I to talk openly about our wants for our family. Originally, I was planning on going down to North Carolina to have Thanksgiving with my parents, my brother and sister in law. But for Ben, it's important to celebrate the holidays on the actual holiday. Now with my job, he knows that will not always be able to happen, but on the times that I am off, he wants to be with me. And him getting time off this time of year isn't possible, especially after all the time he took off for the wedding & honeymoon.

It's great to be with someone who can talk to me, and who wants me around ;-) I am looking forward to our first Thanksgiving together and sharing in all the fun of the day, which I am sure is bound to happen, given the two of us.

The Pill

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:23:00 +0000

Warning, this post may be a bit TMI for some of my readers.. my apologies!

It's really no secret that Ben and I wanted to start a family, shortly after getting married. We are getting older and still wanted to have children and be able to enjoy them.

After talking with my doctor and talking to Ben, we decided that I would go off my birth control pill right after the wedding, and then we would wait 3 cycles before starting to try.

A little history, I've been on the pill since I was 18. That's 11 years of trying to prevent pregnancy. That's also a long time to be on hormones. There were some issues through the years, first I was just on your normal everyday, ortho tri-cyclen.... but then my insurance company wanted to switch me to a generic, and the formula wasn't the same. It did funky things to me, gave me some terrible mood swings. I could have stayed on the name brand, but it was just so expensive and me being a broke college student I went back to the doctors to try something else.

After 6 months of trying different pills, she finally found one that worked for me, not sure of the name brand but mine was called necon. It was the same level of hormone in every active pill.

You see, in your normal pill pack, you have different colored pills, those differentiate the level of hormone in that pill, which science tries to correspond with your cycle. So your pill pack will give you the right amount of hormone when you need it.

The pill pack I was on, was the same level of hormone for all the active pills. This allowed my moods to stabilize and there for I became "normal" again, I was finally starting to feel like my self again.

11 years on the pill, does a real number to your cycle. My period was very predictable, I could predict when it would come and how long it would stay.

Being off the pill, my period has now taken on a mind of it's own. I can't predict anything about it. I still have my cravings for salty and fried foods. But the one thing I did not anticipate on making a comeback was my headaches.

Honestly I forgot I had them, I had been on the pill so long it made most of my symptoms subside. However that all changed when I went off the pill, my bloating came back, my period is more unpredictable and my headaches...

I remember being a teenager and just having these mind crippling headaches, I am so not looking forward to that time again. I am hoping that they don't continue when I am pregnant. But since they seem to be associated with my period, I don't think that will likely be the case.

Swagbucks Pays For Your Holidays

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:11:00 +0000

Wouldn't life by easier if we could get someone to pay for our holiday shopping? Even better if our friends and family already had a wish list that we could just pick from?

Well SwagBucks is running a promotion that if you create a wishlist on swagbucks, and you may just be the one lucky winner who wins a $2500 Amazon gift card. It's completely free to participate. The winner will be chosen on Cyber Monday (11/28)!

This contest is open to all of the countries SwagBucks serve (US, UK, CA and Australia). The full details of the promotion can be found here, but here are the ways you can earn entries to win the grand prize:

- Complete your Wishlist (1 Entry) - Wishlist can be found here.

- Share your Wishlist on either Facebook or Twitter using our Share buttons (1 entry per day you share).

- Have a new user register for Swagbucks through your Wishlist share (1 entry)

- Have that user complete and share their own Wishlist (4 additional entries)

In addition to the grand prize, they're giving away prizes every week day on their Facebook wall, Twitter account, and in their Blog.

If you are a new user to SwagBucks, they've also released a new code to get you started "SBPAYSFORME" - remove the quotes. The code is active from right now until 9:00am PT on Friday, November 18th, and is worth a bonus 80 Swag Bucks ONLY when applied during the registration process - this means a new user will start with 110 Swag Bucks instead of the customary 30.

Locks of Love

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 21:50:00 +0000

I've always been described as a giving person, someone who is always giving of their time and energy. Why should post wedding be any different.

I spent 13 months growing out my hair for my wedding, and it paid off. I had so many lovely compliments about my hair at the wedding. To the point of people were asking me if I had extensions put in! I was happy to tell them that nope, it's all mine.

But it definitely a lot of hair. And it's becoming difficult to manage, or just do anything with it. It takes forever to dry, so most times I just throw it up into a bun or pony tail.

I knew that after the wedding I was going in to have it cut. Then it donned on me, could I be a candidate for donation? After checking out multiple agencies, I found that yes, I could donate. Although only one company would be able to accept my donation. Since my hair was highlighted (read: altered) only Locks of Love would be able to accept it for use. My donation has to be at least 8 inches. Which my stylist informed me, would still give her enough hair leftover to work with.

So, I made the appointment, in a little over a month I will be getting my first real hair cut... I've always had long hair, the most I ever did was add layers and bangs, so my stylist is very excited to be giving me a new do. And I am letting her decide what will look best for me.

I am a little nervous, because I've always had long-ish hair. Never to the the length it's at right now, but still always long. It would almost be like I am losing part of my identity, but I am going to try to look past that and focus on the fact that not only would I be getting a new post-wedding look, but in the process, helping others.

Of course, I will document the whole experience to share with you all here... it should be interesting. My husband isn't sold on the idea of me with a shorter do (he loves my long hair) but thinks that it's really cool that I'll be donating it to help others.

Besides it's only hair... it'll grow back eventually!

New Look!

noreply@blogger.com (Cassie) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:51:00 +0000

Hey everyone! How are you doing?

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my new look! Do you like? I figured it was time for my first real blog makeover!

Erin from Samantha's Day Graphic Design hooked me up with a sweet new look. And it's completely personalized. I was super nervous about this, I had no idea what I was doing or what exactly I wanted, remember the blog post about my next step? Well I decided to jump in with both feet, and to kick it off, I partnered with Erin to do a redesign. First off, I had no idea what a favicon is. However I will say that Erin is wonderful to work with and she creates everything on her own. You aren't going to find another blog like mine!

So I'm going to continue to blog about my life in general, who knows where tomorrow will take us. Hope you can come along for the ride!

What do you think about my new look?