I’m trying something new.  I linked up my wordpress blog to a tumblr – a blog format focused on short, spur of the moment type posts.  I know I have lots of full posts to catch you up on, but maybe this way I will keep up on my blog when I only have little things to say or fun pictures to share.

Hopefully you all like this change, and hopefully I do too!

Be back soon!

- Cassie

My MOH K got married in September, so her shower was last July (yes almost a year ago, hush.)  The shower was held at her now mother-in-law’s house, and it was gorgeous!  The spread of food was amazing…

The decor was creative:

(We each wrote down advice to make K a bouquet!)

The gifts were plentiful:

And I got to put my bow-hat making skills to good use:

My friend (and bridesmaid) M’s shower was held this March.  I had never been on the planning end of a shower before, and Jesus was it stressful… and expensive.  But at the end it was so worth it!  This was also the first shower I’d been a part of where it was completely a surprise – and she sure was surprised.  It was great!

The favors were these intricately designed cookies in the shape of wedding cakes.  Each cake was different!  We also played bridal shower bingo as M opened up pressies… and if anyone wants the template, I should be able to find it somewhere to send you!  Just email me

And just as with K’s shower, I got to make the bow hat again!  I love how it turned out.  A lot of people think that showers get boring – but if you’re the one creating a bow masterpiece, it flies by! 

The bridesmaids all came together to put on a great shower for M.  She got tons of gifts, and I think she had a great time.  

Have you ever planned a bridal shower?  Tell me it was stressful for you, too?!

Anyway, for months now I’ve been telling myself to blog about our lovely invitations.  And of course, like all of my wedding posts, there’s a story.

Once upon a time, I stumbled upon Blush Paperie.  I promptly fell in love with the colors and the beautiful designs.  I ordered a few samples, and received them over the summer when I had off from work.  I remember calling my mom going “omg I’m in stationary heaven.”  The invitations were embossed and the papers were soft like cotton.  They were matted on a complimentary color paper.  The fonts… oh – the fonts!  I knew I had to have them.

Flashforward a few months.  I’m in Target, and find a clearance rack with two boxes of 50 invitations… for $7.99 each!  I buy them.  They are pretty, but not as pretty as the Blush invitations… but for $16, the bride has to make it work, right?  Here are the invites:

So it comes time to actually print the invites.  We don’t HAVE a printer, and a good printer that would produce quality invitations would be ridiculously expensive and not worth it.  We reach out to the guy my MOH used to print her invites, and 1) he was rude and 2) he was almost as expensive as if we just ordered our my dream invitations.  A few nights of number crunching, and it was decided… why spend money on printing invitations that we didn’t LOVE?  Sure we could have saved money, but by the time we printed the invites, printed the rsvps, got a calligrapher for the envelopes, etc – we’d only be saving $100 from ordering the beautiful stationary-heaven invites through Blush Paperie.  So we did!

A few emails to the owner Michele, and we had our order placed.  It was so quick and painless.  We shot a few proofs back and forth, and she even changed her usual design a smidge for us.  She was so pleasant to work with (she even handled my OCD-esque requests with humor!), and I was almost sad when I didn’t have a reason to email her anymore!  But my sadness was quickly replaced with giddy joy over the beautiful invitations.  (And I mean quick – the entire process took approximately 2 weeks.)  Check out these beauties:

Savannah invitations with Adios font for the script wording and Garamond Small Caps for the body of the invitation, by Blush Paperie.  LOVE!

*sigh* and check out the insert cards:

You can see how she custom-made our RSVP card, as the typical design is that of the reception card above it.  I loved the way it looked with the design on the side.  Michele was so accomodating!

And finally, we had our invitations digitally calligraphered (is that a word?  it is now!).  Look at all the yummy font:

Plus – the icing on the cake is that since we sent them out around Valentine’s Day… the stamp cancelling machine printed a heart on the envelopes!  I had debated as to whether to get the envelopes hand-cancelled or not, and for once it turns out that my laziness actually paid off

Anyway, this story has two morals.  1) Go email Michele from Blush Paperie!  I promise you won’t be disappointed.  and 2) Don’t buy things just because they are cheap.  You WILL change your mind (this happened to me with bridesmaids jewelry too…) and you will be out money.  Even $15 adds up!

p.s. anyone want 100 champagne swirl invitations?  I’ll give you a bargain deal of free

Yes, I’m late to the game, but I wanted to play the blogger ABC Game that I saw some bloggers do this week.

A. Age: 24.  Twice the age I used to be when I would fill these surveys out.  Can you spot me in this pic??

B. Bed size: Full.  It’s cozy.

C. Chore you hate: Putting anything away.  Laundry, dishes, etc.  (Robert, do NOT weigh in on this )

D. Dogs: Want.  Have 3.  Once, my dog Bailey had 11 puppies.  ELEVEN!  Those were happy times.    I miss my dogs every day, and dream of getting a puppy of my own to love.  *sigh*

E. Essential start to your day: Brekkie and some tea.  The tea is absolutely non-negotiable.  It doesn’t necessarily have to have caffiene, it just needs to be warm and delicious.

F. Favorite color: Purple!!

G. Gold or silver: How about white gold?

H. Height: 5’4.

I. Instruments you play: I played the clarinet in elementary school, but sucked at it.  I never liked singing, unless I’m in the car.  Or lip syncing the words of every song to Robert.

J. Job title: Senior Accountant at Kabletown…

K. Kids: Currently I prefer children that I can spoil, but give back to their parents when they become too loud and whiny.  One day I’d like to have 3ish children.  Robert might disagree with that number…

L. Live: Grew up in NJ, living in Philadelphia Suburbs.  Gotta love the Mid-Atlantic.

M. Mom’s name: Ann

N. Nicknames: Grandpa calls me Casseranda Pacasandra.  A lot of people call me “cass.”  In high school, they called me “Sarah.”

O. Overnight hospital stays: N/A

P. Pet peeve: I have to narrow down to just one pet peeve?  Oy.

Q. Quote from a movie: Pretty much anything from 10 Things I Hate About You. (RIP Heath Ledger)  “I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?”

R. Right or left handed: Right.

S. Siblings: Younger Brother, Michael… soon to be Sister-in-law, Corinne (and FBIL, her husband Ramie!)

T. Time you wake up: Gym morning? 5:30.  Other weekday?  6:45.  Weekend?  Late.

U. Underwear: Comfy

V. Vegetables you dislike: Mushrooms, if they count.  Also not a fan of Swiss Chard.

W. What makes you run late: I’m late all the time and I’m not sure why.  Sometimes I think I even get distracted by floating dust particles in the air.  Whoops.

X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth, and arm X2.

Y. Yummy food you make: Robert says everything I make is yummy.  (Just kidding.)  He’s been liking some of my soups lately, especially the Black Bean Soup

Z. Zoo- favorite animal: Giraffe!

Did you play the ABC game?  Send me your link!

The HOF was so cool!  We saw Johnny Cash’s tour bus…

these neon signs from the Gwen & Moby “Southside” video below (does anyone else remember this song from the 90′s?)

Onto the third track in our soundtrack… flashback!

…the iconic Weezer sign… and gosh, so much more.  There was even a whole Bruce Springsteen exhibit, which I appreciated as a native New Jersey-er!

Plus we got to see an amazing sunset!

Afterwards, we continued our food tour at The Chocolate Bar, on Euclid Ave.  I was torn in between getting the “Chocolate Baguette” – toasted baguette. smooth dark chocolate. coarse sea salt. served with an olive oil and chocolate dipping sauce, and the “Chocolate Bar Pasta” – fresh pasta tossed with white chocolate cream, fresh basil, white pepper and white wine.  I decided to either go big, or go home and went with the pasta!  It was good.. but not quite what I was expecting.  It was similar to alfredo sauce, but needed a little bit more salt and pepper.  Still great, especially when enjoyed next to a Chocolate Mint martini

The last day of the food tour of Cleveland was by far the best.  We had gotten out of training early, and on the way back to the hotel, I swung by my favorite Cleveland establishment, Phoenix Coffee.  I don’t think I’d mentioned yet how much I loved this place.  It was cute and funky, the staff and I were bff by the time Friday rolled around, and they had the best coconut tea I’d ever tried. 

On the walk over, I realized that the sun was actually out (it had been raining off and on all week) and I wanted to keep on walking.  The staff at Phoenix directed me down to the waterfront, and off I went.

Fourth track to our soundtrack:

With a cup of tea in hand, and the new Jimmy Eat World album playing on my iPod, I couldn’t have asked for a better way to explore the city.  I had come into Cleveland with a bad attitude, I’ll admit.  But the city totally won me over.  Everyone was nice, the food was good, and the city was actually gorgeous.

And the day didn’t end there!  Stay tuned for one more post… one of the best meals of my life!

Have there been any cities that have caught your attention when you didn’t think they would be much to write home about?

Upon hearing this voice coming from nowhere (he didn’t realize I turned on Pandora), Robert freezes and goes “what is that?” 

[source]

Gaga proceeds with “Don’t look at me like that” and omg, guys, you’d think we were being invaded.

[source]

The look on his face was priceless. I think I laughed for 20 minutes.

Edited to add: the only thing funnier than the scenario above would be Robert’s reaction to this post.  Priceless.

Guys.  It’s snowing.  Again.

I used to love living in Pennsylvania (and before that, I loved living right across the river in New Jersey).  While it gets humid in the summer, it’s never completely unbearable like humidity in Florida.  And while it would get cold in the winter, it was never like living in Syracuse.

In fact, while I fell in love with Chicago when we visited in 2009, I refused to move there because it was just too darn cold.

(Chicago isn’t cold in September though.  I miss it!  I also miss my short hair.  *sigh*)

I thought we were in the perfect Mid-Atlantic Climate.  Until last winter.  And then this happened:

It started snowing.  And it snowed all winter.  And then this winter it started snowing again.  And it hasn’t really stopped since.

(and that’s just what accumulated on my walk home!)

So I wanted to share with you what’s helped me get through it, in case any of you are in the same boat [errr... snowstorm].

1) Dreaming of warmth: Robert and I recently booked our honeymoon for Antigua!  (I’m trying to get him to write a Wedding Wednesday post about how we booked it!  Encourage him!) Looking at pictures like this make me feel warmer inside.

2)  Drinking in warmth: you guys know that I love a good cup of tea.  This week I’ve been feeling under the weather and all I want to do is drink warm things.  To avoid overdosing on tea, I’ve also been drinking hot water with a lemon slice soaked in it.  It’s been so warm and comforting!  I have to give Mama Pea credit for inspiring this idea.

3) Speaking of Lemons: Robert and I have been OBSESSED with 30 Rock lately.  We’ve worked our way through the whole series once, and we’re now going back through it.  It seemed dumb at first (I mean really dumb!) but now you see that it’s just goofy fun.  And the show is actually fairly nuanced, in that we’re picking up on hilarious things now that we totally missed the first time through.  Plus the inside jokes they weave throughout all the episodes and seasons give the show great continuity.  30 Rock is best enjoyed while under a warm blanket with a cup of tea.

(source)

4) Getting lost in a book: I can’t remember if I mentioned that I got the Nook for Christmas?  Well, I did.  Thanks, Santa!  This baby is amazing.  We got snowed in while visiting Robert’s family after Christmas, and it was so nice to have books at my fingertips, since I hadn’t brought any other form of entertainment.  There’s nothing like getting lost in a book to take your mind off of the reality of the Arctic Tundra forming outside!  So far I’ve read The Book Thief, Heaven is for Real, a few popcorn/chick-lit books, and now I’m mid-way through Shanghai Girls.  I strongly suggest reading The Book Thief (I’m serious, this is my new favorite book), and Shanghai Girls seems to be really good so far!  Clearly I have a thing for historical fiction.

And I know (I know!) people have issues with e-Readers.  I was one of those people for a while.  But being able to have all of these books at my fingertips has been clutch while I’ve been either snowed in, or just too darn cold to go to the book store!   Plus, look how pretty it is

What do you do to stay warm in the winter?  Any suggestions are appreciated!

Lately, wedding planning just hasn’t been fun anymore.

Ever since the first of the year, I’ve felt this pressure on my shoulders about the wedding.  “Oh my gosh, it’s 4 months away. We must do this-and-this-and-this.”  And since the invitations are going out, it’s been a mess of determining the guest list, nitpicking about the color of the paper, and whether to hire a calligrapher or get the envelopes printed.  And I’m trying to be nice.  But gosh, guys, it’s so hard to please everybody all the time!  (yes, yes, DUH cass)

And YES I know that these things are not important in the grand scheme of things.  Whether the invitation is on ivory paper or white paper does not dictate whether or not Robert and I will have a great marriage. 

But lately I’ve been consumed with wedding planning.  All I can think of is the wedding.  When I’m not thinking about the invitations, I’m thinking about the place cards.  And when I’m not thinking about the place cards, I’m thinking about my bridesmaids’ accessories.  And when I’m not thinking about my bridesmaids’ accessories… well you get the idea. 

And… well, I had this lovely vision of all my closest friends and my mom and my future sister and mother in law all joining hands and singing lovely songs about my lovely wedding.  But they all have their own lives, and their own weddings, and their own thoughts in their head that might not always revolve around my wedding.  And that’s ok.  But sometimes I feel a little lonely.  And it’s hard sometimes to elaborate how I picture certain aspects of the wedding, so I end up bickering with some of the closest women in my life.  And really… the place cards aren’t worth it. 

Anyway what I’m trying to say is that while a lot of people warned me of burning out on wedding planning, I never expected it to happen to me.  I just keep wishing that it was over already – and I hate that I have been thinking that.  I need to step back for a little while, and focus on what this is all about – our marriage.  I know that regardless of what my head is thinking, my heart feels the love that’s all around me, and I know that I am blessed.  I only plan on doing this once, so I need to focus on the present and enjoy this special time.

So I hope that you all understand if I’m not constantly providing wedding updates.  I’m really excited to share all the details with you, but I need a breather.   I hope you can forgive me

Have you ever gotten burned out by planning an event?  Any tips for surviving would be appreciated!

p.s. thank God for a practical wedding.  I can’t write as well as meg or alyssa or lauren, but they know how to get me through this mess.  I highly recommend stopping by this amazing site for answers to… everything.  I might not be feeling so sane right now, but I can only imagine how I’d feel had I never found APW.

Anyway, in lieu of a typical “Time Machine Tuesday,” let’s reflect on 2010, shall we? I know that this blog hasn’t been around long enough for you all to have seen my 2010 resolutions, so I’ll fill you in. And of course I made some goals for 2011, so you can stop by later and check those out too.

1. First we had this heavy hitter: “Be more patient/relax.” Man, that sure is easier said than done (just as Robert!) I’ve worked really hard to be more chill and roll with the flow, but I can’t say I always did this. I think I definitely was more patient than I had been in previous years, though – especially with family members. One of the most memorable blog posts I’ve read this year was on Hangry Pants about how “it’s not my trip.” (Or at least I thought it was on Hangry Pants?  I can’t seem to find it.) Keeping that in mind has helped me to stop stressing about others. I know that I’ll need to continue this habit in the coming year.

2. Take care of myself. I write pretty broad resolutions, huh? Well I had detailed this one out in an outline form, so let’s take a look.

a. Broad Street Run. Check. (although we can use the term “run” loosely.)

b. Philly Rock&Roll Half Marathon. This goal became the Philadelphia Half Marathon in November. Again we use the term “run” loosely, but check. (Recap forthcoming.)

c. Yoga 1-3x/week. Fail. I barely went once.

d. Eat healthier. Half-check. I did well for the first half of the year!

e. Drive safer – no phone + driving. Epic fail.

3. Become a better fiancé – for this resolution, I decided that I just hadn’t been giving Robert my all. I resolved to leave any work problems at work, and to spend more quality time together. This resolution is a work in progress, and didn’t really kick in until later in the year, but I was able to find a way to separate myself from my work problems (I will divulge my solution soon!), and we spent a great vacation together, riding our bikes and just relaxing.

4. In the same vein, I also wanted to become a better friend/family member. I wanted to call friends at least a few times a month, call my Grandparents more often, and visit home and New York more frequently. I’d say I was relatively successful – I definitely talk to my friends more often, and visited some of them more often than I had planned. I had a lot of room to spare in the “calling grandma and grandpa category” – so even the few times I called them was more often than usual. (Bad granddaughter!) This of course could still use improvement.

5. Lastly, I told myself I was going to save more. I wanted to limit shopping and eating out, and negotiate cheaper cable. (Ironic. You’ll find out soon enough. Long story short, I succeeded at this goal.) Well I limited shopping… for a while. Then got bad again.  We didn’t really limit eating out, although my girlfriends and I have been cooking for each other lately instead of going out for girls’ nights. And I DID negotiate cheaper cable, which was helpful for a little while. I strongly suggest to all of you to use your cable company’s “online chat” feature for customer service. These customer service technicians aren’t the ones getting constantly yelled at, and you don’t feel like they’re belittling you. The kindness is a nice change of pace, and it’s a win-win for everyone. Also, I just hate being on the phone, and I’ve had a lot of success with this method. Do it, I promise! I used this link as a guide, and it got my bill down quite a bit. Let me know how it works for you! Overall, though, I kinda sucked at this goal. I am saving more now because of some other changes, not really because I’m cutting back. With less than 4 months to the wedding, it’s time to get serious.

Looking back, my goals were just ok. I mean first, I only planned some of my goals out. The most successful goals are the ones with a clearly defined means to achieving the goal. Otherwise we’re just left muddling through, trying to figure out where to start – and who knows how long that might take! Secondly, they were a little too broad. And not really much fun! As a preliminary goal for 2011… I want to stop taking everything so seriously! (ok ok now I’m back to my broad, undefined goals. But whatever!)

I’m still coming up with my other resolutions for 2011, but it was fun to revisit 2010.  Hopefully next year I’ll achieve more of my goals! How did you do with fulfilling your New Years Resolutions last year?

Anyway, I know that I’ve been MIA for the last week.  Christmas got the best of me this year, and I just never felt like I had enough time.  But I’m back and ready to scan some more fun things.  We’ve done a few sets of dishware and things, but one of the most fun parts of registering was all the cool gadgets we registered for.  Here are a few we loved, and a few that I wish made their way to our list!

First things first was the Griddler.  One of my favorite things in life is a warm, gooey Panini.  One of my other favorite things in life is a plate of delicious grilled veggies.  This fun toy is more than just a Panini press.  The Griddler can open up into a full electric grill and allow me to create both of my favorite things.   I can’t wait to get this gorgeous gadget in my kitchen!

One of Robert’s requests for our registry was a waffle iron.  As a kid I never really liked waffles, but lately I’ve been really loving the idea of a Sunday morning brunch with waffles topped with strawberries.  This one is super cool, since it will make both of us waffles at the same time.  (or just two for me.)  And since Robert scanned it, that means he’ll be the one making the waffles… right?

Another one of Robert’s requests was the Cuisinart Grind and Brew coffee maker.  We have the best little shop in Ardmore called the Head Nut.  It sells loose leaf tea, coffee (ground or whole bean), snacks, and spices. This coffee machine will grind the delicious head nut coffee fresh for every pot you make. Pretty cool, right?  I’m not much of a coffee drinker, but for all of you coffee devotees like Robert, this could change your life.

Then there are some gadgets that I wish we’d have room for in our kitchen.  First, this pasta machine.  I just made pasta for the first time a few weeks ago (post coming soon – it was amazing!) This would definitely be a delicious addition to any kitchen!

Then there’s this wine chiller.  In my dream world, I have enough fancy wine to fill this baby up.  The truth is, we love wine too much for it to stick around much longer than a day or two.  So while I love the concept of starting a wine collection, our dining room would appreciate me leaving this darling at the store. 

Finally, after reading blogger after blogger who live by their juicers, I can’t resist lusting after all the yummy concoctions I could make if I had one of these guys in my life.  But really, I know that we’re usually busy drinking all the wine that should go in our fictional wine chiller, so we don’t have much room in our lives for other beverages.  But how cool would this be?!  I mean seriously.

Ok well hope you had fun dreaming of fun gadgets with me!  What is your favorite toy to use in the kitchen?