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

It didn’t go very well.  It was a nice little 3 miler, but not even a mile in, I was walking.  I was huffing and puffing, even though I’d taken my medicine before I left.  You see, like many other runners, I have exercise induced asthma.  I’ve never (knock on wood) had an attack, but my lungs are awfully tight when I run.  I’ve tried to work through it, but I always end up walking while trying to suck in air.

This time I decided enough is enough.  There is a lot of pressure in the blog world to run races.  Not direct pressure, and maybe it’s all in my head.  But so many people are getting these lovely shiny medals, and it makes you want one to!  And I’ve tried. 

But even during my half marathon, I wasn’t breathing right.  I hadn’t trained enough.  And I walked.  A lot.

The other day after my wheezy 3 miler, I went back to the drawing board.  I called the doctor, and together we are working on the best treatment for my asthma.  I revamped my training plan using the Couch to 5k program, with a goal of running the 3 mile Beachpalooza in New York at the end of August. 

I can’t tell you how excited I am to run this obstacle course.  The hubs is running it with me, and it’s super close to his mom’s house, so we can just roll out of bed and head to the beach. 

After this race, I will be starting the Bridge to 10k program, with a goal of running the “Run the Bridge 10k” that crosses the Ben Franklin Bridge in Philly.  I’ve wanted to run this race for a long time, and I think it will be a great time! 

After this though… my race season for 2011 will be over.  Yes, my longest race for 2011 will be 6.2 miles, which seems to be a blog travesty!  But this brings me back to my original point…

We don’t always have to be over achievers!  Running marathons and half marathons and ironmans is great.  If you can do it, do it.  But if you can’t, there’s nothing wrong with scaling back.  I’m excited to “start over,” and hope that ultimately it will make me faster and stronger.  And maybe next year I’ll get a pretty medal  

If anyone else is in the same boat, I strongly recommend the Couch to 5k program.  I’ve used it before, and it just works for me!  There’s even an iPhone app that tells you when to run and when to walk.  It’s the best.

Do you have asthma?  How has it affected your running?  Have you ever had to “start over” with your running?

Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes
At one point this was a Rachel Ray recipe, but not really anymore…

1 pound ground beef
1 quarter onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons bbq sauce
1 cup beef stock
Salt and ground black pepper
4 dinner rolls
A few slices of provolone cheese

In a large skillet, start browning your ground beef… until it’s all brown (usually 6-7 minutes, but just eye ball it!)  While it’s browning, start chopping your veggies!

Once the veggies are chopped and your meat has browned up, add the veggies into the pan.  Let them soften up in the pan… it’ll probably take 3-4 minutes.  You’ll be adding liquid to the pan in a minute, so you don’t need them to be too soft!  The liquid will help soften them up.

Add a cup of beef stock and a few tablespoons of barbeque sauce (or steak sauce if you have some on hand!) and let it simmer until it thickens for a little bit.

While your sauce thickens, throw a few rolls in the toaster oven and put some provolone cheese on top so it gets all melty and delicious.  Pile some of the sloppy joe mix on top, and enjoy!  Best served with some fresh, summery corn on the cob (unpictured), or even some yummy steak fries.  (I didn’t make fries this time, but I’m sure Robert will request them after reading this post!)

I was so proud of myself for making a new recipe – I get stuck in cooking ruts sometimes.  Have you made any yummy new recipes lately?!

Have you ever seen snow on the beach?  That had always been on my bucket list, and this past Christmas, I finally got to see it.  It came at a price… we got snowed in for a few days after Christmas, but when we finally dug out, we were rewarded with some sparkling snow! 

Grab your favorite mug of Christmas Tea (I prefer Trader Joe’s Candy Cane Green Tea), and transport yourself into a land of snow and sand!

This is what we saw when we walked out the front door…

People couldn’t make it back to their houses, so they just ditched their cars on the median!

We finally made it to the beach, and it was so worth it.  Isn’t this breathtaking?!

The snow froze the sand, and where you thought you could stand… you just sank! 

So beautiful…

This guy decided to brave the snow too

One of my favorite shots. 

I super heart Rockaway!

And this is what we would have had to drive home in!  So… we waited an extra day.  There was no way this was happening.

Upon returning home, we were greeting by the best fur-niece on the planet.  What better way to warm back up from visiting the frozen tundra than cuddling with the sweetest bulldog ever?!  And what better way to reward ourselves for shoveling out our cars the next day than the best  New York pizza ever?! 

We might have been snowed in, but it was a fantastic trip.  We played lots of board games and card games, and generally had some sibling bonding time.  I love my newly extended family, and it was nice to spend some time snowed in with them… but I have to say the beach walk was the highlight of that visit.  The beach was so peaceful and serene, and it was a wonderful way to cure the cabin fever!

Did you get snowed in this year?  Do you wish you were still snowed in instead of sweating buckets in July?  Personally, I prefer the warmth, so I’m trying not to complain too much!  Snow is pretty in pictures… but I can wait a while longer to see it again in person!!

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?!

To start off, let’s recap the month of May in true accounting style – by the numbers.  (PS can you believe it’s June?  Holy Crap.)

1 – One new camera!  Check out this amazing gift that the hubster surprised me with.  I cried!  I can’t wait to use it on our honeymoon!

1 – Also a new iphone!  I’ve been loving using apps like instagram (see pic above!) and beating Robert at Words with Friends

2 – New blog friends who I finally got to meet for lunch last week!  Chrissey and Stephanie and I had a great lunch at Marathon Grill in Philadelphia.  It was surreal meeting people I met on the internet, but we had so much to chat about.

3 – Flavors of frozen yogurt I had at the new Yapple Yogurt down the street from our apartment!  It opened two weeks ago, and Robert and I went to welcome in summer over Memorial Day Weekend.  I tried white chocolate, peanut butter, and birthday cake – they were all so good!

4 – Number of books I read in May!  This includes Bossypants by Tina Fey (amazing, had me laughing on the train, and loving all of the Pennsylvania references!  she also included a great message for women – not just women comedians.  Girl power!)  I also read The Love Season by Elin Hilderbrand.  This book was good, but I threw it on the couch at the end because I was disappointed by the ending. Finally, I read Firefly Lane and True Colors by Kristin Hannah.  I am now officially addicted to her books!  The first had me bawling on the train, and the second was so deeply real.  Kristen Hannah really paints you into the story, both in the plot and in the setting.  You find yourself so invested in the characters!  I loved both books and can’t wait to read more of her work in June!

7 – Inches I chopped off of my hair right after the wedding!  I couldn’t wait to get my Post Wedding Chop, and scheduled my appointment for the first day that the salons were open after the wedding.  Take a look:

             Before………………………………………………………After!

8 – Number of yoga classes I attended at Dana Hot Yoga this month.  I really enjoyed the chance to fulfill my groupon, but by the end of it, I was ready for a little break.  But I truly feel like I am a better “yogi” now… except:

1 – Number of times I FACEPLANTED while attempting crow pose.  OUCH.  My nose was bruised for days!

13th – My 25th birthday!  Robert and I celebrated with an amazing dinner of calamari, basil mojitos, and amazing bacon burgers at 20 Manning.  The burger was great, but not the best burger I ever had!  (Although I might have kept comparing their food to 20 Manning’s sister restaurant, Audrey Claire.  The mussels at AC are in the top 5 of favorite meals ever!)  We finished the night with drinks at Table 31 on the Thursday prior.  Although I work right above Table 31, I’d never been there.  We sat outside, and I swear it felt like we were in Miami!  The celebration continued at my BFF Kirsten’s house, where she and her husband bbq’ed for our friend Georgia, Bob’s friend Pat, Robert, and me.  We drank strawberry wine from Heritage Vineyards, ate a giant cookie cake, and just chatted.  It was the perfect way to celebrate my birthday! 

31 – Days of being a wife!  I never thought that being married would feel very different.  We’d  been living together for almost 3 years by the time we got married, but it has been amazing.  I feel more connected to Robert, and I’m just giddy with love.  (Ok I’ll stop making you puke now.)

80,000 – Degrees that it’s been outside.  OMG it is so hot and humid, and it was only May.  I’ve never wanted rain so badly before in my life.  Anything to break the heat!

What were you up to in May?!  I can’t believe my favorite month is over

What I failed to account for was that I was chicken.  I woke up in time every Wednesday morning, but I scared myself  and would go for a run instead.  Then one Tuesday in March, I had a dress fitting, and while the dress zipped, I couldn’t sit down (that’s a whole other story for another time!).  The next morning, I woke my ass out of bed and went to spin class. 

{Chapter 1}

I told the teacher (her name was Sarah) that it was my first time spinning.  She explained how to set up the bike so that I wouldn’t bounce around and injure myself.  And then it was time.  I was so nervous but I tried to treat the class like yoga class.  If the class was in a “run” but I couldn’t stay standing that long, I’d just sit down and get up when I felt ready.  By mid-class, I felt more awake than if I had had a giant iced coffee.   What a rush!  I was hooked.

{Chapter 2}

The following week, I took another class with the same teacher.  I was loving the music selection (all fun pop music like the new Jlo and Britney songs!) and I was getting stronger.  By the end of the class, the other women in the class recognized me from last week and told me how strong I looked, and gave me tips for “running” that would make it easier (like turning up the resistance so you’re not bouncing around all over the place!).  I started chatting with one girl about running and the Broad Street Run.  I never believed that people made friends in the gym, but maybe they do.

{Chapter 3}

The week before the wedding, I took off from work.  I refused to make it to my regular 615am spin class, so I took a 630pm spin class.  The teacher was good, but he was older and not nearly as energetic as Sarah was.  He played songs like the Beatles, and the class kinda dragged.  But it was still great to sweat.it.out. and melt off some stress.  Oh – I should mention, that at this point I could sit down in my wedding gown.  Maybe it was the spin class, maybe it was the salads I was eating at lunch… but I think it was spin class.

{Chapter 4}

After my last spin class, I was hesitant to go back.  I felt like maybe since the last class was kind of boring, I wasn’t going to like it anymore.  (read: I tried to talk myself out of it again.)  But I didn’t feel like running and I needed to sweat, so I went.  And for the first time, I was able to get through the entire class without having to sit when the class was standing.  I think part of it was the teacher (unfortunately not Sarah!) is training for a triathalon so she had us focused on endurance and speed, which I prefer to the hills.  But also I can feel myself getting stronger, and it’s so fulfilling. 

I’ve been having a hard time getting motivated for running lately, but spin class makes me smile.  And as an added bonus, every time I hear the new Jlo song (On the floor) or the new Britney song (Til the world ends) it makes me excited to get back to class and rock out.  Who doesn’t like to spend 45 minutes jamming out? 

Anyway, sorry for the wordy post with no pictures!  Have you ever taken a class that freaked you out?  Did you end up liking it?

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

We got married!  I know it’s been a while since I’ve been around but I had to pop in and share the joy.  It was truly the best day of my life – not just because I married my best friend, but because we were surrounded by so much love.  We’ll never again be in the presence of so many people from so many different aspects of our lives at the same time, all celebrating our love.  It is so sappy, but I’m trying hard to absorb as much of that feeling as I can while it’s still fresh.  I have lots to fill you guys in on, but in the meantime, here are a few teaser pictures from our amazing photographer…