May by the Numbers

Hello friends!  Hope you’re all doing well.  I’ve been doing some thinking and I realized that I keep getting stuck in the past on the blog, and don’t ever find time to write about the present.  So I’m going to power through – fire off a bunch of old posts that I really want to remember, mixed in with some fun new things.  Feel free to skip the old, boring stuff if you want!  I hope to be done in two weeks or so, and then finally be all caught up.  By that time, we should have our professional wedding pics, in which case I’ll also bang out some Weddingbee style recaps, and then be on our merry way.  Sound good?  Good.

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

Birthday Week!

Last year I met a friend of mine for lunch on my birthday.  We hadn’t known each other very long, and I’ve never much liked being the center of attention, so I hadn’t exactly been walking around announcing “tomorrow is my birthday!” to everyone I met.  When I met my friend for lunch, I whispered to her: “I have a secret… today is my birthday!” 

This year, the same friend wouldn’t let me forget that last year I ambushed her with my little surprise.   She and another one of my best friends from work started out Birthday Week last Monday at Mexican Post.  For those of you not well acquainted with Philadelphia – this restaurant does Mexican food RIGHT.  And when a girl has a craving for chips and salsa, there’s no better place to go.  Add a mango margarita, and some silly gossip,and you’ve got yourself a fantastic girls night.  I am so grateful to have these girls in my life… I honestly don’t know how I’d get through the work day without them!

Tuesday continued the festivities with a firm-sponsored Happy Hour after training.  Can I just mention how wonderful it was to have training during birthday week?  What a nice change of pace!  It was good to know that I’d definitely get out of work before 7:30 on my birthday

Thursday, May 13, was my actual birthday.  I turned the big 2-4, and celebrated with my family and fiancée at my new favorite place – Lourdas in Bryn Mawr.  Lourdas is the smallest little hole in the wall by the Bryn Mawr train station, and their food is to die for. 

(see how tiny and cute?! source.)

My parents were so generous – they brought me flowers, paid for our delicious gyros (and Melitzanosalata, an eggplant and pepper dip.  I could have licked the bowl of this stuff… so good!  And their hummus was incredible – even Robert was eating it.  That’s a huge compliment!)

The ‘rents also contributed to the “Cassie Wants a Garmin” fund, and my brother finished it off.  That night, I went straight home and ordered my new best friend… which arrived today!  So excited to take her for a whirl   hehe

Now Friday…. Friday was amazing.  Whenever we have training, it’s more or less understood that we get a half day on Friday.  But this time was different.  On this Friday, we only stayed until 10:45.  I took the 11:15 home, and read my book the whole way.  And got home and read my book in my pj’s until I finished it.  And grabbed another book and headed to my nearest outdoor dining establishment and did this:

With this charming dining companion:

Ok so maybe I just liked to pretend I was eating with that handsome fellow.  I want a puppy so badly!  But I consoled myself by doing more of this in Suburban Square after my lunch:

Reading in the sunshine by a fountain in my favorite shopping center?  Happy Birthday to me.  I took a break from my reading to do a little bit of shopping and get a mani/pedi at my favorite salon, and then Robert and I headed out to watch the Flyers make history.  (Unfortunately.  Rangers fans, remember?)  Things might have gotten a little silly after a few Yuenglings and a rockin’ DJ…

Clearly I needed sleep after that exhausting day   But not too much sleep – there was fun to be had on Saturday too!  Robert and I had promised each other bikes as an anniversary gift, and Saturday was the first time we’d had a chance to go shopping.  We ended up at Target, and took Robert’s little civic.  We assumed (yes I know what assuming does…) that the bikes would be sold in a box to be assembled at home, and we’d have NO PROBLEMS fitting the bikes in the car.  Epic fail.  Target was oh-so-kind enough to let you wheel their bikes to the register and buy them pre-assembled.  “Sweet,” we thought, “we’ll just pop the front wheel off and fit them in the back seat.”  Epic fail v2.0.  The brakes were on too tight to release the wheel, and we didn’t have the proper tools.  Luckily I saw this in the distance: 

We rode our bikes to Lowe’s, and after buying a $2 piece of 8ft molding, loaded our bikes into the Lowes rent-a-truck, and drove home. I don’t know what we’d have done without that beast of a truck! 

(Or lovely bikes in their new home. They are Schwinn Gateway Hybrid Bikes)

We got home just in time to get dolled up and meet some friends  out for dinner and drinks in the city.  Robert was a doll and organized all of my friends to celebrate my birthday.  I missed a few good friends, but I got to see a lot of my closest friends.  It meant so much to me that they came into the city just for me!

There were many Magic Hat #9’s, a great burger, and a lot of dancing – I couldn’t have asked for more!  I truly have the best friends in the world, and they helped make this the best birthday in a long time!  I hope my 24th year is just as good as my 24th birthday!