Birthdays, Babies and Bathing...

I am throwing Marty a 30th suprise party this summer. We are inviting his friends and they're families and I'm wondering, what kind of party favor do you hand out? The theme is SUPER casual, it's going to be in the afternoon. I thought about those edible rocks in cute little pails or maybe little bags of popcorn. I don't know...he has a HUGE sweet tooth so I thought about a candy table, but I want it to be appropriate too, is a candy table ok for a 30th birthday? I'm kind of clueless about those things. Moving on...

We have had SSSOOO many activities lately I feel like I'm running in circles! We had Mandy's Mexican Fiesta a few weeks ago. It was an all girls' celebration. We had yummy food that I think I posted about previously and just a great time in general. I was too busy playing hostess to take pictures, though. Then my we had Keri's baby shower. I guess we're all growing up!

Kristen, Keri's sister and me.

This week we did dinner and movie Tuesday night with couple's for Tamara's birthday. We went and saw The Bounty Hunter. It was REALLY cute!

Tessa and Tamara with her cake.

A group shot. Why I always pose with my hand on my hip...I think I get it from my grandma. Note to self: It looks silly when you're doing it alone!

Ok, I need some more advice/hints/tips/etc. The only grooming I ever do for Tyke is a bath in between his grooming appointments if he's played out in the backyard with Mack, our black lab, or something. But, I got the bright idea to buy him a toothbrush the other day because everything you read says it's important to their health, right??? Well, I read the instructions carefully, and followed them closely...and that was the poorest excuse of teeth brushing I have ever seen. If any of y'all out there in blog land do that for your dogs...could you clue me in? He was thrashing around, getting toothpaste on everything in site. I can imagine what a picture we made. So, from now on, I'm leaving that to the groomer!

Sorry, it's been so long. I feel like there's been too much going on lately. On the work front and otherwise. I'm still training for the marathon relay at the end of the month, but I haven't been getting in the higher mileage that I would like.

This weekend we have turkey hunters coming in so there's not a lot on the agenda other than a little cooking and a long run on Sunday. Hope y'all have a great one!

An East Texas Wedding...

A week ago today we drove to Gilmer for Marty's cousins wedding. We barely made it due to construction and traffic in Denton.

Marty and our niece, Ciara. She was a flower girl and did a great job! She lost her front tooth in her sleep! Crazy girl! Isn't she precious?

M and his cousin, Morgan, at the reception.

I'm a bad person and didn't get a single picture of the bride and groom. They were precious, though!!! It was a lovely wedding, but by the time it was over I was one tired puppy.

Saturday Jerrye and I headed to Winnesboro to do some scheming for Marty's birthday. It was a cute, quaint little town and we did a little shopping and eating while we were there.

Sunday we went over to Justin and Robin's to celebrate Justin's 30th birthday. He made fresh mojitos, cooked steak and potatoes and then flambeed crepes. I told him I felt bad that he cooked for us on his birthday, but he was quite the little chef. (And he's a fireman, otherwise, the flambe might have scared me a little!)

Here's Justin working his mojo in the kitchen...

I couldn't capture the flame with the lights on, so we turned them off. Still not a great picture. He was really impressive!

Monday he and Robin found out that they're having a little BOY!!! Congratulations, y'all! We are so excited for you!

Tonight we are having dinner with a few friends and then all day tomorrow (after I get my 6 mile run in) I will be preparing for Mandy's Mexican Fiesta!!! It's Mandy's birthday and there's a small group coming over to enjoy the food and get in the hot tub.

The Menu:

Black-eyed Pea and Avacado Dip

Taco Salad

White Chicken Enchiladas (from The Fitnessista)

Sopapilla Cheesecake

Margaritas and Wine-a-ritas

I'll try and post some of the recipes on Monday. I swear, I don't know if work could get much busier. I guess that's job security, though.

I know I haven't done Quotable Friday in awhile, but this was on Private Practice a few weeks ago and I thought it was a fabulous quote!

Anyway Friends

"A little white dress with ABCs all across the front. I remember I came home one evening after a marathon of kids’ parties and whatnot and Little Miss Maya was not quite ready to take her little dress off and get in the bath so we went to her room and hung out on the floor and started talking. And out of nowhere, she told me that when she grew up, she wanted to marry me. So I said, “Why?” I asked her, I said, “Why me?” And she looked up at me and she said, “Because, Daddy, you are my anyway friend.” Now at the time I didn’t know what that meant so Maya had to explain to me that an anyway friend is the one person in your life who, no matter what they say or do, no matter what they’ve been through with you, they love you anyway. So my sincerest hope is that for Maya, Dink, and for Dink, Maya, is that anyway friend. Because no matter how old you are or what your responsibilities, if you have love, real, unconditional love, I think you can make it. So, to my anyway friend and her anyway friend, may you not only make it but enjoy it."

I hope you all have a few "anyway friends" in your life. The older I get, the more I realize that those true friends may be far and few between, but they sure make life easier. And if you have at least one person you can consider your "anyway friend" than you are truly, truly blessed!

Have a fabulous weekend, y'all!

Next week is St. Patrick's and I am so excited!!!

Obsessed...slightly...

Oh my goodness! I saw Dear John this past Sunday and absolutely LOVED it! If I had read the book, I might have been disappointed in how they changed a few things, but instead I am now officially obsessed. I seriously might go see it again tonight and I've already downloaded the entire Dear John Soundtrack. Channing Tatum is my new favorite male actor and Amanda Seyfriend is pretty talented as well! What's not to love about this love story?

This past weekend was wonderful. My mom and I drove to Oklahoma City and met up with one of my best friends from high school, Lyndi, and one of the girls who was in my cabin my first term at Camp Balcones Springs, Caitlin. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and conversation at Zio's. I love both those girls and it did my heart good to get to spend some time with them! Saturday morning I got up EARLY (I'm always late so if we want to be half-way on time I have to have time to prepare!!!) We got around and met Becky at Mimi's for breakfast. Then we did some serious, but successful speed shopping and then met Lyndi and headed to OU for the basketball game. We had great seats and it was a really close game, but OU just let Baylor get away from them. I was still proud of my baby cousin. He did great! We went to eat at Charleston's afterwards with some of the family and Caitlin stopped in before her sorority's formal to say "hi" and "bye".

Lyndi Jyl and me before leaving the hotel for Zio's.

Caitlin and me Saturday at Charleston's. Doesn't she look stunning?! It's so hard to believe that we met when she was 10!!!

Here's me with "the big guy" after the game.

Sadly, these are the only pictures taken throughout the glorious weekend. I think I subconsiously know that taking more pictures just means I'm getting further and further behind at printing them off and organizing them into albums!

What a Week...

The past week has been a blur...Monday evening I worked on straightening up the house because Tuesday night I hosted my book club at our house while Marty went to his boy scout meetings. We had a wonderful time! Our menu included a parmesan artichoke dip (served warm), an antipasto salad for the main dish, Pioneer Woman's Olive Cheese Bread (oh so good), cesar salad, and my first ever, made from scratch cheesecake. The big hit of the night, however, was the See-Through Sangria. Oh so yummy!

Here's the recipe for the Chocolate Chip Cheesecake. (It came from a Duncan Hines Cookbook.)

1 pkg Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Devil's Food Cake Mix
1/2 c vegetable oil
3 pkgs (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 c granulated sugar
1 c sour cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 mini semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 tsp all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 10-inch springform pan.
2. Combine cake mix and oil in large bowl. Mix well. Press onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake at 350F for 22 to 25 minutes or until set. Remove from oven. Increase oven temperature to 450F.
3. Place cream cheese in large mixing bowl. Beat at low speed with electric mixer, adding sugar gradually. Add sour cream and vanilla extract, mixing until blended. Add eggs, mixing only until incorporated. Toss 1/2 c chocolate chips with flour. Fold into cream cheese mixture. Pour filling onto crust. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 chocolate chips.

I just LOVE my book club! The ladies in it are always so much fun! They do my heart good.

We started the "Insanity" workout tapes this week. OH MY GOODNESS!!! They are SO hard! I've never done a workout video where the people in it are all sweaty and out of breath. They take regular water breaks and everything. Hopefully, it gets my jiggly butt in shape. (Sorry if that's too much information.) I thought I was in decent shape having done all this running for the marathon relay. It's not even the same!

Wednesday evening I helped cook at church and last night I ran to a near by town to get my driver's license renewed. It expired in June of 2009 and I had no clue until someone else pointed it out! And then I had dinner with my wonderful grandparents.

Today we're headed to OKC after work to do a little shopping and go watch my cousin play tomorrow. OU hosts Baylor at Norman so it's liable to be a pretty good game! They're calling for more snow for Sunday-UGH! I am SO ready for Spring! But, I'm supposed to go take a CHL course, so we'll see.

Y'all have a great weekend!

Picture Post

I've been telling y'all for a few weeks now that I was going to share some pictures with you.

Here's a few from the snow storm a few weeks ago.

Trying to be artistic...

The tree across the street. I know...this one is pretty self-explanatory.

Our House. *(Don't judge me by the colors of my house. I am not a UT fan. The trim is the same as when we bought it and I just can't decide what color to paint it. Black, maybe?)

My best friend from college came in Friday evening. I made chicken and dumplings and a couple of my girl friends came over and ate and then we went to see When in Rome. It was SO cute! It was only about an hour and a half long, though, so afterwards we went back to the house and played games-Farkle, Wahoo and several different card games. I turned in about 1:30 a.m., but everyone else stayed and played until about 2 a.m.

Saturday, Tara and I went for a 5 mile run. It was a little chilly when we started , but by the end we were quite toasty and we finished strong and felt amazing afterwards! My mom came to town for lunch and to run a few errands afterwards. When she left we got around and headed to The Citadelle for the "Range of Passion" event. Marty even had a good time. I think he knew more people than I did. We all went to dinner after and then back to our house for more games. We met a new couple this weekend and they're moving to town soon and I am SO excited! I think we will be fast friends!

Here's a shot of us girls...Lanie, Marie, Becky and me.

And the hubs and I before leaving the house.

Sunday we went to church and then came home, got in the hot tub and took a nice long nap before Becky had to leave. It was a simply marvelous weekend. I don't think I've had that much fun here in Small Town, USA since the 4th of July!

Here's the recipe for my cousin, Sharon's, chicken and dumplings...

Ingredients: 1 box chicken broth, 1 small can of chicken broth, 1 small can of chicken gravy, 1 bag of frozen mixed vegetables, 1/2 bag of frozen diced chicken (I use Schwans', but two can of chicken would work.), 1 onion, 1 can of homestyle biscuits (I use Pillsbury Grands), salt and pepper to taste.

Directions: Add chicken broth to stockpot on stove and bring to a boil. Then add frozen chicken. Give it about 5 minutes then add chopped onion and chicken gravy. (I cook my frozen mixed vegetables in the microwave and then add them.) Tear biscuits into small pieces and add to pot. You will need to stir or "dunk" the dumplings every so often so that they don't stick together. Add salt and pepper. When the "dumplings" start to sink some, they're done.

Do Me A Favor...Please???

Happy Friday, Everyone!!! Is anyone else glad that it's Friday? I got up early this morning and went to the local YMCA for my morning workout. We have a 5 miler in the morning...that should be fun! One of my besties is driving in from the city this afternoon and we have all sorts of fun weekend plans. I PROMISE, I will post pictures from the weekend (and past weekends) next week.

That being said, I need to ask a favor. I am a huge cheeseball and there is a local "Cutest Couples Contest" that I entered mine and Marty's picture in. (He would KILL me if he knew! haha) I need all of you to go vote for us. Just go to the address below and type "Cassi" in the search option and we should pop right up! I very highly doubt we're going to win considering that I just entered us yesterday (I had seen it on the news the night before) and there is a couple who already has 3,300 votes. Seriously, do they know that many people? I guess they're just that cute! haha

http://myhighplains.upickem.net/engine/Votes.aspx?PageType=VOTING&contestid=13599#SubmissionDisplay or CLICK ME

UPDATE: The voting closed at 2 p.m. today (2/12/10). The couple that won had over 3,800 votes!!! I guess they posted messages on Facebook, MySpace and Craigs List! No need to head on over to vote...unless you wanna see some *interesting* pictures.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and very Happy Valentine's Day!

All my love,

Results...

So, I'm afraid I may perpetually be an inconsistent blogger! I just feel like there is SO much going on.

How did you girls like the Fruit Flush? I lost a little over 4 lbs and kept it off like a week. So, it all came back. : ( But, I had so much more energy while eating just fruit. I didn't feel lathargic in the afternoon like I normally do after lunch. Now, if I could only figure out how to lose about 8 lbs and KEEP IT OFF!

I have pictures to post of all the snow we've gotten over the last couple of weeks. There's been so much fun stuff going on lately, and I didn't take pictures of any of it! The Power of the Purse luncheon at which Jenna Bush spoke at that my grandmom, mom and I went to last Friday, the Amarillo Peddler's Show, a Super Bowl party with friends Sunday night and my first game of Bunko last night.

I've been working like a mad woman again this week. And, yesterday we got some gut wrenching news about a family member near and dear to my heart. They're scheduling an appointment today to run some more tests in order to determine for sure...until then I've been asked to only tell family. But, y'all please lift up a little prayer for my family. We've all been kind of rocked by this and I feel like there's a huge dark cloud hanging over my head today.

I hope the rest of you are having a wonderful week!