Posts from — December 2009

Just popping in to wish you well. Eight days into my stay in England for the holidays, and lots of food to show for it. Christmas in Stafford, where the most delicious homemade soup and scones are made. After we had our fill of Christmas pudding and stuffing balls, we made the trip east to Norfolk, in a seaside town named Sheringham. I’m writing from a third floor flat, nestled beside the town center. From the old Victorian glass window in our bedroom, you can see a slice of the sea. I’ve decided never to leave here, really.

I wish everyone a happy and delicious holiday, while I’ll be busy expanding my palette and sampling the local bakery fare.

Cheers!

me & my new hat, sent from norwich.

My highlight reel from this semester:

• Realizing my new job effectively pays for me to prowl the interwebz and do my homework.
• Soup nights with friends who live in cozy apartments.
• Discovering Julia Cameron when I didn’t feel like dealing with school work.
• Watching my flickr grow.
• Baking cookies with my great roommate.
• Winning the room lottery, and moving into a single suite dorm, the Nest.
• Reaching my goal of 35 workouts. Slimming down a little bit.
• Halloween 2009 was excellent, and arguably the best Halloween I’ve ever experienced. I mean, I was Robin Hood. Does it get more awesome than that?
• The Homecoming Fireworks Celebration. Wonderful photo op.
• Attending some excellent football games.
• Receiving packages from my love across the sea! Always with chocolate, and by association, perfection.
• Pulling this little oak owl outta the magic hat.
• Thanksgiving at home in New York with my family and friends. Boy did I need that.

I took my last final exam this morning, and now I am a free bird.

In a week, I’ll be hightailing it out of too hot Miami, and making my maiden voyage across the Atlantic. I’m flying to England to spend Christmas with my love and his family. I’m bringing my hats and mittens.

For the longest time, I’d considered myself a summer girl. After living in perennial summer for the past two years, I have come to one very obvious conclusion: I need each season. I crave the cold. Watching my breath escape on a cold winter morning is one of many experiences necessary for my life balance. Falling in snow is of utmost importance to the skin on my cheeks.

So, I’ll take this week of nothing in Miami, and fill it with silly things to pass the time. When Sunday comes, I’m switching continents for a while!

– Cassie

Saying I was a fan of Havi and her stuff would be quite an understatement. Truth is, I adore her & her stuff. Recently, Havi found an excellent way to make a no-pressure personal manifesto. Man, I am all about the no-pressure way of doing things. Even my technical gratitude list is really just a list of things that don’t suck (also inspired by Havi). And so my dammit list is born. It’s stuff I stand for, dammit.

My Dammit List, dammit.

1. I always have time to stop and pet a puppy.
2. I do my work on a Mac.
3. I don’t have a resume.
4. I don’t wear dress suits.
5. No one can make me listen to country music without my consent.
6. My socks never have to match.
7. I don’t do “meetings”.
8. My camera, Dean, is my plus one.
9. Quoting Anchorman is a natural addition to the conversation.
10. Dark chocolate can and should be provided.
11. I will take five extra minutes for that photo-op. Believe me, I can work a lot of magic in five minutes.
12. I will have eggs for breakfast. Every/any day.
13. I don’t have to work on someone else’s time schedule.
14. Half-polished nails make me a rockstar, Mom.
15. If you don’t get me, that’s unfortunate for you.

Havi did something pretty cool for thanksgiving. Instead of a gratitude list (the “i am just so very thankful for” type), she made a list of things that don’t completely suck. And so, here it comes. My list of things that don’t suck. I don’t really have a number I’m aiming for, so I’ll just stop when I run out of things off the top of my head. Sound good?

1. Making your own leek & potato soup. It’s sort of therapeutic these days.
2. Having your own kitchen with which to make said soup.
3. Baking cookies from scratch, using the kickass recipe + secret ingredient (unicorn tears).
4. Gardiner park. Taking photos in every season, and calling it my park.
5. Life and happies with my gentleman friend. How he is there for me, even if he’s a few thousand miles away at the moment.
6. Airplanes. Especially the ones that bring me to England in 19 days.
7. The Nest. It’s small and cozy and has a brown shaggy rug. With a view.
8. How Long Island stands by itself in the ocean, but still nestles itself into the coast of the northeast. It is safe and comfy up there.
9. Bamboo growing in my front yard at home up in New York. I still don’t understand it.
10. Alan the panda. He cuddles with me at night. And lets me be whiny and verklempt.
11. Flannel. Magical, instant comfort and coziness.
12. Being cozy: in flannel, my bed, next to gentleman friend, in my alaska socks.
13. Signing up for an oil painting course next semester.
14. Having fridays off next semester (I’m already feeling the relaxation).
15. My camera, Dean. He’s a NikonD40, and I love him to pieces.
16. Free toilet paper at the front desk.
17. Oh goodness, Goddess Leonie and her shiny ways. She is incredible.
18. My bitchin friend Chelsea and her adventures. She just got back from Tokyo!
19. Letters. Getting letters, sending letters. It gives me the giggle glees.
20. That show Glee! I have so much fun watching and singing along.
21. Getting chocolate in the mail.
22. Not following other peoples rules. Or any rules I don’t like.
23. The idea of a dammit list. Which I will pen into my new Elite Banana notebook.
24. The Pittsburgh Steelers. I thoroughly enjoy watching Troy Polamalu play football.
25. Being in Barnes & Noble. Or as gentleman friend likes to call it, Narnes & Boble. Lingering in bookstores is kind of my thing.
26. Reading/having books around me. Currently, The Creative Entrepreneur, Prosperity Pie, and Outliers all don’t suck.
27. My customized holiday cards (which I get to write in very soon) complete with jackalope.
28. Developing film.
29. A cold glass of milk.
30. Post-workout endorphins. They make the gym experience completely worth it.
31. Free gym workouts. Thanks college tuition.
32. Calling it a night and retreating to the Nest when I can’t deal with outside people.
33. Boycotting the library and its studycraze. Because really, it is a petri dish for swine ‘09.
34. Holiday lights up in the Nest. They set the mood.
35. Whales.
36. San Francisco & Seward, Alaska.
37. Bless you JetBlue JFK terminal. You are beautiful and I appreciate you.
38. Boots. Fluffy on the inside. Long socks too. Specifically, my alaska socks.
39. My iphone. Everything fits in a little black rectangle.
40. Lighting vanilla scented candles.
41. Living so close to the laundry room.
42. Living in the present and believing in the gorgeous future.
43. How you get to use colors wherever you want to.
44. Yellow being the best one, naturally.
45. Being woo-woo and meditating and energy observing.
46. Being whoever the hell I want to be.
47. Twitter. I get to meet so many people and so many ideas.
48. Braided hair, fresh from a hot shower after a good work out.
49. Mexican blankets.
50. Yerba Mate, fresh brewed in my impressionists mug.
51. Wearing sweaters. I’m at my best in fall & winter clothing.
52. Whales. Seeing humpack whales. Life as I knew it ended, and a whole bunch of windows flew open for me.
53. Polaroids. My goodness they are beautiful.