Oink Oink!?

So.... 2 weeks after I get back from my blissful trip to Hawaii I come down with the awful swine flu. The employee Health at work was not able to swab me to be definietly sure but they said that they were 99% sure that is what I had.
It was Friday and I was working, as usual. Now I have to tell you that I love to sleep and I could always sleep. But the week prior to this blessed event I was so tired that I was coming home from work and just sleeping away. I was getting between 12 and 14 hours of sleep a night. Even though I love sleeping, I would say that it was a bit much.
Anyways, Friday I was at work and I really didn't feel good. But like a soldier I toughed it out. I got off work my normal time, went home and climbed into bed. I woke up 6 hours later with a SUPER soar throat, a cough and a fever of 101.5 NOT COOL!
So I call my boss and tell her forget me working for the nect 2 days and proceed to go back to sleep. I wake up in the morning with 102.5 and start thinking what the heck. Employee Health then decides to call me and say, you have the swine flu, we are calling in Tamiflu for you, you need to go and pick it up at the Swedish pharmacy take it and not go into the community for 5 days. Great, what I have always wanted. An actual reason to stay snuggled in my electric heating blanket bed for a week. YESSSSS!
I was not nearly that excited though. Now I have to tell you that I live about 5 blocks from work in Seattle on Pill Hill. It is all UPHILL to work. This is the last thing that I actually wanted to do but I had to. It took me about 15 minutes to walk those 5 blocks. With my little mask on. I felt so stupid walking around outside the hospital with that thing on.
So for Saturaday, Sunday and all of Monday I slept. Now this is not an exaggeration. I slept 21 hours of all of these days. I don't think that I have EVER slept that much that I can remember. Not even after having surgery and being all drugged up!
I am much better now, thanks to sleeping lots and not actually doing any physical movements besides flushing to toilet and trying to eat something when NOTHING sounded good.
Bad side, I am now covering all the shifts that people are calling out for because swine flu is going around the hospital. And I don't mean the patients!
Lesson learned, play with the pigs at work and you will become one too!

Hawaii trip 2009

So, here I am, freezing in seattle, that's right, I am a wuss when it comes to being cold. Which I always am. In Hawaii it didn't really get below 70 unless it was really windy or raining. Even at night when it was raining it wasn't so bad.
Just a few pictures to put in the glorious Cassie blog. yeah right, I don't write in this thing that often!
This is Mr. Cockroach! There is plenty of them to see there. While I was staying with my sister I encountered two rather big ones. The first was stuck in the bathroom sink. He apparently tried to crawl UP the sink and got super stuck when the plug on the bottom is. That ended up with me taking pity on him, scooping him up with a disposable cup and throwing him outside. This feller up here is one that dropped form the light in bathroom almost onto my sister and then proceeded to crawl into the bedroom and under the dresser. My sister ended up doing a karate chop with a flip flop and this is how the sucker ended up. Dead. With some of his innerds hanging out!

This was the Polynesian Cultural center. This lady was one in the canoe parade.

This was in pearl Harbor at the Arizona Memorial. This is the actual USS Arizona ship that sank in WWII. It is still under the water with over 1700 men entombed in it.

This is the wall of all the men that died in the USS Arizona December 7, 1941. There is a smaller wall on either side that shows the men survived that are now interred with their ship mates after they have passed. They are cremated and put back into the ship by specially trained scuba divers.

A view of the USS Arizona memorial from the boat that you have to take to get there. This is the monumnet that lays over the actual boat.

Sunset at Waimea Bay where previously I was cliff jumping! So much fun!

This is Isabella the turtle. She is 250 pounds of awesomeness! This is at Turtle Bay where there is an abundance of turtles during egg laying season. However, Isabella was the only turtle there this day. The Hawaiian name for turtle in Honu.

A rather large snail that I caught in the front yard of my sister Holly's house. He was kind enough to slow down for me so that I could pick him up!

Sunset at Waikiki beach.

Hanauma Bay where I snorkeled and got to swim with a sea turtle! Many many fish are there amongst the reef. It is so beautiful that I wish I could just stay there forever!

I really enjoyed Hawaii and hope to go back REALLY soon!

Hawaii....here I come!

I know that it;s been a while since I posted. I guess that the summer got away from me!
In about 48 hours I will be flying over the Pacific Ocean on my way to Hawaii!!!!
I will be staying with my sister Holly for a week. I get to enjoy the sun to it's fullest extent while trying to surf, snorkle and even skydive! I just can't wait. I have always wanted to go on vacation to a beach somewhere where it's nice and warm. It's my turn to have fun.
I will also see one of my really good friends that is staying on one of the bases down there. Not a bad deal. I'm killing 3 birds with one stone! And for a really cheap price! Plus no hotel fees!
Adios to you all who are in the rain!

Grey Hairs! Yikes!

I have to admit that in the past few months I have been plucking a few grey hairs out of my head! Although every week there seem to be more and more that I have missed from weeks prior. Either that or they are starting a rebellion towards me! Yikes! If I am starting to turn grey now, what will I look like at 30! I have to admit that it makes me sad to see them. Especially since I have been trying so hard for the past few years to grow out the merciless red that I fortook upon my old hair. I have only about half an inch on the bottom to go! The poor guys were so badley damaged that I said enough! I will never dye my hair again! (Yeah, right Cassie! Nice try. The hairs seem to laugh!)
I do have a birthday coming up in a few weeks. Maybe I'll treat my self to a lovely deep conditioning and a new book or something.
I thought that I would share with you the sad story of my 23rd birthday to be.... grey hairs and all....

Moved!

I finally moved! As of Monday I am officially moved out! I have moved in with a good friend from work and her adorable almost 4 year old. Although it is only a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment it is almost 1300 square feet! the bedrooms are considered "king" size and the bathrooms which acoompany both rooms are both master baths! the living room and dining room are in one area but that area is huge with alot of room to play. You can fit about 30 twister boards in it. (No, we have not tried that, just giving you an estimate on the space)
We are however moving in the same complex tomorrow and sunday down one and over two apartments. The one that we are currently in she has been in for two years and the one that we are going to be moving into has just been refinished. this means new carpet, new cupboards, new everything! It is a spectacular thing my friends!
We are currently on the second floor and moving to the bottom floor. Main reason, no stairs for the decreped and the tredmil, we can RUN on it, instead of walk. It got too noisy for the downstairs neighbors with 2 godzillas running on it. Although those certain neighbors can play rockband at top volume until 4 in the morning but we can't run on the darn tredmil for an hour. Hmmmm....
I am excited to get unpacked and get moved in. I am living out of a few boxes right now until we move and I can put together the lovely dresser that I got from Ikea. I figured that moving it still jam packed in the boxes would be easier than trying to move a dresser that I would have put together. Go figure that it would fall apart if I put it together so i didn't risk it!
I love where I am living. It is quiet for the most part. Except for the constuction of the new new pool and club house going in, nothing ever really happens. Which is the way that I like it! I am within a few miles of everything you could think of.
After all is said and done I will try and post pictures of the new place so that you all can see!

New Car!

So this is a little late but I finally got my new car. I have had it a few weeks and I LOVE it! It is a dark vist blue and in the sunlight it sparkles! Just like me! Well, I more reflect light from my skin, but hey, it's me. It's a brand new 2009 Ford Focus SES. No, not a wagon like my previous car. They don't make those any more. :(
My new car has some features that I didn't know about until I actually started driving it. It has LED lights on the inside of the cup holders in the front and back seats and on the side flooring of the front and back seats. I can change them to 7 different colors. It's pretty neat.
I also have a spoiler in the back (aka a fin on the trunk of my car) fog lights that make it look like the sporty car that it is and its got a phone in the car where all I have to do is push the button and I talk in the car just like I would talk to you in person. No earpiece or anything. It has sirius radio, I don't know how long that will last on the free trial but I have gotten hooked on the blue collar comedy station!
What else? A trunk light, rear folding seats, a voice activated menu, steering wheel controls for all the media in the car, (radio, phone, settings, etc.) oh and the dash looks super sweet like a racing set up!
I must say that it goes rather fast too!
What else can I say? Oh yes. I have finally broken down and gave in. I got a spray tan. I am seeing if it will actually look normal for the wedding that I am in in the end of June. I must say that it looks quite interesting on me due to the fact that I am always a "white cracker" as they call me at work. I did get some funny interesting lines due to a chemical burn that I got a few months ago. that part is REALLY dark compared to the rest of me. Oh well. This only lasts about a week so I am good with that.
I got some really interesting looks and comments at work. Some say that it is too dark for me, others say it looks great and some others just don't know what to say. I must say that coming in one day white and the other super tan is a shock but hey, it's something to do right?
I will post pictures of my new little car when I get my camera out and my computer working. Maybe I'll even give you a peek of my new tan! Before it fades away....

What a wreck.... literally

Okay, forgive me.... I haven't blogged in a long time. I know.
So here are the latest updates....
March brough alot of working hours due to the absence of school. I worked about 55+ hours a week for a few weeks trying to rake in the dough so that when school started I would have a little extra money to have fun with.
I signed up for 4 classes and was on the waiting list for them all. Guess what? I didn't get into any of them! So I did the alternative and took a few online classes that I would need later down the road.
In early April I learned that one of my good friends would be moving back to her home state kentucky while her husband is on tour for the military. Bummer. She will be taking with her my "niece" ( I have been dubbed aunt Cassie because she has no siblings), bummer again.
In mid April I was told of another friend moving to Othello and she will be taking with her her husband and my 3 little run around buddies I so thouroughly enjoy!
On Easter I was heading home taking I-5 south and merging onto I-90 east (yes that awful onramp that SO MANY accidents happen on) and some idiot cut me off almost hitting me. I sammed on my brakes to avoid getting hit and I started to spin out of control. It really didn't help that it was raining out and so I proceeded to spin twice and then hit the north side barrier with my car. Lucky me my seatbelt didn't lock and so when I hit I was almost bend into a 90 degree angle from the spinning force of my car. This ended with the top right side of my head hitting the steering wheel. As the car stopped into place I was looking at oncoming traffic. Not a good thing to see on the freeway I tell you.
Needless to say that I was hurting already with some of the neck and head problems that I already have. I got out, surveyed the damage and started the car up. I t actually worked. I got the bungee cord out from the truck and made sure that my hood would stay down on the ride home. It did. I thought that I would be okay but I ended up in the ER on that night and again the next day. The CT and MRI scans all came back okay and I ended up with a nasty case of whiplash and a forever going headache that will not go away.
As for my baby (aka my car) she is totaled. I LOVED that car. It was the perfect car for me! I will post pictures later. I now have a rental, a Chevi Impala, nice car I might add, and I am going to get a new car this weekend. It will be a new version of my old car, just now a wagon. Bummer, I really liked the wagon. Really I did. Although it could be contrued as a mom car or something an old person would drive, I really like it. The insurance company gave me a really good price for it because I kept it so good.
So by Saturday night I will have a new car in either Cobalt blue or North Carolina blue with black interior.
I guess that is the past few weeks in a nutshell. A rather disheveled nutshell, but its my nutshell.

Yet more snow!

As I was getting ready for bed last night I went out to my car to grab my water bottle that I had forgotten, I was greeted by falling snow. Big fat flakes to stick to your eyelashes, eyebrows and hair making you look like the abominal snowman after a few minutes in it. It is the snow that I love most of all. I thought to myself that it was not going to stick and was not going to be such a big deal in the morning and shrugged it off. Taking one last glance out my bedroom window at a winter wonderland I put my head on the pillow and I am instantly asleep.
I wake up to the awful sound of an alarm. Yes the one that makes you go UUUUGGGHHH! in the morning. I had forgotten all about the snow as I did my morning routine. Gather clothes, underclothes and coat and head to the bathroom. Take shower, be sure to rinse conditioner out of hair this time. Get out, put contacts in so that I can see now, lather myself with a bottle of lotion, dry hair, put on make-up, straighten hair, put clothes on, (yes I do ALL of this naked, it ensures a thorough dry before dressing, plus the bathroom is mighty warm when you don't open the door until you're done!) and leave to kitchen. Make lunch, or rather grab various fruits and veggies and other things for lunch, feed the cat and then head out. As I was heading out i run into about an inch and a half of snow! Ugh again!
I turn on my car and head back inside to find the window scraper that I have so dubiously lost for the tenth time this winter season. I can't find it so I go to cd rack and pick the cd that has beeen skipping so many times that it is not worth it any more and go and hack away at my car windshield. How I wish for a garage for my car. Ot even a carport!
Now I am on my way to park and ride hoping that I get there in one piece! I slip and slid all the way. Finally I get there. No bus....
I grab Katie a lady that I give a ride to if I drive in and we head off. All is going well, a little slippery until we come out of the I-90 tunnel into Seattle.... white.... alot of white.... I can't see the lines on the road and there are cars slipping and sliding every which way. We creep on the freeway to the Madison street exit. Ugh again.... All red lights. I get the brilliant idea of breaking the law and going through every red light I come to to avoid stopping on the hill. Luckily this is at 5 am and no cars are present coming the other way. We are laughing and giggling like school girls all the way exclaiming that this is so much fun!
I must say that my little car does a wonderful job. On my way up to hill I passed not one but TWO 4 wheel drive trucks and a little Rav 4.
So I make it up the hill and drop Katie off and this time, instead of getting stuck outside on the hill that I was last time it snowed I parked in the garage. It will be the best $12 dollars that I will spend this month!

Rockband and Dance Dance Revolution

So I now have a new fetish thanks to my dear friend Kristi. I am now loving playing Dance Dance Revolution. I know that many of you think that it is a kids game but hey! It is a fun way to get exercise! Yes exercise. You try jumping up and down and moving all around for about an hour straight and not getting your heartrate up! Oh and did I mention the sweating. Yes, much of it too! Yeah I know, gross.
This game as well as Rockband, yes I said it, Rockband has become my new favorite past time. I enjoy the drums most of all. Mostly because I sucked at them to begin with but now I actually have a challenge and something to improve on! My friend Melissa and I played it two nights in a row for about 8 hours. Now let me tell you. When your body is not used to hitting a foot pedal repeatedly for long amounts of time, things tend to get a little sore! This was unbeknowndst to me at the time but two days after this I thought that I had really hurt something because all of the tendons and muscles in my right foot were hurting so bad. So my word of caution for those addicts to new things like me is to take the foot pedal slow!
Thanks alot Kristi for getting me hooked, I love it and I challenge you to a rematch!

School.... Again....

So this year of school is going pretty good. I passed my Biology class and now I am taking Anatomy and Physiology. What an interesting class I might say. As well as an interesting teacher. Our teacher was a pediatrician for about 30 years until she decided that she no longer wanted to do that and that she wanted to become a teacher. From doctor to teacher.... What an interesting decision....

Anyways, class is very interesting right now. We just got done learning the bones and the skin of the body and it has actually been a class that I have wanted to pay attention to and actually AM paying attention to!

We get to play with different parts of the body, both real and fake. We are going to get to take apart a human brain and play around with it too! Gross I know, but it is fun for me!

A couple of weekends ago I got to see my neices and we went swimming. Let me tell you something. The last time we went swimming they were clinging for dear life to me and the side of pool. They didn't want to go in any farther than their knees. This time was very different. The oldest one was thouroughly enjoying me throwing her across the pool as high and as far as I could go. The little one was brave and put on a lifevest and was content swimming at a backwards 45 degree angle all around the pool. the beach balls were a hit once they figured out that if you balance on them just right you can float!

I love them so much and they make me so happy when I see them. Their cute little smiles and quirky sense of humors get to me every time! As they were going home the little one pokes a little finger out of her mom minivan and and says "LOOK! 2 Fords and a Honda!" It was so cute!