Spring!

As of late, this is my favorite picture of Mister Mans...

#latergram from yesterday morning.... Someone didn't want to get up just yet. #cantblamehim #mistermans #toddlerlife #workingmom

A photo posted by Cassie Leavitt (@itsmecassieb) on Mar 21, 2015 at 9:27am PDT

I mean who doesn't love a good butt up in the air shot! Somebody just wasn't feeling up to being up that morning.

Life just moves quickly, we just had St. Patrick's day and even the First day of Spring (thankfully). Easter will be here before you know it. All the while, we still have over a foot of snow on the ground. Seesh, I am so ready for the snow to melt away. The river opens up more and more everyday. One thing I am thankful for is the slow melt that is happening, so that we don't flood the water tables with all of this snow melt off.

This past weekend we headed up to Lebanon, Maine to the Belgian Meadow Farms for their Maine Maple Syrup weekend. I would have taken more pictures, but it was so gosh darn windy and cold, we didn't spend much time outside. It was a fun time and I would certainly go back, just a bummer that it was so cold and windy. It sounds like many of the maple syrup farms are struggling this year with production. The conditions haven't been ideal for the sap to flow.

Certainly have a busy April on tap. I will be attending two conferences for work. One in South Portland, Maine and then another right afterwards in North Conway, NH. I am looking forward to the latter one. It's put on by an organization that is near and dear to my heart, so getting to spend 3 days with friends and like-minded people in my job field is always a fun time. On top of that Mister Mans and hopefully Ben will be with me so we can make it a little bit of a family trip as well.

Hopefully I can be better about taking more pictures.

Christmas Wrap up

Merry Christmas! Oh it's been a nice holiday. Busy. But nice.

First off, I had been working for days on end. Christmas day was my first full day off in a week, and my next full day off will be January 1. So out of 14 days, I will have only 2 full days off. Ugh. It's a lot of work, but I've scheduled some me time for the first day or two of the new year. And I plan on not doing anything that I don't want to do.

Secondly, my holiday was amazing. It's the first time in several years that I had Christmas off! My work schedule is an 8 day rotating schedule, and it just happened to work out that I was scheduled to work most holidays. But I've finally come into the party of my schedule cycle where I get some of the holidays off. And it's been nice to enjoy the time with my family.

Holidays make me miss my brother and my sister-in-law. I got to talk to Nick on Christmas when he called to say hi, but it's not the same without them here. I look forward to the day when they can move back to NH and we can all be a close family again. They of course enjoyed their gifts that Ben and I had sent them. It was great to hear that they arrived and were still in good condition. I always get nervous about shipping stuff, especially with videos/stories like this one!

I worked Christmas Eve day, so after I had gotten out of work, I went home, changed and then Ben and I went to my mother's for our Christmas with her. We also brought all the professional wedding pictures so that her and Darla could see them. It was a fun night.

Christmas morning we got up and headed to my parents (Dad and my stepmom) for Christmas brunch and presents with them. My aunts and grandmother had come over as well, it was a morning full of laughs as that is typical for our family.

Christmas evening we went to Ben's mom's for dinner and presents with her. Again, it was great to see all of our families. And Ben and I were both happy that we were able to work it out. It's not easy to coordinate all those visits! Especially with my schedule.

We got home Christmas night and had our own Christmas. Very low key, as we both were just so tired from the days events and all of the traveling.

For those of you who may not know, I live in New Hampshire, that's in New England. We get snow. But this year, has been VERY mild, and such is the case, we didn't have snow on the ground for Christmas. There were hit or miss snow flurries, but nothing that stuck. When we went to Ben's mom's she had snow on the ground! Plus one for Maine! It definitely made us both feel a bit more "Christmassy" now that there was snow on the ground, as we were getting ready to leave it had started lightly snowing again. It was so lovely. Made my Christmas!

It was an exhausting day of travel, and I was so tired from all of the events. It was nice to have Monday day off so I could take it easy. We had breakfast with my cousin and his wife, I haven't seen them in years, so it was great to see them. But then it was back to home and napping before work that night.

It was great to see all of our families, but I do wish that we had more down time. I don't care to always be on the go. I am hopeful that next year we can combine some trips and condense it down. I still want the holidays to be enjoyable for me too!

My presents ranged from practical to very thoughtful and personal. They were all perfect to me, even though I didn't ask for much. All of our parents helped us out with the wedding so we weren't expecting anything really. 

Of note, this is the first holiday season where I didn't get sick. I chalk that up largely to me not being as active in the Toy Bank program that I ran for several years. In years past, I was doing so much work that I would get run down and ultimately get sick from not taking care of myself. So after a lot of thought I stepped down from managing the town's toy bank, but in the same breath I guess you could say I got a promotion of sorts. I went from managing the town's toy bank to the Seacoast wide toy bank. Which mainly I do a lot of the public relations, website and facebook stuff for. I coordinate a lot of the seacoast wide efforts and stay away from the individual towns. I enjoy the work, it gives me a wonderful sense of fulfillment and it's the truly a reason for the season for me. To take care of your fellow man.

And if you were wondering what I got Ben... tools. It's what he wanted and something I know he'll be able to put to good use. Hopefully soon one day.

I am so bummed, I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures from Christmas. It would have been so nice to share with you all, but I'm sorry.  I am a bad blogger.

So that is my Christmas wrap up! hopefully Santa brought you everything you had hoped for. And that you were able to spend time with your family and loved ones.

My brodjer

Or as some people would say, my brother.

He's my baby brother, a whole 18 months younger than me (hello Irish twins!), but he's always been like an older brother.

Nick, me and Dad

Growing up we fought and didn't really see eye to eye. I was the honor student, Nick was the one who got into trouble. My parents would go to open house and find my teachers and what they had to say boring. "she's perfect and wonderful" they got sick of hearing it ;-) Nick's teachers however were more interesting, because my parents never knew what they were going to say.

Once I left for college, I think the distance allowed Nick and I to tolerate one another and eventually want to hang out with one another. I could be my own person, and Nick could be his own person.

My brodjer has always been there for me through the rough and tough times of growing up. Offering big brother advice and always a hug when I needed it.

Nick, Wezzie (stepmom) and me

So when I thought about who could recap my life and offer up a great speech, I knew my brodjer would be the ideal person. We've always been busting on each other but at the end of the day we are there.

I was happy and sad when he and his wife made the decision to move to North Carolina. Happy that they had just gotten married and were starting their life down in NC, sad that the distance would mean we don't get to see each other often. When my brother called with the news that he was enrolling in a college - for criminal justice - I died laughing, it's a perfect career choice for Nick, since he was ALWAYS in trouble for one thing or another. I couldn't have been more prouder for my brother of his decision. It would mean that they would have to extend their time down in NC, but he would graduate with a degree. The family knew he was smart, all he had to do was find his own way. He's excelling in college.

Their move caused our relationship to shift, to more of a phone/e-mail/facebook relationship, which took some getting used to.

My brodjer's speech is probably going to embarrass me, but it's the way our relationship has always been and I wouldn't have it any other way. I know deep down he loves me like only a brother can. And he knows that I just put up with him as only a sister could. Our upbringing was the same, our paths were VERY different but the end result is the same.

When my mother told us she had cancer, Nick was on the next flight to come up to be there with her (us).  It's great to know that he's always there, even still. 

I love my baby brodjer and couldn't be more prouder of his accomplishments and the direction his life is heading in. I can't wait to see what the future holds for him and his family.

Nick and I

You scared me!

Last night I think I startled Ben.... It all came about last night when I got home from my salon appointment. Normally it would be a hair appointment, but my stylist informed me that she would no longer be cutting my hair, at least until the wedding. As she put it, you are going to hate life, because of how long your bangs are going to get, but I promise you it will all be worth it in the end.

Instead I got my nails done and had my eyebrows waxed. Still got to get pampered, that is all that counts in my book!

We also had a chance to discuss wedding day and hair and make up. And how things were going to flow. We scheduled the remaining appointments I needed for trials and coloring. When she mentioned that it probably would be a good idea to take some pre-natal vitamins to help promote hair and nail growth!

When I mentioned that nugget to Ben he seemed startled. Poor guy.

Also in talking to other women and my doctor, everyone seems to agree that it's ok to be taking pre-natal vitamins before you are planning on getting pregnant, that really it wouldn't do a woman any harm, if anything it just makes you all the more ready when you DO want to have children.

So if I can find some, I guess I'll start taking them. Just seems so crazy to think that my wedding is right around the corner and then in no time, we'll be starting to have a family!

In other news, in the local weight loss challenge, I am actually faring well, I've lost at least 5 pounds in the first week. Probably mostly water weight, but I am ok with that, a loss is a loss, it's nice to see the scale going in the right direction, now just have to keep up the momentum. Cash is always a great motivator!

In the homestretch!

It's December 16th... almost 17th... 9 days till Christmas... Toy Bank will soon be over! We are down on donations this year. It has me slightly worried. But I think the larger problem is that with how Christmas falls this year in the calender (on a Friday) its really screwing up with my dates and how toy donations usually come in. So I am trying NOT to think about it and just go with the flow... I'll let you know how that works out.

As a way to unwind and de-stress and NOT think about Toy Bank I've taken a liking to reading blogs and signing up for giveaways and using Twitter as one of those means of signing up for giveaways. I know this has annoyed some of my followers, but really, I need the break from Toy Bank and doing something else is the only way I can turn my brain off Toy Bank and put it on something else. So I apologize, but its keeping me sane...

I will be due for a massage a good long one after Toy Bank this year.

I was able to get away for 5 days and go to North Carolina to see my Brother and his wife. They won't be coming home for Christmas, and flights were cheap, so I thought I would go out there. Its nice out there. Not much to do, but its nice. The weather is great this time of year. Not too hot, not too cold. But I don't think I will take another vacation during Toy Bank, I got too many phone calls and stuff didn't get done :-(. Oh well. I need to be here so I can stay on top of things. It is tougher being in Kingston to run toy bank, but at the end of the season its all worth it. I've encountered several feel-good stories, which outweigh the bad seeds.

I still have some Christmas shopping to finish up (personal shopping!) but thankfully its not big stuff, just little things to wrap up. I am hoping to finish before Christmas... that would be nice.

Louise has been telling me how much Dad isn't in the Christmas mood. It doesn't help that Nick isn't going to be home and that I am only going to be there for the morning before Ben and I take off for his mom's. But Louise and I worked it out that we would do a big dinner (late lunch) on Saturday so that Dad could have his few hours with us and we could celebrate some more. I hope that helps, he's def been in a funk lately. Perhaps a mid-life crisis? Not sure. But I have been trying to make sure I stop by the house and check in with the family.

WW has been going steady. I was up .2 this week, but I am still under 300. Just barely, but still under. And honestly its about the little victories at this point. One day at a time. I think being at WW during the holidays is the best thing for me. The meetings really help keep me motivated. I am just really trying to tread water until I can get through the holidays and Toy Bank.

Ben and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary. Well technically, I was in NC on the day of our actual anniversary, so we celebrated when I got back. He surprised me with dinner at the Wentworth by the Sea. I had made some comment that I would love to stay and eat there. Well since we went on a Saturday night and I had to work the next morning, we didn't stay, but boy did we eat. Its really a fantastic restaurant. I didn't want to do gifts since it was so close to Christmas. I just asked for a really nice card (which he did deliver on!

Last night I had to take a vacation shift off (night) so that Ben and I could cut down our Christmas tree and we could *finally* decorate our apartment for Christmas! It looks so pretty! I took some pics, I am hoping to post them at some point...

So that is the wrap up of the last week or two.... things are crazy and hectic, but I am trying to enjoy all what I can.