Some Day My Prince Will Come...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some day my prince will come
Some day we'll meet again
And away to his castle we'll go
To be happy forever I know

Some day when spring is here
We'll find our love anew
And the birds will sing
And wedding bells will ring
Some day when my dreams come true

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have you ever had an ideal? Someone you measured all men up to? A man that could be real or fictional?

My ideals changed a lot through out life. My first one was probably Gilbert, from Anne of Green Gables. Tall, with his dark hair, so handsome. Loving Anne for all that she is, but being completely honest with her, their chemistry, their arguments, and Anne punishing Gil, but then forgiving him for how could she not?

Anne: Fred is... extremely good.

Marilla: That is exactly what he should be! Would you want to marry a wicked man?

Anne: Well, I wouldn't marry anyone who was really wicked, but I think I'd like it if he could be wicked and wouldn't.

~~~~~

Anne: Our friendship, it won't ever be the same now. Why can't he (Gilbert) just be sensible instead of acting like a sentimental schoolboy?

Marilla: Because he loves you.

Anne: He loves me? I can't know why.

Marilla: Because you made Josie Pye and Ruby Gillis, and all of those wishy-washy young ladies who waltzed by him look like spineless nothings.

Anne: Marilla, he's hardly my idea of a romantic suitor.

Marilla: Anne, you've tricked something out of that imagination of yours that you call romance. Have you forgotten how he gave up the Avonlea school for you so you could stay here with me? He picked you up everyday in his carriage so that you could study your courses together? Don't toss it away for some ridiculous ideal that doesn't exist.

~~~~~~

See? I really AM a modern day Anne Shirley.

My next ideal was Prince Char from my favorite book, "Ella Enchanted". He was so wonderfully heroic, and sweet, and funny. Willing to have fun with Ella, rather than being stuck up royalty. He fell in love with her silliness, her jokes, her pranks, her spirit, determination and courage. She fell in love with the way he loved her, his genuine character, his chivalry, his need to protect and care for her, how he was always up for any adventure with her, no matter how ridiculous.

After that, it was Mr. Knightley from Jane Austen's "Emma".

And then it was Dimitri from "Anastasia".

Then it was Mr. Big from "Sex and the City" (shortest lived).

Now, my current ideal is Jim Clancy, from my favorite TV show, "Ghost Whisperer".

My ideals always have to do with the character of the man, his looks of course, and then how he and the heroine met and fell in love. Also, how he values others compared to himself and how he interacts, what he cares about, and what his passions are.

In the "Ghost Whisperer", Jim and Melinda meet when her apartment building starts on fire. Jim is a fireman (oooo, sexy! Uniformed hero!) and hurries Melinda out of the building along with others. He quickly moves her along by her arm, as she complains "I can walk just fine on my own, thank you!" He pushes her under the yellow taped off parameter around the apartment saying "Your welcome." She yells "My shoe!" as he rushes off again, then stops grabs her shoe and throws it at her feet before running back into the burning building. Melinda sees the ghost of a woman who's husband is still trapped in the building. Melinda yells at Jim, gets his attention and insists that there is still someone in the building, even after he assures her twice that its clean. He still goes in though on her word, and they find the man right where his wife's ghost said he'd be and get him out before the building collapses in flames.

Later, as Melinda is walking away in the rain with her umbrella, the wind gusts and turns her umbrella inside out. As she's struggling, Jim jumps off the fire engine as its getting ready to leave, and runs to her aid. He tries to fix her umbrella but just ends up ruining it even more. Melinda throws it away, and continues walking, not really giving poor Jim the time of day. He keeps trying though, following her offering to buy her a new umbrella. When he asks if she's upset, she says "You threw my shoe at me and wouldn't believe me about the man!" Jim defends himself jokingly, "Tossed. I tossed it to you. There's a big difference. And how did you know he was in there anyway?" Melinda continues to walk saying it doesn't matter, but after a persistent Jim asks her if she's hungry and offers to take her out to the "Umbrella Restaurant", a curious Melinda agrees.

The "Umbrella Restaurant" turns out to be a hot dog stand covered by a green and yellow umbrella. They chat on a bench, Jim asks her out, and eventually they end up dating and getting married.

On their anniversary of meeting (yes, they celebrate the day they met), Melinda gives Jim a mini hot dog stand with a yellow and green umbrella that actually makes hotdogs. She's sad because she believes he's forgotten their anniversary. He loves the hotdog stand, and asks her to get his coat because he has to leave to go play poker with his friends. When she gets to the closet and opens it, and wrapped red umbrella falls out of the closet. Jim comes up behind her with champagne glasses and kisses her cheek, as Melinda starts to tear up and cry. She smiles happily and kisses him saying "I thought you forgot!".

Yes, its probably cheesy. But I love it. And I've always imagined meeting the man of my dreams in some way like that that we could celebrate.

Anthony and I met at Barnes & Noble, my first week working there. Anthony works there too. I remember watching him shelve books as I manned costumer service, alone, bored because the store was practically empty. Everyone had introduced themselves to me by now, all except for Anthony. I had decided that he was either really shy, gay or just a jerk. So I went up to him that day and just started talking to him, introduced myself, and asked him about random things like his age, what he was going to school for, how long he'd worked at Barnes & Noble, etc.

One of the books in his pile was "The Notebook" by Nicolas Sparks. I passingly mentioned I loved the movie but had never read the book. He said he loved the movie too. I'd stared blankly at him, because I'd never met a straight guy who liked "The Notebook". Even though my gaydar hadn't gone off, it still flew out of my mouth: "Are you gay?" I kicked myself inside for speaking without thinking. He laughed and said "Noo, why would you think that?" When I said it was because he loved "The Notebook", he said that he liked it because it had good acting, a good story line and was a good movie overall.

After that he asked me to go hang out with work people when they went out to Main St. and just randomly invited me to group things, before he asked me out on a double date with his sister and her boyfriend. Later he asked me out on our first date: Going to "Chicago" for some pizza, shopping at American Eagle (our favorite store) trying to pass the 45min wait, and then watching a movie at his place after we finished eating.

I think we went on one or two dates before becoming exclusive. It always seemed really quick to me, and I'm not sure if I was really ready to jump into a relationship that fast after barely dating him. He said he asked me that fast because he didn't want anyone else to steal me away. Which is sweet. :) We dated probably 3 months before he told me he loved me on a ski trip in January.

I'm not really complaining about my relationship. Its been going great, we're both happy. I guess just being the drama queen that I am, I was expecting something a little bit more glamorous, like Jim and Melinda's meeting. Anthony can't remember the day we met, and neither can I. There really isn't anything memorable or funny about our meeting, except for my blabbering out "Are you gay??". Anthony IS tall, with dark brown hair (looks black most days), and brown eyes. When I first saw him, I remember thinking he was pretty good looking, studious with his glasses. He's pretty skinny though, and doesn't have much muscle tone (though he's been working out again lately so maybe I'll have me a Taylor Launter in a few months, haha). But then again, I'm not very much like Melinda Gordon either. I've got red hair, pale skin, blue eyes, and I've gained a little weight since we started dating that I need to lose. I'm not much of a bombshell myself as of late, so why should I expect him to be?

I just wish our story had been a little more like my ideal: Melinda Gordon and Jim Clancy.

I want a great story about our meeting. I want to celebrate the day we met, but we can't remember what it was because it really wasn't very memorable.

Anthony and I argue a lot, and its usually about silly stuff. It can get pretty childish sometimes, and it frustrates me because in the back of my mind, I picture Melinda and Jim who rarely argue, and when they do its about adult things and ends with a kiss and full understanding of the other.

Anthony and I have good moments, but we don't really do a lot of cute dates or making dinner together or anything cliche like that. I wish we did.

I'm only 21, I know. I've got my whole life ahead of me, and that makes me also wonder if maybe that ideal is out there, and should I be looking? But I'm comfortable with Anthony, he's good for me, I do love him I think, but do I really know what love is, this early in my life?

I guess I'm just a little bored. Maybe we're in a rut? Also, Anthony is set on marriage, which is fine, but I just feel like now I know how everything is going to end/begin, like what is even the point of dating anymore? I feel as though this part of my life is already over, and I'm just waiting it out until he pops the question for the new part of my life to begin. I feel like all the fun and excitement has been sucked out. I'm not satisfied with this part of my life yet. There's still so much I want to do, that I feel I wouldn't be able to do if we were married. I don't want to assume we'll be together forever. I guess I just miss the fun and excitement of just dating and enjoying being together.

I know a lot of fun, creative stuff costs money, but there's so many inexpensive things we could do, even free.

I guess I'm also wondering if I'm being a little ridiculous. Because I'm wondering if Anthony and I are really right for each other, if maybe we're just in a rut because we ARE comfortable, or if I should still be looking for my Jim Clancy ideal.

I always thought I'd meet my ideal in a quirky, fun, memorable way just like Jim and Melinda did. A story that I could tell everyone with giggles, smiles that make me glow when I mention his name, and he'd tell his friends about how we met, how wonderful I am. A story we could tell to future kids maybe. That we'd go on fun dates and he'd pursue me in creative ways. That we'd go through the courting stages, when he's trying to impress me by making me dinner, taking me out on creative dates and surprising me with flowers. Trying to convince me that he's the perfect one for me, that I should pick him, date him, love him. We'd become official, and that the same kind of dates would continue, that we'd fall in love, eventually he'd propose in this super romantic creative way, and then we'd have an amazingly beautiful non-traditional (outside) wedding that everyone would remember as one of the best weddings they'd ever been to. We'd have the amazing romantic honeymoon at a Bed & Breakfast, someplace tropical or historic, and come home to our cute little house that we'd decorated in the most unique, homey way, and that we'd continue to live in newly wed bliss.

I guess I was expecting to be swept off my feet, but so far, I've felt pretty grounded.

Any thoughts anyone? Have any of you ever experienced these feelings, thoughts? Have you ever had an ideal? If so, who? I could really use some feedback.

Chills...

Sooo, I have a cold. A bad one. The kind that makes your whole head ache, behind your eyes, all the way past your cheekbones. The kind that when you talk, the own vibration of your voice makes your head pound harder.

Yeeeeup. It sucks. I've had to skip work the past two days because of how disgusting I feel, and I would hate to pass it to anyone else. Plus, this morning, I lost most of my voice. Which is kind of entertaining for me, I enjoy it when I can't talk right, when it changes my voice. Its entertaining, because I have no control over it, just like if you suck in helium, and it makes your voice really high, or if you have a bubble in your throat. Weird, I know. But its an easy way to entertain myself when I have nothing else to do while stuck at home.

On the other hand, its a bummer because when this happens, it usually means I won't regain my singing voice and normal range that I work hard to keep and extend for at least a month. It sucks because after I had pneumonia, it kind of ruined my singing voice, and even all of my work hasn't allowed me to completely regain it without coughing. So I'm worried that my cold will ruin all I've gained.

Also, its Sturgis Falls weekend. I missed My Waterloo Days while I was on a horrible trip in Tennessee. I was really excited about it because I wanted Anthony and I to go together. I thought it'd be a great memory maker. But I missed it, so I don't want to miss Sturgis this weekend, even if I'm sick. It started Friday, and ends on Sunday.

Granted, Sturgis is a lot smaller than My Waterloo Days. There isn't a ferris wheel, which is my favorite ride, but oh well. I figure we can still eat some funnel cake and ride the carousel.

I'm scheduled to work 12-5 tomorrow. I'm going to try to get it off, otherwise I'll call in sick. Is it awful that I feel that I'm sick enough that I don't want to work for 5 hours, plus pass the germs on or blow my nose constantly, and get completely worn out as I'm not allowed to sit at all during my shift? But I feel well enough/determined enough to go to Sturgis with Anthony on Sunday for just an hour, so I can get that funnel cake and ride that carousel and snap a few pictures?

I don't know. But I do know I hate being sick. With a passion. Uhg!

Summer days, drifting away...

I love summer. With a passion. Its the season I look forward to all year long.

Summer means an explosion of green, warm breezes, lazy Sundays, Cup of Joe with live music on Friday and Saturday nights, open late. Spending time with meaningful friends, making meaningful memories, making new friends, or reestablishing an old connection. I love it. :)

Summer feels packed full of opportunity and possibilities. Like anything can happen!

I can't believe its already almost July, and I haven't even done half the things I've wanted to.

I played at Open Mic at Jamesons last night, it went okay the first two songs (I sang "Wish You Were" by Kate Voegele, and then "Halfway Without You" by myself) but when I went to sing my last song, "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen, I completely forgot which fret I was supposed to be on, and how it started out. Disastrous. I tried a few times before finally giving up with a smile.

I was pretty down about it, but lucky for me, I was surrounded by awesome people: My boyfriend, Anthony, who hugged me while I cried a few mortified tears. Karla, who came up, hugged me and told me that it happens to everyone. And then my super awesome friend, Kate, who told me to just practice and come back, sign up to be first and be like "I figured it out, bitches!" and blow them away. I felt a lot better, and I've already started choosing my songs for next week. :)

I'm trying to branch out, so if anyone has any songs they like, let me know. I really want to learn a variety.

What I'm currently into:

Regina Spektor

Kate Voegele

Bethany Joy Lenz Galeotti (Everly)

Coldplay

Michael Buble

I love classics, oldies, and anything acoustic. I'm an indie fan, but I'll play just about anything. :)

Things I want to do this summer:

1. Go on a road trip with my boyfriend, or a friend.

2. Go swimming at the Water Park.

3. Go to a fair, ride the Ferris Wheel and eat funnel cake.

4. Go barefoot.

5. Have a picnic.

6. Try camping (kinda scary for me, since I fear bugs, and am not particularly a fan of using the outdoors as a bathroom)

7. Write a blog, start documenting my life a little. :) IN PROCESS.

8. Take lots of pictures and make a scrapbook.

9. Paint my room, and display my art.

10. Take pictures of friends and landscape, animals and just whatever to start building my photography portfolio.

Yes, in case I haven't mentioned earlier, I've been accepted into the photography program at Hawkeye Community College here in town. Its apparently the second best photography school in the Nation. Who knew! In Iowa! Wow. Lucky me! =)

This weekend is Sturgis Falls, so I'm excited about going. Hopefully will get that #3 on the list knocked out. Thinking I'll probably go with Anthony or Kate. Psyched!

Also, the 4th of July is coming up. I'm way excited since its my all-time favorite holiday. That's right, not Christmas, not Thanksgiving, not my birthday. I LOVE the 4th of July.

So yeah, there is a quick update. I've been working a lot, so I'm really sorry for not posting lately. =/ I will try to keep on top of things from now on, even if its just a short post once a week.

Hope you all are having a wonderful, fun filled summer!

~Dia

Midnight Adventure

So Anthony and I went grocery shopping at Wally's World tonight, because he never buys anything healthy unless I go with him. This guy can literally live off Mr. Freeze pops.

So we're driving down Hudson back to his apartment when suddenly we see a huge bright flash of light. At first we thought it was heat lightening, but we didn't think it felt very humid.

Suddenly all the stop lights went out and everything went black. According to Anthony, a transformer blew up over at the Power Plant, which is right next to his apartment complex.

We got to his apartment and started lighting the candles we'd just coincidentally bought. I went out on to the balcony where I started flashing my candle at all the other people on surrounding balconies who were holding flash lights and candles. It was pretty sweet.

Some guys in the building next to Anthony's were out on their balcony drunk and smoking pot. I chatted them up for a while, and they asked what I did tonight. I said that I'd just played my guitar and watched TV. Immediately, Shawn (one of the drunk guys who asked my first name and introduced himself. He started calling me Kum By Ya after I mentioned I played guitar) demanded I get my guitar out and play it. What the heck! So I did. :)

After a few minutes of playing and yelling hellos to other people who were walking around, out on their balconies or whatever, a chick comes out on the balcony next to ours and yells at me.

"Hey!"

Me: "What's up?"

Random Bitch: Some people have class in the morning and don't want to be kept up all night listening to someone play stupid campfire songs.

Me: Sorry...


PSH! Just because I'm playing my guitar out on a balcony under the stars with my candle by my feet does not make me a cowgirl playing campfire songs.

So I stopped, Anthony said he wanted to go blare his stereo after that, and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum said "F*** that b**ch! Play it anyway! Screw her! Its a free country. I swear, if I could see your face now, Cassie, I'd ask you to marry me. You are f***ing awesome and your name sounds like the name of an angel. PLAY that guitar, don't be scared!...hey, do you have anything I can role this s**t up in?"


Hahahaha. :D Drunk people crack me up.


After that, Anthony and I went back inside because he was cold and watched four people playing Hide & Seek outside his window in the open community area (Anthony's apartment over looks the pool, volley ball court, picnic tables, grills, work out center, Welcome Center, etc. and you can see all but two of the other apartment buildings.

Downsides to the night: After I flushed the toilet, the bowl filled with rusty water. Ewwwww....dunno if the faucet is like that too since I didn't run it long enough to find out.

Otherwise, it was a good night, definitely entertaining. :D I love stuff like power outages. They don't bother me, even though Anthony was freaking about the food a little. I blew it off because all I could think about was how we were in town, not the country, and how my family had been without power for a week and a half in the middle of winter. So this was definitely just child's play and way fun for me. :)

I even put a candle in the window and called it my hope candle. :P

Anyway, just a random post, since I haven't blogged in a while (sorry). Not sure if anyone reads this, IF YOU DO YOU SHOULD COMMENT. :) Sometime at least.

Summer is awesome, I'm finally settling into my new routine instead of shooting up in my bed at 8am every Tuesday and Thursday morning thinking I'm late for class.

Hope summer is going well for the rest of you! Thanks for reading,

Happy Summer,

~Cassie

Whimsical Fireflies

I recently remembered these jars when I was going through my iPhoto album, "A Dream Wedding". In it, I had saved a picture of mason jars hanging from tree branches with candles in them. I was suddenly reminded of beautiful colored jars of different shapes and sizes, whimsically lighting up a dock and hanging from wires.

Dying to find them once again, I started to google. I went thr

ough all the magazines I could think of that might sell something similar online: L.L. Bean, J.Jill., J. Crew, and then suddenly I remembered Anthropologie.

Sure enough, after some searching I found them: The moon garden votive, jam jar by Anthropologie.

I am still in love. I adore these, I want them all. They used to be only $4 on Anthropologie's website, but they are no longer selling them. :(

Does anyone know where to find something similar? Or another site that might sell the same ones, like Amazon, or eBay? Please let me know!

I want to use them someday for my wedding do to something like this:

I love the picture on the left with the jars hanging from what looks like twine with little votive candles inside. I also love the table setting in the small thumb nail to the left of the wedding dress, where they are shown hanging as lanterns from the trees and lighting the tables.

Just thought I'd share! :)

~Cassie

Moments Captured Through A Lens

By the way, Nate and Alli's wedding went beautifully.

For pictures, you can look at these links from Lukas VanDyke's website:

Engagement photos: http://www.lukasvandyke.com/?p=4345

Wedding photos and slide show: http://www.lukasvandyke.com/?p=4351

Lukas and Suzy did such a wonderful job! Beautiful pictures that captured the moments and characters perfectly. :) I think I may fly them back here for whenever I get married to do my photos!

There were many tears, especially from me, but also a lot of joyful laughter and prayers. The whole wedding was blessed and the presence of friends for such a glorious celebration was unforgettable.

I cried as we prayed over Alli before getting in line, got it together to go down the aisle, cried when Alli walked down the aisle and Dad gave her away, cried while Nate and Alli spoke their written vows to one another, and cried and laughed as I hugged them both afterward. I thought I'd cried all I could cry, so when I got up at the reception to give my toast, I was sure I had it all together, good to go! Nope. I lost it even worse than during the wedding, ending with a tearful smile. :P Apparently, not only did I make my dad cry with my toast and tears, but other guests as well, haha.

Alli and Nate had a wonderful and eventful ( ;) ) honeymoon and took a few pictures. While they were gone their bible study group came and finished their house so that they would be able to move in right away and not have to stay at our parents house their first night back. They slept on an air mattress for a while until Alli got her bed moved over. She's been by every day the past week to collect her things randomly, and from what I've heard, she's having a fun time decorating her house and being a wife. I haven't seen the house since its had furniture in it, but when I do, I'll be sure to snap some pictures to share with all of you. :)

So, there's an update on the happy newlyweds, and an update on my life in the post prior to this one. :)

To brighter days,

~Cassie

Random Eloquence

Hey guys, I don't know if anybody reads this but I realize that I haven't posted anything in a while. I deeply apologize! Life has been kind of crazy with school and finals week coming up. Trying to keep my head above water! Prayers would be greatly appreciated since some of my classes are pretty difficult and I'm barely pulling through. I'm most worried about my East Asian Cultures class because it involves so much foreign information, dates, names, and traditions that I have to reproduce from memory without notes.

I'm also having trouble with Art Appreciation. As much as I enjoy that class (we basically just look at slides of art and read about them in our books then have tests over them), its hard to remember the eccentric names of the artists, their art, and what time period or style they represent.

*sigh*

Help.
_____

In other news:

So a friend of mine was having a bad day the other day and posted a status on her Facebook saying "Seriously, screw life". For some reason, I felt compelled to comment. At first I was going to be short and sweet, but ended up having the longest comment on her status.

Here's what I wrote:

Seriously, lighten up. Life could be so much worse. Think of the people in Africa, who are starving. All those children who are malnourished, who don't have clean water or food. We are so lucky. Also, we have Jesus, and a lot of people don't even know about Him. You have friends, family, you're able to go to school and learn. You're young and have your whole life ahead of you to do whatever you want and to fulfill your dreams. The whole world is practically wrapped around our fingers. You have freedom, when others are persecuted and under the hold of Communism.

Life isn't so bad if you look for the silver linings. You're entitled to bad days, to be an Eeyore every now and then, but really, in comparison you have it pretty easy. To say "Screw life" is to basically slap God in the face for everything He's blessed you with, including your life.

Just sayin'. If its people that you're upset at, then screw them. Not life. You have control over your relationships: whether you choose to keep those people in your life, or push them out. Life itself has nothing to do with it.


Sometimes I feel so eloquent. :D Just thought I'd share this with you. :)

Look for brighter days,

~Cassie