Going to the chapel...

I will be taking a short break from My Cass-a-rific Blog for the next week or so while I have the wedding of my dreams with the man of my dreams. After the wedding, we will be taking a 7 night cruise through the Caribbean. We're so excited and will surely need some R&R after all the hard work that has been put into our wedding.

Check back in early November for pics from the honeymoon!

Until then...Peace to the Blogosphere!

Tommy's Steak and Seafood

Last night I went to Tommy's Steak and Seafood with my mom and Richard. Tommy himself brought us some grilled oysters to sample...of course just Mom and Richard tried those since I do not eat nothing of the sea. The grilled wedge salad with blue cheese dressing and sliced New York strip on top was fabulous, though!


Mom liked the wine. She's actually just tasting mine in the picture, but it still looks funny!





The last time Miss Trout will visit Tommy's before becoming Mrs. Newsom!

Tripper and Skipper

I was over at Lizzie and Josh's again last night
and took some pictures of Tripper and Skipper performing one of their best tricks. They will hold a treat on their nose for just about any length of time, until you tell them they can eat it. Even Georgie can't do this trick. It's pretty impressive!







Aren't they adorable? I love my furry nephews!

Dinner with Lizzie and Josh

I had dinner at Lizzie and Josh's house last night. Those two are so cute...they cook dinner together every night! I watched while they worked at the stove together, figuring out which spices to use and how to season the vegetables and what to toss with the pasta. And it all turned out delicious!

Lizzie will probably kill me for using this picture, but it's just too cute not to share.

The Gelbaughs!

I made a trip out to Houston today for some wedding errands and stopped by my friend Tracy's house afterwards.


Tracy and me :)

















Tracy's son Deion, who was one of my students at Shadowbriar way back in 2003.













And Tracy's little boy, John, who is the sweetest baby in the world, and their dog, Latte (who is also one of the sweetest doggies!)

Texas Skyscape

One thing I will always love about Texas is the wide open sky. I love being able to see the entire sky during a sunset and I love the dramatic change of light when a thunderstorm is approaching. This picture that I shot as I was leaving Michael's today is a perfect example. I will always love New York for many reasons, but the skyscapes of Texas are unmatched!

Little Miss Ninja

I had dinner with Jena and Emma tonight. After dinner, Emma dressed up in her Ninja Halloween costume for us and entertained us by dancing to her Barenaked Ladies cd "Snack Time", this great cd written for kids. As usual, she had Jena and I in stitches.














Emma loves being in front of the camera!

































I love how I accidentally captured Rocky having his way with the pillow in the background.













What a cute little dancing Ninja!

Georgie Pics

John sent me these cute pictures of Georgie over the phone yesterday. He's taking really good card of her while I'm in Texas.


Georgie loves to give kisses!













She also met another beagle while on a walk with John the other day.

Faith Presbyterian Celebration

I spent the day at our church in Baytown, Faith Presbyterian, helping out with their big Celebration day to honor the opening of the new building a few weeks ago. Luckily, the weather as nice and cool and very fall-ish. There were hot dogs, popcorn, and snow cones, a cake walk, a moon walk, face painting (which was the station I helped with), and two live bands. It was a lot of fun.

Here's a picture of my mom working the face painting table while I took a break.

Dinner at Antonio's

Tonight I shared with my mom and Richard their Friday night tradition of going to Antonio's for dinner. They are regulars at this place and are greeted by their first names by the owner when they arrive.

Tonight we all ordered the special which was Rosemary Chicken stuffed with parmesan and topped with a creamy asparagus, spinach, and tomato sauce with whole wheat pasta. Despite the fact that my sinus cold took over my sense of taste half way through the meal, it was still wonderfully delicious!

Under the Weather

Hello to all my blog readers! I've been so good lately about posting to the blog everyday and I hated that last night I had to skip my posting. I've been a little under the weather since I arrived in Texas on Monday. Last night I actually had a little fever and had to take some cold medicine and go to bed early. I slept for nearly 14 hours, but I think my body really needed the rest. I took most of today to relax and get to feeling better. Thank goodness my fever is gone and I'm starting to feel a little more back to normal. The last thing I want to happen is to be sick for the wedding! So please be patient with me for the next few days if I don't give the blog as much attention as I usually do. I'll be back as soon as possible!

Backyard Bliss

I spent some time in my mom's backyard today taking pictures of all the flowers...so many different colors!

Dinner at Lizzie and Josh's House

I made it to Texas today and spent my first evening at Lizzie and Josh's house. We had a delicious dinner...

...and then spent the rest of the evening playing "The Beatles" version of Rock Band on the Wii. We may look pretty dorky in this picture trying to be like cool rock stars, but we sure had fun!

Apple Picking and Art

John and I were invited to spend the day apple picking at the home of two art collectors in upstate New York today. We had the most amazing time!


















We picked apples...














































...and made apple cider! It was delicious!




















Afterwards, we walked the grounds to see the couple's outdoor sculpture collection and soak up the wonderful country air.

This is actually a sculpture in the collection!

At the end of the day we were able to tour the couple's "art barn" on their estate which housed my favorite piece in the entire collection...the jelly doughnut painting!