Writer's Block

Well, I don't actually have anything to say. Probably that's why I haven't written anything for a couple of days. I feel like it's hypocritical of me to be a slacker on this since I get mad at my friends when they go more than 24 hours without something new for me to read. Mostly I have just been working and, let me tell you, it's EXHAUSTING! Especially on days when I am feeling ambitious and go running after work. Yesterday was one of those days, and after I ran I sat on my couch for probably 5 hours and then went to bed. I was so tired and sore, I literally couldn't move. I am getting better at mowing though (despite Emily's constant belittling). Okay, I'm still not very good, but better than a week ago.....and tanner! Also, I have discovered a new joy in doing my hair and makeup. I don't know if you are aware, but being a lawn mower is not exactly a glamorous job. I mostly feel hideous every day. It's nice not having to get ready at all in the morning, but I don't super love feeling ugly and dirty all day every day. Feeling clean and put together is a nice experience. I know, that makes it sound like I'm a little princess. I don't feel like I'm one of "those" girls, but whatever, think what you want. I like to not feel gross. I really wish I had something interesting to say, but I just really don't.....

On a completely unrelated note (except maybe not) here is a lovely little Calvin and Hobbes for you.

Mostly I am soooo with Hobbes on this one. This is how I feel these days. I would much rather nap in the grass in the sunshine than mow the grass in the sunshine. Oh to be a stuffed tiger or a 6-year-old. They have it pretty good.

Summer?

Good news! Yesterday I FINALLY got to go boating. I have been craving some boating since I left for school last August probably. The water has been so ridiculously high and the weather so ridiculously ridiculous, that we haven't had a chance to get the boat out once this year, until yesterday. I'm pretty sure that my boat on my river is one of my happiest places. It really doesn't get better than that. The water is FREEZING right now, because we haven't had enough hot days to warm it up. It's mostly just freshly melted snow. Brrr! I wanted to wakeboard so bad yesterday, but I had no desire to get in that water. Especially after everyone else screamed when they jumped in....not encouraging. I eventually did strap my wakeboard on and jump in though. And yes, I screamed too. It was cold. Once I got up on the wakeboard, it was all worth it. I love doing that soo much! The water was kind of rough because it was a little windy, so I didn't do too much on the wakeboard, but it was still great. The rest of the time was spent lying out on the boat soaking up the sun. I didn't actually put any sunscreen on until after the burning had already taken place. I didn't really think it was that bad until I was home later that day. I am FRIED!!! Mostly my legs. I can't complain too much though because it is totally my fault. I am pretty bad when it comes to putting on sunscreen. I have been so pale for so long that I really just wanted some sun. I knew that I would probably get burned, especially since this is the first time all year that I have really gotten some sun. But I knew that the burn would turn into a tan in a few days, so I just let it happen. Am I now regretting that decision? Yes, I am. Have I learned my lesson? No, I probably haven't. This has happened a zillion times and I never change. I deal with the pain and peeling for a few days and then am happy to be a little bit tanner than I was before. After I got home from boating,I watched a video someone had posted on facebook about skin cancer. That's what you call ironic. I definitely don't want cancer, so maybe I will try to be a little more careful, though it may be too late for that now. Wow, this is a super rambly post. Sorry. Mostly I am just glad that summer is finally making an appearance, even if it did wait until I was working all day every day to do so. Rude.

Grass and Bests

Guess what! 2 months after being home, I finally have a job! I am now officially a Greenlon Landscaper....aka lawn mower. Today was my first day on the job. Kind of this is a bittersweet situation. I shall explain.

Bitter: Well....it's work. Also, I have to wake up early. Also, I can't run in the morning now because I work in the morning. And let me tell you, I was not feeling like running after work today (for the record, I did go run after work despite wanting to do nothing but sleep). Also, I am terrible at my job. They say it just takes a minute to get the hang of things, I hope that's true. I mow super crooked and crazy and I crashed into lots of things and was just all around clueless. I hate feeling like that. Also, the sound of lawn mowers is extremely loud, the smell of gasoline is gross, and breathing in grass and dust is...well...less than pleasant.

Sweet: I am getting money! We get paid pretty good and considering how much we work, it adds up quick. I made like $70 just in one day. That is pretty exciting. The best part is that I am working with Emily and Cheri. Who just gets to work with 2 of their best friends every day? Yeah, that makes it pretty great. I like those girls a lot and they made a less-than-dream job pretty fun. We had to drive to American Falls to mow, so the three of us rode in the truck together. It was like a little best friend road trip. Other good thing: I might only be working for 3 or 4 weeks. That sounds great to me. That's all I want really.

Well there you go, Cassie's new job in a nutshell. Hopefully I become a pro lawn mower pretty soon because I am done feeling like an idiot. Yup, that would be great. Until then, the best friends can pick up the slack...love you girls :)

Wilderness Explorers!!

Adventure #1 of the day: I got to babysit my cousin, Levi. He is adorable. And a crack up. This kid kills me. I wish I could remember all of the funny things he said and did today but I can't. Usually I don't love babysitting, but this kid is so entertaining! We literally sat and laughed at each other for like 10 minutes straight. He's hilarious. We had a great time at McDonald's (obviously the kid has me wrapped around his finger because I can't stand that place!). Then we played pirates and I built him a fort that he was interested in for maaaybe 2 minutes. Then he played some Wii with Mitch. Then he ate a fruit-by-the-foot....most entertaining thing I have ever seen! Then we sat and chatted and laughed for a while. Then we swang...swung...swinged?And then he played fetch with himself with a frisbee (entertaining!). It was a pretty great time.

Tell me he's not the cutest thing you've ever seen!

Adventure #2 of the day: Apparently, when people find out you have no life, they ask you to do random favors. Today was one of those days. Somehow, I ended up agreeing to give a blind lady (whom I had never met before) a ride to a Red Cross meeting in Twin Falls. Then I was supposed to pick her up 2 hours later. I can't say I was thrilled about doing this. Definitely had an awkward potential. Luckily, Em is a gem and agreed to come with me on this little adventure. After we dropped her off and her meeting, Em and I had a great time. First we washed her dirty little car at the new car wash in Twin. Let me tell you, it was exciting! It's a pretty thrilling car wash. AND we even used the free vacuums! I know what you're thinking, "Wow Cas, you need a life if you think a car wash and free vacuums is worth getting excited about." And you are correct. I do need a life. This does excite me. Don't judge.

LOVE this little lady! She saved me tonight.

This comes later...but I don't know how to move it so here it is...

Then we went to Nueve Frijoles y un Burrito (9 Beans and a Burrito) for dinner. I had never been there so I was rather excited.

Em was also excited about her burrito

Then, Emily showed me some secrets. Okay, they're not really secrets, but I had never seen them before. We drove down the side of the Twin Falls canyon towards the golf course, (I've lived in Burley for 14 years and never been down inside the canyon) and there is this cute little waterfall tucked away in there. So cool!

Why yes, this is a picture from behind the waterfall! That was suuuper exciting! Minus that I got wet, and it was treacherous getting there because I was in flip flops! Em didn't really care about my safety.

And here we are looking at the bridge from down in the canyon! So cool! Also, this was a cute picture of Emily looking off into the distance, but it's just the top of her head now.

Oh there she is!

Also me

Soo pretty!! Idaho is pretty gorgeous when you're not out in the middle of the desert :)

Special. The sun was a leetle bright. That makes picture taking difficult.

Okay, that has to conclude my adventure stories for today. I have to get up super early tomorrow to go to my first day of work! More on that later...it's bedtime.

Happy Fathers Day!

So, because today is Fathers Day (and because I learned today that apparently my dad is an avid reader of this blog....) I decided that this one should probably be dedicated to him.

Dad:

After an evening filled with card-making, destroying the pineapple upside down cake, putting powdered sugar in the chicken instead of flour (it still tasted fine, right?), chopping onions until I thought my eyes would probably bleed, spilling half the chicken on the stove while trying to transport it, putting dinner on the table an hour later than we had planned, eating a delicious home made meal, helicopter flying, frog watching, popcorn popping, movie watching, dish washing, counter wiping, bat killing, hugging, and lots of great conversation, there's just one thing left to say: I love you! Hope your day was a good one. Let's do it again sometime.

P.S. I would also love if you wanted to go to another Red Sox game... ;)

I Can Do Hard Things!

So, two weeks ago my mom told me that she, Lexi, my Aunt Amy, and my cousin's fiance, Corrina were all running a 5K in Boise. When she told me this, my response was something to the effect of, "Ha okay. You guys have a great time.....weirdos." And then for some reason, five minutes later I was telling her to sign me up too. (P.S. apparently for some people a 5K is a joke and barely counts as a run. If you are one of those people, stop reading now) I had really never run before. Once in a while (like during PE or tennis) but just for a minute. I always thought runners were weird (and I mostly still do). But, at the beginning of the summer I thought it might be fun to push myself a little bit and maybe try to do a 5K in August or something. Yeah, two weeks is not the same as two months. I tried to run 3 miles every day for two weeks (by "run" I mean run for a minute, then walk, then jog, then walk slow, then speed walk, then jog). It's hard starting totally from scratch. I knew from the start that I wouldn't be able to full-out run a 5K after two weeks, but I wasn't about to sit at the finish line while everyone else ran in the race. So, at 8:00 this morning, I lined up with about 500 other girls for the "See Jane Run" 5K race in Boise. Before the race started, I thought I would probably puke from nerves. Luckily, I didn't. I started off at a pretty good pace right next to Lexi for about the first mile. I was feeling great until about the 1 mile mark, then I slowed down. I won't give you a play-by-play of the race, but I will tell you that I finished. I also won't tell you my time or what place I came in, because they are not really worthy of being bragged about. I will tell you that I beat my personal record by three minutes though, so that was exciting. And yes, there were people who came in behind me. I wasn't dead last. At the end of the race was a chocolate and champagne celebration. That was pretty exciting. We all got shirts that say "I run for chocolate." Yes, sad as it may be, this is what motivates me to run. Corrina ended up coming in second place overall, which was super cool. She's an amazing runner. Kind of my role model. Plus she got some free running shoes out of it. Motivation? I think yes. The rest of the day wasn't filled with too much excitement. Just eating, sleeping, and hanging out with the family. It really was a great day. I did something that I had never in a million years thought I would do. Lexi's theme at girls camp last week was "I can do hard things." This became our battle cry of sorts for this race. And it's so true! I may not have run the entire time, and I may not have come in first place, but it was a hard thing for me and I did it. Today I also caught a little glimpse of why those weird people love running so much. It's possible that I could learn to love it too. I am planning on continuing to run and hopefully get in on some more 5K's this summer. Who knows...See Jane Run 5K today, Boston Marathon tomorrow. Okay, that was a joke. I highly doubt I will ever run a marathon...please don't expect more than a 5K from me at this point.

Stuck?

Is it sad that I think about blogging all the time now? I considered what I would write tonight several times today. When I whipped up some chicken tacos from scratch, without a recipe, for lunch today, (which were pretty good I must say) I thought, "Hmm is this blog worthy?" And when Lexi did a wonderful job of painting my fingernails, I thought, "Should I take a picture of these lovely things to put on the blog today?" Or when I went to Something Borrowed with my mom tonight and it was way more thought provoking (for me at least) than any chick flick has the right to be, I thought, "Should I try to explain all the things that I thought about during this movie in my blog when I get home?" Clearly, the answer to all of these questions is no. Except the first question which is a resounding yes. It is sad that I have no more to my life than what I am doing right now. Maybe I should just enjoy that fact. I should enjoy this time that I have to just take a breath and spend time with my family. And I really am enjoying it. I just wish that I had something to make me feel like I am headed somewhere. Obviously, I am headed back to school in the fall, but in the mean time what am I doing? I want to be working, or interning, or traveling, or helping people, or meeting people, or doing something for myself or someone else. I never thought that I was really the type of person to get restless and need change. But I think I might be. It's hard for me to feel like I'm just spinning my wheels. Or that my wheels aren't even spinning, the car is just idling. And even when I get back to school, what am I doing there? Where am I headed? What is the ultimate goal here? I don't know. Okay, this is getting rambly and nonsensical, so I will be done now. If anyone has an idea of something productive that I can do for the next few months, please let me know. Until then, I will continue cooking, getting my nails done, and going on wonderful dates with my mom.

EXCITEMENT!!.....well, it's all relative...

Mostly these little babies were the excitement of my day today. I was having a craving so I baked some cookies. In fact, I wanted some so bad that I ran back into town like five minutes after getting home just to get a bag of chocolate chips. Which, by the way, was $7.50. I know, ridiculous. But it was worth it. Let me tell you, they were delicious! We still have some so feel free to come over and have one. I like friends.

Oh, other excitement of the day, Lexi got home from girls camp! I like her. I found myself regretting getting old after all of the things she told me that they did at camp. I always loved girls camp, and this one sounded waaay fun! Sometimes I wish I was 16 again.

Kind of she's my favorite baby sister.

Well, sorry my life isn't exciting. I didn't promise too much with this thing. We will just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings....isn't there a song that has a line like that in it? I don't know...that's Heather's job :)

Little Joys

So, this might be a little corny but it's my blog and I'll do what I want. Today was a pretty good day. We finally had some summer-like weather and it's pretty impossible to have a bad day when the sun is shining. Besides the nice weather, here are some other little things that made today great:

I like these kids....

Sno Asis with these special children

This is my new shower gel: Coconut Passionfruit. Best. Smell. Ever! Showering with this in the morning makes my day a happy one.

Afternoon snack of strawberries and cool whip. Happiness in a bowl.

New headband! I have like 7 different colors of these. Kind of funny looking, but I love them.

Happy Flag Day! The Scouts put flags all over town on patriotic holidays and it's mostly my favorite thing. Almost every house in our neighborhood has one in their front yard. Love it. Also, I am typing this on my back porch and there are two little girls across the street holding their flag and yelling, "Flag day! Flag day! It's flag day everyone! Flag day!" Thank you for your patriotism little girls.

This is the wild pansy patch. Mostly it just makes me happy because...well...it's a pansy patch

Buck. He is a little nuts, but I love him. We had some fun today

The trees are flowered! I love when they look like this

This is the peony bush that Mitch and I planted today. That was fun

Mitch....see the caption under Buck's picture

My new running shoes! Cute yeah? We had a nice little run this morning.

This is my bench. I have recently discovered that it is a wonderful place to catch my breath after my run. It's a cute little sanctuary. Great way to start the day. (Sidenote: the across the street girls are now walking around the flag pole singing "I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints." Love.)

My flower pot! I love flowers. This little guy makes me happy

This is my darling panini maker. It made lunch an enjoyable experience today.

Gerber daisies are my absolute favorites! I found these at Fred Meyer yesterday and couldn't let them stay there. Now I can look at them all day. Happiness.

Well, there you go. It would have really made my day if this picture and captioning thing wasn't so incredibly complicated! But I did it, so it's all good. Now it's time for some burnt pizza and America's Got Talent.

"Oh this has gotta be the good life.....So please tell me what there is to complain about"

Here We Go...

Well, here I am....blogging. I wish I could say that I am starting this blog because I feel like I have lots of exciting stories and insights to share. That would be a lie. Mostly, I am just a follower in this respect. Everyone has a blog, so Cas does now too. Don't judge. Try not to expect too much from me and this little blog. Mostly it's just a boredom relief for me, and maybe will be another procrastination method for you. Mostly I am just going to try this out and see what happens. So, even though all both of you that are reading this probably already know me, I decided that my first post should be a little get to know me specialness. So, for your enjoyment, here are some random facts about Cas Crane:

1. I kind of love my friends and family

2. I kind of love being at home with my family

3. I could live off raspberries

4. I wouldn't call myself a huge sports fan, but I like watching them when I get a chance. My teams and athletes that I'm in love with are: The Boston Red Sox, The Boston Celtics, Lance Armstrong, Apolo Ohno, Jonathan Papelbon, Shawn White, Jimmer Fredette, and Michael Phelps...I know, blah, blah, Cas is a follower....whatever. I like them.

5. I love bright colors

6. I am a sucker for good causes

7. I love Calvin and Hobbes

8. I am kind of a pushover and a people-pleaser. It's a problem

9. Boston and D.C. are my absolute favorite cities

10. I have fallen in love with the east coast....except for the humidity part of it.

11. The #1 thing on my bucket list is to visit all 7 continents and swim in all 4 oceans

12. I am usually the meanest and most sarcastic to the people I love the most

13. Watching movies is my favorite

14. I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!

15. The Church is the most important and valuable thing to me in my life

16. I love laughing until it hurts

17. I love dogs

18. I love playing tennis

19. I love clogging

20. I love laying in the grass in the sunshine

21. I love beaches....a lot!

22. I hate wind

23. I can't stand the sound of noisy eating or nails being filed

24. I love boating....especially wakeboarding

25. I don't do scary...at all

26. I mostly have a speeding problem....shhh!

27. I can't wait to fall in love

28. I have learned to be grateful, because no matter how bad I think it is, there's always tons of people who have it so much worse

29. I am trying to learn how to play the guitar

30. I love flowers. I feel like they are nature's way of expressing joy

31. I love chick flicks...especially ones with Matthew McConaughey

32. My family are my best friends and my best friends are my family

33. I have a blue Dodge Dakota named Little Blue. He is the love of my life

34. I don't really know what I'm doing with my life

35. I like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain :)