Ben and Cassie

New Blog Address!

2008-11-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! We have relocated our blog to: www.benandcassie.wordpress.com Follow us there to see what's going on in our lives!

love,
ben and cassie

A Want or a Need?

2008-09-19T08:50:00.001-07:00

I think with gas prices rising, I could easily justify one of these beauties as a need. Most definitely.

Cha Cha!

2008-09-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

The other day at the Bistro our friend Jenn introduced us to latest time-wasting entertainment: Cha Cha. Jaime just blogged about it and did a great job so go check it out: Barks Blog

All you do is text Cha Cha @ 242242 and ask anything you want. If it's a complicated question it make take longer to reply so be patient.

Here are some questions I've asked:

What is the capital of Jordan? Amman is the capital and largest city of Jordan.
How do you make a real margarita? Margarita recipe, 3 parts of tequila, 2 parts of orange flavored liqueur, 1 part fresh lime juice, coarse Kosher salt.
Should we run to the bank asap, withdrawl our savings and store it under the mattress or just leave it in our account? If you have over 100,00 split it across banks to be covered by FDIC insurance, otherwise you're safe.

Cha Cha is awesome.

I can feel it.

2008-09-15T12:02:00.000-07:00

Well, it doesn't quite look like this yet, but it certainly feels like it today here in Cleveland. I love the fall. Ben and I have been sick this entire past weekend and weather like today is jus what the doctor ordered. It's without a doubt my favorite time of year. I just wish it lingered around a bit longer. Happy Monday everyone!

Nanetta Jane

2008-09-11T12:37:00.001-07:00

I think most everyone knows that my granny passed away this past summer (one month before our wedding.) I haven't mentioned it on here because one, it's still hard to talk about it and two, wedding stuff just kind of got in the way (or served as a great distraction) and three, I'm not really the best at updating this blog. But as the wedding dust settles and life becomes more routine, there's more time to think about her and really process things.

Not that it has to be said, but I loved my granny so much (she would always spell it grannie and it drove me crazy!) She was always such an integral part of my life. Maybe it's because we lived with her throughout different times in my childhood or because of the trips we would take out west to visit family, always stopping at the general store on the way to get rock candy for me. Or maybe it was the trips to San Antonio with her and mom and the occasional aunt or cousin. Or maybe it's just because she was my granny, my one and only, and through good times and bad times she was the true matriarch and glue of our family.

My granny is the first person I've lost who I was close to and three months later, it's still hard to think about it. Sometimes I reach for the phone to call her and ask her about a recipe or just to see how things are going. I even get teary-eyed when I see women her age when I'm out and about (especially at the post office for some reason) and I think, "It's just not fair." It's just not fair that she's not here and that she's missed some really important moments in my life.

And while I still don't think it's fair that she's gone and I don't understand why, I have to admit that some things kind of fell in place when it came to her seeing or being a part of some of the momentous occasions in my life. For example, she got to meet and know Ben for almost three full years and she saw how happy he made me and that was something she had always wanted - for me to find a great man that will take care of me and vice versa. She would constantly remind me how proud she was and how happy she was to see us together. She also got to see me in my wedding gown before she passed away. I brought it with me while we were in town before she got sick and Holly came out to her house and we tried our dresses on and showed them off to her and my mom. Looking back, I can see that was more than just a coincedence.

The most recent "big" moment in my life has been becoming a home-owner. We closed on our house right around the time granny went into the hospital and more than anything I wanted her to be able to come visit us once she was out and to really be pampered as a house guest. Usually when the fam comes to visit they end up in hotels or a futon or on the couch because I've always had an apartment or roommates. When we got our house I thought it was perfect because they'd always have a place to stay while they were here.

While it seems this story has an incredibly sad ending, let's rewind to about a year and a half ago when my mom and granny came to visit. We were out driving around looking at houses just for the heck of it (Ben and I had sort begun searching, but weren't dead set on finding something right away.) My granny pointed out a cute house that was for-sale-by-owner. It was in the historic district so we figured it was way, way out of our price range, but my mom and I got out and looked anyways. We checked out the back yard and peeked in all the windows. It was an incredible house and I loved it. We called the seller just to see what the price was and sure enough, it was way out of our range. So I filed it away in the "really awesome house, but you're never gonna get it" part of my mind.

Fast forward to this past spring when Ben and I were house-hunting and I remembered the out-of-our-league house that my Granny pointed out so many months ago and took Ben by there to see if it was still for sale. Yep. Still for sale. And fortunately for us, the owner had dropped the price. Within a couple of months we had closed on a house that my Granny had first spotted. Another coincedence? Maybe. But I don't think so.

Even our cute pup Maggie isn't a coincedence. She was my granny's puppy for a few weeks before she was our's. So I guess, in a way, the good Lord worked everything out. She's still very much intertwined in our lives and I'm so grateful for the years we did have together. The thing I've come to realize and want to live by most is don't delay in loving. Because with love comes healing, honesty, compassion, passion, patience, kindness and so much more. I don't want to waste my time not loving.

And so I leave you with a picture of my granny's front porch. It's not a stuffy porch either with chairs that are uncomfortable. They are real chairs that have wear and tear from good use. It's a place where we loved best I think.

Our house!

2008-08-08T12:42:00.001-07:00

I posted awhile back than Ben and I bought a house, but we never put pictures up. Here are some pictures before we painted and moved in. We absolutely love the house. It has so much character and charm and the location is incredible. It's in the historic district just a few blocks from Lee and the greenway. Now, we're just working on making it our own, which is taking longer than I'd hoped. I'm realizing it might be one of those ongoing processes since our tastes change over time.

Check back for the after pictures of what we've done so far and let us know when you're in town - we love houseguests!

Yeah mon!

2008-08-08T07:10:00.000-07:00

Wedding planning is tiring, no matter how laid back of a bride you are. Your whole life gets consumed by aisle pomander decorations and stalking the newest bridal magazines at Barnes and Noble. Needless to say, Ben and I were definitely looking forward to a little R&R and our honeymoon was the perfect getaway.

The day after our wedding, we left for Sandals Dunn's River resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. It was so beautiful. The resort was a smaller, intimate resort - which we loved. The beach was perfect and the locals were great. We were escorted straight to the concierge desk upon arrival and from that moment, we never had to worry about a thing. We went to check out our room and it was wonderful - we had an ocean view and it was so nice to sit out there in the mornings and eat breakfast and listen to the island wake up.

The first day we were there, we got our shopping out of the way and hit up some of the local markets to grab the usual Jamaican souveniers. The next couple of days we went on some island excursions. The first one we did was climb Dunn's River Falls. This place was so beautiful. It's a waterfall in Ocho Rios that flows out in the ocean. We started at the bottom and climbed our way up with a huge group of people.

Our second excursion was the Blue Mountain bicycle tour. We took a bus with a group of people from nearby hotels and we headed off to the Blue Mountains. The ride was about two hours, but it was so fun. Our driver gave us great info on all the areas we drove through and the history of the island, as well as the current state of the island. We finally reached the Blue Mountains and we drove up near the top and stopped at the tour headquarters where we had brunch, learned how coffee berries are transformed into coffee beans and then headed off to ride our cruisers down the mountain. This excursion was a blast. We ended the day with a dip in a pool of cold mountain water right under a waterfall where some local boys were jumping off (you know Ben was dying to play, but the guides wouldn't let him jump off the falls since they would be liable) :(

The rest of the time at the resort was spent in the pool or by the beach. It was so nice to just relax and not plan anything for a change!

We did take a few pictures and you can view them here if you're interested. I wish we had taken more, but our cameras aren't waterproof so we didn't take them down to the pool or beach. Enjoy!

We did it!

2008-08-08T06:56:00.001-07:00

We got married! I am now Mrs. Ben Williams and Ben is...well, he's still Mr. Ben Williams, but with a new sidekick. We've got some pics that friends and family have taken and you are welcome to view them here. (I'll let everyone know when our professional pics are available for viewing.)

We had the best time that day and were so lucky to have so many family members and close friends in attendance. And even though my 100+ candles didn't stay lit, everything was perfect. I feel like people were able to see our personalities shine through in the details of our wedding and that's what we wanted most.

So thank you to everyone who was able to join us on that day. We know it was hot and sticky, but at least there were sno cones!

We have a house?!

2008-05-13T05:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, but it may be because Ben and I are proud homeowners. Yay-uh!

Holy cow, actually.

We have a house. With a yard. That has to be mowed. By someone other than the apartment lawn crew.

We'll update more as soon as we can. We're down to 60 days until the wedding so we are a bit preoccupied at the moment. Not to mention, we now have a kitchen worthy of serving McDonald's Happy Meals from our roll-out window. Yep, our walls are that shade of yellow.

Pictures to come!

Please Talk To Strangers...

2008-04-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, let me clarify the title, if you are under 16 years of age and home alone, or are approached by a representative of any religious sect whose title includes the words “Davididian, Nuwabian, sojourners of perpetual creepiness, or a combination of more than 5 “less-threatening " words, (example: Freedom liberty family fellowship evanga-worshipful seekers of the seventh revelation) then pay no heed to the title and run away! I merely want to address the blinders we often put on to the rest of the world. You know, the intentional disregard of all people in our “peripheral” vision on a daily basis. We get locked on to schedules, meetings, productivity, and all of the above at the sacrifice of isolating ourselves to an island of comfort and stagnicity. (Yes, stagnicity isn’t a word, but I called Webster and it's pending for his next edition.)

Mine and Cassie’s blinders have been ripped off in the past two weekends by enthralling strangers around us. A mechanic and part-time Santa-Claus and missionary that traded me a banjo for a fiddle was only the start of these encounters with who, in every definition of the word, would be regarded as strangers. To follow would be a folk-hearted believer named Katie in ATL that knowingly traded a beautiful fender resophonic guitar for a quirky little banjo-lin simply because she wanted me to have it. Cassie and I were walked through 3 generations of a family business by a tailor in Chattanooga, helped a family propose via 20ft sign from the Market street bridge for their son, and ran into a tightrope walking (slack line) hoola-hooping couple in the park that granted me the pleasure of embarrassing myself on a tightrope. In talking, he was a regular supertramp, trotting the US from Alaska down the west coast and finally to Chattanooga TN for the climbing.

Very different people, yes, but the one thing that they all had in common was their innate ability to capture mine and Cassie’s hearts and admiration in the span of a single conversation. What has God been trying to show us? As much as we believe in miracles, we also are seeing a very different form of them. I think the miracles of our days aren’t necessarily spiritual outbursts in public leading millions to dive into the closest source of water for impromptu baptism. No, what God is doing in our collective midst is much bigger. He’s calling for talking to strangers. (Outside of the 15 min Sunday morning greet and seat? Gasp!) I count it a small miracle when I can see past my own world to connect to someone else’s. And as lost as I have become at times in my own schedule, I continue to be pulled out by wildly engaging encounters with people I’d normally avoid or disregard. So friends we implore you, from our hearts to yours, Please talk to strangers.

-Ben and Cassie

Whirlwind of craziness!

2008-03-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

Well, March is flying by like crazy! We've got some pics to put up later, but we had a great St. Patty's Day party last week at the Barks and then a great Easter weekend with my family in TX. And there's much more to come! Hope everyone is having a great month and a wonderful start to Spring.

Be blessed!

Coyotes and Marshmallows

2008-02-28T11:52:00.000-08:00

We went camping this past weekend near Gee Creek and while we had a good time, it was soooo cold! I think we had three or four blankets spread out on the bottom of the tent and then another one thrown on top of our sleeping bags! We had a great time though and Maggie just loved it. She's getting a North Face jacket for Christmas I think! Well, I don't know if they make those for dogs, but she's getting one if they do. Anyways, we had a great time, ate good camp food, listened to the coyotes in the middle of the night and had the best coffee the next morning. Thanks for the pics everyone!

The next morning...

Ben likes to jump over fires for amusement

Our campsite

Amber looks great the morning after

Beth and Jason - so glad they made it

Maggie was such a little camper

Aww

Notice Laura's outfit. :)

The ladies of the campsite

hmmm

and again. hmmm.

I just love Maggie's floppy ears!

I don't know if you can see it, but we are brewing freshly ground Starbucks coffee out of the back of the FJ. Thanks babe for taking care of that!

How adorable is she?! Yes, we are those people who love their dog like a child.

A little coffee quiet time

Our tents

Sausage and eggs for breakfast. Yum!

Maggie's Best Friend

2008-02-15T10:18:00.000-08:00

Maggie has a new best friend - meet Prissy. Prissy belongs to Jason and Jaime and her and Maggie have bonded quite nicely. I think they are the two most adorable dogs ever!

Engagement Party!

2008-02-15T08:28:00.001-08:00

Like I said in the last post, we have some great friends. Laura organized an engagement party for me and Ben and Tina and Adam. We had a great dinner in Cafe Roma in downtown Cleveland. It was so nice and we had wonderful food and equally wonderful company. Thanks to everyone who came! (And thanks to Kevin for the photos!)

Lovely friends and Creme Brulee

2008-02-15T08:16:00.000-08:00

*Disclaimer: this post will be lacking in pictures, but chock-full of mushiness.

With that said, we have been truly blessed by our friends here in Cleveland. We have an amazing core group of people that we've grown quite close to. We laugh and cry together and we've become close enough to be genuine and honest with each other. We don't say it enough, but Ben and I appreciate this group of friends so much. Each person brings something so unique to the group and we are honored to be around them. We couldn't imagine a better group of friends.

A couple of those friends, Jason and Jaime, had us over for dinner a few weeks ago. It was so lovely and yummy (Jaime is an amazing cook.) We always enjoying hanging out with them. For dessert Jaime put to good use her great score at the Habitat Store earlier that morning - pretty, white souffle cups. She made some excellent creme brulee, which Jason and Ben happily set the torch to. :)

The Habitat Home Store

2008-02-15T08:02:00.000-08:00

Jaime works at Habitat for Humanity and a couple of Saturdays ago we volunteered at the home store. It was so much fun and Jaime walked away with something great to use in the kitchen (more on that in the next post!) Also, thanks for the pictures Jaime!

On our way to Firehouse for lunch. Yum!

There was a heater above us keeping our hands toasty.

We are expert sorters.

You never know what treasures you'll find at the home store.

Flowers, madame?

Use those muscles, boys!

Superbowl Party

2008-02-15T07:46:00.001-08:00

My roommate Tina and I hosted the Superbowl Party at our place this year. It was so much fun and we had so much good food! Needless to say, my weekly weigh-in the following Tuesday did not go so well. (thanks Kevin for the pictures)

The game was on during our usual Bible study time, so Ben shared on Lent a few minutes before the game began.

Ms. Tina, the beautiful

Mike and Rebecca

Me and Maggie

Ben again, because he's so cute

Amber and Laura

Ben. Hmm.

Ready to cash out

Chattanooga Greenway

2008-02-15T07:23:00.000-08:00

Sometime last month we loaded up our bikes (on my new bike rack!) and ventured out on Chattanooga's greenway. It's such a great trail and a good workout! We parked at the dam and followed the greenway into the arts district and then across the walking bridge to the North Shore. We stopped in at Greenlife for lunch (yum!) and stopped in at some of the stores nearby and then headed back to the car. Here are a few pics we took along the way. There's not any real shots of the greenway because it was pretty busy that day and I didn't want to stop the flow of traffic :)

Walking Maggie on the greenway

2008-01-16T12:39:00.001-08:00

Cleveland has a greenway that we like to bike and walk along so we took Maggie out there for the first time not too long ago. It was quite cold so we didn't last too long!

The Holiday Break

2008-01-16T12:34:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone! Just wanted to let you know we had a great holiday break. We each spent Christmas with our families and Ben joined me in Texas on the 26th. My mom and Holly hosted an engagement party for us and Ben's mom and step-dad were able to come down and meet most of the family. It was so much fun and we're so thankful to be blessed with such great families.

Side note: only six more months until we're married! Yay!

Meet Maggie!

2007-12-07T09:41:00.000-08:00

Yep, it's true. Ben and I have a puppy! And she is a cutie. She's already on her way to being spoiled. For her first Cleveland outing we met up with Amber, the Barks and Prissy at the Annual Cleveland Christmas Tree Lighting in downtown Cleveland. We had a great time with everyone drinking hot chocolate, getting pictures with Santa and taking a carriage ride - I think even Jason enjoyed the carriage a little. :)

Welcome Aboard the Polar Express!

2007-12-05T07:42:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago, Ben and I started a new tradition of seeing the Polar Express in 3D at the IMAX in Chattanooga. This year we continued the tradition with some of our closest friends and once again, it was amazing. If you have an IMAX near you that's showing this we highly recommend it! You can't help but feel like a kid again, sitting there with cool 3D glasses and trying to catch snow flakes as they fall right in front of you. It's absolutely one of my favorite things that we do and I look forward to it every year! And we're so glad we were able to include our friends in our tradition. It feels good to share something you love and enjoy with those close to you. What fun is it to keep all the good things to yourself?! (Thanks Jaime for the pics!)

Love at first sight.

2007-11-20T07:43:00.000-08:00

I have a great love for Anthropologie. It's truly an amazing store. I could seriously go on and on about their adorable sweaters and dainty necklaces, their wondrous bedding collection and fabulous kitchen linens, their journals and candles and their random little knick knacks all over the store. Not to mention, they have the coolest, biggest coffee mugs with the initials on them (I have two so far, B and C, and I hope to get all 26 letters soon.) Anthropologie also has super great bags (way out of my price range, but still awesome.) These are the ones I'm currently drooling over:

Wildflower Canvas Satchel

Wild Burros Carryall

Swept Sand Tote

Stem Print Shopper

Cherry Tart Shoulder Bag

Bon Voyage Bag

It's Official!!!

2007-11-20T06:42:00.001-08:00

Please note: Our date has been changed!

We've set a date! Yay! July 12, 2008. We are so excited. Thanks for all the wonderful congrats from everyone. Ben is wonderful and I'm truly blessed to marry the man of my dreams.

Boston in the Fall

2007-11-16T19:07:00.000-08:00

Ben and I have a list of things we want to do - you know, like backpack through Europe, visit the Redwoods in CA, run a 5k (done!), go canyoning in the Swiss Alps, etc. One of our items was to visit Boston in the Fall, and while we weren't exactly in Boston for the most part of our trip, we took joy in marking that off our list. This post is extremely overdue, but it was such a great trip that I had to put it on here.

Thanks to Ben's family, we had the opportunity to visit Jeffrey and Heather and the kids up north this past October. We all surprised Jeffrey for his 30th birthday and just the best time. The weather was amazing, the scenery simply incredible and the food, oh so good. Jeffrey and Heather have a beautiful place there with an awesome yard and even better trails behind their house. The kids never tired of taking us back through there, probably because we hoisted them on our shoulders and trekked them around all over.

As for the food that weekend, Heather outdid herself. We spent most of Saturday at Heather and Jeffrey's house and at one point during the day a suspicious cardboard box arrived and was placed outside in the backyard. I noticed people looking inside with excitement and I got curious and took a peek myself. Live lobsters! Now I'm from Texas and the only time we see live lobster is in the little tanks and Red Lobster and occasionally at Sam's and Wal-Mart. Somehow I don't think it's quite the same as fresh lobster on the east coast. Well since this was my first up close experience with real, moving lobsters they said I could hold one. Big mistake. Those boogers are slick and right when I got little Larry the Lobster situated in my hands - BAM! He slipped right out and crashed in the grass. Not only did I drop my soon-to-be dinner, one of its claws popped off! Gosh, I felt like a punk, but he was gonna get boiled up anyways. Back to the dinner....they set up a great spread outside with baked potatoes, salad, steak and of course, beautiful, bright red lobsters. So we dug in and devoured the little creatures and while I was up refreshing my drink I came back to my seat and what do you think was on my plate??? The lone claw. :) Someone had placed it there while I was up and Ben just so happened to end up with the other half of that same lobster. Claw or no claw - it all tasted just as delicious.

Thanks Jeffrey and Heather once again! And Buddy and Mary! We had such a great time and hope to be back up there again.

Engaged!

2007-10-31T19:28:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard yet, Ben and I are engaged! He did a wonderful job. It was so romantic and perfect. Short story: I thought we were going camping and he surprised me with a trip to Asheville, NC (we celebrated our one-year there last year with a group of friends.) Oct 20 we went to the beautiful Biltmore estate and then took a drive up to Chimney Rock Park where we hiked and saw some amazing views and then he popped the question on the Chimney Rock overlook. It was incredible. We topped the evening off with sushi from Wasabi in downtown Asheville. I love that place; it's eclectic and quaint at the same time. And you can't beat the drive there - the trees along the Nantahala and Blue Ridge Parkway were on fire! We've got some great pictures to prove it.

So, since Ben and I are engaged now, I thought this blog might be a good way to keep our families and friends filled in on things going on in our lives. Sit back and enjoy and don't be a stranger!