OUR ANNIVERSARY 2013 + ISP UPDATE {One Year}

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One year ago today I married this man. This man that I have shared my life with since January 2006. A man that I can close my eyes, hang on to and lean as far back as I can go, because I know he's got me and he's not going to let go. I think we make it look easy. I see a lot of people rolling their eyes at us at the store, because we still hold-hands, he still shamelessly tickles me in public, he still opens the car-door for me and I still put my nose in his neck to breathe in that reassurance that only he can give me.  We do make it look easy - but it's not. It so much work.  I think being a newlywed is hard. You see all these amazingly happy pictures of newlyweds plastered all over the place and you want it to be that way - all the time. But the reality is it's not that way - all the time. Everyone thinks that because you're newlyweds it's all about love and honeymooning, holding-hands and kissing. Or maybe the wedding industry and magazines paint it to be this picturesque scene of the newly married couple walking down the beach, laughing and just gloriously happy. Ha! Gloriously happy? If your like me .. your thinking ... what the hell does that mean? Where's the realistic ads about how you want to claw his eyes out the first time you sit on the toilet in cold water because he didn't put the seat down? Or your cleaning up hair again from the sink because somehow he thought he got it all? (Really? How do you not see the black hair on the sink lip?) Or the irritation he shows because I said "I'll be down in 5min", an hour ago. (true story!) I think getting into your first year of marriage you really have no idea what to really expect. I know what I wanted our first year to be like - a two-story house, a black rod-iron fence, JD's squad car parked right out front for the whole world to see, him home at night helping me finish dinner and a little baby-bump he'd rub and talk to.  HA! That's what I thought I wanted (or maybe what I have been told I'm suppose to want)  Want to know what I got? I got middle-of-night I miss you & love you phone calls, stinky Kevlar to hand wash, missed holidays because he's on duty, a squad car I can't pull out of the driveway - (but I do operate the lights! (YES!) a downtown townhome that I live alone in and a man that loves me to enough to drive the hour and half home after his 2 a.m. shift just to hold me. All I really wanted - was for him to come home, so we can live a resemblance of a "normal" life.  I don't know what "normal" is, but for me it would mean less time in my car traveling to see him, and more time laying in bed with him. Well - just as we were deciding on a move date for me - JD got the call from District 9. He's coming home. Hang on - let me just say that again! Friends!! My husband is coming home! Two years! We've been waiting since February 2012. God is so good.

Saying we are excited/happy/bursting with happiness/joy/excitement & whatever other adjective you can come up with would be an understatement. I simply just cried after he got off the phone. To my poor dear husbands disbelief. ("Baby, aren't you happy?") All the emotions, struggles, fights, late-night drives, doubts, fears, good-byes - everything just came out in the form of tears - ever flowing emotional tears. All the struggles, all sacrifices, all the distance - all the loneliness - was all worth it. To get to this place - and what's crazy - the tough times are really just starting.

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Yes - yes it is. Our love, our story is proof. It really is worth it.

We've picked up looking for houses, and are going to attempt to hit 10 open-houses this weekend and pick out pumpkins for our carvings. Halloween really is JD's favorite holiday. Oh- friends a happy happy day to you - grab your loved ones and tell them how much you love them.

XOXO - Cas

Wedding Photo by the amazing Ravetta Photography. Love is worth it design by yours truly.

HEAD FIRST

I've decided to dive in - head first and as the running world says "just do it". I'm diving head first into something that has felt so right, for so long. I did it - I bought the rights to the domain name where all my rants, reads, favorites and a little bit a crazy will sit out here in cyber space - for all to see. I bought the rights to dattolievents.com where my blog will sit and the rights to cassandradattolievents.com where my webpage will sit. I also signed onto a professional blogger platform and have started a national planner certification process! YAY!! So I have started my journey into the wedding planning industry. I don't want to say I'm destined - but I am sure dam determined to be an inspiration - no scratch that - to be the hardest working - funnest - most dependable - most supportive - most out-of-the-box thinking planner and coordinator any about-to-be-hitched couple would want to work with! Yes - I think that's it! I have some big ideas up my sleeve and some huge dreams that I have kept buried inside me for far far too long. I've met several potential clients and lots of vendors that are super excited about me officially having an open sign.

I told my best friend last week that I was officially doing it - tax papers - trademarking - the whole works - and her first reaction was "omg, you were born to be a planner." When someone that has known you for so long - drops that on you - you know your doing the right thing. It feels so right, it feels so good. And although I'm not exactly where I want to be right now - I truly believe that someday I will be. It just feels so right - for it not to be.

I leave you with this little photo of us on our wedding night - representing everything I want my new little business to become. A little glam, lots of happiness and so much unconditional love - the kind you close your eyes lean back and just know the person your holding onto has you and won't let you go.

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With Love -

- Cas

An Illinois State Trooper! {ISP Graduation Day}

Oh happy day! There's not much I can say about this day; except eeeeeep!! So - without further ado a proud, proud day.
 

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JD is the last one, last row. In his cadet uniform - this was the Bell Ceremony the day before Graduation.

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It was so hard to take photos here with the press there and so many people. But he is in the first row, second from the left.

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JD getting his badge pinned on. I wish I had better photos - please please forgive this.

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Last, but not least is this goofy pic I snapped mid-sentence.

Oh friends! Pinch me please - we did it. He made it. We are so incredibly blessed and have met so many other amazing new troopers and their beautiful families. Praying for all these new troopers and their families for a safe career.

Much Love,

- Cass