Casie in a nutshell

I just watched Juno (yes, I'm the only person who apparently had yet to see it) and loved the following quote: "In my opinion, the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you; the right person will still think the sun shines out of your ass. That's the kind of person worth sticking with."

It made me think of who I am and what I'm about. There's a lot of layers to me, as my friends and family know, but below sums up "Casie" in a nutshell, quirks and all.

I tend to talk louder than necessary. I can be a motor mouth. My mind runs at a mile a minute and multitasking comes second nature to me. I laugh so hard that I snort. I play music loudly and sing in my car causing people in other cars to look in my direction. I believe in horoscope compatibility. I alphabetize most things. I am quasi-OCD. I am fiercely loyal to the people in my life- conversely, once you are on my shit list that's it. I know the words to every song I've heard and can remember phone numbers I've only seen once…I have a photographic memory. If I won the lottery tomorrow I would go to culinary school and law school and would become a chef and practice constitutional law pro-bono. I over-analyze most things and would like to shut off my brain at times. I can never dance enough- seriously I can dance all night long. I hate dusting. My feet are always cold. I wish I'd never stopped figure skating. I love my niece more than anything else in the world. I trust 5 people with my life. I will stay up all night to finish a good book. I sing and dance to music in nothing but my bath towel. I believe laughter can cure anything. I hate 3 foods: eggs, mayonnaise, and mushrooms. I LOVE football and basketball. I will turn on a game even if I'm home alone on a Sunday afternoon. My teams are the 49ers, da Bears, the Cubbies, Lakers, and Bulls. I had my own custom go-cart at age 10- all the boys were jealous. I am more stubborn than you. I can beat anyone at Road Rash on old school Sega. My competitiveness drives me. I built an entire second story floor of a house in D.C.'s ghetto. I think Habitat for Humanity and Livestrong are the two greatest philanthropic organizations. I've recently found a love of beef brisket. Girls night out is Monday Night Football. I love baking, but I don't have a sweet tooth. I like cookie dough more than the finished cookies. Humdingers are my favorite questions in Cranium. It's called beruit NOT beer pong. People who don't use their blinkers irritate me. My mom is my best friend. Before I die I want to go skydiving.

Self Observation and Reflection

I have realized that I have a tendency to beat a situation to death in my head. By that I mean I am prone to over-analyze, over-think, and generally deconstruct certain situations. I think I do this in the hope of willing a glimpse of how the situation will unfold- essentially wanting to know how the future will go and subconsciously thinking such over-analysis will aide in such an endeavor. It will not- and logically I know that. However, I still have times where I find myself meticulously going through past events and running potential future scenarios in my head. It is not fun yet somehow I illogically do this. Perhaps by being aware of it I can take a step back and prevent it. Sometimes it would be really nice to shut off my brain.

Those are my thoughts for today.

Stand Up 2 Cancer

I have formed a fundraising team, "C" Stands for Courage, Not Cancer, in partnership with Stand Up 2 Cancer. I have donated $50.00 so far and have invited over 40 of my friends and family to join my team and donate what they can- every little bit helps. My goal is to help Stand Up 2 Cancer achieve it's mission statement: "This is where the end of cancer begins."

Neil and Lauren - Jazz Piece

My favorite performance of Season 3 SYTYCD

Neil and Danny, Contemporary Piece

One of my favorite performances of Season 3 of SYTYCD.

Best Show of the Summer

Here's a link to an article which pretty much sums up why I love "So You Think You Can Dance".

Girls Like Baseball Too!

My friend Pauline has created a blog called girlslikebaseballtoo. She asked me to begin contributing to the blog and I jumped on board, mostly because I love sports, but also because Pauline is a fantastic writer and it's great to have a chance to create something with her. So if you'd like to view the blog please do, and feel free to read my first contributing post, Cubbies Fan For Life.

Obama Shoots Himself in the Foot

Sometimes statements made by politicians on the campaign trail makes me marvel at the fact that one of them will actually be elected President of the United States.

The Case Against Hillary

Most people know that I love American History and that I am quite interested in politics. Graduating from the University of California, San Diego with an honors degree in Political Science only increased my interest in the political arena. I am a firm believer that not only should all Americans vote, but all citizens have a duty to themselves and their country to vote. Unfortunately the majority of the populous does not vote and of those that do only a small percentage are actually informed voters.

This year is the first time in my life I have not been excited about a presidential election. Even when I was underage and couldn't vote I still got excited about the elections, watched the news coverage, and picked a candidate that I supported. This time around all of the candidates (Republicans and Democrats alike) have been disappointments and none, in my opinion, are fit to serve as Commander in Chief (except Mitt Romney who was unceremoniously edged out of the race by backdoor political deals between Huckabee and McCain). Still, considering one of them ultimately will be elected into office, I do know exactly who I DO NOT want to be President: Hillary Clinton. I could go on to list the numerous reasons I do not want Hillary to become the leader of our country, but then this would risk becoming the world's longest blog. And NO- I don't care how historical it would be to have a woman voted into the Oval Office, not if that woman is Hillary Clinton. I strongly believe a woman should and will be voted into the office of the presidency one day, that day is just not November 4, 2008.

Here is an article that, while written in January, does a great job of highlighting some of the reasons I am crossing my fingers (and exercising my right to VOTE) that Hillary loses at the polls.

Check this out!

I stumbled upon this site a week or so ago; it's officially one of my new favorite blogs.

Stuff White People Like

Entertaining, funny, well written, and mostly true.

Enjoy!

I have a niece!

For some of you the subject line of this blog may be confusing considering I do not have any siblings. For those of you who have been involved in my life these past nine months, this will come as no surprise. One of my closest friends, Lizzie, became pregnant last summer and her way of breaking the news to me was by calling me and saying "Hi Auntie Casie." I have known Lizzie for eight years; we met in high school through Dance Company. I have always felt close to Lizzie and through the years we have managed to visit each other a few times a year along with calling and emailing- it is safe to say that of all my friends still living in Nor Cal, Lizzie is the friend I have best kept in touch with. The fact that she asked me to be an auntie to her daughter has meant so much to me, especially since I may never have a blood related niece or nephew. I was honored to throw Lizzie what turned out to be a very successful baby shower in Sonoma last month and I have been lucky to visit her a few times over the pregnancy (a challenge since she is in the Bay Area and I live in Orange County).

On Saturday, March 15 at 5:21pm Kadence Cacal was born; mommy, daddy, and baby are healthy and happy.

I am visiting Lizzie and peanut (my nickname for my niece throughout the pregnancy) in four weeks and I am SO excited. I have bought her the most adorable little swimsuit for this summer- I think it's fitting that she receive her first swimsuit from her Southern California aunt. :)

Why Swellegant?

The Urban Dictionary defines swellegant as: "nifty, witty, swank, and jazzy." I commonly use the word swellegant when speaking to Stephanie, one of my best friends; we use it to describe fun experiences and things we like. We first stumbled upon the word on a trip to Newport Beach over a long weekend in the fall of 2005. Driving on the peninsula to Sharkeez for Sunday-Funday we spotted a vintage clothing store, Swellegant. We loved the idea of creating a word that essentially combined the word "swell" with "elegant." Yeah, it might be silly that we got excited over a word, but that explains why we are best friends. A few weeks later, in a jazz music class at UCSD, I learned that Cole Porter first coined the phrase; being a fan of Cole Porter's music further solidified my love of the term "swellegant." So now that I have defined swellegant and explained how I stumbled upon it I will get back to answering the main point at issue being: why did I name my blog Thoughts on the Simply Swellegant Things of Life? I think that many things in life can best be described as "swellegant," and those things that are not such are simply components that come with living. Life invariably involves the good and the bad, but at the end of the day you are living, breathing, learning, and have the opportunity to make the most of what life throws at you; to me that in itself is swellegant.

Taking a shot at this blogging thing...

Ok, so earlier today I came across my friend Amanda's blog: Thoughts from a Twenty Something and not only did I love it, I thought to myself - "it would be great to write down my thoughts on the idiosyncrasies of life I run into daily and the experiences I am going through." Outside of the occasional myspace post, I have never created a blog...so in this sense I am popping my blog cherry I suppose. I am also a self-proclaimed dweeb...I am an avid reader, love learning, and relish a good debate (particularly ones involving competent individuals who are quick-witted and genuinely well-informed on the subject up for debate, whatever the topic may be). Additionally, I am slightly OCD when it comes to spelling (if you do not know how to spell a word open up a dictionary and look it up for goodness sake or else do not be offended when I correct you), and I love to write. Considering these personality traits, it made sense to begin an endeavor into the world of blogging. Whether I will be successful or not (i.e. submitting regular posts that keep the attention of myself and others remains to be seen), but I believe there is no such thing as a bad experience (everything we go through shapes us into the individuals we are meant to be). With that belief and the awareness that life is short, I am a person who is willing to try anything (well, almost anything) once. So welcome to the first post in my first blog, a blog I have titled “Simply Swellegant.” Why Simply Swellegant? I’ll let you know in my next post. (See how I’m ending with a bit of suspense…maybe I will be good at this blog thing after all? Hmmm…)