Yearly update!

Told you I was the worst blogger on earth. Oh well, I've got some time on my hands for a few weeks so here goes nothing... First things first, we moved! From Cleveland OH to Charleston SC. Matt's company won a huge job here and so here we are. (: I do miss my friends a lot... we were so blessed with  wonderful friends in Ohio, but I know they are for life! So come on down south guys! But so glad to be back down south with my family and friends so much closer to us. Just a few iphone photos of family and friends missed in OH...

                                                

We moved to a cute little house with a fenced in back yard... can I get an amen halleluiah!? This saves me so much time hustling Millie eleventy billion times in and out of the apartment building everyday! Also, we are 5 minutes from the beach and 15 from downtown Charleston... we are happy people. Thank you God! Our dreams have come true! Sidenote: Millie was born and raised in Cleveland. The humity and heat are just a bit much for her. She acts like a complete diva when I take her on a run for more than 6 minutes. She literally lies straight on her back with her feet in the air... drama queen!

Matthew loves his job... they are about to start their project literally on top of the market in downtown. He's pretty famous around here.. Saving the city from flooding one tunnel at a time!

Update on me: I graduated, passed the boards (after 2 days of hiding/crying/re-planning my entire life as a non-nurse), and then (da da daaaa!) GOT A JOB!
Since we found out we were moving down here, we have been pretty worried about finding me a job. Nursing is in need, but not in popular areas... so we knew it would be hard. Truly truly, God blessed us big time. After submitting around 100 resumes, I got a phone call from a woman at MUSC that I had emailed... and 'lo and behold- she is from Cleveland Clinic! Hello connection! She interviewed me and let me know that there were A LOT of candidates and she was also interviewing internally. I thought that it might be a courtesy interview... so thankful that God had another plan! I got the offer the next day. Realizing that although everything can be perfect, or totally not perfect- God is good through it all.

Currently I am enjoying summer and the few weeks I have before I start my job. I actually have time... dare I say i've read 2 books, cook dinner most nights (stuffed peppers yesterday!), and take Millie to the beach to run a few mornings a week. I have some time for trips (going to see Em in Dallas!) and sewing (make fun of me later), annnnd I have had time to focus on photography. I'm petitioning for a real housewives of Charleston. Soaking it up! (:

Also, LOVING that I get to go home and see my fam and friends on a whim... I sure missed that! Photos below...

Ty Ty's birthday!

Mom and Hannah in Charleston!

Obviously, we were well prepated for the White trash bash!

Jess at the "white trash bash"... bahaha

Thankfully that perma-grin is real and living life to the full every day!
I will try and update again soon... xoxo

It's been a while...

All of our friends and fam in the south and everywhere else... it's time for an update! Its been too long. I love reading people's blogs, I need to keep up with the rest of these blog writing wonders! That being said... here's the update in list form. If I don't make lists, I don't know what's going on:

1.) I'm about midway through nursing school. It is hard, time consuming, but so amazing! It's such a big responsibility when you have patients health/life in your hands. It's also... SO interesting, wonderful and it makes such a difference in people's lives! I'm in a pulmonary clinical rotation right now which I like... but i can't wait to get to peds/maternity/newborn- I think thats what I'm gonna love! Anywho, I have about 9 months left and then I'm done and will join the ranks of my sissy and mama in the nursing world(:

2.) I made friends here! It's a miracle! You have no idea how hard it is to make friends when you move somewhere new and A.) Are not in school and B.) Do not have a job or C.) Hadnt found a church yet. It was getting weird at the local coffee shop when I would oddly glance over at someone and say something creepy like, "So, what kinda coffee did you get today?" or "I like your coffe mug!" I made no friends this way. So, cheers to new friends! And double cheers to the old ones (:

3.) Matt is loving his job. He gets to work outside all of the time and always tries to tell me about tunnels and math problems and physics of this and that. He even started interviewing some people to work for him! Whoa, hold the riegns!! Matt is movin on up!

4.) Mike and Jen are getting married in about 5 months!! We are getting soo excited and busier by the day for the big day/bachelorette and bachelor parties and showers. Just booked Jen's bachelorette party in Isle of Palms, SC... whoo whoo!


5.) Can't forget about our little baby Millie. Millie is my best friend. I tell her this at least once a day. She really is. She always knows the right thing to say and hugs me at least 5 times a day. I just dont get it when people don't like dogs/animals. I think I like animals more than humans.


Trips we've been on this year include... I was in one of my best friends weddings (Micki) this past April in Florida Keys, which was GORGEOUS! I got to visit my dear amanda in DC in January with Alyson... Visited ME and Brian in Winston (where Mary Elizabeth and Brian told me they were PREGGY!! Still can't believe it!) And Katie and Jordan took me to a cute little lunch place in Charlotte...Had my CLASS REUNION with the Meredith girls in Raleigh and it was SO wonderful to see everyone together again! Got to hang out with my Raleigh girls and celebrate Meggie's birthday at Mura and was sooo excited to get to go to the Thursday night beach music festival again (which was a little TOO much fun)... I just know I'm forgetting more trips but needless to say, we try and visit our lovely friends and fam as much as possible (:


This summer and fall are going to be crazy with Jen and Mikes wedding, being right in the middle of school, matt's job and Millie being a diva- but that's the way I like it! I never know how to end these things.. so, the end!

(A few pictures of this years events to keep you entertained...)




Lauren, my Cleveland/nursing buddy! And matt at the zoo sharing a good ole hot preztel (:

(Dinner with M.E and KB in Winston and ME's preggo belly! (Hope I look like that when I'm prenant!)

Jen and Mike's enagement party in Cary (:

One of Jen and Mike's engagement pictures (thanks to SarahLiz Photography, yes I'm self promoting.)

DC trip!

At micki's rehearsal dinner with the cute hubba!

The beautiful bride and I

Sisters in Key West!

Millie... half frog, half pup. I taught her well!

A post

My posts on this blog are few and far between, which means I only blog when I have something extremely blog worthy... so having said that everybody better listen up!!

I am busy in life right now. I have been tunneling underground many a late night, checking lasers, learning about hydraulic/electric motors, blasting rocks apart and operating larger tunnel boring machines. I am busy at work and then just as busy at home trying to P90X this body of mine, raise a newborn puppy (we got a new puppy named Millie "bourgeois" Kassouf... the middle name is French... dont ask questions), and spending quality time with my better half.

The point of this post so far is that I am busy... or at least I thought I was busy, that is until my wife decided that she wanted to earn a second AND third degree in life and... oh yea... do them both at the same time. Sarah has now thrust her life into two very different worlds, on the one hand you have the absolutely insanely crazy and frightening world of inner city middle school teaching as well as the highly intellectual and fast moving world of Accelerated Nursing/Masters program.

For the next month of our lives Sarah is redefining "busy." I really don know how else to put it, here is a glimpse into an average day for her...

5.40AM my alarm goes off (the one thing I have over her is that I still wake up earlier) I am out the door on the way to work around 6.00AM which is about the time when Sarah wakes up, she takes Millie outside to go the bathroom and then rushes to get to Orchard Middle School on time where she teaches 6th and 7th science classes. Now let me make the record clear... Sarah loves teaching at Orchard and she absolutely loves the kids... having said that there are a few sets backs to inner city Cleveland teaching. One set back would be the metal detector she must walk through every morning to enter the building, a second set back would be the day when a student named George screamed at her and called her a B* in front of the whole class, she has to deal with trying to pronounce names like "Agropiecia, and Matrix-O. She spends several hours a day in this Lord of the Flies atmosphere before scrambling home for 10 minutes just to let Millie out and eat a quick lunch. From here she high-tails it across town where she spends 3 hours learning about Anatomy and Physiology and Patho something or another. Some guy sat next to her on the first day and is now her lab partner, I am pretty sure he has a thing for her and if he writes on her wall one more time I am going to rip off his arm and beat him with it, that would be a good anatomy lesson for him... dont you think?

When Class is over around 5.00PM she rushes home to again let Millie out and then cook a quick dinner* (* = I have started trying to cook more often, however, that usually ends in something that tastes like wood, or me mixing tuna and Cinnamon and thinking it was a good idea... dont judge). After dinner Sarah spends anywhere from 3 to 4 hours studying for the test that is somehow always just 1 or 2 days away and covers more of the human body then most people ever knew existed. When her brain is fried and she cant focus anymore she takes a break and writes her lesson plan/grades papers for tomorrows battle with the middle school students. As if all that isnt enough she then has to get online and do her Ethics class homework (Stupid pre-requisite for nursing school). Brutus and Maximus get fed, she brushes her teeth, puts on pajama pants that are too short for her and falls dead asleep around midnight.

Repeat the above list for 2 months...
I dont really know how she is keeping it all together, but so far she has managed to get all A's on her teaching reviews and all A's on her anatomy tests.
I am proud of her... proud enough to blog a really long blog about it.
So until next time thanks for reading another Kassoufsgreatesthits!

Matt

ps- we're going to vegas in a few weeks with 25 friends... oh yes!

So...

I admit! I'm the worst blogger ever. Like, in the world. I haven't blogged in 5 months and I am blaming this on the hubby who "really wants to write the blog next time." Well, apparently that "next time" has turned into 5 months and I'm taking over the posting again. Therefore, I shall post this week. I bet you that the (3-4) people who read this are devastatingly excited!
I shall leave you with this...
Also, I have no idea why the above text is underlined and cannot get it off!! Don't judge.

A month of wonderful!!

Sorry to all of my loyal fans (all 3 of you).. .I've been totally MIA-this past month has been sooo busy/wonderful! I went back to Raleigh a few weekends ago to do a bridal portrait session, throw a shower for Megs, and go out for Jessica's birthday... it was a fabulous weekend and I miss it already... but when Matt picked me up from the airport it just so happened to be our 7 month anniversary of marriage and he took me to dinner to Cleveland's most amazing restaurant, it's called Pier W... it is located hanging off a cliff on Lake Erie and has a crazy view of the city!!! Picture below...



TONS has also happend since I've been back... the next week my sister came to visit! Our very first visitor! We did all sorts of amazing stuff that only Clevanders or people that visit clevelanders know about (hint hint.) It was Matthews birthday (I got him P90X, so you might not be able to recognize him in a few months...) and we got ANOTHER HUGE SUPRISE.. after my sister left, I was again in Cleveland all by my lonesome hoping and praying for one of these jobs I've been interviewing for... and kinda feeling down in the dumps. Lo' and behold... on the Thursday after Jen left... a knock on the door. I even told Matt that I didn't want to get up to get it (sometimes I get a little lazy.) I got up, opened the door and saw before my eyes EMILY ANNE UTZ! And Kyle Smith (Matt's best friend). ARE YOU SERIOUS? Well, you can imagine how I dramatically reacted. I cried and screamed on repeat for about 30 minutes. We had the best 4 days ever!! We painted the town red... twice. Also, Matt and I decided to drive home last minute last weekend to see my brother graduate from college and so I could do my sisters hair and makeup for Senior Prom (it was basically a death threat.) Check out photos below...

(Above, view of Cleveland from our rooftop! And Below, Jennifer and I visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame... it's seriously amazing!)






Above... Jen and I in my backyard (Lake Erie!)

Above... Em and I expoloring the city!!
Below... The whole Smith fam, The Kassoufs, me and em-- out to celebrate matthews birth! (:

home sweet home

Well, the longest I have EVER been away from home was when I studied abroad with Jen in Italy (viva Italia!!)... which was a little over a month... and it's been nearly 2 months since I've seen my family/friends... so I was practically crying when the plane landed in Raleigh for Easter break. City living is fun.. but i miss my HOME!! There really isn't anywhere like it. I took pictures with my phone (excuse the clarity) of everything... b/c i miss everything!


Oh just driving through the garden of eden... I mean, my neighborhood!


Right when I got home, I layed in the sun, on the deck, with my dogs. And Lucy missed me SO much that she literally sat on me. I tried to take a picture. She really likes to give hugs. Proof below.


Almost the whole fam....




A typical Eshraghi night-in... including my Dad.

The Cavs, the Rainforest, the life!

At the Cleveland Cavs game... 6 rows from Lebron James!!!



Matt and Brad showing thier support, and Matt showing his nostrils.




Cleveland is famous for their indoor rainforest, it's really amazing... look at the new friend I made below.. a 24 year old male dominant ape... we had a thing.





This picture is dedicated to Jen.









This picture has no meaning, except for that it's dedicated to Emily.

4 week update...

I shall update you in photos.... this first photo below is the view from our apartment window... hello, lake erie!

This is, by far, my favorite spot in cleveland. It is amazingly cultural and has so many cute restaraunts and outside pubs... it's got lights strung all over the street and little cute hubbies sitting all over the place.

Above, is the most delicious, most wonderful, most deluctable dessert in the world.. my favorite, cherry chocolate cake! Thank you to MAMA K for making me a good luck cake before my interview... it was perfect!

This picture is proof that I have not straightend my hair in over 2 weeks. I think I need to get it together, folks. If you're wondering that isn't yarn hanging in my face. It's real, live, non-straight hair.

We visited my cousin Rachel and her cute little family. Her twins (Morgan and Maria) apparently love matt... hahah... that's just cute.