The Perfect Midweek

Today was awesome :).

1. Early morning workouts! It's not really all that often that I can drag myself out of bed at 4:15 A.M. to get over to the gym, but I talked myself into it today - it was totally worth it.

oh heeeey wednesday morning

2. Roses are red, violets are blue... but roses are way more fun. :) 

These were on my car seat when I went to go to the gym; I ended up taking them to work to display. I hadn't expected them, but they sure are adorable! [Thank you, Joe!! ♥]

my roses! :)

3. Husband and daughter visiting for lunch?! I think so! Unfortunately, our regular sitter [Dawne] had a medical issue needing attending today, so she wasn't able to take Sydni. Joe decided to take the day off and hang out with her, giving them some much-needed daddy-daughter time. The two of them made it up to Glen Carbon for  my lunch hour; we grabbed a quick bite and spent what was left at the park playing :). It was gorgeous outside today, and we took full advantage of it. Plus, major major kudos to Joe for coordinating an outfit for Sydni that was not a halloween costume, rather one of the little sundresses my Ate Gazelle had sent. She was so stinkin' cute!

my loves on my lunchbreak!

4. After work, I made it home to find that Lara and Alex had dropped off some of the Relay for Life fundraising money for me to take to the ACS office. I am SO proud of Team Towerview!! We are going to be at our goal in NO time, which means I'll get to raise the goal, again. << Geeze, what an amazing problem to have ;).

hey, that's us! so so proud of team towerview!!!

5. Jarod joined us on a whim for dinner; we grilled out and hung out for a couple hours over dinner before he headed out and I made to it with cleaning this place up a little.

Like I said, happy Wednesday, right?! I couldn't have asked for a better one.

Let's see if Thursday can compare. :)

xo | cmd

Top 10 Reasons I [Still] Love My College R.A.

10 | She now runs Findlay Market in Cinci, and coordinates co-ops between local artisans, chefs, and businesses. How friggin' cool is that?!
09 | She forced me to run every stair at Nippert Stadium at UC, totally against my willl. One week of near immobility, one stop to yak, and a bajillion stairs later? = Totally worth it.
08 | She introduced me to UC Hoxworth blood drives, and essentially mandated participation on our floor.


becky! best ra ever.

07 | Because I would've been stuck with an over-the-top sorority girl my entire freshman year, if not for her intervention. And no, I don't mean one of those tolerable sorority girls; I mean the one that believes the earth shifted gravitation once she entered the scene.

06 | She introduced me into the Cincinnati network of indoor soccer, soccer clubs, and my now beloved Plex-rats of the Tri-County Soccerplex [league champs what?? haha]

05 | She's a beast! Right out of college, she was a forest-fire fighter. She's torn every ligament in her knees except one, has had surgery on average every other year, yet still plays soccer, still climbs, and is still in better shape than I will ever be.

04 | She gave me a sweeeeeet futon that I used for years. Sounds silly, but did your RA give you furniture? :p

03 | She saved my sanity, very literally speaking, by being there for me when one of my roommates attempted suicide. I'm so happy to say that roommate is still around to tell that story, but I would've been a wreck without her quick response and open door.

02 | She scheduled a night out of her St. Louis visit to meet me for dinner! Yay for our 10-yr anniversary of knowing each other :).

01 | We spent 1 year bonding over dorm life, 3 more years developing a friendship, almost 4 more years playing soccer together, and more recently making sure we're there for each other's big events. [She and Paul made it to our wedding.. woo!] She's always been a mentor, sound source of advice, role model, and above all, friend. It was awesome to catch up with her :).

***

Oh, and not to mention, she found a pretty cool little spot downtown St. Louis - If you've not yet tried out The Bridge over on Locust, I would suggest you mosey on over. They've even got a couple Cincinnati brews on tap, if you're into that kinda thing ;).


bridge th&wb | st. louis, mo

P.S. - Try the chicken salad. Delish.
It wouldn't have been a solid trip to St. Louis eateries without a stop at The Gelateria, and of course a quick walk-around of the City Museum [next time!]. She heads back to Cinci tomorrow, but we're already cookin' plans for another outing... keep ya posted.

I'm home now; major kudos to my husband for taking care of the monster for the evening. :)

That's a wrap, folks....

xo | cmd

A Song for the Road Home

HooRAY for 3-day weekends! 

The bulk of today was spent driving back to IL, but not before we spent the morning and early afternoon visiting with my aunt and uncle from Cleveland. They came down to spend the day with my parents, and we were situated perfectly to have a few hours with them before we left.

Oh, and since there wasn't much else to report today, I thought I'd share this little diddy from late last night, when I partnered up with my sister, neice and nephew on one of those classic praise songs, Holy Holy Holy. Like I said, I am so blessed to have such a musically-inclined family.

I ♥ them, every single one.

We're home now, and Mo & Jimmy just showed up with Bootsie - they'd had her for the day. It's only been a few short days since we saw them last, but I'm gonna go catch up anyway :)

Short work week, woo!!

xo | cmd

Celebrate Family!

my sister!

I get that this holiday weekend was built on the foundation of the holiday itself: Memorial Day.
I am in no way, shape or form trying to detract at all from the gravity of what tomorrow represents.
I am saying that because of the extended weekend, we are here, visiting family, and for that I am celebrating. I love my family, and I was given a quick reminder today that they are just as incredible as they've always been, and that it's only getting better.

For example:  My daughter alone is growing like an outta control weed - she's developing into her own faster than I can follow, and I love it. My husband has since left the Air Force and re-joined the world of auto glass. My sister's family is blooming into this band of musically and artistically talented souls who continue to impress me every time we're together. My great niece Emmie will turn four this year. My parents are remodeling their kitchen. My cousins' kids [my 2nd cousins] are in their mid-20's now. Where is time going???? Holy smokes.

emmie & sydni ... strategy meeting. haha

Anyway, these types of holidays are typically fail-proof in bringing all of us together in one spot at the same time. I say that we're all scattered; that's halfway true. I think I say it more-so just because we are now the ones living remotely. The bulk of my family is located within a 20-30 mile radius of each other. With the exception of us, and my cousins in PA, the majority of the family is back in Ohio. I said all that to say that while the drive can be a little tedious, it is totally worth it to have even just one weekend with my family.

mom outdoing herself yet again!

syd & lola

It didn't take us long at all to get right into the swing of things; Cynthia & Brian brought not just Emmie, but their little puppy Lola, too. It was about 10 whole minutes before Sydni had assessed the little fuzzball as a non-threatening situation, and for the rest of the evening made herself Lola's personal babysitter. Since they were just about the same size - we'll say proportionally-balanced - it was pretty funny watching her tote Lola around all afternoon, everywhere she went. The dinner table, water balloon fight, and campfire were no exceptions. I think she wants one. Hmm. Not gonna happen, not just yet.

water balloon prep..... the dry phase..

Oh, and we had a full blown water fight that stemmed from my mom's idea for an innocent water balloon toss. We warned her that this would spiral out of control; she didn't believe us, but I think she realized it when the water balloons started flying, then the buckets came out, then the hose itself, along with some squirt guns intended originally for just the kids. Needless to say, by the end of it, we were all soaked to the core. That's right, I love my family. :)

kiddies all dried off :)

After we'd swapped all of our sopping wet gear for dry clothes, wiped off all of our runny makeup and tied up stringy hair, we made haste with it to get the fire pit started up for some s'mores & such.. because really what is a family shindig without gooey, chocolatey marshmallow sandwiches?? Duh. :p

marshmallows. this is a science around here....

fire! 

roasting with mini :) 

It's been an incredible weekend. I love my family, and I appreciate so much having the time to come and spend with them. We head back tomorrow to IL; it's gonna be another couple of months before we're back up this way; that makes it all the more perfect to have this time when we can.

I.
AM.
SPENT. 

Time to get some sleep and put my drivin' eyes in. See ya tomorrow. 

xo | cmd

Delightful Drenning Days

Hey, Ohio :).

yardwork. do work. hah..

Sorry I didn't get all my formal salutations in when we arrived like owls in the night earlier, but I was exhausted and I didn't care who knew that. Anyway, we're here now, and so far it has been everything a beautiful homecoming should be.

It started before I was awake. Remember a few odd weeks back when we sold the Murano? Well, because it was licensed and titled [and all that jazz] in Ohio, the title had to be sent to Ohio. Silly, but timely I suppose that we would be here when it happened. Joe and Dad headed in early to snag that, and were home before I was even conscious enough to think about rolling out of bed.

itty bitty house for an itty bitty girl

Fast forward to when the entire house was alive - we started off the true Drenning way: Mom cooking for the entire family and relaxing to the sight of us all feasting away. As soon as we were done, it was off to town [hey again, Mt.V] to the childrens' garden at the KCCC. Sydni nearly lost her mind once she realized the place was stocked with everything a standard neighborhood has, just pint sized and in perfect proportion for someone of her whopping 2.5ish foot stature. It was adorable.

With the children's garden under our belt, we made with it to get some ice cream at what used to be a Sonoco station in front of R&M's off Martinsburg [can you tell I'm a local to somewhere??]. I was flooded with since-forgotten memories and fragments of childhood history being there; driving through the high & middle school campuses, the soccer fields, and nearby neighborhoods that at one point housed so many of my friends was a flashback that sparked both fond and happily-gone recall.

ice cream with nana & pappy!

hangin out on a miniature balcony

oh hey family!

a stone map of the U.S. - [boooo michigan!]

Meanwhile, back at the Dren lodge after the out-and-about festivities had been accomplished, we settled in for an evening of typical happenings whenever we visit:

I for some reason always sleep whenever I come home. I'm not talking about going to bed at night with the rest of the world; I'm talking about midday snoozes. Every single time I come home, I find myself settled into a prolonged nap of some sort. It's inevitable. We've all come to terms with it.

Joe, during these naps, never fails to commandeer my camera and capture himself in his signature pose. That happened tonight, many times [I'm sparing you the details of the other 8 or 9 shots that were either misfired or lesser quality in some way].

cori : sleeping | joe: self-portraiture | dad: nails painted.
... welcome to the dren lodge. lol.

My parents managed to take their creativity to a whole new level; Sydni has her toenails currently painted red to match mine; they coincidentally matched my mom's, too. Dad felt left out, so after much coercing, he let mom paint his nails. Haha. In most situations I would've thought that to be a bit strange, but my dad's totlally comfortable with himself, and besides, Sydni asked too. ;)

the 'dren lodge' aka, my parents' house | us in the chairs under the porch ;)

Dear smalltown,

I miss you in the sense that I will gladly visit you anytime you'd like, but make no mistake, I'm not stayin'. :)

* Back home it was, where we spent the evening lounging out at the Dren Lodge and building energy for what is sure to be a jampacked day tomorrow. My sister & her family will be here, along with my cousins.

Can't wait!

xo | cmd

And We Drove......

...... and drove.

yeah road trip.


- and drove s'more.

This is absolutely backdated. It's almost 2:30am, Ohio [EST] time.

[but we made it, WOO H-zzzzzzzzz]

xo | cmd

Date Night #2

What?! Is this real life?

Well, thanks to our incredible Dawne, who asked to keep Sydni for another night, Joe and I had our 2nd solo date night in two weeks [it doesn't take much to impress us haha].


date nights with the hubs ♥

Since we so rarely have the opportunity to venture out to our own downtown Belleville, we decided to take that route for the evening, and found ourselves deciding we would absolutely do this again when all the businesses were open. It's adorable downtown. After scanning the food selections, we settled for Se7en, a newer sushi/sashimi bar right in the heart of Main Street. It was excellent! From there, we found not just a local ice creamery, but one that serves gelato. That's right: no more trekking clear into downtown St. Louis for gelato; it's right here in our backyard. Sweet little things :). Plus the owner Bulent, awesome Turkish guy that he is, reminds me so very much of my also-Turkish friend Bulent from back on the Levee in Newport. I feel like such a local! Hah..

shichi sushi bar | belleville il :)

sorry it's blurry .. but that definitely says belleville roll. woo, belleville! :)

We did dinner before heading to see a movie [unfortunately, Joe couldn't get us a senior citizen discount this time, lol]. We settled into a theater void of people save for the two girls sitting half the theater's length behind us to watch The Dictator. It was funny, but definitely not a flick I'd recommend seeing unless you're renting it from Red Box. Just my thoughts.

the dictator

Anyway, it was a wonderful little evening, and we owe our biggest thanks to Dawne again for making it possible for us :).

This has shaped right into a beautiful week! Tomorrow we head back to Ohio for the weekend; aside from the 8-hour haul back, I absolutely cannot wait. :) :) :)

Let's pretend I'll get off work early tomorrow... hrmm....

xo | cmd