Leap Year 2012!

hello, leap!

Happy birthday to all the leap year babies! :)

I remember back to my Clearchannel days, and working with poor Lindsay; she was, as she termed herself, an LYK, or Leap Year Kid. She made it very clear that none of us were permitted to wish her a Happy 6th Birthday, because she was so sick of hearing that joke. Haha.

Either way, it's always fun to have a little something different sprinkled into the standard calendar; I suppose I'll take this once every four years. Google seized the opportunity, too. It took us a minute to make the connection between frogs and leap year [obvious, I know], but that's probably because we were all online at work before our brains were actually functioning. Truth, man.

Happy Wednesday! It's time for us to head off to church :)

xo | cmd

Relay for Life Kickoff!

HERE WE GO!



american cancer society | relay for life 2012 kickoff!

Relay for Life is officially in full swing for us. Tonight, Lara and I rode together over to Grace Church in FVH, where Mo met us for the 2012 American Cancer Society's Relay for Life kickoff meeting. We scuttled inside just in time to miss the rain, and wasted no time settling in.

I can't express how truly excited I am to be spearheading this project for Towerview! The meeting session tonight was purposed as the official kickoff for all the teams and their fundraising efforts. We heard the testimonies of multiple cancer survivors, and were focused on our own relations and interactions with those who've stared down some form of this disease.

Tonight was an excellent reminder of the potential brevity of life or the potential difficulties that could impede at any time, such as ... cancer. I admire wholly those who have fought, are fighting, or are involved directly in the life of someone who is.


raffle winners! | lara. cori. mo.

My prayer for the next few months is for our church to rally together to make the most out of the experience. More importantly, I hope that Miss Shirley, Mr. Bob, and the other wonderful members of our congregation who have battled any form of cancer will find some encouragement through this.

Relay for Life 2012:

Belleville West High School Track
July 20-21 (Fri & Sat), 2012
7:00 PM - 7:00 AM

Our church team page can be found here! Please help spread the word! 

xo | cmd

Hoo Hoo HOO [Loves Surprises?]

It's Monday, ya'll.
It's been a surprisingly pleasant Monday, at that!

tom hanks :)



A bashmillion [yup] people all around the U.S. went back to work today after what was hopefully a thoroughly-enjoyed, likely short-lived weekend. I was part of that number. Woot.

 Monday was Monday, except for the delivery of two very lovely things very early on in the day. One of those, The Man with One Red Shoe, a Tom Hanks movie from the mid-80's, arrived in the mail over the weekend and was waiting for my pick up when I got to work this morning. I am one small step closer to completing my husband's collection of every movie in which good old Tom was cast.


from the bosses!



The second gem came mid-morning, when this beautiful arrangement from Lee Russo Designs was delivered [one for each of us gals here in the office], compliments of Marc & Diana as thanks to us for holding down the fort here while they were gone all of last week at ILC. They smell incredible, and are making quite the stand atop my overhead cabinet. I love 'em. 



hoo hoo hoo.. is adorable?
... youuuuuu ....



Thirdly [I'm on a streak inventing words today; leave it alone.....], I found a slew of adorable baby animal photogs in my email from Meagan [I'm claiming the owl; I've named him Oliver and he is officially adorable]. That was minutes before she sprung the news on us that she's headed off for a Caribbean cruise all of next week, a surprise from Rob. Mega kudos there, Rob! I am so excited for her - it definitely springs memories of the lovely little Carnival trip that Joe and I took to the Grand Cayman Islands with Lynn & Co. a few years back. *Sigh. I think I'm going to live next week vicariously through the Greers. Hah.

tiny toms = purple glitters.
sydni's going to lose her mind.
:)



Last but certainly and never ever least, I made the trip on my lunch break today over to Glik's in Edwardsville, with the specific purpose of snagging Sydni a new pair of TOMS. It seems that Spring is starting to waft about in the air, I figured I'd splurge just a bit on her and treat her with a little something. Hey, let's face it; she's only little once, and I'll only have so many opportunities to spoil her now without catastrophic result or expectation of it on an ongoing basis. haha. Here's that went:

Anywho - it's about time for The Voice, so whatever else is important is simply going to have to wait.... :)

xo | cmd

Sufficient: The Reprise!

Trish had asked me last Sunday at the end of choir practice if I would do special music this week; I was much obliged to do so, but wound up having fairly bad luck nailing down a song that just felt right. I know that sounds a little silly, but I have this thing when it comes to singing - I try my best only to present songs that actually speak to me in some capacity that I could convey. There are plenty of beautifully-heartfelt songs composed over the course of music's existence in the library of options, but for some reason, no matter which way I went in my search, I just didn't have any reaction.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday, I sat through the womens' breakfast at church, and will take the opportunity now to reiterate just how deeply I was moved by Ms. Shirley's testimony. Her courage, positivity, and encouraging words reached a part of me that I wasn't prepared to exercise, and after much thinking on it last night, I realized that the first song I sang here at Towerview was the one I would sing, again, today. My apologies again, for the repeat, but the voice of those little words stayed in the front of my mind all day yesterday and into this morning as I did a mental re-confirmation that this was a good idea.

The song, Sufficient, originally recorded by the current wife of Jeremy Camp, speaks these words: 

adie camp



When I am weak, your strength is complete; it's perfect, completely all I need. Sufficient for me, your grace and your peace, are perfect, completely all I need.

Thank you again, Shirley, for your testimony. You are truly inspiring.

Today marks the start of a new week. I have high hopes it'll be a good one!

xo | cmd

Women's Breakfast: Shirley Warren



ladies breakfast @ towerview
guest speaker: shirley warren

I made it out of bed on time this morning and toted my way over to the church for the women's breakfast. By the time we had sat through the presentation from our own Ms. Shirley, I was nearly beside myself: I was reminded today the impact that cancer has on a person. My passion for our church team's Relay was vigorously renewed, and I left feeling so driven to get this Relay thing going. I appreciate beyond words today's testimony, and even though I'm not extremely close to the Warrens, I'll be holding this one close to my heart for a very, very long time. ♥ Not to mention, it was another chance to see some of my fellow beloved ladies for a round of eating and fellowship: Lara, Meagan, & Cathy.
Once we were released from breakfast, I took the opportunity to do some light cleaning around the house before Mo showed up for a quick trip over to Peace by Piece in Belleville. I felt priveleged to accompany her on the mission to purchase her very first pair of TOMS [awww]. We even bumped into Bonnie and one of her girlfriends on the way out. Small world! Either way, our experience went a little something like this:

toms toms toms :)

M: "What color should I get?"
C: "Maybe something neutral, starting out? You can wear it with anything."
M: "K. How about pink sequins?"
C: "How is that neutral?"
M: "Well, true. I'll do red."

haha. Red it was! She wears 'em quite well, I might add. Of course it wouldn't be a TOMS trip without snagging a new pair; I justified that both by that my current treads are starting to [finally] fray out, and also for the sake of the whole One for One thing.

It's going to be somewhat of a relaxing remainder to the day, and I am pretty excited about that :).

xo | cmd

Small Group : James 3

We continued tonight in our study of the book of James. I'm still wholly in love with this entire book, so it was great to get together once again with our group and dig into it together. We were a few short tonight; little Evan is sick, so the Gobles were missing in action. We missed them as we celebrated Raymond's 10th birthday [tomorrow] with due pomp & circumstance, and of course with cupcakes that Julie brought. This was after we filled ourselves up on delicious Asian food, which was our theme for the evening. Towards the very end, we were even graced with a visit from Jarod and little miss Lila, which was a great way to round out another stellar night of fellowship with stellar people.

Callin' it wraps a little early tonight; tomorrow morning is the women's breakfast!

xo | cmd 

It's a Small World

Today I turned the corner into our cul-de-sac to find a slew of little kids trotting and/or wheeling around the driveways. Joe and Sydni were right in the middle; I slowed to a near crawl and crept into the garage. As it turns out, Joe had finally made contact with one of our neighbors. We've been meaning to get around to this as a family, but it so often seemed that the only time that the three of us were in a presentable state as a whole unit was during the week after 6pm. That's kind of an odd time to do door-to-door intro's, so it's been one of those re-re-re-re-re-postponed things, unintentionally.

As it would be, the neighbors we met tonight happen to be in the midst of a work-related relocation out of the state. Their house was for sale at the time as the Rainers', and I'd always been curious as to what their story was. It turns out they are incredibly friendly people: a young couple with four adorable kids in tow. Through the course of conversation, we realized that the wife, Skye, had worked with Bonnie Prescott over at Whiteside. It's a small world, isn't it? [Plus, it was funny that they had originally thought Joe was a bachelor who just had parties every weekend.. haaaahaha].

Whatever the case, it was a welcomed crash course on the who's who of the cul-de-sac and a brief intro into everyone's background. I'm really looking forward to meeting the rest of our neighbors.

Once we'd finally gotten back into the house, I was off on a sprint to get the grocery shopping done for small group, conquer some laundry, clean the bathrooms, and get the kiddo to bed before 11pm.

I WON.

It's time for this one to celebrate sweet victory with some [hopefully] sweet dreams.

xo | cmd

Character Profiles: Adam

Good News: We have reached the long-awaited completion of our study over Psalms 119.

Bad News: We covered just as much meaty information tonight, and I’m not even sure where a good place would be to start laying that down in a follow-able format. [That’s a good problem to have, though!]

So tonight we dove right into the second portion of what we’ve coined character dissection, this week covering ‘The Adams.’ Naturally, when regarding Biblical characters, most would immediately think of Adam, and then be lost in identifying the other Adam. [That was me, too, don’t worry.]

We started with of course the first Adam, who we all can track back to the Garden of Eden, when God created him from the earth and of His own image. I don’t know why it struck me as perhaps a novel presentation of the fact that Adam was the first, the original, and the only person to ever walk the earth that was created directly of God. He wasn’t born; he was made. There’s no record to break, no title to transfer. He was the original man. Of course, I already knew all of that, but that’s God for ya: He’ll open your ears and your heart at a different angle than what you’d already tried to do yourself. Love.

From Adam [then Eve, and the entrance of the original sin into the world], we journeyed in our study to the second Adam. Who’s that? Jesus J. The other ‘One-and-only,’ but for a completely different reason and purpose. I hadn’t previously thought of it this way, but since I’m all about illustrations, I figured I’d outline the generics of our study here [both for your eyeballing and for my own referencing later on].



of the many, many artistic interpretations of these characters [thanks, google]
adam & eve | Jesus

You’ve got Adam [the actual Adam], and you’ve got Adam#2 [Jesus, and by no means am I trying to distract from the fact that He was in fact Jesus, in all of His due honor], creating the following little thought ditties:

Adam was the gateway for sin to exit the world.
Jesus is the gateway for it to exit.

Adam was breathed of God.
Jesus was God.

Adam was the first man to audibly speak with God.
Jesus was that voice.

* These could go on all day J.

I’ve got the complete series of notes tucked away in the pages of my church Bible [p.s. –Amen that we live in a country who affords us the freedom to own not just one, but however many Bibles we desire. I will not take that for granted….], so I’ll have to refresh on passage references for everyone, too.

It’s been a good day.
God is GOOD.

xo | cmd

CHOBANI. Nom nom nom.

Behold: My newest morning fascination.

Chobani. Thank you for making my mornings [and afternoons... and sometimes evenings, too] nice & delicious.

chobani! ♥

> work.
> more work.
> dinner.
> glee.

Good night, bloggies.

xo | cmd

Happy Birthday, Courtney!



happy birthday!

Hey, hey! We got a new girl! It's HIGH time we hired an FOC for my office, and it came after weeks of fruitless interviews and disappointing evaluations. I finally managed to interview Courtney, and we collectively decided we would take the plunge with her. She started on Friday of last week, but we consider today her first official day. Plus, it's her birthday! Happy birthday, Courtney!

We celebrated by chowing down on some cream cheese squares and slavin' away in the absence of our bosses, who are taking the week down in TX for the Express ILC. It's gonna be a long one here, folks!

That being said, it's time for the Voice, so if you'll excuse meeeeee...

xo | cmd

The Voice [Mathai]



adam. christina.
cee-lo. blake.
* the voice *



I'm still battling some weird form of headache-stuffiness, and by the time church let out, all I wanted to do was sleep. I had every intention of doing just that, too, but those plans were thwarted by the recap of the past two episodes of The Voice. I'd missed the episode from last week, so I found myself laid up in the bed with every intention of sleeping, but not actually doing so. Dangit!

I listened to the final audition from the episode that I'd missed; it was from Sharon Mathai, who already has a few singles released, but was at the auditions no less. She completely aced an Adele song, and so I thought I'd share it with everyone.

I'm gonna try and get at least an hour of rest before church starts again. *Sigh.

Headache, be gone...... please?

xo | cmd

And Now, For the Tour [& Christmas Part II!]

fiona's | eds.ville

We realized this morning as we were getting moving for the day that we have done this sort of standardized tour for all of our visitors. Seriously. We thought back to Eric, who was the first to come and visit our new house, then JB, Lynn, Tim, Heidi, Paul, Jonathan, my parents, and now Joe's mom & aunt. We also realized that after this visit, unless KP & Sam make their way out in the near future, we should be just about done with our quick version of the IL-MO tour.

In honor of our last tour, we thought we'd spice it up a bit. First, we took them on base to show them where Joe works. We even made a pitstop by the Babots for a quick second, and they were able to see what base housing looks like. From there, we took a turn off the beaten path and  headed up to Edwardsville for a brunch at Fiona's. Now, keep in mind that up until today, I've only heard rumors of the superior quality of this little dive. Meagan and Rob frequent this place seemingly every other time he's here for her lunch hour, and Nancy speaks highly of it as well. So, we thought we'd give it a whirl. We were NOT disappointed. It was quite scrumptious, and at the very end, we ran into Nancy and Karen, who'd been there entire time we had, neither of us noticing the other party. Funny things. 

sandy. syd. joe | shadow of the arch from atop the arch :)

From there, we trekked into Saint Louis, being very mindful to avoid Soulard [mardi gras]. We found ourselves at the arch, and, at the request of our visitors, journeying up into the arch. We'd done that once before, the first time when Eric visited us. It's a nice chance to catch an aerial view of the city, and I suppose it's a must-do for any tourist not planning a trip back anytime soon. 

syd gazing out over st. louis

By the time we'd finished at the arch, we headed back home, ordered pizza, and got down to opening Christmas presents.

Wait.. what? 

merry [part II] Christmas!



Yeah, that's right. We weren't able to make it back to Ohio as originally planned over the Christmas holiday, so we had a very late Christmas here at our house tonight with just the four of us and Sydni. She made out like a bandit, and of course we all got exactly what we'd asked for during the pick-a-name drawing we do each year with his family.

It's been a great day. I hate that it was so short, but we are blessed to have our family.

xo | cmd

Visitors, Continued!

Friday was fiiiiinally hereeeeeeee [yessssss!!!!!]

With no small group in the dugout, and no other scheduled events for the evening, we spent the early evening just tidying up around the place before settling in for some relaxation time before Joe's mom & aunt arrived from Cincinnati. We patiently waited...


pack your bags & head for the dills' :)

 .. and waited...

... and waited.

Apparently, Sandy & Sis [the affectionate nickname for Joe's aunt] had gotten tied up in some traffice in Indiana, so they arrived much later than anticipated. I had finally given in to Sydni's whimpers of sheer toddler exhaustion and put her down to bed, and of course accidentally fell asleep right along with her. It's nearly midnight now, and while Joe's family did arrive safely, they and the rest of my house are fast asleep.

Woops.

We'll pick this up where we left off tomorrow.

xo | cmd

Clean Clean Clean!

I'm not sure where I was for the majority of today, because the bulk of it flew by so quickly. I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong, but it's the days like this that keep me on my toes for hours afterwards in fear of having forgotten to complete some crucial task. *Ohhhh well.

When work let out, it was straight home to clean up around our house, in preparation for Joe's mom and aunt coming to visit us this weekend. I'm excited to see them; it's been a long time since we had a good visit with Joe's mom, and I know she misses Sydni.

So clean clean clean it was, and then we waited.

This place is spotless!

*WHEW.

Company comes tomorrow. Yay! :)  

xo | cmd

I'm So Cheap..



$35?! are you crazy?
[[stay tuned]]

So I was en route to check out at Target on my lunch break today, and of course took a detour through one of the home decor aisles. I ran across this little guy, and decided that at some point in the near future, I am going to replicate it, or craft something very similar.
I feel inspired today.

I'll keep you posted, my dear Blogbots.

xo | cmd

Ode to St. Valentine...

... SANS the candy hearts & glitter.

Here's how the acclaimed Valentine's Day went down with us here:

I started off by finding a beautiful, hand-made [with impeccably smooth fondant!!] cake in the passenger seat of my car. It was red velvet, too, which is awesome. I'm happy to report that it was a smash hit both aesthetically and functionally; that sucker is gone. Haha.


deeeeeelicous.

I got to work to find some sweet little lillies on my desk from my bosses. Calla lillies are my favorite flower, and so these itty bitty darlins, with pink highlights, proved to be quite the soothing touch to an otherwise mildly chaotic Tuesday. 

sweet little lillies

Over the span of the past few days, I happened across a single-disc compilation of three Tom Hanks films. It actually came about while I was searching all over the sun and half of Georgia for a movie Joe mentioned he wanted to own oh so badly, that, as it turned out, isn't even out on DVD yet. Figures. Haha. Anyway, this was a suitable 2nd place, and earned three checkmarks on our running list of must-haves on the Tom Hanks filmography list on our fridge. 

oh tom. thank you for endorsing compilations.

Sydni and I also took some time yesterday while Joe and Jarod were on their movie date to craft up a very special card for Daddy. She was so proud of her work, and kept spilling the beans all evening about her card. Haha. 

card for daddy

PLUS: I have the best of the best when it comes to best friends. Kalyn sent me a little Valentine's Day goodie package, stamped with love and a cartoon Saguaro, straight from the heart of Phoenix. She included a compactible little bag made from recycled material, a journal, an adorable little bird sketch, some knee high socks, an EOS chapstick, a CD with some delicious tunes, and of course, a handmade card. I surely do miss you, KP! :(

After I'd finished opening up Kalyn's little care package, Joe surprised me with sushi by candlelight in our living room before we headed off to the theater for a late evening showing of Rachel McAdams & Channing Tatum's The Vow. I won't be a total spoiler; it really was a cute little flick, just had a bit of an open ending.

rachel & channing
[great onscreen couple, yeah?]

After the movie, we headed back home, where I was once again surprised to find every candle in the house lined up around a bathtub overflowing with bubbles, and some Alison Krauss floating out into the room. I lounged in complete serenity there, with the box of hand-dipped Godiva strawberries he'd also bought.

Happy Valentine's Day, to all.

xo | cmd

Micah 6:8

Since we started our 40 Days in the Word study two weeks ago, one of our core purposes as a group has been to develop an idea encompassing of what Micah 6:8 instructs us to do. I shared in yesterday's entry exactly what our initial thoughts are at this point, but I thought it would be fitting to share the actual verse with those of you who haven't yet seen it, or simply need a refresher.

This particular inscribing is pretty cool because it's on a dog tag given to Joe by our pastor. I've said it before and I'll say it another hundred times: We have landed in a church living out loud for God. I am so excited to be a part of this place, its body, and its work. It pains to realize that some of our friends we've made here are military, and so by default will eventually receive orders to pack up and relocate; we've met some of the most incredible people through Towerview. [Thank you, Lord; YOU ARE GOOD!]

In other random and entirely unrelated news: 



keyloid remedy?
we'll see :)



I heard via the store cashier today that apply the gel contained within regular vitamin C&E capsules directly onto keyloid scars such as mine is a rather effective remedy for their sometimes garrish appearance. I'll have to be frank on this one: I very rarely notice them anymore, but apparently other people do, and for the first time in a while, I didn't mind when the gal started up a conversation regarding my scars. I think I'm gonna give it a run, though. I really don't care much about the existence of these things, but it would be nice if the one on my should disappeared, as it seems to always be an issue with seatbelts, shirt straps, and purses. [First world problem, I know.] I'll keep ya posted.

Tomorrow's the Hallmark of all Hallmark holidays. Get some sleep, Cupid.

xo | cmd

"Mommy! Sydni done take a shower!"

So here's the part I'm sure every parent can understand: The issue of having what seems to be a perpetually sticky, icky, slimy, smudged, gooey, dusty, muddy, or otherwise unclean version of a child running your life :).

No? Well, you're either delusional, in denial, or child-less.


shower time!

Anywho, it happened by chance this morning that I was up and moving at an earlier time than what's usual for Sunday morning. I'm not sure if there was an usual crispness in the air this morning or not, but Sydni was up and rearing around the same time, and so insisted on helping Mama take a shower. By helping, I mean joining, so I let her hop in with me. She danced in the rain for a bit and then got down to the actual shower part; we're making some serious progress in that regard, as she's just now coming to terms with the fact that the water from the shower head is not a threatening force. Hah. It was adorable. The best part of my day was probably contained in this morning, post-shower as she paraded around the house with her cape of a towel exclaiming, "Mommy! Sydni done take a shower!" She was so proud. It was hilarious.

Tonight we dove back in the Rick Warren 40 Days in the Word study, and decided that as a collective group, we're going to launch into a few different outreach projects:

1. Church Garage Sale: This one needs no description. Everyone wins. Haha.

our 40 ditw small group [+ mini's]



2. Laundry Mat Ministry: This would basically consist of a group of us going out to a local laundry mat on say, a Saturday morning, take some donuts and quarters, and essentially feed the folks coming through as we also pay for their laundry [with funds from the garage sale].

3. Pick a family in need, be it within or outside of our church family, identify their strongest need, and do whatever we can to cater to providing for them either in a full capacity, or in efforts to aide them through whatever situation they may be facing.

4. Relay for Life, Belleville! : More info to come, but we are gearing up to enter that as a church team, as well!

Outreach, folks. That's what we're called to do. 

It's been a busy day, but I loved every minute of it. 

xo | cmd     

Whitney: 1963-2012

Today we all say a final farewell to a music icon.

whitney | 1963 - 2012

I’m not one for paying homage to every celebrity once they’ve passed, but Whitney Houston is one of those personalities I admired for a long time. It wasn’t necessarily because of her personal trials, but because of her undeniable talent and impact she had on the musical industry and artists that have appreciated her work over the past few decades. She was a musical genius. I of course never knew her personally, but my heart goes out to those affected by today’s event.



decorative skills.. thanks, husband ;)



raiding the stickers

In a lighter regard, aside from that disappointing news, today was the epitome of a full-on laaaazy, bum day. I love it. We started it off with cereal, and that was about as far as it got. The rest of the day was spent lazing around the house and soaking up the agenda of absolutely nothing. It certainly wouldn’t qualify as exciting, but it’s a refreshing break from the revolving guest door that is our house most weekends. I love visitors, so I think the frequency of preparing the house, food, and entertainment makes the down weekends that much sweeter.

Time to hang with the fam.

Adios!

xo | cmd

Small Group Breakfast

I LOVE SMALL GROUP FRIDAYS!



wishes for a sweeter friday, from the sweetest husband



Seriously, they are definitely among my favorites. There is something to be said about spending an evening immersed in fellowship with people who have become your friends, eating, laughing, and digging into the Bible together. There are the couples, the kids, and the teenagers who are sacrificing their Friday nights to come and babysit. It's my favorite event every other week.

Let me start off by rewinding to this morning, when I hopped in my car to head in to work, and I found this little gem waiting for me on my center console. I'm a blessed girl, that much is true.



breakfast, galore!

We'd decided early in the week that our meal theme would be breakfast foods, because after all, who doesn't love french toast? It was a smash hit whenever we tested the waters with it at the large group gathering at the Woods', so we weren't worried. I shouldn't have even bothered fretting over it, because it's a rarity in itself to find a Baptist woman who can't cook, let alone in our small group. I rushed straight home to put the finishing touches on some gorilla bread and a quiche, just in time for the group to start straggling in. Julie was the first arrival, ready to do some work on some french toast [which was delicious]. The rest filtered in, and by the time the house was full, so was the kitchen: gorilla bread, a quiche, fresh french toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, orange juice, and dessert. It's been proven that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so why not do it twice? J


our version of b.y.o.B. ;)

 Once the eating was underway, we picked back up where we'd left off in the book of James. This is definitely one of my favorite books of the Bible, so it was refreshing to get some new perspective both by re-studying the chapters, and from the feedback of our group on passage interpretation. The other two small groups, at the Page and Werner homes are also doing the same study course, so I'm really looking forward to when we join forces for our big gathering at the Woods at the end of our divided studies.


It's been a good day. I'm feeling much better, but it's definitely time for bed.
See ya bright 'n early!


xo | cmd

Emotional Detachment

I wrote a little diddy to describe the essential bulk of my day. It goes a little something like so:

WHAT. IN. THE. WORLD. IS. GOING. ON. HERE. ?!?!.

I’ll let that stand as it is. The rest you can just infer for yourselves.

As for me, I’ve had just had just about enough of staring at computer screens for the day.

We’ll give it another shot tomorrow, yeah?

Yeah.

xo | cmd

Words With Friends [Is Ruining Me!]

Facebook. TFLN. Pinterest. Blogspot [tee hee].  

Q: What do they all have in common?
A: They are all quite capable of and accomplished at thwarting my time in multiple hour increments.

Well kids, meet your newest addition: Words With Friends.



[obviously] i am not missbiscuit, but
thanks google for the screenshot!



I first met this smart phone app on the cross-country road trip with Kalyn & Sam, but never had it installed on my Pre. Howeeever, now that I’m on the Android wagon, I’ve got that puppy up and rolling, and have quickly realized what an impact that’s going to have on my time management. Ha.

As it stands now, I think I’ve currently engaged against the literary prowess of 9 people, and it’s proven to be both a learning experience [i.e., zi, ti, ci, and ni are not acceptable words, but QI will get you mega points], and a colossal time thief.

Oh, and if you’re on there and we’ve not yet had the chance to beat me at this addictive version of e-Scrabble, my name on there is cmdills.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a few vowels I need to play… J

xo | cmd

Tuesdays.

I’m still sick. [Lame].

But,

This fun little card came across my email today, and it can speak for both itself and for my day.



pretty much.

Good news though: Tomorrow night is Bible study, and Friday is small group!

xo | cmd

Sick Days

Booooooooo! I decided the reason I was sick today could absolutely be attributed to the fact that I came in contact with about 2,000 people over the course of the weekend, what with visiting the City Museum two days in a row. Lame.

Today consisted of work, and me plowing through just about the entire box of Kleenex on my desk and a whole bag of Ricola’s. *sigh.

That was it, folks. That was the exact content of my day. I just woke up recently from an evening full of sleeping.

Here’s to a better tomorrow.

xo | cmd

Superbowl 2012!



[just some] of the gals of my family ♥



Man oh man! This weekend flew right past me. We woke up this morning to find that Paul had already headed out close to 6:45 to play an early show at one of the churches in St. Louis. Lynn left out homebound for Cincinnati around 8am, and Heidi & Jonathan left to rendezvous with Paul right as we were bound for church. Tim was the last man standing, and joined us for church and lunch afterwards. We were bummed to drop him off for his flight back to Seattle, especially since his next trip is homeland-bound for Taiwan. [We are praying for your safe travel! Have fun back home!!!]



amazing.
simply amazing.



Just as soon as we’d left Tim for his flight, we kicked it into gear again to tidy up around the house, clean where we could, and order pizzas for our Superbowl party. It wasn’t long until Pastor Ron & Debbie, Meagan & Rob, Jimmy & Mo, Adam & Cathy with the girls, and Kyle with Tessa were all gathered around a food-covered table munching away. I promise that every one of the guests that’ve been through our home since we moved into it have all been excellent cooks; we are all benefiting from that. Haha. I would like to note the chocolate drizzled popcorn brought by Mo & Jimmy: It has officially added a little spice to my already avid affinity for popcorn. Good call, guys. J



sydni got some goodies from
back home, thanks to
nana & pappy!



As for the actual Superbowl, I don’t think there was much preference one way or another, and save for Kyle, nobody really seemed all that interested in which team finished victorious, but we did join the ranks of Americans everywhere who probably had a better time watching the commercials. Plus, speculating on the halftime performance is always necessary. Lol.

So yeah, congratulations to the Giants, and to Manning & his new corvette. Haha.

It’s back to it, tomorrow. Briiiiiing it.

xo | cmd