Happy Birthday, Hillsey!

HAPPY BRITHDAY, HILARY!!

hilary!! xoxoxo.

Ok. This one perturbs me a bit; I cannot for the LIFE of me find the pictures of hilary and I from the younger days we shared. Haha. I've known this little lady since middle school and we certainly had some classy [yeahnotreally] pictures I would've loved to share with the class here. There is a small handful of girls from my high school with whom I'm still friends, and she's right up there with the best of them.

Things that make me laugh thinking about Hilary [numbered, but really in no particular order]

1 | Pearl Harbor. More specifically, trying to watch Pearl Harbor in the theater, in the front row, missing one of your contact lenses.

2 | Getting advice from a lady at Crackerbarrel on which apron would best accentuate the overkill hats we were jokingly donning while waiting on a table.

3 | Writing on my basement wall. Also, the things that are written on my basement wall.

4 | 1990's chick flicks, with subtitles.

5 | Joining me on my family vacations. FAR AWAY family vacations.

6 | Hotel ammenities. Hotel room items, such as hair dryers, bath mats, irons, and towels. Also, hotel phone books. "Life ain't cheap, sista!"

7 | The term "clubbing." Hahahaha. Oy.

Long story short, Hills, I love ya, and I hope today was phenomenal. I understand that the power is out from the huge storm that eclipsed my hometown a few days ago; I hope it's not putting too big of a damper on your special day.

 Happy birthday, dear friend!!

xo | cmd

Mr. & Mrs. Epperson!

Have I ever told you I love weddings? Well, I do. It's not a secret. Today was one of the many we'll attend this year. It was a blast!

mr. & mrs. dills | purpled

I took off out of work early to head home and get ready; with as many weddings as I've attended, only one other time have I been to one scheduled for a Friday afternoon. I know there are absolute perks to claiming a Friday, so more power to the Eppersons for taking that road.

Oh, and I finally decided to go with the plum-toned Essie polish, for those of you just dying over my final verdict [what? that's none of you? lol.. shocking ;)]. I've gotta hand it to Mr. Dills for doing such a fine job suiting up to complete a matching pair.

We ran into the Lopez clan as soon as we got to the church - complete with little 2-month-old Ava [so daggone cute!!]. Stephanie looks fabulous for being two months out from childbirth, and Ryan as always was his ragged, hilarious self.

steph & cori | mamas!

The ceremony itself commenced promptly at 3pm, and was completed by 3:30. It took us about 20 minutes to decide on Applebee's as our temporary home for the next two and a half hours until the reception began at 6pm. It's been a long time since I had that much fun with a group of folks dressed up for a wedding at an Applebee's on Friday afternoon... oh wait. Haha. Good times; YOLO, right?

a wowing candid of mr. & mrs. epperson!
[[even crying, she looks amazing!!!]]

*Thank you for allowing us to share in this special day with you. We're so excited and wish you the absolute world as you start this next step of your lives... together! ♥

Congratulations to the wonderful couple!

Mr. & Mrs. Brandon Epperson!! 

xo | cmd

It's Friggin' HOT Outside

I went out to Phoenix for a short stint this year, and it wasn't even this hot there [yet].

I'm pretty sure the midwest wants to be just like the actual west.
We're gettin' there.

i drive a nissan oven; what do you drive?

Holy hot.

Whoa.

xo | cmd

ESSIE

I'm having a first world problem:

WHAT COLOR?!?!

It's so unlike me to sit and ponder over stuff like this [because for me to even want nail polish in the first place is pretty rare in itself]. My temporary hangup now is which color to utilize for this wedding coming up on Friday. The way I've got it figured, if I'm gonna use nail polish and be girlyishesque-like, I'm gonna do it right. Haha. I'm thinking the dark purple, but any of these will suffice.


i love essie :)

I'll keep you posted on the final verdict later.
Oh, and I saw this gem driving in front of me on my way to work this morning: I'm not quite sure where the inspiration came from, but I liked it and I thought I'd share. Yay, homemade vehicle mods.

hired guns. ooookay?

Adios, ya'll.

xo | cmd

This & Thats

Once in a while, I forget to expect the unexpected. My husband is king of unexpected [in some regard]. Today was one of those days that was interrupted with one of his impromptu little tokens from afar [Utah, currently!]:

the "non-girly" bouquet .. lol

He made it a point to request the flowers sans excess pink or otherwise frilly adornments. I'm not typically a huge fan of flowers [weird, I know....], but these really hit the spot. Cute, if I dare say so ;)

straight hairs? sure, if i've got the time :|

Good thing, too, because I ended up having to buy a new car battery today. And get an oil change. Yay, Nissan!

Last but not least, I tried something with my head that I haven't tried in a looong time: STRAIGHTENING it. There's a reason, I remember now, that I don't do this crap all the time - It takes waaaay too long. The mop on my head is just about at the necessary length for donating. Woo -ha!


Overall, not a shabby day, by any stretch. Here's hoping for another one just like it tomorrow!

xo | cmd

Swell Day for Some Softball

I L O V E H E R

^ That's what I live for.
Softball tonight - fun as always.
Lara's gettin' ready to have this little baby girl of hers aaaaanytime now, and we sat and speculated over whether or not little Emilia is gonna have red hair. I think I would swoon uncontrollably over her if she comes out a ginger. Little red head girlies are so.stinkin'.cute.

It's been a long day. Maybe tomorrow will be just as good (:

xo | cmd

VOLLEYBALL! [SportsMonsterMode]

Today was absolutely beautiful!

I spent the church service downstairs in the nursery; I would've typically preferred to be in the audience to our pastor's lessons, but conveniently enough I found myself scheduled into the nursery rotation this week. It was my pleasure hanging out in the infant room with little Evan.

aubrey. logan. sydni. loralye | vbs plane!

Once church was out, Sydni and I took to our own to get a few things done before I dropped her off at Dawne's for a little slumber party sleepover. I made my way over to Clayton for some sand volleyball that ran right into a trip to BW3 before we all headed home. Thanks, SM St.Louis!

that sand... was hot

cori. andrea. that chick is hilarious. (:

I've gotta somehow get my butt up and to work in the morning. Time to try and grab some shut eye. ZzZ.

xo | cmd

Doin A Little Nothin' At All

O.M.Yay, Saturdays!

That being said, take a wild gander at what we did today. 

... Just guess. 

Ok, ok fine, I'll tell you. 

We... did....

... absolutely...

NOTHIN'

It.... was... amazing :)

breakfast! :) 

We slept in, had some breakfast, played some dinosaurs, and did everything else that was relaxing :). ♥

Welp... Usually, I'd hate to say that I don't have much else to report, but I kinda loved everything about today. We've been bums together today and I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Too bad Daddy wasn't here, too, even though it was kinda fun having a Mama-Syd day.

We'll get all dressed up and socially-presentable tomorrow.

xo | cmd

Feeling Like Friday

Oh, to be back. 

Chyeah right. As much as it pains me to say it, I quite thoroughly enjoyed my time in Springfield and wouldn't mind having that same distinct level of semblance around these parts. It's been a state of chaos for us here with the expansion well underway. Apparently I was fortunate enough to miss the heavy portion of the sanding and painting Wednesday and yesterday. The other girls in the office had been displaced on and off throughout the process; this goat rodeo [thx, Nanc] of a transition has been taxing on all of us. 

i'd love to stay and work, but i mustache
cori+christine+twin bracelets | mustashhhhhhhhh

So, I thought I would provide some reprieve for the one of us that travels the most. I found these at one of the stores on my way home last night and couldn't resist. The discount didn't hurt, either, so here we were, Christine and I, sporting another matching item this morning. I couldn't help myself. Hello, mustache bracelets.... and mustache mood ring. These things happen. ;) 

I could expand on the meat of today, but I'll give you the abridged version instead: 

Grrrrraaaaaaaaaaawwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhgggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

no, it doesn't say "beer beer" lol
love my friend :)

*Sigh. 5:00 has never looked so good. 

Thank goodness Friday yielded dinner with the Prescotts; Mo and Jimmy came by for some pasta and a night of just hanging out and unwinding... and pie :). Thanks, Mo. 

I have some amazing friends, that's for sure. Even if one of said friends thought for a split second that the little plates we have on hand for the kiddos read, "BEER BEER" instead of "BEEP BEEP". Really I think it'd be funnier if they said the first thing, but unfortunately they don't. We're callin' it prego reading. It's okay, we mama's have allllll been there. :) Yay, prego reading eyes!

I am... so ready to sleep in tomorrow. If I'm lucky, I might make it all the way to 8:00 without waking up. I'm slimming my chances already since Sydni's already asleep, but I'm crossing my fingers she'll keep it on snooze until the rest of us are ready. ;) Let's see how this goes. 

xo | cmd

Training, Day 2 ... And I'm HOME!

Oh, Springfield :)

hey, express!

Today was the second and final day of the EPSC training seminar to which I'd been sent by my office. It was definitely a long day, but let me say it was completely worth even the grueling moments of fidgets. For the all intensive purpose of being informative and productive, I have to say that this was one of the best seminars/sessions I've attended yet on behalf of Express. 

hey, i know her!

One of the most respectable things I've seen with my company is that it really is indeed a Christian-based company, and that that ethic, when exercised properly and consistently, yields results that are successful from the very core out. I was reminded of the heart behind the effort when Mr. Britton closed the session with his last slide:

corporate well-wishes :) 

^ How refreshing!

Anyway, we wrapped things up and I hopped in the car for the jaunt home. I had the chance over the past few days with the gals from my office, catching up on the mayhem that is underway as the office expansion continues.

spiderman...
['cept i see this and i start singing,
'spiderpiiiiig, spiderpig....
does whatever spiderpig does....]

I made it back to Edwardsville in a reasonable amount of time, and had planned to stop by the office to take care of a couple quick things [email, etc.] before rushing right back into it tomorrow morning. I should've snapped a shot of what had been my desk when I left yesterday; what I found instead was my desk, piled monitor-high with everything that had been sitting within a four-foot radius of my desk. The free-standing shelving units had been bellied right up behind my chair, and everything that had once been on my wall: charts, pictures, and my life-saving map of Madison & St. Clair County, was draped across the surfaces of my desk. So... no go on the Thursday night head start. I'll deal with this tomorrow.

Instead, I made my way back down to Fairview Heights to finish up some last minute errands before heading home. I stopped by the mall and saw this window set at Hot Topic, so I snapped a shot and sent it to my husband, because he is juuuust that big of a fan of Spiderman. Haha.

So yeah, here I am, back home and wondering just how effectively I will be able to apply anything I've learned over the last two days when I get back to work. We. Shall. See.

G'Nite, kiddos.

xo | cmd

Express Training, Day 1

It was coordinated months back that I would be headed to one of the training seminars hosted by one of the Express corporate developers up in Springfield. That was scheduled for today and tomorrow.

official office mode ;) 

Good news: I, along with 19 other staffing consultants and/or FOC's survived day 1 :)

I spent a few short hours this morning tying up loose ends at the office before I hopped on the road Springfield-bound. Apparently I had unevenly estimated the commute time; I rolled into Springfield about an hour early, so I did some light traversing of the immediate area before waiting it out for 45 minutes in the parking lot. Woot.

The training itself turned my brain to goo, but in a totally GOOD way. I know, that sounds ridiculous, but it's true. I picked up some new information and some well-needed refreshers on some processes I already use. Our corporate developer is an excellent public speaker, and the presentation itself was definitely worth the trip. Thanks again for the sendoff, M&D!

[[And I heard from Nancy during the day that our office construction went to a whole new level as the painting started today and apparently displaced everyone who's got a desk in the office. Probably a good thing that I didn't stay all day; I would've been homeless, so to speak.]]

So once the first day of training was finished, I got right down to checking into the hotel before finding my way to the mall [cuz that's what you do when you're me, on a Wednesday night in a city void of anyone or anything you know]

yeah zumiez .gif.... yeah.

panda express. yes please!

I discovered Zumiez tonight; it's kinda like Pac Sun except pretty much completely cooler. I also discovered that after a day of brain-mushing, coupled with the novel feeling of finding a unique store, I am definitely prone to semi-reckless, but absolutely impulse spending. Errrrr... YOLO, I suppose. [Truth be told that's the wildest part of my night. I know, I know: I'm outta control. Zzzz.]

Springfield didn't know what hit it, yeah? Pshhhchyeah. Hah.

Oh, and I indulged on some Panda Express tonight, too, while I was at it. I ate just about all of it and don't feel guilty at all. I do however, feel a little sluggish and full. No big deal. Haha. 

It's back to it tomorrow, bright and early.

Seeeeee you then!

xo | cmd

Happy Birthday, Jena. [Missing You..]

I went to bed thinking about this last night, and I woke up thinking of it this morning.

Today marks what would've been the 28th birthday of a dear friend of mine from my life back home. I still miss you, so very much, Jena, and think of you constantly.

i made this in november 2009 | missing you, friend...

circa senior year '03
myself. allison. amy. jena. | an amazing year!

Many hearts haven't healed completely from losing you, and from losing little Braylon.
Happy birthday, to you Jena. You are always so sincerely, daily missed. 

... Love you, friend.

P.S. - On this note, I have to take a minute and implore everyone reading this to take a moment and consider partnering with a cause. Specific to this entry, I would suggest at least researching the AFSP, which is the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. I am still a current field advocate rep for the AFSP, under the Cincinnati region, but I plan on moving my regional participation to the greater St. Louis area.

To the Fogle family, your loss breaks my heart, and I am praying daily for peace of mind and comfort for you. It's been 3 years, but I can only imagine the pain you still feel.

My love, to you.

xo | cmd

Softball: Belleville West

Softball Time! 

team towerview

This always makes my Mondays a little better during the summer. Tonight was a great night for the games, even if we didn't win both of them. 

carlee & syd

Mo met me at the house and we rode over together; Kylie & Tanya were both there so we sat and chatted our way through the double headers while Sydni ran around with Landon, Carlee & Loralye. It's almost Summer, and it's beautiful :)

bubbles!

Amen? Amen. 

See ya tomorrow! 

xo | cmd

Father's Day 2012

This is a dedication to my dad:

Thank you.

Thank you for making the decision to adopt, and for choosing me to fill that spot in our family. Thank you for loving me unconditionally, and for making every effort you could to make sure that I knew that.

circa 2009, engagement party | love you, dad!

Thank you for being a Godly man, who dedicated his life to learning more about the word and what it means to follow it.

Thank you for being there, I mean *really there for me, on all levels: for being at my games and track meets, for making sure I was where I was supposed to be when I needed to be there.

Thank you for everything you did right, and also for all the mistakes you made. Knowing that you weren't perfect and you were okay with acknowledging it is one of the things I will always admire about you. Thank you for helping me understand the difference between right and wrong, and for teaching me about forgiveness - both to others and to myself.

Thank you for showing me what a husband should be like to his wife, my mom, in the presence of his family. Thank you for being a solid example of what the head of a household should really embody, even when you were gone for times for business. Thank you for not putting your family as a second priority to anything.

Thank you for being Sydni's beloved and only Pappy. She is so blessed to call you her grandpa. We are blessed.

dad & sydni.. i love this

Thank you for everything that you are, and everything that you aren't. You are a man of true courage, love, forgiveness, patience, and humility. Your sense of humor is ingrained into me, and I am so grateful to have adopted so much of who you are, and with any luck, I'll be able to pass that on to my own children as they grow.

Thank you, Dad. Happy Father's Day.

*****************

And of course this wouldn't be Father's Day without recognizing Joe, my husband and father to our amazing daughter. Thank you for all you do. Happy Father's Day!

happy father's day ♥

Happy Father's Day to all of the fathers out there: new, seasoned, and expecting! And to all the mothers who must fill this role on their own, shout out to you, too.

HFD!!

xo | cmd

Micah 6:8 Laundromat Outreach | Somber Loss

Today was a bittersweet day. Emotions are all over the board in my church family as the day closes with a ministry success shadowed by a tragedy.

caitlin

We've met so many fantastic people so far as part of the Towerview family. Jarod and his daughter Lyla are just two of them. Late last night,  Lyla's mother Caitlin was involved in an ATV accident that cost her her life. I personally didn't know her, but what I do understand is the effect that losing a parent can have on a child, and even on the other parent, regardless of whether or not they are still together.

My heart breaks for the Thompsons, and for Caitlin's family. The gravity of this, the freshness, proved to be a dark shadow not easily cast from our minds over the course of our morning on ministry. It's going to be a long road for Jarod and for Lyla; My continued prayers for peace, comfort, and strength are theirs.

It's hard to transition from that. If there is one thing I have discovered about my church family, it is that they are able to emanate their own sense of mercy and grace while simultaneously displaying perseverance and strength unlike any other. Today's example of being faced with news of this tragedy yet still completing the ministry we had planned, with genuine smiles on our faces and in our hearts for its purpose, not only encouraged me, but made me proud to be a part of it all.

towerview bus!

Back during our 40 DITW study, my study group had developed a plan for our Micah 6:8 project. It started with a church-wide yardsale [remember that??], the profits of which would fund a community outreach. We collectively decided that we would break into teams and hit a few of the local laundromats, armed with coffee, donuts, laundry detergent and quarters, and just pay for people's laundry. No catch, no fee, no sermon. Just free laundry and breakfast. 


 << Oh, btw, our Towerview bus is now complete! Just in time for the youth group missions trip, which heads out tomorrow. It looks great! :)

We arrived at the church this morning and divided up into three teams, quick to plan our routes and off we were. I joined Diana, Olivia, and three of the youth group at the Maytag in Fairview Heights. Our very first offer was met with flat-out denial. I was amazed over the course of the morning at the wide range of response elicited by our desire to load quarters into washers and dryers and provide the detergent to go along with it. While it was slightly discouraging to be turned down, what mattered more was the handful of people who accepted, perhaps questioningly, but accepted nonetheless, and were so deeply moved by it that some of them even began crying. I met a woman today whose husband is in the hospital for a medical condition that has almost taken his life twice. Her two children's lives with their father consisted more of hospital visits and stays than it did of him being home. The trips to the laundromat are a family outing for them. I sat and listened to her story after we'd loaded quarters into the washers and dryers, and realized that this was more than just gratitude for her laundry being covered for today. She poured out her heart to us, and I would be willing to guess we'll see her soon, at the Tower. I was moved by this, in a sincere way. I was reminded today just how powerful God's love is on a simple Saturday morning, in a laundromat, over coffee and a donut :). I was blessed to be a part of this.

look at this little guy!! adorable friends at the laundromat

these things are expensive!

yummm summer salads!

The other two groups had very similar stories: rejection by some, whether by pride or fear that a 'church group' would demand an ear for preaching if they ceded to them paying for their laundry. Others were more than receptive, appreciating our efforts, and even delving into conversation over life in general. We all ended up at the Page house, where the kids had spent the morning along with Lara and Cathie. We ate lunch there before we all headed home. 

It's going to be a very difficult remainder of the weekend for the Thompsons and Caitlin's family. I hate that tragedies like this are what it takes sometimes to put life in perspective. Our very deepest condolences go to their families, and our love and support will be among the flood of such for which our church family is so well-versed.

xo | cmd  

Office Fridays & Breakfast for Dinner [Koinonia]

TGIF!

Phew. What a day! It's been a busy one :)

First things first, I'm amazed I hung on through the entire day after the metrolink fiasco from last night. I showed up to work a little groggy still, but nothing compared to poor Courtney. This is what found its way to my desk before we even got the day started:

kicks! 

nobody puts baby in the corner!!
... except express.
express will put you in the corner. 

^ Poor Courtney was at the Cards game last night, too, but had to do a little more walking than we did, in uncomfortable shoes. [It's a tough pitch being a girl sometimes] She ended up sporting these bad boys to the office today. Haha. Classicly done!

Oh, yeah, and speaking of office folk, there was some minor rearranging done today in lieu of our office expansion project. Someone stuffed one of our chairs in a crevice between a file cabinet and Marc's office; we decided that would be the best place to park Christine for the afternoon. She clearly loved it ;)

This buildout thing has been fairly taxing on all of us over the past couple weeks. Between the frame building, wiring, drilling, dry walling, sanding, and prepping, the wall completing Marc's new office space is now fully in tact, walling Nancy and I for the time being in a big cubby hole. Courtney's been shoved just about out the front door, and Christine... well Christine's temporarily nomadic as her desk sits on the open range of still-usable space in the office. Needless to say, we're ready for this phase to be done. Amen.

*****

breakfast!! | quiche. cinnamon rolls | y-u-m.

Once work was behind me, I made straight for the house to get started on breakfast. [Yeah, breakfast!] The Harris family joined us for the evening, and even Dawne stopped by for a bit! It was, as always, an absolutely amazing night with our small group.

Most of the regular crowd was in attendance: 1/4 of the Gobles [Tom! Jackie & the boys, praying for safe travels as they're out of town!], the Prescotts, Julie, Becky, the Sandvens, and now the Harriss clan, too. Sleemans, Babots, Jarod & Lyla - we missed you, and can't wait to see you guys next time! :)

In the absence of Evan, we were able to focus double the baby love on the little munchkin in our group who is certainly lovable. Check him out in his pink Bumbo [it was Sydni's.. haha]. Handsome Liam!

the cutest little chunk everrrrrrr... love him!

Our Micah 6:8 group is heading out in full force tomorrow for our laundromat outreach. Praying that it goes well and we have some response!

Time to gear up [aka, sleep. Chyeah!]

xo | cmd 

Towerview at the Ballpark!!

Due to the continuous construction that comes inevitably as part of our office build-out, we were granted two consecutive casual days; we all took full advantage of it and geared up in our jeans and t-shirts for the day. Mine was almost thwarted by an early morning client visit; luckily for me, this particular client happens to be within earshot of my house, so if you think I went home after my client meeting to ditch the business garb, you would be totally correct. Haha. Perfect timing on the casual day, too; I was headed straight from work to the Cards game.

baseball time!

Before I get into this one, let me first clarify that in my heart, I'm still Cincinnati, through and through. That being said, I also believe that if you're gonna live somewhere, be there. I'm leading up to the fact that I was pretty excited to get down to Busch Stadium tonight for what was my first Cardinals game this season.

* I never thought I'd hear myself say that. What can I say, I love baseball games. Period. :)

with dawne! :)

Anyway, what made tonight's game that much cooler was the fact that each seat purchased by a Towerview member was from a fundraiser we'd done a few months back as one of our Relay for Life fundraisers. Originally, it was planned that Joe would be accompanying me to this one, but with him in Atlanta this week, that clearly wasn't going to happen. I contemplated just passing our tickets off to someone, but then I remembered that I do in fact know people outside of our church [because everyone there was already going, hah]. I asked Dawne is she wanted to come along, and long story short, we partnered up and made a night of it. I saw some other familiar faces tonight; I'll tell ya what, this St. Louis place sure is starting to grow on me. Yeah, baseball :)

Dawne and I linked up and took the metrolink with Syd [who ended up overnight back at Dawne's because she is just that awesome] into St. Louis and rendezvoused there with the rest of the Towerviewers to enjoy the night. I definitely had no complaints for my first season run at the park. Speaking of which, Courtney from work was down there somewhere too, we just never found each other. Oh well. Next time.

cori. mo. lara

*Note to self, also. The MetroLink is not a force with which you should reckon if you're not entirely prepared. Haha. That is all I have to say about that. Be careful where you stop, and pay attention to where you load, otherwise you could very well find yourself traversing back and forth on that sucker for hours. I'm just sayin'. :p

Anywho, it has been some sort of night.. baseball and all. I loved every second of it, but I think it's about time I grab some sleep before I try to tackle Friday. TGI[backdatedthursdayentrymadesuperearly]F!

xo | cmd

Amazing Armadillidiidae

Roly Poly Bugs!

I've been giving chronologies for a a couple of weeks now on the build-out that's happening at my office. It's been quite the production on all scales; walls have been constructed, desks have been moved, dust has blanketed everything, and all kinds of little crawly critters have

their way into the office.

I spotted one of these little ones scuttling across the floor today and I stopped to carry it back outside. Of course I've seen these a thousand times over, but never really looked into them - what they are or why or how they roll up when they're threatened. I immediately called it a Roly Poly Bug, but wondered aloud if that's what they were really called. Everyone in my office also calls them that.

I'm a person easily intrigued, so naturally I made a note to research this once I got home.
I'm home.
Here's what I found:

armadillidiidae, aka roly polies, aka pill bugs, aka woodlice.
photog | drew mackie

A lot of people have speculated on these things for a long time. I'm new to the party.

Guess I'll start with facts I found*: 

rollers vs. hikers
photog | calev

1. Roly polies, also commonly known as pill bugs, are not actually bugs [insects]. They are terrestrial crustaceans more closely related to lobsters and crabs than insects. 

2. They came from Europe, originally. The alias Roly Poly was originally a European coining. Erego, we are being quite the accidentally cultured folk when we call them that ;). Hehe. 

3. They don't bite - not people at least. They're harmless to humans and animals but play a very substantial role in the biological decomp process of dead plants & wood, earning their other alias, Woodlice, which I don't prefer due to the stigma associated with the word lice. Be nice, they're not gonna eat you :). 

4. They grow by a 2-part molting process. Rolies have an exoskeleton, so during molting, they crawl out of the back half of the exoskeleton first, then the front half. Imagine if we grew that way? Whoa. 

5. Not all roly polies actually roll when threatened. Some choose to run instead of roll, separating them into the category of hikers. There are rolling pill bugs and hiking pill bugs. Hrmm...

* I consulted quite a few sources for this info: 
- Case study via Harvard University, developed by Harry Dilner of Christiana HS, Delaware
- Wikipedia
- Drew Mackie, New Zealand [fellow blogbot!]
- Macro credit: Calev Photography

smile :) | photog: calev

So anyway, thanks for the prompting, little guy [or girl]. < Oh, and on that gender thing, apparently pill bugs can be determined male or female by their bellies: females are pale underneath, males are dark. On this particular occasion today, I really didn't think to check. Not important anyway. I named the little thing Axel, and Axel went outside into the grass. My apologies, if I'd mis-gendered you, little pill bug. :) 

See? It's basic info, practical and easily-available knowledge, but not commonly known, nonetheless. :) Yay, for research!

xo | cmd

Team Italy: Relay For Life [Update]!

Hey friends!

Ohhh yeah, Towerview! We are well on our way to kickin' butt and takin' names on the road to raising money to fight cancer. Tonight was the monthly team meeting for our upcoming relay here in Belleville; I along with Jimmy and Mo were there for the next step in the process, which was choosing our "campsite" for the event.

Well let me back up. Before we got down to picking our site, we went over all the current standings, teams, etc. Between the last meeting and now, there are 6 or 7 brand new teams [wooo!]. Towerview is still holding down the #1 spot on the fundraising chart; while I understand this is not that type of competition, I am so very proud at the collective effort our team so often and clearly exerts for noteworthy causes like this!!

keep it up towerview!! 

We still have quite a ways to go, and our next stop on the agenda is to nail down some decorating ideas [our team is Italy], and develop some on-site fundraising ideas. We are on our way!! :)

that's us! site #11.. watch out now ;)

Remember: July 20 & 21 is the event!! If you need details, please don't hesitate to find either myself or Lara. We've got plenty of info and ways you can get involved if you haven't yet and would like to. :) [||end PSA. Ha.]

*Dawne was absolutely amazing tonight in that she asked to keep Sydni overnight. I'm not quite sure what exactly it is about this week, but I've not yet managed to get past 4 hours of sleeping yet. It's only Tuesday though, so maybe I'll catch up tomorrow. The extra 30 minutes in the morning will definitely be a nice buffer, though.

Time to try my hand at this sleeping thing.

xo | cmd

Oy. Monday.

I'm feeling much better today.
 -- Physically, that is. The day itself was a bit more of an actual struggle. I found this little guy [actually, it was passed along to me by Courtney this afternoon] that summarizes the bulk of my day in one little slap:

monday can be a meanie....

Chaa - ha! That's a true story, folks. 

I'm so pleased that the excruciating throbbing of that sinus headache - or whatever it was - that plagued my weekend has subsided. I was almost nervous waking up this morning that this would be day 3 in a row of feeling like my heart had been transplanted directly between my brain and my eyeballs. Hooooray! 

Towerview softball was canceled tonight; the opposing team had their version of VBS this week, so no go on the game. Just as well I suppose since it's still a little soggy out there. It was damp last week, too, so hopefully next week we'll have both a game and well, a dry game. Yeah? 

Oy. It's only Monday. Deep breaths :) 

Let's try this week thing again tomorrow. 

xo | cmd

The Cunicos Join the Tower!

I felt like I navigated the bulk of today from inside a pressurized bubble. This whole sinus thing isn't one of those annual things for me, not by a long shot, so I'm not well-seasoned in preparation or coping with this. I knew I was in for a long day yesterday when even the Neti provided very little relief from this cloud of ick that seems to have certainly settled in for the weekend.

The GOOD news - I made it to church this morning! Well, that's not the good news [albeit it is definitely a start!] - The BEST news of the morning: Mike & Marlene became official members of the Towerview family!!

mike & marlene! [hack mode xxo -facebook ;) ]
welcome to the towerview family!! ♥  

*I can't say that the majority of the morning really stuck with me the first go-round [I dedicated myself to copious note-taking during the service; I earnestly value our pastor's messages, but my sinuses had other plans], but I have every intention on enjoying it again via notes. Oh well, though; I am so excited for the Cunicos to be a part of the Towerview family now!

With all the excitement of the morning service under our belts, it was enough to exhaust both Sydni and me [she's still not 100%, either], so we found ourselves straight home for a light lunch and a very contrasting and heavy nap. That brings us to now, during which time Sydni is propped up in a tshirt and pj pants with her blankie & stuffed animal watching The Little Mermaid, and I'm here, blogging away next to her as I hum along with Ariel in her cavern o' human treasures.

It's gonna be an early night.... Haha.

Dear Sinuses,
Please knock.it.off.soon.Thanks-a-million.
Love, Me.

xo | cmd