Cincinnati & Cegg's Birthday Bonanza!

Good news: We made good on our word to get that early start we discussed yesterday... haha. We were up out of bed on full-fledged loading mode at 3:30, had the bags in the car, Sydni in the carseat, the dog fed and watered and ourselves dressed in something one step above total hobo status.... and on the road by 4:00....... A.M. Yeah.

true story. we were driving....

Oh, and did I mention it was foggy?? Just a little though : /

fog. as in.... can't see 6+ feet in front of you fog. in the dark. no good :(

Luckily, it started to burn off some once the dawn broke through, and by the time we hit Milford, there was no trace of any upside down sky [Sydni reference]. We took care of the necessary business there and decided it was off to meet up with Catie & Andy in West Chester for Rob's first taste of IKEA.  



ky! [circa..2008]



We stopped first at the SW in Loveland to say hi to Ky - it's been a while and I was glad he got to meet Rob, and we were able to do a speed-version of catching up in the 10 minutes we were there. [I'll see ya soon, Ky-O!]

It was off then to West Chester, on the opposite side of Cincy, to the big, bad, ever-wallet-draining IKEA. Oh, and Catie & Andy, too ;)

HELLO.... IKEA!

[I've missed you.......]

ohhh... ikea... haha

I learned some new things today from IKEA. They have tarp bags they sell near the checkout lines that 1) look much smaller than they are, and are deceivingly sturdy, and 2) can easily house an adult woman up to at least ... my weight. I am pretty sure I could've fit Catie in there with me. Just sayin'.


same bag... haha. thanks, ikea (:

IKEA run completed, we made a break for lunch at the Dingle House across the street. Not extraordinary, but not awful, either. 

dingle house irish pub | west chester, ohio

We were fed, we were soothed by some retail, and we were sleepy from going nonstop since 3:30 this morning. Erego, insert nap................ here. (:

.... and napping....
.......... still napping.......

Refreshed. Success!
It was dinner time; we geared up for the evening and made our way over to start the night off with dinner at Amelia Street with the Luers. Jen made her way over by the end of the meal, so that was fun, and we stuffed ourselves with some deeeelicious food before digging into the real party of the evening. 

amelia street | downtown cincinnati, ohio

Next stop: Lackman & Neon's. I was finally reunited with my old roommate Trisha; Catie actually lived with us for a short time as well. She's engaged to Adam now, and it was downright awesome to see both of them and hang out as a group for the night. 

roommate reunion: circa 2008 & 2013 | love these gals!

Nader is back now from Jordan, too, so we coerced him into making a stateside appearance. He brought Keith along, and Daggy eventually filtered into that, too. 

look at those familiar faces! :) :) :)
[[ & welcome home, nader! ]]

We rounded out the night at Below Zero, caught a cab back instead of forcing our tired feet into any more city street trudging [all ... 4 blocks of it, don't judge...], ate some pineapple & jelly beans [jealous? hah], and are calling it a night. 

Oh, and yeah, this is backdated. I don't care. (:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AGAIN... CATIE!!! I LOVE YOU!
[Tomorrow's EASTER!]

xo | cmd

Hey Friday - I Love You (:

It's that time again! HELLO, WEEKEND!!!

Sheesh. Today was definitely not a bad day, by any means. It'll be easier for me to just itemize this one (:

1 | OFFICE POTLUCK! [I told you today was good.. haha]


mushroom. ehhh... : /

I decided to be a butthead and send this picture to Rob mid-way through the lunch festivities; he loves mushrooms about as much as slugs love salt.... so I figured it would only be right to flash this thing his way.  I for one don't care much for mushrooms, so I didn't eat it when I was finished, but I was feeling particularly rambunctious, so yeah.... ;)

2 | RENTAL CAR? YES!

'ello, rental!

Rob and I quickly decided a few days back that my car with its current tire conundrum would not suffice for a 5-hour jaunt to Cincinnati and back again, so he used his work ties and landed us a nice little rental for the weekend. It's currently sitting with 178 miles on it; we'll just see what that's like when we get back..... it's a spiffy little thing though; guess we'll see tomorrow how it does on the road!

3 | CHALK CHALK CHALK.. aaaaaaaand CHALK

chalk chalk & chalk!

Dawne gave Sydni an Easter basket again this year [love. her.], this time equipped with a slew of Tinkerbell gear. There was chalk included, so of course the most urgent imperative step of action upon arriving at the house was opening said chalk and taking to the driveway. Well, it was more like the cul-de-sac, which proved to be a much larger canvas, and perfect for my mini Matisse. She covered patches of concrete all over that thing with her beautiful little art. Love love love.

4 | NOMORERACK.COM = AWESOMETHINGSFORCORI&ROB


nomorerack.com | obsessed....

A few weeks back, I introduced Rob [on accident, actually] to nomorerack.com. It's a website that retails various products well under the MSRP, and ships them to you in quite the timely manner. Since he's found it, the boyfriend has obtained a small collection of things just as random as the site itself. First it was a couple of down pillows [love them], then some laser pointer / LED light ink pens [entertaining], a few other things, and then today a back up camera for his truck. He went into tinker mode outside tonight wiring it up, while Sydni decorated the streets & I sat by with my Canon in full swing.

....... Speaking of camera.... the whole obsession with nomorerack came from some arbitrary Facebook newsfeed post I'd seen almost 2 months ago for a coffee mug that was shaped like a Canon camera lens. It immediately demanded my attention, both by its creative design and more importantly its price tag... or lack thereof : $12. DUH. I almost bought it on the spot, but for some reason didn't, and then definitely didn't after he carefully instructed me not to.



cameraholic..... caffeinaholic...

Long story short, that arrived at the house today, too, and I am in love with it. Thank you boyfriend, for being your amazing self and for snagging me this totally me mug. Love it... love YOU.

Like I said... today's been a great day. We opted not to head out tonight for Cincy; we'll be headed that way at some super early juncture tomorrow morning. Time to call it an early night (:

xo | cmd

Easter Crafts With Mini | Pt. 2

I mentioned a couple nights back that Sydni and I were only halfway through with our Easter DIY projects. Well... we got to it tonight with some home-made Easter cards for the family! I was smart enough to cut out the outlines beforehand; tonight it was a matter of Sydni deciding what kind of randomness would become of each of the eggs.

... From that, we ended up with some funky patterns: polka dots & zig zags, some yarn designs, a garden with "just TWO, MOMMY" purple flowers, and a pond scene [??], complete with goldfish, a butterfly and of course.... a turtle. Haha.

We made cards respectively for Daddy, Nana & Pappy, Mamaw, Dawny MiMi & Mindi. It was an evening filled with variegated yarn, card stock, pattern cut scissors, hole punches, mod podge, brads and sharpies. That's what every good kiddie-mama craft project is made of, right??? haha (:

When she was done with the egg cards, she made herself a nest inside of the mini ottoman toy box. Only my kid... haha. Stella did her due diligence and sat patiently by her side, hopefully glancing over occasionally to see if somehow some food would've materialized and fallen in front of her... Sorry stellbell, not this time. 

girls night

 Ahhhh, what a good night!

OH! And by the way, CONGRATS to OHIO STATE for making the ELITE 8!!!

b.u.c.k.e.y.e.s. | yes.

O-H!.... (:

xo | cmd

Hodge Podge Day

Ohio Roots. This is a grass roots initiative local to [duh] Ohio. This is one of their newest decal stickers; I saw it today, and while I didn't get one [yet], I did like it and thought I'd share. As much as that crazy state makes me even crazier, it is my root state and I am a proud Buckeye.

o-h.... i-o!!

Secondly: I'm taking a big ole' chunk of blog to acknowledge my awesome co-workers. They are fully aware of my affinity for owls, and they go out of their way to make sure they appease it. I love 'em! Here's a BIG round of applause to Ali, Andi, Linda & Tonya for all of the various owl accessories that adorn my little corner of the office. Andi added a new touch to the collection to day with the little pink lip balm [prolly won't even use the contents... but dang, it's still cute!], which has made a new home with the other pretty hoots. Love!

whooooooooo ... feels loved??! [me!!] 

Dawne had family in town just for the night; two members of which were little girls about Syd's age. I agreed for Sydni to have a sleepover with them tonight, which I'm sure she is enjoying to no end. Rob and I made a quick break up to Granite to see what the deal was with my now wobbly car [= needs new tires, x2. I have such a helpful boyfriend!], then off for some dinner at Bindy's before heading home to call it an early night. 

I'm not too thrilled about the car, but it's okay; there are worse things, and we will take care of that mess next week when we're back from Ohio. 

*Yawn.... I'm spent.... 

xo | cmd

Oh, That's EGGSellent | Easter Crafts Pt. 1

I got into an Easter spirit late last night, but it was clearly too late by that time to jump into any craft projects. I decided we would do some egg dying. That happened tonight.

By the way, I do recognize the stark contrast between the true meaning of Easter and the dying of eggs and excessive chocolate consumption. I don't think the two are interchangeable, but for what it's worth, I love crafts; therefore, bring on the egg projects!

Sydni and I jumped right into it when we got home.

eggtastic!

It was a blast. I think next time, we'll be using KoolAid to get this done, even though the food coloring route really wasn't that difficult. After some consternation and debate over whether or not, then futhermore which kind of VINEGAR to use in the whole process [btw, Cori 1, Rob 0 ;) ], we settled for apple cider vinegar and got on with it. I'm thinking that if we go the KoolAid route, we may be able to skip using vinegar and thus spare the house from the smell. We'll just have to see.

Anyway, that was the bulk of our night. I can tell it's getting close to spring [well, technically is, but a cold one]/summer, because I'm feeling the craft / DIY bug scratching at my fingers. That being said, here's a few of the other egg projects we didn't do this year, but may certainly keep in mind for next year: 

scuba divers! super cute, super easy, super recycled!

i moustache you a question.......

my personal favorite! silk tie transfer

Easter is quickly approaching! I think tomorrow, we'll knuckle down on some cards for the family & friends... with love, from Sydni, of course. :)

I'm tellin' you, that craft bug is is gettin to me!!

xo | cmd

Soup on a Cold Day

Poor Ali has been battling a chest cold for the past several days now, and while I don't think she's necessarily contagious, I may have finally suffered from some sort of mirror-touch synaesthesia [look it up]. Basically that's the term for people who physically feel the pain of someone else...


fazoli's with the boyfriend?
yes please (:



... or in my case, I often think I am feeling someone else's pain. I try my best to keep myself grounded to the reality that I'm probably not, in most cases, actually participating in someone else's ailment. This time though, I really did start to develop a sore throat, and was a little worried it may bloom into something more serious... or annoying, if nothing else.

SO... That being said, I made a resolve halfway through the morning to make chicken noodle soup tonight. I'll get to that.

First, just wanna give due credit to Rob, for coming up to good old Glen Carbon on his day off to have lunch with me, the girl he sees every day as it is. (: He's pretty super.

So yeah. It was most definitely a Monday; with the snow impairing the availability of many of my employees, the first half of the day was spent catching up with the who's who of missing people at our clients. Sure does make for a busy day, but when it was all said and done, I was out the door with soup on the brain and and determined to get at least a couple of rooms in the house clean.

So..... SOUP!

veggies + broth + noodles = homemade soup = happy kid (:

I'm not boasting, honestly, but I really couldn't have hit the nail on the head any better on a dish more suited for this type of day. It's cold, cloudy and speckled now with old snow; I wanted nothing more than to kick back on the couch with Sydni to a movie and some hot soup. Well, mission accomplished!

I thought I'd be sweet and indulge ya'll with the super easy recipe for this one, too. Here's our soup secret!

INGREDS:
* 1 bag egg noodles
* 2-3 chicken breasts, boiled
* 1 stick butter
* ½ small onion, chopped to your preference
* 2-3 carrots, chopped [I used baby carrots.. however many you want]
* 2-3 celery sticks, chopped
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* Salt & Pepper for seasoning.
* 1-2 c chicken broth or stock [I used broth]
* 14 c water

DIRECTIONS:
* Chop veggies as required.
* Boil chicken
* Melt butter in large stock pot. Add veggies and sautee until onions are clear [don't brown]. Add in broth, water and chicken, as well as salt and pepper to your taste. Bring to a boil; vegetables should be soft. Add in noodles and let simmer.

.... and that's it! Super easy. I ended up adding more salt afterwards, but you can add as much or as little as you'd like. I eyeballed most of it. Oh, and I didn't use a full 14 cups of water. I think I used like 7 or 8.
I even managed to clean the living room, half the kitchen, did 2 loads of laundry, and Syd's room. It felt great, but now I'm exhausted. Rob's still out and about with his friends [it's pool night, duhhh], and mini is in the bathtub. Not a terrific day, but certainly not a bad way at all to end the day (:

Mmm.. and there is leftover soup.
WINNING. Haha.

xo | cmd

SNOW DAY!

.... Ok, so it's a Sunday, sure, but you know what... it can still be a snow day. We didn't hate it.

We definitely gave ourselves some good old fashioned cabin fever today. Sydni woke up earlier than all of us.. she was ready to go as soon as she saw the snow coming down in sheets. We all stood around for a few minutes just staring out at the snow covered neighborhood before making the executive decision not to attempt heading out in it for church. It worked for Syd, since her plan for the first half of the day was to stay in PJ's and roll around on the floor with Stella. Haha.

lazy cuddle buddies

I made the signature weekend breakfast for these two yesterday, so today we opted for cereal and toast... and coffee... it worked out just fine. We settled in for a few hours of mindlessness: Rob got on COD mode, Marianne continued in her quest to scour the perfect dyed pixie cut photo off the internet, and Stella found out that she has been granted permission to gnaw on all of NONE of the plush animals in this house. I decided at one point that I couldn't stand it any longer. I wanted to make a snow angel.

So I did.

.. on the deck. Don't judge.

snow angel time

You thought I was kidding, huh. NNNope. Nobody else had any snow gear with them, so while Sydni took a nap, I dug the Spyder suit out of the closet, and once donned from head to toe in snowboard attire, took to the yard and all 7-ish inches of pristine snow with Stella. I found out that when it's Cori vs. Stella in a yard full of snow, Cori is a bowling pin and Stella is a renegade wrecking ball. Stella 1. Cori 0. Oh well. We still managed to have the perfect time romping around for a little while before retreating back into the house.

And then there's [more] photobooth! This time, we captured Marianne in a moment of intensity, the result of some chirpy, pitchy soundtrack on one of the Netflix kiddo movies. I had to agree with her that the arrangement was offensive to pretty much every available sense, but the look of borderline terror mixed with disgust was still funny ;) 

hilarious. love that girl. 

Stella eventually started to go stir crazy, especially after hours on end of being scolded for carrying off some random stuffed animal. She started to fall apart, barking at thin air, when Marianne threw a blanket on her head and stopped her dead in her tracks. My dog may as well have gone temporarily blind. Hahaha..

invisibility cloak?? ..nope... you're doing it wrong.. haha

Hello.... cabin fever.

Hello...... Wal-Mart Run. 

... Yeah, it got bad. We finally decided on a mini-road trip, which was an adventure in and of itself [Rob's truck to tackle the snow + carseat  + beanie nation + standard other walmart clientele? = winnnnning if you're bored on a snow day.. haha]. We made it safely to, and back with some fruit, a few bones for Stella and some other random things. We even managed to get Marianne's car freed from its snowbank and into the garage, while Rob took to the cul-de-sac for some diesel donuts before we all headed back inside. Success. 

Sydni's down for the count finally, and I'm about to call it a night. That stupid thing called Monday is gonna hit me before I'm ready... I already know it. 

Boo. 

xo | cmd

HBD, JENNICA! | Things of a Saturday (:

It's birthday time, again!

Happy birthday to my lovely lovely Jen!!! 

♥ you jennica! | happy birthday!

Ohhhh... I miss you, friend. I'll see you sooooon. :) 

So yeah. It's Saturday, and our original plan was to head to the zoo after I picked Sydni up. Howeeeeever, it was a little colder than we'd originally planned. Couple that with the fact that none of us really got moving until about 1pm, we opted out of a trip over to STL. 

Instead, we took a mini-jaunt over to the park for a little bit. 

wintery girls! 

butterrrr hahah

I've learned that the easiest way to get Sydni out of the park is to offer her food [testament that she's mine... duurrrrhhh]. That being said, we promised her a home-cooked dinner and left the park at go time with little to no contest.

For my butter-lovin' friend Marianne, this was the message I sent as a pre-courser to dinner itself: butter and a pepper. I personally believe those are two of the greatest combinations anyway - fresh food & butter. Success.

After a quick stop at the store to get some shrimp [I was on a war path tonight for some shrimp.....], we headed back to the house and started in on the deliciousness that resulted from the mixing of fresh veggies & butter... & pasta. 

Yumm....

shrimp bow-tie pasta (: 

So that puts us here.... now.... on the couch vegging out. Marianne... Rob.... Syd... and myself. We're party animals watching Nacho Libre and discussing how Marianne's official role in the dinner dynamic of my house has become Butter Intake Coordinator. 

Love. 

fun with photobooth? yes.... (: 

Ohhhhh, Saturday. It's supposed to snow tonight/tomorrow, so we'll see what that does for the getting-outta-the-house situation.... 

For now... zZzZzZ.

'Nite, ya'll. 

xo | cmd

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CEGG!!!

Happy Friday!
I just wanna say ....
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CATIE!!

♥ you cegg!! | happy birthday!!

Oh, how I love that girl! I'll be back in Cincy next weekend to help celebrate; it's gonna be a wild one but I'm excited. Happy birthday to a friend who's always been there, has always been honest and has kept me grounded when I felt like I was falling apart. Love you woman - have a GREAT birthday!

Found another fun one from a few years back [Rock the Runway event!]:

circa 2008

aaaaand... sold.

Yay, friends! 

Speaking of friends, Jay came up to GC to do some work, and so we had lunch over at Applebee's. More importantly, we had a triple chocolate meltdown ... at Applebee's.

With Friday out of the way [halleLUJAH], it was time to veg and enjoy the evening. Dawne had asked for Sydni to stay over with Luke & Olivia for a sleepover, so she was there for the night. Rob and I made ourselves at home over at Hot Shots with some people from his work for dinner, and Marianne eventually joined. By the end of our time there, we'd resorted to spitting ice cubes into various buckets, trays and glasses left on the table.

Somewhere in the midst of dinner conversation, Marianne and I ended up on Pinterest and Facebook, and I found.... another foodie item.

Long story short, Marianne and I cut the trip to Hot Shots short, made a bee-line to Wal-Mart and made it back to the house for the creation of a chocolate chip butter sugar masterpiece.

Yeah, it happened.

pie. chocolate.. butter.. sugar... awesome.... pie.

Happy Friday...here we go weekend!!

xo | cmd

VIDEO POST

So it's the middle of the week, and in typical form, it was a wild day at the office. I don't know what it was about the day, but I was determined to make it a good one. It really was, too; I am especially thankful today for the friends I have, for the boyfriend I have, and above all for my incredible daughter, who each day reminds me what it really means to love something more than I ever thought I could.

[[ //end sentimental rant... haha]]

Ali & Marianne came over for dinner tonight; combined with Stella, that made for a house full of female energy. Rob stopped through for a little while and quickly made the choice to leave the estrogen party and find his inner dude out with Kyle. Haha. We didn't mind; that just meant more pasta for us! :P

Ali and I ended up on a YouTube attack, finding all sorts of videos to entertain us for the evening. [We went this route to avoid doing anymore actual thinking; we do enough of that during the day, and so] here are a few of the gems I watched tonight. Fine, I'm a YT junkie sometimes.


ENJOY!


PAINT | "After Ever After: A Disney Parody explaining the truth behind princess life after the movie ends. Hilarious. Political, but hilarious.


Pentatonix | Who loves acapella? I DO. I happen to love these guys, and to add to it, Lindsey Stirling is an aaaaamazing addition to this lineup.


Lindsey Stirling | I just said she's amazing. She's super talented; I especially appreciate artistic cross-overs by people who can walk and chew gum simultaneously. In Lindsey's case, it's dancing while playing violin. Yeah,... I'm jealous.


Cirque du Soleil contortionists from Kooza [Natasha, Julia & Dasha] | Always one of my favorites. I love Cirque productions [which reminds me, I need to drag Rob with me to one], and whenever I get into a Cirque video mode, it might as well just be a marathon. I'm addicted.

*Sigh. The girls just left and I am calling this one a night. Yay for a mindless videolog (:

See. You. Blogbots. TOMORROW!

xo | cmd

Wednesday Reminder : BE THANKFUL [The Coles]

Hey friends....

Well.. I showed up to the day with a huge smile on my face. It's been an interesting few weeks, specifically the weekend, but today just felt refreshing, new and I was ready to face it full force with a smile. I got a note from Trish early on regarding a note I'd posted back in February 2011, about a man whose family was ripped away from him with no notice. It dealt with the amount of faith he had in the midst of sheer tragedy, and how that steadfast determination makes my daily strife seem pale in comparison. It served to justify the smile I had today and I'm readier than ever to take on the rest of this week.

HERE'S THE NOTE [circa february 2011]:
 

“There's a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they're absolutely free.
Don't miss so many of them.” - Jo Walton

  ****
Today is Wednesday. It doesn't feel that special to most people, unless it's a birthday, anniversary, or some other notable personal landmark. Unless a significant, life-altering event occurs before it's over, the majority of us won't bookmark today once it's gone. That's usually the case for most people; don't feel guilty.

BUT.. Today is Wednesday. Today is going to be another one of MANY of the hardest days in Chad's life.

I'll pause there.

For ANY of you (us) that are mothers, fathers, expectant parents, or close ties to families or friends with children:
>>> WE ARE BLESSED, BEYOND WHAT WE COULD EVER IMAGINE.

[[My daughter wasn't planned. It was NEVER that she wasn't wanted, but we hadn't been proactively planning for our first child. We've never experienced the frustration of having our faith and hope challenged repeatedly in efforts to become parents. For the mothers and couples who have: don't give up. We're praying for you.]]

Chad Cole and his wife Sara were that couple: praying, trying, praying, and trying again for a long time to have a child. Finally their prayers were answered, and Sara was due February 23, 2011.  Over this past weekend, Chad and Sara were driving through one of the snowstorms that's been plaguing Michigan all winter. They stopped on the side of the road momentarily, and were hit full force by a semi-truck. Sara died as a result of her injuries. Their baby, little Miranda, was "delivered" with no heartbeat and no brain activity. Doctors were able to recover her heartbeat, but there is, as of now, no sign of brain activity. If there was no activity by Tuesday (yesterday), Miranda was expected to be disconnected from life support.

Today is Wednesday. Little Miranda was welcomed into heaven late last night. She's with her mother, in the safety of God's grace.

This broke my heart.
I don't know Chad and Sara personally; they are friends of someone I know. That doesn't matter to me. This happened.
What I found almost unbelievable is the amount of humble faith and courage Chad has at this point in his life. I read his blog, and in it he wrote,

As I prepared to hold my darling daughter to my chest this evening, I was terrified that I would break...literally break...into pieces.  My fears were unjustified.  The hand of God so reached down and touched me, that I was able to sing my sweet angel into heaven.  That peace stayed with my while I bathed her.  It covered me like a deep blanket of snow while I dressed her for the first time.  It kept a smile on my face while we took pictures and I was able to introduce her to her extended families without all those wires and tubes sticking out of her.  You are all responsible for that peace....
God's miracle to me was giving me strength beyond my own.  Endurance that I could never have mustered.  Helping me carry my daughter proudly down long, silent corridors as we approached the gathered family and friends who were singing upon our arrival..

Wow.
That needs to digest for just a few minutes out of our hectic schedules this morning. Look at your life, like I'm looking at mine, and count every single blessing for what it is today.
I know for a FACT that I lack the emotional and spiritual tenacity that Chad has. The incredible thing is, he knows he lacks it, too. Our God is not a God of sorrow. Yes, what happened to the Cole family is beyond normal comprehension. The imprint of the last week is carved in stone. The hurt and deep-seeded emptiness will never be erased. BUT- if Chad of all people is REJOICING today, then WHAT HAVE WE TO FEAR?

Today is Wednesday. Chad Cole is without his wife and his newborn daughter today. I've never met Chad. All I know is that because of him, because of a faith that wasn't shaken an inch when his life was shaken to pieces- we can all rest knowing that the God we serve is REAL. The healing will start, and it will be a long, enduring road for the Cole family. There is a world of believers praying, if for nothing else, just comfort.. minute by minute. I heard from a great friend of mine recently of an email she received during a struggling time in her life, wishing her:

Just enough, for today.

Just enough. Leave the "enough" an open blank for whatever is needed. For the Cole family, I'm praying for just enough soul-quenching peace, and comfort, if even only for today. For their friends and immediate support network, just enough courage and calming words to aid them.

I hope you will, too.

Love & .. More Love :)

-Cori

****

That's about all I needed for today. My life is speckled, sure, but it's beautiful in its own rite and I wouldn't trade the experience, the emotion -- especially not the people in it now -- for anything. I hope you can feel the same for yours today.

xo | cmd

Attitudes in the Kitchen

I love cooking. What I love even more is when I have a good recipe passed along to me. The credit today for the new dish goes to the boyfriend (: He found this on one of the facebook pages [liked! haha], and I decided to take the plunge and go for it.

work in progress..... chicken + hot sauce! 

I figured I would share the recipe with you, too.... since it's crazy easy and apparently really good. Plus,  if you're moderately hungry but not into left-overs, it serves about 4.

So a-here..... a-youu... a-go!

:: BUFFALO CHICKEN & POTATO CASSEROLE ::

SCHTUFF IN IT: 

(CASSEROLE):

* 2 lbs boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1" cubes

* 8-10 medium potatoes, cut into ½" cubes

* ⅓ cup olive oil

* 1½ tsp salt

* 1 tbsp black pepper

* 1 tbsp paprika

* 2 tbsp garlic powder

* 6 tbsp hot sauce

(TOPPING):

* 2 cups fiesta blend cheese
* 1 cup crumbled bacon
* 1 cup diced green onion

MAKE IT: 

*Pre-heat oven to 500°. Spray 9x13 baking dish w/ non-stick cooking spray.

*In large bowl, mix olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder & hot sauce. Add cubed potatoes to coat. Carefully scoop potatoes into baking dish, leaving behind as much of the olive oil/hot sauce mix as possible. Bake potatoes 45-50 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes, or until cooked through and crispy/browned on the outside.

* While potatoes are cooking, add chicken to the left-over olive oil/hot sauce mix to coat. Once potatoes are cooked, remove from oven and lower temperature to 400°. Top cooked potatoes with raw marinated chicken. In a bowl, mix together cheese, green onion & bacon, and top the raw chicken with cheese mixture.

* Return casserole to oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and topping is bubbly.

[photo from website;] ours didn't have bacon :p

I'm still trying to condition myself to liking super spicy food, so I didn't participate in the eating of this dish, but Rob assured me it was delicious. Next time, I'm going to adapt this to a BBQ version. Hmmm....... (:

Sydni didn't hate it either. Looks like everyone wins.
Yep. Happy Tuesday, bloggerbees.

xo | cmd 

Monday Haze.

Today .... was a blur. It'd be a lie if I said I remembered a lot of details about the day, which gives me all the more reason to gladly bid adieu to this particular Monday. I think I'm still on a lag from the weekend. It definitely wasn't the mini-trip we'd planned, but we're back and all is well.

Rob took the night to go see his dad; Sydni and I are here gallavanting around the house like fools and eating leftover pizza from last night. I have to say at least the day is ending well.

Oh... and I figured out what I'd look like with green eyes tonight.

Thoughts?

to green? or not to green? 

[bored & lovin' it]

xo | cmd

"BRUSH YOUR TEETH" - A Flashback

I don't think there was a single one of us who couldn't wait to get home after this weekend in Indy. We practically peeled off in sections heading back, but we're all here intact so that's a win in and of itself.

Earlier today, it was breakfast at Denny's before rendezvousing with Sydni. She made the ride back quite the entertaining adventure, complete with stories about animals and magic. She's got quite the imagination. I figured in the spirit of Sydni being here, I would share a video of her that I found on my old Flipcam from a few years back. She was just a little over 1 here, but I watched this a BUNCH of times this weekend just because of how adorable she was.

Enjoy.... and remember, BRUSH YOUR TEETH!

Dear Sydni,

I love you more than you'll ever know, more than you'll ever believe, and far more than I could ever tell you. Thank you for being the most incredible little girl I've ever met. I'm so proud of you and so proud to be your mama!

Love, Me (:

Anyway, I'm more than ready to lay this weekend to rest and check it off a bucket list. I am so thankful for the people around me, knowing that while we can make our mistakes and fall apart, that we can still admit our shortcomings and forgive each other. It's hard to find these days, but I have that and I can't even begin to express how fortunate that makes me.

I'm blessed.
Here's to a new week.

xo | cmd

AMA Supercross : Indianapolis

This is backdated.
.... & I don't care.

Soooooo.. in the spirit of being random, Rob and I took off this morning on a semi-scripted road trip to Indianapolis. It's scheduled for me to get Sydni tomorrow here, so we figured we would go ahead and make a weekend venture out of it. A few of his friends were already slated to go to the AMA SX event here today, so we decided we'd either do that, or find something else to get into and just meet up with his friends later. Yep, we're random like that.

Supercross it was! We got last minute tickets and joined the other three for the evening. It was hotel, food and AMA. I could only laugh at Rob for taking a powernap during the 250 prelim heats: "wake me up when 450 starts." Haha.


catnap? sure. yep, i ♥ him.

Here's a few other randoms from the AMA evening:

main event

 

Aaaand...... of course, a video.

Yeah......
As for the REST of the night, well .... All I can say is that there won't be a trip back to Indianapolis for any of us ANY time soon [at least not of our own free will; we'll leave it that way]. It was a fiasco to say the least, but the good news is, we're all heading home soon so no... complaining there.

Oh, and happy Saturday St. Pats to all of you crazy Irish kids out there ;)

xo | cmd

Lá sona naomh Pádraig! [Almost]

Well, it's not the real St. Patrick's Day yet, but that didn't stop us from celebrating here at the office since we really won't be together as an office family on Sunday. Soooo... [sans Linda :( ... ], HAPPY DAY O' GREEN!

the express family [minus linda :( ... ]
tonya. andi. marc. cori. ali. diana

Potluck mode? Yes. Complete with corned beef & cabbage, potato salad, cheese & broccoli and an angel food cake topped with green sprinkles. Yeah, we know how to do it up around here when it comes to small office potlucks ;)

Oh, and no, I'm not Irish (clearly), but I do have a pure affinity for the color green; I found this on the Color Run page today and wanted to share, because I love... green... that.. much. 

color green (:

Love love love.

*Phew. The work day was something closer to absolutely neurotic than calm and peaceful like we'd hoped, but that's what makes our job what it is, and we do what we can to keep the ball rolling when one of us is MIA. Linda deserved a day off, so we were happy to pick up where she'd left off, even on a last-minute job order for double digit crew numbers. Oh, we brought it... haha.

Work aside, [HELLO WEEKEND!!!!]

We're headed out tomorrow for the weekend in Indy... here we goo..... (:

xo | cmd


C'Mon, Is It Friday Yet??!

Note to self:

Saint Louis, MO hates you.

//The end.

Just kidding. I don't think it does, obviously, but man alive did I have a time trying to accomplish one simple trip to my bank. I probably should've gathered from the fact that I bank with Fifth Third that this would be an expedition; the nearest branch is located in Missouri, so of course my smart self thought to tackle the trip during rush hour.


thank you.. staff @ the drury... lol

 Good move, slick.
+ car breaking down.
+ construction/rush-hour traffic jam.
+ stop off at the grocery store.
= Me being thankful beyond my ability to convey... to the 2 staff members of the drury in downtown for helping me out (:
= Rob & Marianne beating me to my own house. Haha. Oh well.

Cursed road trip aside, it was on to bigger, better, carb-loaded things. (:


pasta.. anyone?

 It was pasta nighit at the Dren Lodge II; Rob & I were joined by Marianne, Ali & DeShawn. Jay & Cindy were invited but didn't make it; that was probably in all of our best interest since the five of us did a good job on our own of dominating an entire pot of spaghetti. Yeah, team.

Oh, and Marianne chowed through nearly an entire stick of butter in the process, coining the night's phrase, "CURSE YOU, PAULA DEEN!" I nearly lost it once I read Marianne's corresponding blog entry regarding the whole fiasco of butter sticks, coupled with the events and discussion from our trip to Nashvegas. All I'm envisioning now is a sick horror story in which Paula Deen is kidnapping all of us and forcing us into hiding somewhere deep in the woods, to be tormented by rabid opossums and fed nothing but sticks of greasy butter.

Curse you, Paula Deen......



this is terrifying.

Holy smokes. Haha.

I love my boyfriend.. and I love my friends. We've had a good night.

PLUS, tomorrow's Friday! [*squeaaal*]

See ya then...

xo | cmd