School Supplies & Bike Training

This week is flying right on by. I keep telling myself I'm "getting ready for summer," only to realize that "Summer" is running circles around me as I try to rationalize how it's already almost August.

As if that wasn't enough, here's a fun fact from today: 

SYDNI AND I WENT SCHOOL
SUPPLY SHOPPING. 

already?!?! 

i can't handle it. 

Sooooo..... Don't mind me as I sit here at the end of my day wondering how in the world time has gone by this quickly: Between school supply shopping for first. grade, the fact that she's got her first wiggly tooth, and the idea that within a few hours' time, she'll probably be riding this sucker solo... 

training wheels are gone! 

I just... I don't know. Am I the only one who wants time to slow down??

kiddo, you're the best.. 

Syd, you have no idea how much we love you, and how much fun it is to walk this walk with you. I hope you had fun today picking out all the school supplies for first grade, and that you know how great you'll be at riding your bike!

Happy Thursday, loves :) 

xo | cmd

Today I Choose JOY :)

Okay, it's true. I had a miniature melt-down yesterday. I chose to let the mounting pressures of the day get to me, and eventually I caved, because I'm perfectly imperfect and am prone to moments of vocalizing [or not] my breaking points. 

Luckily, I have Rob, who balances me out to a T; he was there exactly when and how I needed him to be - Not with a shoulder and a hug, because he knows me in rage mode and keeps a safe distance [throw chocolate at iiiiiit!!!]. Haha... No, it wasn't that bad, but it was one of those moments that I confided in him and he was the rock that I needed. He talked me off the edge of mental oblivion [how's that for being episodic?!], and back to the center of myself, where I took some deep breaths and came back to conscious awareness of the good that surrounds me. 

And SO... my commitment for today, and for every day, is this reminder: 

every. day! 

Every day, CHOOSE JOY. I chose it today, although the day itself didn't stray from it's usual pace, not once did I feel as though it had the upper hand on me. Amazing what a little JOY can do! :)

On a path to joy, I journeyed up to Whole Foods for lunch, and sat by the window to eat. Alone. I'm an expert people-watcher, so I reveled in the delicious food and entertaining collection of foot-traffic through the table area and outside in the parking lot for a few moments. It was the perfect mini reset, and for some strange reason, it just made me... happy. :)

nommmms! 

Clarissa left early today; her son had a monkey bar mishap that resulted in a broken arm, so we're pulling for him to make a speedy recovery!

It's been a long day, but a good, solid productive one, too. Cheers for tomorrow being even better!

xo | cmd

Tuesday is Friday and Stella's a Rabbit

I found this today, which I'm going to go ahead and take as a directive... so umm... yeah. That's legitimate, right? Haha

if only... 

At home this evening, I was looking for a particular set of pictures that I thought were being housed on the memory card of my water camera, but realized quickly that they're elsewhere. I did however, find a shoot that Sydni must've done while she was cleaning her room last week. Among the near 20 pictures of Stella and Sasha, I had to share my favorite of the collection:

hahaha

^^ And that is what Stella looks like when she's mid-yawn with a set of ears on her head. She looks so mean! Hahaha... In her defense, she doesn't always look like that:

..... what?

Only Sydni gets away with costume ideas and other miscellaneous experiments with our dogs. Hilarious ;)

We're almost halfway through this week.. whew!
Cheers, midweek :)

xo | cmd

Sunday Funday

We started off Ali's departure day with church. I was super excited to do so, since she usually has to head out suuuper early to be back for whatever role she's playing at her own church that day. It was a beautiful service, with beautiful people, and we walked out feeling that much closer to our goals of knowing our God more and more every day. 

We managed to do a second take on the selfie, that didn't really work out as planned yesterday while we were at the splash pad. #FINALLY! hahaha

love this gal! 

It was off to lunch after that, with the ever-entertaining Sydni as the main attraction while we ate. I swear, you get one quesadilla into this kid and this is what happens...

She's. hilarious.. hahah. Between the flower in her hair, kicking off her shoes, some strangely adapted version of clogging and the rest of the routine that she created in her head, I can't help but wonder what I ever did before her. My life was a stark [and boring] thing pre-Sydni; I'm sure of that much. Haha...

Finally it was time to do the "see ya soon" thing; Ali packed up her gear and jumped on the road, leaving Rob and me with the decision of what to do with the afternoon. Sydni decided for us, when she sat down for "just a second" and woke up about 2 hours later after a much-needed snooze. We followed suit with her, and after rubbing the nap sleepies out of our eyes, we took to the yard to pull some weeds, mow the lawn and examine our pumpkin plant that's flourishing through the front garden.

And NOW, we are here, noses buried 12 tabs deep in Google Chrome doing wedding research for next year... The fun continues! ;) 

I'd better get back to work.. hahaa..

xo | cmd

ALI's HERE!

It was too late last night when Ali arrived to do mich of anythddng other than a quick catch up before bed. Knowing we wanted to take full advantage of today made it that much easier to find sleep wirhout delay.

Today = bright and early start in the house, complete with homemade breakfast, compliments of Ali and me! We pulled out all the stops and produced a full spread, including pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, turkey bacon and toast. I mean, we had a full day of fun planned out!

First stop: The 513 City Flea! One of my favorite Washington Park events to frequent at least once or twice each season, even if I walk away with nothing but the receipt for a Street Pop long-ago devoured. 

gosh you're pretty, washington park... 

The Summer City Fleas mean that the splash pad is in full operation, and if we're being honest, it was only because our parents taught us manners that prevented every adult in the park from joining their kids running through the course of water jets.

summer splash pad!

i mean.. she's thinking what we were all thinking today #95degrees

Ali and I managed to drag her out of the fun for a twenty-second selfie opportunity, a decision that was apparently eqivalent to asking for her to walk a lap around the planet [huffy puffy!].

the girls! 1st take, nailed it! 

We trekked over to Findlay Market for lunch, which afforded each of us the vendor to satisfy our cravings. Becky's newest initiative, Dirt: Modern Market, is in its soft opening stages, but we were able to check it out. Ali bought some custom jams, while Sydni had her own photo shoot outside.

my little mini market girl 

celebrating dirt! 

After Findlay, we headed home to drop Rob and Sydni, then continued on to REI, in search of Ali's first pair of Chaco's! It would've been a straight shot, but I took a scenic route and Coffee Emporium got in the way, like it does for me on many occasions.

We eventually made it to REI. It wasn't as fruitful as we'd hoped, but long story short, she's all set and Chaco'd up for a good while. 

We did so well on our venturing this afternoon that there was next to no rushing when we arrived back at the house to get Rob & Syd. We set off to the movie theater, where the Minions  3D experience awaited us.

minions 3D! 

We did a post-movie dinner at Logans nearby, and finally circled back tothe homefront to wind down.

Tomorrow it's church with Ali before she heads home, and then back to a brief bit of the reality that is the to-do list around here. 

What a beautiful day! Seeee you tomorrow!

xo | cmd

Elisa's Last Day

Ugggghhhhhhhhhhh....

Today was Elisa's last day at Express. I've got a few different sets of emotions to deal with today...

One of them is sadness, because of the obvious reason that she's an awesome person, inside and out.
Another is that she's been my sole, stable source of sanity and clarity at work, and in the past 3 years, we've been through the ringer here at our office. Literally only Elisa can fully testify to and re-live the history of this office, and I don't know what I would've done without her!

Far unlike a few [one recent in particular] members of the Express team who've come and gone, she's an honest person and a friend before anything else. Our team won't be the same without her, but we have no business telling her not to go and pursue her dreams!

E - you're awesome, and I'm so glad that our paths crossed on this journey that started as coworkers and will continue as friends long after this! THANK YOU for keeping me sane, for laughing with me, for understanding the frustrations and celebrations of our job, for dealing with crazy [from coworkers to associates and everything in between!] and for always being there to talk sense into me when I thought I was in over my head. I'll see you asap when I visit that-a-way in Chicago! :)

my gift from elisa... isn't it supposed to be the other way around!? :o

Tomorrow we'll be flying solo with Clarissa, and while I'm super excited to launch off into our next chapter, it's going to be a very strange feeling doing it in her absence.

MISS YOU ALREADY, CHICA! See you soon :)

xo | cmd 

Repetition

I'm pretty sure I've shared and said this one before, but the fact of it all is that there can never be too many repetitions of a tried and true directive. 

There have been several changes within the last couple of months, one in particular that has a huge impact on our daily lives: work! 

We've got one seasoned team member leaving for grad school in just a couple of weeks. We have a charismatic, fresh new employee replacing her. We have a new, burst-of-energy franchise owner who has assumed the business and is making gigantic strides in a new and improved direction. We have the departed franchisee who is still a much beloved figure and pops in occasionally, to nobody's dismay. We've also got a fanatically self-absorbed ex-employee who baffles everyone with a clear lack of discernment, etiquette, self-control and integrity [if I never hear the word intuitive again, it will be all too soon], still clinging to random areas without closure. Then we've got me, the perfectly imperfect employee who is tenured but just as scattered with all the adjustment as the rest of us. The three of us who will carry us forward are driven to see it work, and wiser for the experiences so far. 

It is so easy to fall into the trap of bitterness, exhaustion and frustration when the gears fall out of synchronicity, even if it just temporary. We're not missing pieces by any means, just still working on fitting the existing ones all together and getting them all properly worn in. It's a learning process, as is everything we do if we look at it in a chosen light.

I speak from my heart specifically today to the departed ex-employee, and the drama that individual has chosen to create for a reason that's still beyond all of us. There is no reason for it, and the water should've been under the bridge weeks ago. It's one of those things in life that's just not going to make sense, regardless of how we turn our heads to see it, and that ex-employee is one of those people who similarly will never be able to recognize the lies that they've told for so long that they've now accepted them as truths. There's only so much you can do, but the most important thing is to walk away from it, and not let the crazy get the best of the rest.

I am tired, yes. BUT, I'm not tired of the benefit received from efforts to do things the right way - with honesty, integrity, benefit to others and growth as a team together. I'm beyond excited for this new journey.

So repetition it is: NEVER tire of doing what is right. 

xo | cmd

Welcome, Clarissa!

We welcomed a brand new member to the Express team today!! Elisa is leaving at the end of this week to prepare for her launch off to grad school, and after several unfruitful weeks of searching, we found Clarissa, who is going to be taking her place. I'm super excited to see our next chapter with her! :D 

welcome aboard!!

I was also pretty excited about lunch.... not just the salmon & green beans, but the fact that I actually remembered to bring it to work. I mean, that's half the battle, right? Haha.. 

Elisa and I took a breather [our first of the day, really] around 3:30, and opted for ice cream... because we were both embracing our inner fat kids today and it sounded awesome. 

and it was awesome!

How'd we never know about this place before?! Not cool...

It's awesome. Cute, small, locally-owned and operated... and delicious. :) 

Time Warner Cable on the other hand, has some absolutely ground to make up, and will stay in the doghouse until the end of time. While I understand it's a luxury, and this will certainly sound like a first-world rant... we signed up for this because we are blessed with the means to support it, and because we enjoy watching it occasionally. So given those two things, the fact that we spend more time speaking with customer service about our lack of service than actually having service is irritating. 

We're almost on board with whoever else has ever though and/or done this... 

last straws.. 

And I suppose if that's the worst thing that's happened to me today, we're okay :). 

It's Monday, and it's sunny. This is gonna be a good week! 

xo | cmd

Quick Visits with Nana & Pappy!

It was a muggy morning as we headed off to church, but the blessings for the effort came tenfold as we sat and let Pastor Chad feed us the message of the day. We continued through the life stories laid out in the book of Genesis, this time focusing on Jacob and his brother Esau. As I sat in the sanctuary with Rob, I let the moments of humility take over me, through the life lessons absorbed by Jacob.

After church, Rob and I headed home, where we did what Sundays declare: Relax. It wasn't much, but at the same time it was everything. We curled up together in the corner of the couch like we usually do, and just sat.. together. I said a prayer of unfiltered gratitude for the 'here and now' that was a stark  contrast to the 'then and there' this same time last week. My best friend should be in much rougher condition right now, but he isn't and there's no one to thank for that other than the one who made us all in the first place.

In a couple hours, my parents and Sydni pulled up to the house; Sydni came bursting in with a tupperware container filled with two rocks: one big and one small. The big one was painted with a flower, which was for Rob and me, and other, with a red and yellow "rainbow," for her. We said our formalities and visited for a few brief moments before we were out the door lunch at Fire House.

My family cracks me up. First, my dad and Sydni, dueling it out over lunch with their thumb wars. Sydni's starting to learn and apply new strategies to try and beat everyone; she's a crafty little thing!!

it's all out war! 

Hahaha. THEN, there's my mom, who brought along pictures from their mini getaway, but for some reason also brought with her some gems she resurrected from the archives of her in her 30's. I hate to say it, but blonde just wasn't your color, Mama. She agrees with me, but regardless, my mama was a babe! Haha..

then & now! :) 

As encouragement for her to get back in and stay in the water, Nana & Pappy got Sydni some new eyewear:

this chick... hahaha

It's been storming on and off all day, and although it was a downpour when we got to the restaurant, it stopped by the time we were finished. Mom and Dad headed their separate way, and we journied on home for an evening of catch up after Syd's vacation up in the Vern.

I spent a small part of the evening doing some meal prep for the week, which relaxes my mind in the present and gives me the assurance that we're both eating well throughout the week, too.

nommmssss

all packed up & ready to go! 

It wasn't long until the boxes from the smoker turned themselves into a "house," and then that house somehow merged with another box and became a bigger house, complete with curtains and a window.

These are the things I miss when she's not here, and these are the things that that I needed more than I realized, especially after the events of last week and the recovery from them throughout this week.

We're home :)

xo | cmd

Saturdays Are For Catching Up

Sleeping in this morning was the most anticipated hour of my weekend. I say hour, because well... my body no longer recognizes the golden opportunity to not wake up and go to work, so it tries to do it anyway... every day. Funny how that works.

Anyway, I somehow willed my body to stay as still as I could convince it to be, and somehow managed to open my eyes again about 2 hours later. Sleeping in has never been so much work, but YAY! Haha.

The day consisted of clean-up around the house, and catching up on things I hadn't had the chance to cover while I was gone all of last week. It wasn't much to document for the purposes of this blog, but it was a healthy sense of feeling caught up with myself and my house.. at least a little bit.

Mid-day, Rob passed out for a nap, which has been happening as a result of the pain meds he's been on since the accident. I took advantage of the downtime and decided to ride in to work for a few hours. I'm glad I did; those brief 3-4 hours were exactly what I needed to avoid feeling as though I've completely drowned in my work after missing 3 days unexpectedly.

I left work and headed straight for Jessica's; I'd promised to let Bumper out for a potty break while she was at the Luke Bryan concert. Bump and I had a great time cruising around the apartment complex, before I packed up the contents of the crockpot for fridge storage and headed on my way home.

See ya soon, Bump!

cutie! 

Oh, and we committed ourselves to a night of absolutely nothing, which turned out to be the best idea we've had all week. Despite the yucky feeling of declining friends' offers to go out and about doing things, I think the excitement of last weekend should hold us over for at least 5 more days until the next weekend.

All's well in this little casa. G'Night!

xo | cmd

Back to Reality

I came back to work today, strangely enough ready to get back. The sense of familiarity and normality was oddly comforting in its own way, and when I sat down at my desk for the first time at 7:15 today, I almost felt refreshed. Go figure.

It helped that everything I'd ordered in recent online shopping ventures was delivered in my absence, and sat neatly stacked in a pile on my desk for me: Dad's birthday present, a couple of decals I needed, some of Sydni's LoomBand accessories and these!

color run swag! ;) 

^^ Nevermind that I ordered them on Monday of last week and paid extra for 2-DAY SHIPPING; that's something I'll deal with later. I'd been confident I would receive them by Friday, in time for the actual event, but after having attended, the likelihood of my actually having worn them was about 0%, so minus the extra $6 for expedited delivery, I'm not really that mad. After this weekend, I've determined there are far fewer battles worth fighting, anyway. So yay, CR gear! :)

I was surprised at how non-confrontational the day was; it seemed as though God had specifically instructed the forces that be to remain at bay, for fear of my total unraveling as I clawed my way through switching gears from the weekend's events to life at my desk.

[image cred: instagram @pocketfuel]

Still baffled by the smoothness of the day, I gratefully accepted Jessica's invitation to dinner, but not before we met up with her to pick up the newest addition to her studio:

rower rower come on over! 

I'll see this little guy the next time I'm there at her studio!

So dinner it was, and lounge it is now. We're ready for FRIDAY!!

xo | cmd

Happy 29, Best Friend

We have this human tendency when something goes wrong, to focus only on the parts that went sour. I'm guilty of having done this over the past 3 days, with this whole accident thing: 

Rob's injured, and in pain. 

We're 5 hours from home. 

We're holed up in either a hotel or hospital room all day. 

The bike is wrecked. 

We've spent a lot of money on this already. 

We're both missing work. 

When really, while those are legitimate concerns, they should be only be part one of TWO: 

Rob's injured, and in pain... but he is alive.
We're 5 hours from home... but with friends and family to keep watch while we're gone.
We're holed up in either a hotel or hospital room all day... but we are together.

The bike is wrecked... but it is salvageable.  

We've spent a lot of money on this already... but we have saved and will not struggle. 

We're both missing work... but we have jobs that understand the situation.

So today, we spent the morning packing up our hotel room, checked out of said hotel room, and headed back to the medical center to prepare for the day's outpatient surgery. I have to admire hospital staff for their compassion and patience with people like Rob [and very much so myself as well, in these circumstances], who try but don't succeed at hiding the fear of anesthesia, surgery, blades and that unknown gap that comes from being unconscious.

pre-surgery

They wheeled him back for surgery, and I sat patiently in the waiting room, praying for steady doctor's hands and a seamless procedure. The sigh of relief came about an hour later when Dr. Carlson appeared in the waiting area to tell me it went exactly as planned and that Rob was in recovery. 

We are given every single new day and every moment of that day not because we deserve it, but because there is grace and mercy. By the miracles of modern medicine and the exacted training of doctors and surgery technicians, we are able to be put to sleep and awoken again at bidding. Through it all, we are held safe in the protection of God's hand, because He does not leave nor forsake us, even for a minute. It's incredible. 

post-surgery

And that was that. Rob came back to the real world, the sleepy parts of his brain falling back into a conscious step with one another, until he was ready to journey downstairs. We ate lunch in the cafeteria, filled his final prescription, and then loaded into the car for the 4.5-hour ride home. 

heading home! 

beautiful view along the way! 

The first thing we saw upon pulling up to the house was that someone had taken the initiative to mow the lawn. There were about 3 options in my head of who that could've been, but before I could fully process them, the most obvious - and obviously correct choice came walking out of my front door, right between my parents. Becky, you are a saving grace and one of the best friends I think I've ever had.

My parents and Sydni were elated to see us, and Mom wasted no time getting down to business on the dinner she'd prepared in advance as a way to welcome us home and alleviate the burden of cooking dinner on top of a 5-hour drive. They truly are amazing.

Sydni is heading back up to Mt. Vernon with my parents tomorrow, and Rob will stay here and relax. I'll head back to work [finally], and we'll continue on with our week as scheduled.

For now, I'm off to volleyball, because the world doesn't stand still for long, and I've got a game to play :).

Happy 29th birthday to my best friend.. and good night to you, dear blogbots!

xo | cmd

In The Midst of It All

I took a walk this morning. The first thing I thought when I woke up was that I needed, desperately, to get outside, touch my feet to the earth and reconnect myself to it, to the circle and to the Creator. I stopped and sat for a minute, just outside the cabin, and prayed. There isn't enough gratitude in my body to fully express the way I feel today. 

Rob slept through the night just fine, with minimal pain. He went to bed with arms and legs fully in tact and functioning. He has no back injuries. Aside from the visible damage on his face, his head is fine. He is damaged, but he will be okay. Most importantly, he is still himself, but now with a heightened sense of awareness to his own vulnerability. 

But he is still here. He is alive, by the grace of a God that I will never fully understand, but praise and thank daily for the blessings - both big and small - that somehow find me, despite my (our) undeserving state. 

I called off work today. Our first task as a group was recovery of all the bikes; we visited two separate places to get Rob's, then Dillon's. 

there she goes... 

TO THE OFFICER WHO TOLD ME YESTERDAY, AT AROUND 2AM ON THE PHONE THAT ROB AND HIS BIKE WERE ESSENTIALLY TOTALED, YOU OUGHT TO BE CAREFULLY RECONSIDERING YOUR OATH TO HONESTY. You do NOT tell someone's family member a course of events that did not happen, your certainty in the matter stamped only by the status of your badge. We were told that Rob's bike was a complete lost cause, and that upon impact, he had flipped off the bike and into the unknown at that point. 

Does this look like the aftermath of a bike abandoned by flight?! 

bikes going to illinois

 No, it doesn't. 

No.... it... doesn't. Urgghhhh

The guys managed to get her up and onto the trailer, with the help of the backyardigans's flatbed. Sidenote: Here in TN, it's very lucrative to own and operate a tow business out of your house. These guys are pros at it, and if I should ever find myself living in this region, you can go ahead and know now what business I'll be pursuing.

We headed back to the cabin to do the final pack-up of our things and get all 3 bikes situated on the truck and trailer, before saying our farewell-for-now's. Dillon, Matt, Courtney & Cadence took off back to Illinois, while Rob and I made our way back here to Knoxville. We stopped at Panera for lunch, and started formulating a plan on what to do for the next couple of days. As it turns out, we'll be stuck here, since on such short notice, we aren't able to get in to any Cincinnati facilities for the surgery he'll need on Wednesday. Womp womp.

Rob found a hotel on Expedia, and long story short, we're here now, checked in and planted here for the next two nights.

The consultation appointment is tomorrow. I'll put this prayer out in the blog world for tonight: for confidence, easy nerves and painless completion of the whole ordeal.

See you in the morning!

xo | cmd

Not The Plan...

It was late last night before my head hit the pillow. It's always a strange sensation adjusting to an empty house; even the dogs weren't entirely sure if making noise and ruckus was the way to go for the evening. They were snoozing long before I climbed into bed for the night, but it wasn't about to stay that way.

I was somewhere in a dream, when the soundtrack of my phone ringing started cutting in. I don't know much about the dream states, but I know I've been there before, doing some random dream activity, and the sound of an alarm clock or a ringtone becomes surround sound, and there I am, in a concert blend of dream and reality.

And then I woke up, to Rob's call that he'd wrecked his bike. It was 1am. I'd been asleep for probably just shy of 2 hours at that point, but I was awake in no time. In the 40 minutes that followed, I gathered what information I could from Rob and Matt on the accident, and was bags packed in my car on the way to Tennessee.

Five hours. Five hours driving, texting and calling Matt with updates. 

Rob is at Leconte Medical Center in Sevierville. Dillon was not involved in the accident and is okay.

Rob will be transferred to the trauma unit at UT Medical Center in Knoxville. 

Rob has been transferred.  Matt texts back. Jesse texts back.

Matt is meeting Courtney halfway between Kentucky & Illinois to get his trailer for the bikes. 

Rob's mom calls. His dad calls. Becky calls. Matt calls. My mom calls. Jesse calls.

Calls. Texts. Driving, driving, driving. I'm relatively good at keeping calm through things like this, and for some reason, I had a strange peace about it all even as I navigated through the mountains in the dark. I was over halfway through the trip when the sun met me to rise, and I pulled into the hospital in the golden light of early morning, into a front row parking spot of the garage just outside the main entrance.

My heart broke when I walked into his room. I've never seen him like this, even though I know he's been in situations of mishap before. I've never experienced it, not until today, and I can boldly say I am not a fan.

:( 

Now, as with every other hospital I've ever been in, when you want or need something, you've gotta speak up. It's not being rude, it's just a fact of life. You're one of many in that place, and they'll get to you quicker if you just ask. That's the part I hate, as I'm horribly nonconfrontational about these things. However after arriving in his room at 9am, the clock turned over to 1:30 pm and I decided it was time to pipe up. My requests were met with polite smiles and promises of attention which were fulfilled within the hour of my asking. I had faith in the UT Med Center staff :)

The trauma surgery team came down to do an assessment. Then the maxillofacial team came down. A doctor explained to us the extent of the damage as shown by x-ray, and their intended steps to correct and mend. He began to suture the gash in Rob's nose, while I opted to wait in the lobby.

I came back to find a semi-mended Rob. His face still held the damage, but at least now it was contained, both aesthetically and on the scale of pain. We began our discharge, and after eating some food, made the walk together out of the hospital.

look at those snazzy socks.. haha

I stopped to fill the prescriptions, then continued onward for the 45ish minute drive to the cabin the guys had rented in Gatlinburg. The prayers I said today were that of gratitude, for safety and for healing. I know the next few days aren't going to be fun, whatever they hold. We're not even sure yet.

Walking into the cabin, we met Dillon, who looked as exhausted as I felt. Within the next half hour, Matt, Courtney and Cadence arrived with the truck and trailer. We made dinner and sat down, each at the end of his and her daily energy supplies.

It certainly wasn't how I'd intended to rendezvous with these friends, but we're here together regardless, and it's a nice spot in a cloud, if that makes sense.

Tomorrow, we'll leave this cabin and decide if the next few days will be spent here in Gatlinburg, or if we'll be heading home. We'll see. We'll see.

For now, gooooood night, world.
And Lord, THANK YOU for all that You are and give to us. We are so, so undeserving of Your mercy.

Amen..

xo | cmd

MLB All Star Color Run Cincinnati 2015!

Waking up early on a Saturday isn't typically something I look forward to doing, but today was a totally different story, and I'm not sorry at all for rolling out of bed at 7. It was color run dayyyyy! And not just any color run: Today was the MLB All Star Color Run, in honor of the All Star game that will be here in Cincinnati on Tuesday next week.

So up & at it at 7am it was; I rendezvoused with Jessica & Andrew at CYOFL at 8 for some quick warm-up, and then it was off to downtown, where the crowds were already pouring in.

We were readyyyyy..

here we go! 

What. A. BLAST! Seriously. If you're not into fun runs like this, I'm really not sure why. I couldn't have picked a better day for this to happen, nor a better group of people. We had an amazing time! :)

the cyofl team! 

We met up with the rest of the group, got our gear on, and we were off in search of the start line. Let the fun - and color - begin! 

(When the CR posts pictures from today, via bib/team ID's, I'll get those up, too!) 

It was a hilarious bout of running, powdering, music, laughter and awesome teammates among a few thousand of our closest friends. This definitely beat sleeping in today! 

yeahhh! 

The "post run" party was a giant affair right in the heart of Sawyer Point: a field of powder clouds, race day t-shirts boldly staking their claims to the course of the 3+ miles between start and finish. We gathered together in front of the main stage, where beat-dropping-powder throws (I kid you not) looked exactly like this:

Again, I can't wait to see the pictures from today's run... because my team had some of the most fun together today that I've had on any run in a long time. We were covered from head to toe in powder and thrilled about it!

colorfulllll! 

the guys, minus 1 of the andrews..

Poor Jessica wound up losing a battle with her contact lenses, so it was an early departure from downtown for us; we hopped in the backseat, thankful for Bumper's seat cover ;)

just strollin' downtown.. no biggie...

backseat post-race! :p 

I picked up my car and headed home to shower up, unsure of whether or not I'd be able to remove all the swatches of color from my body and clothes. I stripped off my shoes and whatever else I could outside, and realized there was much more than I'd bargained for, all the way to the core! 

lovin' it! 

c o v e r e d ! 

Hilarious.

So I cleaned up and switched gears into swimsuit mode and U-turned it right back to Jessica's, to join her and Andrew poolside for an hour or so. It was a short-lived little visit, before we shuttled Andrew back to his truck and took ourselves and Bumper over to Chipotle for lunch. 

Bumper, the king of the backseat :) 

cruisin' with bumper & jessica! 

The rest of the day was devoted to laundry [fyi, all the color it seems did in fact wash out of even the white tshirt and everything else, too!], clean up a little around the house, and then just... veg.. out. I did some reading, a little shopping and formulated some tentative plans for Rob's birthday.. sorry, no spoilers yet ;) 

The boys are 2 days into their bike trip now; I just spotted a FB update with some cruise pictures along the way in Gatlinburg. I'm... jealous. 

Happy Weekend, Blogbots! 

xo | cmd