Happy Birthday, Catie! ♥

Tuesdays around here have earned the nickname Terrible Tuesdays: a pun off terrible TWO's, indicating that Tuesdays have the temperament, agitation and inconsolably fickle head of a human toddler on her worst day. 

I wasn't alone on this sentiment today; Kristin and Clarissa had their fair share of the action today, and by the time 5:00 rolled around, I think we'd had our fill of Tuesday in general. SEE YA NEXT WEEK, BUSTER..... haha.

In other - and way cooler - news, today's Catie's birthday! I had several shots to choose from for the commemorative photo, but this one is so accurate to our friendship that I couldn't pass it by: 

circa 2008

^ When you find someone with whom you can shamelessly don adult onesies [that just happened to also glow in the dark and have little grippers on the feet, don't hate..], then you know you've found one of the good ones, haha.. Also note that that picture was taken after work on a mid-week, and that we weren't under the influence of anything except spontaneity. These types of things happened more often than you'd think! 

After work, I did a quick costume change at the office, and scooted out the door to soccer practice with Becky. She'd asked me to assist in coaching a squad of U10 and U11 girls on the east side, and I happily obliged that. It was a blast!

soccer practice time! 

Not a bad ending to an otherwise tempestuous Tuesday; I'm pretty pleased with it all and feeling much better about approaching tomorrow ;). 

Adios!

xo | cmd

Happy Workaversary To Me!

Once upon a time, I started a job with this company called Express: 

my first express family : cincinnati east, oh
photo circa 2010

I'll never forget it - March 15, 2010: It was a Monday, and it was my first day on this new job I'd found on Craigslist, at a place I'd never heard of a month before that. I jumped in with both feet and remember very clearly my first full week at Express Employment Professionals: computer training [yay!]. It was an overload of information, a time I look back at and laugh at how many pages of notes I took, on things I wouldn't need to know, really. I had no idea where that job would take me, or if it would lead to anything at all that would be stable, or permanent.

When the news came down that I'd be moving to Illinois, I lost a lot of tears grasping the idea of leaving behind one of the best teams on which I'd ever been. And then, I met Marc & Diana, and became part of their team as a transfer. As part of that team, I would go on to experience almost 3 years of team restructuring, process adjustment and even an office expansion. I became a staffing consulant, and eventually grew into a sr. staffing consultant role. I met Ali, who is now one of my best friends, as a product of working together there, and still to this day have lasting communication and friendships with that team. 

my 2nd express family: glen carbon, il
photo circa 2012

The decision to move back to Ohio wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but out of that came the opportunity for me to work alongside Dave and Elisa [& some other endearing characters: Nancy, Lizzy & Nikki.. and then some other more questionable thankfully short-lived cast members, but I digress >_<...] 

my 3rd express family: cinci central [part 1]
photo circa 2014

It wouldn't become the longterm Cinci Central family unit, but the time I spent working with each of them is invaluable.

Then came the revolution; Dave sold the business to Paul, Elisa went to grad school in Chicago and the last toxic cell was cut from the team all in the span of a couple months. From there was born the new and battle-ready Cinci Central team. It's a world of difference in dynamic, but we're steadying the foundation together and it's amazing to see how far we've come!

my [technically] 4th express family: cinci central [part 2!]
+ our significant others, along with chris & deb!
photo circa 2016

It's been a crazy ride: 3 different offices, 4 franchise owners, a multitude of different co-workers, events, seminars and the like. I wouldn't trade it for anything; this place is just as much a part of me as the 8+hours we invest into it daily throughout the week. I never would've envisioned myself working for a company like this, but now that I do, I'm grateful for every chaotic minute and wouldn't have it any other way. 

Six years later, here I am - still in one piece and ready to see what's next. 

Let's go, year 7! 

xo | cmd

T H E L A S T M O V I N G D A Y

God willing, that is.

We spent the first half of today at the mercy of a 26-foot box truck:

loaded up! 

on the roaaaad again... 

I cannot express the appreciation I have today especially for good friends: Mike, Andrew & Jessica, ya'll are life savers. This would have been a very different day if the three of you hadn't made an appearance and donated your time, brute strength and encouragement. Haha.

At the new house, the boys took to unloading the big stuff, while Jessica and I committed to building furniture. This wouldn't have been a priority, except that Rob's parents were due in town in the evening and otherwise would've been shacked up on the couch... which... no. So bed-building it was! Ikea certainly doesn't operate on any shortage of screws, bolts, washers, nails and HOLES DRILLED THE WRONG SIZE.. haha. The hammer ran a marathon today, but we made it happen. 

go go ikea go!

The frame was built and the mattresses were laid. The guys showed up at the last minute before the mattress pads and bedding were added, to test it out:

exhausted movers approved.

mattress topped! 

It was nothing more than a blink it seemed between the time that Andrew, Jessica and Mike left, and Rob's parents arrived. When they did, this little blur came tumbling out of the car. Meet the newest addition to his dad's house: Duke the pomsky! 

duke

stop it, ya cutie.. 

I'm obsessed. Seriously. This dog is so freakin' adorable, it's disgusting. 

dog selfies. dogfies. 

^ I mean... c'mon. Look at this guy! I'm excited to head back to Illinois in a couple months or so to visit and see how much he's grown. 

In the meantime, we've just inhaled dinner out of styrofoam boxes with plastic utensils, because the dishers and real flatware are hiding in some unmarked box somewhere in this place still. That's all part of the adventure though, right? Hah. 

We're all spent. See ya in the mornin!

xo | cmd

Car Hoarding: Friday Edition

My life, currently.. moving:

another day, another car slammed to the ground with stuff.. haha

I promise this isn't my life, year round. It's not even my life daily.. I swear!
For now though, this is my car - stuffed to the gills with random everything; I really do feel like there's a cat or two hiding somewhere in here, likely having materialized by the amount of clutter. There's probably a quilt back there crocheting itself, too, because that's the path I feel like I'm taking when I get into my car and it looks like this.

okay, not a quilt... but a comforter. even better. 

TGIF. Moving. Tomorrow is the big move, with the big truck.
This is almost over :).
Rinse & repeat: This is almost over.

Happy Weekend! ♥

xo | cmd

Helpy Helperton...

MORE MOVING TALES! I'm ready to be moved, but again, I need to breathe and realize that this is a process. We're fortunate that we've got the entire month of March to get this place cleared out, but in the same light, it's almost hindered us because Rob and I are both creatures of execution in the midnight hour. #procrastination!

I hopped in the car this morning, having planned for at least one thing today, and realized that my poor Subie loaded to the brim with things to drop off after work.. make me look like a bonafide hoarder. Ya know, like the type of lady who probably has closets full of macromet samples and several cats that have ruined her carpets over the years. Like Maxine, but with felines.

does it not look like i do arts & crafts and general hoarding?!

This makes me nuts. My car is not generally a collection bin for everything I own. I promise. It's usually not even that disorganized, save for whatever's strewn across the backseat by the time Sydni's done with it. But for now, and for the next week or two I'm sure, it will look like this in my car for a large portion of the day.

Luckily for me, I have a super helpful sidekick [except who are we kidding, really I'm her sidekick, honestly...] who was happy to do a test run on the durability of bamboo flooring:


She's something, I'll give her that.. haha. I'm happy that she's at least a blend of interest - she's one of those kids that's either completely consumed with [and over-dramatically deprived, oooobviously without] being attached to some form of technology, or she's completely happy with random things, sans electronics all together. 
This was her approval of the living room.. haha. 
And it continues. Ya just gotta love moving. 
xo | cmd

A Life-Is-Great Wednesday

I'm a huge fan of variety, and breaking out of the monotony of what's typical every day. In the spirit of said variety, I happily obliged a client requesting me to come down on site today for a facility tour to start the day. While I knew my desk had undoubtedly been piling up over the course of the morning with memos, messages and files, it was quite a nice change of pace to be driving north into the city at a time that is very unusual for me.

hello, daytime city! 

It was only fitting to make a pitstop in for some fresh-ground encouragement before heading in to the office!

it was too beautiful a feeling not to stop and capture it

I did however realize why I'd been met with some semi-raised eyebrows between my client's facility and the office: I'd forgotten about and was still sporting earplugs. I mean.... it's not totally irrelevant, right?

these are just in case it gets too loud... or something..

The rest of the day passed without too much chaos, and I'm happy to say that there was a moderate amount activity completed after work as well, re: THE MOVE.

That's another day's worth of diatribe.. but we'll get to that later. For now, I hope ya'll were out and about today for at least part of this gorgeous day!

xo | cmd

MARCH: Sunshine, Ikea & Donkeys?

Dude. It was freakin' goooorgeous outside today! Am I the only one who nearly fell over walking outside at lunch?

yes, i did that.

Yeah. I'm going way overboard with the daily lunches this week, and with the selfies to match. Here's the thing though: I haven't taken 2 consecutive 1-hour lunch breaks in almost 10 months, so ex-ca-uuuuuuse me if I'm a little chippier than usual ;)! 

^ But really, I indulged today. Whole Foods, for one, is not the 99-cent store, as we all can attest. I'm not shaming those of us who shop there, but let's be real: it's overpriced and we all know it. Today though, I went for it, got lunch, a $5 chapstick and a kombucha [shout out to Jen & Jordan @ Fab Ferments!!], then proceeded to park myself on a painted bench directly outside of Pier 1 to eat said lunch and consume said kombucha.  Yeeeup, I went full-fledged White Girl today.

On top of that, I proceeded to punctuate today with a trip to the second most basic place on Planet Earth: Ikea. Yeah, you read that right, friends: Cori, in one day did a Whole Foods and Ikea run. Ya give a girl two days of lunch breaks and she goes rogue, right? Hah.

300 pages of yes please!?

But seriously, Ikea. The love-hate relationship I have with the place continues, as it probably will until the end of time, or until I no longer need to buy $1 aluminum flower pots, $3 clippy hooks for EVERYTHING IN MY  HOUSE THAT NEEDS HOOKING and 2-for-1 adorable throw pillows.

Wait, what? I mean... the ONE accent table, the ONE bedstand, the ONE bedframe and the ONE set of pedestal legs for the ottoman.

And silverware.

Placemats Nothing Else!

LED light strings Nothing Else!

Bamboo plant! Nothing Else!

Buckets Nothing Else!

Kids art accessories Nothing Else!

CINNAMON ROLLS! Just kidding, these are NOT crossed off. #sorrynotsorry.

Rob is beyond ready for this move to be done; I can see the terror in his eyes when I open my mouth now and the sentence begins with, "What do you think about..." He's a trooper, who is hanging in there and providing the brawn that I don't have, the truck that my Subie is not and the accountability not to go broke... that I do not on my own possess at this time. Kudos to him. 

IKEA on a Tuesday: 

US, at IKEA on a Tuesday: 

let's do this!!
[at 8:45pm... haha] 

hitching a ride

 Spoils of the adventure:

we planned on buying [tonight].... about 80% of this. 

I'm pretty pumped. The guest bedroom will be together in no time, and the rest of this place will be constructed one little bit at a time. I've already enlisted Becky and Jess to assist with the painting, when that time comes. We're almost there; I can feel it.

Oh, and an additional feature of our new neighborhood to which I wasn't savvy before tonight:
We've got.... DONKEYS! These two, named Jackson and some other president name, are little escape artist pals from the farm across the street. Tonight, as we were nearing our road, we noticed them wobbling down the side of the main road; at first glance, it was assumed they were deer, but at closer look, that agile gait of a deer was totally missing, and to be honest, these two looked like the brown versions of our dogs.... so no, they weren't deer.

donkeys. neighbor. donkeys.

I took this picture for corroboration to my claim in case nobody believed me later on. Fortunately though, we weren't hallucinating, which was confirmed by our neighbor when I tiptoed onto her front porch at 10:30 PM to ask about the donkeys. And also introduce myself for the first time. Nothing like a Hi-I'm-new-here intro that starts with, "Sorry it's so late, but I'm the new neighbor and umm.. Do you know anything about the two donkeys out here?"  

The neighbor knew, of course, and even had the number for the farm on speed dial. I'm fortunate that the neighbor didn't answer the door with a shotgun, with it being this late, but I'm super happy that they seem to be decent people with a good sense of humor, especially dealing with roving donkeys [insert witty quips here, re: donkeys].

Happy Tuesday, ya'll. Stay beautiful, like this weather! ♥

xo | cmd

Monday Lunch Break!!

An excerpt from the list of things I love:

* Jesus
* Sushi
* Lunch breaks
* Sunshine
* Friends
* 70° weather in the 1st week of March
* A stellar deal off Craigslist
* Rob & Sydni

It's clearly not the entire list, but it felt appropriate today to highlight those specific things. 

First, and I cannot emphasize to all maybe-two of you readers out there just how liberating it was today to TAKE A FULL, 1-HOUR LUNCH BREAK. You call it dramatic... I call it... rare. 

I'd forgotten over the past 9 or 10 months just how fantastic it is to step away from the desk and everything that comes with it, and just.... exist in a space free of work, errands and anything else that qualifies as an obligation. 

[insert über happy emoji face here]

For starters, I donned a dress to work for the first time in months today. It just... felt right - the air felt promising this morning when I let the dogs out, so I went for it. My favorite boots went with it, and out the door I went to start the week. 

This was not a typical Monday, at all. From the time I woke up to now, it's been nothing but fun. Seriously! I'm going to blame this on Kristin, the new girl at work - she's just now starting her 2nd week, but even so, I'm already feeling layers of stress and pressure peeling off. The girl is seriously a God-send, I'll say that much. Now that she's here, the daily workload will be more evenly-distributed, and with that comes lunch breaks!

Monday lunch break = SUSHI! Extra ginger, pwede ba! [<that's 'please' in Tagalog]

People, listen. If you're going to pursue my heart, you have to start with my stomach. In fact, you really only need my stomach, if the timing is right. I wanted nothing more today than a seaweed roll, and once I got it, the rest of the day was a cakewalk. 

And then the work day ended, and it was on to the next thing: Retrieving an armoire I'd hunted down on Craigslist. The guy who posted it months ago has been experiencing relay issues with emails, and I just happened to swoop in at the right time, as he was near giving up on hearing back again from any of the previous inquiries. Cori, would you pay an 8th of the full price for an armoire in near perfect condition? 

hello, lovely! 

Yes. Yes I would. And I did. And I'm PUMPED. #newhousefurnituuuuuuure

We came, we retrieved, and somehow we [Rob & I, but mostly Rob] finagled that sucker up and over the banister and landing to the 2nd floor of the new house. He probably needs a chiropractor after it all, but hey, it's there, it's ready and as soon as the walls are painted, it'll be a functional fixture in the digs of yours truly.

And with that, folks.. we're good here. The week is young, but God's been good to us for a Monday. We're feeling inspired to get this place under wraps!

Have a beautiful week, blogbots!

xo | cmd

Bit by Bit

We're still staying in the "old house," as it's now being called in light of the moving process. We've got stuff in boxes and are slowly moving piece by piece until the big truck comes and the bulk of what we have goes. We woke up earlier than expected this morning, which made for some calm quality time amidst the boxes piling up in each room.

sweet moments :)

After church, we made a trip to the "new house" to shuffle some things around and assemble some items from yesterday's auction. In addition to laying out a couple of area rugs, organizing portions of the kitchen cabinets and surveying a couple of the rooms for paint colors, I took to constructing the two Parson's chairs we snagged at the auction. To my disappointment, both chairs were missing front legs, which made these the first items we've received so far from the auction that were missing core pieces. No biggie though; they won't be hard to replace, and the chairs are otherwise new out of the box! #silverlining

in the box... 

what they'll look like with four legs.. haha

I mean hey, there are worse things in the world than missing chair legs. Heck, there are worse things in the process of this move so far, so if missing chair legs are one of the bigger headaches I have, then that is a-okay with me. 

Most of our afternoon was spent shuffling things into their tentatively permanent places at the new place and filling the garage closer and closer to full capacity with things that won't have a home for at least the next month, I'm sure. The joys of moving! 

This will be a slow but certainly sure process. It's coming together bit by bit and I'm doing what I can to control those moments of over-zealous thought strands that convince me I can and will paint the entire downstairs level in the matter of 8 hours. It's not that I truly believe it's impossible, but I've also vowed to let myself actually enjoy the process, too ;). 

Stay tuned.... 

xo | cmd

The Family Who Auctions Together....

Two Words: ONLINE. AUCTIONS.

Pretty sure I just gave you all my best kept secret, although it's really not a secret world at all, and I believe everyone should have access to and knowledge about how freakin' awesome it is. There's a drawn out, sometimes cut-throat process that takes place for the duration of the weekdays, which culminates in a weekend trip to the warehouse to retrieve all the things that were won throughout the week.

One of those said retrieval trips was today:

she was so helpful! 

A mere two hours later, we transferred a loaded-down cart into the back of the truck and continued on to the next shopping stop. It was a quick run in and out, but in the span of that half hour, Sydni managed to wiggle out the second of her two front teeth. Folks, we now have the GAP! 

Whewwwww.. it's been a fun day, and I'll be thrilled when all of these miscellaneous auction [& otherwise acquired] items get tied together into the puzzle for the new digs. 

Work in progress! 

xo | cmd

Details, Details......

It's all in the details:

before

lined.. 

wooo! 

It's starting to look like a kitchen! 

Cabinet and storage space are my favorite things in a kitchen. There's a plethora of things that I'll undoubtedly need at some point, but won't use every day. Clutter is the enemy in my book, and if I can keep as much space between my world and that of a hoarder, I'm a happy camper. 

Ya'll may just wanna wait a few weeks if you're already bored with my diatribes about moving.. just a pre-emptive notice.. haha.

NewHouseYay!

xo | cmd

Spidey on a Snow Day

Meanwhile, in Cincinnati:

mmm... blustery.

Needless to say, it wasn't a walk on the beach here in the Nati today. It was this, mostly all day, and although none of it really stuck, it sure made for a drab commute and us not minding being tucked away at our desks for the day.

But there's always light on the other side of a cloud; mine today was the same little superspunk that always manages to make whatever day I'm having ... better:

spidersydni! 

^ She kills me, every time. Haha. It was superhero day at school today, and since she'd come from her dad's house, naturally she came home dressed as Spiderman. She makes it look good, if I have to say so myself :)

Spidersydni was a huge help as we offloaded and unpacked a couple more boxes at the new digs. The snow had stuck a bit more out this way than in town; as we were pulling away from the house, I couldn't help but stop and breathe it in. We have worked hard for this, and it's still hard to believe it's where we'll continue building our lives.

homestead

My cousin Jeremy and his wife built their home, and throughout the process reminded us all that it's not about the house itself, but about what's built inside it, really. Looking back at life in my parents' home as an adult, I fully understood that. Now that I'm preparing to dig into it myself, with my own family, I am more than ready to embrace it.

Speaking of my family, this moment at Harbor Freight - an unlikely place - made me stop and acknowledge once more just how captivated I really am with these two, if I'm honest. The man in my life has stepped up in ways that are wholly voluntarily, not always easy and sacrificial not just for me, but for Sydni. I will jokingly (with some truth) say that she has him wrapped around her finger, but in a serious light, I am convinced that he would go to any length that I would in her best interest. If there was ever such a man, I've found one. Every lady deserves a man like this, to lead and develop her family, and I'm more in love with mine every day.

so sweet.

It's a chilly one out there, folks. This blanket is feeling warmer and warmer as the minutes go by, which tells me it might be time to call it a night.

Cheers to each of you, blogbots.. and good night!

xo | cmd

All Things Frugal Amazon

And soooo it begins continues: - new house shopping!

Many thanks and ongoing appreciation to our FedEx guy, who I might as well send a Christmas card to now, given how much he's in our office delivering whatever it was I've ordered online. This guy would know more about my personal affinities than most people do, if he had access to my packing slips: hammocks, bedding, camping supplies, board games. I'm a kid stuck in an adult body, with access to the internet and a bank account. I'm not sure if all that's a good thing or not, but let's roll with it! 

yiiieeeee! 

Post work:

welcome, world, to the closet.. so far. 

^ Riveting stuff, I know. Any and all 2 of you who bother to come here and read this, I just know you've been waiting eagerly to see what my closet looks like. DON'T LIE, YOU WERE. No? Okay.. fine, haha. Maybe you're interested then in the stock photo I found of the bedding I've also ordered for the guest bedroom?

check.

And yes, that is the same bedding that was on the bed Kalyn and I shared at Brittany's bachelorette house in Nashville. I told you I'd get it, didn't I?!

Guys, sidenote: This blog really is intended for my own reference at any given later date. Please don't confuse my lack of online substance for anything other than its originally-intended purpose.. haha.

Anyway, if that's not an exhilirating Wednesday, well, I just don't know what is.
Happy Amazoning, to the rest of you who are doing what I'm doing. And happy mid-week.
Ciao!

xo | cmd 

Leap Year : Welcome Aboard, Kristin!!

I couldn't help it. Dwight Schrute is one of his kind, and much like a leap year, not found often. Happy leap year day, blogbots!

Although it has absolutely nothing to do with being a leap year, it doesn't hurt to recognize our newest addition to the team at work: Kristin! We're just a day into it, but I'm fairly certain this is the golden ticket for us, and I'm super. flippin'. excited to work with this girl. WELCOME to the team, Kristin!

welcome kristin! 

This was a good Monday. Monday, thank you for being nice this week :)
See ya Tuesday!

xo | cmd