The Pre-Pilcic-Wedding Party: LOZ

We're HERE!

welcome :) 

It's a mere 3 hour drive from Granite to Loz, which flew by in the company of the three amigos I accompanied for the trip [Rob+Matt+Dillon]. We arrived at the winery, checked into our rooms and settled in for the afternoon until Mike & Esther arrived.

shawnee bluff!

The guys went off to do the rehearsal, Esther and I hung back to do the wine tasting, which took us eventually out to the deck by the pool, with a setting sun and 2 glasses of Centorri for the early part of the evening.

the pool & the view out over the lake

centorri.. x2

The rehearsal wrapped up, and we headed then to the Redhead Yacht Club for the rehearsal dinner. This place has been added to our bucket list of places to revisit when the season is in full swing. NOTED! 

swim up bar & pool area! 

We hung out, watched the Blues game and of course did what we all do best: 

nom nom nom 

^ Gracefully shoved our faces, that is. jk jk. Do you see the four of us, and Matt there in the corner? That food stood no chance ;). 

TOMORROW is the big day! I can't wait to see Taryn's dress and to be a part of this day with them. I love weddings! 

Gooood night, from LOZ! 

xo | cmd 

Hometurf Touristin'

Today was our day in Granite, before we head out for LoZ tomorrow. We spent it doing truly touristy things, which made me happy :)

First stop: Breakfast!

d'awwwww ♥

^ Let's talk about how Dillon is actually a really good photographer? I don't know why that surprises me, but I really, really like this one - thanks Dillon!

Breakfast at Weezy's: good, simple, inexpensive food.. and cool stuff on the walls:

pretty cool! 

After breakfast, we found ourselves back at Dillon's; I left the boys to their own devices for a couple hours and set off in search of a dress for the wedding. I mean, I brought one, but let's not pretend I'm the first or only one who's ever done that and then decided to go out and find a different one, if for no other reason than out of sheer curiosity of what inventory the local stores have.

Fact: It's the SAME inventory, because they're the same stores that we have in Cincinnati. But just maaaaybe, it'll be something different!? 

Anywho, I found not one, not two, but FOUR dresses, all of which will be donned at sometime in the next year, I'm sure. I finished up my shopping excursion and made my way north to Alton, where the boys were already a couple hours into the afternoon at Fast Eddie's.

colorful chairs! :) 

Matt, Chad & Karrie eventually met us there, and we continued on to Chubby's down the street..

friends! 

 And then it was the Pub House..

charging my phone from the ceiling? sure. 

The night continued on into the late hours when we finally arrived at our last stop; Kenny & Taryn joined us there, along with Mike & Esther and a collection of other friends. It wasn't a bad way to end the night; this time tomorrow, we'll be in Lake of the Ozarks, and in 2 days, Kenny & Taryn will be a Mr. & Mrs.!

It's gonna be a good weekend, I just know it :)

Cheers!

xo | cmd

Mmmgghhh... Monderp Monday.

Workplace tattoo, day 1:

healing up! 

^ Today was one of those Mondays that, I imagine, in human form would resemble some form of rabid, multi-taloned bird skating down the side of a chalkboard, while blindfolded and covered in cheap, wet nail polish. Don't ask me why that's the image that I conjured, but it's an accurate read of what today felt like, but it feels right, so we're going with it. It's either that, or the space of sidewalk that was formerly occupied by a real human, presumably having been abducted by aliens. Today was a mix of chaos and all the people we needed being either unavailable, sick or just non-existent all together (i.e., tenured SharePoint Developer - are you a real thing?!).

So yeah. That was Monday.
Post-workday proved to have better ratings. For starters, there was an impromptu family dinner date:

goofballs.. love them to the moon & back! 

We ran an errand as a family after that: the start of our efforts to dispatch the swarms of dandelions that grow back seemingly overnight in our yard [wish us luck]..

pretty nights at home depot.. haha 

That dandelion problem I mentioned: 

the parking lot & the field...
... aka my driveway.. and my yard. :| 

Rob started yesterday by mowing "I ♥ U" in the yard, and Sydni turned it into a racetrack: 

I seriously love this girl.. haha. 

It seemed like all of us had our fill of this Monday; Syd was out cold immediately following the lawn-mowing, and Rob wasn't far behind her. My body was still in lag mode from this weekend, but I was bent on finishing the final book of The Mortal Instruments, which I did tonight, around 1am. 

And yes, this entry is backdated. 

done & done! 

i'll leave this here like the good fangirl i've evidently become.... 

 ^ Thanks, Tumblr for that last one. Seriously. I'm hooked. Now that I've finished all six of these books, I suppose I'm on now to the Infernal Devices, which is also a Cassandra Clare creation. 

Le sigh. 

Anyway, it's a short week this week [again], and then the Pilcic wedding. Woooo! 

Seeeeee yaaaa... 

xo | cmd 

Sunday Fun Day in ChiTown USA...

I momentarily forgot where I was again this morning when I opened my eyes, but was immediately reminded that the city awaited us on the other side of the window, 31 stories below:

sunday in the chicago atmosphere

Departure mornings are always a test of initiative, memory, checklisting, communication and the ability to play travel tetris with your luggage, pillows, etc. so you can haul it all in one trip without the bellboy's help. At least that's how it was for us this morning, trying to drag ourselves out of bed, put ourselves together to look mildly human, pack all of our things in a makeshift sense of semblence and then leave the hotel room without leaving anything... behind.

It's a miracle we remembered where the car was parked.

As challenging as the check out process can be, the drive up to Southport Ave. was the complete opposite:

blue skies cruise, a marina and miles of happy people enjoying the day! 

Speaking of happy people, I think we were ALL happy when Britta descended from her apartment a few blocks away to join us for brunch at Southport & Irving! I'd told her I'd love to see her while we were in the city, but I really didn't expect her to come dressed just like Ali.. haha. 

No seriously, I can confidently say that Britta and I hold the record for the shortest amount of time taken for two strangers to become instant friends, but Ali and Britta just came in a close 2nd. I mean the two of them practically dressed like twins, without even a chance to plan it.  

instafriends! 

french toast, ya'll..
southport & irving | chicago, il 

We ate, we laughed, and we snapchatted. Ali & Damanji are officially SC Assassins in my book; they both managed to get some fantastically troll-esque captures of me. Damanji took the liberties of drafting a side-by-side comparison, and I've gotta say, he's not wrong...

grampy troll... and cori. :0|

more snappy fun.. these are reactions to some of the questions our table
received in the span of the hour we were there.. 

After Southport, we traveled just around the riverbend! CORNER.. to GingerSnap; it's a place Ali found online and committed us to because it says Ginger, and because she is the lens behind GingerSnap Photography. So it makes sense. Right? Right.

it's like the place was made for her! 

reunited!! 

In case you missed what I said about Britta & Ali dressing up like twins, there's this nicely posed sorority picture as proof: 

twinsies! 

Damanji & I have been pretending all weekend that we're as hipster as we feel, so we seized this opportunity to do something hipsterish, in the doorways [to the soul] on this street, illuminated by the light of a thousand serenading high-efficiency lightbulbs. Or something. 

you look so.... pensive

Q: How many hipsters does it even take to change a lightbulb?
A: It's a number you probably haven't heard of yet...

deep in thought about life, the universe, and probably donuts.... 

Q: How many kale smoothies did I drink before this picture? 

A: I'll build you the answer out of upcycled pallets. Stay tuned.

yayyy for friends! ♥♥

We finally said our see-ya-later's to Britta, and loaded up for the trip back to Naperville. From there, it was quick hello's and farewell's to the family,l and then Damanji and I were back in our separate cars, bound respectively for STL & Cinci. 

At least it was as beautiful day for a drive! 

don't skip these, kids... don't skip these. 

almost there :) 

they're much prettier in the daytime! 

Happy birthday, Ali... I hope you had the best birthday yet, and I miss the fun already! It was such a fun weekend meeting some new faces and reuniting with the familiar ones! 

See you on the flipside, blogbots..

xo | cmd

Ali's 25th, Day 2: Tattoos & Other Chicagoland Things

Waking up in the rises above Chicago really wasn't a bad way to start the morning:

good morning, chicago  ♥

Our Saturday adventuring started with a brunch at The Chicken Shop, this adorable 2nd floor cafe in the Fulton Market District:

get outta here, that's adorable. 

georgia peach rooibos + chicken&waffles
the chicken shop | chicago, il

Nom nom NOM. 

Across the street from our brunch place was this: 

next time! 

We were cutting it close on time, so we didn't get to stop in, but it - along with about 400 other places - are on the bucket list for next time. 

The big ticket item on our agenda today was the pitstop at Dream City! 

dream city | chicago, il 

Part of my birthday present to Ali was getting a tattoo together, one of the things we've surprisingly not done yet. We agreed on the design, and the rest was up to the artists at DC Tattoos. Thanks to Leo the steady-handed artist, it was the quickest tattoo session I've ever been in, and in no time we were done! :)  

ali on the left, cori on the right 

thank you, leo! 

We headed back to the hotel afterwards, where the pictures of tattoos continued into the afternoon/evening, even as we were getting ready for the rest of the night: 

"God is greater than the mountains & the valleys" 

twin tattoos... and that stupid strand of my hair the just. never. listens! 

ali's new ink

damanji is clearly enjoying this moment.. haha

So the rest of the night was laid out to us in the form of The Apartment, which is not an actual apartment, but rather an upper level clubhouse of cool people, because I mean.. we were there, right? [insert post-corny joke rimshot here...]

ANYWAY, we had a handful of Chicagoland friends out for the night as well, which made for a fun night of music, spirits, dancing and of course, Snapchat: 

"social anxiety face." 

look at all the snapchats i stole from ali! 

chicago friends!

snapchataholism

blue lights flatter nobody... obviously. 

happy people... happy birthday, ali!

And then, what happens to be my favorite picture of today, was a random photo opp in the hotel elevator on the way home:

31st floor, please!

And we owned our night. Ali, I hope your birthday weekend has been everything you've hoped for, and then some. We love you to the moon & back!

Tomorrow we leave the city behind, and head back home. *Yawn. Can't wait [dull face]. Haha. 

G'Nite! 

xo | cmd