Ladies & Gentlemen, She's a SECOND Grader!

Gooooood ole' Cincinnati, Ohio: Rain, sunshine and reaaaally strong breezes within the hour. If we'd gotten the full experience, it would've snowed for an hour right in between the tornado and the flood.

rainy day... womp womp.. 

Fortunately, the dampness of the day couldn't weather a chance against the clear landmark not just for today, but one of the biggest of this year:

2nd grade! 

We officially have a 2nd grader!
I won't launch off into a novel about how I can't believe how fast time is flying - even though it is, and I'll try to keep the 'I remember when...' cutaways to a minimum... but seriously?!

Mini, you'll never know just how proud of you we are!

One more day, and then we're outta here to go see Nana, Pappy & the rest of the MV family. Jonathan graduates high school this weekend, too [another reminder that time can just slow down wheneeeeever it would like to...any time now!] - I can't wait to see everyone!

One. More. Day.

xo | cmd

The Biggest Hearts Live in the Smallest Spaces

We woke up to this today:

We've recently remodeled Sydni's bedroom, a process which included wall-painting, furniture building, hammock hanging and the general reorganizing of everything else she owns. We'll soon be adding decorations, a desk/workspace, reading nook and whatever else we can dream up to make that space truly hers. 

The only thing we didn't really take into full account with this was that our dogs - Stella especially - can limber up the stairs of her new loft bed, but cannot make the final jump up onto the bed itself. The horizontal space on the landing platform between the wall and the bed doesn't allow for any dog-conducive ramp addition, which has left poor Stella stranded like a castaway from joining Sydni at night. 

I've caught her the past few days lying on the carpet floor directly under the loft; if I were viewing from the ceiling and had overlapping images of Sydni on the bed and Stella on the floor, I'm certain they would align exactly as if they were sleeping side by side. 

This is something I didn't realize until today, when I woke up to find Sydni in our room, having toted a pillow and blanket from hers, asleep on the dog bed, with Stella splayed out beside her. Something in my heart broke this morning, for this aging dog of ours who wants nothing more than to be with her little human 24 hours a day, and for Sydni, whose heart is made of pure gold when it comes to loving animals. It hit me also in that moment that the biggest hearts often live in the smallest spaces. 

I don't know how this managed to grab ahold of my senses in the way that it did today, but I am suddenly acutely aware of the fact that my dogs can't sleep with their smallest commander - which in itself is fine, but it's a stark note that they are in fact aging, losing agility and no longer bouncing hairballs of puppy energy [ok, well maybe Sasha's an exception on most days, but still]... 

Really, I don't know where I'm going with this, other than it looks like we'll be working out something to make the co-sleeping arrangements in Sydni's room both kid and pet-friendly, and go from there. I just.... I really wanted to pen out my thoughts for a later day, for whenever I start to feel frustrated with my pets for something they've done, that they're just hopelessly, unconditionally devoted to us and want nothing more than to have that same love returned. 

Love your pets today, bloggers. We forget often just how much they love us.
[[Yes, even cats. That's a diatribe for another day, I know; they're fickle, brooding & moody little mysteries, but they do love us just the same, in their twisted little ways.. haha. #ButIDigress]]

The rest of today wasn't so awful, either :).

after work.. happy little bits of the universe

Small group was tonight, and it goes without saying that these are often my favorite evenings.  We're working our way through the Old Testament, and tonight we processed through Ezra and all that it has to offer. Some challenging - and very much eye-opening - material! I would highly recommend reviewing Ezra if it's been a while. If you can get through the lineage of chapter 2, you'll be great! :)  

small group: ezra!

Post small group, we made a pit stop at Orange Leaf, because we pass the daggone place on the way home and WHY NOT?! Haha. Also, BOBA. That's right, BOBA.

boba for daaaays... 

I hope the rest of you've had a wonderful week so far, and that it only gets better from here. 

Happy Hump Day! 

xo | cmd

Sunshine, Bicycles & Good Books

Ohhh, sunny DAYS!
Even though I was working today, I did have an altered schedule that I didn't hate. It was mostly due to a hiring event I hosted in partnership with one of the Northern Kentucky career placement services; she set me up in a conference room for the afternoon and I knew then that the day would be all right:

i'll just swim on in there... hardy har har... 

The event ending gave way to a commute back across the river, which was packed full of commuters until I neared the river line on 275, and I couldn't help but snag a shot of the state line welcoming me back across the water.

and i'm cooomin' on back.. 

I hurried so that I could catch Sydni's bus; it's the first time this year that I've been able to see her off the bus after school, and while I snagged a shot of her coming off the bus, I wish I could've captured her face when she realized she was going straight to the car, with me. Be still, my heart... seriously.

so little, but so grown up.. how's that possible?!

We ran a couple of errands, went grocery shopping and had a mini mommy-daughter date for a snack before we headed home. Today's been gorgeous, and this evening didn't disappoint. Sydni and I cleaned up some around the house, and then I joined her outside for a couple hours of bike riding.

my toothless little darling! ♥

I had to remind her today that there was a time not long ago that she believed she would never learn how to ride her bike, and now.. this.  For hours, if I'd let her. I love everything about it.

I sat outside sprawled across one of the patio chairs, with Sydni blurring across my left and right peripherals as she rode in a circle up and down our street. Eventually, the bike retired to the garage, and for a moment, I became audience to an impromptu 1 person gymnastics meet:

She tumbled on and on, rolled around the yard several times and chased a teasing blue jay until it finally got bored of her being bound to the land. I drank it in, and managed to squeeze in the final few chapters, epilogue and bonus short story at the end of the latest book. I've been afraid of finishing Lady Midnight, because if I'm honest, I've read all 6 of the The Mortal Instruments, all 3 of The Infernal Devices and now this, the first in The Dark Artifices series that Cassandra Clare has released.. all within the span of less than 2 months.

lady midnight - done! 

NOW WHAT DO I READ?! 

Just kidding. I'll hunt down the Bane Chronicles or the Shadowhunter Academy books next and indulge myself in Simon's quest for ascendance. Do I sound like a nerdy maniac? Only if you've never read any of these, I suppose.. haha. Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be the one hooked on a book series like this, but yeah.. let's go with it! 

Anywho, it's late, and we're all spent. Happy Tuesday to you, blogbots! 

xo | cmd

'Tis The Season for Froyo & Cheetah Helmets!

I could only describe my attitude today as Senioritis. Remember that? That feeling we all [well, if you're an old hen like me] had way back when we were still in school and the end of the year was so close we could taste it? 

Yeah, so that was me today. I have no reason to feel that way, since I'm a grown up human with grown up responsibilities and a grown up job that doesn't go on summer break. It made no sense to feel like that today, but the fact that I did accomplish several things spoke enough to say that I somehow made it through the way I imagined a more adultier adult would've done it. So... yay! 

On the other hand, I took Sydni out on a mini date after school today and she gave me, in two pictures, the exact explanation I needed to describe how I felt all day today - the left is me on the outside, and the right is me on the inside. Like.... all day. 

life story... haha

We really need to come to Orange Leaf more often... not just because it's delicious, but because there's some pretty legit tokens of wisdom coming out of this place.. hah...

#preach

Back at home, we took to the street to pedal and jog off some of that froyo. Did I forget to mention we picked up a cool bike helmet on the way back today? Because that happened, too, and it made for an even merrier afternoon on the bike. Mama got to meet some of the neighbors, too, which was added a little extra flair to the experience.

little rider 

Rob came home and immediately took to the garage, where the vertical storage project continued. I truly wish I had a picture of the garage before we started sifting through the piles of stuff we've had in there for the past couple months since we moved, but he's definitely brought the potential out of that space. In just a few more weeks, I suspect we may actually be able to park one of our cars in there. 

Say whaaaat? Park a car in the garage? ;) 

I know, I know.. just kidding, babe. The garage is looking incredible, and I will wait as long as we need to! 

in progress! 

It's a good night for this little family :)
See you tomorrow!

xo | cmd

Hide & Seek: The Silver Lining on a Monday

I was not overly impressed by how the work day ended. It's an ongoing plight, really; I struggle more than I'd like to admit on days like this, to convince myself that I'm not operating like someone who hasn't resigned herself to the path of someone who's blinding circling around in Einstein's definition of insanity. It just.. today was not the best day I've had recently. 

But it's okay, because ya know what? It wasn't the worst, either.

There's a silver lining in everything, I'm certain of it. Plus, I'm a firm believer that where there are valleys and unfruitful seasons, that they only exist because there are mountain tops and bountiful spans to contrast [and vice versa, obviously]. But seriously. Today was a wash; I'm letting it go.

my friends.... 

Tonight was different. I'm among the lucky to have my best friend by my side through thick, thin and days like this that otherwise make me question myself. As we continued on with the project in Sydni's room, we talked. We talked, and talked, and talked. We didn't have phones out. We just... worked and talked. It was relaxing, but above that, made me realize that I owe so much more for the gift of him and the rest of my mini clan of friends & family than I could give.

amazed by this guy!

Speaking of our quality time, this guy impresses me every day with his ability to do something he's never done before - in this case, building a loft bed fit for an almost-7-year-old and an adult or two if needed. He is patient, understanding and confident that if he doesn't know something, he will figure it out and make it work. #bragmoments♥

Tomorrow, we paint! Sydni's room is nearing completion, and I can't wait. In time.. in time. We're on a roll though and I see no signs of stopping, until it's done.

See ya next time, blogbots - it's gonna be a long day tomorrow, I'm sure.

xo | cmd

Change of Address: Home Lowkea's

Of the list of 74983269382156932 things that aren't in the You Just Bought This House Now Guess WHAT manual:

Your new secondary address will be Home Depot.
(Or Lowe's. Or Ikea)((Yes, to all the above.))

No? Am I the only one?

We moved into this place at the end of February/early March and up until a few weeks back, all things house-ish have been sidled away to the back burner, as we worked our way through family gatherings, out of town weddings & birthdays and Sydni's school/extracurricular activities. 

But NOW... after my experience yesterday painting the office, and how I felt when it was all said and done, I'm hooked. Poor Rob, if by nothing other than proxy, is too. Though really, for him I'm sure it started back when he backed the new mower off the trailer in our driveway and took Sydni on a joy ride around the yard to create crop circles. 

Today, it was church first, then a beeline to Ikea. Yes, on purpose. 

rollup mattress? yes, i'll take one thanks. 

^^ Syd's bedroom is going to come together this week if it kills me. I've committed to it, and there's no turning back now. 

As if Ikea wasn't enough for 2 hours, Home Depot came in at a close second just under another 2 hours: 

.... and other things paint, home, DIY [keyword,keyword,keyword...]

After a fruitless search for curtain tie backs at Home Depot, I finally hunted some down at Lowe's that would suffice for the master bedroom, and then it was back to the mothership to install, apply and otherwise use everything that came home in bags with us. 

Home Lowkea's is the only accurate way I can describe the secondary address that should go on all my formal documents until this house is complete - so like, at least the next 2 years. Can I do that, just temporarily? 

It's work it, though - check out the progress on mini-me's hideaway! 

loft bed, comin' up! 

Anyway, it's not a lot of excitement for a Sunday, I know, and I'm laughing that wry, sad laugh inwardly a little at the fact that my Sunday diatribes in my adult life reflect a day hunting down paint and curtain rods, instead of nursing random and mysterious after-effects of a Saturday night gone rogue. It's whatev', though. I'm pretty happy with the course I've found.

Ying & Yang here [aka S&S Pibble] are pretty pleased too, especially since their Big Barker has been upgraded from the living room to the bedroom. Spoiled.. 

Happy Sunday! 

xo | cmd 

4% Complete!

I'm not sure if saying 4% is conservative or generous in this case, but let's go with it.

Here's a dark picture of the office as the first finished coat lay to dry. This gets credit for Saturday, because it was about 1am today when I finished...

1am.

pre-sleep, 1am... *yawn

And then I went to bed to let the moon do its thing and wait for the sun to rise.

When I finally did roll back out of bed, it was to the tune of brunch with Becky & Will at a place none of us had previously been: Plain Folk Cafe!

plain folk cafe! 

why have i never been here before!?

i mean..... ♥

The fact that Becky and I arrived at not only a decision, but the destination, within a humanly-reasonable space of time from the birth of the idea to go eat, is a marvel in itself. The fact that we only had to go to one place, and not a venue-hopping endeavor to get it right, is another. That the food, vibe & venue itself was awesome?! That's deserves a gold sticker, plastic trophy, honorable mention in the school newspaper... ya know, whatever's available. This is a rare one, folks.

After brunch, I parted ways with B&W, took a deep breath and steered off in the direction of West Chester - Ikea, specifically.

On purpose.

I know. Nobody needs anything from Ikea, but I've come to the juncture of home-remodeling that I've now convinced myself that I do in fact, need some select things. I'm still not sure if I'm validated or if I've just brainwashed myself as a distraction from the inevitable swarms of other Ikea-goers on a Saturday, but it makes the trip easier. On top of that, I've now memorized some of the shortcuts through the place: you know, the ones that sometimes look at first glance like they're just, I dunno.. a wall, but it's actually an Ikea door [that they sell, somewhere 2 miles away in the store] disguised as a wall, that saves you 25 minutes of meandering through the dining room section and spits you out instead right in the middle of the customizable shelving options? All.. 479392874932809 of those options? Yeah, those shortcuts. I know 'em. muahaha.

So yeah, in less than an hour inside the store, I'd retrieved everything I needed from the Marketplace section, navigated to the each of the aisle/bin locations to lumber the bigger items onto one of those wheely cart things [I'm not a slight frame by any means, but let's face it, I know I looked like a seal wrangling an oak tree on a couple of those instances; it was neither graceful, nor did I care], and had processed through the check out line. Another thumbs up sticker on my chart for the day, hey hey!

Rob arrived home late in the evening, after the outing to Detroit with Kenny & Chad to retrieve Kennys' new[ish] boat, and congratulated me on the completion of our office space. Specific congrats were welcomed for now putting the dogs on Craigslist for walking through the paint trays on more than one occasion, and for my not falling off any ladders or painting the ceiling. #FORTHEWIN!

Rob says he needs to go out of town more often, and see what else gets done while he's gone.
Well....... haha.
Jk.

xo | cmd

Mother's Day Weekend: Part 1

How do you start the perfect Mother's Day weekend?

YARDWORK! 

backyard outta control....

^^ Yeah, so in the midst of us [still, forever likely] unpacking the internal contents of our house, the backyard has gone untouched - specifically the old mulch beds. We woke up early and split the work: Rob took the mowing and weed eating, and I did what I could to get the mulchbeds in the front and backyard under control. It's not perfect yet, but it's on its way! 

wheeeew! 

This whole homeownership thing sure has a lot of little fun extras wrapped up into it.. ;) On the bright side, we wrapped up all the work in a matter of a few hours, and hit the showers to transform from yardwork mode to matinee date mode! 

Throwback to a month or so back when an email popped up in my inbox to tell me Rob bought us tickets to this show as a Mother's Day gift. I've counted down the days and was suuuper excited even on the way down to the arena.. 

yiiiieeee!!!! 

Admittedly I look a little rugged, but maybe that's from five hours pulling weeds and landscaping right before we came down? Haha. Who knows. What I do know was that this show was about to be amazing - and I wasn't wrong! 

love you, mister! 

cirque du soleil | toruk 

cirque du soleil | toruk 

cirque du soleil | toruk 

cirque du soleil | toruk 

By the end of the show, there were enough blue lights to give us a glimpse of what it'd look like if we were all to start roving over Pandora... even without stripes :p

avatar blue! ;) 

It was a really cool show, and if you've got the chance, I would highly recommend it! 

finale!
cirque du soleil | toruk 

We headed home after the show, did one more wardrobe change for the night, and headed back out to meet up with Becky & Will at Rhinegeist. It wasn't a super long night out, but it was fun nonetheless and as always, even more so with great friends in tow. 

hiiiii... 

becky! 

Tomorrow's Mother's Day, and I can't wait to spend it with my two favorites - Rob & Syd. For now, goooood night! 

xo | cmd 

Sales Contest Winners... Again! :)

'Thank Goodness It's Friday' has never been exclaimed more earnestly.. or desperately, in today's case. It's been a tumultuous week at work, so it was nice when we were able to put the office aside for the weekend and head down to Montgomery Inn to celebrate the successes of the first quarter sales competition... that we won :). 

montgomery inn boathouse | cincinnati, oh

Cincinnati, you're a murky mess in the middle, but you're still beautiful [don't get all offended, 'Natians, you know darn well that this is true...]

sunny day! 

It's been quite a while since I was last at Montgomery Inn, but that doesn't change how delicious I always find it. Chris disappeared momentarily, and returned with a box of celebratory cigars to commemorate our team's winning the first quarter.

3rd in a row! 

express pros - cincinnati central
kristin. cori. clarissa. paul

the whole gang!
front: cori. krstin. melissa. clarissa
back: rob. chris. deb. paul. micah (missing aaron!)

Gathering with the work clan outside of work is always a refreshing and often much-needed change of pace, content and atmosphere, and tonight was no different. 

Congratulations, team... I couldn't be more proud of what how our hard work has materialized like this! ♥

Not a bad way to start off the Mother's Day weekend, I will say that. 

xo | cmd 

It's Just Another MAYnic Mondayyyy

Wow, I went there. Sorry guysssss...

yeeesssssss... 

OKAY, I'm done... haha. Sorry guys, but you knew that was coming, and it's an annual obligation, so just deal with it. #ITSMAY!

Anyway, it's the first Monday of the month and it was certainly an over-exaggerated buster, at that.. 

awesome.

This would've been totally normal if I still lived in Illinois, but here, it's weird for me to see an actual train on any of the tracks that run through the city, let alone get stuck in line for one to cross. But that's Monday, yeah? Yeah. 

Fooortunately, the day improved in leaps & bounds, with the majority of the credit for such falling on Kristin & Clarissa. Here's a free piece of advice on stellar co-workers: if they're as awesome as mine, do whatever you can to realize and express to them how thankful you are that they're not stark-raving lunatics, or otherwise unbearable. These two are blessings in plain view, and I am so thankful for them! 

The day ended, leaving Kristin and I after hours to do some catching up and preparation for the next couple days. The UPS guy took his sweet time making rounds today, so I'm happy that at 5:45pm when he got denied by a locked front door, we were still here to let him. 

Why's that so exciting?
THIS: 

infernal devices...... yesssss... ♥

Poor Rob. He knows that I'm no match for myself when it comes to reading. I got sucked into The Mortal Instruments, but having knocked out all six of those, it's time for these three prequels... *sigh.. 

Oh, AND.... I got home to find this in the mailbox: 

it's here! 

Arley, it made it!! If you just wondered who Arley is, she's one of my gorgeous mama friends from the hometown {MTV} who now sells Mary Kay and will hook it up on whatever it is you need from the MK inventory. Seriously. She's awesome, and so is THIS: 

finishing spray. mascara. 

Stay tuned for some post-makeup photos. I'm really trying to do some girly things and this will be one of them. I also got to support a friend's venture in selling this stuff, so that makes me feel pretty good about it too! 

So, dolls, I'm outta here. I've got mascara to learn how to use, dinner to make and books to read. Nevermind the weeds that I said I'd pull tonight.. it's gloomy anyway ;) 

See ya tomorrow! 

xo | cmd

May .. Day... 1!

Ahhhh.. good morning LOZ! 

It's a bummer that we had to leave this beautiful place behind today, but I'm pretty sure we'll be back, so it's not a forever farewell. Plus, next time I'm sure we'll have some aquatic horsepower in tow, and a couple coolers to go along with it, so.. that'll work. 

see you next time, loz ♥

The ride home was a mixture of fitfully uncomfortable car napping, shoeless feet, a Fifth Harmony song playing at least 15 times [work work work work work.. you ain't gotta work work work work work...] and finally the arrival back at Dillon's. We literally spared enough time for a bathroom break and some quick farewells, and then Rob and I were back on the road for the 5-hour trip back to Cinci.

3 hours home. 

Back at the homestead, there was a 45-minute gap between our arrival and my parents, along with Sydni. I couldn't imagine a better homecoming after a long weekend, and as we spent the evening together catching up on our respective weekends away, it dawned on me yet again that we have blessings in this world that money will never buy. 

From our family to yours, and from this pit-iful [har har!] behind, good night and cheers to another week of productivity! 

Ahhh... to be home ♥!

xo | cmd