And I am HOME for Christmas (:

I MADE IT!!!!!

this is my vacation. home at the one & only dren lodge for the weekend.
i'm in country heaven. parents' house = ♥

I can't even tell you how much I've missed this place. Welcome to the Dren Lodge, otherwise known as my parents' house in Mt. Vernon, also the house in which I grew up. My heart will always be dedicated to this place; Mom & Dad built it themselves when we first moved to Ohio and they're still there. [Cue Miranda Lambert song...]

So I almost lost hope in making it home for the weekend. I had every intention of leaving yesterday to start on my trek back to Ohio, but after creeping through traffic at a neutral ONE mph from my office to my house, I quickly put a nix on that. Never has it ever taken me an hour and 45 minutes to get home from work, and with the traffic moving at the pace of sap, I had lost all patience in the thought of attempting to wait that out.

That meant falling on a backup plan of going to bed early and getting up by 3am to hit the road early with hopes of being home by 1pm EST. I was gonna make it here one way or another, daggonit.

Sooooo.. I met up with Rob, Mike & Kelly for dinner, before calling it an early night. Setting the alarm for 2am was painful in and of itself, but actually getting up when it went off was another story. At least I made it to the gas station for coffee and out on the road without too much fuss... and that was that.

Fast forward five hours to Cincinnati, when I stopped in at Joe's to grab Sydni, and then another 2.5 and I fiiiinally made it!!!

Just in time, too... My cousins rolled in the driveway shortly after we did, and we proceeded to spend the evening with them. As a note, the younger of the two turns 21 in a few days... and that ... makes me feel pretty freakin' ancient. Thanks a lot, Markie. Hahaha.

Here's how that went: 



top: christmas 2007 | bottom: christmas 2012
look at those boys! lol... love them (:

cousins + mom & dad + syd!

I love my family. This was night one of two that I'll have with different parts of my family, and I can't wait. (:

Speaking of being home, I just got back from the new BDubbs in Mt. Vernon [that's another story: I come from a small town and they are just now getting one of these... you would've thought we adopted the Statue of Liberty for as much fuss as they've made over it.. haha]. I got a message from Dusty earlier asking if I was available for a few minutes to catch up, and we opted for Bdubbs.

I was instantly reminded of what it means to be raised in a small town, leave, and then come back. Basically, every fifth person, on average, is someone you know, had a class with, lived by, dated, or avoided at one point growing up. Haha.  

hey, dusty! (:
neighbors since first grade, still an awesome friend!

krystal!
friends since elementary school... and yeah we've been through it ;)
top L-R: 2003. 2007 | bottom L-R: 2009. 2012!

Of the handful of people with whom I coincidentally reunited tonight, I was definitely pleased to run into one specifically - Krystal! We've known each other since fifth grade and I still love her to pieces. I shouldn't be surprised. Familiar faces have a way of aligning themselves at the same time in the same place when that place is so condensed :)

That being said, it's an early day tomorrow... time to get munchkin to bed.

I'm out (:

xo | cmd

Short Lived But Well Worth It

In case you didn't know, Joe's in the Air Force. It's the military that brought us here to Illinois and opened the door for everything that is now a part of our daily lives. In hindsight, I should really be exercising a more prominent sense of gratitude for everything we have now and everyone who we've met in the last few years. I absolutely believe in the God things; my life now is the perfect testament to just that. [Free Plug specifically for our incredible church, Towerview Baptist, and its family, who has become one of our favorite, favorite things!]

So since Joe's been in the Air Force, he's found some once in a lifetime opportunities: he traveled to Virginia and earned a position on the 2011 All Air Force soccer team. They won gold medal in their tournaments, and he returned home an athletic icon at work. He's met a full battery of amazing people; by association, I've had the pleasure of meeting many of them. We've gotten a taste of military life and the perks that it offers. However, when it came down to it, we prayed over it and Joe felt prompted to part ways with the Air Force and pursue another avenue. His flight decided to throw him a going-away party of sorts, which was tonight! We summoned the aide of our unbelievably awesome babysitter, who agreed to keep Boogie overnight so we could enjoy the shindig company unrestricted. By 7:15, a crowd of nearly 30 people were packed into tables at Bdubs being entertained by the happenings of the evening....


too much. too much.



But let's REWIND. It's been quite the multi-tasked ride at work over the past week or so. With the warmer seasons comes a budding of business; it's awesome, but it's got each of us now shedding our winter coasting skin and branching out into all kinds of different directions at the same time. Apparently, I've been so engrossed in my day-to-day that I figured I'd make some last minute calls on my way home...

... with my computer mouse.

Yeah.

We pulled into the parking lot at Bdubs tonight and I thought i'd double check my memory to bring my camera. I thought I'd found it in the bottom of my purse, but instead fished out my mouse. I immediately sent a picture to Meagan & Nancy, who confirmed that I had just taken it to a whole new level of crazy. Woops.

Anyway, this night wasn't about me, at all. Joe's friends from work made the trek from base and surrounding area to hang out and celebrate his short lived but impacting career in the Air Force. Brandon even got him a plaque engraved that reflected the hilarious sentiment, underlined with Joe's famous tagline, "Hey big guy.."

joe's plaque | joe & brandon | puppy!
cori & caitlin | c&n's beautiful save the date

Pretty funny. We stayed through dinner, and ended up taking Caitlin back to her and Nick's apartment afterwards. We got to meet their adorable dog, and we even got a personal delivery of their Save-the-Date for their big day: November, in Arizona! [can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!]

All in all, definitely a good night. I'm spent though, and it's off to work early in the AM.

G'night!

xo | cmd