Simple Saturday

ahhh... good morning (:

We didn't do one stinkin' thing of worth today. We're in recovery mode, still, from last night. It wasn't that we did anything extravagant, more that we're just gettin' old and staying out so far past our bedtimes beats us up. Haha. I was grateful this morning for good coffee, the light breeze, and a sunny backyard surrounding the pool. Not a bad way to wake up, even if we're all a little groggy still.

Oh, and I had a little friend for most of the morning. Meet Cecil! 

'ello, little friend! | little fluffy blanket ninja

^ That's Becca and Justine's little puffball puppy.. I'm typically not sold on little dogs, but he's a sweetheart and dedicated himself to a mode of hospitality for pretty much my entire stay thus far.

Things we did today:
Breakfast.
Jam Session: Mumford & Sons, Avett Brothers, Florence & the Machine, Ray LaMontagne.
Nothing.
Errands : Get Kalyn's car, Urban Outfitters, Zumiez.
Lunch.
Nothing. + Nap.
Thai Food & Redbox.

I'm not at all bothered by our lack of adventuristic plans today. Sure, we soooorta perhaps thwarted a day of my visiting, but the fact is, it's been rainy here all day anyway, and to be honest, the simple change of scenery is enough for me at this point. I'm happy.

Wake us up in the mornin' time (:

xo | cmd

Scottsdale Friday | Happy Birthday Keifer!

I love .... my best friend.
[i also love backdated posts. womp womp womp]

Today was originally intentioned to be a hiking trip up Camelback. That didn't happen.

Instead, Kalyn and I ended up running around all over Scottsdale with Keifer in the early part of the day. We stopped at The Praying Monk, this killer little dive restaurant/bar for some late morning relaxing and some super-early celebrating of Keifer's birthday [HBD!!].



birthday rum apple pie? yes please
keifer & chris | happy birthday, keifer!

Once we were finished there, Kalyn and I dedicated ourselves to an afternoon at the five story mall in Scottsdale for a Christmas shopping/evening wear bonanza. It paid off.



love her. ♥

cori. kalyn. justine. becca | "it's go time"

It was a real roommate outing for Kalyn, Becca and Justine; I was just there to visit and enjoy the entire experience, too. Needless to say, it was a blast.  

Stop 1 : Lodge.

hang loose, & shout out to all the ohio people we met tonight.. in arizona!

Stop 2 : El Hefe.

cori & cody! | cincinnati pride!

Stop 3 [final destination] : Smash Boxx

ok, so yes, we were running on a hang loose theme for most of the night..
... plus i stole some guy's hat... and glasses. antics....

keifer. kalyn. cori. | happy friday!!

Then the fun kicked in.... I'll spare a lot of the details along the way, but the gist of it equated to us not being able to hunt down a valet employee to retrieve Kalyn's keys at the end of the night, so it was by cab that we finally made it home. We'll deal witih Kalyn's car when the sun gets back up.

Til then... whoa. Happy Friday. Happy birthday, Keifer. 
&& Happy ME. I've needed this.
See you in the morning!

xo | cmd

Kick ROCKS, IL - HELLO, PHOENIX!

Welp, as far as work went today, I was like an impending high school graduate with a severe case of senioritis. I'm not sure where the morning went, but I was fine with that. I think I zoned out for the last half hour before I actually left. 

airlift me..... 

Anyway, it's raining in Arizona.

Seems fitting; apparently that's a rarity out here, but for now it goes well with the aura of things that are quite out of character and far from the norm. 

--- I have got to find some way to block myself from accessing a keyboard after 1) a certain time at night or 2) after certain mental capacities have been altered or stopped all together. *sigh. Freakin' VINO….
---- I need new friends that [while in similar states of mind] don't encourage me to start writing at these totally inappropriate times, too, so they can read it WITH me for the first time in the real morning. Ya jerks.. haha.

The first thing I thought of when I touched down at PHX was the overwhelming amount of sssssstuff on my mind that I'd be spilling everywhere when my best friend when she picked me up from the airport. The gal next to me on the plane agreed that it seemed more like a six hour flight than the short 3.5 we'd been airborne, so I was more than ready to be on solid ground. After some minor disconnect on discourse - gate assignment, I found myself in that familiar little green Jeep with the Ohio plates, bound out to Tempe with a girl who might as well be a direct extension of myself. I'm in Phoenix, with Kalyn…. and Becca…… and Justine. Since I believe perfection is relative; this is definitely on point in my book. 

kalyn. cori. justine. becca | postinos

First stop: Postino's. If there's one grand idea for converting an old post office, it would be transforming it into a wine bar with killer food and the most courteous, laid-back wait staff to boot. That pretty sums up this place, and it wasn't but a few minutes into the dinner run that I realized how much I'd missed my best friend and the liberty we have with each other to be the raw and so far sheerly uncensored characters that we are. Add the Jones girls to the mix and dinner really couldn't have been any better. We wined, we dined, and we wined some more before we made it back to their house and staked out our real estate on the couch. 

Apparently, I'm not the only one running in place when it comes to conquering my loose cannon brain on love, the pursuit of "happy", avoidance of pain and the general direction of that whole weird life thing. It didn't help that in seeking some accountability in perhaps the form of, "No Cori…put your phone away," I was met with "Mama. DO IT." [you'd only have to hear her say it once to imagine it clear as day again] … Inhibiitions are usually asleep by 3:30 in the morning (….hello), but I do know that some of my best A-grade quality papers in college were done in the wee hours. Sooo, in addition to ill-advised phone calls, I'm no stranger to late-night-writing with a side of morning-after-literary-regret. It's like [that] shot of truth serum that makes your head spin and dissolves whatever filter you had left between your brain and your mouth. In some cases, it's the heart and mouth disconnect you have to fear, but that… is another day. Right now I'm just thankful for auto spellcheck. [Red. lines. everywhere…lol]. Oh, and I sure as day returned the favor on the phone call advice, KALYN….. we can scold each other in the morning. Haha. 

love you, kp

I haven't laughed so hard in one evening in a long time. I kinda forgot how well we know the other and how KP is just as ruthlessly blunt and inappropriate as I am. Haha. We've swapped just about all of our most recent and vicious stories, in great detail from start to the present [end  isn't really applicable for either of us, unfortunately], and I've only been here for less than 12 hours. In spite of the way my gut has decided to remain twisted and tense for the time being, there is nothing quite like having your best friend there to reiterate to me that I am a thoroughly messed-up individual AND that she probably wouldn't love me if I were any. other. way. Especially when we're both in stitches laughing at each other, doubled over so hard that we're crying and our sides hurt. 

I needed this. 
It's only day one of four.
Whoa.

Tomorrow [well, later today, but I'll clarify since this is backdated…. again] we'll be hiking Camelback, eating more food, and gearing up for the debacle that will inevitably be five of us girls at Greasewood Flats: Bluegrass, food, cowboys & mechanical bulls, and a steady flow of libations are sure to generate some tales for the taping…. stay tuned.

Hello, Phoenix. (: 

xo | cmd