Friends & Family on Friday

Breakfast out of town is usually a far cry from whatever dietary regimen I'm trying to follow, but I can't say I was upset about some turkey bacon and eggs to get the day started. To top it, we stopped by my old stomping grounds to say hi to a few familiar faces, and the new ones I'd not yet met.

Man, I miss these guys!

oh, how i miss these two! [& the rest of that team!]

We didn't plan it, but it turned out we'd see Marc twice today; we ran into him several hours later at Bindy's. We were set for the afternoon to celebrate Christmas with Rob's mom and stepdad, which provided the final item on Rob's Christmas wish list. We've now got a new acoustic for the house, and I have to say, it's beautiful.

he's in love! 

A couple hours later, we wrapped everything up at Rob's mom's and headed back to Dillon's to decide how to allocate the remaining hours of the night.

Bindy's it was. The crowd started pouring in as it does every time I've seen the place, and with it came Marc, who we just saw earlier this morning, and even Taryn, who was at a birthday party just before stopping through to see us. There were plenty of other familiar faces, which made for a fun [long, but fun] night!

hi jesse, hi taryn! :) 

taryn :) 

random snapchat? 

I'm not even sure who that SnapChat ended up going to, but if I had to guess, it was probably Ali & Damanji. Either way, it's been a night with these folks and I'm happy to have spent it the way we did. I'm also happy to be home for the night.... ;)

That being said, G'Nite!

xo | cmd

River Rats

For a split second there, I was sure it would be raining today. We didn't really check the weather for the weekend, but had faith in the elements holding out just long enough for us to be on the water for the majority of this Labor Day Weekend.

We may have wondered what the clouds would hold for the day, but by late morning, this was the starting view:

rob, kenny & the bajas

We departed from Dillon's house, met up with Kenny and Taryn, and loaded the Bajas into the water for a day that would be spent with awesome friends cruising the river.

Dillon & Matt hauled Dillon's jet ski's up to the drop-in in Grafton, so we made our way up river to get them, after picking up Kyle & Jesse. It wasn't long before Rob's mom & stepdad joined in, and from there, the day was at our disposal.

relaxing! 

^^ Jesse took this shot; that's Taryn over there on the right laying out, and I... am pretty sure I was asleep lying on the front of Rob's boat. Womp womp. ;)

After we'd lounged on the shore for a few hours, we voted it was time for food, and found ourselves heading to the Big Kahuna. Oh, and the poor little jetter had to be towed; it looks like an update on some wiring is in order!

poor lil jetter.. 

Finally..... 

front row parking & the bk

I have no complaints on how the afternoon panned out. We eventually all parted ways, and Rob and I headed back to Dillon's, where the three of us parked ourselves on the couch to watch part of the American Ninja Warrior marathon that's been on for what seems like weeks now. It was a toss-up on whether or not we'd actually get out and do something, but we eventually pulled ourselves together and found our fail-proof destination: Bindy's. 

and then there's this.. 

^^ Hahahah.. "It's a satchel. Indiana Jones had one!" - I love this guy. 

And that, folks, is how we're kicking off this Labor Day. See ya back on the water tomorrow! 

xo | cmd

And STRAIGHT for the Fried Green Beans I Go...

In a strange, spur-of-the-moment change of events this morning, I ended up driving the tank to work. I, like the amateur I swear I am sometimes, wish I would've taken a quick snapshot of that thing parked in between the usual cars in the parking lot at work.. haha.

BUT HEY! It's FRIDAY!

no make-up, ready for the weekend!

And here's a little twist to the story of Friday lunches here:

post-lunch, you're welcome.

Hahah. Elisa and I were like ravenous wildebeasts by the time lunch came around; I sorta wish I would've saved a picture of the salmon that went with the salad, but it was almost like my survival instincts kicked in and told me to just shut up, sit down and eat. I'm not proud of the carnage, but to say I really cared is well, nah.

Anywhoo, I checked work off the day's list, headed home and switched into road trip mode for the ride out to Illinois. Rob met me at the house and we were on our way within the half hour. We even caught the sunset as we droooooove through Indiana [Jason Aldean has this whole Fly Over States thing right!].

yeah, so it was way prettier in person... :/

Like the habitual creatures that we are, we made it to Illinois, thought of food, and immediately defaulted to Bindy's. I. don't. know why it's always this place, but it is.

bindy's | granite city, il

Oh wait, yes I do know:

give me... fried green beans!

We laughed over that picture, because I could probably document every single time over the past year that we've gone back to visit, just by timestamping my pictures of these things. Every. Time.

And this is how our weekend is starting.

burst capture mode.. thanks, samsung..

i'm not touching you...
... yes, yes you actually are.
.... meh.

Haha. It's gonna be a long one ;)
Just kidding. We made it!

See ya on the flipside!

xo | cmd

And Here We Go A-Road Tripping...

Well, we got a later start than we would have liked, but it wasn't all wasted.

There's nothing quite like a sunset-on-the-run:

.. accompanied by windshield bug splatter.. lovely.. :/

We demonstrated how gullibly sold we are on the marketing ploys of rest-stop goodies:

.. & lottery tickets. because... uncle si, that's why.

^ In the defense of all things Brach's, they're actually pretty good.

Oh, and even though we rolled into Granite in the dark and endured a very young crowd at Bindy's, we weren't disappointed by the green beans. We never really are - at least I know I'm not.

+ bill in the background... + blue moon in the foreground..

So yeah. We're here, safe and sound... and tired.
G'Nite.

xo | cmd

I GOT.. My Fried Green Beans

Welp, we made it!

We're here in Illinois now, and this is unashamedly backdated. That being said, here's what yesterday would've sound like, had I been telling you about it... yesterday ;)....

*******

Work ended early today, immediately following our weekly office lunch. The benefit of working for owners who are not only generous in every other regard, but who are also Catholic, is that they wholly support not working on Good Friday. Our business kind of dictates that we do at least some work on Fridays, but none of us were complaining when we locked up at noon for the weekend. (:

I took that time to get an oil change and finish up some last minute packing. Fast forward an hour and Rob had joined me at the house, loaded up all his gear, and the two of us were on the road en route to an Easter weekend in Illinois.

I can say this now, because we're past the point of the weekend, but I'd been putting the final outer layers on a piñata for Ali's surprise birthday bash, but hadn't managed to get all of it done by the deadline of hitting the road today.

What'd that mean? It meant me sandwiched in the front seat between the seat itself and a giant slowly-becoming-green handmade piñata. Luckily, I only had about an hour's worth of work left to be done; I was completed and cleaned up long before we hit the halfway mark of the trip.

We stopped first to see Rob's mom. Kyle happened to make a quick appearance, too, and so we started off our Illinois time with that before we were on to Jesse's.

Speaking of Jesse's, Zeppelin is getting big! I love when puppies start looking more like dogs, but I also always miss the puppy size. Zepp's a beautiful boy, and was super excited to see us.

It wasn't long at Jesse's before we decided to set out for dinner, which had been decidedly Bindy's. You know you've been out of Granite for a long time, when you start planning ..... days in advance .... to go to Bindy's. Haha. Really, all I wanted were some fried green beans.

What I didn't know, until tonight, was that Bindy's gets theirs from the Schwan's guy.
Mind. Blown. 

schwans. they are from schwans!

Anyway, we hung out there for a bit, and in the typical weekend fashion that is Bindy's, the clock ticked into the night and drew out several of Rob's friends.

these guys (:

So yeah, we're here. And to Bindy's we went and came...

fave!

And now, we sleep... haha.
See ya in the morning!

xo | cmd

Operation Pack Up & Eat Fried Green Beans ;)

Hello, rainy day in Illinois... Here we were hoping for half decent weather to get the bike out for a sping, but of course it had to be a dreary day. On the flip side of that, I realized by the end of today that we were meant to be confined to the house; Rob and I made some major headway in getting things packed up and sorted through at his place in preparation for the move.

But first things first, it was time for a haircut for Rob today, so before breakfast we stopped by and got that all taken care of...


holiday haircut lineup (:

From there, it was out to breakfast and then back to the house for what became a day of digging through boxes, furniture and all that other miscellaneous stuffffff that seems to materialize only when you're trying to pack up and move somewhere. We wound up with a giant truckload of drop off for Goodwill, and braved the steady rain to do it.

dreary drop offs at goodwill

I orchestrated my visit this weekend in sync of course with when my favorite staffmember of Bindy's would be working; my sweet Santa friend Alicia and basically the entire cast of Bindy's was on hand tonight for their Christmas party, and there really weren't any dull moments (:

alicia!!! ♥

we'll call it... Christmas spirt... vegas bomb style...

best friend.... && i love him so.

And that's that! I'm here through Christmas Day, so until then, we are tackling the oh-so-enjoyable task of staging Rob's belongings for their big road trip to Ohio. I'm happy to say that tomorrow morning I'll finish the last load of laundry here; at that point every single thing he owns will be clean. At the same time. Holy... record first. Hehe.

But for now, lights out. G'Nite!

xo | cmd

Fun Little Saturday (:

We started off the day with a very early lunch at Olive Garden... honestly, I don't remember the last time I was there, so some OG salad, breadsticks and gnocchi soup really didn't hurt my feelings at all. From there, we took an impromptu run out to Highland to surprise a certain soooomeone at her work.... hehe..

 

I didn't get to take a picture with Ali today. Instead, I borrowed this off her Facebook from Halloween, which is way better anyway. Haha. Meet my great friend, the adorable lumberjack. I MISS YOU, ALI!!!!

my favorite ginger lumberjack friend

The rest of the day was filled with relaxing, a couple trips out on the bike [sorry, I don't trust myself enough to be phone-photogging from the back of the Harley...] and playing with the dogs. Dinner rolled around soon enough and for that, it was off to my favorite fried green bean venue, Bindy's. It didn't hurt that this gal was working either. And yes, Alicia I promise I will bring Syd back some weekend and we can do a playdate outside of Bindy's with you and little Cam! 

she's the best.

After Bindy's, we found ourselves parked in Kyle's backyard for a bonfire. This right here is my idea of a perfect Saturday - hanging with friends and just relaxing by a backyard fire pit - nothing fancy or extravagant.. just a simple good time (:


fire faces

 Our last stop of the night was to hold up on a promise of swinging by a send-off farewell shindig for Andy, who leaves shortly for military boot camp. THANK YOU in advance for the service you are about to give.. glad we could come and see you off!


celebrate and thank you!

It's always a good time coming out here to visit.
Tomorrow should be a good day, too (:

xo | cmd

Mr. & Mrs. Steinway [& Co.]!

I did not want today to end....

First things first: breakfast. We had every intention of heading out to Missouri afterwards to take a look at a bike Rob's been eyeing, but decided to do it tomorrow in lieu of some other things we needed to accomplish before the evening rolled around.

Instead, we took to our first real shopping excursion together. For two people who don't like shopping, I think we did some decent damage in a relatively short amount of time. I blame the infrequency of [retail] shopping we both do, meaning that if and when we go, well... we go.

First stop was for some new dress attire for Rob.. which was simple enough [later realizing also that he and Ryan were wearing the exact same thing.. haha]. Oh, and Rob just bought me a ring. No, don't get all fussy over it; it's not THE ring, but we still shared a good laugh over it. Really it was my intention to buy it once we got to the register but he snatched it up and refused my offer, so.... yeah. Let's hope if that time ever comes for us to start [the.grueling.process.of.real] ring scoping, it doesn't happen quite like that.. haha. ;)

a ring!
haha, and no, it's not what you think, but i think it's pretty.. well, pretty!
[thanks, boyfriend!]

As I said, we went pretty hard at the stores today, given we were only there for a couple of hours, if even that:

retail therapy for men... acceptable when women are around.. haha ;)

Once we got our run at the mall out of the way, it was back to Rob's, a quick haircut for him [by yours truly], and then some quick getting ready before Tawny & Ryan were at the door. The four of us piled into Rob's truck and were off to Yacovelli's in Florissant for Mike & Kelly's wedding reception.

congratulations, mike & kelly!! ♥♥

group shot! | yacovelli's - florissant, mo

♥ i had the best date in the place.. yenno, not biased ;)

[back at] bindy's with my [absolute] favorite ♥

We took a few pictures from the evening, but honestly were having too much fun to stop and take that many. I always regret that the next day, but it was a blast (:

"look up there... " [@bindy's, duh...]

an accurate description of [some] of what ensued tonight, haha...

with kelly | cori. rob. kelly. jesse | reading books?.. with jesse

Congratulations, again to Mr. & Mrs. Steinway! Thank you for letting us be a part of this celebration with you (:
& gooooooooooodnight!

xo | cmd

Road Trip Warrior: IL [Again]

Guessss what day it was!
... and no, not Hump Day.

Correct Answer: ROAD TRIP DAY! -- I know that sounds ridiculous to most people, but it's not the 5 hours of driving that excite me [duh], but what's at the other end of it that makes all that solo karaoke time entirely worth it.


road trip warrior face! beautiful day for a drive (:

hey, marc!

I wish I would've snapped a shot of what I walked into when I rolled into Rob's house at 9pm [CST; and yes, I made record time]. He & Jesse had wrapped up their days early and taken the boat out for a spin, so by the time I got there, he was dreamin' away on the couch. I absolutely would've left him to nap if it weren't for the fact that I was on a mission tonight for some fried green beans at Bindy's. Rob told me earlier that Alicia wasn't working tonight, but to the disappointment of my disappointment, she was, and so I got just about everything I could've wanted out of that place. Haha (:

Oh, and what's a trip to this place if I'm not running into my old boss while I'm out and about?

We were there for a whiiile... which obviously means pictures at some point. He didn't realize I was on rapid fire mode, but I wound up with a slew of Rob faces, so heck.. I figured I'd just put them all together! (:

forever goofy... [among the many] reasons i love him. ♥

fools together.. it's why we work ;)

So here I am... in Illinois again! Tomorrow is Mike & Kelly's wedding reception; it'll be great to see them, baby Elaina, and some other familiar faces. I'm sure it'll be a good time. For now, it's lights out!

xo | cmd

H-A-P-P-Y Saturday!

apple tree | granite city, il

First things first:
Places we've - well, I've - never been... and breakfast.

Rob introduced Syd and I to the Appletree Family Restaurant in Granite today. It's not a spectacular venue by most standards, but my hometown has very similar places and I love them... so I wasn't opposed at all.

It turned out to be much more like a diner than anything else, and I happen to love diners. Breakfast was delicious, Sydni was happy... we were all together in the same place at the same time... life's good.

From there, we headed down to a car show in Belleville, hosted in part by a guy Rob works with. Today was the perfect day for this (: 

perfect day for a car show!

And then it was off to Dawne's! It was so good seeing her, and if I'd had my stupid phone with me, I would've taken a picture to commemorate the first time I've seen her in months. She and Sydni had some long-overdue catching up to do, so we chatted for a few minutes and then went on our way.

We stopped by the mall for a few minutes, snagged some Orange Julius and checked out the new trends at Zumiez [luckily nothing spectacular enough to take home this time], and were back at Rob's in no time.

These two got some quality play time in today (:

tug tug tug tuuuuug...

Once the pups were a little tuckered out, we geared up for an afternoon ride out on Rob's [newest] bike. It's sad, but this is the first time we've ridden together.. haha. There's a first time for everything! Ours is just usually... delayed. (:

knockout bike. knockout boyfriend.
all around win (:

We rode over to Jesse's, where I finally got to see his little Zepplin [new puppy!], who is far too cute for his own good. I didn't have my phone with me, so these are borrowed.. but trust, the next time I see this little one, I'll have some shots of my own ;)

zepplin! adorable growin' lil brute (:

The three of us took off in search of a hangout, landing us at a pool table and a drink before deciding not to risk the chances of rain on the bikes for the night. Rob and I headed back to change and trade a chopper for a diesel.

goofball. & i love everything about him.

Before long it was back to Jesse's, to pick up him and his friend Kelsey.. and off to Fast Eddie's it was. We were in the mood for some grub and chick-on-a-stick sounded just about right. Y-U-M. (:

fast eddie's bon air | alton, il

Then to Rajun Cajun piano bar, where Jesse, Kelsey & Rob all failed at convincing me to get up on the stage and play anything. I thought about it, yes, I did... but I didn't. Sorry guys.. maybe next time. Haha ;)


rajun cajun piano bar | alton, il

We dropped Jesse & Kelsey off before our final destination of the night: Bindy's. Alicia made Rob promise the last time he saw her that I'd come by when I was in town next. So... it seemed perfectly fitting, especially with it being Bindy's 24th anniversary party!

♥ alicia!! [not my best picture, but we'll deal...]

This is backdated, fo sho. We made it home, had one of those liquid-encouraged, brazenly-candid conversations on the way, and at that, called it a night.

¡Hasta Mañana!

xo | cmd