Worship & Winter Walks

First things first, WELCOME BACK, Josh!!

We've been waiting anxiously for weeks for Josh to be well enough to return and take up his spot on the praise team. While we'd adjusted to his absence, having him back today was the best way we could've started the service. Oh, and we brought out the instruments to celebrate :)

we're all here! ♥

rehearsal time :) 

We headed home after church, where I threw in a load of laundry, made a couple eggs and did a quick change to head out for a quick hike with Jess & Bumper.

stella didn't feel like going.. 

i was hungry?

let's go, bumper! 

East Fork was pleasantly quiet today, with the exception of a few mountain bikers and one couple hiking with their dog. Jess, Bump and I took to the Harsha Lake circuit - today was the perfect day for it.

hi jess!

william harsha lake | east fork state park | ohio

(and the masses ((and I)) said yes.)

all the while knowing full well i wasn't going anywhere..

cold but happy ♥

Earlier this morning at church, Chad emphasized the idea that in walking with someone, we have the opportunity to find true transparency. He referenced the amount of time Jesus spent walking - physically - with His disciples. With strangers. With the outcast. With everyone. They walked and talked with each other. Some of the Bible's most iconic characters became such as a result of the relationships they developed while literally walking.

I was reminded today how thankful I was to be present in that moment, with one of my close friends. I'm thankful for her insight, conversation and what she has already given me as a friend. We talked at length about what 2018 looks like for us individually, and agreed that we've both put self-love on the list of things we intend to pursue this year. Self-love. Self-care. Self-inspection. More investing into the things that really fuel us, rather than the things that deplete us.

It's something I'll build on as the year gets underway, but today was a secluded eye-opener as we marched through the woods alongside the frozen stream bed and sunlight. Today though, I'm grateful for the praise team and church family who continue to walk through life with each other, and for my beautiful friend Jess, who walked with me today and obliged real, life talk. I really do have much more than I've earned.

Oh, and I made some banana bread that's Whole30 APPROVED, so if y'all would like the recipe, well.. it's the easiest thing you'll make this week, so just ask :)

It's back to work tomorrow, and I think I'm ready.
January, you're lookin' okay so far. :)

xo | cms

Canoeing, Kayaking & Tim McGraw!

Today started with a few quick errands, then it was back to rendezvous with Rob and Jesse to head out to Harrison for a day on the water! We met up with Jessica, Bumper, Andrew and his brother Will, then continued on to find a couple of Jessica's other friends Phil, Liz and Alicia. The lot of us loaded up on the bus and made our way down to the livery, where we stocked our canoes and kayaks with goods for the day and launched out onto the river!

perfect day for a new hat debut! 

Off to the water!! 

jesse

my favorite guy ♥  

andrew, jessica, will & bumper in the water swimmin' 

bumper & will 

go bumper, go!

hangin' out with panama jack :) haha

slow down and enjoy life! 

bumper! 

one of many beaches

jess, bumper & andrew 

jesse

captain bumper!!

cute little paddler!! 

so freakin' cute! 

he hopped up with us for a bit - heya! 

diggin' these guys! 

in love with that guy! 

love love love. 

liz & bumper

more fun on the beach

Eight miles after drop in, we pulled off the river and dragged ourselves back to the car. It was a quicker-than-expected 45-minute drive back to the homestead, with a quick stop off at Eli's BBQ first. We opted not to stay and eat due to the wait time, but did get to smell the flowers & soak up some of the simple stuff :) 

We headed up to storage, grabbed the boat and headed back down to the boat ramp. Jessica and Andrew were waiting, and in no time, we were all geared up and en route to Riverbend for Tim McGraw.

the persian cat because the glasses don't fit my face... face. 

riverbend!! 

jesse and me.. after about 20 attempts between
3 of us to get the "right lighting" with the flash.. haha

concert time! 

perfect ending for the perfect saturday night! 

Jessica and I finally wore out, and took advantage of the warmth from the cuddy; so we wound up falling asleep there and apparently snoozing through the rest of the night until we pulled off the river..

welp... haha.. there's that. 

PERFECT. SATURDAY. IN THE BAG!

That's a wrap, folks!

xo | cmd

Saturdays Are For Catching Up

Sleeping in this morning was the most anticipated hour of my weekend. I say hour, because well... my body no longer recognizes the golden opportunity to not wake up and go to work, so it tries to do it anyway... every day. Funny how that works.

Anyway, I somehow willed my body to stay as still as I could convince it to be, and somehow managed to open my eyes again about 2 hours later. Sleeping in has never been so much work, but YAY! Haha.

The day consisted of clean-up around the house, and catching up on things I hadn't had the chance to cover while I was gone all of last week. It wasn't much to document for the purposes of this blog, but it was a healthy sense of feeling caught up with myself and my house.. at least a little bit.

Mid-day, Rob passed out for a nap, which has been happening as a result of the pain meds he's been on since the accident. I took advantage of the downtime and decided to ride in to work for a few hours. I'm glad I did; those brief 3-4 hours were exactly what I needed to avoid feeling as though I've completely drowned in my work after missing 3 days unexpectedly.

I left work and headed straight for Jessica's; I'd promised to let Bumper out for a potty break while she was at the Luke Bryan concert. Bump and I had a great time cruising around the apartment complex, before I packed up the contents of the crockpot for fridge storage and headed on my way home.

See ya soon, Bump!

cutie! 

Oh, and we committed ourselves to a night of absolutely nothing, which turned out to be the best idea we've had all week. Despite the yucky feeling of declining friends' offers to go out and about doing things, I think the excitement of last weekend should hold us over for at least 5 more days until the next weekend.

All's well in this little casa. G'Night!

xo | cmd

MLB All Star Color Run Cincinnati 2015!

Waking up early on a Saturday isn't typically something I look forward to doing, but today was a totally different story, and I'm not sorry at all for rolling out of bed at 7. It was color run dayyyyy! And not just any color run: Today was the MLB All Star Color Run, in honor of the All Star game that will be here in Cincinnati on Tuesday next week.

So up & at it at 7am it was; I rendezvoused with Jessica & Andrew at CYOFL at 8 for some quick warm-up, and then it was off to downtown, where the crowds were already pouring in.

We were readyyyyy..

here we go! 

What. A. BLAST! Seriously. If you're not into fun runs like this, I'm really not sure why. I couldn't have picked a better day for this to happen, nor a better group of people. We had an amazing time! :)

the cyofl team! 

We met up with the rest of the group, got our gear on, and we were off in search of the start line. Let the fun - and color - begin! 

(When the CR posts pictures from today, via bib/team ID's, I'll get those up, too!) 

It was a hilarious bout of running, powdering, music, laughter and awesome teammates among a few thousand of our closest friends. This definitely beat sleeping in today! 

yeahhh! 

The "post run" party was a giant affair right in the heart of Sawyer Point: a field of powder clouds, race day t-shirts boldly staking their claims to the course of the 3+ miles between start and finish. We gathered together in front of the main stage, where beat-dropping-powder throws (I kid you not) looked exactly like this:

Again, I can't wait to see the pictures from today's run... because my team had some of the most fun together today that I've had on any run in a long time. We were covered from head to toe in powder and thrilled about it!

colorfulllll! 

the guys, minus 1 of the andrews..

Poor Jessica wound up losing a battle with her contact lenses, so it was an early departure from downtown for us; we hopped in the backseat, thankful for Bumper's seat cover ;)

just strollin' downtown.. no biggie...

backseat post-race! :p 

I picked up my car and headed home to shower up, unsure of whether or not I'd be able to remove all the swatches of color from my body and clothes. I stripped off my shoes and whatever else I could outside, and realized there was much more than I'd bargained for, all the way to the core! 

lovin' it! 

c o v e r e d ! 

Hilarious.

So I cleaned up and switched gears into swimsuit mode and U-turned it right back to Jessica's, to join her and Andrew poolside for an hour or so. It was a short-lived little visit, before we shuttled Andrew back to his truck and took ourselves and Bumper over to Chipotle for lunch. 

Bumper, the king of the backseat :) 

cruisin' with bumper & jessica! 

The rest of the day was devoted to laundry [fyi, all the color it seems did in fact wash out of even the white tshirt and everything else, too!], clean up a little around the house, and then just... veg.. out. I did some reading, a little shopping and formulated some tentative plans for Rob's birthday.. sorry, no spoilers yet ;) 

The boys are 2 days into their bike trip now; I just spotted a FB update with some cruise pictures along the way in Gatlinburg. I'm... jealous. 

Happy Weekend, Blogbots! 

xo | cmd