!!!!! WORLD. CHAMPIONS !!!!!

Today started out in church, alongside my best friend [that's Rob, fyi..] and our congregation as we sang praise, worshiped and studied. I made it my prayer that I would maintain myself and a level head for later today in the event that the USWNT would fall to Japan in the WWC2015 finals, and I meant it. It sounds frivolous to pray for something like that, but I've been making very intentional efforts lately to BE present in mind and focus on ALL cylinders, according to the way I'm called to act, speak and behave, so praying for self-control if the ladies lost was really not an illegitimate prayer.

We headed home, took care of some errands and chores around the house and then.. it was time!

all day long. thinking about this.... all. day. long. 

I met up with Brandon a little earlier than necessary, but with good reason: When Germany played, we nearly missed kickoff because Goodfellow's was packed and we got lucky with room at Latitude's. I was determined to stay put at Goodfellow's tonight. He'd snagged the big center table, a space that would soon be shared by Jessica, Rob and then by chance, a group of people who knew Brandon. It was the perfect arrangement, and within no time, kickoff happened. 

And I... MISSED. The. First. Goal.

I mean come on! We were still getting situated with menus and drink orders, and WHO would've honestly thought that we would score in the THIRD minute?! (Not me, so that means I'm a bad fan with no faith.. I know, I know!)

So there was Lloyd, in replay, with the first goal of the final WC2015 game, and it was beautiful. Goodfellow's was roaring with fans, and just as I was trying to calm myself down, Lloyd nailed another one in the 5th minute.

UN. REAL!!! 

lloyd, you're an animal!!!

Brandon declared that Carli Lloyd was his spirit animal, and I somehow became even more nervous than I was at kick-off, because all too often we've seen strong leads [especially this early on] be dashed by an unprecedented opponent comeback. 

I didn't stay nervous very long - Holiday with her 14th minute goal, and then Lloyd with the back half LAUNCH that cleared the keeper put us at 4-0 at half-time. Holy freakin' crap, USA. You. Are. On. FIRE!!!! 

holiday & lloyd!! 

I'd been saying the entire game that I wanted 2 things:

1. Tobin to score a goal, and 

2. Wambach to sub in for at least some playing time in her last World Cup. 

Minute 54 was Tobin... 

tobin!!!!!!!!

And then in came Wambach, with an even bigger surprise trade from Lloyd, who insisted that Wambach take the captain's band to finish out this monumental game. Sure, Abby's absence from the team is going to affect me and all the years of my childhood leading up to this [we won't even talk about Rampone possibly leaving], but to see her have the captain's band for the Title game of the 2015 World Cup was about enough to make me cry.

captain wambach! 

And then Wambach insisting the band move to Rampone, for the trophy ceremony: 

christie rampone - hero from my childhood! 

[Here's the link to the article & page from which I borrowed those shots: USAToday Article]

And I would've cried, if I hadn't been so busy screaming my face off as the minutes wound down and it became clear that even with a 2-goal answer, Japan was going home in 2nd place and the USA were taking the Title of WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!! 

The amount of can't even'ing that was me tonight was basically unrivaled. 

FIVE to TWO. WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS. I am SO. FLIPPIN'. ECSTATIC!!!!! 

I wore my Lloyd shirt today. It was a solid choice to do that, and I don't think I've ever been so excited to watch a group of women play and win a game in my life.. not even at UC! [Sorry, ladies]. Lloyd, you deserved every single bit of that Golden Ball award!!! 

congratulations!!! 

And, despite other ways in which Hope Solo's made headlines, when it comes to the game, there's not a better keeper out there. Angerer is a close contender, but Hope is the brick [wall] in the box, and while some may not agree, I wholeheartedly believe she earned the Golden Glove, too! [Quick question though, where exactly is Julie Johnston's award for baddest-to-the-bone defender?!] 

yeah, solo!!! 

Guys, I'm exhausted from screaming like a psycho in the public view of the poor patrons at Goodfellow's, but a] don't care much.. sorry not sorry, and b] we just WON THE FRIKKIN' WORLD CUP!!!! So there's THAT.. and now I don't know what I'm going to be looking forward to for the next few weeks... but I'll figure it out ;) 

U-S-A!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xo | cmd 

SEMI FINALS!!!

TODAY. WAS. THE. DAY!!!!

omgaaaah.. 

and this one. 

I spent the entire day amped up over the game, and even though Becky and I didn't make it to Montreal today, I'm fortunate to have a viewing area big enough at home to [kinda] compensate for not seeing the ladies in person on the field.

Anyway,

#solo

#harris

#morgan

#krieger

#leroux

Ob.SESSED. 

It'd been raining for the greater part of the late afternoon/early evening, so when I turned into my neighborhood, I wasn't surprised to see it a bit tousled from the storm. Small bits of trees and branches were down and fresh leaves and twigs were strewn across all the lawns. My backyard has a particularly larger ticket item sitting on my shed [which appears at first glance to remain unharmed], that we will have to deal with on a night other than World Cup Semifinals:

well that's.. just.. very nice, storm. thanks. :/ 

The storm not only took its toll on my backyard, but it knocked out the already so-reliable Time Warner Cable, leaving me with a pesky, stubborn and overall aggravating sight of the white screen telling me it's more or less thinking about thinking about letting us watch anything. It's a hit or miss every.single. game with TWC, so I wasn't surprised when we had to rally together and determine our contingency plan. 

That plan was set for Goodfellas, but that was dashed as soon as I arrived to find Tim & his family standing in line by the front door, without an open table in sight. We quickly weighed our options, and took a chance on running across the street to Latitudes. GOOD. DECISION. We snagged a table for 10, and before long there were 10 of us craning our necks in the direction of the big screen, where kickoff happened just as we were being seated. 

There are few sporting events on planet earth that will ever elicit the type of emotional response comparable to that of soccer. It's safe to say really that there are no other events that could do so. I've never traditionally considered myself a feminist, but our USWNT is a collection of the most talented, charismatic and patriotic athletes out there - after tonight's game, heck yeah I'm proud to be a woman, an American, an athelete/a soccer player and a supporter of these ladies paving their own way to World Cup victory.

No, it wasn't Abby's 2012 goal against Brazil, but it was an absolutely beautiful sight nonetheless to see our team challenge Germany and come out on top. 

I snagged this from ussoccer_wnt's IG, which sums up the night in what words just can't... 

#lloyd #ohara

I. Love. This. Team. Love It. 

Congratulations, USWNT! Here's to ONE. MORE. GAME against the winner of tomorrow's matchup. Just a few more days.. YOU CAN DO IT! 

And to this group [minus 2], thanks for hanging out and hanging in there together! I couldn't have hand-selected a better group to roll with on a night like this! :) 

@ latitudes

U-S-A! U-S-A! 

Let's go get it, ladies!

xo | cmd

Halloween + TBT

Happy Halloween, everyone!

So, I regrettably admit that I did pretty much next to nothing this year as far as Halloween was concerned. I did the trick-or-treat thing with Sydni and my parents at GWL this past weekend, but other than that, there were no wiiiiild Halloween shenanigans, like many of my friends had posted all over FB & Instagram. [I'm a little jealous, yeah, but there's always next year.. and I plan on not being so busy with the same things around this time in 2014!

Elisa texted me late last night as we were en route back to Cincinnati from the game suggesting we dress up as twins for work today.. I obliged that and we got a couple of good laughs out of folks who weren't prepared for body doubles when they came to visit us.

twins!

Speaking of costumes, I couldn't help but point out that really, no matter what anyone around me dressed up as this year, we will pale in comparison to some of the costumes I saw from the early 1900's. Sure, they're not off Pinterest, but I'm guessing most of them were hand-crafted somehow and quite frankly, they're terrifying.


i mean c'mon.. that's pretty creepy...

Right??!
And then that reminded me that I wanted to check this out yesterday but hadn't had the chance. As we were watching the game last night, Becky and I sat reminiscing on all of the players we watched as little-girl-soccer-players back in the 90s and early 2000s when the legends were still playing.

And so, this TBT [Throwback Thursday] is dedicated to some of my childhood favorites, and the new players who've taken heir to their jersey numbers.

First, my most respectful salute to the Fab Five [& no, sorry, I don't mean last year's USA gymnastics quintet]. I'm a 90's soccer girl, so of course I mean THE Fab Five: Mia, Julie, Kristine, Joy & Brandi.

1999 world cup & march of dimes

This is the fab five, along with Briana Scurry [GK] and Michelle Akers [FW/MF], who, let's face it, were both integral players in the '99 season, not to mention pioneers for women's soccer everywhere. Man, I feel ooooold.

{clockwise from top}
#14 joy fawcett | #11 julie foudy | #13 kristine lilly | #9 mia hamm
#6 brandi chastain | #1,GK briana scurry | #10 michelle akers

And here's my tribute to their jerseys, all of which we saw last night..

|| #6 ||
then: brandi chastain | now: crystal dunn

|| #9 ||
then: mia hamm | now: heather o'reilly

|| #10 ||
then: michelle akers | now: carli lloyd

|| #11 ||
then: julie foudy | now: ali krieger

|| #13 ||
then: kristine lilly | now: alex morgan

|| #14 ||
then: joy fawcett | now: whitney engen

|| #1 - goalkeeper ||
then: briana scurry | now: hope solo

And.... of course I wanted to throw in an ode to the girl lucky enough to don Abby Wambach's old jersey... but uhh... since Abby's still out there, as the veteran of the team, I'd say she deserves to stand alone in this one (: She has her own throwbacks, to the 28, 14 and now 20 [among the many others].

abby wambach.
current record-holder with 159 goals

Loooove (:

It's raining. That's completely not fair to trick-or-treaters everywhere.. I'm parked here on the couch in my sweats and don't plan on moving anywhere outside of the path between this and my bed for the rest of the evening, especially since T-O-T here in my neighborhood isn't happening tonight. Poor kiddos.

Good news: Tomorrow's Friday and I think the weather is supposed to hold out for everyone who had this rescheduled. Score!

Nighty night!

xo | cmd