Dear Universe....

To say this is how I felt this morning wouldn't be much of a lie.. at all:

Yeah.. it was one of those mornings. My mind wanted nothing to do with being productive, a handful of my employees clearly wanted nothing to do with going to work and after that sad excuse for a workout yesterday, my body wanted very little to do with... me. Wah, wah, wah.

Fortunately, lunch proved to be a complete turn of events, and left me without adequate words.

I decided to stop by Chipotle for lunch. Upon entering, there was a man & woman sitting outside on the sidewalk, asking passersby for spare change, saying they'd been evicted. I typically don't give money, but offered to get them some food on my way out. I doubled my order at the counter, still very skeptical about whether or not I was catering to an honest couple or being "conned." I asked the cashier to bag them separately, paid and stopped to get two forks and napkins before leaving. I walked out, handed the bag of food to them, got in my care and started bawling [like, UGLY crying, folks]. I was forced to ask myself,

WHO AM I .. to EVER judge a struggle at face value?!

That's NOT my job. WHO CARES if they did or didn't lie to me?! Call me a fool, call me whatever you want.. but this is the reality of what can happen when we all just slow down for a second and think. I don't want praise or a back-pat for this; I gave up what, 30 extra seconds and $6 - is that really that noteworthy? No. It isn't.

[no other words needed]

^This, by the way, is what I saw when I put the bags down at the fountain drink/silverware stand [& ultimately propelled me into a sputtering mess once I did get into my car. The left was theirs, and the right was mine. I was a [BIT] overwhelmed by irony today, but I wouldn't change a thing. I wonder if they read theirs. Who knows. But... Dear Universe: Message Received.

The string of fortune for me didn't end there; 4:30 rolled around and I was out the door to pick up Sydni! Her dad and I agreed that on the weeks that she is with him, she'll still be here with us every Thursday now.

And that makes me happy :D.

So this was my otherwise-uneventful-night:

my everything ♥

... And honestly, I wouldn't have had it any other way. ♥

xo | cmd

Hoxworth Reds Blood Drive

The fact that I participate in blood drives will forever be blamed on Becky. Hahh. I'm not upset though; I'm glad that she ingrained the necessity to attend these as frequently as I'm allowed.

The last time I attempted to donate, I nearly passed out, apparently not having eaten enough earlier in the day. I decided this morning that that would not be an issue today: 

breakfast

lunch

It was time to go! It's always unnerving to get a needle stuck in my arm for 15 minutes, but I was happy to report even halfway through that it was a no-worries situation!

good to go!

SUCCESS!

cincinnati reds swag ;)

Your turn, friends! These donations save lives; if you are able, GO DONATE!

xo | cmd

Happy BIRTHDAY, Sophie!!

We call each other's children our "nieces," when in reality we're what, 2nd cousins?

.. Yeah, nieces is way easier.

So, TODAY is my niece Sophie's 2nd birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, sweet girl!!!

She's. So. Adorable.... It Hurts. 

happy birthday, sweet sophie!!

Anyway, rewind to the road trip up to Columbus - a short little jaunt, complete with pony talk and princess music. We really were there in no time at all (:

syd & her mlp's

In a few short hours, we were rounding the last corner in Easton and headed for Target, to pick up a couple last minute things. Maricor met us there, and we followed her back to the house to find Chris with the girls. The cousins are finally back together, after what has seemed like forever!

three little dresses for three little girls ♥ 

literally, princesses everywhere .. haha

Maricor and I had every intention on catching up on our own after the girls had gone to bed [Chris, you lucked out this time, haha], but that didn't quite happen as planned. Plus, the weather here in Ohio has again decided that it's not done with its winter crap, so after a spout of rain, this happened for a few hours and completely derailed any desire to venture anywhere:


seriously?
.... enough!!!

So instead of dinner & a movie out, we saved ourselves some of the hassle and added some awesome to the mix with homemade Adobo and multiple rounds of Frozen.

mission: convert adobo into an air freshener.

^^ It's been way too long since I've had adobo. Especially straight from the pot. This, my friends, is called a Filipino problem, if there ever was one. I was drooling from the second the house started smelling like sabaw (broth) to the second we were eating it as though we hadn't actually downed Chipotle less than four hours prior to that. Whatev'. (:

Anyway, we're here curled up on the couch perusing NoMoreRack, with our girls dancing and singing to Anna and Elsa a few feet away. This is just about perfect, if I must say so.

Tomorrow's a birthday party for the birthday baby.. and I can't wait!

xo | cmd

Frankie's [Final] Farewell

Today was a beautiful day outside.

Marianne was still at the house when Rob & I headed out to work this morning.

yep. those are mare's keys.
.... it's tuesday.

Five and a half hours later, she and I were walking from my office to Chipotle for lunch. Haha. That's right, she was still here up until about 2pm, when she and I said goodbye for the 400th time. If I'm right, her last stop before she departed from Cinci was back down at the Coffee Emporium in East Hyde Park. We went there on Sunday before our great tattoo venture, and she went there on her own yesterday. Apparently, she ran into another Marianne, so they wrote Frankie on her cup and told her that was her name from here on out. I don't know if she had the heart to tell them today that she won't be back for... a while :(, but I do love that she's been in Cincinnati for about three days now and has already established herself at a coffee shop.

That being said,

GO HOME, FRANKIE!

 

And yes, I'm very much kidding; I wish she, along with Ali, Tim & Damanji, were residents of somewhere-right-around-the-corner, instead of other-places-around-the-U.S.-and-soon-to-be-Korea,-Tim... [*sad.face.]. I am in need of some recuperation still after the weekend rumpus with them all, but there is nothing more direct and satisfying than face-to-face time with your favorite people.

the quote is mare's original thought.
.. i'm blessed to be this part of her journey!

Like I said, today was beautiful. I had decided on my way to pick up Sydni that if she wanted, we'd take full advantage of the pretty weather before it relapses tomorrow into this wintery wackjob that it's been lately.

Since asking a 4-year-old if she wants to go play in the park is like asking me if I like... food, I really wasn't expecting anything other than a couple of hours at Stanbery to soak up the rest of the daylight.


"look mommy, i'm not touching the ground,
i'm not!"

my walking stick carrying, smizing super model tour guide :p

We even had a surprise guest, too. I thought Rob would be tied up at work for most of the evening, but his arrival was announced by the [beautiful] growl of his bike; looks like we were all trying to squeeze something out of the weather today!  

meet my world.

Quick Proud Parent Moment: I was reminded tonight that while Sydni is just 4, she is a fiercely loyal force with which not to be reckoned. Another little girl, seemingly around the same age, maybe a year older, unabashedly approached me and asked flatly, "What happened to your chest?!" She was of course referring to my keyloids, which is neither embarrassing nor aggravating to me anymore. Coming from a child, the question always amuses me more than anything else [especially as opposed to grown adults with no sense of personal space who feel it appropriate to just reach out and touch them while asking - that's a whooole different story, mis amigos..]. I opened my mouth to respond, but Sydni was quick to interject: tiny hands on her hips and all, "Those are my mommy's scars because her boy brothers threw a firework at her." She meant cousins, but it was so quickly delivered and direct that I stood there for a split second in silence, and, if I'm honest, a little bit of pride. My little girl can stand up for things. She also has a vault-like memory, as a side-and-cautionary note to myself. Hah.

Sydni tuckered herself out eventually, so we made our way back to the car to head home. The sun was setting, which gave me the perfect opportunity to capture Sydni carrying that big globe of light.

sunny girl (:

^ She thought that was the coolest thing; now I'll get to explain to other people why she's telling everyone she touched the sun ;)

It's unusually quiet around the house tonight; even though our company was only here for a few days, I'm a little... sad, if you will, that they're all gone now. Mare cleaned the place up before she left [thank you, even though you did not need to do that, haha], so we got to skip that part and go straight to dinner and some unwinding time.

We are some imperfect but blessed, happy people, around here. G'Nite ♥.

xo | cmd

Thundersnow & Icenadoes .. What?!

C'mon, Midwest...

..... calm down?!

We all knew, if we'd heeded at all to the predictions of the Farmer's Almanac, that this winter would be pretty brutal. At least we were warned.

Today I heard a new term: thundersnow. I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, although it's pretty self-explanatory in all of its unofficial existence as a real thing. Sadly enough, it's a preeeetty accurate description of exactly what's going on in the Midwest this week. At least it is in Ohio.

We woke up today to roads that looked wet, at most.
Nope. Wet-looking roads this week are actually panels of ice disguised as drivable surfaces. Traffic everywhere was a jumbled mess of brake lights and dormant speedometers, dotted with flashing police lights to mark all of the fender benders. You win, winter.

icy roads. everywhere.

To compound the slick roadways, Cincinnati is presently suffering a plague of potholes. Between the ice and the giant tire-hating gaps, the traffic map I found of just our area alone looks... awful.


looks legit, right?

Need a street view of that?
No problem:

potholes, aka road acne

It's like a game of Frogger out there trying to navigate any local streets without bouncing in and out of these stupid things. Our poor cars :(.

Fortunately, I spent most of my day indoors with the office staff, away from the debachle that is driving around here. Lizzy even bought us lunch, because she's super sweet and generous that way.

perfecto!

^ So maybe that wasn't the best choice considering my fitness goals, but in my defense, I think I managed to at least neutralize the threat at the gym tonight. I'm feeling it for sure today, but in that satisfying way that reminds me this will all be worth it.

Staying off the roads is my mantra today, so tonight it's just relaxing with Rob & the pups.

Be safe out there, drivers!

xo | cmd

Farewell, Nikki ... Hello, Illinois

Fun fact of today?

If you were anywhere near Google today, then you know today's the 100th anniversary of the standard crossword puzzle. I searched several unrelated things throughout the day and was met with the interactive banner several times before I actually obliged the thing...

tempting... temptiiiiiing...

I eventually gave in and clicked the blue play buttong... and proceeded to spend the next several minutes attempting to decode insinuating clues to words and abbreviations I never would've known. So, with the moderate assistance of Yahoo! for this one [is it strange that I felt like using using Google itself for this was somehow unethical? haha], I managed to decipher the hints I couldn't grasp on my own. For an English major, I am apparently not that versed:

Now, I had no problem at all with clues like "little bit," "Cleveland's lake" and strangely even "Start of many exclamations," but I really don't feel guilty for not knowing that 'KTS' is an abbreviation for "Chess Jumpers." So uhh, anyway, thanks again, Arthur Wynne!

And because it was Friday, we naturally had our weekly lunch, provided for by the bosses: Nikki's "last meal" as we sadly coined it. Elisa suggested Piada in Hyde Park, and we voted collectively yes.

the carnage....... we were hungry? (:

My first experience eating Piada was today and I have now added it to my official list of YES, PLEASE places here in the Norwood-Oakley-HP area. Speaking of good food, today happened to gift some other edible Christmas cheer in the form of Chipotle gift cards!

yes, please. yesssss, please.. & thank you!

Man, I'm blessed (:
That being said, we celebrated Nikki's last day in style, complete with lunch from Piada, a box of the decadent Express toffees, and some bittersweet farewells at the very end of the day. We'll see her one more time next week on Friday when she stops back by, but I know the office really won't be the same without her. Sad... sad face ):

Once work was out, I hopped in my car that I'd packed up last night and made a beeline for the highway. Fast forward 4-5ish hours and here I am now, in Illinois at Rob's house. He and Jesse rolled in the driveway right after I did; Jesse just left but we're in for a nice run of five days before I head back to Ohio.

*Yawn.

I'm done here, folks (:
Christmas is in .... five days, ya'll. Whoa.

xo | cmd 

Oh To Be.. In OH-IO :)

I feel like I've been awake for a very long time.

That could have something to do with the fact that I have been awake for a while, didn't get to bed until late last night, and then topped with a 6 hour drive back to Ohio. Just sayin'.

Sydni and I pulled out of the driveway at 5am this morning and rolled into our final destination just after 11am EST.  We met Joe there and spent some time catching up as a trio before heading out to Mason to visit Joe's mom at work.


mini admin

As it turns out, Sydni seems to have the blood of an office administrator; she wasted no time in settling in to Sandy's desk, taking the whole process very seriously. We let her finish up her pretend phone calls to everyone she knows [Nana, Pappy, Mamaw, Dawne, LandonBabot, Bootsie, Joe, and myself - they were very short conversations, ha] before toting her off to grab some lunch and head to the park.

the dills ♥

It was hardly crowded at Miami Meadows, which I thought unusual for a Saturday until I remembered it's a holiday weekend. The only real mass of people outlined the soccer fields, where elementary-aged kids swarmed around in a group after the ball. I remember that. So does Joe, and it all gave me a new excitement for when Sydni gets to that point. We took a long walk, stopping every 10 feet or so for Sydni to pluck and splatter blow all the seeds off of those white puffy dandelions. Sorry for the gross repopulation of those things, pretty park; I'm pretty sure they'll quadruple in number from Sydni's efforts alone today.

We decided to head back home, which led to Sydni begging us to ceding point to sit and watch Tangled with her. We've only seen that movie a grand total of abouuuut 74982378048320750217 times now, but I'm pretty certain anyone with small children knows exactly how this feels; if you've got little girls right now, then you also know all the lines and lyrics to this movie, just like we do.

Joe's mom made it home mid-afternoon, and volunteered to watch Sydni so we could meet with Justin and his family for an expedition to the bowling alley. JB & his mom are apparently on the same bowling league, through her work; I would later make the conclusion that everyone who works for this local Toyota dealership is apparently just hairs shy of pro-bowler status. I've never seen so many consecutive strikes in my life, not in person anyway. We were there for 3 games, plenty of time for us to catch up with JB, Dez, and the rest of the Boesherz family, but not before Joe was pulled over for speeding, on the 2 mile stretch between our place and the bowling alley.

are you kidding me?!

Let me just say that I find it a stark injustice at how easily Joe can wiggle out of traffic tickets. For the last two years, he's been pulled over a small handful of times, each one resulting in a WARNING. Seriously? I very clearly recall being right around the 8month mark of my pregnancy and getting a speeding ticket while taking Kalyn home. I remember propping the clipboard up on my quite obvious bump and angrily signing my name away. Not even 10 miles over the speed limit, either, and here my husband has slid right through the grasps of at least 4 speeding tickets in the last year or so, maybe including this one. I'm not really allll that suprised, what with his cunning ability to sell people onto his brainwave; in hindsight now I'm actually more surprised that these officers haven't been paying him to continue on his way when it's all said and done.

Anyway, tomorrow is church with my family and Easter with Joe's family; the annual easter egg hunt is going to be in full effect, and we'll finally get to see Nicki, Joe's sister, who is newly pregnant with their 3rd child. We've got a neice or nephew on the way!

Time to get rested....

xo | cmd

Betrayal!



qdoba quesadilla



Dear Chipotle,
I’m sorry. Today I ate a quesadilla from QDoba, and I didn’t hate it.
I feel like a traitor, but I promise I’ve not forgotten you.
For what it’s worth, I still think you’re better. 

Apologies,
Cori

P.S. – This was Joe’s fault. Had he not had an early day, he wouldn’t have met me for lunch, and we wouldn’t have randomly picked a lunch spot.

P.P.S – Ok, that’s a lie. We decided together. He’s sorry, too. We’ll see you soon.

xo | cmd