Hello, Lakewood!

Rise and shine!
On a Saturday? Cori, are you okay? 

Guys, I was meeting up with the Costanza clan and heading north to Lakewood. The Vega's were waiting on the other side, and so were a cast of folks I'd not yet met, but was looking forward very much to getting to know.

Roooooad trip!

We piled into the van at the Costanza house and wasted no time finding the highway northbound. It was a smooth ride nearly the entire way, until we hit a stretch of unpaved roadway and a broken down semi that resulted in nearly an hour of lost time. Good thing there were some interesting views along the way:

What should've been 4 hours turned into 5, but the end was all that much better when we rolled into the driveway of the Constanzas' friends, and were greeted by them, their 4 awesome kiddos and of course, Talsy & David!

We settled in, exchanged introductions and cozied up with some heated blankets to talk with the Vega's about the recent happenings in the mountains of Panama. It's been just a little over a year since we've seen Talsy & David; we've all changed so much but still hardly at all [if that makes any sense at all] in just a years' time.

talsy. david. chris

OH, and I experienced Angelo's for the first time. This place alone would be enough to bring me back. Thanks for ruining pizza anywhere else for me for the rest of time, Angelo's... haha. 

this place.. yummmm...

The night wound down as David & Talsy headed back to their host home for the night, the kids all headed upstairs to bed, some of us took showers and then started to wind down until the air mattress was finally inflated, the couch was made and each of us retired to our respective spots for the night. 

Tomorrow: Church at Crosspoint, where the Vega's will share the update on the missions with us. I'm ready & excited to experience Crosspoint and see what they're all about. Plus, Todd gifted us with these super soft and super comfy shirts [thanks, guys!!!]

thank you!!

Good night, Lakewood! 

xo | cmd

"A 6-Die Farkle is a Bad, Bad Day...."

It's almost Friiiiiday! 

Today was a good one. I've been buried up to my eyeballs in work for the past couple weeks, but after a refreshing break to grab dinner with Becky & Mike last night, and after the good news today that we'll be adding a new girl to our staffing team to absorb the other half of what I'm currently doing, well... it's all been a blur, but it just made today really... interesting. In a good way, I think.

I left work per the usual schedule to get Sydni; for over half the trip, I trailed a car that kept asking me the question of the ages [or at least of the past few weeks, seemingly so whenever I look up for a split second..]

i mean........ 

^ It's a valid question, and I know I'm not the only one who feels like I'm asking my own brain this and expecting some third party answer half the time. Like, I busted into Milford today with no idea what my name was after following that guy, who also probably thought I was stalking him after I snapped this picture at the red light. Meh. 

Sydni told me all about her school's Valentine's Day party as we cruised back home, until Nana called and we got to coordinating plans for the clan to come down and visit [aka help us clean the current digs once we pack it up next month and head to the new place!]

It was a short U-turn at home, where we squeezed in homework, a snack, a potty break and costume change from work to street clothes before rushing right back out the door for small group. Tonight was especially hilarious, as we took a 1-week break from our usual studies to indulge in a time of fellowship of games and snacks. I am beyond grateful for this crew, for the fellowship, and above all, for the fact that a game of Farkle has never before been so much daggone FUN! 

farkle! 

I think as I finish this week and head into next week, I'm not going to be able to unhear Jen's exclamation, "A 6-die Farkle is just a Bad, Bad Day!" How a cup, 6 die and a group of awesome people can lighten up an evening and get those happy little endorphins movin' :). 

Yeahhhhh... 

Seriously, this week's been a blur. Last week, too. Tomorrow's Friday, and I'm pretty certain it's going to be the perfect start to a weekend of fun :). We've got a celebratory work dinner planned with Chris & Deb as a reward for winning the quarterly sales contest, followed by the weekend I'll spend in Cleveland with these two [+Q&E!] - 

heading to cleveland on saturday with this lovely fam! 

Happy, happy, HAPPY almost Friday, blogbots! 

xo | cmd