♥ Happy Birthday, Boyfriend!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TO YOU ♥
[my best friend turns 27 today!]

♥.

Today's his birthday (: He's currently en route back from FL / LA with one of his friends, and if I'm right, I'll see him halfway through this week on Wednesday. To say I'm excited is an understatement.

Since I love posting photos and all that jazz, here are some of my favorites with this incredible guy of mine... Sure, it's not been that long so far, but we've been friends for far longer than photo history cares to document. The funny part is, that as obsessed as I am with pictures, we're usually having too good a time together to stop and take any. I'm thinking that's not a bad problem to have... but of the rare few we do have, they are ours, and I think that's pretty cool ღ

⑩ | Our first picture together, after what... 1+years of being friends? May sound dumb to most, but I usually have pictures of all my friends right away, in some fashion. This one was at The Old Rock House in St. Louis, for a concert we went to with some of his friends. Yes, I look scraggly. No, I didn't care....

old rock house | st. louis, mo

⑨ | Bindy's. You can't see any of that place behind us, but Rob introduced me to this place and now I make it a point to visit whenever I'm back. It's one of those local dives that everyone in town knows, and you always run into someone you know there, if you're a local yourself. In a weird way, it kinda makes me miss Mt. Vernon. In a weirder way, I just said ... that I miss Mt. Vernon. Whoa.

bindy's | granite city, il

⑧ | Rob finds Cincinnati! I finally persuaded Rob to come back to my stomping grounds with me for a weekend. This is the first time he accompanied me back; we found Catie and some others and made a night of it. Who really knows where we were here or what we were doing, but I know myself well enough to know that's a real smile on my face and it was there because of this guy.

rob in the 'nati.. uh oh.. haha

⑦ | Kyle's 30th birthday! In the spirit of birthdays, I thought I'd post this one, because 1) I love birthdays, and 2) I love this picture. Simple as that.


at kramden's for kyle's 30th

⑥ | Supercross in Indianapolis. This was back in March this year, St. Patrick's Day weekend to be exact. This night did not turn out the way we'd expected, but this is still a good picture. The weekend? Not so much, but hey... life happens, we all survived, and downtown Indy can bite it. Hrmmph!

lucas oil stadium | indianapolis, in

⑤ | Just us. We were lazing around one night and one of us pulled out a cell phone. There's nothing particularly special about this one other than it's just us, not being fancy [not that either of us really are in the first place, but still..]... but really just hanging out and being simple. Probably some of my favorite time.

couch potatoes. completely ok with that.

④ | Mudbash 2013. This was pretty much awesome... mainly because I was surrounded for an entire day with other people who enjoy sloppy mud, huge trucks and tailgating just as much I do. I'm not sure how I managed to get clean within 24 hours after this, but it was totally worth it.


mudbash 2013 | buchanan's mudpark, mo

③ | My going-away party. So this whole process still stings a little, but Rob made sure he came to the tiny shindig we had for my farewell back to Ohio. My office team set up a dinner at Edison's in Edwardsville and we spent the entire evening goofing off and telling some of our favorite stories about the people and events we encounter at work. As small as it all was, I was so thankful for my friends from work and for Rob coming to be a part of that.

edison's | edwardsville, il

② | Styx. Ted Nugent. REO Speedwagon. This was from just a couple of months back, at the VZW Amphitheater in STL. Rob's mom bought tickets for us for this show back in February, and held onto them all the way up until this show. We went with his mom and stepdad, and had an amazing night. I went back to IL for the weekend just for this, and I'm glad I did.


vzw amphitheater | st. louis, mo

① | And duh. Ya'll are probably sick of this picture, but I don't think I'll ever be tired of it. This is the most recent, from Rob's last visit here and our day trip down to Findlay Market & Washington Park. There's nothing to say about this that I haven't already said... other than, "girls it's okay if you're jealous... he's pretty awesome." - I'm joking, not about him being awesome, but about being catty over it. I just love the guy, and I can't... freakin'.. help it.

♥♥♥♥♥. | findlay market | cincinnati, oh

So happy birthday, lumberjack.
Love you, & can't wait to see you this week.

xo | cmd

Going Away Party : Part 1

My going-away "festivities" began today. As I sit here at the end of the day, all I can is that I feel incredibly blessed and thankful for these people.

I thought I'd share just a couple of highlights from today.

For this week, I've been booted out of my old desk so that MB could move into the "neighborhood," and have been shacking up temporarily at Matt's desk on the other side of the divider. With this arrangement, I can no longer see anyone on the other side, but I sure as Sam can hear them. The conversations haven't changed, but I realized today how funny it is when you can only hear people that you're used to seeing as well. In NO way poking fun at the visually impaired, I made the comment that this is how it must be sometimes to be blind. I looked over at Ali, who was trying to absorb what it would be like.......... with her eyes shut ;). We got a giggle out of it, because obviously if you can't see with your eyes open, you don't need to them shut to get the same effect.. haha.


"how blind people listen???"

We agreed earlier last week that the destination for all things going-away would be Edison's, down the street from our office in Edwardsville. We toted ourselves there after work, sans Linda or MB due to family stuff [you.were.MISSED!], but added Jay & Rob to balance it out. Edison's, as always, didn't disappoint.

mmmm.. edison's! | edwardsville, il

My FOC-slash-best friend..... was there, of course.... (: Jay came along, too, but of course we didn't think to grab a picture. I have no good excuse. Sorry :( :( :(

love her, to the moon & back!!

And the boyfriend... who made the trip straight from work in O'Fallon... because he is amazing like that...

adore.

Once we thoroughly exhausted our welcome at Edison's, the party disbanded and went our separate ways; Rob and I headed over to Ali's house for about an hour so that I could say a farewell to Padre Lackey, DeShawn and Tim. DeShawn, with whom I also failed to get a picture, got me the first of my favorite going-away gifts, ever..... and I love it, and I'm wearing it tomorrow, and the END! ;) 

whooooooo has terrific friends! [me. that's who. me.]
thank you, damanji!!!

Ali also got me a picture frame... that I love love & love.... I'll show you that tomorrow, because the happy stock family in it now, despite their joyous marketing-appropriate smiles, are nothing that will stick around ;)

*Sigh. Tomorrow's the potluck at the office, which will include everyone who couldn't make the dinner tonight. It'll be a bittersweet day, that's for sure.... but I'm going to be thankful this entire journey happened, rather than be mad that it's over. How ... bout... that.

See you in the mornin'!

xo | cmd

Express @ Edisons : The Work Party (:

Oh, and btw it's 12.12.12! That means absolutely NOTHING, other than in 9 days, we're supposedly all going to be wiped clean off the planet and erased from the state of current existence.


battle gear? mmmk.



Sure. At least I won't have to write any resolutions I won't keep in the first place. It's an even bigger shame that I don't believe in the Mayan hype and therefore can't blame any lethargy or senioritis on the projected end of my existence.

Speakin' of work, we had our official work party tonight, in celebration of our office and all that we do to drive each other nuts on a daily basis (:

Management chose Edison's in Edwardsville. Haha. For those of you who, like me had no idea what that is - it's laser tag [hello, senior pre-prom]. Ali insisted on suiting up in battle gear, so she and her sister showed up equipped with face paint and bandanas. Did we decline? Of course not. I'm unfortunately among the first to jump at the chance to make an idiot out of myself. Usually it's unintentional anywa, so I've just learned to embrace it. Hah.

Anyway, we ate, we drank, we shot each other with some lasers, and we arcaded. It was definitely a step back into the kid side of all of us, but I don't think any of us are ashamed of our inner child.



like an episode of tropic thunder

eep : glen carbon | linda. diana. marc. cori. ali. tonya

redneck holiday blowout. pretty standard stuff.

don't spill. don't...... spill.

possibly my favorite from the evening...
edison's point system hard at work...

I love these people, even the ones that drive me up one side of a wall and down the other. We've all got something of a dysfunctional relationship, but that works for us and we've come to terms with each other's quirks.

Merry early Christmas, friends!!

xo | cmd