Meet the Teacher!

I found this little guy off Chibird, and had to share it, because ya'll...

June and July were literally 5 seconds long, I'm sure of it. What happened?!

*Le sigh... No sense obviously in wondering where it all went, although I'm not really complaining because that just stands to reason that the summer was packed full enough to make time seem fleeting. We were fortunate to travel most of this summer, catch up with the regular faces, reconnect with some old familiar ones, and even meet some new ones. Birthdays, weddings, baby showers, bridal showers and following Sydni around for whatever it is she's doing = my summer.

Speaking of Sydni.. and speaking of Summer..

The latter is coming to a close, and the former just went to check out her third grade classroom tonight. And guys, lemme tell you what.. unless her teacher turns out to be some heinously bipolar train wreck, I can tell you right now that I already love her. I've heard nothing but positive things from other parent friends whose kids went through her class, and meeting her tonight was pretty much all the confirmation I needed to feel confident that Sydni's going to have a great year.

I walked into a room filled with THESE CHAIRS.

gaiams!!!!

Literally, I geeked. I guessed Sydni's reaction before she came through the door, and I wasn't wrong. She's on cloud 9 right now - she got the homeroom teacher she wanted, and she gets to be just like mom while she's "working."

like mama like mini! 

I don't know who's more excited about her 3rd grade experience - me, or her. Whew..

Seriously though. This kid hit the jackpot.

And I did, too! I came home to find this waiting on the front porch for me:

botm! 

The August Book of the Month is HERE! I had a friend randomly pick this out of the August lineup, and read the overview later. It looks legit, so once I find the spare time [hahahahhhahahahahahaha] to read it, maybe I'll post a book review. We'll see. Don't hold your breath ;).

Monday.. check.
This week is stacked already.. time for some rest!

xo | cms

Friday, You Are My HEEERO.

Ok, so really it was last week that I could've legitimately said, "Friday, I thought you'd never get here." This week, I was equally ready for the last day, but not quite for the same reasons.

For starters, this came in today, and created a small but welcomed shift in my daily "living space" here at the desk... 

Last week was brutal from the time Monday rolled out on the wrong side of the bed, until it finally went back to bed Friday evening. Just a rough week. This week wasn't any less active, but there was definitely a firmer balance with life beyond the desk, and while we were at them, it didn't feel quite like the universe was trying to sizzle us under a magnifying glass. 

But still, a busy week is a busy week, no matter how you spin it. This Friday at hand was punctuated by an isolated incident involving an individual [who should also be isolated, perhaps on an island somewhere... or another planet... mehhh; I digress] with a fascinatingly-unfortunate and advanced arsenal of ignorance. The week's been good. We had the pedal to the floor for four full days, so I wasn't surprised to feel the gas running low today.

At least we finally took lunch breaks that exceeded 5 minutes. I think today was an entire 10, maybe even 12.whole.minutes. College taught me how to be resourceful with just a couple of minutes [usually running, ungracefully between campus buildings]. Whatever. Lunch!

nommmmsss.. 

The weekend was officially here. 

Well, almost. 

This was my 6:00. And 7. And also 7:30p: 

paperwork. the bane of my existence..... 

This guy I know [he's kinda cool, so I decided I'm going to take his last name later on this year ;)] - well, he made and brought me not only a PB&J, but a PB&J burrito, along with my favorite pair of jeans, so that I could wrap up my work and not have to go home and change/eat before reporting in for celebration with our long lost friend Jessica! 

I changed, ate and closed up shop. From there, it was off to Pearl's in Col-Tusculum for Jessica's open house: celebrating her past accomplishments and shortly-unfolding plans for expansion to her studio. 

love this gal!!

Congratulaaaations, dear friend! And so good to see you, as always! 

we're really good at pictures. like, really good.
:|

Oh, and my date was decent, too, I s'pose. 

this guy...... 

And with that being said, the weekend is officially here. And that's officially awesome. 

Happy Weekend, blogbots! 

xo | cmd

Progress Reports ;)

I'm on day 2 of my 2014 Lent commitment, and I have to say this is one of the best things I've ever done for Lent. I thought about this on the way to work, and consequently found myself preparing my heart for the words I wanted to speak to the person I would randomly draw from the jar. I prayed that I would find the best set of words to convey my appreciation for that person in the short space I've given myself in each little note card. These, after all, are not lengthy letters, but rather just simple notes.

jar of ♥s

^ Yes, this is my own little jar of hearts. This is only day 2 and I'm in love with the idea of doing this.
So there's that update.

Another mini progress report would be a tiny little victory shout that I have not fallen off this balance ball chair yet! Instead, I've put the daggone thing to work, and every spare second I have [which really isn't many, thankfully] is spent doing some sort of exercise. I stretched my back out for a bit today as well, and easily could've just stayed in that moment of bliss for the entire day.

this thing... is the best.

Yes, I occasionally find myself literally upside-down at work. Luckily for me, nobody can see me in my little corner without giving themselves away on the approach. Also, I'm not alone in my obsession with combatting office lethargy: Elisa is now using the other exercise ball I bought originally before I found my chair. Her desk sits lower than mine, so the height difference isn't as noticeable. Lizzy has a pedometer, and spends most of her in-office time marching in place while doing computer and phone work. Nancy does pilates every week, and Dave... well Dave is probably glad he's not a weirdo like the four of us ladies. Haha.

So far, so good.

Last update for today: I think Rob & I finally found our in-town sushi destination. We had made Se7en in Belleville our little spot when we were still living there, but we've been thus far up in the air about a decent dive here. Tonight we ventured over to Mango Tree in Mariemont, where I used to always order carry-out Pad Thai when I still lived in Fairfax. I'd never tried anything from their sushi menu, but we figured it was worth a try.

appetizers: edamame & spring rolls

 Our sushi arrived:

fried rice & top to bottom:
ultimate california roll, philly, spicy california, california

I am now a big fan of this place, and sure, here's a free plug for Mango Tree in Mariemont: GO THERE! Nom nom nom nommmmm...

Oh, and guess what. Tomorrow is FRIDAY.
THAT MEANS...

omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg.
...they're coming... tomorrow. omg... o..m...g.

I can't wait. I just can't.

I think we'll sleep well tonight (:

xo | cmd

I'm a Gaiam Girl.

I told ya'll I'd have an udpate on the balance ball chair thing.

Welp... today I went for it and traded my office chair for a Gaiam balance chair. I was a little skeptical at first, but I'm pretty much in love with this thing now and I wonder why I waited so long.

Last week I switched my primary seating to an exercise ball, which I swapped with my regular chair only for interviews.

[i posted this last week]

Today I did my first couple of interviews atop this thing, and after throwing a sherpa blanket across the whole thing, only one person really even noticed it was that different from a standard chair.


yessssss

You can't really see it there, but this thing has a wheeled base and detachable balance ball. I don't feel like I'm sitting on the floor, either, which is great. Now all I need is a cover, and I've got my eye on a couple.. including this one: 

love. this.

My only problem is that I can't justify spending almost $45 on the cover for the ball that, along with the chair base didn't even cost half of that. There are other options.. so I'll keep ya posted ;)

I'm at home now, feeling pretty good about this new little perch I've got. Rob, Sydni and I just finished eating dinner and it's time now to watch Frozen for the umpteenth time for family movie night and get ready for tomorrow. The weekend is in sight... almost.. almost!

xo | cmd

Balance Balls & Super Sushi

Call me over-the-top this year, but I'm bent on getting back in shape for 2014. I didn't make it a resolution or anything for the new year, but I'm finding that with every day, I'm becoming more and more interested again in the things I've always loved. This goes alllll the way back to the healing process that is still happening to me, from the inside out. Where I used to just feel defeated and dull, I now feel excited and determined. Whole-body fitness is on the list of things I'm controlling this year (:

And that means integrating little things into my daily life. I work in an office, which very easily becomes a gateway to a sedentary 8-to-5 for a lot of people, myself included some days. Sure, I'm up and down enough throughout the day that it doesn't always seem that way, but every once in a while, I'll catch myself with both feet tucked up under me on my chair, hunched over whatever email or proposal I'm absorbing.

Yesterday I paused for a moment and realized that I was essentially a circle with my desk. 

this will not be me!

.... No good. My spine probably hates me.

Wellll... in a spontaneous decision while out to get Sydni a pair of shoes, I wound up at the check-out with a balance ball in hand as well. I plan to mount this on a base, but I don't have that yet, so for now, the ball it is. 

ball replaces chair.. hmm..

It's definitely an interesting seat to have; I've decided I definitely need the base as well, since the ball itself isn't really tall enough to accomodate the rest of my desk. Either way, I sat perched on this thing for the last half of today and I can already feel the difference.

As I was bouncing through the latter half of my work day, Rob texted me to see if I had interest in trying out a sushi place down the road from us. Sushi is pretty much a rhetorical question for the two of us, so after work, off to Beechmont it was for some edamame, sushi, pad thai and fried rice. 


great date. super sushi.
winnnniiinnnngggggg.... (:

We're stuffed. We have leftovers, even, which is way unusual for us at a Thai place.

And heyyyyyy, it's the WEEKEND!
Sleeping in tomorrow.... I cannot wait..
... it's the small things (:

xo | cmd