And Home Again

It's been a loaded weekend, to say the least. We're home now, but not without a day full of activity under the belt.

We started off with breakfast at Rob's dad's house; yesterday's visit there brought us back together for the morning there with them, this time complete with a visit from Rob's younger niece Ella, who is Sydni's age. We were greeted first by the little furry reminder of joy in the face of an otherwise tense situation: Ginger!

good morning, beautiful girl! 

hi, ella! ♥

We ate breakfast and spent the morning in the company of family, which was exactly what everyone in the house needed.

kate with the pups & ginger 

We soon said our goodbyes [for now; we'll be back asap!] and headed back to Dillon's to scoop up our dogs and be on our way.

Oh, I can't forget to mention the other pitstop before we hit the highway:

ohhhhhh brother.. 

Remember this girl? Yes, she's still in operable condition and has spent the last couple of weeks shacked up in Matt's shed. We made a detour through Collinsville on our way out to say our thanks to him and load her up. The guys took to that task, while I hung back and marveled over Apollo, Matt's dane:

apollo! 

The process went a lot smoother than I'd expected, and within a matter of minutes, the bike was hauled up, strapped in and ready to go!

ready to go!

Despite the roller-coaster of emotions, we seemed to stay in decent spirits for the ride home. We know the next couple of months are going to be a bit strenuous, regardless of how the course of events fall, but we know we're stronger together and when you add God to the mix, joy in the midst of it all is an undeniable fact.

road trippin' it! ♥

We're home now, exhausted and ready to call it a night.
Happy week, loves.

xo | cmd 

Finally Friday

This was my vote for today: 

..... I sure needed it, today. Elisa was out for the day, and Paul spent the majority of the day doing field work, so my weird sinus allergy issue and I were on our own for most of the day. Fortunately, Nate from CYOFL took the jump for our Color Run team and went to pick up the race day packets, saving me a trip down to Newport [thank you, Nate!!!]

Rob took off this morning as well, after the early morning had passed, and I finally got an update that he'd made it to the rendezvous point with Matt and Dillon. 

the harley boys... 

I myself was looking very much forward to an evening of doing absolutely nothing, a goal I executed like a daggone professional if I may say so myself.. haha. Many thanks to Netflix and the worn-in sections of my couch.

The boys are settled in safely, and I'm completely content with the temporary solitude that I'll have for the next few days.

Heeeeere's to the weekend!

xo | cmd

Mini Master Mechanic [At Your Service!]

This is what my evening looked like: 

mini master mechanic! 

Rob takes off tomorrow for a weekend in the Smokies with a couple of his friends from back home. Before he even got the garage door open, Sydni was there, snow boots and long sleeves to "protect" herself.. haha. She is such a ham, and there's no other way we'd rather have it. 

This went on for hours. I busied myself with tidying up the house and getting dinner on the table, the details of which I'll spare all of you out there.. haha. 

It's also the birthday of one of my dear friends, Ladd! Happy birthday, Mister .. and hopefully I'll see you and your little family soon! 

Tomorrow's FRIDAY! WOOO! 

xo | cmd

Beating the Monday Bear

There's nothing like a Monday to crush some of whatever residual joy I have from the weekend. That's a little dramatic, but it's true and I needed something to kick-start my week.

This did the trick:

Watch it a few times if you need a smile like I did this morning ;)

To say that the rest of the day floated by like a cotton candy cloud is a blasphemous statement of trash, so I was more than ready to sacrifice my body for the sake of yoga when the work clock wound down.

[before] .. because the after... is just gross. 

I sweat like I've never sweat before; if I'm being honest with myself, I may have had a little more than I could handle on Saturday, and am clearly still paying for it two days later.

That little theory of mine was proved by the time I showered, got home and headed right back out with Rob to Mainstreet Cafe. Thankfully, Chad was working, and in a greatly-appreciated act of empathy, I survived dinner without the need to ask for a refill:

thaaaaaank you, chad! 

So yeah. The Monday bear has been tackled, and I think I can handle tomorrow without as much fuss or cloud as today ;)

xo | cmd

Journey | Steve Miller Band

On Sunday, Rob told me to check my email. I'd assumed it was information for our upcoming vaca, but I was wrong.

It's been a while since I've been so happy... to be wrong.
Instead of itinerary notes, it was a ticket confirmation to see these guys:

journey

steve miller band

STAAAHHHP.... My poor heart!
I LOVE the SMB, and Journey is, well.. they're Journey! C'Mon!
I have the best boyfriend imaginable. While the fastest and most direct route to my heart is through my stomach [aka, food], a very closely-contending route would be through live concerts for some of the bands I adore.

So I spent the entire day with SMB & Journey on my Pandora, singing "wheel in the sky keeps on tuuuuurnin'... don't know where I'll be tomoooorrooow...." over and over in my head in anticipation that they'd play that song [*spoiler alert: they did.].

Work passed quickly enough and it was home-bound to get ready. The sky threatened rain for a mere 20 minutes until it passed through and we voted on taking the bike down to Riverbend. Good call, too, since there's a Harley Row literally just outside of the entrance to Riverbend [tiny things = big wins!]

harley parking!

Kalyn, Brittany and their dad Papa Todd were on a separate trip to the concert, but we rendezvoused with them and parked ourselves on the lawn for a good night.

rob. me. brittany. todd. kalyn

And that's exactly what it was.

brittany! [& rob filming the concert.. haha]

love. this. guy.

and someone brought.. watermelon?

because sharing.. is caring... ;)

he loves me ♥

some smb!

A little [shaky, sorry] video footage of us and a thousand of our fellow folk enjoying perfect weather for the show!


happy people!

Last one for the night before the sun went down...


& so i love these people.

What an awesome night.
I told Rob next time, I'll drive, too ;)

whatcha think?? ;)

We're all home safe & sound. That's a wrap here, folks!
Good night!

xo | cmd

Friends On The Water

We woke up this morning to that atmosphere you can only find when camping. The smell of dew from overnight was still hanging in the air when we crawled out of the tent, and the sun was peeking through between the trees. The campfire ashes were still smoldering, and the familiar feeling of being surrounded by mud and camping gear first thing in the morning set in immediately.

I LOVE it.

I also love being on a boat.
With Rob.
.. And our friends (:

This was day 2 of taking the boat out on the water; yesterday was her baptism to the 2014 season, and today we motored a course around the lake by ourselves for a couple hours before Kalyn, Brittany and Chad rolled in.

Here's the photographic story of that happening :P 

my love (:
day 2!

sparkly water (:

floatin' away!

We decided to dock up for a minute to get our friends in on the action!

hi guys!!!

laid out with my best friend

love. love. looooove. these girls.

And what's a boating trip without doing yoga on the bow of the boat? 

just a little yoga for the trip out

Oh, and the polar plunge, aka the cold water challenge... whatever you wanna call it. It might be warm out, but the water is still pretty.. freakin'... frigid.

trying to talk ourselves into it....

go!
.... coldcoldcoldcoldcold...

We talked Chad & Rob into doing it, as well... 

 

I love these people...  

loungin' out without a single thing on the agenda

besters.

It was finally time to tow in... we were all winding down and ready to eat.

headin' on home



i am one absolutely content girl (:

^ Yeah, lots of selfies on the boat today. None of us could help it; happy people, happy pictures!

 

Rob & I dropped the boat at the house, threw on some jeans and made a U-Turn back out of the neighborhood on the bike to meet the other three for dinner. Our destination: The Eagle in OTR. We hadn't yet been, but we'll be back!  

sweet potato bake, chicken sandwiches, mac & cheese, spoonbread..
... nomsssss.

Whew. That's the way to finish a Sunday! We definitely got some sun out there this weekend, but it's nice to be home again with our pups for a the rest of the night. We're gonna crash here in a minute, I can tell.

I'll deal with Monday when it gets here... hah. G'Nite!

xo | cmd 

Tunes & Blooms: The Finale

Today was one of those days at work; for the most part, everything on our plates usually runs smoothly. However, when there is a problem, it's usually a pretty big one, and today was no exception to that. I was challenged today.. really challenged to comprehend the breaking point that pushes some people to act so violently in an unprovoked situation. I now have an employee with a broken wrist because of the erratic outrage of a random person. It makes me furious to think about it, still.. but our employee is handling it better than I probably, and he's going to be okay. Right now, that's all that matters.

In other news, Rob and I both needed a bit of a breather, so we joined Mike & Becky at the last round of Tumes & Blooms at the zoo. We've only gone to one other one so far, but wanted to make it out for one last hoo-rah.

There of course were the tunes:


bluegrass @ tunes & blooms!

There were friends... 

hi, friends! 

love love love 'em.

... there were flowers...

beautiful!

.. and of course, there were friends and flowers!

goofball.

Oh! And there's a new baby at the zoo! We caught a tiny peek of little [by little, I mean 5'11" tall and 150 some lbs..] Nasha's head while we were there; she was in the giraffe den nestled up against a far wall, so no full shots today. I did however find a video of her from TWO days ago when she was born!

Yay, baby animals! (:
We wrapped up at T&B when our stomachs started growling, and made a getaway to Comet in Northside for dinner. Tofu quesadilla it was, and of course a selfie... because... well, because lumberjack hats and PBR. That's why.

duh. (:

I'm totally shameless about that hat. Yes, it's quite the furry head accessory, but we took the bike out tonight and I'll give ya one guess as to whose head wasn't cold on the trips to and from.. E|:)

Happy Thursday, blogbots!!

xo | cmd

HAPPY [surprise party for your] BIRTHDAY, ALI!!

We started the day off with a visit from Mike over to Jesse's. I have yet to meet Elaina, but hopefully that will happen on our next trip out here (:

We headed to Alton with Rob's mom & Don for lunch, and Jesse met us there.

chubby's | alton, il

It is obviously getting gorgeous outside:

... for blocks! (:

After lunch, Rob & Jesse stayed back to do a few things, and I set out on a mission of my own, to complete some last minute errands for Ali's surprise party. I would've been done I'm sure nearly 2 hours sooner had it not been for the trains. I'd forgotten how many of these stinkin' things they have in constant circulation out here.. haha.

choo.. chooo... choooooose a better route next time, cori.

Aaaaanyway,
The culmination of so many people's efforts this week happened around 6:30 this evening, when DeShawn brought Ali back to her apartment to us, a clan of surprisers, ready to pounce on her as soon as she walked through the door.

Picture Time!

presents

cookie cake

A series of pictures with Tim & balloons...

because... balloons.

the birthday girl!
.. & tim.. with an orbiting balloon.. ;)

turtle piñata, post candy spill!

one of the many similarly-themed and
absolutely age-appropriate presents (:

tim got balloons...
damanji got bubbles

the ringleader of the surprise party plans
& the birthday girl!

This adorable picture of Ali & her roommate:

a&d

.... that came right after this other picture of Ali and her roommate... and some others: 

this.

My date:


my best friend (:

Here's a fun fact: If you rub balloons on the carpet, your shirt, or pretty much any other static-enhancing surface, you can stick them to Ali's ceiling and they will stay.

Here's us exploiting that fact:

anti-gravity balloons

creeeeeeeepy damanji & the anti-gravity balloons

Eeeeeverybody now!

this weird, posed picture...

... and this completely normal one (: (: (:

In closing,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to one of the most incredible gals I know. Ali, I hope you loved your party tonight almost as much you're loved by the people who planned it for you and who could and couldn't make it out tonight. You're another fabulous year young, my friend. LOVE YOU!!!!!

love. this. girl.
happy 23!

Love you, Ali! Haaaaappy Birthday!!!

xo | cmd