!!!!! WORLD. CHAMPIONS !!!!!

Today started out in church, alongside my best friend [that's Rob, fyi..] and our congregation as we sang praise, worshiped and studied. I made it my prayer that I would maintain myself and a level head for later today in the event that the USWNT would fall to Japan in the WWC2015 finals, and I meant it. It sounds frivolous to pray for something like that, but I've been making very intentional efforts lately to BE present in mind and focus on ALL cylinders, according to the way I'm called to act, speak and behave, so praying for self-control if the ladies lost was really not an illegitimate prayer.

We headed home, took care of some errands and chores around the house and then.. it was time!

all day long. thinking about this.... all. day. long. 

I met up with Brandon a little earlier than necessary, but with good reason: When Germany played, we nearly missed kickoff because Goodfellow's was packed and we got lucky with room at Latitude's. I was determined to stay put at Goodfellow's tonight. He'd snagged the big center table, a space that would soon be shared by Jessica, Rob and then by chance, a group of people who knew Brandon. It was the perfect arrangement, and within no time, kickoff happened. 

And I... MISSED. The. First. Goal.

I mean come on! We were still getting situated with menus and drink orders, and WHO would've honestly thought that we would score in the THIRD minute?! (Not me, so that means I'm a bad fan with no faith.. I know, I know!)

So there was Lloyd, in replay, with the first goal of the final WC2015 game, and it was beautiful. Goodfellow's was roaring with fans, and just as I was trying to calm myself down, Lloyd nailed another one in the 5th minute.

UN. REAL!!! 

lloyd, you're an animal!!!

Brandon declared that Carli Lloyd was his spirit animal, and I somehow became even more nervous than I was at kick-off, because all too often we've seen strong leads [especially this early on] be dashed by an unprecedented opponent comeback. 

I didn't stay nervous very long - Holiday with her 14th minute goal, and then Lloyd with the back half LAUNCH that cleared the keeper put us at 4-0 at half-time. Holy freakin' crap, USA. You. Are. On. FIRE!!!! 

holiday & lloyd!! 

I'd been saying the entire game that I wanted 2 things:

1. Tobin to score a goal, and 

2. Wambach to sub in for at least some playing time in her last World Cup. 

Minute 54 was Tobin... 

tobin!!!!!!!!

And then in came Wambach, with an even bigger surprise trade from Lloyd, who insisted that Wambach take the captain's band to finish out this monumental game. Sure, Abby's absence from the team is going to affect me and all the years of my childhood leading up to this [we won't even talk about Rampone possibly leaving], but to see her have the captain's band for the Title game of the 2015 World Cup was about enough to make me cry.

captain wambach! 

And then Wambach insisting the band move to Rampone, for the trophy ceremony: 

christie rampone - hero from my childhood! 

[Here's the link to the article & page from which I borrowed those shots: USAToday Article]

And I would've cried, if I hadn't been so busy screaming my face off as the minutes wound down and it became clear that even with a 2-goal answer, Japan was going home in 2nd place and the USA were taking the Title of WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!! 

The amount of can't even'ing that was me tonight was basically unrivaled. 

FIVE to TWO. WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS. I am SO. FLIPPIN'. ECSTATIC!!!!! 

I wore my Lloyd shirt today. It was a solid choice to do that, and I don't think I've ever been so excited to watch a group of women play and win a game in my life.. not even at UC! [Sorry, ladies]. Lloyd, you deserved every single bit of that Golden Ball award!!! 

congratulations!!! 

And, despite other ways in which Hope Solo's made headlines, when it comes to the game, there's not a better keeper out there. Angerer is a close contender, but Hope is the brick [wall] in the box, and while some may not agree, I wholeheartedly believe she earned the Golden Glove, too! [Quick question though, where exactly is Julie Johnston's award for baddest-to-the-bone defender?!] 

yeah, solo!!! 

Guys, I'm exhausted from screaming like a psycho in the public view of the poor patrons at Goodfellow's, but a] don't care much.. sorry not sorry, and b] we just WON THE FRIKKIN' WORLD CUP!!!! So there's THAT.. and now I don't know what I'm going to be looking forward to for the next few weeks... but I'll figure it out ;) 

U-S-A!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xo | cmd 

Halloween + TBT

Happy Halloween, everyone!

So, I regrettably admit that I did pretty much next to nothing this year as far as Halloween was concerned. I did the trick-or-treat thing with Sydni and my parents at GWL this past weekend, but other than that, there were no wiiiiild Halloween shenanigans, like many of my friends had posted all over FB & Instagram. [I'm a little jealous, yeah, but there's always next year.. and I plan on not being so busy with the same things around this time in 2014!

Elisa texted me late last night as we were en route back to Cincinnati from the game suggesting we dress up as twins for work today.. I obliged that and we got a couple of good laughs out of folks who weren't prepared for body doubles when they came to visit us.

twins!

Speaking of costumes, I couldn't help but point out that really, no matter what anyone around me dressed up as this year, we will pale in comparison to some of the costumes I saw from the early 1900's. Sure, they're not off Pinterest, but I'm guessing most of them were hand-crafted somehow and quite frankly, they're terrifying.


i mean c'mon.. that's pretty creepy...

Right??!
And then that reminded me that I wanted to check this out yesterday but hadn't had the chance. As we were watching the game last night, Becky and I sat reminiscing on all of the players we watched as little-girl-soccer-players back in the 90s and early 2000s when the legends were still playing.

And so, this TBT [Throwback Thursday] is dedicated to some of my childhood favorites, and the new players who've taken heir to their jersey numbers.

First, my most respectful salute to the Fab Five [& no, sorry, I don't mean last year's USA gymnastics quintet]. I'm a 90's soccer girl, so of course I mean THE Fab Five: Mia, Julie, Kristine, Joy & Brandi.

1999 world cup & march of dimes

This is the fab five, along with Briana Scurry [GK] and Michelle Akers [FW/MF], who, let's face it, were both integral players in the '99 season, not to mention pioneers for women's soccer everywhere. Man, I feel ooooold.

{clockwise from top}
#14 joy fawcett | #11 julie foudy | #13 kristine lilly | #9 mia hamm
#6 brandi chastain | #1,GK briana scurry | #10 michelle akers

And here's my tribute to their jerseys, all of which we saw last night..

|| #6 ||
then: brandi chastain | now: crystal dunn

|| #9 ||
then: mia hamm | now: heather o'reilly

|| #10 ||
then: michelle akers | now: carli lloyd

|| #11 ||
then: julie foudy | now: ali krieger

|| #13 ||
then: kristine lilly | now: alex morgan

|| #14 ||
then: joy fawcett | now: whitney engen

|| #1 - goalkeeper ||
then: briana scurry | now: hope solo

And.... of course I wanted to throw in an ode to the girl lucky enough to don Abby Wambach's old jersey... but uhh... since Abby's still out there, as the veteran of the team, I'd say she deserves to stand alone in this one (: She has her own throwbacks, to the 28, 14 and now 20 [among the many others].

abby wambach.
current record-holder with 159 goals

Loooove (:

It's raining. That's completely not fair to trick-or-treaters everywhere.. I'm parked here on the couch in my sweats and don't plan on moving anywhere outside of the path between this and my bed for the rest of the evening, especially since T-O-T here in my neighborhood isn't happening tonight. Poor kiddos.

Good news: Tomorrow's Friday and I think the weather is supposed to hold out for everyone who had this rescheduled. Score!

Nighty night!

xo | cmd

U-S-A!!!!!!!!!!! [vs. New Zealand]

Wheeeeere... to... begin.

Holy smokes. I couldn't tell you when I last went to Crew Stadium for soccer game.
And forget just any game, how about a US Women's National Team game? Tonight was a friendly game [meaning it doesn't count for much of anything; trust me, gameplay is not always super-civil, haha], so Becky, Mike and I headed north to Columbus after work and met Brandon there. I gotta tell ya, it's a beautiful sight.


crew stadium field

gametime! (:

I love everything about going to league soccer games. I grew up on the stuff and honestly, I don't think I will ever tire of it. I came tonight with burning excitement to see Hope Solo & Abby Wambach: Solo because I think she's pretttttyyyy much the perfect female athlete, and Wambach because, well, I've been a fan of hers since the early 90's and she's now the veteran on the USWNT. She's part of my childhood just as much as the fab five were [Mia, Brandi, Julie, Joy & Kristine], along with the other greats like Briana & Michelle. 

hope, abby & the uswnt
#13 alex morgan | #2 sydney leroux | #1/gk hope solo | #12 lauren holiday
#10 carli lloyd | #9 heather o'reilly | #14 whitney engen | #4 becky sauerbrunn
#20 abby wambach | #6 crystal dunn | #22 meghan klingenberg

We had... a blast.

gameplay...

abbyyyyyy! [#20]

hope.. freakin'.... solo. (:

And we visited the merch tent.. because we're those fans, and completely not-at-all embarrassed by it.

yep. owned.

We ended up at a tie 1-1 versus the Kiwis, but it was a good game to watch and we had ourselves a great little time doing just that, so hey.. not upset at that at all!

at the 0 & 90 minute marks (:

What I do know, is that I'm going to be exhaaauuuusted tomorrow.
So... good night!

xo | cmd

T-T-T-Tuuuuesday.

I took Emergen-C for the first time in my entire life today. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I didn't hate it. It all started when Elisa couldn't decide if she was hot or cold, resulting in a perhaps-diagnosis of being sick. Nikki had EC's at her desk, and was quick to hand them out to each of us.

... & of course in an express cup.... yeeeup.

The good news: I don't feel any different than I did before I drank the stuff, which I'm going to conclude means that I wasn't sick before I did, and it didn't make me sick. So.. THERE. In-ya-face, sicky bugs.

 

In other news, in the world of alliteration-crazed social media hounds, it's Transformation Tuesday, and that means.....

lovelovelovelooooove her.

I couldn't tell you how hard it was selecting only two pictures for each of those years. The kid has so many sweet, sassy and perfectly-timed action shots that I sat there stewing over this for about 20 minute before I remembered it's just Instagram and it's okay. Haha. Still. LOOK AT HER! Ugh. It's not that I wish she'd stop growing up, because really, I'm excited to see how that challenges both of us, but really I wish there was at least a way to slow it down sometimes, or at least re-visit them. My 6lb, 9oz baby girl is now a 4-year-old and I feel like that happened overnight. *Sigh. I love it though ♥.

 

With the day out of the way, I got some exercise in before stopping off at the grocery store and heading home. From there on out, it apparently became my mission to cancel my workout entirely by indulging in a whole bunch of magic stuff as I kicked back by myself on the couch. Don't.. judge.. me. (:

yeah. it was that kinda night.

.... I'm okay with it though, because I'm still at a point where my metabolism will do its job in a timely fashion; I'll run it off if not, and for the record, this is a delicious combination, movie & all.

 

TOMORROWWWWWW = US WOMENS NATIONAL TEAM VS NEW ZEALAND....

... How.. excited... am... I. I haven't been to Crew Stadium in a few years, but I think I'm just most excited about seeing the lineup [because I'm hopelessly woman crushed over Hope Solo]. Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan won't hurt my feelings, either. Haha.

 

G'Nite, blogbots.

 

xo | cmd

Job Fairs & WCW

It was that time again today : Job Fair Time!


hello, from the job fair!

Nancy & I spent the bulk of the day downtown at the hiring event, which was a huge success! It's nice every now and again to mix up the day and get out of the office. Today was the perfect opportunity for that, and we walked away having accomplished a lot more than we'd bargained.

Wednesday WIN!

Oh, and since it's Woman-Crush-Wednesday, in the spirit of honoring my woman crush... Becky bought us tickets to see HOPE SOLO in a couple weeks at the National game between US & New Zealand... and I... cannot wait.

hope solo. my woman crush. get over it.

Woo! USWNT! Anyway, it's off to volleyball before I'm late... hasta luego, amigos (:

xo | cmd

Girl Crushes

Nothing says, "Yes, I'm comfortable with myself" like drawing up a list of the 10 other women you think are absolutely beautiful. Haha.

No, I'm not switching teams; I just happened to have a conversation earlier today with a few friends that started on the topic of man crushes and bloomed from there into the rest of the celebrity population.

Out of that, my dear friend Laila and I have both comprised our own lists of 10 gals we think are just.... pretty. I'm not talking Victoria's Secret bombshell goooorgeous, I'm talking just ... simply.. pretty. And.... this isn't a list of "top 10" necessarily, just the first 10 that came to mind... and really in no particular order.

So.. without further delay.. see what you think!

Cori's "First 10" Prettiest Female Celebrities.

Zoe Saldana.
.. and is it weird that her Avatar character really isn't all that ugly, either? Haha. I think I first saw Zoe when I watched Center Stage foreeever ago, and I thought she had a weird, simple beauty about her. I still do.

Brenda Song.
[Yay, Asians!] hahaha.. No seriously. She's done a few different kiddie movies and shows [I think Suite Life or something like that?], and some other random things. She's geeky on TV, but I still think she's pretty!

Sharni Vinson.
Actress, dancer, surfer.... flat out pretty even without makeup.... check check and check. I like that she's still in something of a limelight; she was the lead in Step Up 3, but other than that, I think I've only ever seen her in Blue Crush 2. She's super pretty, and an incredible dancer [modern/hip hop.. don't get weird..].

Minka Kelly.
It's weird, because I think I was drawn to her character from The Roommate moreso than I was drawn to her as an actress or anything like that. She looks a lot like a girl I knew back in college, and I always thought that girl had this natural beauty to her.. you know, those girls that can wake up in the morning, skip the shower and the makeup and still look like a million bucks? Yeah.. I think she's one of those..

Eliza Dushku.
Ya'll forgot about her, didn't you?? Hahaha. Yeah.. so did I until just the other day when I saw her on TV again.

Kirstie Maldonado.
Here's one not everyone may recognize. She's not only the female lead of the acappella group Pentatonix, she is the only female.. of the group. She's got a boatload of talent and rounds out an awesome, awesome sound for PT. Oh, and she's naturally pretty, too. Duhh...

AnnaSophia Robb.
Did anyone see Soul Surfer? No? How about Jumper? Well, if not, she played Bethany Hamilton in SS and the young Rachel Bilson in Jumper. I think I admired her even more after watching her take on the role of Bethany Hamilton, and realized that I hadn't seen her in a whole lot between those two movies. She's little girl pretty, but I think that's to be admired, especially if you're a Hollywood starlett.

Hope Solo.
US Womens' Soccer team goalkeeper.
I really don't think I need to say anymore. She is a perfect representation of the beauty behind strong female athletes everywhere. As a soccer player, I remember being a little girl and watching Mia Hamm and Brianna Scurry... and thinking that one day I'd be just like them. Thanks to these women like Hope, Alex and Abby, the next generation of hopeful little kickers still have solid, reputable role models to follow. Plus, let's face it, Hope's gorgeous. Haha.

Naya Rivera.
Ok, all you Gleeks, calm down.. calm down... Yes, I think she's pretty. Her character is mildly annoying [just my opinion, folks...] on that show, but overall I think she's a pretty girl.

Anna Kendrick.
Last to show on this list, but not last overall. This girl's got a voice on her! Ali would especially appreciate this one, if for no other reason than in honor of our shared affinity for Pitch Perfect. I happen to think that Anna's pretty in her own, funky little way too. Maybe a little on the skinny side, but eh. I hear Hollywood does that to ya.

Well there... ya have it. Like I said, it's not necessarily a TOP 10 list so much as a FIRST 10 list... kinda fun if you think about it... naming the first 10 of anything that come to mind is always interesting.

That was the extent of my brain power today... other than the normal, work-related stuff... which I'm sure ya'll would LOVE for me to chronicle ... again... daily.. for you.. haha. Just kidding.

Anyway, you should try it. Pick a category and name the first 10 things [or people, places, whatever...] that come to mind in that category.

Happy ALMOST Friday!

xo | cmd

A Is For ATHLETES

I spent the majority of my evening tackling some dirty laundry and doing some minor repairs to a few pieces of jewelry I've been neglecting for way too long. As my audio-visual soundtrack, I opted for some coverage of the Crossfit games, then the women's national team [soccer] match-up against Australia.

This reminds me how dastardly stagnant I've been in my workout efforts. It's been a few weeks, literally, since I've been over to Gold's, a lackadaisical string for which I really have no good excuse other than the easily-refutable one involving work and parenting... and all that.

I used some much-needed inspiration from The Voice over the last two weeks to dig some into my vocal side, and after tonight, I'm reminded that I need to start being a little more intentional about sanctioning off some fit time.

Consider it done.

crossfit | marcus hendren
lol.. went with this one bc i'm from ohio and that's
how we do it.. in the country... in ohio.

First of all, it's a terribly small world sometimes. Haha. As I was watching the Crossfit games, there was one little bio segment on Marcus Hendren that I nearly overlooked until I thought I recognized some of the background from his "home life" clips. I dismissed that too, until he said he was from Johnstown, OH. [Aw! Mini shouts to Jen & Laney, my two obviously favorite natives of J-Town... ♥]. My cousin Jeremy coaches at a CF in PA, and I know a few other people who've adopted the CF lifestyle. [No, I don't know Marcus Hendren] Pretty random, either way.


And pretty BEAST, too. I wouldn't cut it for 10 minutes on the circuits they run. Not anymore anyway.
I don't think I like that feeling.
Hrm. [Food for thought].

Anyway, once Crossfit was done, it was on to the US v. Aussie game.

remember them?? oh man.. i'm getting old. :( 

I've been impressed so far with the womens' post-Olympic victory tour, but tonight was the last game for coach Pia Sundhage. It makes me feel old realizing that I've even just watched her coach for the last several years. I still remember when Mia Hamm finally hung her boots up and I remember when Brianna Scurry left. I remember watching Abby Wambach play years ago, and after watching her snag a couple more goals tonight, I'm fairly certain I'll make sure Sydni has clips of her legacy to watch one day too. That doesn't even count Hope Solo & Alex Morgan. *Sigh.

solo. morgan. wambach
a true definition of women empowered. :) 

The US bounced back from a 2-1 trail to win it 6-2 over the Aussies. By far a great game to watch. I think I could live vicariously through the womens' national team for a very long time. That would be fine, right? ;)

It's midweek already - hard to believe.
Oh, and I'm in the midst of dress shopping for Friesy's wedding. Talk about first world stressers. Haha.

It's a good week so far. I hope yours is going well, too!
[Anyone wanna go for a little jog? No? Ok, well first thing tomorrow then.]

xo | cmd