Change of Address: Home Lowkea's

Of the list of 74983269382156932 things that aren't in the You Just Bought This House Now Guess WHAT manual:

Your new secondary address will be Home Depot.
(Or Lowe's. Or Ikea)((Yes, to all the above.))

No? Am I the only one?

We moved into this place at the end of February/early March and up until a few weeks back, all things house-ish have been sidled away to the back burner, as we worked our way through family gatherings, out of town weddings & birthdays and Sydni's school/extracurricular activities. 

But NOW... after my experience yesterday painting the office, and how I felt when it was all said and done, I'm hooked. Poor Rob, if by nothing other than proxy, is too. Though really, for him I'm sure it started back when he backed the new mower off the trailer in our driveway and took Sydni on a joy ride around the yard to create crop circles. 

Today, it was church first, then a beeline to Ikea. Yes, on purpose. 

rollup mattress? yes, i'll take one thanks. 

^^ Syd's bedroom is going to come together this week if it kills me. I've committed to it, and there's no turning back now. 

As if Ikea wasn't enough for 2 hours, Home Depot came in at a close second just under another 2 hours: 

.... and other things paint, home, DIY [keyword,keyword,keyword...]

After a fruitless search for curtain tie backs at Home Depot, I finally hunted some down at Lowe's that would suffice for the master bedroom, and then it was back to the mothership to install, apply and otherwise use everything that came home in bags with us. 

Home Lowkea's is the only accurate way I can describe the secondary address that should go on all my formal documents until this house is complete - so like, at least the next 2 years. Can I do that, just temporarily? 

It's work it, though - check out the progress on mini-me's hideaway! 

loft bed, comin' up! 

Anyway, it's not a lot of excitement for a Sunday, I know, and I'm laughing that wry, sad laugh inwardly a little at the fact that my Sunday diatribes in my adult life reflect a day hunting down paint and curtain rods, instead of nursing random and mysterious after-effects of a Saturday night gone rogue. It's whatev', though. I'm pretty happy with the course I've found.

Ying & Yang here [aka S&S Pibble] are pretty pleased too, especially since their Big Barker has been upgraded from the living room to the bedroom. Spoiled.. 

Happy Sunday! 

xo | cmd 

4% Complete!

I'm not sure if saying 4% is conservative or generous in this case, but let's go with it.

Here's a dark picture of the office as the first finished coat lay to dry. This gets credit for Saturday, because it was about 1am today when I finished...

1am.

pre-sleep, 1am... *yawn

And then I went to bed to let the moon do its thing and wait for the sun to rise.

When I finally did roll back out of bed, it was to the tune of brunch with Becky & Will at a place none of us had previously been: Plain Folk Cafe!

plain folk cafe! 

why have i never been here before!?

i mean..... ♥

The fact that Becky and I arrived at not only a decision, but the destination, within a humanly-reasonable space of time from the birth of the idea to go eat, is a marvel in itself. The fact that we only had to go to one place, and not a venue-hopping endeavor to get it right, is another. That the food, vibe & venue itself was awesome?! That's deserves a gold sticker, plastic trophy, honorable mention in the school newspaper... ya know, whatever's available. This is a rare one, folks.

After brunch, I parted ways with B&W, took a deep breath and steered off in the direction of West Chester - Ikea, specifically.

On purpose.

I know. Nobody needs anything from Ikea, but I've come to the juncture of home-remodeling that I've now convinced myself that I do in fact, need some select things. I'm still not sure if I'm validated or if I've just brainwashed myself as a distraction from the inevitable swarms of other Ikea-goers on a Saturday, but it makes the trip easier. On top of that, I've now memorized some of the shortcuts through the place: you know, the ones that sometimes look at first glance like they're just, I dunno.. a wall, but it's actually an Ikea door [that they sell, somewhere 2 miles away in the store] disguised as a wall, that saves you 25 minutes of meandering through the dining room section and spits you out instead right in the middle of the customizable shelving options? All.. 479392874932809 of those options? Yeah, those shortcuts. I know 'em. muahaha.

So yeah, in less than an hour inside the store, I'd retrieved everything I needed from the Marketplace section, navigated to the each of the aisle/bin locations to lumber the bigger items onto one of those wheely cart things [I'm not a slight frame by any means, but let's face it, I know I looked like a seal wrangling an oak tree on a couple of those instances; it was neither graceful, nor did I care], and had processed through the check out line. Another thumbs up sticker on my chart for the day, hey hey!

Rob arrived home late in the evening, after the outing to Detroit with Kenny & Chad to retrieve Kennys' new[ish] boat, and congratulated me on the completion of our office space. Specific congrats were welcomed for now putting the dogs on Craigslist for walking through the paint trays on more than one occasion, and for my not falling off any ladders or painting the ceiling. #FORTHEWIN!

Rob says he needs to go out of town more often, and see what else gets done while he's gone.
Well....... haha.
Jk.

xo | cmd

MARCH: Sunshine, Ikea & Donkeys?

Dude. It was freakin' goooorgeous outside today! Am I the only one who nearly fell over walking outside at lunch?

yes, i did that.

Yeah. I'm going way overboard with the daily lunches this week, and with the selfies to match. Here's the thing though: I haven't taken 2 consecutive 1-hour lunch breaks in almost 10 months, so ex-ca-uuuuuuse me if I'm a little chippier than usual ;)! 

^ But really, I indulged today. Whole Foods, for one, is not the 99-cent store, as we all can attest. I'm not shaming those of us who shop there, but let's be real: it's overpriced and we all know it. Today though, I went for it, got lunch, a $5 chapstick and a kombucha [shout out to Jen & Jordan @ Fab Ferments!!], then proceeded to park myself on a painted bench directly outside of Pier 1 to eat said lunch and consume said kombucha.  Yeeeup, I went full-fledged White Girl today.

On top of that, I proceeded to punctuate today with a trip to the second most basic place on Planet Earth: Ikea. Yeah, you read that right, friends: Cori, in one day did a Whole Foods and Ikea run. Ya give a girl two days of lunch breaks and she goes rogue, right? Hah.

300 pages of yes please!?

But seriously, Ikea. The love-hate relationship I have with the place continues, as it probably will until the end of time, or until I no longer need to buy $1 aluminum flower pots, $3 clippy hooks for EVERYTHING IN MY  HOUSE THAT NEEDS HOOKING and 2-for-1 adorable throw pillows.

Wait, what? I mean... the ONE accent table, the ONE bedstand, the ONE bedframe and the ONE set of pedestal legs for the ottoman.

And silverware.

Placemats Nothing Else!

LED light strings Nothing Else!

Bamboo plant! Nothing Else!

Buckets Nothing Else!

Kids art accessories Nothing Else!

CINNAMON ROLLS! Just kidding, these are NOT crossed off. #sorrynotsorry.

Rob is beyond ready for this move to be done; I can see the terror in his eyes when I open my mouth now and the sentence begins with, "What do you think about..." He's a trooper, who is hanging in there and providing the brawn that I don't have, the truck that my Subie is not and the accountability not to go broke... that I do not on my own possess at this time. Kudos to him. 

IKEA on a Tuesday: 

US, at IKEA on a Tuesday: 

let's do this!!
[at 8:45pm... haha] 

hitching a ride

 Spoils of the adventure:

we planned on buying [tonight].... about 80% of this. 

I'm pretty pumped. The guest bedroom will be together in no time, and the rest of this place will be constructed one little bit at a time. I've already enlisted Becky and Jess to assist with the painting, when that time comes. We're almost there; I can feel it.

Oh, and an additional feature of our new neighborhood to which I wasn't savvy before tonight:
We've got.... DONKEYS! These two, named Jackson and some other president name, are little escape artist pals from the farm across the street. Tonight, as we were nearing our road, we noticed them wobbling down the side of the main road; at first glance, it was assumed they were deer, but at closer look, that agile gait of a deer was totally missing, and to be honest, these two looked like the brown versions of our dogs.... so no, they weren't deer.

donkeys. neighbor. donkeys.

I took this picture for corroboration to my claim in case nobody believed me later on. Fortunately though, we weren't hallucinating, which was confirmed by our neighbor when I tiptoed onto her front porch at 10:30 PM to ask about the donkeys. And also introduce myself for the first time. Nothing like a Hi-I'm-new-here intro that starts with, "Sorry it's so late, but I'm the new neighbor and umm.. Do you know anything about the two donkeys out here?"  

The neighbor knew, of course, and even had the number for the farm on speed dial. I'm fortunate that the neighbor didn't answer the door with a shotgun, with it being this late, but I'm super happy that they seem to be decent people with a good sense of humor, especially dealing with roving donkeys [insert witty quips here, re: donkeys].

Happy Tuesday, ya'll. Stay beautiful, like this weather! ♥

xo | cmd

Monday Lunch Break!!

An excerpt from the list of things I love:

* Jesus
* Sushi
* Lunch breaks
* Sunshine
* Friends
* 70° weather in the 1st week of March
* A stellar deal off Craigslist
* Rob & Sydni

It's clearly not the entire list, but it felt appropriate today to highlight those specific things. 

First, and I cannot emphasize to all maybe-two of you readers out there just how liberating it was today to TAKE A FULL, 1-HOUR LUNCH BREAK. You call it dramatic... I call it... rare. 

I'd forgotten over the past 9 or 10 months just how fantastic it is to step away from the desk and everything that comes with it, and just.... exist in a space free of work, errands and anything else that qualifies as an obligation. 

[insert über happy emoji face here]

For starters, I donned a dress to work for the first time in months today. It just... felt right - the air felt promising this morning when I let the dogs out, so I went for it. My favorite boots went with it, and out the door I went to start the week. 

This was not a typical Monday, at all. From the time I woke up to now, it's been nothing but fun. Seriously! I'm going to blame this on Kristin, the new girl at work - she's just now starting her 2nd week, but even so, I'm already feeling layers of stress and pressure peeling off. The girl is seriously a God-send, I'll say that much. Now that she's here, the daily workload will be more evenly-distributed, and with that comes lunch breaks!

Monday lunch break = SUSHI! Extra ginger, pwede ba! [<that's 'please' in Tagalog]

People, listen. If you're going to pursue my heart, you have to start with my stomach. In fact, you really only need my stomach, if the timing is right. I wanted nothing more today than a seaweed roll, and once I got it, the rest of the day was a cakewalk. 

And then the work day ended, and it was on to the next thing: Retrieving an armoire I'd hunted down on Craigslist. The guy who posted it months ago has been experiencing relay issues with emails, and I just happened to swoop in at the right time, as he was near giving up on hearing back again from any of the previous inquiries. Cori, would you pay an 8th of the full price for an armoire in near perfect condition? 

hello, lovely! 

Yes. Yes I would. And I did. And I'm PUMPED. #newhousefurnituuuuuuure

We came, we retrieved, and somehow we [Rob & I, but mostly Rob] finagled that sucker up and over the banister and landing to the 2nd floor of the new house. He probably needs a chiropractor after it all, but hey, it's there, it's ready and as soon as the walls are painted, it'll be a functional fixture in the digs of yours truly.

And with that, folks.. we're good here. The week is young, but God's been good to us for a Monday. We're feeling inspired to get this place under wraps!

Have a beautiful week, blogbots!

xo | cmd

IKEA Wish List... Because... Yeah....

One of the things I constantly swear I'm never doing again is going to Ikea on a weekend.
So what'd we do today?

..... yeahhh....

This is going to get way out of control if I don't do some planning. Even then, I have this feeling that we'll still manage to walk out with some extra stuff when the time comes to actually swipe the card.

We went in today with a strict, mutual understanding that today was for idea-gathering only.

Wish list trip it was! And for the record, today's entry, much like but very much moreso than 90% of the others I scribe on here, are purposed mainly for my own convenient recall later on.

We have a designated guest bedroom that we'll need decorated.

i'll take it. thanks.

^ I'll just go ahead take one of those, if you wanna bag it on up, Ikea... you and your forever-endless pre-fabbed rooms that flow exactly the way we all want them to.... it's like ya'll do this for a living or something. Sheesh. 

There's an entry way space that's just big enough for this guy:

bench time! 

^ At least the disheveled pillows, barrage of price tags and fake foliage detract from whatever full potential this display could've had [just kidding, they don't really affect my vision of it.. dangit!]; this is literally the perfect size for the entry. 

ERMAGERSH! [NotEvenIfITried,] MY KITCHEN WILL LOOK LIKE GORDON RAMSEY'S: 

most definitely need one....hundred or so. 

^ "Because she'll literally be able to organize everything, from her kitchen utensils, hairbrushes, power tools, tennis rackets and all of her lofty and unrealistic aspirations to de-clutter north america entirely!" - The Ikea Home Team's methodology behind these $3 demons.

Nostalgia Alert! I worked at Journey's for a long time and THEY had these!:

.................. ? 

 ^ Ok, but seriously. I'm reviewing my photo roll for the first time since I took these pictures earlier today and I'm laughing at this. Cori, you would never seriously use this thing. Stop it. 

More practically, setting up the office:

matching is important

 ^ I've committed to at least matching the furniture that goes together in each room; it's not been a huge priority up to this point, but I get to play house for real now, and we need something practical, simple but still somewhat aesthetically-fit. Oh, and something that won't cost us an organ to purchase. Seems like a good idea.. right? Maybe? The jury's still out. 

We'll need lamps & carpets, right?:  

and apparently, when i'm in ikea, I forget completely how to frame an object
entirely in the camera screen. macro, much? 

^ Probably... so why not get the lamp that charges your cell phone and the carpet that will envelope you up to your ankles when you walk on it? Go big or don't go at all, I guess. 

This!: 

cinnaaaaaa..... *drool

^ Le sigh. I didn't buy one of these while we were there today, but it.... was.... close....
And I do not need this, just like I really don't need the rest of this stuff... but hey, this is the WISH LIST, right?! 

WALL. PAINTINGS.: 

♫ iiiiiiiii can show you the wooooooorld... ♪♫

^ Pshhhhyeah right.. I'm all for making that on my own; my social circle and family would smack me if I ever bought that already made like that. That's vinyl canvas [or something like it, flush, not actual individual boards, fyi]. Sorry, Ikea. No offense intended. I'm sure that's looking dapper in someone else's house, but I may just have to hack that. Thanks☺. 

Lastly, for the day's review, 

Outdoor idea!:

hrmmm... 

 ^ Kinda. Now that I'm reviewing my photo roll , I'm not sure I really like it as much as I thought I did when I was standing rightontopofittakingthispicture [again, Cori, would it have killed you to back. up?!]. We may keep shopping on this one. 

One thing I did learn today: Ikea's so much more enjoyable when you know you're not going to spend anything, wait in line or battle the sidewalk loading zone with one of those two-handled carts that you dragged in zig-zag lines for an hour through the self-service warehouse and check out lines while balancing the 257 miscellaneous items individually piled atop the big boxed items you bought... because Ikea does not provide bags, but you forget that every. single. time. 

We left empty-handed, aside from this photo roll of miscellaneous ideas for that not-so-far-off trip to actually buy the stuff. We compensated by stopping at Target for some staple items and bought those along with a couple of these: 

the bones, not the dogs, fyi.

^ Stella was appreciative, I think. ♥

Is it weird that Ikea was not a garish experience today? Probably.
Is it dangerous that Ikea was not a garish experience today? YES. 

.... Now I'm convinced to go back soon, because "It really wasn't that bad!" 

Oy. We'll see ;) 

Home establishment in progress! 

Ciao!

xo | cmd

Just.. Stuff...

SATURDAY: 

#puppylove

Our dogs woke up with Saturday on the brain - one wanting to sleep all day, and the other ready to get up and go do stuff ;)  

should we stay or should we go? ;) 

Rob and I took our time with the day, first snagging some breakfast and heading out to Ikea. I know, I know.. IKEA. On a SATURDAY. We must've been crazy committing to that, but really, it turned out just fine and we got what we needed and then some. We made a stop in the other direction for lunch before heading home: 

tom+chee! 

And that leads us right back to where we've been for the rest of the day: Planted here at home, enjoying the Saturday together. :)

Happy weekend to you & yours!

xo | cmd

All-Over Saturday

Hello, weekend!

I guess I should go ahead and disclose now that Taste of Belgium is currently serving their seasonal gingerbread waffles, and... well, GO.

yum! 

Nom nom nom nommmm!
We took our time today, getting through our to-do list at home. I had originally slated us a trip to IKEA for some Christmas shopping; Rob jumped the gun and went ahead and ordered everything online. That saved us both the drive there and the "fun" of traipsing through the pool of lawless goldfish that is the typical IKEA in-store experience. *Whew!

Oh, and Rob christened our house with the first fire of the year, while I started in on another knitting project today: This one's for Jess!

fireside knitting ♥

Stella was less-than-impressed with the fact that my knitting needles were getting more attention than she was, and have, for the past couple of weeks.

awhhh.. love you, pup-pup.. 

Poor girl. I promise that once Christmas is over, the knitting will cease to take up every evening. Okie? ;)

Trish invited us to join her and some friends in Newport, so on a last minute decision we obliged, meeting her and some coworkers at Hofbrahaus on the Levee.

:) :) 

Always a fun time (:
It's been a while since I've visited Hofbrahaus, and Rob's first time there, so we'll naturally be back. I couldn't tell you the last time I actually went to Arnies, either, but that happened, and was a blast in itself.

♥♥♥

We made a lot of good decisions today. We also made some not-so-good decisions today. This is the worst of it, and while it seemed a wise choice at the time, I'm making a note for next time [like I usually say] to never let this happen again:

yes... yes that is lucy blue's.... :/ 

All around I think that's a win. Happy Saturday! 

xo | cmd 

Sunday Shelfies ;)

In preparation for our pre-meditated Ikea trip, we voted a big yes to church first. Haha. That of course is not the reason we went; church is always first on the list for Sunday mornings, including an excellent message from Pastor Jeff, as always.

And then, post-church meant the trip north to West Chester. We primed ourselves for the adventure with a pitstop at Panera before that last deep breath you take when you consciously decide to enter the Ikea parking lot on a weekend.

[insert episodic music here...**]

Yes, the parking lot itself is a jungle. To compound the frustration of parking Rob's truck [which we brought just in case] amongst the crammed rows of other cars, we were really there for one thing:

shelf. little... black... shelf.

I dragged Rob to Ikea today because I wanted shelves. Just add this to the list of awesome-boyfriend moments: he agreed to navigate through the crowds in one of the biggest superstores in Cincinnati because I had my eye on an 11x10" slab of particle&fiber board. He's awesome.

To the surprise of both of us, it was a relatively painless experience. Aside from the usual bottleneck at the check-out, this may have been the easiest trip to Ikea I've had yet. It of course helps when you know exactly why you're there, put on your blinders and ignore the other 343,500 sq.ft of stuff you want to take home. We were in and out in an hour, which included a quick peruse over the dining room chair section. Again, at least we need those.

So with six shelves and two wall-mounted lights, we escaped Ikea and headed home. In the 40ish minute drive back, we encountered rain, sleet, snow and warm sunshine. A quick reminder that the midwest is just as confused as we are with this weather thing.

I lent whatever assistance I could to be useful in hanging the shelves and lights in the bedroom. After he figured out a good system to do it, I dismissed myself to get dinner ready while he finished up in the bedroom.

His final product?


before & after

yay, bedstand shelves!
no curtain yet, but that's coming as well!

And... my finished product:

garlic lime chicken, pierogies, zucchini

I'll say that his was way better than mine. We may have over-marinated the chicken, which came out much too sour for my liking, at least. He didn't seem to mind, or he is just great at pretending I'm not trying to poison us both. Less lime, more cilantro next time. Noted (:

Anyway, I think that's a wrap on the weekend. Monday's gonna be here before we know it, whether we want it or not... and we're spent.

G'Nite (:

xo | cmd

The Return of SYDMAD

My favorite part of waking up on weekends with this girl:

ninja mornings!

Is it Saturday night already? Whoa.

Highlight reel from today: Ikea was our first stop on the way up to Columbus. Maricor needed some specific bowls, and so I agreed to get them. I was leary at first, since Saturday is probably the worst day to do an Ikea run if you only need one thing, but I was pleasantly surprised at the short 15 minutes between entrance and checkout. What took the longest was this [& I didn't mind, at all!]:

cinnamon rolls.. the first reason you go to ikea.. duhh..

Post-Ikea, it was off on the road to Maricor's, which I realized today is actually under two hours away. That.. is... awesome. I was beyond excited for this, since it was the first time Syd & Mad have seen each other since they were babies. I was amazed that they jumped right back in with each other, like they hadn't missed a single day. [L-o-v-e!!]

nov2009 | jun2010 | aug2013
... & many more to come!!

We relaxed for a little while before loading back up and heading over to Easton to eat and get some fresh air for the girls.  

cousins!

The girls [aka, SydMad] were quite rambunctious today, but aside from that, I couldn't have asked for a better afternoon. At least little Sophie provided some chill relief from her sister and cousin's exhausting conduct while we were out. Haha.

1. response to, "please don't play in the rocks."
2. response to, "please make nice faces at people passing by."
3. sophie, entirely unamused.

.... Ornery or not, they're still adorable.. I can't deny that.

holding hands like good little sidewalk buddies!

We had one final little meltdown on our way out, which was easily cured by Tita Corin agreeing to carry both girls. It took a couple attempts to find a feasible way to get from one side of Easton back to the garage on the other, but we figured it out and aside from the awkward glances, it was a fuss-free exit and for that, we were grateful.

attempt #1 ... and the successful re-arrangement that made it across the plaza!
... i am.. a human stroller. #dowhatchagottado

Back at home, the night continued on much like the day: Sydni and Madison tore the place apart, Sophie sat resigned to her movie with teddy bear in hand, and the mama's... well, we added some pleasantry of our own in the form of some pink moscato. How's that for a reward?

mad+syd. sophie. mama's

+ Dinner!

i'll pretend i'm not obsessed with cbay biscuits.. haha.. (:

+ FINALLY............... :

WIN!! haha.. two tuckered out little girls

Day 1 of Mad's birthday weekend has been a success so far. Tomorrow's the party, so until then, goodnight! (:

xo | cmd