SonRise: Doors & The Haiti PEACE Team!

My church. I'm falling in love every single week with the messages being shared. Trish joined us this morning, which was terrific! Girl, I'm so glad you were able to make it out! She reminded me of the time I told her that I wasn't entirely sold on the series my church was going through; at the time, I really wasn't sure if I wanted to stay, as I'd felt some of the content was starting to stray a bit, doctrinally-speaking.

It's been a 180 since then; I realized this morning when she brought that up, and looking back at that, it also hit me that I've been with this church for over two years now. Yay!

Today was the second installment of the newest series: Doors. Pastor Jeff, Pastor Chad and the rest of the team has done an excellent job of incorporating real, life-applicable teachings into a message built around God's word. I mean, we can all relate to what a door is, and how it's an access point either into or out of somewhere, something, someone... they're digging into this deeper each week, and illustrating the avenues in life that are either accessed or denied by our choice to open and close those doors.

are we listening?

AND, many many prayers of excitement went out today to the SonRise PEACE team that's headed to Haiti at the end of this week! Marissa's (from my Panama team) sister Tana is going, along with 9 others: Chad, Evan, Joy, Matt, Noah, Rachel, Jamie, Wendell and Jacques will all make their way to Haiti in less than a week to be the voice and presence of God's love among the people in need there. I am asking that you, my fellow blogbots, please lift them up in prayer the same way you did for my Panama team and me!

go team haiti! 

What a beautiful thing!! We are praying you guys to and from safely, and that God will do what He does best through your hands while you're there. I can't wait to hear your stories when you return! :)

For us, it was a nice day spent relaxing here at home: Getting a couple things done, and enjoying the weather outside for a bit.

Here's to a solid week!

xo | cmd

Feed. Me.

running ... ♥

Today was the first time in a couple of weeks that I managed a distance run. Well, let me take that back: I wouldn't call it a distance run, really, because it was only 4.5 miles, but it's more than I've done in a couple of weeks in one outing, and as little as it seemed, I definitely walked away with some light runner's high.

Which reminded me how blessed and fortunate I am to be one of the many of us with access to both the knowledge of and resources to obtain some of the stuff I've been devouring lately.

I'll start with this morning:

BAM! Four of my favorite things: Baby mason jars, greek yogurt, honey & fresh berries!

i am all over this breakfast.

I didn't do half bad with the rest of the day either. My resolve, for either this week or early next week, is to take my packed-lunch to a new level and get the avocados involved. It's not everyone's taste, but I love avocados and when paired with tuna and some peppers, it literally makes me salivate. 

this makes me drool.. ahhhh

^ I'm not even hungry as I write this but if you were to hand me one of these, I'd absolutely finish every last bite. Nom nom nom....

And lastly, on my list of ÜBER easy and healthy little munchers [thanks, Mom, for your relentless insisting that I eat and be healthy as a kid!].. kale chips! I downed almost a half tray of these daily for a few days before my last blood drive, just to be on the safe side with my iron levels. It takes nothing at all to make these if you time it just right, like my mom does, they get crisp enough to pretty much melt in your mouth.

crunchy, salt-free spice, baked .. perfection.

Also, thanks to my fit-finesse cousin Jamie, I'm extra inspired to start on a warpath of healthy recipes for some daily variation while I'm at work [because let's be honest, a salad every single day, even for the healthiest of healthgoons, is annoying]:

& of course, a bottle of wine ;) haha.. love her.

So theeeeere ya have it..
I need an accountability partner. Haha.
Target: TM2014. Haha. I'll keep ya posted!

xo | cmd

T.G.I..... Kim's Birthday!!

Dear Kim,

!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

♥ you, sizzlin' señorita!

We may not have hung out as much over the past couple of years as we did before I moved out of state, but that doesn't change the fact that I love this girl and hope her birthday was absolutely perfect.

Of course, in the interest of consistency, here are some highlights of my life with the birthday girl, in no particular order:

clearchannel days

birthday parties. Christmas parties. going away parties.

oktoberfest! cincinnati loves german culture ;)

there's really nothing to say ...



more goofiness .. unwarranted .. unashamed!



fast forward. 2013. love. her. to pieces.

To celebrate, I obliged Dan's invite to her celebratory dinner at Bravo in West Chester. 

happy birthday, dear!

Thanks, again for the invite Dan, and to this gorgeous mama-to-be, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I cannot wait to do their maternity shots in a couple of weeks (:

I finished the night off with a quick stop off at OTR to see Nader, Keith and of course Grueter one last time before he heads back to Jordan on Sunday. It was a short visit since this week has kicked my butt and I am exhausted.

Tomorrow = Mount Vernon High School's class of '03 ... 10 year reunion.
Hahaha.. we'll see.

xo | cmd

Return of the Pozitive Peerz!

So first things first, Matt Ladd sent me this picture overnight of a certain one of our friends who is home visiting from his job overseas for a few weeks. I've made it my mission to see him before he leaves. This, along with a multitude of other reasons are why...

2008 v. 2013 : the shirt survives!!!

^ Catie and I bought Jamie that shirt at a thrift store for $2, sometime back in 2008. The whole thing stemmed from a joke about Catie & I on one of our purposed missions into the thrift world; we came back with this gem and apparently he's held onto it all this time. This guy completes the quartet that I more affectionately call The Twigs , but of which I for some reason have ZERO pictures of all together. Whatever. I... LOVE it... & can't wait to see this guy asap.. 

see? i tried.. 3 at a time is the best our cameras ever got..
[& shouts to catie, deanna, whit, nala & amanda for cameos!]

Ahhh.. eventually. We'll get there.

Tonight was volleyball; we ended up playing a double-header since another team's competition bailed. We're still a little behind on posting those W's, but for a group whose never played all together, one of which has never played at all in the first place, we're getting better! Just wait until next session rolls around.. I think we voted on the Sandbar, so that will be the real test of how we do.

harbor view + spirits + sand volleyball? win.win.win.

This week has felt exceptionally long for only being four work days for me. I'm interested to see what the last two days hold before I get Sydni and she, [hopefully] Rob & I head up to good old Mt. Vernon for Dad's birthday.

 

Almost there! (:

 

xo | cmd

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LADD!!

Sooooo... birthday shout outs are my favorite.
And awesome people are also my favorite.
So.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LADD!!!!

happy birthday, friend!!!

Good grief.. this guy..

Everyone has different types of friends. I know I do. The best kind, I think, are the ones who you can't picture yourself not having... the ones who would drop everything and be there for you when you need it, and know that you'd do the same for them. They're the ones to whom you might not speak or might not see for months at a time, but can pick up right where you left off when you do see each other. I have a small handful of those, and Ladd's one of them. His name's Matt, but I'm not sure I'll ever call him that. Haha.

[in no particular order until the last 3 or 4.. hah,]Top 10 favorites over the last 6 or so years of Ladd in my life.... lol... GO:

⑩ | Zoolander. Noooo, not the movie. But I'm not sure I've ever known someone who can do a better rendition of Blue Steel than Ladd. Haha. I probably have a hundred pictures of him making this face at different times, but that's part of why we're all friends.. in this crowd, the only way to fit in is to be just as weird as the rest of us. No need to be serious allll the time.

kim's birthday one year... and this guy... and his face. hahah..

⑨ | "Family Dinners" - So, for nearly an entire summer, the clan would gather for dinner just about every week. Honestly, it was more than once a week, but I'm talking IN the kitchen, cooking actual food, and sitting around a dinner table at THE SPOT like one big dysfunctional family. Nalom usually had a sippy cup of some sort, if it survived his climb up and over the balcony, Catie & I were usually responsible for not killing everyone with our cooking, and the rest of it's history. (:

family dinners.. minus nader & kim...
nalom. grueter. drenn. ladd. cegg.

⑧ | Lightning Fights. I have no idea where this picture came from [my best guess.. the spot, by default.. haha], but what I do remember is that the group of us didn't plan these out, but managed to take over 60 shots of random lights in our faces. Yeah, this is kind of a crappy picture, but it benchmarks one of the many random adventures I had with Ladd & co.

lightning fights. typical stuff :p

⑦ | Lending a helping hand... always.. haha. So this one was from a trip we took to the zoo, coincidentally the same day that Nalom ran his first full Pig [Flying Pig Marathon, Cinci OH]. Nalom was practically crippled afterwards, but we insisted he join us at the zoo. Solution? Wheelchair. Benefit to us? I think each of us took our turn at shoving him off at different times down some sort of hill, and placing bets on what he'd hit first. I think Ladd was the only compassionate one that day. Maybe. Probably not, but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt on this one....

they both look thrilled.... good shot, nalom. :p

⑥ | Midweek Luau's. Because everyone deserves a luau on a Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Or whatever day that was that we spent just about the entire afternoon and evening at some restaurant after nobody planned to be there in the first place. Again, one of the many random outings.. great times with these fantastic people...

nalom. nader. burg. cegg. drenn. catie. ladd.

⑤ | The Squish Dance. The signature anti-pickup line from Nader & Ladd. I've lost count of how many times these two fools attacked unsuspecting people with their mad dance skills. I usually did a much better job of avoiding the ambush, but Kim managed to trap me into it one night and captured this incredibly-accurate footage of my reaction. Thanks, fam... haha.

help. me.

④ | The famous foam board family portraits. These were a result of Nalom thwarting his time into the enlargement and foam mounting of a few of our 'family' moments. They sat on the mantle at the spot for almost a full year. Who can really be mad at this...

i spy..... ale.. ladd.. cegg.. nader.. nalom.. kim.. grueter.. anyone else? :p

③ | Duct Tape, Bubble Wrap, & other things he probably caught us doing.... & it is probably exactly how it sounds. Not once in my adult life had I crammed so many child-like things into one summer. First, it was duct tape. Then it was the covering of the spot from top to bottom, inside out pretty much.. with industrial grade bubble wrap straight from the roll. And then... it was the tracing of every person onto the wall with sharpies. Who knows what else... but usually it was Catie and I creating some sort of disturbance and Ladd walking in on it. Go figure.

.... don't ask.

② | 2013. I'm back in Ohio as a permanent fixture now and am proud to say that I still have my friends here, who could've easily quit on me [with good reason, at that] when I left, but they didn't. I owe them more than I could tell them, and hope that maybe one day I'll actually be able to do it.

ladd & drenn. a completely horrible duo.. but effective. hahaha... (:

① | Last but not least, this horrible picture of both of us that I'm only ranking #1 because Ladd wanted to kill me for about a week after this was taken. This started off as a joke, but Ladd almost ended up passing out, not eeeeven because I'm that strong or anything like that, but because somehow, I just caught perfect timing. I have to laugh at this, because we still talk about it and how badly he wanted to murder me for the next five days. Party in the Park has never been the same.

.... still love you friend... sorry about that one .. hahaha...

ANYWAY... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Love you friend.. and here's to many many MORE.

I'm out, scouts.. time to do some more DIY junk around the house. I'm sure I'll come up with something to show ya'll tomorrow... hopefully ;)

xo | cmd

Oh HAAAA... HAAA. :P

It's funny how, even though I'm technically settled now, things are still spinning. It's always busy [I'm not complaining], so it seems like there's never a dull moment.

In the midst of the chaos, I nearly had a mini stroke from a conversation over text with Becky earlier today:


turd. haha..

Suuure, I would've been thrilled for her and any new job opportunity, but I seriously would've faced much dismay had she been serious. This all stemmed from the earlier messages of my asking what her evening plans were, and her telling me, "farewell dinner." As it turned out, it was a dinner for someone else; she and I are river-bound tomorrow and I will guarantee you we'll both have at least one welt each for me punching her and her returning the gesture. [P.S. - she's not leaving.] Don't DO these things to me! hahaha...

To combat any leftover doubt I may have had from earlier in the day, I planned a solo mission to IKEA after work. This could've gone either way: me either getting exactly what I needed and not a thing more, or me being lured into the jungle with nobody to help me.

Got news for ya: I made it out alive! [I know you were all concerned.. haha.. just kidding...] Seriously though, I intended to pick up a cheap coffee table to replace the one I have now. There's not enough space for the table I already had, so I was on a mission to find something smaller. The glass top table now has a home [along with the owl lamp, thanks Mom :)] on top of the otherwise unused ledge that protudes into the living room.


.. and don't ask me how i got that sucker up there... it wasn't pretty.. haha..

And...


thanks again, ikea (:

Oh yeah, I got a cute little rug for under the table, too.. all for under $40, and less than 20 minutes to assemble [gotta love particle board]. This place is coming together one stitch at a time, and I can't complain one bit. This is gonna be a good little place for me; I can tell.

Sooo....

Kalyn moves back this weekend.. & Keifer too!

Rob's visiting [still tentative, but I'm really hoping!] this weekend.

Becky & I [& maybe Mike, too?] are kayaking tomorrow.

Trish is lending me her lawn mower to take care of this mess out front.

Ali is visiting in 2 weeks.

Brittany's housewarming party is in 3 weeks.

Heidi just sent me another picture of my family from this past weekend.

Julie just sent me a mega-encouraging message to help uplift & motivate me (:

Jamie just sent me pictures of the mountains in Kurdistan.

Kim & I are hanging out on Thursday.

Catie & I are scheduling a date when she gets back from Chi.

GOD is GOOD.. ALL the time... & ALL the time, GOD... IS.. GOOD.

....Look at all these incredible people in my life! How could I not feel blessed?!

Tomorrow's midweek.
See you then!

xo | cmd

Throwback Thursday Pt 2: Nalom Art!

I have a couple of friends who I'm certain will one day be famous. Haha. Seriously. 

Okay.. so maybe some of them are currently just becoming professionals at embracing that whole starving artist thing, but eh. I do believe this one's got some talent for sure! 

I found an entire album of his art that I'd saved... I'm sharing this with the class (:

by nalom

catie | by nalom 

dren & cegg.. aka corin & catie | by nalom 

matt.. aka "ladd" | by nalom

nalom | by nalom

james | by nalom

corin | by nalom

I still admire how much those portraits really do resemble their models... if not exactly, then pretty daggone close. Haha. Well, except for mine, but then again I don't seem to think anything looks like me even if it's a photograph. Go fig. Haha. 

Sure brought back some great memories for me... Hope you enjoyed! ;) 

xo | cmd

Mount Vernon - Remembering Carl & Jena

Today was kind of a hard day to digest.

It's easier now, if you want to put a level of intensity on it all, but definitely not by much. A couple different reasons....

I grew up in a small town. It had every bit of a small town feel to it, especially when it came down to everyone knowing everyone else and nobody having any real sense of privacy. Haha. It wasn't all bad though. We had the chance to grow closer to a smaller group of people and be plugged into things that are oftentimes foreign to the big cities.

clockwise from top left:
martina. emily. courtney. greg. carl. hilari.

A small town can be a blessing and a curse, all wrapped up into one small per capita headcount. By the time I graduated high school, my peers and I had said premature and bitter goodbyes to a handful of our classmates. I know that happens [unfortunately] everywhere, but it doesn't dull the pain when it's your friend, your sibling, classmate.

As it relates specifically to today, I'll just say that 2009 was a rough year.

I'll start with Carl. He was the oldest of six kids in a family everyone in our town knows. The Culbertsons are a staple family back home, and what happened in February rocked all of Mt. Vernon. I graduated with Carl's sister Courtney, and while I didn't know Carl all that well, I knew that his loss would fuel something intense. Carl passed away in February 2009 from an accidental heroin overdose. My mom and sister both worked with their dad, Dave, and so through them and through frequent fb updates, I was able to follow the creation and explosive reach of the Arms of An Angel Foundation, the tribute to Carl's life and educational outreach program.

Today was Carl's birthday. From here back to Ohio, to the Culbertson family: My heart goes out to you as you celebrate his life and everything it meant to you & now means to others (:

*****

As it happens, today will always be a haunting one for the Fogle family back home. This one, for me personally, is severely hard to digest and accept. It's both been "already" and "only" three years all at once and I still fight back that overwhelming emotion every time I think about it.

tribute from 2009

I met Jena in 6th grade, and we made quick with the whole becoming close friends right away. I don't think I need to tell you all the stuff we went through together as friends as we battled the regular teenage angst that comes along with conquering adolescence. Everyone can identify with the fact the each of our friends has something unique that characterizes them; Jena's was her laugh. Her laugh was a stark contrast to her typically quiet demeanor, but good grief was it contagious.

oh, the days | mvhs 1999 | corin. allison. amy. jena

^^ Yeah, I know... I've had issues dressing like a real girl for a long time now.. haha. [Jena used to give me grief about it, too.. well.... at least I'm consistent?] (:

I can't say what the tipping straw was to push Jena to the final breaking point, but it grips me to this day. I talked to Jena on November 12, and had made plans to see her the following weekend. I remember very clearly getting the phone call the very next day that she had been found in her parents' basement after she'd taken her own life. I was at Kim's house when Hilary called and told me it was over. There was no arguing, no negotiating, no begging that could change it. That desperate, paralyzing feeling that hits you in the knees and brings you straight to the floor came over me and I went numb. It was nearly an hour before I could cry, but when I did, I didn't stop for nearly two days. Jena was five months pregnant with little Braylon; my heart still breaks for both of them.

We aren't meant to know the reasons behind why certain things happen. It's heartbreaking to thinking about it sometimes, but I do still find comfort in the absolute rallying power of a small town when things like this happen. I've seen them do it before this and since this, too. 

Jena was fuel for me to join the AFSP: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. I began as a field advocate rep for the Greater Cincinnati Area, and still serve remotely in that capacity even from Illinois.  Check it out - it's worth a second, especially if you've been impacted....

Today is for the Culbertson & Fogle families. You have my thoughts, my prayers, and my honest hope that you found PEACE and GOOD memories in today and every day moving forward. 

Carl Culbertson 13Nov1981 - 15Feb2009
Jena Fogle 19Jun1984 - 13Nov2009

:: Gone, but NEVER forgotten. ::

xo | cmd