OMBRÉ!

Ombré hair is a thing these days. I've never been one to jump on the trend wagon, but for months now, I've told myself that it's time for an overhaul on this mop I call hair.

I needed it cut.
And, since I'm already there, I figured I would get something snazzy added on to it.

However, the last time I entrusted my mane to the hands of a salon professional, I dontated 17 inches of my hair [voluntarily] and came out with a shoulder length Asian school girl hairdo [the not voluntary part]. No good. NO. GOOD.

So it was with extreme trepidation that I reached out to Samantha, who is married to one of my first and greatest friends all the way back to my freshman year at college. I've seen her work multiple times on Facebook, and felt I could trust her.

So I went for it. Today was the day I sat at Salon Beck and had the best haircut experience I've ever had! (:

THANK YOU, SAMANTHA!!!!

Time for before & afters! (:

before & after

before & after

I owe all of this to Samantha.. thank you for doing such an amazing job!!!

love this gal!

I completely understand now how anyone's hair stylist can become a social outlet and sounding board, especially for those women [& men] who go on a regular basis. I will certainly be visiting again, but for the time being, I'm loving the new subtly-done hair & can't thank her enough (:

To celebrate overcoming my salon anxiety, Rob & I had a little impromptu date night.

mango tree

I love this guy. I'm home now and stuffed to the gills with sushi & fried rice, but just looking at that picture makes me a little hungry [again]. Haha. Weird, I know.

Anyway, we're home, we're cozying up for the night, and I'm a happy girl.
I've said it before & I'll say it again - life. is. GOOD!

xo | cmd

Sundays With Sweet People

I'm ashamed to admit that this was my first Sunday back in Sunday School in about 4 weeks. I have no admissible excuse; my only explanation consists of failed attempts to heed the alarm clock, hiccups with coordinating the entire family, and on one occasion, a migraine. I know, I know.... far from valid. I was reminded this morning how much I love my Sunday school class, my church, and especially the people.

Speaking of people, there's a lot going on with any given person or people at the Tower, and today was no exception.

First....

Happy 4th Birthday, Landon!! 

We love this kid. The Babots were one of the first families with whom we connected here at Towerview, and we're blessed to have them as friends. We've had a few awesome play dates with Landon, they're in our small group extension, and naturally we see them at all the church functions and outings. Syd even referred to Landon as her "little brother" [although yes, he's older] for a bit until she decided he was better as a friend :). Happy birthday, to our little buddy - Hope it was an excellent day!! 

shot from mother's day 2012 | landon!
happy birthday!!

Also, 

Happy FORTIETH Anniversary to the Bests!!!

Ironically, by Bests, I mean THE Bests, literally! John & Ellen Best, that is. Ms. Ellen is our nursery director at church, but she's sooo much more than that. She's an amazing person, and John is nothing less than just as awesome. I'm so inspired by their generosity, and by the example they set as a married couple for those of us far less seasoned in the art of being married. This is the kind of example more of us need to follow!

40 years ago today :) 

As if it weren't enough that Jimmy brought and sported a stick mustache [originally for the skit, but it worked throughout the entire service this morning], the funny times with our friends carried out over the course of the day, and eventually into the evening, even after choir practice. The Woods invited us to Arby's for some last minute munchies, and we had some fun with Sydni's kiddie meal "toy." It was a cowboy, but totally resembled someone else we know, if that someone had a boxy head and a permanent plastic-esque glow. :p In my defense, I wasn't the first or only one to notice.... 

cowboy? ... or... joe? haha ;) 

Ahhh, I'm such a sucker for fun times with fun people :).

It's about time to call it a day; I'm due for an early start tomorrow.
Oh, and The Voice starts tomorrow. [*squeaaaaaaal!]
Here we go, work week!

xo | cmd

Quotes From A Pastor

"Each of us needs a friend who loves us but is not impressed by us." - Pastor Ron | 8.19.12

In other words, each of us impeccably needs that confidante friend who cares for and loves us, but is willing to tell us the truth, based on grounded scriptural fact. We need that accountability of recognition when we fall, when we are succeeding, but especially in hearing those grinding life truths we don't necessarily want to hear.



"mama, close your ONE eye!" .. "okay.."
♥



Powerful stuff. That was one of the bullet points my pastor touched on this morning in a lesson focused on outlining the guidelines we should utilize in deciphering whether or not our decisions are God-based or emotionally-calculated. This was one of those revealing lessons that hit me pretty hard and made me squirm a little in my seat as I sat listening. Believe it or not, I count that as a blessing, for I truly believe it's an indication that God's chosen to use that message to speak directly to the core of... well, me. Thanks, a million times over, for the excellent delivery, Pastor Ron!

I felt caught up to speed after the service, even in lieu of my passing on Sunday school to nurse a migraine [agghh], and felt decently coherent by the time we made last minute lunch plans for Dos Gorditos. As with these lunch arrangements, they so often bloom into a whole party, which is exactly what we had. Robin Werner brought a new couple from the base and their adorable little girl, and we had our usual great time doing that fellowship thing that comes so naturally to us. (:

Back at home, Sydni and I committed to a nap before getting up and seeing Joe off for another week-ish of his travelling for work. I had originally made plans for volleyball, but since I'm still feeling a bit lofty in the head, I'm passing for the evening to hang here with the munchkin. It's gonna be an early night; I'm totally fine with that.

Tomorrow's a new week!

xo | cmd

Towerview at the Ballpark!!

Due to the continuous construction that comes inevitably as part of our office build-out, we were granted two consecutive casual days; we all took full advantage of it and geared up in our jeans and t-shirts for the day. Mine was almost thwarted by an early morning client visit; luckily for me, this particular client happens to be within earshot of my house, so if you think I went home after my client meeting to ditch the business garb, you would be totally correct. Haha. Perfect timing on the casual day, too; I was headed straight from work to the Cards game.

baseball time!

Before I get into this one, let me first clarify that in my heart, I'm still Cincinnati, through and through. That being said, I also believe that if you're gonna live somewhere, be there. I'm leading up to the fact that I was pretty excited to get down to Busch Stadium tonight for what was my first Cardinals game this season.

* I never thought I'd hear myself say that. What can I say, I love baseball games. Period. :)

with dawne! :)

Anyway, what made tonight's game that much cooler was the fact that each seat purchased by a Towerview member was from a fundraiser we'd done a few months back as one of our Relay for Life fundraisers. Originally, it was planned that Joe would be accompanying me to this one, but with him in Atlanta this week, that clearly wasn't going to happen. I contemplated just passing our tickets off to someone, but then I remembered that I do in fact know people outside of our church [because everyone there was already going, hah]. I asked Dawne is she wanted to come along, and long story short, we partnered up and made a night of it. I saw some other familiar faces tonight; I'll tell ya what, this St. Louis place sure is starting to grow on me. Yeah, baseball :)

Dawne and I linked up and took the metrolink with Syd [who ended up overnight back at Dawne's because she is just that awesome] into St. Louis and rendezvoused there with the rest of the Towerviewers to enjoy the night. I definitely had no complaints for my first season run at the park. Speaking of which, Courtney from work was down there somewhere too, we just never found each other. Oh well. Next time.

cori. mo. lara

*Note to self, also. The MetroLink is not a force with which you should reckon if you're not entirely prepared. Haha. That is all I have to say about that. Be careful where you stop, and pay attention to where you load, otherwise you could very well find yourself traversing back and forth on that sucker for hours. I'm just sayin'. :p

Anywho, it has been some sort of night.. baseball and all. I loved every second of it, but I think it's about time I grab some sleep before I try to tackle Friday. TGI[backdatedthursdayentrymadesuperearly]F!

xo | cmd