Hello, August!

Where did this summer go? I saw a quote earlier today or yesterday somewhere on Instagram: 

June & July lasted 4 seconds.

(They're not wrong).

I feel like this Summer has flown straight past me; I gathered that much when June hit and I was in Panama, and then proceeded to spend the rest of June out of state on the weekends. July wasn't much different. Now we're here, it's August 1st, and today was a GOOD DAY to slow down and enjoy it.

I got drafted to head northward for my office's weekly interview round-up in Warren County. Ashley's on vacation this week, and I'm the next closest geographically, so off I went this morning to Lebanon. It was a standard morning of interviews, new employee orientations... all the fun stuff that comprises my day-in-day-out. 

AND THENNNN.. 

helloooooooo, gorgeous!

I'd never been to the heart of Lebanon, so I typed in 'coffee' and waited to see what happened. As it turns out, there are at least four coffee shops/houses in cute little Lebanon, so I picked the first one and saved the rest to explore another day. 

I picked right. 

This is exactly what I picture when I think of quirky little cafe/coffee joints: It was tucked into a row of street-side businesses, decorated like a parlour, and covered with chalkboards and coffee-themed things. The board inside the doorway reads, 'FUN FACT: We have a different flavored coffee EVERY DAY!' And obviously this was where I was supposed to come, because I have an irrational desire for this stuff. 

^^ lampshade ceiling ^^ 

Approaching the counter to order food is a serious affair for me, although not as serious as trying to find a place to order the food in the first place. So I asked what the most popular dishes were on the menu, and was told that both the chicken salad sandwich and cornbread salad were award-winning (literally) items. Let's DO IT, because I am in no way a fan of making my own decisions at a food counter. 

how your food is delivered at royce cafe & coffeehouse:
ADORABLY.

I've never had so much non-salady salad on one plate. Frankly, I never even knew that was an option.

And then I saw this, which will be promptly displayed in my office when I get back to the homefront. I made it a point to thank the owner after this entire lunch experience for doing this, because not only is it a step and statement of faith to add scripture to a lunch order, but it told me that they'd thought well enough about how to encourage people, even if just for a second.

love, love, love.

On my way out, I ordered a Red Velvet Mocha, after again having asked for the most popular vote. Sure, let's do it... and omg this was the right choice kthanksi'llbebackbye. 

wifi password, also my life motto. 

SO FOLKS, if you're ever in or around Lebanon (OH), GO HERE. :)

And if you're ever in or around Eastgate (or Fairfield, don't forget!), go to Jungle Jim's and definitely buy escargot shells five-foot long dog ropes and mochi and most definitely 3 giant buckets of pop boba.

the filipino food aisle... 

Say yes to dog toys. Especially those that are taller than you and can withstand the force of two 70 pound dingos at home.

Today was a beautiful day, and August is here.
Let's do it!

xo | cms 

What Year Is It?!

I had a very mixed response to a lot of what I saw today.. haha.

First things first, we are all aware of the recently-plummeted gas prices. I've seen post after post of my friends fueling up for pennies in comparison to what was nearly $4 per gallon just a month back. Per gallon prices of under $1 have been spotted in several places, and while I didn't manage that, I can't say I'll complain at all about the $1.57 I paid today. I'm in college all over again!

is it 2003? i'll take it! 

On to the rest of the day: Our business' subject matter is considerably slow at this point in the year; most of our key decision-makers are nowhere to be found within 2 days of the new year, which left us with a bit more flexibility with our lunch hour than is typically afforded. We took advantage of it as a unit; Carri, Elisa and I made our way down to Findlay Market, a short trip during which we learned Carri's never actually ever been [until today!] to Findlay.

We gladly cured that ;).
And while we were there eating, we spotted a rather spectacular doppelganger!

and now, it's 1950?
i'm wholly convinced mr. einstein was in the building.

I'm telling you, I don't believe I've ever seen such an uncanny resemblance..

amiright?!

So we ate lunch and chatted some with Becky; Carri got her first full experience of the awesomeness that is Findlay Market, and we headed back to the office to wrap everything up. Today was the last day that we'd all convene this year [wild thought!], so with an extra pep in our steps, we tied up the loose ends and bid our office adieu until 2015.

At home, Rob and I headed out to pick up some last minute things for our trip to Illinois, made a pitstop at Jungle Jim's and eventually landed at Fuji for dinner.

chicken katsu, sushi & rice
fuji steakhouse | cincinnati, oh

^ Dinner brought me full circle back to the present, here in 2014, which we'll leave behind in Cincinnati and return "next year." Tomorrow's going to be a jam-packed day, so for now it's off to get a head start on the sleep I won't be getting tomorrow night, haha :)

G'Nite!

xo | cmd

Weekend Prep

I know I could complete a solo [grocery] shopping trip in half the time it takes to do it when Syd's with me, but let's face it - it's way more fun when she's there. It's even better when we have multiple stops for a range of things, and she replaces the irritation of shopping in general with funny observations.

Our very first, and very crucial order of business?

princess. fishing pole.

Yes, that's right. We were on the hunt for a princess fishing pole, for the princess herself. We have at least 2 scheduled outings on the boat for this weekend, and I've promised Syd that she'll have her own pole for the excursion. That being said, we're starting here, with pink princesses. Haha. Gotta start somewhere, amiright?

We also stopped off at Jungle Jim's, which, despite it's massive innards and lengthy traversing time, was actually fun with Sydni. I asked her to tell me tales about every country aisle we passed. Some of them were pretty creative. On the way out, she wanted to take a picture with the gorilla and the rhino, so of course we did.

eat more bananas.. and give more hugs!
[this world would be darn near perfect, huh... haha]

rhino!

Nana & Pappy [aka, my parents] will be here first thing tomorrow, so we've decided tonight will be pretty low-key. Syd's been a huge help tidying up her room for Nana & Pappy, assisting me with laundry and even swept off the front porch with her broom. Now I see why people have lots of kids ;). Joking..... joking.... sorta... ;)

Anyway, the weekend's sure to be a fun-filled few days, so we'll leave it at that for now and relax here until Saturday sunshine meets us in the morning.

G'Nite!

xo | cmd

Weekends Are Fun

What's a good Saturday without a late start, right? Hah...

By late start, I mean we managed to completely skip breakfast. By the time we were all up and functioning, it was nearly lunch time, so we bypassed any notions of venturing down to Taste of Belgium, and instead made a beeline for Eli's, which Jesse's never had.

.. Until today. Eli's never disappoints! 

eli's!

After lunch, we scratched our brains for somewhere to take Jesse that we've not already shown him. We settled on Jungle Jim's, which became the perfect opportunity to both give Jesse a tour of the place and restock our depleted supply of mocha. Additionally, we left with a new growler, a growler koozie [I didn't know they made those...], some various exotic versions of cheese, sausages, juices and chocolate.

in honor of marianne & ali:
jumex & cameron hughes!

jj spoils!

It wasn't surprising that it took nearly an hour and a half for us to wholly navigate through Jungle Jim's with the frequent stops to browse the various sections, so by the time we got back to the house, we were all ready to relax for a couple of hours before catching up with tentative evening plans.

pretty much the afternoon.....

Fast forward a few hours to when we all woke up from power naps, it was time to rendezvous with Carolina at Mango Tree. Sushi tonight was a deeefinitely a good call!

mango tree!

Halfway through dinner, we finally started making some solid plans for the rest of the evening; Carolina figured out where Nader & Co. would be, which meant a trip downtown. I hadn't even taken Rob down to any of the venues in the actual downtown district, so we figured it wouldn't hurt to try it out.

We met with Nader, Keith, Eric and few others at one of the Irish pubs, then tried out some wannabe-ritzy place about which I'd never even heard [which was a bust beyond belief]. It wasn't long before we came to the surprising realization that we'd actually rather be in OTR. Sure, OTR is fun, but we thought it was due time to switch things up. We didn't count on wishing we were back there. Hah.

So as it happened, OTR became our final destination for the evening. We greeted the typical crowds with a little more patience than usual, realizing that the alternatives at this point were ridiculous in comparison. We landed at The Drinkery, which coincidentally proved to be a miniature reunion for several different people that represent the various different parts of my life in Cincinnati before I started moving all over the country.

I ran into Lora.... love & miss this girl!


lora & me, circa 2009

Then I turned around and bumped into Justin Jeffre, a friend of mine from years ago that has quite the history both in Cincinnati and well, internationally, but that's neither here nor there... haha..



justin & me, circa 2008?ish?

And of course, it wouldn't have been any sort of night without some double trouble [just kidding, they're not trouble]! I saw Regina & Renata for the first time in probably eight years.

& tonight, with regina & renata!

And of course, my lovely friends, awesome boyfriend and visiting guest of the weekend were there with me tonight. It was the perfectly energetic, hilarious Saturday night & I'm thankful for every single minute of it! (:

On that note, goooood night blogbots (:

xo | cmd

Wham BAM, Thank Ya, Marianne!

I was not thrilled that three of my four guests had to leave this morning. None of us really had looked forward to this part, but we made the best of it and naturally grabbed a couple of last minute pictures before they were gone.

just one more group picture (:

^ We look like a World Vision commercial. (:

coffee emporium ♥

In the bustle of everyone packing up, showering and making sure nothing was left behind, the time for church came and went. I hate missing a service, but I committed to making up that lost time with the podcast later on.

Rob decided to get caught up on some of his things while Marianne and I went off in search of some adventure to occupy us for the day. It really didn't take long.
We found ourselves at the Coffee Emporium, which kind of happened by default when I mentioned the mushroom house in Hyde Park. Once we were caffeinated, we hopped back in the car and decided the day was promising enough to include new tattoos. That's right, new ink.

[Holy crap.]

cheetah carpet.. and a blank canvas.

I have had one tattoo before today. It's a rendition of the sun from the flag of the Philippines, altered to reflect the connectivity of my identity as a Filipino-American adoptee. It took me five minutes to draw, and two years to save up the courage to actually do it. That needle came and went when I was 19. Ten years later, it took us 30 seconds to commit to the doing part, and about a half hour deciding on the what-to-get part. Go... figure.

So THIS [thank you, Pinterest] will stand to represent the following statement:
My life has been beautiful, and it has been ugly. The human side of me has created messes bigger than I could have ever deciphered on my own, while the God in whom I believe and give ALL the honor & praise, has righted my sinking ship more times than I ever would have believed possible. It's been a cycle of beauty, mediocrity, heartbreak and learning, and I don't intend that to stop anytime soon. A compass is an unchanging guide to remind me which way I'm facing when I'm completely lost, and fluid continuity of outer arrows remind me that in every stage, in every season, what has been and what will be are what make me... me.

The first tattoo I had was clearly a symbol applicable at the time only to me. I was always more of a piercings gal than a tattoo gal, which worked hugely to my benefit in the years that followed my spree of facial, ear, nape & naval rings and studs. Most of those are marked now only by the little dots or indents left behind. I think I may have gotten my nose pierced alongside a friend in high school, and I'm almost certain she's since removed hers. The obvious point here is that I've never had a matching tattoo with anyone. Not that any one person's struggles are of any less or more credit than another's, but I whole-heartedly believe that Marianne has earned the stripes of this tattoo, absolutely moreso than I have. That being said, the amount of regret I have for doing this on a whim today is next to non-existent.

So after the consequence of making Marianne wait for something... haha...

... this happened ..

that's kyle. and those are both my chins, thanks&you'rewelcome.

.. and eventually looked like this:

done. ♥♥

So uhm, yeah.. went for it, did it, and I'm not looking back. In fact, I'm looking up, down, and both ways before crossing the street.

Fun fact: Once you've started the day with an unplanned tattoo, the rest of said day's agenda really doesn't matter. Haha. So, in the spirit of continued spontaneity, we took a trip down to Park+Vine, where we made our tattoo announcement via their typewriter:

remington says......

[in case you missed it]:

... except skip was nowhere to be found :/ womp womp...

Yeeeup.
Between Park+Vine, Findlay Market, Eden Park & RRT in Milford, we collected some great memoirs for the day:

hanging gardens at park+vine

neighbors of findlay market

my getaway at eden park

me, climbing off the skyline...

.. & marianne, climbing back over it

Onward to Milford, RRT:


guatemala & new york.

Totally need:

honest-to-goodness want.

We hadn't quite exhausted our cameras, but the day was winding down and that indecisive space between lunch and dinner had approached, so we opted for food at Main Street. Kalyn wasn't working, but Chad was, so once Rob rendevouzed with us [via bike, because it was gorgeous today], we hung out for a bit and then headed home.

Now we're here, a trio of sweatpants-clad bums huddled with laptops and a movie playing on the TV. Mare leaves tomorrow to go back to VA, and the work week will commence as it has this reliable habit of doing.

that's a wrap, folks.

On that note... good night, loves (:

xo | cmd