Off Kilter

Today was weird for me.

I didn't sleep exceedingly well following the rather emotional day yesterday, so I woke up today with this fuzzy feeling of sleepiness, mixed with a subtle sense of emptiness, and to top it off, cramps. Happy Saturday, y'all. To boot, Sydni ran in the room and bounded onto the bed like a bull in a china shop and kneed me right in the temple. At 8:30am.

Teeeeeriffiiiiic... haha..
But there are worse things, I know.

Even so, while Rob knuckled down and disappeared into the garage & driveway for the better part of the day, I remained inside, teeth brushed but really no other progress than that, finishing up wedding invitations and some of the other miscellaneous housekeeping things.

things i do on days like this..... :o|

And I watched a Lifetime movie [that's when you really know that you're in a funk]. These things just need to run their course; there's no need to fight them. Haha.

Soon enough though, just as I expected it to, the haze lifted and I started coming back to myself, in small fragments, until I was ready to rally the team and have a family outing to tear us all away from the house for a few hours.

this fancy little dinner doll.. 

my love, my best friend ♥

Dinner at Paxton's was a fun outing for the three of us, but it was immediately trumped by dessert next door. If you've never been to Loveland, you'll want to visit Paxton's. And if you're visiting Paxton's, you'll want to stop by Loveland Sweets before or after that ;).

loveland sweets ♥♥

Sydni made the joke, "MOMMY. Tell Nana I ate ALL THIS CANDY... "

She followed that up with, "Just kidding, Mom. She would have a heart attack." Hahahaha.. 

She's right, but the fact that she thought up that joke, knowing my mom (aka Nana) the way she does, she certainly proved that she got her Pappy's wit & jabby spirit, and knows a good jab opportunity when she sees one ;). 

All in all, not a bad way to end an otherwise iffy day. I'm still rattled by yesterday, but it's just that much more perspective to prove to me that my life is pretty good & I am very, very blessed. 

Good night & Happy Saturday, blogbots ♥

xo | cmd

Unsuccessful Housing Hunt..

I just woke up.
....... for the second time today.


this was... our day...



We drove... a lot today. We took off around 9:30 this morning to head out to Anderson to check out a townhouse; I wasn't entirely sold on it, but I've not ruled it out, either. From there, we covered the entire Milford area from side to side, parts of Loveland, back down through Miamiville and even a little into Mt. Carmel. Through the process, we dug up a few very interesting characters, properties off the beaten path, and a tree with a twisted branch on which I lost the bet that it was organic [vs. a rope or wire of some sort]. That bet cost me lunch at Chipotle [not mad, not mad.. haha..], and we were off again. If for some reason you thought we didn't spend enough time in the car........ we were in that thing solid all the way up until our final Norwood pitstop at 6pm. I was exhausted.

BAD NEWS: Jury's still out on the housing situation. I'll be exploring some more options this week on a place to nail down, but I've heard from a few people that the Cincinnati rental market right now is pretty dry. I'm not crazy.

GOOD NEWS: I.. well, we [Rob has been my bodyguard all day] met up with David and Nancy [the owners of my new office] in Norwood to see what will be in its finished state the Express office of greater central Cincinnati. It's still a work in progress, but it's spacious and has excellent visibility/accessibility. I'm pretty excited about build-out, and was glad to have finally met David's wife. I was happy Rob was there, too; looking back at the folks we met today, I'm not sure I would've had as much composure walking into those meetings solo.


see that big blank spot? yeah... that'll be me... (:

Anyway, we made it back here to Becky's just shy of 8pm - Becky was out cold on the couch and we had very similar plans, so it was straight to a late evening nap..... which brought us to just waking up about 30 minutes ago.
Yeah, us.


tofu quesadilla from the comet? yesssssss, please.



This headache I've been fostering all afternoon is finally starting to subside, for which I am sooo grateful [I'm such a baby when it comes to headaches]. We've collectively decided on ordering food from The Comet; Becky and I just got back from picking that up, and Rob's in the shower so I figured I'd take a few minutes and blog before I pass out.. Haha. I'm still pretty spent from the day, but thankful for Becky... for Rob... and oh yeah, for the fact that tomorrow morning, we'll be getting Sydni for the day before we leave. I'll also be devouring a tofu quesadilla within the next hour, and for the time being, that alone is worth fending off sleep for just a few more minutes.

Happy Saturday, blogbots!

xo | cmd

Cinci-Wide TOUR!

Holy tour guide.

I'm fairly certain that the last time I spent even half as much time traversing all over Cincinnati in one day was when I was still with Clearchannel. Welp... records are made to be broken, yeah?

[Another backdated entry]

Here's Saturday, in a snapshot:

1. It's Just Crepes!
I called Catie and coerced into rendezvousing with us down on Court Street at one of Cinci's local digs, It's Just Crepes. Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. They make crepes. Lots of 'em, pretty much however you want 'em.

it's just crepes. it's just awesome.

2. Eden Park
My FAVORITE place in all of Cincinnati. Enough said. This was my hideaway in college and well after: I couldn't tell you how many times I escaped to the overlook if for nothing else than to just retreat into myself and turn off school, work and whatever else was current news for me. I of course wanted to take Rob there; he thought it was great... duh (: 

overlook from cincinnati, across the river into kentucky | eden park

3. Round 'N Round: Norwood, Rookwood, Kenwood, Hyde Park, Indian Hill, Loveland...
Yeah... I know, it's a lot. After Eden, Rob and I took off on an adventure through all the hills [as opposed to the rolling flatlands of Illinois... :| ..] into some of my old stomping grounds. We started off North, and made a quick round through Norwood [Trish & Catie, I had a sweep of terrific memories on this jaunt!!], aka Norhood, where I used to live. We trekked up through Rookwood Commons, into Hyde Park Square, and through there into Hyde Park. I was instantly reminded of just how compact Cincinnati really is: the wide variety of neighborhoods you can see in just 20 minutes is a night & day contrast, and just about everything in between. Hyde Park wound up a hill through Madison into Madeira & Kenwood, and eventually into Indian Hill. We passed the mansions and stopped to get gas just past my old house in Miamiville, in Loveland. *PHEW!

l-r: old house on floral [hey trish & catie!!]
buca di beppo, rookwood commons | rookwood/norwood
kenwood towne centre | madeira/kenwood
mushroom house [aka atlas house] | hyde park

4. Eastgate Jungle Jim's. 'Nuff Said. 
My only [& I do mean only] irritation with the brand new JJ in Eastgate is that they built the daggone thing after I moved out of the area. Prior to that, the only location was in Fairfield, which although was not an awful commute, was still further than I cared to venture just to go grocery shopping. Well, I should visit more, because JJ is definitely more than just a grocery store. Picture an average grocery store... in any given country. Now combine ALL of those stores into one mega-space, and you've got Jungle Jim's. If you can't find it there, I'm gonna bet you won't find it anywhere. Sorry, Trader Joe's. Let's face it, what other international market has a mini zoo out front??!


teaser! [look it up yourselves, yo]

5. Newport on the Levee. Welcome to Kentucky [again]! This is one of the little gems of the greater Cincinnati area [for the folks back in IL/MO, this is kind of like the bordering between IL & STL.. yes, it's that close]. I forget how nice it is sometimes to have a levee view and to be able to see it from both the Kentucky side and the Ohio side. Pretty cool. 

newport [view from the cincinnati side]

6. Township Fields & Tavern... & Brittany!
In a random turn of conversation yesterday, Brittany sent me a note asking if I knew of any job-seekers back in that area for her company. I told her I'd be back for the weekend, and she insisted I make an appearance for her roommate's 30th birthday over in Newtown. I love backwoods shindigs, I love Brittany, and I love birthdays, so of course that was a given.

love... and love.

7. OTR! [Over the Rhine]
Before you old school Cinci folk freak out, let me go ahead and say that when I first heard that OTR is now a happening spot [as opposed to the crim-infested zone it was when I lived there the first time around]. I didn't believe it when Nader told me that months ago, but it's true. I'm truly proud of the progress Cincinnati has made in developing the area and making it more of an amiable place. We met with Catie at her place, then along with some of her coworkers, strolled off into the evening and wound up in the heart of OTR at The Drinkery. 

i love them.

8. Shangai Mama's
Ya heard??! Hahaha. This is another call on our part that would've been considered negotiable five years ago. The reason I say that is because these were trips usually made after long nights of other questionable decisions and accrued liquid courage. None of us were in that state when we got to SM's, but I must say... it was delicious. Go figure! Plus, we ran into Nick, Roxy & Kenji [shocking]. Not a bad way to wrap up a night downtown.


soooooooooooold.

Oh sleeeeeeep. Hello (: (:

xo | cmd

Canoeing | Rehearsal Dinner

jess | meagan | becky | kalyn | brittany | cori
loveland canoe & livery

Thanks to my best friend and maid of honor Kalyn, our original plan this morning was to head up to Loveland Canoe & Livery for an early morning float down the river. However, what we hadn’t considered was that when we were ready to head out, we found ourselves confronted with a temperature well below what we felt like enduring for two hours. It started with Kalyn and I at her house with Joe and Sam, brainstorming different options: sand volleyball? Rock climbing? Horseback Riding? Bowling? – Gettin’ desperate on that last one; remember it was just before 10am at this point. We finally agreed to bundle up and take it like real men: canoeing it was. Kalyn, Brittany, Meagan, Becky, Jess, and I loaded up and carpooled over to Loveland....

Fast forward to us arriving at the livery and Becky knowing the guy working the desk from one of the summer camps on whose staff she’d served with him. All I need to say is that if Becky knows someone, that’s always a good sign. For us, that translated into some certain ‘liberties’ which aren’t usually afforded to canoers, and that made for a fantastic time. The weather even surprised us by warming to a final product of us all stripped down to short sleeves or tank tops. Perfect.

The only downfall of the morning was that we had spent valuable time in deliberation, which meant that we had about 45 minutes to get back to Sandy’s, pick up my things, get back to Kalyn’s, get showered, and get over to the Norlyn Manor for rehearsal. I have no idea how in the world I was only 10 minutes late. [Thanks, Sam, for your superior chauffeur skills!] We managed to wrap up a walk-thru with minimal drama [save for the disgruntled and socially inept woman that booted us out, unwarranted at the end], and off we were to the rehearsal dinner at The Great Scott. [If that made you think of The Office, you’re not the only one!]

Great Scott Oktoberfest menu = interesting, but delicious. Oh, and after that experience, I think I should probably learn some German. Just sayin’.

I’m shacking up with Kalyn tonight, and Joe with the boys. Sydni’s with Sandy, so that means we’re all accounted for. There’s something big happening tomorrow, so I suppose I should get some shut eye.

‘Til then!....

xo | cmd