Happy Workaversary To Me!

Once upon a time, I started a job with this company called Express: 

my first express family : cincinnati east, oh
photo circa 2010

I'll never forget it - March 15, 2010: It was a Monday, and it was my first day on this new job I'd found on Craigslist, at a place I'd never heard of a month before that. I jumped in with both feet and remember very clearly my first full week at Express Employment Professionals: computer training [yay!]. It was an overload of information, a time I look back at and laugh at how many pages of notes I took, on things I wouldn't need to know, really. I had no idea where that job would take me, or if it would lead to anything at all that would be stable, or permanent.

When the news came down that I'd be moving to Illinois, I lost a lot of tears grasping the idea of leaving behind one of the best teams on which I'd ever been. And then, I met Marc & Diana, and became part of their team as a transfer. As part of that team, I would go on to experience almost 3 years of team restructuring, process adjustment and even an office expansion. I became a staffing consulant, and eventually grew into a sr. staffing consultant role. I met Ali, who is now one of my best friends, as a product of working together there, and still to this day have lasting communication and friendships with that team. 

my 2nd express family: glen carbon, il
photo circa 2012

The decision to move back to Ohio wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but out of that came the opportunity for me to work alongside Dave and Elisa [& some other endearing characters: Nancy, Lizzy & Nikki.. and then some other more questionable thankfully short-lived cast members, but I digress >_<...] 

my 3rd express family: cinci central [part 1]
photo circa 2014

It wouldn't become the longterm Cinci Central family unit, but the time I spent working with each of them is invaluable.

Then came the revolution; Dave sold the business to Paul, Elisa went to grad school in Chicago and the last toxic cell was cut from the team all in the span of a couple months. From there was born the new and battle-ready Cinci Central team. It's a world of difference in dynamic, but we're steadying the foundation together and it's amazing to see how far we've come!

my [technically] 4th express family: cinci central [part 2!]
+ our significant others, along with chris & deb!
photo circa 2016

It's been a crazy ride: 3 different offices, 4 franchise owners, a multitude of different co-workers, events, seminars and the like. I wouldn't trade it for anything; this place is just as much a part of me as the 8+hours we invest into it daily throughout the week. I never would've envisioned myself working for a company like this, but now that I do, I'm grateful for every chaotic minute and wouldn't have it any other way. 

Six years later, here I am - still in one piece and ready to see what's next. 

Let's go, year 7! 

xo | cmd

Friends & Family on Friday

Breakfast out of town is usually a far cry from whatever dietary regimen I'm trying to follow, but I can't say I was upset about some turkey bacon and eggs to get the day started. To top it, we stopped by my old stomping grounds to say hi to a few familiar faces, and the new ones I'd not yet met.

Man, I miss these guys!

oh, how i miss these two! [& the rest of that team!]

We didn't plan it, but it turned out we'd see Marc twice today; we ran into him several hours later at Bindy's. We were set for the afternoon to celebrate Christmas with Rob's mom and stepdad, which provided the final item on Rob's Christmas wish list. We've now got a new acoustic for the house, and I have to say, it's beautiful.

he's in love! 

A couple hours later, we wrapped everything up at Rob's mom's and headed back to Dillon's to decide how to allocate the remaining hours of the night.

Bindy's it was. The crowd started pouring in as it does every time I've seen the place, and with it came Marc, who we just saw earlier this morning, and even Taryn, who was at a birthday party just before stopping through to see us. There were plenty of other familiar faces, which made for a fun [long, but fun] night!

hi jesse, hi taryn! :) 

taryn :) 

random snapchat? 

I'm not even sure who that SnapChat ended up going to, but if I had to guess, it was probably Ali & Damanji. Either way, it's been a night with these folks and I'm happy to have spent it the way we did. I'm also happy to be home for the night.... ;)

That being said, G'Nite!

xo | cmd

ALMOST....

At the very tail end of last night, I received two pieces of news that turned the entire rest of yesterday around. I was having something of a sludgy time over the course of the first 11 hours or so, but nearly back-to-back phone calls solidifying the final stages of something I've been trying to untangle for months now served not only as a huge blessing, but a reminder that most of the other fog of the day was menial stuff in the bigger picture.

Also on the roster of things from last night:

coasters!

I fiiinally completed the transfer portion of the coaster-making process on all the sets [+ 2 re-do's, woops] that I had planned. The very last step to these will be the clear glaze, and maybe... just maybe .. reposting a similar shot sometime in the near future after everyone's received theirs and I won't have to hide the pictures with tacky dots. (: Christmas is THIRTEEN days from today, just... FYI. Whoa.

I also received an email earlier in the week from Hahana that our team shirts for both the seasons we played this year were available.

Hahana. Team "Backseat Sets" haha....na.

^^ Merry early Christmas, K, K & B. Hahah.

Lastly, I finally got this sucker in from Marc [shoutout, Edwardsville!!] & have it all set up to add to the rest of them. This really isn't a majestic achievement by any means, but I did have to work up to this for a little bit, so hey, I'm happy (:

boooooyah.... or something like that ;)

So yeah! Those are just some small things that make me remember not to let other things, people or circumstances get under my skin the way I sometimes do. To add to these little benefits, there are some substantially larger things coming my way here in the very near future, and once I have the ground to claim on them, I'll share, too.

Piggybacking off of work-related things, our bosses bought us an early little Christmas bonus, which is just rrrrrrrright up my alley if you know anything about me and my above-average affinity for blankets:

"soft" doesn't even begin to describe this thing...

^ Drooooool. This throw's going to have to stay here in the office, because if I take it home and sleep with it, I might never again get up. Winning (:

I. Am. Blessed. It may seem stoic and redundant, but it's true.
Now on to an evening to spend with my parents, back home in my favorite place the world: their house.

the house that built me... [miranda lambert]

Happy weekend!

xo | cmd

& Monday Makes Three

I'm back in Cincinnati. *PHEW.

Rewind to the beginning of today:

I originally opted off work today to tend to some Sydni-related things, which ended up being unecessary.. I already had the day off though, so I figured I'd put it to good use and make the trip back to Ohio a leisurely one. It worked itself out, too, for yesterday's adventure on the river that would've been impossible had I needed to be at work today.

So yeah. On my day OFF, the first thing I think to do is go to work. Haha. My old office in Glen Carbon was on my list for the morning; I stopped off to get them some donuts & say hello. I miss these folks!

the express crew, sans carmalita & mb .. and now without ali too :p
miss this gang!

I sat for a few minutes with Linda, who was always cracking me up in one way or another... she didn't fail to disappoint today, either... 


love her.

^ Ya'll won't get why that's funny.. but if you worked a week with her & the rest of that staff, you'd have the time of your life for it being a job.. too much fun (:

Back at the house, I made the traditional breakfast, because that's just part of thge lineup whenever Rob & I get together, and spent some time just relaxing in the lull between cooking and driving. Well... let me rephrase that. We let the dogs out in the backyard, and Sasha the Houdini dog decided again that she'd let herself out.. and of course Stella just followed up right behind her. Go figure. Rob spent nearly 30 minutes casing the neighborhood for them, when the neighbors across the street found them in her backyard.... And THIS is what the girls looked like once they were back in the house, fully aware that they were in trouble.

bad. dogs. adorable... bad.. dogs.. tsk tsk tsk...

So once the dog-chasing debachle came to an end, I did get to relax with Rob for a while before I finally hit the road - construction and all - back to Ohio. The dogs did their timeout reflecting like little kids on what they did wrong [not that it'll matter... grrawwwr...], and again managed to win my heart over even as I left..


just.. can't... stay... mad. i love these two.

I made it back in decent time, all construction traffic considered, and weirdly enough am ready to head back to work tomorrow.

the face of long distance relationship commutes ;)

 Four day work week?
.. I'll take it (:

xo | cmd

Going Away Party : Part 2

Today, step 1: Stop at the gas station and get coffee.

I ran into Ali as soon as I got there, which wasn't that surprising. What brought me to my senses was the group gift from the crew working at the gas station. See, I've gotten my coffee from the same place nearly every day for the past two years, and in the course of doing so gotten to know each of them a little here and there.

Long story short, they paid for my coffee, gave me an extra muffin and a styrofoam cup filled with beautiful orchids. How many people get that from their gas station staff? How much am I going to miss all of these sweet people???

I walked into work covered with things that I've received as gifts over the past couple of days and weeks here. It was not a horrible way to start my last day here at this place....

scarf: deshawn | flowers: gas station crew
camera lens coffee mug: ali

I had no idea my coworkers had all decided on their own version of a going-away token for me, either.

this, from kyle, of course.. haha.. thanks...

More amazingly, the owl-themed battery of things by which I will remember these people, and enough hugs to last me for a few weeks at least, without them. :/ Haha. Seriously though, I was floored, and walked around for the rest of today covered with owls. I tried to take pictures of everything, but realized I missed the picture of the 1.5-foot tall garden owl that Marc & Diana gave me... to perch in the garden I'll one day have and fend off any intruders....

owl earrings: andi | owl necklace: linda
random turtle earring? - well, it's ali's, from andi, but looked cute with an owl.
owl ornament: marybeth | paper owl: andi | owl scarf: deshawn

Oh, and I cried some. A lot, actually. Like the sissy that I am when it comes to saying goodbyes to people I love. The good news is, we managed to take some great pictures in between the tear fits.

besties | linda.cori.kyle

DRUM ROLL....................

................. CAKE!!
- It's okay, you can get excited. I did. I really did. Andi, our resident baker extraordinaire, came to work today bearing a SMORES CAKE in honor of our potluck. Add that to the fried chicken, pasta salad, Linda's signature [lettuce+] salad, fruit & veggie trays, asiago cheese breads from Bread Co., and drinks, I'd say lunch went well.

Cake. Amazing. I might still be drooling, hours later as I write this. Oh well.


you can totally be jealous. it's okay.
... hello, andi's smores cake. y-u-m.

Oh, and as promised, here's what that frame that Ali got me... looks like with pictures of people we actually know.

frame!! ♥ ♥

*sigh. Lots of crying was done at work today. It's all right though. I'm not actually losing any of these people, just moving on to different places. It could always be worse. ;)

Dinner tonight was at Chubby's in Alton with Rob's mom and stepdad. It was great to see them both and forget to take pictures.... -__- ........... way to go, Cori.... I know, I've been doing a lot of that lately. No worries, though; I'll see them next weekend when I'm back to visit.

chubby's | alton, il

I'm... tired. We leave tomorrow morning for my final move to Ohio. We get to rent a car in the morning, too, so that Rob can get back to Illinois. I just decided I need to turn my brain OFF for now and just go to sleep.

Love & more love to you.. happy weekend, friends!

xo | cmd

Going Away Party : Part 1

My going-away "festivities" began today. As I sit here at the end of the day, all I can is that I feel incredibly blessed and thankful for these people.

I thought I'd share just a couple of highlights from today.

For this week, I've been booted out of my old desk so that MB could move into the "neighborhood," and have been shacking up temporarily at Matt's desk on the other side of the divider. With this arrangement, I can no longer see anyone on the other side, but I sure as Sam can hear them. The conversations haven't changed, but I realized today how funny it is when you can only hear people that you're used to seeing as well. In NO way poking fun at the visually impaired, I made the comment that this is how it must be sometimes to be blind. I looked over at Ali, who was trying to absorb what it would be like.......... with her eyes shut ;). We got a giggle out of it, because obviously if you can't see with your eyes open, you don't need to them shut to get the same effect.. haha.


"how blind people listen???"

We agreed earlier last week that the destination for all things going-away would be Edison's, down the street from our office in Edwardsville. We toted ourselves there after work, sans Linda or MB due to family stuff [you.were.MISSED!], but added Jay & Rob to balance it out. Edison's, as always, didn't disappoint.

mmmm.. edison's! | edwardsville, il

My FOC-slash-best friend..... was there, of course.... (: Jay came along, too, but of course we didn't think to grab a picture. I have no good excuse. Sorry :( :( :(

love her, to the moon & back!!

And the boyfriend... who made the trip straight from work in O'Fallon... because he is amazing like that...

adore.

Once we thoroughly exhausted our welcome at Edison's, the party disbanded and went our separate ways; Rob and I headed over to Ali's house for about an hour so that I could say a farewell to Padre Lackey, DeShawn and Tim. DeShawn, with whom I also failed to get a picture, got me the first of my favorite going-away gifts, ever..... and I love it, and I'm wearing it tomorrow, and the END! ;) 

whooooooo has terrific friends! [me. that's who. me.]
thank you, damanji!!!

Ali also got me a picture frame... that I love love & love.... I'll show you that tomorrow, because the happy stock family in it now, despite their joyous marketing-appropriate smiles, are nothing that will stick around ;)

*Sigh. Tomorrow's the potluck at the office, which will include everyone who couldn't make the dinner tonight. It'll be a bittersweet day, that's for sure.... but I'm going to be thankful this entire journey happened, rather than be mad that it's over. How ... bout... that.

See you in the mornin'!

xo | cmd

We Get to Hula Hoop at Work..

Ohhhh boy... it's FRIDAY. [Hallelujah!] It was my last "official" day at my desk before I hand over the reigns and all of my clients to MaryBeth on Monday and become.... officespace homeless. Hmmm. 

It rained pretty much all day, but Linda and Ali made sure to clear out any early disappointment with donuts and milk from Farm Fresh.. Nope, we didn't hate it ... at all. 

Oh, and Diana came out of her office brandishing hula hoops of all things.... another perk of this group that I'm definitely going to miss. These are some of my favorite people.... 

hula hooped with my boss today.. haha.. 

And of course, there's that certain best friend, too ... 

*Sigh. It's Friday...and for that I'm grateful. I will, however, be a little sad when this time comes around next week and I don't come back again. 

Here's to the weekend (: 

xo | cmd

Business of the Month

It's raining again. It's pretty dreary and drab out there, which proved to be a good motivator to keep me in the house packing instead of playing outside in the sunshine. Silver lining!

In other great news, CONGRATULATIONS to my office for receiving this award ... we've all worked incredibly hard to get here, and I definitely think we earned it. 

woo!!

I'm so proud of this team; I've seen in just a few short years the growth we've had and I'm personally proud alone to be a part of it all!

express employment professionals!
marc & diana | our team!

Not bad news for an otherwise dreary looking day, huh?

I should get back to packing. This house isn't going to box itself up, right?

.... Right? :)

xo | cmd

HAPPY BIIIIIIIRTHDAY ALI!!!!

*SQUEAL!*
It's Ali's birthday.... sooooo....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love love love love... her!

Here's how today at work went, in between actual work: Decorations, cake & our office staff all hanging out together. Oh, and I invited Jay to come up and be a surprise guest. (: 

decorations? duh. turtles, everywhere!!

I have to give major kudos to Andi, who has not only fulfilled the much-needed role of competent staffing consultant for the office, but also brings the talent of cake baking. She's pretty stinkin' amazing, and when we approached her for a second office birthday cake in the form of a turtle, this is what she brought today. And yes, it was even more delicious than it was cute. Belieeeeve it!

andi's creation: another amazing cake!

surprise guest! well, not really a guest so much as that one neighborhood
kid who just randomly shows up at your house to eat all your food and watch
your tv..... lol... hi jay! :p

This may be the first time I've gotten a picture of the entire office, too - at least the most current crew ;) I've gotta say, we're a pretty decent lookin' bunch! I love this work family of mine, and I'm excited to see it growing even though I'll be parting ways here soon. They will always have a special place in my heart and I'll miss them more than you'll ever know..... 

kyle. matt. linda. ali. cori. andi. diana. marc | 2013
express employment professionals | edwardsville/glen carbon il

celebrating my best friend & beautiful coworker.
happy birthday, ali. ♥

Oh, the JOYS of Express office birthdays. I've already promised myself back here for the summer and fall birthdays when they come around; I love this team & I will miss them. It didn't hurt to round out my employed-here birthday participation with that of my best friend.... & that was only the start of the birthday fun (:

We continued the birthday bash after work, with our first stop for sushi at Se7en in Belleville. Duh. I rendezvoused with Ali, Ashley & Scott, Tim and DeShawn, soon followed by Jay & Cindy, and finally Rob. It was a feat, but we somehow managed to go through not one, but TWO boats of sushi, drinks AND mochi. Hey. If you're gonna go, go big. :p What's that, another photo montage, you say? Well, I never thought you'd ask! ...... aaaaaaaand..... GO:

sushi boat... the first of two ... haha

The server thought it'd be wise to let us split the bill.
.... ummmm, sure?

easy, right? : / 

Dinner aside, we tailed over to The Edge in Belleville, with just enough time to catch the last round of laser tag. We pretty much closed the place. Ali, aka "TANK" came out on top, with the rest of us trailing behind. Let the record stand that I definitely did beat Rob. That probably won't ever happen again, so yeah... ;)

love. him. a lot.
...& uhh, check out the photobomb.. haha 

And of course, a semi-socially unawkward group shot.. so rare, I tell you (:

rob. cori. tim. ali. deshawn. jay. cindy

MARIANNE: We missed you, you poor surgery-stricken butterlover. We will have some GOOD fun once your nose is healed up and you're ready to smile again (: Hope you feel better SOOOON!!!

poor marianne. we missed [& love!] youuuu!!

LOVE YOU, ALI. HAPPY, HAAAAAAAAAAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

dear friend, happy birthday  ♥

xo | cmd

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LINDA!!

I must say, this was another VERY successful run at birthday surprises for our office. They got me first, last year in November for mine, and today was the final production of Linda's birthday surprise! We were armed with cameras, perched on top of the desks and chairs opposite hers, to capture these moments (:

Linda, we LOVE you - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

And another one! Quick backstory on this one: "Bob" is a client of ours, who we contacted yesterday, asking him to set an appointment with Linda this morning. We did that because she has been making it to work anywhere between 6am and 7:15am. Since we wanted to capture her shock and awe, we needed to be here before her, but we definitely weren't gonna do that at 6am. So thank you, Bob!!

 

Definitely not bad for a birthday celebration. Andi made an amaaaaaazing cake, Tonya made some salsa - probably the best home made salsa I've ever had [don't worry Rob, I got the recipe!], Ali brought in some colorful martini glasses for lemonade, and the bosses treated us all to Taco Bell, to keep in the festive spirit.

Yeah, and it helps to work in an office filled with creative women... 


birthday floor runner by cori | cake by andi |
lemonade margaritas by ali | salsa by tonya

workspace!

WE LOVE YOU!

HAPPY BIIIIIIRTHDAY!!!

 Last video, I promise (:

Gosh, I love birthdays (:

Anyway, I'm about to meet up with Rob & Mike, and from here we'll get the ball rolling on getting my tires and alignment on my car fixed tomorrow. IT'S THE WEEKEND!!! [YAY!]

xo | cmd

Lá sona naomh Pádraig! [Almost]

Well, it's not the real St. Patrick's Day yet, but that didn't stop us from celebrating here at the office since we really won't be together as an office family on Sunday. Soooo... [sans Linda :( ... ], HAPPY DAY O' GREEN!

the express family [minus linda :( ... ]
tonya. andi. marc. cori. ali. diana

Potluck mode? Yes. Complete with corned beef & cabbage, potato salad, cheese & broccoli and an angel food cake topped with green sprinkles. Yeah, we know how to do it up around here when it comes to small office potlucks ;)

Oh, and no, I'm not Irish (clearly), but I do have a pure affinity for the color green; I found this on the Color Run page today and wanted to share, because I love... green... that.. much. 

color green (:

Love love love.

*Phew. The work day was something closer to absolutely neurotic than calm and peaceful like we'd hoped, but that's what makes our job what it is, and we do what we can to keep the ball rolling when one of us is MIA. Linda deserved a day off, so we were happy to pick up where she'd left off, even on a last-minute job order for double digit crew numbers. Oh, we brought it... haha.

Work aside, [HELLO WEEKEND!!!!]

We're headed out tomorrow for the weekend in Indy... here we goo..... (:

xo | cmd