May .. Day... 1!

Ahhhh.. good morning LOZ! 

It's a bummer that we had to leave this beautiful place behind today, but I'm pretty sure we'll be back, so it's not a forever farewell. Plus, next time I'm sure we'll have some aquatic horsepower in tow, and a couple coolers to go along with it, so.. that'll work. 

see you next time, loz ♥

The ride home was a mixture of fitfully uncomfortable car napping, shoeless feet, a Fifth Harmony song playing at least 15 times [work work work work work.. you ain't gotta work work work work work...] and finally the arrival back at Dillon's. We literally spared enough time for a bathroom break and some quick farewells, and then Rob and I were back on the road for the 5-hour trip back to Cinci.

3 hours home. 

Back at the homestead, there was a 45-minute gap between our arrival and my parents, along with Sydni. I couldn't imagine a better homecoming after a long weekend, and as we spent the evening together catching up on our respective weekends away, it dawned on me yet again that we have blessings in this world that money will never buy. 

From our family to yours, and from this pit-iful [har har!] behind, good night and cheers to another week of productivity! 

Ahhh... to be home ♥!

xo | cmd 

Harley, Huh...

B-A-C-K-D-A-T-E-D, chyeahhhhhhup.

Today was another really good day.

For starters, Rob bought a Harley today. I'm pretty sure any good day starts off that way ;) He got a deaaaaal on this thing, and with a little of his genius handywork, some of the minor cosmetic stuff will be taken care of [along with some other mods, I'm sure] and if this weather keeps up, I don't doubt I'll see this in front of my house at some point. We'll see!


helloooo, harley!

Yes, that's right.. he's got another toy. I think he may actually hang onto this one for a little while this time... but we'll see ;).

& that's that, huh..
sitting on the back of the boat watching my man
& his new toy... can't say i hate this life ♥

A couple of shameless selfies on a gorgeous day... sure? Why not, I was parked up on the back of the boat enjoying the sun for a little while and it's sometimes what happens when you're me and you have a camera in hand...

welcome to the my beautifully lazy sunday (:

And of course more.. of my best friend.. slash boyfriend.. slash best thing this place has to offer.. I'm smitten, yeah....

more rapid fire shots he didn't see coming ;)

The weekend of course wouldn't be complete without some hangtime with the muttballs, aka Sasha & Stella!

playful gals | october = pitbull awareness month!

These two.. they sound so mean but growling at each other for tug-of-war, but the minute they're interrupted it's slobbery kiss city.. haha.


We started to get hungry, so we decided to make a quick trip out to Wasabi in Edwardsville before I jumped on the road back to Ohio. Pretty good decision, considering neither of us had been there in a while and we were craving sushi.


sushi @ wasabi | edwardsville, il

Yummmm.
We got back to Rob's and spent some more time lazing around with the pups and chit-chatting about this sometimes-chaotic but amazing relationship that we're in with each other. Long distance isn't easy by any stretch, but I'm realizing that when the right people are on both ends, getting together like we did this weekend won't feel like we skipped a single beat. I'm a lucky girl, through and through and I'm stickin' to it. 

i'm baaaack...

Oh, and I took a power nap and left pretty late; night driving on road trips has always been my preference for some reason, so I was just fine hitting the highway in the dark. The only downside? I headed back into EST, which meant an hour ahead.

.. Which meant I rolled into my driveway at 3:15 AM.
So yes, this is backdated.. but it's been an incredible weekend (:
[I'm spent. Adios, for now...]

xo | cmd

Mr. & Mrs. Steinway [& Co.]!

I did not want today to end....

First things first: breakfast. We had every intention of heading out to Missouri afterwards to take a look at a bike Rob's been eyeing, but decided to do it tomorrow in lieu of some other things we needed to accomplish before the evening rolled around.

Instead, we took to our first real shopping excursion together. For two people who don't like shopping, I think we did some decent damage in a relatively short amount of time. I blame the infrequency of [retail] shopping we both do, meaning that if and when we go, well... we go.

First stop was for some new dress attire for Rob.. which was simple enough [later realizing also that he and Ryan were wearing the exact same thing.. haha]. Oh, and Rob just bought me a ring. No, don't get all fussy over it; it's not THE ring, but we still shared a good laugh over it. Really it was my intention to buy it once we got to the register but he snatched it up and refused my offer, so.... yeah. Let's hope if that time ever comes for us to start [the.grueling.process.of.real] ring scoping, it doesn't happen quite like that.. haha. ;)

a ring!
haha, and no, it's not what you think, but i think it's pretty.. well, pretty!
[thanks, boyfriend!]

As I said, we went pretty hard at the stores today, given we were only there for a couple of hours, if even that:

retail therapy for men... acceptable when women are around.. haha ;)

Once we got our run at the mall out of the way, it was back to Rob's, a quick haircut for him [by yours truly], and then some quick getting ready before Tawny & Ryan were at the door. The four of us piled into Rob's truck and were off to Yacovelli's in Florissant for Mike & Kelly's wedding reception.

congratulations, mike & kelly!! ♥♥

group shot! | yacovelli's - florissant, mo

♥ i had the best date in the place.. yenno, not biased ;)

[back at] bindy's with my [absolute] favorite ♥

We took a few pictures from the evening, but honestly were having too much fun to stop and take that many. I always regret that the next day, but it was a blast (:

"look up there... " [@bindy's, duh...]

an accurate description of [some] of what ensued tonight, haha...

with kelly | cori. rob. kelly. jesse | reading books?.. with jesse

Congratulations, again to Mr. & Mrs. Steinway! Thank you for letting us be a part of this celebration with you (:
& gooooooooooodnight!

xo | cmd

FIASCO FRIDAY

I'm all about alliteration ;)

Anyway, HOLY CRUD I am glad to see this day come to an end. [hello, backdated entry]

Today was my first run at dropping Sydni off at Mindi's before work; I came all the way from Northside and it didn't take as long as I'd thought - a reassuring thought since I'll be over halfway closer when I finally move. It was an early start though after a restless night; I was running on empty today outside of my excitement for the weekend.

I got my work phone today, along with some more Express swag... I don't know why I'm still surprised at how much stuff my company actually prints with its logos, but I suppose it's that way everywhere and it's a sign of good faring if nothing else ;)


helloooooo, express... ;)
[[this is just a taste of it, too.. haha]]

I really had no complaints when it came to my day at work. We're starting to find some consistency to a routine and things are picking up. I did decide to get my oil changed in the middle of Norwood today, and aside from the boisterous gal on her cell phone for a half an hour next to me in the lobby, there was also this to keep me entertained:


only here......

Yeah. The day was progressing just fine until it came time to head out. I made my way to Milford at a snail's rate, partially due to traffic but moreso by my own choosing of a varied route that took much longer than I'd thought. I finally got Sydni, and together we started out on the road to Illinois.

There was no making this an easy trip:
1. Car fire on 275, blocking all but one lane.
2. Motorcycle/car accident on 75/74 interchange.
3. Sheets of RAIN in the dark as we headed into Illinois, realizing then that there were tornadoes touching down not more than an hour from us.
Long story short, the usual 5-ish hour trip to Illinois wound up lasting 15 minutes short of EIGHT HOURS, and when we got to Granite, the storm had knocked power out completely. Rob's entire neighborhood was pitch black, save for the flickering candles barely visible through some of the windows.

jackknifed fed ex ... :(

I realized tonight how thankful I am for Rob's Macgyver-like ability and problem-solving skills. Since the power was out, the pump in his basement stopped working, and the water started flooding up over the drains. If it were me, we likely would've been floating by morning. Rob on the other hand, had more than one solution, and had the room looking like Frankenstein's laboratory with wires, batteries, pipes, but more importantly without overflowing water. It was a lengthy process though, one that he didn't finish until about 3am :(.

Like I said, we made it safely [amen], but this day could not be over sooner.

Nothin' like a rocky start to a weekend. Here's to the rest of this weekend (:

xo | cmd

Tag-Along Cori

Hey, weekend (:



gateway powder coating

Rob and I set out early to go check out a property he'd found. Needless to say, it was beyond being a bust. This was more like a train wreck on top of another train wreck, complete with a janky video surveillance camera on the back deck secured to its stand with duct tape. Winning............ 

Anyway, once that was done, we headed off into Granite to Dillon's. Then it was to Kyle's to get his trailer, and then...... The rest of the day was spent helping [well, not so much helping on my part as much as just tagging along and being the way..lol :p] Dillon get the tower for his boat from the powder coating place over in Missouri, tote it back to IL, and start the process of readying his boat for the season.  


So yeah, I felt a little guilty for my complete lack of participation for most of the day, outside of just riding along and making sure nobody stole the trailer, the truck, or me lounging in the backseat of the truck parked in a private parking lot...while the boys were inside and I hung back in the cab. I know, I had a hard task. I may or may not have taken a 5-minute power nap. I don't think I'll really even ever know. Haha. 

kick back in the lifted chevy on a sunny day? sold.

Here's a prime example of how much help I was today:  

as you can see, i'm doing the bulk of the work here... : / [joking]

Anyway..... lol. Once things were wrapped up with the tower, and we [long story truncated] came to the collective decision that Steak & Shake is not meant to be eaten sober, we headed back to Granite and the boys dropped me at my car. I headed home and packed my afternoon full of Goodwill donation runs, errands, and cleaning. Yeah, Saturday. I did hear the boat got some work done for the day, though...

nicely done, boys

Eventually, Rob finished up, so I headed back out to get him; we came back home and before long he was back out the door for a night with his friends. I resigned myself to some overdue laundry and hanging out with the lady of the house [not Sydni, but only because she's not here], Stella. We partied, clearly.

sorry for partyrockin..... ;)

Not a bad start to the weekend!

xo | cmd

C'Mon, Is It Friday Yet??!

Note to self:

Saint Louis, MO hates you.

//The end.

Just kidding. I don't think it does, obviously, but man alive did I have a time trying to accomplish one simple trip to my bank. I probably should've gathered from the fact that I bank with Fifth Third that this would be an expedition; the nearest branch is located in Missouri, so of course my smart self thought to tackle the trip during rush hour.


thank you.. staff @ the drury... lol

 Good move, slick.
+ car breaking down.
+ construction/rush-hour traffic jam.
+ stop off at the grocery store.
= Me being thankful beyond my ability to convey... to the 2 staff members of the drury in downtown for helping me out (:
= Rob & Marianne beating me to my own house. Haha. Oh well.

Cursed road trip aside, it was on to bigger, better, carb-loaded things. (:


pasta.. anyone?

 It was pasta nighit at the Dren Lodge II; Rob & I were joined by Marianne, Ali & DeShawn. Jay & Cindy were invited but didn't make it; that was probably in all of our best interest since the five of us did a good job on our own of dominating an entire pot of spaghetti. Yeah, team.

Oh, and Marianne chowed through nearly an entire stick of butter in the process, coining the night's phrase, "CURSE YOU, PAULA DEEN!" I nearly lost it once I read Marianne's corresponding blog entry regarding the whole fiasco of butter sticks, coupled with the events and discussion from our trip to Nashvegas. All I'm envisioning now is a sick horror story in which Paula Deen is kidnapping all of us and forcing us into hiding somewhere deep in the woods, to be tormented by rabid opossums and fed nothing but sticks of greasy butter.

Curse you, Paula Deen......



this is terrifying.

Holy smokes. Haha.

I love my boyfriend.. and I love my friends. We've had a good night.

PLUS, tomorrow's Friday! [*squeaaal*]

See ya then...

xo | cmd 

TOUGH MUDDER 2012!

After months of preparation, training, blood, sweat and dieting [do you hear the drums rolling in the background?  haha], TOUGH MUDDER 2012 fiiiinally graced us with its impending presence. Yay, mud!

We started the day off by agreeing beforehand that we would all rendezvous at the Tower at 5:00AM [oh.my.earlybird.]. That being said, we took all measures to have everything as ready as possible last night in efforts to get out the door as quickly as possible this morning. I woke up already dressed for the day and plugged a half-conscious Sydni into the carseat to drop her off at Jarod's. Becky couldn't make the trip out to Poplar Bluff, so she opted to stay back with Lyla & Sydni [thank you thank you!!]. All was going swimmingly until I got pulled over on the way to Jarod's. Here's kinda how that went, in a nutshell:

Cop: "Where ya headed at 4:30 in the morning with a kid in the backseat?"

Me: "Tough Mudder."

Seriously. I wanted to tell him I'd just returned from the casino and was acting as the DD for the 3-year-old in the backseat who'd had oooone too many apple juices. Oh, and thanks for giving me a warning only. I really do appreciate it :), and I was just kidding about the apple juice thing. Hah.

SO, I made it to and from Jarod's in decent time, and soon enough found myself buckled in with Joe and Jarod in the back of Jimmy & Mo's car en route out to Poplar Bluff to the offroad park that served as the grounds for Mudder.


ninja photog mode... commence.

Jason set me up with a killer getup for the day, with which I had more than enough fun throughout the day: L lense and all. I don't need to tell you I had fun with it ;)
Mudder was about as magical as it usually is: loaded up with hilarious moments, great costumes, and of course, pictures galore. There's a full set available online if you feel like perusing the entire day via photo-documentation. You'll have to excuse any gaps you see; we did spend about 2 hours lost on the course due to excellent mapping [that's a joke] by the mudder teams, but it's cool. We got the shots and we had fun doing it. Congrats to The Fighting Cocks for a day well spent!!

Fighting Cocks | Tough Mudder 2012

the ladies of mudder this year... that one front & center won't be so
clean this time next year... #participant!

To celebrate survival of the Mudder, we headed out to Lambert's, which, if you haven't visited, is absolutely amazing and now has my solid seal of endorsement. That, and the servers throw bread at you while you're eating. What more could you want? Haha.

We're exhausted, as you could guess. It's been a good day, but we're callin' it.

Tough Mudder 2012 = SUCCESS!

xo | cmd

Sunday Spam...

I've chattered myself to the end of today. Thought I'd spice it up a bit - spam style. Who hasn't been tempted to complete some sort of anon.user-generated survey. For lack of other real substance from today:

A peek at the past week (how I’ve been): Mehhh. It was something of a ramp-up to what's going to be this upcoming week; Nancy is out on vaca in Spain with her daughter, so I'll be flying solo --and likely by the seat of my pants-- for the next five days. The weekend flew by in its regular not-long-enough fashion, and volleyball tonight went off without a hitch.

I am thinking… about a lot of things. Primarily family, future, plans for future, and then all of othe sudden... sleep. Hrm.Oh, and how in the world did I never know about the World Naked Bike Ride?? We discussed it tonight at volleyball. It happened in St. Louis last night and no, I did not participate. From what I heard it was quite the unique production. Odd... Hah.

I am thankful for… a long, intricate list of things. A few specifically: my family, my friends, the God I serve who loves me unconditionally, and the ammenities afforded to me in this life on earth that not all are so fortunate to have.

From the kitchen… Found a new recipe for homemade hummus. I haven't tackled it yet, but just wait until I have a moment to get down to business and we'll all have our bellies full.... hopefully. This is willing I don't botch it completely ;).

I am wearing… Sand-infested running shorts and the Relay for Life shirt. Volleyball works wonders. I think there's still about a quarter pound of sand in my hair, too. Who knows. A shower is certainly in order here, folks.

I am creating… a dastardly plan purposed to sustain me through the chaos that will inevitably ensue the moment I step into the office tomorrow as the sole staffing consultant. It involves a lot of prayer, patience, and slow, deep breathing. Hah.

I am going… to reinvent myself this week, by the power of faith, prayer, intentional meditation, and a whole lot of coffee. There are many areas of my life that have been lacking real substance, which has led me to being if not completely detached, then at the very least dissatisfied. "We were made to live for so much more, but we lost ourselves...." [Switchfoot]

get in it :)

I am reading… The Bible. Okay, not at this very moment, but will be. In terms of other literature, I'm not really in the midst of any particular piece; I exhausted The Hunger Games trilogy, partially thanks to Mo for letting me borrow the first of the three books, to read last ;). I'm in search of a new literary adventure, but I'm being somewhat passive at best in the hunt. Priorities.....

I am hoping… for some intervention, of the most Godly sort. Conflict has a way of settling in and taking root to breed dissension; it's only by the grace of God alone that we are saved... and boy do I need some grace. I also need some patience, tolerance, and endurance. I'm one of those creatures - you know the ones... humans.

I am hearing… Phillips Craig & Dean's Great I Am. This is a power anthem.. and I. Am. Jammin'. I usually gravitate towards the more acoustic, raw stuff, but every once in a while I definitely dig some of the bigger songs. I like to think of it as all purpose worship music. Just me..

I wanna be near, near to your heart, Loving the world, hating the dark...

Around the house… Lots of cleaning to do! What else is new. Laundry, too. I think I might check into biodegradable clothing options here soon. You know, take it way old school, like garden of Eden mode. Au naturale, if you will. I have no doubts it would save on laundry costs, and then double up as a benefit all around once I can switch from laundry basket to compost pile. No? Well, I can dream. :p

One of my favorite things… People who resemble their pets. I don't know what it is, but I just can't get enough:

kinda makes me wonder what pet i'd resemble?
.. and no, grandma, tiger woods is not an animal.

I AM ... Outta here. It's about to be a grueling week.

[BRING IT!]

xo | cmd 

Clydesdales, Bald Eagles & Camels, Oh My!

It was an early start today. Well, early as could be for it being the Saturday morning after my finishing VBS and my family driving almost 8 hours the day before. Mom had it decided before we were even out of bed this morning that we were doing something, likely in St. Louis. After some review, we settled on Grant's Farm.

joe. sydni. cori | dills

Heidi & Paul had some plans to do some hiking over on the Cahokia Mounds, so Jonathan loaded up with us and we started on our exhibition to St. Louis. We didn't take off before stopping by to see our good friend Bulent in Belleville [gelato stop, duhhhh] and of course taking Mom by Peace by Piece. Oh, and remember a week or so back when I stopped in and nabbed my TOMS ballet flats.. and I'd ordered something else? At the time, I was holding out because I didn't wanna ruin the surprise.. Well....

I ordered a necklace. Sounds a little goofy, but here in Belleville, there are a plethora of locally-based artisans who I would love to see be successful. Heather, the crafty hand behind this piece, took my order herself and did the work of putting the Dills on a chain in something of a non-traditional way. I'm not big on the typical mother jewelry, but I was attracted to the simplicity of this one, along with the fact that it's the entire family. Like I said, I could've easily done this myself, but I'm happy & I love it.

Grant's Farm was the place to be today!

grant's farm!

It took us no time at all to cover the horse stables and see the beauty of the famous Budweiser clydesdales. It also afforded us some great opportunities to update some long-overdue family photos...

family :) 

daddy & syd
joe. jonathan. dad | joe. syd. mom&dad | me & jonathan!
mama & syd

There was of course the tram ride that traverses over the grounds of the farm: Naturally I wound up with three times as many pictures as necessary, but Sydni kept demanding that I capture every single animal, be it sleeping or flying. We tried. Haha. 

animals everywhere!

My favorite collaboration from the day: 

she. is. adorable. call be biased ;)

Oh yeah, and of course Nana & Pappy insisted on buying a "little something" for Sydni, so we stopped off at the gift shop and spent a good while churning through a bin of colorful rocks. Sydni picked out as many as she could fit into the little leather bag provided, and shared with us her brazen pride with her selections all the way to the car. So... stinkin' ... cute. 

pickin' out rocks with mama

Whew. We are... spent! It's time to get to grillin' - Heidi and Paul are back from their day trip and we're about to do some business with the grill :).

I LOVE.. MY FAMILY!

xo | cmd

It's Friggin' HOT Outside

I went out to Phoenix for a short stint this year, and it wasn't even this hot there [yet].

I'm pretty sure the midwest wants to be just like the actual west.
We're gettin' there.

i drive a nissan oven; what do you drive?

Holy hot.

Whoa.

xo | cmd

VOLLEYBALL! [SportsMonsterMode]

Today was absolutely beautiful!

I spent the church service downstairs in the nursery; I would've typically preferred to be in the audience to our pastor's lessons, but conveniently enough I found myself scheduled into the nursery rotation this week. It was my pleasure hanging out in the infant room with little Evan.

aubrey. logan. sydni. loralye | vbs plane!

Once church was out, Sydni and I took to our own to get a few things done before I dropped her off at Dawne's for a little slumber party sleepover. I made my way over to Clayton for some sand volleyball that ran right into a trip to BW3 before we all headed home. Thanks, SM St.Louis!

that sand... was hot

cori. andrea. that chick is hilarious. (:

I've gotta somehow get my butt up and to work in the morning. Time to try and grab some shut eye. ZzZ.

xo | cmd

On the ROAD!

get ready

And we… are… OFF!

Sam and Kalyn stayed at our place last night, and around 9:30 this morning, the three of us loaded up into her jeep and jumped on the highway for their 2^nd day, my first, on the road from Cincinnati to Phoenix.

heading to kansas

We were pretty excited when we hit Kansas City, somehow thinking we were making pretty decent headway. It wasn’t until we hit the meat of Kansas that we quickly realized that it consisted of windmills, and ……………. Nothing else, really.

No, seriously. Kansas is flatter than a pancake, literally. Aside from the windmills, there is not a single intriguing thing to see while driving straight across this state. It took all three of us to conquer the plains of KS before I struck gold on my turn and flew past the Welcome to Colorado sign before we had a chance to celebrate it. [Don’t worry, we stopped at the border of CO & NM to capture the sign!]

colorful colorado!

Once we crossed onto the grounds of CO and in spite of Sam’s urging to find a hotel, Kalyn and I were determined to camp out. We found a KOA in Limon, CO. We checked in and found our little tent plot nestled in the midst of a crowd of RV’s. Fortunately for us, there was a wooden fence no more than 8 feet long and 7 feet high behind which we claimed our spot. Against our better judgment, we unloaded and pitched a tent in 50+mph winds and a dropping temperature of 48 degrees at that point. We found ourselves with clogged tent poles with no other option than to Macgyver the staking and climb inside as quickly as possible to help prevent the whole setup from blowing away.

If you think I’m exaggerating, I promise you, I’m not. It. Was. Cold. We had two blankets, two pillows, and a sleeping bag. Needless to say, it was an interesting night.

tenting in limon, co | bad idea.

Tomorrow is back on the road: Colorado Springs, the Rocky Mountains, and Santa Fe, NM!

Oh, and P.S. – Not to put a damper on the excitement of our journey westward, but today would’ve been Jena Fogle-Blake’s 27^th birthday. You are always missed, but never forgotten, friend. <3

xo | cmd-