Breaking Even & Bye-Bye, Boat!

Oh, the power of Craigslist.

dun dun dunnnn...

Over the years, I personally can attest to the convenient wonder that is Craigslist. Buying and selling online was never really my thing; throughout high school, many people I knew used Ebay. One guy I dated in HS bought a car off Ebay, and traveled something like 6 states away to go look at it before he bought it. I remained skeptical to the whole idea of committing myself purchase whatever it was, from some random person. I mean c'mon, I'm a 90's kid, and if you want to gauge our range of adaptation, think about this:

Kids born in the 80's are probably the last generation of kids whose baby pictures weren't taken on cell phones.

Mind blown with that one, a bit.. mine at least.

Anyway, I hit college in the "big city" of Cincinnati, and was introduced to all kinds of things, including Craigslist: An online community of buyers, seller, renters, wanters, givers and takers who were all... local? So I could drive 15 minutes to a mall to meet someone selling an ipod, rather than blindly buying it online and risk being severely disappointed? Sign me up.

Everyone's a newb at some point.

I started relying on Craigslist for my first point of search whenever I'd decided I needed a bigger-ticket item. There are of course horror stories from both buyers and sellers on Craigslist, so I am still to this day grateful to have been fortunate and fruitful after my repeated usage...

I found a roommate on Craigslist. She turned out to be awesome, and we're still friends today.
She and I found our apartment on Craigslist [it only seemed fitting...]. 

with trisha! 2008 & 2014

stella bella!

I bought a car off Craigslist. Sure, the fuel pump had a seizure and died just a couple weeks in, but reading up on Saabs after that, I realized that was probably imminent, and went on with life.
The next several places in which I lived were also from Craigslist, along with countless other random things: appliances, a snowboard or two, skiis, cell phones, laptops, cameras, camping equipment, etc.
I even had a few pets over the years who came off CL. My little rescue love Stella is herself a CL ad, answered by moi.
I counted myself a Craigslist aficionado.
And then I met Rob. No, I didn't meet him on CL, haha..

Where I thought I was a guru at positioning myself on Craigslist, Rob blew me out of the water: Cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles, rental houses and a lot more than I would've probably ever felt comfortable dealing with over Craigs. Sure, people buy/sell/trade things all the time; what Rob does that I don't get is to somehow manage to squeeze every. single. penny either into or out of whatever it is. I love it!

Today was one of those bittersweet days. We said goodbye to the big red lug of a boat that Rob bought around this time last year. Rob decided to list it a couple of months back, but was biding his time waiting on the perfect bid. 

hitching it up to its new owner :(

Of course, it always helps to remember that bidding farewell to one just means that we're now in full-fledged quest for the next one..

whoa.. haha

Rob's madly scouring Craigslist again now, with his eyes set on a couple of potentials. One of them is in MO, where we'll be this weekend.

Oh! I also almost forgot to mention - CONGRATS to my team at work! We've broken even, just after a year! That's a HUGE accomplishment for a new office, and I couldn't be more proud to have been a part of that effort. It's the up-&-up from here! :D

We of course celebrated with lunch, which was decidedly at Trio Bistro in Kenwood. I felt like I'd been there once before, but I still can't put my finger on when, or with whom. Either way, the food was delicious and it was great to have all of us together to celebrate such a cool achievement! 

thai flatbread

proscuitto flatbread

Yum! Congrats again to my awesome team. We're pretty awesome, in my books :)

I think this is gonna be a good week!

xo | cmd

Brakes? What Brakes?

My morning routine typically starts with leaving for work. Yenno, something basic like that.

Well, I didn't get very far. I didn't even make it out of the neighborhood before my brakes completely gave up the ghost and stopped working for good. I somehow managed to coast back home and into the driveway. Rob came home for a bit to inspect the damage; we ordered some brake parts to be delivered to his work later on today, and he headed back. Lizzy was kind enough to come and get me, so I eventually made it to the office. 

well.... yeah.

Two hours late, but made it no less. Thanks, Lizzy!

After work, Nancy took me home. I think I needed today if for no other reason than a clear reminder to appreciate my [usual] mobility. I coordinate things daily with people reliant on public transportation, so often that I lose sight of how grateful I should be for having a car that functions. Anyway, I made it home just before Rob showed up to save the day [again].

He wasted no time digging into the back brakes on poor little Subie.
I'm glad he did, because it... was.... a mess.

poor subie

whoa!

he. is. awesome!!

Kalyn called in the midst of it all; she was looking for something to do in the gap between work and our 9:30pm volleyball game. She stopped over and we headed to Eli's, because YES. That's why ;)

It was then home, food and a little more relaxing before our journey over to Hahana, where we put up a big WIN before calling it a night.

*Yawn. What a day!

We'll see how these brakes hold up tomorrow. If I'm right, these puppies will have me stopping on a dime. My mechanic's pretty awesome ;)

See ya then!

xo | cmd

New Family Members!

... The Express family, that is.

Today we opened our office to a couple who will be the newest members of the Cincitucky Express family [Cincinnati + N.KY]. They'll be taking over a territory that was vacated by another owner a year or so back; today we welcomed them to our office to conduct interviews for their first staffing consultant.

welcome to the express fam!

Quick rewind to this morning... just really quick:

ohio.

^ Ohhhhhio, STOP IT!
Yeah, that's snow. Yeah, it was like, I dunno, almost 60 yesterday? Yeah, it's April. I know I'm not alone in wishing this crap would just..... go..... away. *Sigh. Mother Nature- 1, Ohioans Wishing for Warm Weather - 0.

Anyway, we lightened the drab start with the new owners; that's a special occasion for us, which also means food. If there's one unspoken Express standard, it's the provision of food at everything that could be considered a gathering. Shoot, we have office lunches here every single Friday. Today it was Chris bringing donuts, a pot of coffee to go around, and a bowl of greek yogurt+berries+honey. Nom, nom freakin' nom!


beauty in a bite!

After work, it was off to start my Easter preparation. That meant a trip to the dollar store to pick up a collection of plastic eggs, miscellaneous little trinkets and toys to fill them, some last-minute things for Syd's Easter basket and a few other things. I may have gone slightly overboard this year, but hey... that's the fun part!

Happy Tuesday, friends!

xo | cmd

Happy Birthday, Elisa!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELISA!!!!

happy birthday!!

Elisa's birthday is TODAY! I have the pleasure of working with this girl, and I must say she's pretty awesome. Coincidentally, I knew her brother from college, long before I ever met her, and then when I did finally meet her, we realized both of us are part of adoptive families. Pretty cool. (:

Anyway, birthdays are great excuses to indulge on things that otherwise have no permissable justification. Erego, meet the box of cupcakes from The Sweeterie that Nancy brought to help us celebrate Elisa's birthday and our blatant disregard for healthy eating.

hello, ya gorgeous thing, you!

I assumed that, since it's also Michael Jordan's birthday today, that anyone sharing such a momentus birthday would be watching this gem to celebrate:

boom.

^ We discussed this movie here at the office today and how, when we were kids watching it, it was one of the classics of that time. However, to watch it now means realizing that MJ really just... isn't a good actor, nor is this movie nearly as entertaining as it was when I was what, 10... 11? If anything else, it's almost more creepy than anything else, but even then I still relish this as one of those staple movies from my middle childhood years.

That being said, happy birthday to both MJ and Elisa!

I still feel behind from the weekend; tonight's supposed to be producing some nasty weather again, so instead of heading to the gym like I was supposed to, I'm here at home working out in my living room and avoiding any extra time on the roads. It's nuts out there.

Happy week, blogbots!

xo | cmd

Snow. Snow Everywhere ❄❆

One of these days, I'll start paying more attention to the weather forecasts.

no, i was not prepared for this.

I stepped out back to let the dogs out and found my neighbor calf-deep in the snow in his driveway, clearing his car. Apparently I wasn't the only one caught off-guard by the white mess. I was a little upset that it all looked so powdery, and well... fun .. and instead of playing in it, we'd all be heading to work. Schools, I assumed by the trails of kids I saw toting sleds down sidewalks as I was driving in, are closed today.


it's so pretty!

The commute to work was slow but steady; thankfully Nancy pardoned us all to arrive later due to the road conditions, and as much as we just inched along, I'm certain that extra hour or so made a huge difference. I have to admit that although the roads looked like junk, it was otherwise a pretty drive. This, once again, is the midwest. This is what winters in Ohio were like from my childhood. (:

snowy roads & snow-covered trees

And then there was work... which was mildly productive in spite of the weather. Nancy treated us to lunch, so naturally there was no protesting a baked potato in the middle of the day..


guilty eats.. and it's only tuesday... haha

^ No worries, though. I made it to the gym after work and in my own pained silence, trodded away at burning off whatever I could for the day. It was leg day, so of course my lower extremeties at this point feel more like noodles than limbs, but hey..... worth it ;)

Dinner post-workout was well worth it.

ooommmm nom nom nom (:

And then, as I was checking over everything for the evening at the new digs, I peeked inside the mailbox to find that Rob had beat me to the punch in having something delivered to the house! Sneaky, that one... Apparently he ordered facemasks. I couldn't decipher a company name from the shipping address, but it doesn't really matter; they're pretty nifty.

+ jacket + helmet = alllll set!

I told him I was wearing this thing to work. In the minute or so that it took me to sport one and snap a picture, I have to admit it got a bit toasty. Oh, the stuff available to us.. hah.

Anyway, I can feel the soreness encasing my legs the more I sit here, so it's time for a goodnight stretch session and some sleep.

*Crossing FINGERS for no. more. snow tonight! ❄❆

xo | cmd

Farewell, Nikki ... Hello, Illinois

Fun fact of today?

If you were anywhere near Google today, then you know today's the 100th anniversary of the standard crossword puzzle. I searched several unrelated things throughout the day and was met with the interactive banner several times before I actually obliged the thing...

tempting... temptiiiiiing...

I eventually gave in and clicked the blue play buttong... and proceeded to spend the next several minutes attempting to decode insinuating clues to words and abbreviations I never would've known. So, with the moderate assistance of Yahoo! for this one [is it strange that I felt like using using Google itself for this was somehow unethical? haha], I managed to decipher the hints I couldn't grasp on my own. For an English major, I am apparently not that versed:

Now, I had no problem at all with clues like "little bit," "Cleveland's lake" and strangely even "Start of many exclamations," but I really don't feel guilty for not knowing that 'KTS' is an abbreviation for "Chess Jumpers." So uhh, anyway, thanks again, Arthur Wynne!

And because it was Friday, we naturally had our weekly lunch, provided for by the bosses: Nikki's "last meal" as we sadly coined it. Elisa suggested Piada in Hyde Park, and we voted collectively yes.

the carnage....... we were hungry? (:

My first experience eating Piada was today and I have now added it to my official list of YES, PLEASE places here in the Norwood-Oakley-HP area. Speaking of good food, today happened to gift some other edible Christmas cheer in the form of Chipotle gift cards!

yes, please. yesssss, please.. & thank you!

Man, I'm blessed (:
That being said, we celebrated Nikki's last day in style, complete with lunch from Piada, a box of the decadent Express toffees, and some bittersweet farewells at the very end of the day. We'll see her one more time next week on Friday when she stops back by, but I know the office really won't be the same without her. Sad... sad face ):

Once work was out, I hopped in my car that I'd packed up last night and made a beeline for the highway. Fast forward 4-5ish hours and here I am now, in Illinois at Rob's house. He and Jesse rolled in the driveway right after I did; Jesse just left but we're in for a nice run of five days before I head back to Ohio.

*Yawn.

I'm done here, folks (:
Christmas is in .... five days, ya'll. Whoa.

xo | cmd 

You'll Uh, ZULA!

Our office Christmas dinner was tonight, so we basically spent all day counting down in anticipation for the deliciousness that would undoubtedly ensue at 7:00. The day wore itself out without too much fuss, and it was home to trade out the work clothes for some dinner gear!

^^ Stretchy pants, of course. Don't judge. Haha.
Just kidding. Zula it was! The five of us rednezvoused back at the office so Dave & Nancy could tote us down to OTR to what is now one of my new favorite eatery digs.

zula ♥

Y-U-M.
Since Nikki's moving on to other professional endeavors next week, we half-heartedly joked that tonight was her "last supper," and celebrated both her time with us and our team as a whole. We're still the new kids on the block in this area, but I have to say we're not doin' half bad!

Back at home, I flopped on my couch for a few minutes before willing myself to get up and go to bed; I stared at the empty space knowing that tomorrow, I'll see this guy and these pups. I wish Sydni was going with us, but I know we'll have plenty of other times for her to head out there with us.

t-minus one day! ♥

Pretty good little Thursday, I'd say!

xo | cmd

It's WINTER.

Ok, ok, ok. It's officially here.
I found this little cartoon online that usually sums up conversations about snow between people who have ever lived through a snowfall of any magnitude.


I work for some very generous people, who decided that in lieu of the worsening weather today, would let us head home early. I managed to snap some momentos of the Christmas tree in our office before we left; Nancy has worked fairly hard on it the past few days and even purchased three owl ornaments, signfying as she stated, the three wise owls of the office [Nikki, Elisa & myself]. We chuckled at how thoughtful it was..

merry {early} Christmas!

We were gone before the 1:00 hour hit; I'm glad, because the roads only slickened [word? who cares...] up as every hour passed into the afternoon.

By the time I got home, the snow was coming down in full force, and naturally that meant that all the people who probably shouldn't be out driving in less-than-favorable road conditions, were.


wonderful wonderland!

Rob and I made what was probably considered a brash, stupid decision to head out into the falling snow to do some Christmas shopping. Why? Because I'm making many if not all of my Christmas gifts this year, and I wanted to start on them... today. I'm an impulse person like that, and luckily for me, so is Rob. We waged war against the slick roads, navigated around fender benders and made our way safely into Hyde Park, where we hit Michael's, Walgreens, the hardware store and the Mexican restaurant all in one swipe.

[& that folks, is how it's done in the midwest...]

So now we're back, and as muuuuuuch as I would love to show you some spoilers of what I've already accomplished, I .. just... can't [because giftee eyes just might see...]! Believe me, it hurts. I love.love.LOVE.. DIY Christmas things, so of course I want to share [not because mine are that awesome, but because I took stabs at several Pinterest-inspired projects and they did not come out resembling distorted lab creations, woo!]... but I suppose that time will come.

We're cozying up with the pups now and ready to relax for the night!

xo | cmd

Detroit : Sales Summit 2013

Well it's been a long day.
Great, but long.

It started at 5am when I was up and getting ready for the rest of the day. By 6:45am, I was in the foyer of my boss' b-e-a-uuuutiful home, joined shortly thereafter by Elisa and Nikki. The five of us piled into "Mom & Dad's" car [that was their title all weekend], and embarked on our 4-hour trek north to Detroit, MI.

And because I'm an Ohio native.. and because I've been to Findlay, Toledo, Perrysburg and further... I can say this:

The downtown bowels of Detroit are a DUMP. Literally. It is so much so, that in an eerily-fascinating way, it's enticing.. but at from behind a camera lens. Otherwise, it's not much to celebrate at this point if you consider what those vacant, destroyed-but-standing buildings once were or held. *sigh.

yep. room with a view... it's definitely.... somethin' ..

We landed at the Westin, in the heart of downtown; there were business-professional clad people milling around all over the sidewalk, assuring us we were in fact at the right place.

Fast forward to Elisa and I checking into our room, changing out of yoga clothes [aka, road trip attire] and making our way down to the opening presentation for the weekend. We reunited with owners and members of the other four local Express offices, along with a slew of other offices from around Ohio, Michigan and Canada.

Super profesh, I say. Super.

yyyyep (:

From there, we started in on our first round of training tracks, designed to cater to our job functions, but of course with a twist of fun [as is the Express way, for which I am ever grateful]:

kortney's a magician ;)

The formal part of the day came to a close and it was time for some fun, the way our local offices are known to do it: We [our 5 local offices] reserved a huge table at a local Greek restaurant, ate calamari and baklava, and drank uzo until we couldn't stuff one more thing into our stomachs, and had a really good chance to get to know some of the newer gals. We all agreed this should be a much more frequent thing, this whole social outing part of it all.

parthenon, greektown | detroit mi

flaming cheese. yes. queso con fueeego!

After dinner, the lot of us found ourselves directly across the street at the Greektown Casino, where we finished off the night out with some Blackjack, slots and more than enough people-watching [let's be honest]. From there, we made our way back to the hotel where Anna, Nikki, Kate, Elisa, Kortney and I spent the next two hours laughing ourselves into tears along with some random co-guests in what we learned was an out-of-town wedding party.

kate. elisa. kortney. cori. nikki. anna
greektown casino | detroit, mi

Oh, and we ate more food.
Not only will we be off the wagon this weekend.. I'm not really even sure we brought the wagon.

*and chyeah, this is backdated. Actual bedtime happened around 1...ish... AM.
Summit, Day 2 is tomorrow.

Signin' Off from the Motor City herself...

xo | cmd

Life's A Beach!

To say that today is an improvement from yesterday is something of an understatement.
I feel... exponentially better than I did this time 24 hours ago. Though still stuffy, my head has stopped pounding and I can actually breathe through my nose today. Wiiiiin!

To celebrate, we got a big job order at work today, thanks to Nikki, who is rockin' this boat and turning my day back into what I'm used to: a challenge! [in a good way!!] In staffing, your sales team is a building block that you must have, and to say that Nikki is solid in that regard is barely scratching the surface. We're on a roll!

Oh, and Nancy surprised us with some love from her most recent trip to Florida. It's small, but adorable and oh-so-Nancy of her. I love it.

{a tiny} day at the beach {for everyday here}! | thanks, nancy!

^ Each of us got one; Elisa and I have started the countdown to the minute when one of us knocks this thing over and sand goes everywhere. We're both clutzy often enough - me way moreso than her - I'm preparing myself now to clean up a mess. Haha. It's cute though, and completes the little paradise in the corner of my desk: Sydni, Rob & me, my orchid, a thank you card from Elisa, owl from Ali and now my little beach. It's the small things (:

After work = volleyball!
We're out, after falling just short of victory in tournaments, but I'm not that mad about it. It was our first season together, and again - Keif's never played volleyball before this, Beth hasn't played since high school, and Kalyn & I haven't played on a league together in 3 years. All things considered, we did just fine, so we hopped across the street post-game for dinner at Fifty West. It was... a unique experience.

fifty west brewery

Not a bad way to end a Wednesday. Now all I have to do is get the lawn mowed and pick up a piece of dry-cleaning that's been sitting there for nearly a month because I'm too lazy to stop and get it.. haha. {First world problems} Is it bad that I've already started anticipating my next weekend trip to IL.. at the end of the month? Hah.. oh boy.

Thank goodness for 4-day weeks, yeah?

xo | cmd

Ohhhh.. IT'S ON...

Today was my office's first real hiring event, held downtown at the local SuperJobs office. It was a new experience for both my boss and me, but we had a blast and met with some really great people. It's starting to feel like Express again, and I'm super excited to see where we go from here.

nancy & me | hiring event | @ superjobs | cinci, oh

minus beth.. say hello
to hahana's newest party crashers..
backseat sets :p

After work, I headed home to switch clothes, ran a few errands and then saw my best friend for the first time since I flew out to visit her in January.

KALYN'S HOME!!!!!!!!! && She brought Keifer!!

SO, we decided we'd grab some grub at Hahana and scope out the competition for the upcoming season of sand volleyballers. Tonight was 4's and 6's, so that didn't really offer much of an accurate portrait, but we did run into Rob Patterson & his team [totally random] on our way out.

Oh, and along with Beth, we'll be joining the rest of these people starting next week on Wednesday... Backseat Sets are comin' to get ya... hahahah..

I have a feeling this summer is going to be an improvement from last summer, for sure. It's wild to look back just one year and realize the level of contrast between the two. I was so.. unhappy... so not me then, and now? Now, my best friend is back in Ohio, she brought her awesome boyfriend...I have my boyfriend, who I'll see at the end of next week. My family and I have made huge strides in re-connecting.. my daughter is with me constantly, and I have more than I could have ever wanted [just about everything, actually] within reach, or at least sight.

It was dark for a very long time, but I've always believed that blessings come to the faithful.
Stay faithful, friends. It works. HE works.

xo | cmd

Nails | Nancy's Birthday | MVP's

Welp,... we only saw Nancy for a fleeting moment this morning but sure enough, the birthday surprises were a success! Elisa picked up some flowers, a balloon and a bag of chocolate, and we were ready by the time Nancy arrived this morning. I.. love.. birthdays (:

happy birthday, nancy!! (:

[Winning!]

Oh, and on that DIY note...
...... Thanks a lot, Instagram.
I swear, if it's not Pinterest shelling out new experiment ideas, it's Instagram. Haha. I should've known better than to browse around on some DIY pages a few days back, but I've been wanting to throw some polish on the nails and haven't really been motivated enough to do it... yet.

And then I found ombre [gradient] nails. This is definitely a rough sketch of what these could look like if I really put my mind to them, but I don't think they came out half bad (:

getting ready (:

Sponge + colors + way too much time on my hands....

base coat... prime color...

Sponge feeding the second color... It's not a pro job but then again, I'm no pro. I did find a few ways that I'll remember for the next time [assuming there is one] that I decide to spend this much time painting my nails.. ehh.

ta... da.

Yeaauuup. Probably not my favorite project, but worth at least one try and maybe another one down the road once I've forgotten how annoying this actually got after about 20 minutes. We'll see.

Lastly, to piggyback off of yesterday's dote on my friend Ladd, I figured I'd try and actually see him sometime before his next birthday rolls around... so yeah.... MVP's it was, to rendezvous with Ladd, Jason & Keith.. and eventually Kelly, too [*sidenote, Melissa .. feel 100% better, soooon!].

Good to see them, even if Ladd is still trying to be an honorary Asian. Jury's out, buster; I'll have to consult Nader & Nalom to see if your membership renewal is negotiable.. haha.

mvp's | silverton, oh

I'm home. It's late. I'm tired.
It's gonna be a loooong day tomorrow, I think... but worth it, since I'm supposed to see KALYN [*squeaaaaaaaal] tomorrow evening.

Adios, amigos.

xo | cmd

DIY Birthday Cards

So this weekend, as I shared with everyone, was a little bit of a trying situation as it relates to my relationship with Rob. Not that anything is wrong or even warranting concern at all, but it's just plain old tough sometimes when the face-to-face contact that so easily solves this kinda thing isn't available. The struggle is real, people... :p .

And then he sends me a picture of his desk space.
... And I smile.
.... And so I took one of mine and threw us both on there and called the whole thing a his&hers kinda deal. It won't seem like much to most of you, but it meant a whole bunch to me today, and I was quickly reminded that I am a blessed girl, in many ways.

his & hers workspaces (:

He's awesome.
& I love that guy..
... a lot. (:
& 'Nuffa that.

One of the BEST perks of all my stuff being out of storage and into my house now is that I have all my craft stuff back. I'm not a true DIY snob, no, but if there's one thing I hate doing, it's buying birthday cards for people from the store. I'll do it if I have to, sure, but why, when I could make one?

this is no game. this... is birthday card time.

Not only did I have reason to make one card, but I have two people with approaching birthdays! (:

The first one.. I cannot show you right now, because it's Rob's, and his birthday isn't until next week, and there's no way the world will see this silly card before he does... so that'll have to wait. The other one is for my boss, Nancy, who I know won't see this.. or if she does, I can pretty much guarantee it won't be until after she's seen the card in person.

stamps galore ;)

Either way, there was MUCH DIY fun had tonight.. with two cards that are pretty fun if you ask me (:


diy birthday card for the 'first lady' of our office!

I'm praying this will be a good week. Sydni has an appointment on Friday for a small hernia that more than likely will require a quick surgery, but I'll know more after the consultation. I'm doing my best not to overreact; I'm trying to stay in that neutral zone of concerned but not panicked on the whole thing, but I've had my moments the past week. The good news is, she's a healthy little ox right now, so I'm just praying for minimal time under the knife and a quick recovery. And no, it's not me pretending to be noble when I say that I wish this was me and not her.... but I really do. *Sigh. I'll keep ya'll posted, but prayers would be greatly appreciated.

Make it a great week!

xo | cmd