I. Want. Holtman's... NOW.

I. AM. SO. CLOSE. 

via insta: @tessamaes

^ Boy, if that wasn't the cold hard truth today....

The coffee we made at work this morning was blacker than tar. Stronger too, I'm pretty sure. It's bad when I get a caffeine headache from being over-caffeinated. Holy cow. I was tired this morning, but then Nick rounded the corner with the press, planted it directly in front of me and simply said, "drink."

ya beaut! 

spilling it too, because i can't multi-task... 

^ I drank the coffee, and proceeded to do the things. And I was doing just fine until Nick again, came back for seconds:

holtman's. for real?! 

GAH! The universe knows that I am staring down the light at the end of this tunnel, and it wants me to fight a little harder for it. I mean, I didn't eat a donut today, if that's what you're wondering, but again - close, close call.

Things I've gained from this: Self-Control 

Things I've lost from this: Many a beautiful donut ;)

Oh, and of course we didn't go a full day, let alone a week, without having at least one installment of the "What IS she?" game:

I came back from having that conversation, and walked into both A) my coworkers having made me a sign for my office, and B) my friends mapping out the distance between point P and other point P:

lol.... 

*Sigh.

In other news, this chickadee finally lost another tooth today, which has been hanging on far past what we expected it to.

such a ham! 

All in all, not a bad Monday. Two more full days of W30 and it's over, and four more days until the weekend again. What's not to love about that?!

Happy Monday, blogbots! ♥

xo | cms

A BRONZE FRIYAY!

TGIF!

Today I walked into my office and was greeted by all of this, because my office collectively hit a new milestone of Bronze Circle. In my world (Express), that's a big deal, and is indicative of a team that puts in the dirty work. I am surrounded by some incredibly talented people, and we are blessed to have leaders who will go the distance just to say thank you.

happy friday!

And yes, we did. 

fruit and fizzy.. 

Really not a bad way to end the week, at all! I'm so proud to be a part of my team, and thankful every day lately that I'm back in a place where I can fully function, with a team that is right there with me. 

TGIF, ya'll. It's time for me to rest up; tomorrow is going to be a long day ;) 

xo | cms

Night Owlin'

We're doing pretty well on the whole laying low thing so far.

Today was a day of rolling out of bed when we darn well felt like, staying in PJ's until the early afternoon, and taking our sweet time on everything else after that.

I took to running some errands, which were done at such a leisurely pace that I was almost convinced that they were fun instead of being done out of necessity. Rob lazed around a bit until I got home, at which point he did his deeds for the day by mowing the lawn and weed eating.

Like I said, not too much to report from the bulk of the day.

We decided to get out of the house for the evening. It's funny that we can't seem to sit still even when we try, but I will admit there is an entirely different vibe in the air whenever our missions are crafted out of sponenaeity, rather than extensive orchestration involving like, 15 people.

Ironically enough, we did wind up running with a crowd just shy of 15 people, at least that's how it felt. We hadn't been to OTR in a while, so we opted for that.

out on the town with this guy ;)
love.. love.. love him.

Naturally, that means I'm usually on my own in a mass of derpy dudes; Carolina wasn't available tonight so I was left on a solo mission to keep up with the rowdies. It wasn't hard. These goonies aren't strangers. (:

carolina... where are you.. haha..

take 2.

[*sings the rembrandt's song from friends*]

Oy. Haha.

love you, aweesome nerd ♥

l-o-v-e. y-o-u.

That's a wrap on our sponetaneous little Saturday!
These night owls need to rise n' shine tomorrow for church.
G'Nite!

xo | cmd

Jesse's Here

A few days ago, Rob & Jesse made plans for Jesse to come out and visit for this weekend. I decided we'd do our best to put together a fun weekend for him, and that started tonight!

Rob and I met up first with Carolina at Terry's Turf Club for dinner, hoping that maybe Jesse would arrive for that part. Unfortunately, he was still on the road while we were eating, but he made it in not long after that.

terrys's turf club | cincinnati, oh

It was our first time at Terry's; I was pretty interested to see what all the hype was about. As it turns out, the food is definitely delicious, but I'm not entirely sold yet on the prices and the whole European seating thing. I do know that the company with me was enough to make it a great time, either way! 

♥ carolina!!

They gave us steak knives for sandwiches, and I asked Caro to hold it up to see the contrast in its size.. and this is what she gave us, haha...

creeeeepy caro! ;)

In her defense, that's a game face that was necessary for these burgers..

giganto.

head-sized chicken sandwiches?  yes, at terry's turf club, yes.

We finished dinner and headed back to our house to catch a quick breather and wait for Jesse. He arrived not long after we did, and the four of us were loaded up and back out the door. We opted to try a setting other than OTR, since that seems to be the only place we've frequented lately.

music @ mlt's

It's been more than a few years since I've been down to The Stand, MLT's and whatever else is down there now. We decided to hang out at MLT's for a bit, which proved to be a low key affair, complete with a pair of cover musicians, fire on the patio and a crowd just big enough to generate a buzz but not intense enough to suffocate. Once we'd had our fill of MLT's, we traded spaces for the lounge at The Stand, another place I wasn't sure was even still there until we were walking through the door.

me, caro & nick

We ran into Nick and some of the others within the first 20 minutes we were there, then went on to challenge the pool tables and the dart boards. That of course, was a bust for the most part, mainly just for Carolina and me. Darts perhaps just aren't ... our thing.. haha.


We definitely kept tonight tame; tomorrow we'll find something a little more exciting. Either way, Jesse's here and we're off to a great start for the weekend.

G'Nite!

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

The Nizzle Hits 40!

Excuse me, sir ... is it November already?

ohhhh friend. happy 4-0!

Dude. There's no way I've got a friend who is FORTY and looks like he's 25. I'm way jealous.
I'm WAY jealous. And that's coming from an ASIAN, who, as we should all recognize, doesn't age a whole lot each year. I'll be thankful for that when I'm 40, but for the time being, I'll stick to doing the nod & smile thing when folks tell me I look like I'm in the 18-19 range.

Anyway, this isn't about me - this is about Mr. Nick "Nizzle," who is a dear friend of mine and even coordinated a blowout bash to commemorate our aging just this past weekend. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, you old freakin' geezer. Haha.

See. You. Soon.
#Igby's.Cincinnati. Hahaha.

xo | cmd

Celebrate the Sagittarius!

One word: SAGITTARIUS.

Two words: Moustache madness (:

Three words: Igby's, Downtown Cincinnati.

Four words: I love... My friends.

Five words: Thank you for being AMAZING.



igby's. sagittarius birthday blowout. i have incredible friends.



Many, many thanks to Nick & Roxy for the incredible birthday bash. It's been a long time since I got to rendezvous with some of my favorite Cincinnati Sagi's, and this was definitely overdue.

[backdated, yyyyyup!]

I'm gettin' old, folks.

xo | cmd

Short Lived But Well Worth It

In case you didn't know, Joe's in the Air Force. It's the military that brought us here to Illinois and opened the door for everything that is now a part of our daily lives. In hindsight, I should really be exercising a more prominent sense of gratitude for everything we have now and everyone who we've met in the last few years. I absolutely believe in the God things; my life now is the perfect testament to just that. [Free Plug specifically for our incredible church, Towerview Baptist, and its family, who has become one of our favorite, favorite things!]

So since Joe's been in the Air Force, he's found some once in a lifetime opportunities: he traveled to Virginia and earned a position on the 2011 All Air Force soccer team. They won gold medal in their tournaments, and he returned home an athletic icon at work. He's met a full battery of amazing people; by association, I've had the pleasure of meeting many of them. We've gotten a taste of military life and the perks that it offers. However, when it came down to it, we prayed over it and Joe felt prompted to part ways with the Air Force and pursue another avenue. His flight decided to throw him a going-away party of sorts, which was tonight! We summoned the aide of our unbelievably awesome babysitter, who agreed to keep Boogie overnight so we could enjoy the shindig company unrestricted. By 7:15, a crowd of nearly 30 people were packed into tables at Bdubs being entertained by the happenings of the evening....


too much. too much.



But let's REWIND. It's been quite the multi-tasked ride at work over the past week or so. With the warmer seasons comes a budding of business; it's awesome, but it's got each of us now shedding our winter coasting skin and branching out into all kinds of different directions at the same time. Apparently, I've been so engrossed in my day-to-day that I figured I'd make some last minute calls on my way home...

... with my computer mouse.

Yeah.

We pulled into the parking lot at Bdubs tonight and I thought i'd double check my memory to bring my camera. I thought I'd found it in the bottom of my purse, but instead fished out my mouse. I immediately sent a picture to Meagan & Nancy, who confirmed that I had just taken it to a whole new level of crazy. Woops.

Anyway, this night wasn't about me, at all. Joe's friends from work made the trek from base and surrounding area to hang out and celebrate his short lived but impacting career in the Air Force. Brandon even got him a plaque engraved that reflected the hilarious sentiment, underlined with Joe's famous tagline, "Hey big guy.."

joe's plaque | joe & brandon | puppy!
cori & caitlin | c&n's beautiful save the date

Pretty funny. We stayed through dinner, and ended up taking Caitlin back to her and Nick's apartment afterwards. We got to meet their adorable dog, and we even got a personal delivery of their Save-the-Date for their big day: November, in Arizona! [can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!]

All in all, definitely a good night. I'm spent though, and it's off to work early in the AM.

G'night!

xo | cmd

Happy Birthday, Tessa Bean



baby liam! love, love, love.

Today happened to be one of those days where I found myself alone on my lunch break in my car, sitting at the park, wondering almost aloud where time has gone. In a couple short months, we will have already lived in IL for a full year. Joe's Air Force anniversary is approaching in June, and that's not to mention that we now have a 2-year-old. I'm not entire sure what it was exactly that sparked the mini outburst of reminiscing, but I thought all the way back to this same time last year. Joe was just getting ready to make the official trip out to the strange little destination of Belleville, IL, and I was probably gearing up to leave work behind for the day and finish off the evening with Kalyn, Tim, & Paul over on the sand courts of Cinci Sand Volleyball. I'm amazed how one simple year can move so many mountains. We have been so challenged, but ultimately so blessed by what the last year has brought. Just little sidenotes, I suppose. :)

In other news, I got a text from Joe today reminding me that we were due on base at the Sandven house this evening to celebrate miss Tessa's 3rd birthday. Sydni was beside herself as we headed over there, knowing she would get to play with Tessa. I was excited to see baby Liam, since we had yet to see him since the day he joined the family. He. Is. Adorable.


chicken! :)

 A&K totally outdid themselves on the cooking; grilled chicken, pasta salad, fruit salad, and brownies made for the perfect dinner menu, and we even met a great new couple, Nick & Rebecca. It looks like they may be joining us at church this upcoming Sunday, along with their little one, Max. Exciting!

Happy, HAPPY birthday to you, Tessa Bean!

It's bath & bed time here!

xo | cmd

Double Date

Work was work. Aside from it being Friday, I’m not here to talk about work. J

Good news: I finally ironed out the kink [at least I believe I did] with the wedding wardrobe issue I’m having. I ordered new dresses today, and if I’m lucky, I’ll see those within the next two weeks. I also ordered the TOMS I'll be sporting, as well as two pairs of silver TOMS for two of my bridesmaids. Scoooore.

toms toms toms toms | ♥.

Earlier tonight, Caitlin and Nick met us here at the house and the four of us loaded up for a double date. First stop: Eckert’s. [Thank you Pastor Ron & Debbie for helping us discover this GEM!] They’d not been, and Joe consumes the biscuits like water, so really, nobody lost there. They loved it, we loved it, and we all left with just one unanimous complaint of overstuffed bellies.

From there, we headed over to a mini golf course near our house. We’d been meaning to visit, but hadn’t yet, so we figured we would utilize a perfect summer evening and challenge each other to 18 holes of putt-putt.



such focus!



I won.

Don’t ask me how it happened, because I bet I wouldn’t get that lucky again in a million years. But, for the record, I won. Haha. I can’t celebrate too much, though, because Joe was the only one of us that managed to sink a hole-in-one on the last hole to earn a free game. Don’t act surprised… J

This little place turned out to be a lot bigger than we thought. Once we finished golf , we grabbed some bats and each took a turn for one round in the batting cages. I’m not nearly as bad as I thought I would be, but not nearly good enough to say I’m anything worth noting. Softball was never my thing. We did decide that we would make another trip soon and try out the bumper boats, go-karts, or the other mini-golf course.

we are barely tall enough to ride these things

*Yawn.
Tomorrow, Joe and I head up to Columbus, IN to rendezvous with my parents. They’ve had Sydni for two weeks now and this will be our halfway meeting trip to pick her up and spend the weekend with them. I suppose I should get some sleep….

xo | cmd

Golfing Guys & Galleria Girls

galleria | st. louis, mo



Yeah, shopping. *Kidding.* I’m not a huge free-shopper, meaning that I pretty much lack the ability to and am also not a fan of mall-walking and window shopping. I’m more of the need-it?-ok,-go-get-it-and-be-done kinda girl. So this was a refreshing change of scenery, more or less.

The day started with Joe, Sydni and I loading up and trekking to the Kobularciks’ on base. One of the Sandven’s were there, along with Nick & Caitlin. The boys took care of transferring all the golf clubs into our car, strapped in 1 of the 2 Kobularcik boys, and headed off for a day of golf.

Meanwhile, I stayed behind with Sydni, Caitlin, Bonnie, and the smaller of her two boys. We spent some time relaxing and enjoying the mid-morning weather from her back patio before loading up into her Subaru and setting off for the Galleria in St. Louis.

just keep shopping.....

Hi, 3-story mall.

Sure, it’s not the Mall of America, but for being so accessible, it will definitely quench the thirst of any local wandering shopaholic. Needless to say, we barely covered a quarter of the mall before we left, but it was worth the trip and admittedly nice to have some adult female company (nothing personal, Syd).

Back home, it was a quick sprint from the Kobularcik’s to the Sandven’s for a grill out. We managed to beat the rain, and had a fun evening of grilling out, playgrounds, conversation, and of course, cornhole.

Not too shabby for a first weekend back, I’d say. =]

xo | cmd