Mother's Day Weekend: Part 1

How do you start the perfect Mother's Day weekend?

YARDWORK! 

backyard outta control....

^^ Yeah, so in the midst of us [still, forever likely] unpacking the internal contents of our house, the backyard has gone untouched - specifically the old mulch beds. We woke up early and split the work: Rob took the mowing and weed eating, and I did what I could to get the mulchbeds in the front and backyard under control. It's not perfect yet, but it's on its way! 

wheeeew! 

This whole homeownership thing sure has a lot of little fun extras wrapped up into it.. ;) On the bright side, we wrapped up all the work in a matter of a few hours, and hit the showers to transform from yardwork mode to matinee date mode! 

Throwback to a month or so back when an email popped up in my inbox to tell me Rob bought us tickets to this show as a Mother's Day gift. I've counted down the days and was suuuper excited even on the way down to the arena.. 

yiiiieeee!!!! 

Admittedly I look a little rugged, but maybe that's from five hours pulling weeds and landscaping right before we came down? Haha. Who knows. What I do know was that this show was about to be amazing - and I wasn't wrong! 

love you, mister! 

cirque du soleil | toruk 

cirque du soleil | toruk 

cirque du soleil | toruk 

cirque du soleil | toruk 

By the end of the show, there were enough blue lights to give us a glimpse of what it'd look like if we were all to start roving over Pandora... even without stripes :p

avatar blue! ;) 

It was a really cool show, and if you've got the chance, I would highly recommend it! 

finale!
cirque du soleil | toruk 

We headed home after the show, did one more wardrobe change for the night, and headed back out to meet up with Becky & Will at Rhinegeist. It wasn't a super long night out, but it was fun nonetheless and as always, even more so with great friends in tow. 

hiiiii... 

becky! 

Tomorrow's Mother's Day, and I can't wait to spend it with my two favorites - Rob & Syd. For now, goooood night! 

xo | cmd 

City Flea & Cincinnati Meanderings

Rob and Dillon resolved early on to head out to the river. I voted to go my own way for the early morning, and took advantage of the semi-dreary day to check out this year's showing of The 513 City Flea. I made it down to Washington Park just as a downpour had made its way out, and was greeted by puddles, a drizzling remnant of the storm and handfuls of Cincinnati-enthusiasts who didn't seem to mind the sloshy condition.

Sunny or not, it was wonderful!

rain or shine! 

Becky rendezvoused with me a short time later, and after another few rounds of the City Flea vendors.

peruvian mochilas and kombucha

scavengers! 

It wasn't long before we took off northbound for REI, where Rob and Dillon met up with us. As it turned out, they'd not even made it off the boat ramp as the rain set in. They U-turned back to the house before joining us. The REI sales is still happening; Rob bought his hammock today!

uh oh... the hammock epidemic continues! 

and some yoga... ;) 

We parted ways with Becky and headed down to Findlay Market, where we grabbed Eli's and showed Dillon around the market grounds. There was a pitstop as well at Rhinegeist, where to our surprise, there was some major renovation well underway!

i'm sorry... say whaaaaaaaat?! 

I can't wait to see this when it's finished.

After Rhinegeist, we made our way back home, where the split decision was made to give the river a second chance. We dropped in and took off towards Ludlow. One of Rob's bosses and his fiance joined us for a couple hours, and then it was back up the river to the ramp.

The skies may not have afforded us the sunshine we were hoping, but it was still a beautiful night to be on the water!

beautiful! 

dillon & rob

We pulled off the river just as the rain started to threaten its return for the night, dried the boat off and made the trip back to the house. The boys wanted to venture back out to OTR, for the usual touring that occurs whenever we have visitors. I opted out of that excursion, and set myself up for a night of absolutely nothing on the couch - which I have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed ;).

The boys will be back sometime in the early hours, but with any luck, I'll be out cold by that time.

Happy Saturday, folks!

xo | cmd

Three Phase Saturday!

Phase 1: Prep the Lexus for her new paint job.

this guy ♥

doin' my share! 

I had to cut out early and leave Rob to finish the rest of the work himself; I was pushing time to get ready and get myself to the chapel for Lizzy's wedding!

Phase 2: Wedding Bliss! #BlumVollmerVows

elisa & i @ the blum-vollmer wedding!
summit country day school | cincinnati, oh

congraaaaatulations to mr. & mrs. vollmer!!! ♥

Lizzy. was. BEAUTIFUL!! Congratulations, again to her and her new hubby!

From there, it was back home to rendezvous with Rob, clean up again and head right back out the door for the third and final trip of the day.

Phase 3: Becky's Birthday!

happy [early] birthday!!!!!!!!!

For those of ya'll who don't know, but for some reason care to know, Becky was my RA my freshman year at UC. It was friendship at first soccer practice; she was a keeper and I was one of those bouncy midfielders tasked with sprinting up and down the field while she kept an eye on the goal. She introduced me to each of the Cincinnati soccer arenas, and can be blamed, on several grueling occasions, of inviting me to run every. single. stair. [yes, every single stair] in Nippert Stadium. As a sidenote, for those of you who've never been inside a college football stadium, that's a LOT of freaking stairs, and you kind of want to meet some sort of immediate demise like, halfway through, if not sooner.

SOMEHOW, despite our frequent death runs through Nippert, repeated blood drives at Hoxworth and sessions of us either stripping off or washing our soccer shin guards post-game and choking ourselves on the putrid smell, we stayed friends, and grew into our post-college days as such.

yep. all around, yep. 

NOW, I can easily say she's been a lifeline to me over the past few years specifically, and I wouldn't trade that for anything. There's not a friend more loyal and respectable than this gal, and I'm proud to call her that. Happy birthday, to a truly incredible friend, coach and mentor. Love you, woman!

my date ♥

^^ That guy [we'll save my tribute rant on him for another day] was my date, and I'm reminded daily, especially at special events like this, that I picked a good one. I am one lucky girl.

Happy painting on little Lexi tomorrow, Rob.
Congratulations, Lizzy V!
And... Happy birthday, Becky!!

And for the rest of my blogbot loves : Happy Saturday! ♥

xo | cmd

The Doeblerts: Stock the Bar Train Jamboree!

*backdated! ;)

I've seriously been waiting all week for this.
By mid-morning, Rob and I were in the car, en route to Connersville, IN to rendezvous with Catie, Andy & Co. for their Stock the Bar Train Jamboree [aka, joint wedding shower]. Let me tell you, this was a genius idea, and an all-around awesome time for everyone.

I'll spare the chatter & get straight to the pictures. I borrowed a couple from Ryan & Reena, but since I forgot to bring the D90, I had to count on Ryan's Canon to capture a lot of the day (:




whitewater vally railroad | connersville, in

We boarded the train and got caught up with some familiar faces we hadn't seen in a while...

jen! a little filipino love for the trip (:

me, catie & trisha: "roommates," 6 years later!

the beardless guy i brought to the party ;) ♥♥♥♥

This was a legit train ride, complete with a conductor, tickets & all:

(:

and yes, we made him yell, "aaaaaaaaaall aboooooard!"

Once we started moving, The Tye Dyes [aka, Catie & her band] provided some of the soundtrack for the trip out to Laurel. There is nothing quite like an old fashioned train ride with awesome people and live bluegrass music. I could do this every Saturday.

LOVED IT!


yeah, catie!!

Of course, there's nothing like an unfortunate fender bender to add some awe and quick prayer to the first train ride we've taken in a long time. It didn't appear that anyone had been hurt, but we did spend the next 10 minutes after this all speculating on how that may've happened..

ouch :(

The train plugged along for about 45 minutes before we reached Laurel. There, we were met with some Indiana hospitality for lunch.

not nearly as shanty as it might look!

you had us at fried food

^ Lunch = buffet. Of fried food. Let's be honest, nobody was watching their diets today, and a good thing, too, because the food was pretty good. I'm pretty sure we were all back for seconds, if that says anything. (:

After lunch, we all took to exploring a bit outside the restaurant. The train was awaiting us just a few meters away on the tracks; there will be lots of pictures surfacing soon of us all on the train as it stood waiting. 

yes, that's rob. lol ♥♥♥

We boarded back on the train for the trip home, and watched as Catie & Andy tore into all the gifts that were brought to actually stock the bar. I think they did pretty good, haha..

stocking the bar for these two!

because why not?

We arrived back in Connersville, and bid temporary farewells to everyone. Back in Cincinnati, I managed to squeeze in a quick catnap before I was up and heading right back out the door to Rhinegeist for the girls-only part of Catie's bachelorette party.


yessss!

traditional fobby picture from your brown girls ;) haha

I even got a random text from Trish, asking if I was getting into anything tonight. I told her to come and join us, so she did, and it was awesome having her there to spend the evening with us! We left Rhinegeist and bounced around some to good old OTR. Our final landing spot to finish the evening was The Drinkery, and we all left with huge smiles knowing we'd done our due duties as friends to celebrate Catie's approaching nuptials.

trish came to play!

adore her!!

Catie, I LOVE you, and I am SO excited to see you in a month, walking down to tie the knot with Andy! Thank you, THANK YOU for including me on your celebration. LOVE YOU!!!

xo | cmd

10 Reasons Today Was Bigger Than Words

This [slightly backdated entry] might take a while.

I truly don't believe me telling the tale of today is going to do any sort of justice to how happy I really am right now.

My friends from Illinois & Virginia are here, and we have wasted no time since they arrived.

I suppose the best way to tackle this would just be chronologically. So, deep breath, and... go.

➊ || Breakfast. This was a null question as far as where we would go; Taste of Belgium is the only contender for breakfast whenever we have visitors, especially first-timers. I wanted to wait until tomorrow when Marianne would be with us, too, but she's on the Daniel fast for Lent right now and wouldn't have been able to enjoy it with us... so... yeah.

"i'll just take the usual, please..."

➋ || With breakfast out of the way, our next order of business was basically a blank slate. I decided that since we were already in OTR, it was the perfect opportunity for a visit at Findlay Market. We ran into Becky just briefly, and I was able to say hello to Mike, too, super-awkwardly as I was being overly self-conscious about knowing the details for his surprise birthday party later in the evening. Hah. I don't think Market will ever get old, and I love that.

[photo by marianne ;) ]

➌ || Down the street from Market: Rhinegeist. I had forgotten that Bockfest was this weekend, which meant an overabundance of extra people literally everywhere. It's not a bad thing; really it makes the place feel fully alive with families, friends and even pets. Of course Rhinegeist in and of itself is a playground worth mentioning, so we were fine spending the nearly three hours there that we did.

friendssss!

a bunch of outta-towners & some cornhole

hiya!

my soulless, naturally-ginger, acca-amazing best (:

[my] better half!

"and now the brown folks will demonstrate brand loyalty..."

yay, home brew!

 ➍ || Eden Park. The Donald A. Spencer Overlook is still my favorite place in Cincinnati; I don't know that that will ever really change. While I honestly wouldn't declare it a majestic view or breathtaking vantage point, a part of my heart will always stay on that hill. I wasn't always as level-headed and in touch with myself as I am [on my way to being] now; there were many days and evenings spent sitting on that wall, alone to regenerate and reflect on a direction that I'm just now starting to actually find. I'm more than happy to share that with the people I love.  

eden park || donald a. spencer overlook || cincy, oh

➎ || Jungle Jim's. Rob peeled off between Rhinegeist and this part of the mission, since he was on the bike and a chill was setting in. Plus, I've dragged him to JJ plenty of times, so he's plenty familiar with the labyrinth that is JJ. I of course picked up some mochi, edamame and hummus before I left, but I more enjoyed the reactions and purchases of my visiting friends.

first stop: the restroom.
& good friends don't let friends go at life alone...

ali & her cheee-eeeeeese!

in honor of the not-yet-here marianne...

➏ || Eli's BBQ. Again, this is a no-brainer for infrequent visitors. Marianne's still not here, so we took advantage again of being able to inhale the sweet barbequed loveliness of Eli's without the accompanying guilt trip.

eli's retrieval crew ;)

➐ || INSERT MARIANNE HERE. Yes, that's right, she's HERE. The four of them are here. And that makes me happy. So. Very. Freakin' Happy!

this girl.. is here!

➑ || Mike's [SURPRISE!] Birthday Party!! Becky invited us some number of weeks ago to what would be a surprise birthday celebration for Mike, held at Jenn & Jordan's farm out in the western plains of Cinci. The gap of time between Marianne walking in the door and us all walking right back out was just a matter of minutes; we were soon en route via the truck to help celebrate Mike's 50th birthday. Oh, and did I mention there were baby goats and bonfires [not... combined, though]? Because there were. And it was all... just... perfect.

baby goats.

bonfires + friends!!

Here are some ways to treat your friends at a bonfire goat birthday party: 

diversify them ;)

synchronize them

♥ them.

chop them.

laugh with them.

wonder... at them..

laugh more with them.

admire, respect & thank them.

take pictures of them.. taking pictures of you.

appreciate them, wholly

let them... go hiking?

& creep them!

 Haha. They... are the best. ♥ Happy birthday, Mike!

 ➒ || OTR. Okay, so this probably wasn't the highlight of our night, but I promise I had good intentions. My plan was to introduce my friends to the soulful goodness that is Magnolia Sons, the band from Tennessee that frequents The Drinkery on the first Saturday of each month. They are so contagiously energetic, and I knew my friends would dig it. The reason I don't often make concrete plans like this is because of unforeseen hiccups like tonight: a] MS only played for the first half of the evening; the second half was booked by some other still-fun-but-definitely-not-MS ensemble, and b] it's Bockfest. There were lines of night-owls around the block at most places, which was a nightmare once you actually got inside. Sardines in a can. No good. We passed the time by pushing through crowds and taking a couple pictures before we wised up and headed home.

these girls..♥♥

& they're the three best friends that anyone could ha--- what?

 ➓ || Family photos!! Duh... SO, almost one year ago to the date [25 April 2013], we were all gathered at Ali's house in Collinsville, and the cameras were out in full force. We captured an unplanned photo that would be coined the Awkward Family Photo for the rest of its existence. Our one goal of the entire weekend was to recreate that. Mission. Accomplished:

25 april 2013

08 march 2014

Things that make me a bit sad: Ali, Tim & Damanji are leaving in the morning, due to some obligations they have back home tomorrow evening.
Things that mildly counteract that sadness: Marianne will be here until Monday. There's nothing like a slow withdrawal.
Things that remind me it's all ok?: We're doing this again in September before Tim ships out to Korea. We'll all really cry then.

For now, gooooood night to a truly amazing day!

xo | cmd