Friends & Kids & Pumpkins & Apples & OTR

Today was a full throttle day from the time we woke up. Sydni was up at 3am to remind me that, "kids are coming over today!!!," and from there on out it was non-stop until our heads hit the pillow again. 

"honey, it's 3am. we still have a few hours."
- [skeptical response...]

First things first: Why pay a gutter service when you can just do it yourself?

do it yourself.

:). I was wrapping up the gutters just as Trish and the kiddos rolled up, jackets and snacks in hand, for an early afternoon of pumpkin painting and carving.

the girls (: 

mamas & kiddos

 Sarah made it out after work, with her daughter in tow. There were then 5 kids attacking one pumpkin..

paint, paint... and more paint! 

the aftermath? beautiful! 

 

Once the pumpkins had been thoroughly - and I mean thoroughly painted, the kids migrated to the front yard for some cardio and leaf-mud sandwiches [made, not eaten.. as a sidenote ;).. ]

gosh... love them ;) 

Soon enough, the kids departed, and we took a deep breath in preparation for round two: Jessica and Andrew soon arrived with their pumpkins. Sydni was off to her dad's for her father-daughter dance, so the grown-ups were left to their own devices.

great action shot of bumper & sasha! 

caramel apples!! nomnomnom

lol.. pumpkins ;) 

Round 2 of the day complete [carved pumpkins & caramel apples], we parted ways again to rest up and prepare for the evening, which was decidedly going to be spent in the bows of OTR.

We started our venture at 1215 Wine Bar, if you count our standing in one spot for 20 minutes deciding where the rest of the night would be spent. If that doesn't qualify, then we technically started with a pitstop at The Drinkery before they somehow coerced me into going to - and staying at - Japp's for more than a half hour.

yeah, so i guess when i'm photographed mid-laugh,
i look... super asian. ^_^

this folks, is what otr had to work with tonight...
oh i'm proud of this one.. hahaha.. 

that fan. we're music video superstars.... ;) 

We soon retired from the heat of Japp's and found our final grounds for the night: The Famous Neon's Unplugged!  

oh, lovely neons! 

runnin' the town.. into the ground [laaa dee daaaa... ]

we found chad!
ps - can't even be mad at the chick who bombed this...
.... she nailed it. #thanksdoodydood

nobody knows. 

that time jessica's hand was 2 feet in front of my face
& managed to still look insanely inappropriate.

i'm a cat. rob's an angry ghost.
#notsure...

some more of this.. 

... and consequently this, too. 

And it's Neon's, so there's Jenga...

we lost.

Along with a few hundred of our closest friends, we closed down Neon's and made one last pitstop for grub at Lucy Blue's before calling it a night.

pizza. because... yes. 

PHEW.
.. yes, this is backdated.. 

G'Nite!

xo | cmd

Cincinnati & Cegg's Birthday Bonanza!

Good news: We made good on our word to get that early start we discussed yesterday... haha. We were up out of bed on full-fledged loading mode at 3:30, had the bags in the car, Sydni in the carseat, the dog fed and watered and ourselves dressed in something one step above total hobo status.... and on the road by 4:00....... A.M. Yeah.

true story. we were driving....

Oh, and did I mention it was foggy?? Just a little though : /

fog. as in.... can't see 6+ feet in front of you fog. in the dark. no good :(

Luckily, it started to burn off some once the dawn broke through, and by the time we hit Milford, there was no trace of any upside down sky [Sydni reference]. We took care of the necessary business there and decided it was off to meet up with Catie & Andy in West Chester for Rob's first taste of IKEA.  



ky! [circa..2008]



We stopped first at the SW in Loveland to say hi to Ky - it's been a while and I was glad he got to meet Rob, and we were able to do a speed-version of catching up in the 10 minutes we were there. [I'll see ya soon, Ky-O!]

It was off then to West Chester, on the opposite side of Cincy, to the big, bad, ever-wallet-draining IKEA. Oh, and Catie & Andy, too ;)

HELLO.... IKEA!

[I've missed you.......]

ohhh... ikea... haha

I learned some new things today from IKEA. They have tarp bags they sell near the checkout lines that 1) look much smaller than they are, and are deceivingly sturdy, and 2) can easily house an adult woman up to at least ... my weight. I am pretty sure I could've fit Catie in there with me. Just sayin'.


same bag... haha. thanks, ikea (:

IKEA run completed, we made a break for lunch at the Dingle House across the street. Not extraordinary, but not awful, either. 

dingle house irish pub | west chester, ohio

We were fed, we were soothed by some retail, and we were sleepy from going nonstop since 3:30 this morning. Erego, insert nap................ here. (:

.... and napping....
.......... still napping.......

Refreshed. Success!
It was dinner time; we geared up for the evening and made our way over to start the night off with dinner at Amelia Street with the Luers. Jen made her way over by the end of the meal, so that was fun, and we stuffed ourselves with some deeeelicious food before digging into the real party of the evening. 

amelia street | downtown cincinnati, ohio

Next stop: Lackman & Neon's. I was finally reunited with my old roommate Trisha; Catie actually lived with us for a short time as well. She's engaged to Adam now, and it was downright awesome to see both of them and hang out as a group for the night. 

roommate reunion: circa 2008 & 2013 | love these gals!

Nader is back now from Jordan, too, so we coerced him into making a stateside appearance. He brought Keith along, and Daggy eventually filtered into that, too. 

look at those familiar faces! :) :) :)
[[ & welcome home, nader! ]]

We rounded out the night at Below Zero, caught a cab back instead of forcing our tired feet into any more city street trudging [all ... 4 blocks of it, don't judge...], ate some pineapple & jelly beans [jealous? hah], and are calling it a night. 

Oh, and yeah, this is backdated. I don't care. (:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AGAIN... CATIE!!! I LOVE YOU!
[Tomorrow's EASTER!]

xo | cmd

Cutest Apology Ever

I just want to highlight this for the day and leave it at that:

cutest apology, ever

^ My friend Sarah's daughter snagged her cell phone last night and managed to call me. I wasn't sure what she needed when I saw the phone ringing, but was quickly informed that it was in fact, a hacked effort.

&& then I got this.
&& then I decided she could call me ANYtime she wanted. Haha.

Too funny.

|| On to The Voice, some more edits, and probably a trip to Gold's to work off the Red Robin I shamelessly devoured today with the gals from work. *Sigh. My oh My. (:

xo | cmd