Attack of the PSL

'Tis the Season [or so I hear]?

It's that time of the year again; bring on the hoodies, bonfires, messy buns and pumpkin everything. 

yes, iliza.. yes

 ^^ Here's where I make a confession to the universe of all my dear friends who've waited the year for this time:

I don't like Pumpkin Spice Lattes. 

There, I said it. I'm sorry guys. I tried, I did. This morning, we discovered that our office supply of coffee grounds was empty, so in a flash decision, Nick sprinted off to Starbucks. I let the team talk me into getting a PSL, which is the official call sign for Pumpkin Spice Latte, in case anyone else out there had to ask what that meant...

... No? Just me? Okay.

Anyway, off he went and returned with said PSL.

Here's an overview of how this went: 

before & after

I wanted to like this thing, you guys. I promise, I did. It was a fun experience though, getting a sugar high off a drink that tasted like melted pumpkin pie mixed with equal parts sand. I admire all of you daily PSL drinkers out there - I really don't know how you do this.  

It led us into a conversation on Contrived Scarcity though, which was a much more entertaining dialogue than the drink itself. If you're not sure what CS means [-wait, we're still doing the initials-slash-acronym thing, right?], the short Econ-class definition will tell us that it's the intentional limiting of a popular item to create a perceived shortage of said item.

In this case, "Limited Availability" and "Get it before it's gone!" are phrases that make me laugh whenever I hear them. We all have that natural trigger to do a double check on whether or not we want or need whatever this limited thing happens to be.. and lemme tell you what, this PSL fandom is taking it very, very seriously.

Anyway, I really wanted this to be more of a momentous bookmark in the book of my mundane life, but uhh... I'm good. 

In other news, and on a very serious note, Jaclyn's surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning, and if you're reading this, it would mean the world to her and to her support network if you could say a quick prayer, send a good vibe, whatever it is you do when the going gets tough.. for her as she goes into cancer removal surgery tomorrow. Love you, Jax - you've got this!

As for the rest of us, it's been another whirlwind week here, and I'm ready for Friday to come and go! Have a wonderful day tomorrow, blogbots!

xo | cms

Starbucks Inspiration | USAvGHA

Gooooood Monday Morning! 

I chose to start the day with a grande cup of sugar and caffeine. That's good, right? ;) Well apparently, Teavana and Oprah have teamed up with Starbucks and now have the cup wraps printed with inspirational things. This likely isn't a big deal to anyone else, but I personally think it's a nice little boost to whatever we're drinking!


inspired!

Continuing on in the spirit of awesome things, the USA men's team kicked off their World Cup participation today against Ghana. I was in the car during kickoff, and nearly ran off the road when Dempsey put in a goal in the first minute. YEAH!

#1n1t!

And then, because Becky, Mike and I cheered our souls out, screaming at my TV here at the house [yes, that's the reason, not that the team played well or anything like that.. hahh], the USA pulled a win by 1.

usa 2, gha 1! | #webelieve!

Successful Monday!

xo | cmd

HOW IS IT ALREADY NOVEMBER?!

SERIOUSLY?

*Sigh. I say this a lot more often than I realize, probably, but c'mon, WHERE DID TIME GO?

I'm not complaining about November itself, though.. after all, it's my birthday month!
Plus, Thanksgiving, football games, a few other friends' birthdays, and the 6-month anniversary of my office being officially open.

Here's how Nov 1st started for me:


it's actually, c-o-r-i-n, but today i am loraine. i can dig it.

And then Elisa received her first sample box from Warby Parker, which is this groovy little operation that provides sample frames to glass-wears to try before they buy. I'm neither specs nor contacts, so I never thought to check on the existence of something like this, but it's pretty cool!


five different frames.. choices!! (:

^ That makes me wish I actually did need glasses.. if for no other reason than to participate in WP. Hah (:

We were cut loose from work a little early, which helped out in my weekend quest out to Illinois. I hadn't planned on going this weekend, but decided to go ahead and trek it for Rob's sake. It's not been the easiest week for him, so I thought I'd volunteer to be some moral support, because hey, he is after all my best friend, and simply put, being there is what friends do.

Plus, there was this waiting...

my furry gals... sasha & stella ♥♥

So I'm here.
And it's now about 11:30pm or so.
I got here two hours ago and literally passed right out.
And just woke back up.
..... woops.

Welp, good start. Haha. Good start.

Here's to this weekend (:

xo | cmd

Marianne Is Leaving :(

We all know I'm leaving. Most of ya'll know that Marianne... is also leaving :( She scored a sweet job with YoungLife in Virgina, so she's headed there first thing in the morning. And I do mean first. thing. Like, 2am departure mode. It's a 10 hour drive, so I would ask you to be in prayer for a safe trip and safe arrival.

I will definitely miss this girl....... :(

"let's swap contacts!" - marianne

We got the chance to finish up Marianne's painting, too. I met up with her for a little while at Starbucks [last time I'll see her, for a while, .... sad face] to add my hand-footprint to the painting she did of the world.

"your footprints don't define you; your friends do."
footprints l-r : cori. ali. marianne.

We're back at Rob's tonight. This will be my home for the next couple of weeks until I move back to Ohio. Tomorrow is Stella's first day kenneled all day [we bought her a kennel tonight... ohhh goodie!]. So far, she's done well with Sasha and Ziggy [Kelly's dog], so hopefully we can hold out for another week and a half or so.

Tomorrow I'm off work [hallelujah], but I'll be spending the entire day at the house cleaning, scrubbing, and removing every last shred of belonging I still have there.

*Sigh. I'm ready for this to be over....

xo | cmd

And a Happy Hump Day to You

Remember when we [Catie & I] stopped at CLR-MNSTR over in St. Louis that day on our return route from City Museum? Well.... I decided today would be an ideal day to sport one of the cute finds I brought home that day. I'm not typically an OOTD type of person, but for all intensive Instagram purposes, I was today. Haha. 

ootd? sure. &&thank you, clr-mnstr!

I was on an instagram kick today and thought I would share with the class the lunch which I'm sure would make my mother cringe if she knew it was the only thing I consumed during the lunch hour. I don't care; these are in fact a few of my favorite things, and I'll sacrifice one day of healthy living to do some enjoying. (:

the fantasy lunch of my inner kid self... haha

Back at home, Sydni and I wrapped up some of our last-minute touches to Valentines Day cards & gifts; I got a text earlier in the day from Mo, wanting to stop by for a few minutes after church to see us. She didn't stay long, but we did get to meet little baby Natalie for the first time!! Sydni loves babies, so it was quite the treat for her to see another one so little. 

baby natalie!!

Tomorrow is the BIG BAD VALENTINES DAY..... or Singles Awareness Day... whichever you prefer. Personally, I don't get too hyped about VDay, but to each his own (: It's bed time for us.

xo | cmd

Cross-Eyed Editor

Peppermint hot chocolate + Soundtrack [Punch Brothers. Civil Wars. Neil Young. Alison Krauss. Mumford & Sons. Avett Brothers. Sarah Jarosz. ETC.....] + Edit+Edit+Edit+Edit

= Me. Just about cross-eyed and bouncing off the ceiling from the over-caffeination.

Welcome to my Sunday. I spent the bulk of it lounging at Starbucks, editing myself blue in the cornea. I feel like I should just surgically implant this Mac onto my body after today. Haha. It was nearly blinding, but I got a lot done and can now breathe a little easier knowing I'm a little caught up. Nearly five hours of caught up. What am I, in college again?

No. Definitely not. But it was still a good day.

No... more... computer. [g'nite!]

xo | cmd