14.5 On A Sunday

If you're as lucky as I am, then your morning starts out with rehearsals that are both productive.. and fun. And did I mention we are thrilled to have Holby back?! Seriously, it wasn't the same without him. Obviously: 

Speaking of Holby, we love that Chad also tasked him with announcements this morning. As you can see, Chad handled it rather well:

when chad starts second-guessing his recent decisions ;) 

I've said it before and I'll say it a hundred times more, this group is one of the best there is, and I'm so, so stoked that I get to share life with them.

I was also pretty pumped that today was so gorgeous! We did lunch with the Ricks after church and then headed home to veg out for a couple hours before strapping up the bikes for a quick ride at Lunken.

ready, set.... go!

done and done and my quads were so mad... ;) 

It's January and the path was full of people - I couldn't have asked for more! My poor legs might beg to differ, but it felt good to switch up the cardio and give my quads a little something to complain about later (aka tomorrow). 

We made it back just in time to grab dinner and rendezvous at the Ricks' house for the quarterly budget meeting, then back home to wrap up the night. Oh, and Jess - now that golden milk is a staple in my house, you're welcome to come by any time and steal some ;)

things of a sunday night

Kind of a hodge podge day, but that's what keeps it interesting, right? 

Tomorrow's a brand new work week, and I'm ready. Are you? 

xo | cms

Sunday (Oy).

Fact: We were out late last night.
Fact: We were out way too late last night, according to my body....which has apparently become unaccustomed to a) being out late and b) going to places like OTR.... late.
Fact: I feel much older than I am in this precise, physical moment.

Yesterday had its highlights, followed by the unfortunate mishap last night. We came home, crash landed in our beds and let the exhaustion take the wheel. Rob and I awoke this morning to an empty guest room and a farewell note from Taryn & Kenny, who'd left sometime earlier than 10am.

Since our guests headed out before breakfast, we took liberties with any real plans for the day. Rob took to the laptop to research his phone replacement options, and I took to the recliner to watch some Olympic coverage, drink my morning lemon water and snuggle with 145 lbs of dog:

Uh-huh.

Eventually we made it out of the house, got breakfast, did some grocery shopping and retrieved the boat from storage, where we'd left it yesterday. Rob was able to identify the parts that needed repair, and spent the afternoon reconstructing the damaged pumps. As one last public service announcement to any and all of you boaters out there: USE YOUR HEADS out there! We are so indebted to each other when we're all out on the water, for trusting each other to understand and demonstrate basic common sense on the water. Gahhhhh.. haha. I'll stop ranting, but I really hope that you'll go back and read yesterday's entry... especially if you're one of us who loves the water and sharing that fun with others on a boat.

Anyway, it turned into a relaxing day, with plenty of leg room for smaller household chores and miscellaneous things we both wanted to accomplish. We'll cap it off with some more Olympic coverage and call this one a wrap. The work week resumes tomorrow and I'm sure we'll need a good boost of energy to get us both started.

Ciao, blogbots!

xo | cmd

Chaco Chillin'

I think yesterday finally caught up with me. It's been an incredible weekend, but certainly a busy one! As jam-packed as it was, it was still simple, relaxing and full of friends, laughter and good vibes! I found myself after breakfast this morning realizing that our life isn't full of extravagant things, but it's filled with irreplaceable, incredible people.

We had breakfast with Jesse before he left to head back to Illinois, then ran to do some errands before heading home. We made a pit stop for Rob to cut his hair, and while he was there, I sat outside waiting in the truck, letting my feet soak up some of the Sunday sun.

workin' on the chaco tan .. haha

I circled back to the idea of living a simple life, and realized that while we're not down to the raw necessities like I somehow wish we were, we certainly don't need much more than a couple of great friends and a body of water (or forest, whatever) to bring smiles to our faces :).

I'm a pretty happy chickadee tonight.
It's back to the workweek grind tomorrow. I'm ready!

xo | cmd

Simple Sunday

Today was a great day. It was simple, and it was great. 

I need a reminder every so often to just be still.. and live. simply.

Tomorrow we're back to the grind.
Let's do it :) Namaste.

xo | cmd

Sunday @ SonRise

Ohhhh, Ohio.... your weatherrrrr.....

raaaaaaiiiiin..... *sigh

There wasn't a cloud in the sky yesterday, so naturally today, it poured.

All day. :|

It didn't deter us from our usual Sunday routine of heading in to church. I was surprised when Trish and the kiddos joined in for the morning service, which in itself was one of those messages that pulls at some of those uncomfortable corners of our hearts.

photo cred: sonrise church! 

It's messages like these that challenge me to put my own feet to the fire and pursue what's right over what I oftentimes want to do and follow based on my emotions [because honestly, there's a running list of ways my emotions have misled me... well... a lot over the course of my existence]. I am so thankful for a pastor and staff who can incorporate grace and love into a message that otherwise may easily offend the prideful nature we all naturally have.

After church, we took a quick lunch break down the street at Frisch's before making a pitstop and home and then a U-turn riiiight back to SonRise for the membership initiation class, also known as Class 101.

c.l.a.s.s.:
christian life and service seminars

The class was fairly intense: a 3-hour session chock-full of background on our church, its mission and purpose and operating principles. It's the first time I've been involved with a church to this degree: learning the internal structure, doctrinal beliefs exercised and leadership structure up front, before committing myself as a member. This is the first truly non-denominational church I've ever felt compelled to explore, and the more I learn about it, the more I find I'm embracing the approach. SonRise functions on the mission of loving all people, reaching them for God, and training them with the knowledge and tools to go and share the word with the world around them.

these two :) 

Syd challenged Rob to a game of ping pong, and while I would typically question her version of the game rules, she apparently won, and that was settled ;)

Speaking of simply loving God, Sydni created this yesterday and I forgot to share:

"sydni art"

^^ Oh, be STILL .. my heart. I can barely handle this. Syd, you are such a light in this little life of ours, and I hope you never ever question just how beautiful you are. I love you, mini me!

It's been a long day, but spending it at SonRise was one of the best I could've envisioned for an otherwise drab day. I am one lucky mama.

CHEERS to a wonderful week!

xo | cmd

Superbowl Shenanigans

We started off the day with our weekly dose of SonRise message, which, as always, was entirely applicable to the every day decisions and lives we live. That church is really growing on me, and I'm pretty excited to see how we can involve ourselves as the year moves on.

After church, we took off on a short journey to check out the drive time to Rob's new work! He starts tomorrow, and since his work is a block from one of my old soccer hangouts, I helped out with the navigation and we were there in no time. From there, it was breakfast at First Watch and some furniture shopping before we headed back home.

I left Rob to unwind for a little bit while Sydni and I tackled the weekly grocery list. Once that was out of the way, it was back home for some quick R&R before we loaded right back up to head over to Brittany's for the superbowl.

And no... in case you're wondering... no. No, we didn't really care who won the Superbowl. I wasn't that vested into either team this year, and although I do like Peyton Manning, I'll go ahead and admit that the final score didn't phase me all that much.

I wasn't alone. Sydni quickly made friends with Daisy, Brittany's dog.

syd & daisy ♥

such a sweet pup!

While she was doing that, we took to our usual get-together habits of finding other ways to entertain ourselves:

planks on planks on planks

First it was planks. We got comfortable after that and launched into a pyramid..

pyramid problems

And how do you properly finish a gameday basement workout?
Wall sits. The answer is wall sits.... apparently.

just.... yeah.

All the physical activity aside, we finally squeezed in some "normal" pictures for the albums. (:

adore this.

^^ Go ahead, get all your Charlie's Angels jokes out of the way. Beth's hair really isn't that red, but aside from that yes, we know we could easily pull this off for Halloween. And of course, the mini photo-bomber, who is clearly learning that art from me, but it's ok ;)

my absolute favorites.

^ My little family. We are a tiny bunch comprised of very different walks, but we're all together now, in the same city, under the same roof.... together. I sat back tonight after we got home and let myself be reminded how blessed I am to have the friends and family that I do.

Oh, and for all you Broncos fans out there : Reaaaally sorry about the game.. I hope you at least enjoyed the commercials! (:

xo | cmd

Ouch. Ouch.. Ouuuuch...

I'm pretty sure I pinched a nerve yesterday while helping Rob shove the Harley off the truck. It is either that, an unsavory sleeping position last night, or my body exacting revenge on me for something I didn't realize I did. Either way, the bulk of today was spent in excruciating pain from some truly enraged little muscle group in my neck and shoulder.

If you know anything about me, you know that I'm that person [yes, I know.... ] who refuses even a tylenol unless I'm legitimately inches from insanity. Other than those few big-ticket medical instances [i.e., childbirth & collarbone surgery], I'm not a big medicine person. Call me crazy, but I just don't.

Until today. 

yeah.. it happened.

^ I know.. I'm ashamed. I have in fact become weak to myself, but .. in my defense, I spent nearly four hours in a nauseated crouch, parked on the ledge of my bathtub either willing back or ceding to fits of dizzied vomiting spells. It's a very strange sensation to be vomiting but feel no pain in your stomach. I'm pretty sure the pulsing stabs in my neck and head were enough to compensate, but still. Weird experience that I'd like to not repeat anytime soon.

That was my Sunday.
I really hope tomorrow gives me something different. Let me just end this here, as I sip back on the soup that Rob made me. He deserves a load of credit today for dealing with me and catering to my self-pitying state of blah that I've been all day. He's awesome like that.

G'Nite..

xo | cmd

Hello, DECEMBER

As promised, we started our day - and December - off right, worshipping down the street at SonRise. I haven't made any final decisions yet, but I think this just might be my resting spot in terms of a church home back here in Cincinnati. There are a lot of different choices, but there are many facets I appreciate at SR. I'll keep you posted.

I started the month off as the now 29-year-old me. It's really not that different from 28, other than next year I'll be bidding farewell to my twenties. We'll cross that emotional bridge another day; today I'm feeling thoroughly blessed on all accounts.


and this is 29. feels good. (:

In the holiday vacation absence of the senior pastor, Adam delivered a message today, that as usual felt applicable to my life in a variety of ways. I won't go into great detail, but the most interesting point I gathered from it was that we as humans have an innate nature to gravitate towards whatever seems the most stable. Along the way, because we are humans and not God, we trip, fall, bust our tails and complicate things far worse than they should be. Adam drew a parallel to a C.S. Lewis book in which the character finds himself on a foreign planet comprised of a floaty, mist-like land. In the center of it was an island of solid, immovable ground, but to his dismay noone is allowed to live on that solid ground. The reason? Once we accept living on a plane of ebbs and flows, waves, dips and eclipses, we will become conditioned to have faith in the one who created us. It's NOT our job to be God, because we are not fair creatures. We are neither objective nor impartial. We are emotional and irrational. We are not capable of handling that kind of wisdom or power without destroying ourselves and everything around us in the process.

sonrise Christmas series

So as we enter into the Christmas season, I thought it would be fitting to share today's message with everyone else, because I think I needed that reminder more than anyone. Christmas is about the gift given to us by a holy God: His son. And now, He gives us the promise that His knowledge and intervention are what we really need. I dunno about you, but that's a promise woooorlds outta my league to try and give to someone else. How we respond to that gift is ultimately our choice. I'm choosing to be thankful that I can trust in not just that solid ground, but the maker of that ground, because He really is.. capable of anything. AAAAMEN. (:

And, speaking of THANKFUL, take a look-see at the dinner that Rob crafted when he volunteered a turn at it, with pretty much no plan and no menu. I'm more than a little jealous of this, but so impressed that it didn't matter. First a surprise arrival last week, then a homemade birthday card, brake change in my car, and now... this. If I didn't know better, I'd think that the games have begun... haha. I need to step up my game, yeah? Either that or just be grateful that I have a guy who loves me enough to give me what I want most: quality time.

homemade dinner, by the boyfriend.
this one makes me look bad... delicioussssss!!

So yeah, December's officially HERE. It's pretty crazy to me; I think I share the confusion on where about half of the year really went and how quickly the end of it is here. It's certainly been something of a year, and I don't think next year will be any less eventful [I'm hoping that in the best way....].

Most of us head back to work tomorrow, and after a long weekend, I'm sure there's going to be lots to catch up on. G'nite!

xo | cmd

SNOW DAY!

.... Ok, so it's a Sunday, sure, but you know what... it can still be a snow day. We didn't hate it.

We definitely gave ourselves some good old fashioned cabin fever today. Sydni woke up earlier than all of us.. she was ready to go as soon as she saw the snow coming down in sheets. We all stood around for a few minutes just staring out at the snow covered neighborhood before making the executive decision not to attempt heading out in it for church. It worked for Syd, since her plan for the first half of the day was to stay in PJ's and roll around on the floor with Stella. Haha.

lazy cuddle buddies

I made the signature weekend breakfast for these two yesterday, so today we opted for cereal and toast... and coffee... it worked out just fine. We settled in for a few hours of mindlessness: Rob got on COD mode, Marianne continued in her quest to scour the perfect dyed pixie cut photo off the internet, and Stella found out that she has been granted permission to gnaw on all of NONE of the plush animals in this house. I decided at one point that I couldn't stand it any longer. I wanted to make a snow angel.

So I did.

.. on the deck. Don't judge.

snow angel time

You thought I was kidding, huh. NNNope. Nobody else had any snow gear with them, so while Sydni took a nap, I dug the Spyder suit out of the closet, and once donned from head to toe in snowboard attire, took to the yard and all 7-ish inches of pristine snow with Stella. I found out that when it's Cori vs. Stella in a yard full of snow, Cori is a bowling pin and Stella is a renegade wrecking ball. Stella 1. Cori 0. Oh well. We still managed to have the perfect time romping around for a little while before retreating back into the house.

And then there's [more] photobooth! This time, we captured Marianne in a moment of intensity, the result of some chirpy, pitchy soundtrack on one of the Netflix kiddo movies. I had to agree with her that the arrangement was offensive to pretty much every available sense, but the look of borderline terror mixed with disgust was still funny ;) 

hilarious. love that girl. 

Stella eventually started to go stir crazy, especially after hours on end of being scolded for carrying off some random stuffed animal. She started to fall apart, barking at thin air, when Marianne threw a blanket on her head and stopped her dead in her tracks. My dog may as well have gone temporarily blind. Hahaha..

invisibility cloak?? ..nope... you're doing it wrong.. haha

Hello.... cabin fever.

Hello...... Wal-Mart Run. 

... Yeah, it got bad. We finally decided on a mini-road trip, which was an adventure in and of itself [Rob's truck to tackle the snow + carseat  + beanie nation + standard other walmart clientele? = winnnnning if you're bored on a snow day.. haha]. We made it safely to, and back with some fruit, a few bones for Stella and some other random things. We even managed to get Marianne's car freed from its snowbank and into the garage, while Rob took to the cul-de-sac for some diesel donuts before we all headed back inside. Success. 

Sydni's down for the count finally, and I'm about to call it a night. That stupid thing called Monday is gonna hit me before I'm ready... I already know it. 

Boo. 

xo | cmd

Lounge & Dream of D90's

So.... the snow melted super fast yesterday and today, leaving very little for snowman-making. I give credit to the wild weather patterns of the midwest for that rapid delivery and take-back of the snow. I'm wondering if I will indeed see a slope this year, or if the boards in my garage will just lay dormant for the season.

Anyway, in spite of the lack of snow, today was one of those lazy hazy Sundays that I love. I started off with a visit to a new church; I'm putting out some feelers to see if there's another little outlet into which I can plug myself. I had a great time, and while it was a little on the "big scale" side for my liking, there's a good chance I'll be back to visit. I'll keep ya posted.

Once that was said and done, Rob came by and kept me company while I was doing nothing more but daydreaming.. haha..

Speaking of, I got the D90 out and decided that one of my next endeavors is to save up and do some investing in expanding my arsenal of D90 artillery.

dreaming.... of d90 ;) 

Ah.... and now it's time to wake this buster up so we can grab some grub and call it a day. I still can't believe this year is almost over. Seems like it flew right on by, but I'm not complaining that it's over. Haha.

waaaaaaake uuuuup :p

Back to the work week tomorrow... here we go!  

xo | cmd

Life, Oh Life... Hallelujah!

Man oh man, this has been a weekend. I can't complain, not one bit. :)

Friday was our small group.
Saturday was our small group local missions project [hahaha] at the Gobles'.
Today was church, lunch, and just plain old family time.

jump start mma lesson: intro to triangle choke + face bite. hah... :)

Are we blessed, or what??


hilarious.. she put that there and then passed out...

 Our day ran its typical Sunday schedule of Bible study; the DeMonds have joined our class, and Cathie Page's parents were in visiting, as well. I had the opportunity to stand in for Trish in the praise band while she's out of town, which was a great time. Joe was here for the service as opposed to working in or out of town. It was a beautiful morning. We topped it all off with lunch afterwards at Eckert's with Pastor Ron & Miss Debbie. [♥ them!]

Oh, and I wanted to share this, not because I'm so closely or directly involved, but because it moved me :). As we all know, I've been appointed to spearhead this year's Relay for Life team for the church. Since the event revolves solely around conquering cancer and all that goes with it, I felt it completely appropriate to spread this message to cancer: You're at war, and from the looks of it, I wouldn't wanna mess with these guys, either :). One of Towerview's own, Kyle, is heading into his battle with Lymphoma, but he's not going alone. This is just a fraction of the army backing him; in honor of his physical spat with chemo, these guys took the Bics to their heads in support. Jason compiled this montage, and I wanted to share :). I only hope that if I ever find myself staring down something like this, that I'd be so blessed to have such an eager batallion behind me. :) Thanks for the encouragement, all of you - What a testimony!!


jason. kyle. matt
jarod. jim
[[ rallying against cancer! ]]

The rest of the day was spent here at the house, doing absolutely nothing, and more than thoroughly enjoying every millisecond of it. Joe's past work week following the hail storm was maniacally busy, and mine was a bit flurried as well what with Meagan phasing out of the office on a short notice. After a good long nap, the rest of the afternoon meant lounging with the family, enjoying a couple hours of sheer relaxation before finishing up the laundry and putting Syd to bed.
The only problem I can find with jampacked weekends is that they end all too soon and take way too long to come back around. It's back to the grind tomorrow... time to call it for now...

xo | cmd

Runnin' Round Town

… Causin’ trouble!

Not really. I figure that’d probably be maternally irresponsible of me to conjure up mischief with Sydni in the backseat. Or so I’ve heard. :P



cowgirl up!

We headed to church today after Sydni found her cowgirl boots and insisted on sporting them to the morning worship service. The rest of the prime daytime hours today were dedicated to running all over St. Louis and Belleville. Our first mission was to get to a Fifth Third ATM. That doesn’t sound like much of a feat for my Cincinnati/N.Kentucky folks, but here in the Metro East, the Fifth Thirds are all in St. Louis or beyond. So to make deposits, we endure a 30-40 minute drive each way, and get to see all of the newest construction efforts in downtown St. Louis. Woot woot.

We swung by Creve Cour Camera to get an estimate on repairing my poor [still broken] D90. I was pleased to find out that the fixing cost is way below what I’d expected. We walked into

St. Clair Square

on a mission to find a Claire’s or Icing, and found a Piercing Pagoda kiosk right inside the door. Sydni had somehow lost one of her earrings and had been reminding me all morning. We picked up two new pairs for her, and she’s now sporting two miniature September Sapphires. Then it was Michael’s to take a look at some beads for a few birthday presents that need to be made, and finally it was home for Syd’s much-needed nap and my time to take care of some laundry and dishes.

Pretty solid Sunday. Tomorrow will be my first time dropping Sydni off at her on-base daycare; Joe usually does this since he’s obviously headed that way. If my math is right, it’s going to be a long drive to work.

Ciao!

xo | cmd

Transform [Ya]

No, not the Chris Brown song.

Two reasons I say that:

1. Today I sang Adie Camp’s Sufficient, and while it was far from perfect, I managed to transform it into a much better rendition than the first time I attempted it back at New Harmony in May. [no? Fine.. it was lame, I know.]

2. We watched Transformers 3 today, in the theater, for almost 3 full hours. I wanted to transform the movie into 90 condensed minutes, and transform us out of the theater.

 

And yes, I know there’s a B up there. I swear I didn’t do that on purpose; my computer likes to say whatever it wants sometimes, and that’s what it gave me just now. Quirky glitch, that one…. *sigh.

I think I just said most of today up there. After our conversation on Friday at dinner, Pastor Ron convinced me this song would be perfect for the service today, and I couldn’t have been more flattered by the suggestion. If I can use a gift for spreading the message, by all means, I’m all for it. Not to mention, I have a blast when I’m doing it.

And what’s a hot summer day without frozen custard?
Well, I guess it would be a hot summer day without frozen custard. Silly question. BUT, today was fortunate to have us plug in a little cool-down in the middle of another blazing hot day. Jarod rode the bike over to meet us for that, and then the three of us hit the movie theater for a matinee of Transformers 3.

I’m a sucker for Transformers movies. I am not, however, a sucker for sitting there for about 3 hours to watch one. Oh well. It was still decent.

Post movie, it was back home to unwind and settle in for the night. Back to work tomorrow, week 2!

xo | cmd