St. Patrick's Supercross!

Weeeeeellp.... we planned on an earlier start than what we got this morning, but it turned out pretty daggone good, all things considered. That's just like us, isn't it? ;)

So we got moving finally, Rob and I, on the road to Indianapolis, to rendezvous with Dillon & Dylan and continue on to the 2015 Supercross. This would not be a repeat of our time here in 2013, we were certain, but there were plenty of jokes to go around that it would be just as interesting..

The drive to Indianapolis is a range of trees, city and overpass driving; we made it with no issue to the outskirts of the city, where we met up with D&D at the hotel we'd planned to stay the night. I'm sure at one point it had seen days of glory, but the honest truth about it now is that it's a shady, rundown dive that scared me a little just being there to check in.. haha.

The four of us made our way into the city, where the traffic was already dense; it's St. Patrick's Day weekend in Indy. There was a marathon taking place early in the day, on top of streets closed for St. Pat's festivities. On the edge of all that was Supercross, where we were going.

heeeeeeeere we go! 

We parked eventually and met up with some of the other guys who came in from Illinois for the event, and hung around with them for a while before we eventually got separated inside the Lucas Oil Stadium a few hours later. The tickets we bought came with pit passes, so we took advantage of those and explored the pit areas with a few thousand of our closest fan friends.

millsaps

mitch payton

Before long, it was time for the races to start; Rob's boss & his wife met with us, and the last two last-minute entries were soon behind them: Becky & Mike! Poor Becky - bikes doing laps in the dirt for 4 hours really wasn't her thing, but she was a solid sport and seemed to at least enjoy the company if nothing else.. haha. [[Thanks again, Becks, for coming!!]

chip. beth. dylan. dillon. rob. cori. becky. mike. 

and this.. waiting on the 450s to start .. 

Dungey took 1st place in the main 450 event, which seemed to be a generally-predicted outcome, but as always, proved to be an edge-of-the-seat sight to watch.

dungey! 

We wrapped up at the stadium with no issue, and somehow made it to and into seats in the restaurant of Chip & Beth's hotel without much of a wait at all. Some late night grub to wind down, and then the decision of how the rest of the evening would be spent. Mike & Becky came to the conclusion that they weren't really feeling the vibe of staying overnight, especially since we were all slated to share a hotel room. After some consideration, I voted to ride back with them, which I later realized was a perfect decision..

a shot we shared for mare! 

Oh, and this is just a little backdated. We got here around 1am last night, and there was no room for blogging at that point. Either way, it was an excellent time with awesome people, and a sure improvement on the first go-round.. haha.

Happy Supercross!

xo | cmd

Friday the 13th...

Gooood old Friday the 13th.

Well, there was nothing specifically eerie or out of the ordinary about today, unless you want to count a 10:20pm game of soccer at Soccer City. No? Ok, well good, because I didn't think that was weird, either.

So there was work: The typical Friday shakedown of wrap up and preparation for next week.
Then there was me, at home alone with a few free hours and Netflix at my disposal. I scanned through and landed on The Family, which I watched in its entirety I think mainly because I'm fascinated with Dianna Agron. I... I don't know.

the family 

Rob eventually made it home for a late dinner, and finally our drive out to Soccer City for the late 10:20 game. We walked away with a 1 point loss :(, but I'm confident we'll track back next time.

TOMORROW... we're off to Indy for Supercross!

It's gonna be a great weekend... here we go! :)

xo | cmd 

Christmas & Supercross

Christmas 2014 has crossed over into 2015, continuing on with each of the family stops we're making on this trip back to Illinois. It's not going to be completely done until Syd's back and has torn into all of the gifts she'll have waiting after this trip, but we had our time today with Rob's dad and stepmom. We took the gift that Santa brought us for Ella, and had fun watching her tear into that... I wish Sydni had been here to share in the fun of it all, but we'll be coming back and those two can have their time together ;)

ella! 

We also had the chance to celebrate Kate's birthday, which was the first time up to now that I've been able to share in that with them as a family [many more years of this to come!]. I'm so grateful for her as part of his family, and from here [soon!] on out, part of my extended family as well. Happy birthday, Kate!! ♥

happy birthday, mama kate! 

After the Christmas and birthday celebrations were had, we parted ways until tomorrow morning; our next and final stop for the night was Gilliganz for the Supercross race. Dillon, Matt & Courtney were already there, so we joined in for some dinner & the 450's. Jay and Cindy even made an appearance to say hello!

snapchatting it to ali!

And that's a wrap, folks! Tomorrow, we'll head back to Ohio and wake up on Monday to the grind of work and all the other stuff that marks our lives. And really, I'm kind of looking forward to it!

For now, good night from Illinois!

xo | cmd

Sweetest Day..... And Fried Green Beans

It's a tell-tale sign that I'm in Illinois whenever I review my photographs from the day/evening and undoubtedly come across a capture of fried green beans. I can thank Bindy's for introducing me to these; I'm now an addict and make it a priority to get them each and every time I come back.

yep. 

 ^ I for the life of me can't remember the name of the place we go near Holiday Shores with Dillon where these are served, but that's what happened today when we met up with his dad for some lunch. The rest of the night was spent watching the SuperCross race with Kenny, Taryn, Dillon and Matt, followed by some more exploring and an full circle back to our weekend couch bunks at Dillon's.

Oh, and of course, today is sweetest day, so in lieu of going over-the-top and indulging the card and candy companies of the world on this made-up holiday, I'll suffice to say this:

THIS GUY:

One of my strengths may be writing, but when it comes to adequately describing my

.. appreciation
.. respect
.. love 

for someone, I will fall short of justice even in my most lucid moments of creativity or penmanship. Rob has defied all of my expectations sour expectations, and pulled me out of an emotional gravel-pit that was eating me alive. Through no forced momentum, he managed to earn himself the accolade of my saving grace - in human form. We've so far faced trials we weren't sure we'd conquer, and are now building upon what has been, is now and can be if we stay committed to loving each other in spite of what the world throws at us. We have the same expectations of each other, and for the first time in I-couldn't-tell-you-how-long, I realized that I am an equal in a relationship, not an employee. His heart is bigger than his truck is tall; I don't know if there's a thing he wouldn't do for the sake of our little family, his family or a friend in need - without expecting fame in return. He's empowered me to realize my own strength again, something for which I'll forever be indebted. 

Thank You, my favorite lumberjack, for all the ways you probably don't even notice that make me feel loved, respected and deserving of stability, time and effort. I still sometimes can't believe you moved from Illinois to stand by me, but you'd better believe it means the world and then some that you would - and did. Happy sweetest day! 

*****

I'm gonna get beat up if I keep on with my little e-soliloquy, so I'll leave it at that and wish you and yours out there both a very happy Hallmark-generated holiday [Sweetest Da- well, you get it..]! 

xo | cmd

Just.. Happy (:

Rob leaves tomorrow for St. Louis, and in two days, Sydni and I will be northbound to Maricor's to celebrate Sophie's 2nd birthday. We made it a point for us to all spend some time together before we all go separate ways for the weekend. Today's one of those days that doesn't get a long, detailed blog entry. I'm sure I'll have plenty of those after this weekend, but for now, I'm just cozy, content and loving every second with this little family of mine. 


true story ♥

xo | cmd

AMA Supercross : Indianapolis

This is backdated.
.... & I don't care.

Soooooo.. in the spirit of being random, Rob and I took off this morning on a semi-scripted road trip to Indianapolis. It's scheduled for me to get Sydni tomorrow here, so we figured we would go ahead and make a weekend venture out of it. A few of his friends were already slated to go to the AMA SX event here today, so we decided we'd either do that, or find something else to get into and just meet up with his friends later. Yep, we're random like that.

Supercross it was! We got last minute tickets and joined the other three for the evening. It was hotel, food and AMA. I could only laugh at Rob for taking a powernap during the 250 prelim heats: "wake me up when 450 starts." Haha.


catnap? sure. yep, i ♥ him.

Here's a few other randoms from the AMA evening:

main event

 

Aaaand...... of course, a video.

Yeah......
As for the REST of the night, well .... All I can say is that there won't be a trip back to Indianapolis for any of us ANY time soon [at least not of our own free will; we'll leave it that way]. It was a fiasco to say the least, but the good news is, we're all heading home soon so no... complaining there.

Oh, and happy Saturday St. Pats to all of you crazy Irish kids out there ;)

xo | cmd

Pittie | Parking Job | Play!

I've been back and forth over the last four months now on whether or not to get a dog.

Welp... 

... Got a dog. 

Meet Stella. (:

'ello, pretty girl! 

Not only have I been back and forth about whether or not to get a pup, but I definitely grew up knowing better than to set foot within touchable range of a puppy mill. [Dear Mom, I was listening.] I found this little girl through a random string of connection, and met up with her owners this afternoon to see the little porkchop. I fell in love. Long story short, I now have a beautiful little snow & caramel pittie, and I am excited for us to get to know each other. Sydni's gonna love her....

Rob went to Supercross over in St. Louis today, which looked like an amazing time. In the interest of sparing everyone from the bajillion pictures of actual supercross action [though I'm definitely not discounting any of them!], I'll give you one most of ya'll probably didn't see unless you happened across the parking lot today. Hahaha. 

parking job by the boyfriend.... haha...

Meanwhile, back here at the house, we were full swing in getting miss Stella acclimated. I think we're doing great so far; the only thing we need to conquer in the immediate future would be a bath [tomorrow]. Otherwise, we're off to a great start! Thanks to the Radcliff family for making the trek out here with her.

Ali made her way over early evening, with DeShawn not far behind - we made dinner and tidied up before heading out to McKendree University to see one of Ali's childhood friends in a theater production. We stopped to grab their friend Joey and made our way down to Lebanon to The Hett Center for the Arts, where we settled in for "Somewhere In Between."

"somewhere in between" @ the hett | lebanon, il 
deshawn. joey. cori. ali

It's been a while since I last went to an actual stage play; it catapulted me back to my short tenure in the world of theater. I won't venture to say that I was a theater pro by any means, but it was definitely a blast, all the way from the rigorous practices, dry runs, dress rehearsals and shows. Here's just one flashback, circa 199.....9?

"south pacific" | 1999 | mt. vernon players, mt. vernon ohio
mrs. kahrl & yours truly... backstage in full gear for bali hai ;) 

*Sigh... hilarious.

Anyway, after the play, the four of us made a pitstop at good old DQ before we rolled back to my house. We made several attempts to get my NES [if ya don't know, take video gaming back to the original NINTENDO, my friend.. haha] working so we could do some Duck Hunt damage, but to no avail. It looks like I need to do a cleaning on that system and try it again. We were so close a couple of times, but still needs a little work. Not bad for a gaming system that's older than I am. ;) 

The fellas have gone and Ali and I are calling it a night. We've got church in the morning, so we'll see ya then! 

xo | cmd