Best Friend | Sunsets | Bowling

Ali and I missed out yesterday on getting together, but we were determined to make it happen before I left town. Sooooo, we met up this morning at Crackerbarrel for breakfast. It was pretty awesome, but duhhh, of course it is whenever I get to see her!

love you, ali!!!

After breakfast, we ran some quick errands before she had to head in to work, and I found myself back at Rob's for a continued run at some more packing and cleaning up around his house. If you're tuning in for the first time, the update as of now is that he's moving to Ohio and we've been ransacking his house in preparation for the big haul. Fun stuff, right there... :|

.. taking a break ;)

The evening started to creep in, so Rob and I headed off on an errand run, which wound up taking us out to Horseshoe Lake; I was mad at this point that I'd left my camera at the house, but my cell phone did what it could to capture the sunset across the way..

horseshoe lake..

Anyway, it came time for dinner with some other friends, which happened to be at Sushi Tatsu in Fairview.

... For the second night in a row, Rob and I ordered the exact same things from the exact same place. I'm not mad about it, because I love sushi, but it is kind of funny that I just remembered this place yesterday and now we've been twice. Oh well; the second time with friends was way better anway!

Finally, we were off to bowling in O'Fallon; with this bunch, it's never a dull moment!

my love, the pool shark

his & hers ♥

holdin' down the fort for the girls
fil. haley. anna. cori. jesse......... & bobert, haha (:

And of course, we picked the bowling alley with an arcade, so naturally the boys took to it like teenagers... which was just as fun to watch I'm sure as it was for them to do it.

boys will be boys!

yes.. yes, they will. haha

We're in the fiiiiinal countdown to Christmas. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and thennnnn... Christmas! (:

For now, good night, blogbots!

xo | cmd

Date Night :)

♥

^^ Because that's what you do when you're kid-free and your husband's home from travelling! :)

Mo pointed out yesterday when they were at our house that it's noticeably quieter without mini running around. I guess I hadn't really noticed the stark contrast until she pointed it out, but in either sense, we didn't feel like hanging out in the calm of our place for the night. Once Joe was home, we made quick to head right back out the door for one of those rare, cherished date nights that parents of itty bitties see so infrequently. Haha.

We decided to stay local and re-invent the evening on local turf: downtown Belleville. There's nothing I don't love about that little stretch of Main Street, other than that I am always fighting the urge to go home with some handmade or locally-crafted thing that I realistically don't need.

In any event, we took to the streets of our little town and figured we'd stop off at Se7en, a little sushi bar we've tried before and loved.



sushi!

Also, it wouldn't be an outing in Belleville without a stop-off to see Bulent and raiding his supply of delicious gelato :). Duhh... We even ran into a musician there who plays in a local Christian band. He gave us his card, so you can trust that once I check it out, I'll share it all with you, too :)



one of each, please? :)

relay for life 2012 - paint the town purple!

 On our way out of downtown, I stopped to admire and capture the 2012 Relay for Life's Paint the Town Purple efforts by those who volunteered to do it. We were in VBS while they were out and about tying purple to every available post and pole in the area, but major kudos to those who made it!!

Our original theory for the night was that we would stop and see the new Spiderman after dinner, but unfortunately none of the show times were within an hour of us finishing dinner, so we opted to RedBox it and head back to the house to relax.

Good thing, too, since the movie we rented is still sitting on the coffee table, unopened and unwatched, because we are both about to crash out instead of watch it. Go us.

Haha.
We'll try it again tomorrow. :)

xo | cmd

Twenty-Seven!!

Oh my word.
I made it!

I think I’ve decided that my next endeavor in this earthly life is to cure Deceptive Birthday Syndrome. Allow me to explain.

You see, each year, this thing comes around that seems to get people excited when it has their name on it. [Duh, birthday.] So today is mine, and when it was all said and done, the day was wonderful, save for the fact that I am indeed getting older. Call it a quarter-life crisis, call it ridiculous, call it whatever you please, but sooner or later, I think most people would argue that turning the clock back wouldn’t be such a horrible thing. So, to solve the dilemma of actually getting older, I think I’ll start working on a way to preserve the customary fête – small or large – just sans the whole … aging part. I don’t think the odds are in my favor on this one, but hey, 27-year-olds can still dream, yeah?

There’s a special something about birthdays that will never fail to elicit well-wishes from an enormous chunk of friends, family, and facebook connections. Don’t lie; I’m one of those, and so are you! J I compiled just some of the blessings and wishes I got throughout the day, and I realized I am truly one fortunate girl. Be it a week, a year or five years, I’m grateful for all of my friends and extended family who took the moment to send annual congratulatory wishes via text, web, and/or phone call. Thank you!!

My first surprise was a box of donuts from Meagan; they arrived on my desk as soon as she walked in the door, and, although I did share, I have to say it was tough to decline eating every single one, in their delicious-looking state. Thank goodness for co-workers, hah.

Anyway, the second surprise came in the form of a text message from Joe telling me he’d left a work-related document in the backseat of the Murano. I went out to retrieve it, only to find a beautiful wooden decoration painted with my namesake verse, 1 Corinthians 13:13. [Yeah, for those of you just tuning in: I've since shortened my AKA to Cori, but post-adoption, I was given the name Corin, derived in this case from that exact verse, 1 Corinthians 13:13. Yenno, FYI.] In any sense, it’ll harmonize beautifully with the [Goodwill] frame I’d re-done with a picture of Joe and me.

For lunch, Diana treated me to my first visit to Peel, a relatively new but phenomenally delicious pizza dig in Edwardsville. With enough salad and pizza to fill up both us and a few takeout boxes, we headed back to the office. I’m certainly taking Joe there when we have the chance!

After work, I headed home with just enough time to change clothes before I was whisked back out the door for a double dinner date with Ryan & Stephanie Lopez at the Sushi Bar off 159. I’ll say this: that place definitely looks a little sketchy from the outside, but it is well worth the trip if you’re ever in the area. After dinner, we came back home with plans to watch a movie; of course Joe left me in charge of film selection, and as always, my answer: “Surprise me!” Well, he surprised me all right. He flipped on the T.V. and suggested we watch… maybe… Sportscenter?! Yeah, we have channels now, too! It’s been a long time since we’ve had satellite, and I’ve gotta say that while we were just fine without, it is a nice perk to have it.

That being said, it’s about time I call it a day. I had an excellent birthday, and for the time being, I’ll leave it at that and forget I’m inching my way closer to completing my third decade. We’ll cross that bridge when the time comes. Hah.

G’Nite!

xo | cmd