I'll tell ya what.. this girl.... haha.. Kids are awesome. Seriously. Funny, weird, messy... and awesome. Mine is no exception.
Today was a pretty good day, all things considered, and hanging out with my mini first thing after work is like the icing on a cake. Seriously. She's hilarious. And although I find it inconveniencing at times whenever we're anywhere and we have to stop for a 1-minute ride atop Sandy the Meijer horse, I have to stop and remind myself that these little moments won't last forever, and the world is big enough for me to relax and allow her to have them.
sandy the meijer horse!
In other news, the USWNT ladies took on Japan tonight, and although I'm not sure how I stayed awake through the entire game, I did it, despite the dismay of ending with a tied 3-3 match. Ladies, we're cheering you on from Cincinnati, and you blogbots will be seeing plenty of weigh in here on their Road to Rio as we get going. Oh, and sidenote: SUPERIOR PLAY, EQUAL PAY. 'Nuff said ♥.
An uneventful Thursday, really, I know.. but hey, it was what it was and tomorrow is Friday and YAY. :)
I realized on Friday that this blog I've been neglecting for the past several months is more than just an outlet for me to bore an occasionally-engaged reading audience.
Isn't that somethin'?
This isn't the first time I've relied on my blog to answer my own questions: 'what DID I do that day?,' or 'When WAS that thing?' It's been a while since I've need affirmation that's of any real significance other than satisfying a curious gap in my recall. Given that I haven't updated this thing recently, I'll just swallow the irritation weeks from now when I ask the same question but can't answer it from a blog reference. Meh.
Anyway, the end of 2015 was the beginning of the time Rob and I decided to be real adults and take our first steps down the road of home-buying. Neither of us have done this before, but apparently part of the process entails the mortgage company asking you for the last few years of your work history. No biggie, right? Well, no... unless you've worked for a franchise installments of the same corporate company for the past 6 years but they need to have specific dates. #AdultingIsTimestamped
I can't even remember what I ate for breakfast 5 hours ago. What I can do, is my due diligence to myself not just for the primary purpose of journaling, but for the the side benefit of revisiting any given day in as much vivid detail as I cared to use in scribing what was still fresh in my mind. And, as you may have guessed, I was able to hunt down the exact dates of my first and last days with each of my franchise installments, all from referencing my dear, recently-neglected blog.
I didn't make any real "New Years' Resolutions," because I figured making it through this year with our sanity and with at least a few bucks in our pockets after buying a house, going on a mission trip and getting married.... is a medium-term goal that speaks for itself. It's now January 24th; this month is almost over and I've decided I not only want, but need, for myself, to keep this blog from going on vacation. December will be here before we know it: Willing God's plan allows - We'll have a house, Sydni will be in 2nd grade, we will have gone to and returned from a second week of missions in the mountains of Panama and I'll have celebrated my final holidays under my maiden name. This of all years, makes sense to keep my blog afloat.
THAT BEING SAID:
Our first week of January included the viewing of and offer-making on what we're praying will be the fifth and final search result houses. We uncapped our pens and started practicing our signatures, not just for the house, but also for our wedding photographer! We agreed that the new year would usher in more intentional efforts of planning this wedding, so when I reconnected with one of my dear hometown childhood friends who now has her own photography business, I knew it was a golden opportunity.
Yep, it's KARA!
circa soccer '99
kara & her hubby matt now! right photo cred: tracie maglosky / tracie jean photo
I am so daggone excited to see this gal, especially since she'll be in a few days earlier for the pre-festivity fun. Who knew?
Week 2 of January:
More house stuff, including the initiation of real paperwork, negotiation and questions. My work, which I haven't touched yet in this entry, took another dive into change, as one of my fellow staffing consultants left the business, and I reabsorbed a double workload that I'll carry [again] until we hire a replacement. Prayer warriors, I won't be mad if you could spare a little extra for this one.. :) It's not the end of the world. We'll be okay.. but just a little extra encouragement would be nice. Oh, and I spent the week sick, with two days as a complete mute, thanks to a small tango with laryngitis. But the show must go on...
Week 3 of January:
Ever have one of those weeks that just doesn't feel.... calibrated? Although I'm pretty sure that it's just that stage of readjustment that comes with a shift in activity at work, given that we spend at or over 40 hours each week together at work, it's not a surprise that any disrupt can ripple out across the team and even individually. At home, it felt like nothing was getting done, and the signing of our loan paperwork doubled as an exciting and equally-unnerving experience. It stamps the progression of this process, but amplifies the other stuff that's still temporary: our current residence, and more central - the looming task of cleaning and moving out. Haha. This will be the last time. Breathe, repeat.
That brings us to this weekend!
family dinner for mom's birthday!
Friday consisted of us cleaning the house. And by cleaning, I mean detailing Sydni's room, along with the rest of the house, in preparation for our special weekend guests. Laundry was done, small presents were wrapped, and dinner reservations for the following night were confirmed. Pajamas were donned and an early bedtime was surprisingly accepted without contest under just the mere thought of Nana and Pappy arriving in the morning.
Saturday came in with the sunrise: We are among the fortunate this weekend who were not buried up to our eyeballs and then some in multiple feet of snow and ice. My parents had a smooth drive to [& from] up north to visit with us, and we were able to rendezvous with our realtor Tiffany, so they could get a first look at what is almost certainly the new house.
Nope, there won't be any pictures yet... oh, the suspense! ;)
... I'm just kidding; I know nobody really cares that much. Le sigh..
Anyway, it was no surprise that they loved the new place, and frankly, I can't wait to have my mom's help with decorating. We finished our quick visit at the new digs, and headed back home for an afternoon relaxing: Dad & Rob watched golf, Sydni played and ready with Nana and I enjoyed being right in the middle of it all.
The evening came, and we headed out the door to Seasons 52, where a 7:00 reservation in a carved out corner booth greeted us with a team of smiling servers and a bottle of Wrongo Dongo to get the night started. Between the food, the company and the fun that's never absent from a gathering with my parents, I'm confident this was one of the best birthdays we've orchestrated for Mom in a while.
Whoa, did I just get on Mom's level?!?
- Okay, no... not quite I don't think... but hey, I was definitely in the zone today and felt more like my mom than I do most other days ;).
So Saturday was a wrap, with delicious food, spirit and memories under our belt, we headed home to unwind for the evening. What I always forget though, is that although we may annually celebrate mom turning another physical year older, there is nothing OLD about this woman.
These two... hahah. Gosh I love them.
Today, was church [which was incredible,btw] with the family, followed by Mom making us one of her signature brunch menu's. They were soon on the road back to Mt. Vernon, leaving us with a leisure day ahead of us.
Well, with soccer, of course. USWNT friendly game vs. Ireland? I think so :).
With so many new faces to watch, I have to say I'm looking forward to rabidly cheering on the USA through this year and their next road to the Olympics! #USWNT!
It's been a beautiful weekend and I'm ready to see what this next week will bring. Even with just one more blog under my belt, I feel a bit more like I'm back in my element and yeahhhh, that's good :).
Phew,
Happy weekend, ya'll. It's the last week of January at our fingertips, and I think it's gonna be a good week.
Today started out in church, alongside my best friend [that's Rob, fyi..] and our congregation as we sang praise, worshiped and studied. I made it my prayer that I would maintain myself and a level head for later today in the event that the USWNT would fall to Japan in the WWC2015 finals, and I meant it. It sounds frivolous to pray for something like that, but I've been making very intentional efforts lately to BE present in mind and focus on ALL cylinders, according to the way I'm called to act, speak and behave, so praying for self-control if the ladies lost was really not an illegitimate prayer.
We headed home, took care of some errands and chores around the house and then.. it was time!
all day long. thinking about this.... all. day. long.
I met up with Brandon a little earlier than necessary, but with good reason: When Germany played, we nearly missed kickoff because Goodfellow's was packed and we got lucky with room at Latitude's. I was determined to stay put at Goodfellow's tonight. He'd snagged the big center table, a space that would soon be shared by Jessica, Rob and then by chance, a group of people who knew Brandon. It was the perfect arrangement, and within no time, kickoff happened.
And I... MISSED. The. First. Goal.
I mean come on! We were still getting situated with menus and drink orders, and WHO would've honestly thought that we would score in the THIRD minute?! (Not me, so that means I'm a bad fan with no faith.. I know, I know!)
So there was Lloyd, in replay, with the first goal of the final WC2015 game, and it was beautiful. Goodfellow's was roaring with fans, and just as I was trying to calm myself down, Lloyd nailed another one in the 5th minute.
UN. REAL!!!
lloyd, you're an animal!!!
Brandon declared that Carli Lloyd was his spirit animal, and I somehow became even more nervous than I was at kick-off, because all too often we've seen strong leads [especially this early on] be dashed by an unprecedented opponent comeback.
I didn't stay nervous very long - Holiday with her 14th minute goal, and then Lloyd with the back half LAUNCH that cleared the keeper put us at 4-0 at half-time. Holy freakin' crap, USA. You. Are. On. FIRE!!!!
holiday & lloyd!!
I'd been saying the entire game that I wanted 2 things:
1. Tobin to score a goal, and
2. Wambach to sub in for at least some playing time in her last World Cup.
Minute 54 was Tobin...
tobin!!!!!!!!
And then in came Wambach, with an even bigger surprise trade from Lloyd, who insisted that Wambach take the captain's band to finish out this monumental game. Sure, Abby's absence from the team is going to affect me and all the years of my childhood leading up to this [we won't even talk about Rampone possibly leaving], but to see her have the captain's band for the Title game of the 2015 World Cup was about enough to make me cry.
captain wambach!
And then Wambach insisting the band move to Rampone, for the trophy ceremony:
christie rampone - hero from my childhood!
[Here's the link to the article & page from which I borrowed those shots: USAToday Article]
And I would've cried, if I hadn't been so busy screaming my face off as the minutes wound down and it became clear that even with a 2-goal answer, Japan was going home in 2nd place and the USA were taking the Title of WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!
The amount of can't even'ing that was me tonight was basically unrivaled.
FIVE to TWO. WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS. I am SO. FLIPPIN'. ECSTATIC!!!!!
I wore my Lloyd shirt today. It was a solid choice to do that, and I don't think I've ever been so excited to watch a group of women play and win a game in my life.. not even at UC! [Sorry, ladies]. Lloyd, you deserved every single bit of that Golden Ball award!!!
congratulations!!!
And, despite other ways in which Hope Solo's made headlines, when it comes to the game, there's not a better keeper out there. Angerer is a close contender, but Hope is the brick [wall] in the box, and while some may not agree, I wholeheartedly believe she earned the Golden Glove, too! [Quick question though, where exactly is Julie Johnston's award for baddest-to-the-bone defender?!]
yeah, solo!!!
Guys, I'm exhausted from screaming like a psycho in the public view of the poor patrons at Goodfellow's, but a] don't care much.. sorry not sorry, and b] we just WON THE FRIKKIN' WORLD CUP!!!! So there's THAT.. and now I don't know what I'm going to be looking forward to for the next few weeks... but I'll figure it out ;)
I spent the entire day amped up over the game, and even though Becky and I didn't make it to Montreal today, I'm fortunate to have a viewing area big enough at home to [kinda] compensate for not seeing the ladies in person on the field. Anyway,
#solo
#harris
#morgan
#krieger
#leroux
Ob.SESSED.
It'd been raining for the greater part of the late afternoon/early evening, so when I turned into my neighborhood, I wasn't surprised to see it a bit tousled from the storm. Small bits of trees and branches were down and fresh leaves and twigs were strewn across all the lawns. My backyard has a particularly larger ticket item sitting on my shed [which appears at first glance to remain unharmed], that we will have to deal with on a night other than World Cup Semifinals:
well that's.. just.. very nice, storm. thanks. :/
The storm not only took its toll on my backyard, but it knocked out the already so-reliable Time Warner Cable, leaving me with a pesky, stubborn and overall aggravating sight of the white screen telling me it's more or less thinking about thinking about letting us watch anything. It's a hit or miss every.single. game with TWC, so I wasn't surprised when we had to rally together and determine our contingency plan.
That plan was set for Goodfellas, but that was dashed as soon as I arrived to find Tim & his family standing in line by the front door, without an open table in sight. We quickly weighed our options, and took a chance on running across the street to Latitudes. GOOD. DECISION. We snagged a table for 10, and before long there were 10 of us craning our necks in the direction of the big screen, where kickoff happened just as we were being seated.
There are few sporting events on planet earth that will ever elicit the type of emotional response comparable to that of soccer. It's safe to say really that there are no other events that could do so. I've never traditionally considered myself a feminist, but our USWNT is a collection of the most talented, charismatic and patriotic athletes out there - after tonight's game, heck yeah I'm proud to be a woman, an American, an athelete/a soccer player and a supporter of these ladies paving their own way to World Cup victory.
No, it wasn't Abby's 2012 goal against Brazil, but it was an absolutely beautiful sight nonetheless to see our team challenge Germany and come out on top.
I snagged this from ussoccer_wnt's IG, which sums up the night in what words just can't...
#lloyd #ohara
I. Love. This. Team. Love It.
Congratulations, USWNT! Here's to ONE. MORE. GAME against the winner of tomorrow's matchup. Just a few more days.. YOU CAN DO IT!
And to this group [minus 2], thanks for hanging out and hanging in there together! I couldn't have hand-selected a better group to roll with on a night like this! :)
As an update, Becky is not going to Montreal, which is probably a greater earfull for me than for her, given that I can't go [work, work, work... this grown up game is for the birds, I'm tellin' ya! ;).. ]. Instead, we'll be clad in gear in my living room, hopefully breathing and not screaming through the entire 90+ minutes of tomorrows match-up.
In other news, I bought this today:
hellooo, new sleeping pad!
The first to use it? Probably Mike's daughter, this weekend for a family camping trip. No worries.. at least I'll know at that point whether it's worth keeping or not ;). My best guess is that it'll be fine. I'm pretty pumped!
I'm not kidding when I say that tomorrow will literally be consumed by daydreams of the US taking on Germany and bringing a win. I'll wear my Lloyd shirt either way and pretend like I know she's going to score a goal :).
This was the first thing I wanted to see when I woke up today.
Throughout the day:
krieger
And...
leroux
And...
lloyd
Basically, I spent my entire day awaiting the 7:30 EST kick-off of this [and, my apologies if I've offended anyone with my lack of input/care/interest for the marriage equality bill...], but this just, for me, took insane leaps of precedence over that.
I wasn't entirely sold after the first 45 minutes as the teams marched off tied at nil..
The second half started with Abby giving one of her signature speeches [haha], and the team hit the field to see what they could do in the next 45 & change.
Finally..
captain lloyd!
YEAHHHHH!!!!
Congrats, ladies!!!!!
This World Cup has got me completely engaged. I. Love. It.
See ya back on the 26th!
Between work and volleyball, there wasn't a wide open space to do much else other than analyze the USWNT World Cup bracket. Naturally, my money's on the US taking it all, but only time will tell, and if I had to pick a second choice, my money's on Germany.
world cup bracket funnnnnn
But I mean, the U.S. is gonna take the cup, but it's fun to pretend there might be a chance for another winner, haha.. ;)
Meanwhile, in not Canada, the local happenings of the evening [volleybal] at least went by with sunshine and happiness.
I made it a point to tell myself this about once every 45 minutes today. Why? Well, the USWNT ladies were set to play Colombia tonight, and along with the rest of our country, I really wanted to see them win.
yiiiieeee!!
I couldn't tell you what happened at work that would've been anywhere near comparable to my excitement to head home and catch this game. I spent the early evening monitoring my TV to be sure Time Warner would hold out [it usually doesn't, I'll just be honest], but I was pleasantly surprised when it came through and brought the game into our house. Becky, Brandon, Clark, Mike & his girls Avery & Alyssa comprised our viewing party, and what. a. game it was :)
It was a wild first half, but no score to count after the first 45...
"i believe that we will win!"
The 2nd half was a different story! We were screaming at the tv by the time 90 hit, and after the few stoppage minutes to count, we were done, and HEADED TO THE QUARTERFINALS!! :D
I'm not kidding at all when I say that my childhood is re-living itself. I'm a little girl again, glued to the TV in admiration of our women's national team. My teenage years are back in swing again, too: back to 1999 when I watched the same Rampone that's playing now, alongside the legends of Mia, Christine, Brandi and the rest. We are BACK in the World Cup run, and I am 110% CERTAIN that WE. WILL. WIN IT!!!!
Guys.... World Cup action is starting. I don't know if that means much to a lot of you, but I'm predicting a couple of things for this year's Women's WC:
1. The USA will WIN! Why? Because they're freakin' AWESOME, and because, along with my American brethren and sistren (whatever), #IBELIEVE!
2. Hope Solo will get GC of the campaign
3. Becky and I will scream a lot, and many people will see a side of us that they A) didn't know existed, or B) fear, every time WWC years come around.
4. We'll keep the cards to a minimum, and not do anything excruciatingly stupid.
5. We'll WIN, because well... #USWNT!
8pm was slow to come around... but it did, finally, and found Becky, Mike, Rob, Brandon and I in what I'm sure just became our assigned seats for the rest of the game viewings we'll be hosting.
here we go!
We needed to win the group, so we can get on with it and get into elimination play. Well...
that happened..
... and then ABBY WAMBACH happened, and sealed the deal!
Looks like we're on the Sweet 16, and I can't wait to see who we've got! #IBELIEVE!
