ALI's HERE!

It was too late last night when Ali arrived to do mich of anythddng other than a quick catch up before bed. Knowing we wanted to take full advantage of today made it that much easier to find sleep wirhout delay.

Today = bright and early start in the house, complete with homemade breakfast, compliments of Ali and me! We pulled out all the stops and produced a full spread, including pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, turkey bacon and toast. I mean, we had a full day of fun planned out!

First stop: The 513 City Flea! One of my favorite Washington Park events to frequent at least once or twice each season, even if I walk away with nothing but the receipt for a Street Pop long-ago devoured. 

gosh you're pretty, washington park... 

The Summer City Fleas mean that the splash pad is in full operation, and if we're being honest, it was only because our parents taught us manners that prevented every adult in the park from joining their kids running through the course of water jets.

summer splash pad!

i mean.. she's thinking what we were all thinking today #95degrees

Ali and I managed to drag her out of the fun for a twenty-second selfie opportunity, a decision that was apparently eqivalent to asking for her to walk a lap around the planet [huffy puffy!].

the girls! 1st take, nailed it! 

We trekked over to Findlay Market for lunch, which afforded each of us the vendor to satisfy our cravings. Becky's newest initiative, Dirt: Modern Market, is in its soft opening stages, but we were able to check it out. Ali bought some custom jams, while Sydni had her own photo shoot outside.

my little mini market girl 

celebrating dirt! 

After Findlay, we headed home to drop Rob and Sydni, then continued on to REI, in search of Ali's first pair of Chaco's! It would've been a straight shot, but I took a scenic route and Coffee Emporium got in the way, like it does for me on many occasions.

We eventually made it to REI. It wasn't as fruitful as we'd hoped, but long story short, she's all set and Chaco'd up for a good while. 

We did so well on our venturing this afternoon that there was next to no rushing when we arrived back at the house to get Rob & Syd. We set off to the movie theater, where the Minions  3D experience awaited us.

minions 3D! 

We did a post-movie dinner at Logans nearby, and finally circled back tothe homefront to wind down.

Tomorrow it's church with Ali before she heads home, and then back to a brief bit of the reality that is the to-do list around here. 

What a beautiful day! Seeee you tomorrow!

xo | cmd

Bluegrass In The Park

It's almost Summer in Cinci! It's not quite here, but that's not gonna stop any of us from taking necessary steps to take full advantage of the pre-Summer fun that Cinci has to offer.

I snagged Syd up after work, and headed home to meet up with Rob; Syd made sure the evening romping started early, and as she became a colorful blur streaking through the yard, I couldn't resist some captures.

goshhhhh, this girl...love her. 

It wasn't long before the three of us were in the car en route to Washington Park, where we immediately caught up with Becky and continued on to find Brandon's selected patch of grass near the mini stage.

bluegrass in the park! | washington park, cinci, oh 

Let the fun begin!

training her up for the festival life! 

There was music, there was food, there were great friends, there was playing!

little hippie chick

Syd found the sand pit...

We caught her in action, and honestly, I'm not sure she even knew we were there... at least not for a little bit:

Hahaha :)

As the night wound down, we prepared ourselves to leave. The sun went from a gradual dip in the sky to a full eclipse, as the buildings aided in shielding its light. The water pad came to neon life at that point, making me regret not having clad Sydni in her swimsuit for the evening. Becky, per usual, came to the rescue with a middle-ground solution of walking through the dry passageways.

beautiful! 

It's been a beautiful, beautiful day & evening; I can't wait for Summer to officially settle upon us!
Happy [almost] Friday!

xo | cmd

Succulents, Take 2 | Bluegrass Bandstand

Today was a good day!

Elisa and I started it off with a lunch hour trip to Findlay Market. We've decided this will be a standard practice now, at least once monthly, if we can swing it. We rarely get out of the office for a full hour, so we figured if we were gonna do it, we would do it.

Okay, so again our staged rebellion was actually driven moreso by my story about how Rob & I fed our venus fly trap a bug last night; she decided she wanted one for the office, and I thought it'd be fun to have one back here at my desk, too.


pretty lil babies!!

I couldn't decide between two of those little beauties, so I just bought both, thinking I'd keep one for the office and give one to Rob as a present since he was thoroughly entertained by mine yesterday.

Elisa got a couple succulents and a venus; we're obsessed. Hah.

elisa's succulents

tiny traps in their car seat ;)

We of course ate some food while we were there, before hopping back in the car right before the rain started pelting down again. We got lucky. Back at the office, Elisa managed to find an unfortunate bug clinging to a wall, and did what Rob and I did yesterday - fed them to her plant. Haha. It's going to be the office version of The Hunger Games for the little bugs that keep buzzing around our desks.

After work, it was home for a quick change, then right back out the door down to Washington Park for the Bluegrass Bandstand. Kalyn was working with the Mt. Carmel Brewery team, and it wasn't long before we had the whole group there.

bluegrass bandstand

brought this guy (:

love him!

Of course Eli's BBQ made an appearance, but StreetPops showed up and brought a little cool-down to the party, too.  

what before picture?

We brought our smiles... 

kalyn. kelsey. cori. brittany.

And this other super tall guy brought his super tall guy-ness..

thumbs up from kelsey

All in all not a bad night! Friends, bluegrass, BBQ and brew - No complaints here!  

 

G'Nite!

 

xo | cmd

Bluegrass in Washington Park

Today flew by. I'm not complaining, since tomorrroooooooow I'm off after work to Illinois to see Rob & Co. Today was a good day all the way around though; no complaints there (:

Sydni didn't end up at swim lessons tonight, so her and I took a little trip down to Washington Park to oblige an invite from Becky and Mike. There's bluegrass each Thursday down there, at least for a couple more weeks, and after tonight, I'm disappointed that we haven't been doing this all summer - it was fun!

some weeknight bluegrass | washington park - cincinnati, oh

We met up with Becky and Mike for a little while; Nader, Keith & Rick were there, too, so the lot of us spent a couple of hours milling around the park listening to music and watching Sydni run off some of the energy she otherwise would've used swimming.. haha.


Gosh, I love this little girl.

a few of the faces of my favorite mini!

Now we're home: Sydni's preoccupied herself stringing up some beads [no, nothing like me.. at all... ;) ] while I finish up throwing some stuff together for the weekend away.

It's almost Fah-riiiiiiiday!

xo | cmd

KIM!

Hello, Thursday (:

And hello, KIM!!

Earlier this week, Kim and I crossed chats and made tentative plans to get together today, if for no other reason than to catch up on the last two years and just make contact. (: We promised we'd have a sit down, and so after work I headed up to Kenwood and saw my friend that I hadn't seen since her wedding over a year ago! 

2007 & 2013 (:

I missed her! We had some definite laughs over the last six years or so, remembering some of the hilarious [and definitely not so hilarious] things, places and people that now seem to be such a distant, stark contrast to where we both are now in life. It was refreshing to look back on the days of unabashed malarky and know that your friends survived it along with you :) OH, plus.... Kim and her awesome husband Dan are expecting their first little one in October! Thanks A LOT for being an adorable prego; I've been trying to avoid the baby fever [still am.. nobody panic], but seeing cute prego's who make that part of it look good really doesn't help. Hah. I've already decided I eventually want more kids, but certainly not anytime in the next year. Just one of those things, I suppose. In time....

Anyway, Kim and I agreed not to let another two years lapse before we hung out again, and went our separate ways for the evening. I had every intention on meeting up with Becky for some bluegrass down in Washington Park, but knew that before I did anything else, I had to tackle the front lawn at my house.

It's small, yes, but it was getting out of control. Trish's grandparents were so kind to lend me their mower since I've yet to decide on getting one of my own, and in ten minutes the deed was done. It's a huge improvement, and aside from the grass still being damp from all the recent rain, it was cake.


it's the little things (:

Now, if I could just make a decision on the dryer plug adaption... we'll be all set.

TOMORROW.. IS... FRIDAY. Halle-stinkin'-lujah.

I don't think Rob's going to make it in town this weekend, and if I'm being honest, I'm so sorely disappointed that I can't go there to make up for it.. Yeah, I'm bummed that I won't see him. To dull that disappointment [in a completely separate way], Kalyn & Keifer are moving back this weekend and hopefully that will keep my mind off whatever else is missing.

Either way, life's good and I really have no room to complain.
.. I hope yours is too (:

xo | cmd

BONUS POST :: CATIE'S ENGAGED!!!

I woke up today feeling immediately dull, knowing that it is the birthday of a friend I'll never see again. I cried early in the day, thinking about what my family would do in my absence or if I was one of the ones left to pick up the pieces if they were gone. My heart goes out to the Fogle family, today, and I hope there is peace for you.

NOT that it removes or lessens the pain of missing an old friend, but I did get the news this morning that yesterday... at Washington Park...


*SQUEAAAAAAAAAAL!!!!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Catie and Andy got ENGAGED!!!!!!

..... I can't even stand it right now. I'm beyond excited for my little ginger! Haha. Seriously though, I don't know too many people like these, and I am.... THOROUGHLY thrilled for them both.


adore. adore. adore.

Good grief, I can't freakin' wait for the celebration.. for the wedding.. for everything. I can't.. freakin'.. wait.

Congratulations to two of the most wonderfuls ever! LOVE YOU BOTH!!!

xo | cmd