Baby Shower | Grafton | Birthday!

I've got a lot to cover in this episode of unimportant Cori ramblings.

First things, first, Marlene's baby shower was today! It was off to the Tower with a familiar group of beautiful women to celebrate the not-so-far-off arrival of little baby girl Cunico. I'm so excited for them - what better way to celebrate than with a beautiful shower for Marlene. 

Thank you so much, dear Marlene, for inviting me to share this special day with you!! I cannot wait to meet little Miss Baby Cunico. She's one lucky little gal! 

******

While we're talking about friends, I'm dedicating birthday wishes out to one of mine from home. I remember both the silly & stupid things of the younger years that were our birthday celebrations, and I'm very proud to see that we've both come a little ways since then. Haha. Happy BIRTHDAY, Nikkis!!  LOL... 

nikki! happy birthday, friend!

Nikki, seriously, hope you're having the best birthday yet; you deserve it, mama!

******

An important bit of realization hit me recently: 

I have been living in the state of Illinois for over a year now and haven't really seen much of anything in the state. To combat that, I thought it well-overdue to oblige a friend's advice and take a trip out to Grafton (IL) today. 

It was my previous perception and absolutely ill-assumed belief that the entire state of Illinois is flat. Haha. I say that only because coming from the hilly roads that traverse most of the frequently-traveled routes in Ohio to Belleville, IL was something of an adjustment, for sure. 

Fact: This place has landscape after all! It was a huge breath of fresh air today when I realized not only is there mild elevation [mild meaning something more than a speedbump, which is about all I've got for miles around where I live], but there's a riverfront, state park, campground & hiking trails out there. It's gorgeous. 

[borrowed photog] pere marquette state park | grafton, il

That's what it looked like from one of the lookout posts. I know I keep making references to the things of OHIO that comprise various fond spots in my heart; you'll just have to pardon those. Standing atop one of these lookouts today instantly catapulted my brain back to Eden Park, my favorite coined spot of reprieve through college. The moments of solace I found there over the course of the time I spent in Cincinnati are unrivaled, and I was reminded of those today. Perfect timing, too. It was one of those days on which I really needed to take a deep breath and just.... exhale.

*Siiiiiiiiiigh. :) 

PLUS, Grafton's a river town, which means that it's situated along a river [for those of you who didn't need that delineation, sorry]. Again, Cincinnati's riverside scenery came flooding back to me [[Montgomery Inn Boathouse, Newport, WEBN Fireworks, Yucatan?? << Really just kidding on that last one.. lol]] Well I had the chance to visit The Landing, this cool little bar/patio spot right on the river. According to the owner, it's shutting down for the season here in a couple of weeks, so I'm glad I was able to stop through before that happens. 

[borrowed picture ;)] | the landing

I must say, I'm both impressed and disappointed.. haha. I'm pretty excited that there's a little scenery to be found around here, but a little peeved that I never went searching for it before. Sad sad.

I'm spent. Today was a good day. 

Let's see how tomorrow goes (: 

xo | cmd

Mo's Baby Shower

I love having pregnant friends (: They're adorable, and the showers are always a blast.

Today was no exception.
Mo's shower took place after church today, which I missed due to a certain little girl who shall remain nameless, having a snotty nose and cough. [Update - she's doing better!] I would've like to have gone, but in an act of motherly restraint, opted out of potentially infecting the rest of the nursery. You're welcome. Haha. I joke.

Anyway, Joe made it back in time to tag team watching Sydni while I headed straight up to the church for her baby shower. The Finding Nemo theme was adorable, and made for quite a fun little shower!

finding nemo! ♥ my prego friends ;)

I had the privelege of capturing gift moments on camera; fun fun fun for me - CONGRATULATIONS to Mo & Jimmy, and I cannot WAIT to meet little Natalie. *Squeal!

That being said, I'm planning to do a whole lot of other nothing today, and I plan on enjoying the break :).

Happy Sunday!

xo | cmd

Lara & Emilia's Baby Shower

Today started off a little more on the sluggish side that I'd originally expected. Sydni and I both took a leisurely approach to the morning and were barely ready to roll when Mo showed up at noon. The three of us headed over to Babies 'R Us and then Once Upon a Child to do some gear shopping for Lara's baby shower before we raced back home to put the final touches on everything. By the time Jackie made her way over, we were all ready to get going.

lara! the beautiful mama :)

tea party time for little miss emilia!

Lara's shower for little Emilia was aaaaa-mazing! The lady who hosted it had transformed her entire basement from her kids' playroom into a tea party, decked from top to bottom in simple yet elegant decorations highlighting baby girl, complete with everything from little baby cupcakes to a banner with Emilia's name. We had a blast. 

adorable baby cupcakes!

presents :) [i love baby showers]





Oh, and it wouldn't have been a baby shower with these creative ladies without a craft session: Lara had it arranged for all of us to design little headbands for Emilia. Each of us picked out our own colors and patterns and put together an array of little elasticized bows, which I must say were all adorable. In the event I have another girl down the road, I may or may not - but probably may - borrow this fun idea. In hindsight, it might've helped out a lot when Syd was a munchkin, since she lacked hair off the bat and on more than 20 occasions was declared an adorable little boy by passersby. Hrm. Anyway, here's how those turned out:


bows [arrangement by yours truly :) ]



blueberry struesel muffins



Once we retired ourselves from the baby shower festivities, Mo headed off to do some babysitting on base for the Werners, otherwise I would've enlisted her services for the muffin-baking that consumed the rest of my evening :). We've got the Towerview fundraising breakfast tomorrow morning before Sunday school that's purposed as a fundraiser for our Relay for Life team. I'm excited for it! - Oh, and the muffins look stellar [thanks, Nancy, for the recipe!].

I made some pierogies & peppers for us while the muffins were baking, too. Yay for my [adoptive] Polish roots shining through! :)

It's gonna be a long day tomorrow; time to get some Z's!

xo | cmd