Plugging In

First, I wanted to start off the day with some color:

hello! (:

I don't often go for the bright pops of color quite like this, but I thought it was fun, and coupled with the chair in my office, I couldn't resist. Spring is here and I was definitely feelin' it today.

I have been on a very gradual transition back into Cincinnati. In the past three weeks that I've been back, I've already had two mini trips back to Illinois, and have been making myself sparse around here, for the immediate time being.

Today I checked two more things off my Return to the 'Nati checklist: link up with a gym and decide how I want to continue with my banking. Well, for the sake of being a 'Nati-an, I'm going to stay local:


fitworks & wright-patt credit union | norwood, oh

Yeah, I took the plunge. I've been wanting to get back into some circuit training for a couple of months now, but with everything that's been going on, I never had time. Then I remembered that I have to make time if I want to see any sort of result [duh], so there ya have it. I'm invested. Haha. Tomorrow I'll jump in with a personal trainer and see just how out of shape I really am these days.

Back in Northside, I paused to take pictures of some of the simple, quirky beauty its residents have to offer. I don't necessarily consider myself a truly ecclectic person, but I always enjoy the manifestation of the more expressive faculties. 

pretty little northside (:

Fun. It may seem tacky to some people, but while I don' tknow that I'd paint a garden onto my car, it's fun to see random things like this speckling the neighborhoods across Northside.

Tonight I found myself back in the company of two of my favorite friends from Cincinnati. It's been a long time since I spent any time with them, but on a random fluke I found myself sitting through the last half of the Pacers-Heat game and half of an AnimalPlanet Mermaid documentary with Lu & Kyle [aka Goldy & Chester]. Lu's adorable girlfriend Ashley and Kyle's brother Chad were there, too. I've missed them, and it didn't hurt my mood to see some old familiar faces.


ky. lu. cori | circa2007

[Has it really been that long?! :( ]
Funny. The edge of transitioning back is starting to wear down some; I will finally move into my new digs effective this weekend, so once that's completed, I'm hoping to wake up feeling a little more "here" than I do now. I've got a great job, great friends who've supported me [literally supported me] through the process, a boyfriend who still puts up with me two states away [love. him.], and of course, the center of my world: the 3-year-old who certainly knows more about US currency than I did when I was 3... ;) ["Look! Waaaashington!!"] Haha.

I'm back in Northside and ready to put Monday to rest. I can't help but feel that slight emptiness that you get when you know you're missing someone but have no choice to power through it. He knows, though, and I know that it'll be okay. I'm just being a baby about it. Becky gets back tomorrow, so I'll have to catch up with her and see how the big Apple treated her on her first trip.

Random idea: Say something nice to a stranger tomorrow, and mean it. (:

G'Nite, friends.

xo | cmd

Joe's Bible Study | Fifth Third Hunt

I can remember back to my first days at Faith Baptist when Wednesday night church was not a feeling of obligation, but more of an anticipated event for anyone in the youth group. Later on, when I spent some time at Chapel Hill, I remember Wednesday nights being a fundamental part of my week there as well.

Now, as an adult, I admittedly didn't attend Wednesday nights nearly as often as I should have. I have my reasons, but none of them hold up to the fact that I should've made arrangements and been there.


mark 2:1-12 | Jesus heals a paralytic



But, that's the beautiful thing about God- He knows our hearts and He'll welcome us back, anytime.

That being said, we've made a habit out of walking to church on Wednesdays here, and, in the span of two months, we've solidified our membership here and gained some early trust and respect from our church leaders. Pastor Ron asked Joe to lead Wednesday night study in his absence. They're still on vacation, so Joe was happy to accept. We're blessed that they would ask!

Anyway, Joe's message was on Mark 2:1-12, the documentation of Jesus healing a paralytic man. We discussed the human emotional, societal influence, and sheer devotion of the men in that story and paralleled them with the same factors of the world around us today. Pretty interesting stuff. If you want any footnotes from the study, I'm all resource for you. :)



fifth third | the elusive atm




So after church, we went home, where I remembered that I have a check from my mother which I had forgotten to cash. Our dilemma right now is that we are still banked with Fifth Third, but the nearest location to us is a half hour out in St. Louis. *Sigh. I don't know what came over me, but I felt compelled, at 8:45 at night, to drive to St. Louis in search of an ATM. I had no idea that the functioning ones would be so hard to come by. Long story short, after a short tour of Washington University in St. Louis [beautiful, by the way; I entirely plan on visiting again during business hours], I finally hunted down my third 5/3 ATM, which didn't try to steal my card and was not labeled out of service. Amen.



washington university | st. louis campus

It's almost midnight, and I'm just getting home.

Good stinkin' night.

xo | cmd