Catching Up on 2017...

Well hello, old friend.

It's been exactly 4 months yesterday, since the last time I came here to scribble something - and if I remember correctly, it was something menial. Let me open this then with a bitter admission: I've accepted the fact that my days of blogging for the dual purpose of chronological time-mapping [for my future self] and flexing my penmanship.... are long gone.

Because not all change is bad, right?

I'm not sure where it came from, but I've felt a weird tug for the past couple of weeks that it was time to revisit this blog and just start writing. If there's anything I've learned about myself in the past 30+ years, it's to never ignore that tug. This morning, I didn't have one singular thing weighing on my mind, rather that weird cloud of all the things that just sort of hung around the outskirts of my thoughts. By the afternoon, smaller, focused thoughts, and by the time I left the gym tonight, I was floating in a mental pond of Cori.

.... what a wretched analogy, sorry.

So let's see. Since the end of March alone, the universe has taken full liberty of reminding me that what I have planned is a laughable rough draft of what I'll get. My agenda has very little to do with my life in realtime, other than positioning myself at a when-and-where.... and even that's iffy.

damanji. ♥ you, friend! 

For starters, immediately after my last entry, Damanji shipped off to Turkey for the next year[ish]. We dressed up as mannequins from a Gadzook's display and sent him off with a night of drinks, dancing and a blur of 90s-inspired plaid and Converse. Born from that were some new friendships [both a broccoli-hater AND a Liverpool fan made the ranks, I KNOW, it's been a weird year...], rehashing favorite old memories and accepting that Damanji won't be physically around to annoy and humor us for at least the next 11 months.

And then Angela moved to Boston.
And Nick to Croatia.
And Megan to Ecuador.
At least Becky came back from New Mexico, even if it's just for the Summer.

Speaking of Summer, I can't remember the last time one felt like such a blur.... of everything. 
Here's [more for my future recollection of and proof that I didn't zone wholly out for the duration of] Spring & Summer 2017, as they've transpired so far:

April: Damanji's 90's themed going away party was the perfect kickoff, complete with friends, libations and really loud bass speakers :).

ali. shawn. cori

♥♥

A few weeks later, Ali celebrated her birthday by spending it here in Cincinnati, and a small host of some other favorite friends moved away, varying from temporary to full scale relocation. At the barking protest of my pride, I resumed physical therapy after intentionally avoiding it for.... a while, and found that although I now have one of the best DNS wizards in this hemisphere, I still. hate. PT. Oh, and the Fountain in our driveway has been officially traded in for an Eliminator, because ya know, it's practical to own a Catamaran when you live in Ohio. 

matching tattoos.. because that is what we do...
happy birthday, ali!! ♥♥

May: I returned to Panama with Chris and a roster of 13 other people from Ohio, Vermont and Arkansas who rendezvoused in the Atlanta airport 24 hours before we embarked on a pack-hike into the remote mountains of Balsa, Panama for a week. Run on sentence, you're welcome. We spent that week constructing a physical church building, under the direction of a foreman whose approval of any given task could be determined only by whether or not he was shaking his head at you. A good exercise of trust building in a team setting - I've found - is to incorporate 3 languages, 3 countries and 3 separate U.S. states' worth of team members onto one construction site, provide them with gas generators, power tools and a living blueprint [aforementioned foreman], with the understanding that this structure will be mapped out and finished within four days. An OSHA rep would've been escorted off this site, likely by an ambulatory pack-mule, from the heart attack they would've suffered trying to document this project. BUT, for and by the Glory of God, it came together at the midnight hour, and I had the honor  of singing praise music next to one of my best friends [for the first time], in the first service ever held in the new Balsa church. Not a bad trip. In other May news leading up to Panama, Sydni finished 2nd grade, lost a tooth that same day, and we spent much of the month catching up with family and friends. 

our favorite 2nd 3rd grader!! 

climbing with kalyn & brian | red river gorge, ky

hang times with jennica | columbus & dayton, oh

family biking | loveland, oh

panama 2017

June: The Employee Month of the Year as the count should stand, derived from my entirely made-up metric system: Surprise Factor, Relief Induction, Joy Increasing and Overall Mental Health Appreciation. I returned from Panama with my usual post-missions acute awareness of just how much stuff we have, and talking myself off the ledge of donating everything but the clothes we need for the week. Fortunately, that tirade was lessened by a trip to Chicago for a book festival & Britta's birthday, followed by a long weekend at Norris Lake with some of our favorite friends from Illinois. Oh, and lest we forget that in between those two, I got myself kicked off a sinking ship by the tempest itself, and found myself onboard a 5-star ocean liner the next week. Yeah, I know it was a crap analogy, but it was a crap situation that did a cartwheel and ended up better than ever, so whevs. Life on the professional front did a full reset, which forced me to realize how poorly I'd been just existing before everything changed. Another one of my best friends wound up here in Cincinnati for her birthday, which we celebrated in true Mare & Cori fashion: a soccer game, a piercing session, food, laughing, coffee... and more coffee.

britta boooo's birthday!! ♥ | chicago, il 

norris lake 2017 | norris lake, tn
cori. jess. taryn. liz. rob. matt. kenny. jesse.

♥ happy birthday, mare!! | cincinnati, oh

work fam :)
jess. stef. cori. chris. [missing deb]. tonya. rami. kelley. nick. ashley. brandi

nick & rami! ♥
[taken 7.13.17 ;) ]

July: I fully immersed myself back into my old-but-new job, realizing to no small amount of surprise least once every couple years. I've just accepted this as who I am at this point - perpetually scattered :).
just how neglectful I had been of my inner well-being where my professional life was concerned. Rob's birthday came around, which put us in Illinois for a weekend bash with some of our favorites. It happened to be the same week that Nick & Rami (two of my coworkers) had their wedding! Sydni and her friend Mattie had their first weekend sleepover here at the house, and I managed somehow to lose my entire wallet somewhere between the grocery checkout and my house. Don't worry guys, this is like an annual thing for me at point. Fortunately, everything was handled quickly, and with the exception of an MIA Kate Spade, all is well. OH, and July was the month we really kicked it into gear with the FC games. Now that Cincinnati has its own USL (we're aiming for MLS) team, we now have something to do every random night of the week and weekend ;).

2017 objective: pet all the dogs. these are matt's.

birthday bash for rob's 31st!

liz! 

alejandraaaaa .. or ali, if you're a regular mundane ;) 

jay & cindy came out too! 

ladies ♥

ridiculousness, in motion.

Oh, and some certain folks went and got baptized this month, too.. but that deserves a separate entry, so give me a few more days to rally all those pictures :). 

So that brings us to now, in a nutshell. I've said before that I'll be more consistent in daily updates, and after having written just this one day's slew of stuff-scattered as it is, I know- reminds me why I need to flex the blog muscles at least weekly, and eventually daily, like before.

I promise I'll start stringing together more cohesive trains of words and thoughts, too, once I get back into the rhythm of this without a 4-month hiatus.

Thanks for tuning in, blogbots :)

xo | cms

Healthy Livin' On a Chilly Day!

My favorite way to start off a week is with church. One step past that would be baptisms at church [celebrate!!!]. To top it off, are baptisms of both the young and the mature. Even though I didn't know any of the folks today personally, I love love love watching the hand of God work in the lives of others and prompt them to take steps of faith.

baptisms @ sonrise! aaaamen! ♥

Amen? AMEN!

At home, it was a tough sell convincing Rob that Winter will in fact eventually pass, and that he can stop staring longingly out into the driveway at a boat that is still sitting in winter mode:

poor, poor winter boat.... 

To try and ease some of his seasonal funk, I got busy in the kitchen.. The first thing I was able to produce was some guacamole. It's one of our household favorites, and there's nothing quite like a couple of brand spankin' new, fresh avocados.

homemade guac! ♥

I got on a roll like I usually do whenever I find myself in these types of moods, so on to bigger tasks I was:

1. Fridge oatmeal, a quick approach to tomorrow's breakfast: Steelcut oats, chia seeds & blueberries, along with almond milk = a nice creamy blend of texture & sweetness that absorbs overnight in the fridge, hence the name Overnight Oatmeal.

overnight oatmeal!

Also on the list was the biggest challenge of the night: NOT burning my homemade granola bars to a crisp. I am happy to report that tonight was in fact a success!!

granola bars in the making

granola bars : finished product! 

Phew! It was a success. Rob's in a better mood, I feel accomplished, and to top it off, there are healthy AND delicious snacks all over the place in this house. Win, win, WIN!

Bring it on, Monday - I'm ready for you!

xo | cmd 

We Are STAFF! [&Welcome Home, Syd!]

Another LOADED Sunday! I'm allllll for it!

with joe | with sydni | with cori
- the dills love you, eric!

.: ONE :.

Happy birthday, Eric!! 

This is Joe's best friend from years ago and still now. He has been a great friend not only to Joe, but to me as well, especially during the time that Joe was gone for military training. I knew if we needed anything, we could count on him. He's Sydni's "Uncle Eric," and we wish him the very very best birthday today! 

It looks like we're headed to see Eric in September in Colorado - looking forward to it :) 

.: TWO :.

It's baptism time! This is the third Sunday in a row [amen? AMEN!] Over the course of VBS, I worked alongside the Burden girls Kirsten & Kaitlyn. Their little brother Tanner went into the baptismal today, followed by Maia! I still remember my baptism; it was an incredible feeling and I love that there are youth in our church getting to experience that same emotion. God is GOOD! 

tanner & maia | congratulations!!!

.: THREE :.

posting on the towerview fb page after church! :)

Today was my Sunday downstairs in the nursery, so I wasn't present for the final verdict in what was a church-wide vote determining whether or not Joe would become an assistant pastor intern at Towerview. I came up at the end of the service to find that he'd been voted in with a 95%, so we are officially STAFF at Towerview! Joe now continues on under the mentorship of our senior pastor Ron and assistant pastor Mike, and will serve in the role of an intern until the time comes to grow into an associate or assistant pastor title. By default, that adds me to the collection of staff wives, where I'm blessed and honored to be among other outstanding women in our church. Thank you again, Towerview!!

.: FOUR :.

My first order of business as a "staff wife" at Towerview?
-- Skipping choir practice!

Haha. well, it wasn't by plan; unfortunately this was the only opportunity we had over the weekend to rendezvous with my parents in Indianapolis [halfway, oy...] to trade off a monster. Sydni's been with my family for the past week, on a mini vacation [for both her and for us!] with the grandparents. This time worked out particularly well, since my family was here last weekend to visit, and took her during the hectic week that was RFL prep time. Funny how that works out.

little sassy pants.... ;) 

It's crazy how I can miss this little bug so much just over the course of one week, but I'm so glad she's home. We're home too, and thoroughly spent. I'm gonna go pretend I don't have to work tomorrow :p. 

xo | cmd

God's Moving at the Tower :)

Towerview is, as one of my co-workers says when things are a-happenin', Cookin' with Gas!

Happy baptism week, #3!

little tanner!

If there is one reason to reflect back on VBS and be forever thankful, it is clearly evident when a child is moved to be baptized. I was priveleged enough to work directly with two of his big sisters Kirsten & Kaitlyn for the music ministry, so it was between their two beaming smiles that I sat and captured these little shots of Pastor Ron and Tanner in the baptistry. AMEN!

I felt like today flew right on by. My family is still in town, so after church, the lot of us tailed over to McAllister's for lunch before heading home. We all went down for some afternoon siesta time back at the house before rallying back at the church for the business meeting and Q&A session for Joe as he prepares for his transition onto the volunteer staff at Towerview. It was a lot to recount here, but we are certainly blessed, I'll say that much :).

The week starts back in full swing tomorrow. My family heads back to Ohio, along with Sydni [vaca week for everybody while she's with Nana & Pappy! Heh..]. We will certainly miss her, but this time is good for all of us, and we know it.

The jam session is already in progress here in the house - Jonathan & Paul are giving the guitars a workout and I think it's time to join 'em...

xo | cmd

Oh, What a Beautiful D A Y

1. LIFE IS GOOD.
B. LIFE IS GOOD.
3. LIFE. IS. GOOOOOOOOD!

What a truly beautiful little day this turned out to be!



hello, tiny toms!

  We started off the day with breakfast together before Joe had to go in to work. I was fairly bummed that he had to work this morning, especially since my parents were here and we were gearing up for a loaded church service. Sydni insisted on donning her purple sparkly shoes, so the TOMS made their first public appearance this morning, as well. Loved it...

she dressed herself this morning - not too bad!



becky & tom's baptisms | children's choir!

We didn't quite make it in time for Sunday school, but we were definitely there with plenty of time to get settled in before choir and the baptisms started. Nick & Rebecca, the new couple we met at the Sandvens, made it for their first Sunday. It was a whirlwind of a morning; the children's choir debuted for the year, and not one, but two of our small group members were baptized!

Congratulationsssssssss!!!! Tom & Becky, it was a blessing watching you be baptized. [Our small group rocks!] Major kudos, too, to the children's choir. It was definitely a great morning.

Once church was over, our entire small group rallied together at Bdubs to celebrate the two baptisms.

Back at home, Sydni and I resigned ourselves to a long afternoon nap. This is perfect example of the conversation Joe and I had regarding the fact that whenever we are around my parents, be it here or back in Ohio, we always want to sleep. It's absolutely not that we're that bored or disenchanted by the company; I think rather it's such a super sense of relaxation and peace that makes us want to just kick back and snooze for a bit. Today was no different, except that when I finally woke up, I felt like crap. [Boo. On. THAT.]

My parents leave tomorrow morning, and we go back to the week. Here's hoping I feel .. much.. better... tomorrow.

xo | cmd