Indianapolis | Reds Opener | April FOOLS!

So.... Rob and I awoke this morning to an EMPTY parking spot where our RENTAL car had been sitting the night before. Thanks, a lot, Cincinnati police.

You know what else?

HAPPY

!!!

Yeah, we didn't get towed. Not even close. We actually got an early start out since it was opening day for the Reds and downtown Cincinnati goes completely insane by 11am. We didn't feel like getting caught in street closures and all that jazz, so we made a break for it before the madness ensued.

That being said, .... LET'S GO REDS!!!!!


let's go redlegs!!!!

Once we were out of Cincinnati, we made a pit stop in Indianapolis for lunch and a couple of other things. I ran across this sign, and had to share, because I find myself constantly being the sole witness to weird stuff like this. I mentioned before that Indianapolis reminds me now of an excerpt from District 12 of The Hunger Games, so this just served to justify my conclusion. What. A. Weirdo. Place.


ok? sure thing, indy.

We're HOME now, with the evening still wide open. We stopped at the house long enough to let Stella out, then stuff her into the truck so we could return the rental car. We did that, made a quick pitstop at Target for some dinner food [which is sitting idle in the fridge as we speak; our tired tails just ordered in... don't judge, heh]. We laughed, because Rob had drawn some sunlight for us on the inside of the windshield on our way to Cincy and had forgotten to scrub it off before we hit the rental car place... lol, woops.

oh, sunny dayyyy! (:

Stella had started to take on the smell of dirt, since all she does outside is barrel roll down the yard every chance she gets. With Rob's help, we hoisted her into the bathtub and gave that poor girl a doggie shower. She hated every second of it, but I can safely say she's not a completely different color. Note to self: I need to do this more often. Haha. Next step is cutting down those bag lady claws she has. We'll get there. 


our beautiful stella pittie, so fresh & clean!



It feels so good to be home. Plus, we've now got a 4-day week ;) I don't mind that... at... all (:

G'Nite, Blogbots!

xo | cmd

Emma's Birthday | Lovin' Ohio Sports!

What a Saturday! I'm spent. And I'll tell ya why.

It started off with some early morning errands, some photo editing, and finally out to Becky's for Emma's birthday party. It was a great time with our friends, and the kiddos had a blast, too. Jason & I got to babbling on about cameras, Jimmy & Joe finalized their plans to have an eating contest, and Jarod was hailed as the reigning champ of trial mud runs, despite his affinity for Slim Jims and Mountain Dew. Oh, and there were plenty "That's what MO said"'s to go around. Haha. Don't ask; we're a funky bunch....

[I'm still editing down the pictures I took, so I just borrowed Jason's. Haha. I'll get mine up later....] Either way...

HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY,
EMMA!!!

[photog: jwisely] | happy birthday, sweet emma!!!

... of course it wouldn't be a show without something random, unnecessary, and silly. For that reason, Becky dug out the crimson gloves she snagged at the Towerview yardsale.. and, well.. here's that mini-story [thanks, Jason]: 

you can't see it, but that is a uc sweatshirt.. just sayin'
.... oh. and the gloves? you can thank becky for those ;) 

*I love our friends.*

You know what else I love, in a separate but equally-awesome way?

Being an OHIOAN. Hehe. 

I know, I know, I live in Illinois, but let's be honest. I breathe Ohio, and I don't expect that to change anytime soon, even if I never set residence outside this state ever again. Sorry to disappoint. Haha. Anyway, today was one of those days that made me super proud to be a Bearcat [alumni], a Buckeye [state allegience], and also a supporter of the Redlegs. 

O-H! .... I-O!

ahh! my alma mater! happy homecoming!!!!
[with a victory, too?! not a bad way to go!! ohh, ohhh, ohhhh uc!]

My alma mater! Cincinnati's homecoming was tonight, and since I obviously was unable to be present for the festivities, I sure do remember homecomings and the fun we had at the games. Nippert was packed tonight, and those Bearcats did their job to earn a WIN over Miami for homecoming! 52-14, we'll take it! SO PROUD OF THOSE BEARCATS!!! (:

the ohio state, at it again!!

Ohio State, also failing to disappoint, came out on top of Nebraska on Columbus turf with a big win. O-H.... I-O!!! 

brandon phillips.. you sir, are fantastic! yeah, reds!!!

Last but definitely not least, Brandon Phillips and the Reds came through with a win tonight, and basically left us Ohioans [Cincinnatians, specifically] on the edge of our seats for the last couple innings. The Reds took it with a win over SanFran, and if we do it right, we'll snag another W tomorrow! 

*Whewwww. I'm definitely not the one to continuously post sport-related updates, but I had to today. Hopefully the Bengals will take a win tomorrow... and we'll be all set :)

Church in the morning. Time call it a night! 

xo | cmd

TGIF: Office Baseball & Koinonia

TGIF!

May I take this moment to present to you....

... my co-workers and managers.

True story. 

tgif. express mode.

juggling in heels? sure. (: 

Let me explain.

Every once in a while, my office lapses into a state of uncontrollable chaos. Since there is just a handful of us, it's pretty much essential that we take these little breaks every so often. Some of you remember the last episode of Express PAUSED; it involved a course of 12 holes of mini golf through  the office. I lost, bigtime. Haha.

Today's debauchery started with a padded bat and a foam ball. SOMEhowwwww ... escalated into an all-out war, with an arsenal including an umbrella, a nerf dart gun, a soccer ball, and a wiffle ball. Don't ask why we have all of these things readily available in our office, but these things happen.. haha.

Oh, and for this bout, we went with some video footage, too.
[dun dun dunnnnn]

oh heyyy, ali! (: 

Good stuff, haha. More pictures to come.. probably on facebook. Yenno. 

Ohhhh yeah, and it's Koinonia night! These have a strong track record of being my favorite type of Fridays. Tonight was no stranger to that same vibe, it was just funny because apparently we were all on the same page - not wanting to cook. I'm fairly certain this was about the most unhealthy buffet of food I've ever had on my counter at the same time. Meh. I don't feel guilty; none of us eat this way on a regular basis and it was pretty delish anyway... so... yeah. We'll do some cooking next time ;). 

Happy weeeeeekend!

xo | cmd

Towerview at the Ballpark!!

Due to the continuous construction that comes inevitably as part of our office build-out, we were granted two consecutive casual days; we all took full advantage of it and geared up in our jeans and t-shirts for the day. Mine was almost thwarted by an early morning client visit; luckily for me, this particular client happens to be within earshot of my house, so if you think I went home after my client meeting to ditch the business garb, you would be totally correct. Haha. Perfect timing on the casual day, too; I was headed straight from work to the Cards game.

baseball time!

Before I get into this one, let me first clarify that in my heart, I'm still Cincinnati, through and through. That being said, I also believe that if you're gonna live somewhere, be there. I'm leading up to the fact that I was pretty excited to get down to Busch Stadium tonight for what was my first Cardinals game this season.

* I never thought I'd hear myself say that. What can I say, I love baseball games. Period. :)

with dawne! :)

Anyway, what made tonight's game that much cooler was the fact that each seat purchased by a Towerview member was from a fundraiser we'd done a few months back as one of our Relay for Life fundraisers. Originally, it was planned that Joe would be accompanying me to this one, but with him in Atlanta this week, that clearly wasn't going to happen. I contemplated just passing our tickets off to someone, but then I remembered that I do in fact know people outside of our church [because everyone there was already going, hah]. I asked Dawne is she wanted to come along, and long story short, we partnered up and made a night of it. I saw some other familiar faces tonight; I'll tell ya what, this St. Louis place sure is starting to grow on me. Yeah, baseball :)

Dawne and I linked up and took the metrolink with Syd [who ended up overnight back at Dawne's because she is just that awesome] into St. Louis and rendezvoused there with the rest of the Towerviewers to enjoy the night. I definitely had no complaints for my first season run at the park. Speaking of which, Courtney from work was down there somewhere too, we just never found each other. Oh well. Next time.

cori. mo. lara

*Note to self, also. The MetroLink is not a force with which you should reckon if you're not entirely prepared. Haha. That is all I have to say about that. Be careful where you stop, and pay attention to where you load, otherwise you could very well find yourself traversing back and forth on that sucker for hours. I'm just sayin'. :p

Anywho, it has been some sort of night.. baseball and all. I loved every second of it, but I think it's about time I grab some sleep before I try to tackle Friday. TGI[backdatedthursdayentrymadesuperearly]F!

xo | cmd

Towerview Cards Game

One of my favorite things about Towerview Baptist is their diligence in putting fellowship at the top of their priority list. A church cannot be a church without God as the center foundation, but likewise it is, as an organization, nothing without its people. Up to this point, we've found that the people of Towerview are incredibly dedicated to creating and enjoying fellowship opportunities. From Sunday and Wednesday services, to the weekly small group breaks, to random scheduled outings, we are all about socializing with each other and with the community.


busch stadium | some cute guy walking down the bleachers ;)

 Last night, we received a phone call from our pastor about 4 tickets that had just opened up for the Towerview outing to the St. Louis Cardinals game v. the Pittsburgh Pirates for tonight [Friday] at Busch Stadium. Let me note: We are still and probably always will be Cincinnati Reds fans through and through, but baseball is baseball, and it's fun going no matter how you spin it. Hah. Originally, we had thought about it, but then reluctantly decided we had to allocate our funds into the upcoming wedding efforts. So there we were, plopped in our living room meticulously chugging away at wedding business. It was such a kind gesture that they thought of us, and even extended the other two tickets to the new couple that had attended church on Sunday with us [Meagan & Rob]. We figured we would ask them [no harm there!] and see if they'd be obliged.


the greers | the dills

 Long story short, they jumped on the opportunity, and, after dropping Sydni off for some play time with Miss Anita, the four of us rendezvoused at the MetroLink station at SIUE and rode our way in to the stadium, tickets in hand. Alex was kind enough to offer us four of his free passes for the ride home, so we were blessed with an amazing evening of baseball in *perfect* weather, friends, fellowship, and easy transportation, all for just about $5/each. Not a bad deal.



Many, many thank you's to our pastor, his wife, and our church! We had a terrific time!!

xo | cmd

SEVENTEEN [round 2!]

What better way to celebrate the end of another cycle in the Michael Moreno 17-day 'diet' fiasco, than to wrap your successful little self in a blanket of muted, soggy silver.

....sweet. sounds like fun.

The perpetual wetness that took such a brief yet welcomed hiatus from its nesting spot over Cincinnati is back. Technically, it came back Friday afternoon, but it's still here, and it's quite the drab adversary to ignore in hopes of creating an energetic Monday.



rain in cincinnati | originally uploaded by desizemoe


^^ I found that shot and had to include here: I love the graining he added and the character it takes under the clouds parting. 



serpentine wall | ohio river

The running theme here is this persistent weather and all of its insipid nothingness. *sigh.

Tonight, I had toyed with the idea of attending a Reds game, at the 2-ticket generous offerings of my bosses. Kalyn and I thought it over and decided she'd freeze and I'd end up sicker than I already am now; it just didn't seem conducive to our common sense to go. From what we saw on TV, the 6th inning would've made enduring the elements well worth it. Oh well. Nice job, Reds!

Oh yeah, P.S. - Day ONE starts (again) tomorrow! Cycle THREE: I'm comin' for ya.....

xo | cmd