Monday Lunch Break!!

An excerpt from the list of things I love:

* Jesus
* Sushi
* Lunch breaks
* Sunshine
* Friends
* 70° weather in the 1st week of March
* A stellar deal off Craigslist
* Rob & Sydni

It's clearly not the entire list, but it felt appropriate today to highlight those specific things. 

First, and I cannot emphasize to all maybe-two of you readers out there just how liberating it was today to TAKE A FULL, 1-HOUR LUNCH BREAK. You call it dramatic... I call it... rare. 

I'd forgotten over the past 9 or 10 months just how fantastic it is to step away from the desk and everything that comes with it, and just.... exist in a space free of work, errands and anything else that qualifies as an obligation. 

[insert über happy emoji face here]

For starters, I donned a dress to work for the first time in months today. It just... felt right - the air felt promising this morning when I let the dogs out, so I went for it. My favorite boots went with it, and out the door I went to start the week. 

This was not a typical Monday, at all. From the time I woke up to now, it's been nothing but fun. Seriously! I'm going to blame this on Kristin, the new girl at work - she's just now starting her 2nd week, but even so, I'm already feeling layers of stress and pressure peeling off. The girl is seriously a God-send, I'll say that much. Now that she's here, the daily workload will be more evenly-distributed, and with that comes lunch breaks!

Monday lunch break = SUSHI! Extra ginger, pwede ba! [<that's 'please' in Tagalog]

People, listen. If you're going to pursue my heart, you have to start with my stomach. In fact, you really only need my stomach, if the timing is right. I wanted nothing more today than a seaweed roll, and once I got it, the rest of the day was a cakewalk. 

And then the work day ended, and it was on to the next thing: Retrieving an armoire I'd hunted down on Craigslist. The guy who posted it months ago has been experiencing relay issues with emails, and I just happened to swoop in at the right time, as he was near giving up on hearing back again from any of the previous inquiries. Cori, would you pay an 8th of the full price for an armoire in near perfect condition? 

hello, lovely! 

Yes. Yes I would. And I did. And I'm PUMPED. #newhousefurnituuuuuuure

We came, we retrieved, and somehow we [Rob & I, but mostly Rob] finagled that sucker up and over the banister and landing to the 2nd floor of the new house. He probably needs a chiropractor after it all, but hey, it's there, it's ready and as soon as the walls are painted, it'll be a functional fixture in the digs of yours truly.

And with that, folks.. we're good here. The week is young, but God's been good to us for a Monday. We're feeling inspired to get this place under wraps!

Have a beautiful week, blogbots!

xo | cmd

Valentines Day 2014!

Awww, it's Valentine's Day! Happy, HAPPY Valentines to you and yours!
... Or... Happy Singles Awareness Day, to all of my single lads & ladies out there. (:

There was definitely enough love to go around today. We started at work, with the traditional Friday office lunch. Coincidentally, it was Naked Pizza. Fully clothed, we chowed down in less-than-graceful fashion. We are spoiled..

naked pizza!! (:

The weather reports showed that we were due another bout of wintery stuff today, so we closed down the office right around 3pm and called it a week.

not bad for a commute home!

Nobody was complaining. (: I even took the opportunity to stop off at a little corner store I've been eyeing for a while but never actually visited, until today. It's a resale place that is apparently part of the Plato's Closet family, and managed to score some leather boots for a $20 before getting back on the road home.

I'm glad I did get moving homeward when I did. By the time I picked up Sydni in Milford and got halfway back to Beechmont, the sleet was in coming down in waves and 1 of every 4 drivers had panic attacks like they usually do in inclement weather around here.

We finally made it safely home, and Rob came in not far behind us. We had already voted a BIG negative on going anywhere for Valentines, 1] because we're really not that into sappy stuff, 2] the roads were junk, 3] Sydni's with us this week, 4] it's more fun when we all just stay home and play or read together and 4] Jesse was en route to visit for the weekend from Illinois. Needless to say, we promised each other we'd show some restraint this year, and kept it a humble little celebration. Really though, it turned out better than any fancy shmancy dinner at an over-crowded restaurant ever could have.

♥♥♥ it's the small things, really (: ♥♥♥

As a joke, I bought Rob a case of adult spirits for Jesse and him to enjoy over the weekend for Jesse's visit. He in turn bought me a new sherpa throw and some coconut macaroons. Sydni got a Valentine's bag of Hello Kitty goodies: jewelry, stickers, coloring books and crayons. She and I curled up with my new blanket and a macaroon each to color some pictures, and Rob busied himself making the first fire in our new place. The entire cast of our house was captivated by it.

it's fireside time!

^ And that, folks, is where all five of us spent the rest of the evening: in front of a crackling fire, listening to Sydni tell a story about the picture she was coloring and playing with the dogs. I couldn't have imagined a better evening to put real love on display than us being together tonight.

I'll have to say my hello's to Jesse tomorrow; he's still on his way, apparently crawling now through the traffic that's built up because of the weather :(. It's been a long week.

Happy weekend, friends!

xo | cmd

Sunday IS a Funday (:

In usual fashion, Sunday mornings = Church!


hangin' with my love @ sonrise ♥

After church, we decided we wouldn't spend the rest of the day in the house like we did yesterday [albeit we were being productive, still......]. We decided to head to Kenwood. As it turns out, the mall-goers may in fact be more fearless in their parking endeavors than most. This, among many others, was a pretty common sight today:

look ma, no tire!

^ We captured that one just in case we returned to find my car smashed if/when they decided to pull back down off that little hill. A few rows over was a truck pulled so far up a bank that even Rob commented that it wasn't a good idea. It was a chaotic sight that surprisingly made the crowd inside the mall seem tame. Go figure.

I finally took back one of those I'll-eventually-get-around-to-returning-this-maybe-hopefully things and we spent the early afternoon perusing through the place at our leisure. We left with two pairs of jeans for Rob & a new pair of boots for me. I call that a splurge, but it probably could've been worse, too.. haha.

mission[s] accomplished!

And then.... we stopped by to visit Kalyn at work! - And, to eat, of course, because Main Street is the B-O-M-B.

perfect low-key sunday afternoon digs (:

dull moments? what are those?

I couldn't help but capture this guy on the way out, either:

#subienation, haha..

^ Here's to 2014 and our Subaru ownership, KP! Hah.

Rob and I wrapped up some more stuff around the house this evening, including the running of wires throughout the floors to hook up surround sound. Did I mention my man is a handy guy? This task in my hands would've had the whole house short circuited somehow. He's awesome, the house sounds awesome... it .. is.. awesome.

And even mooooore awesomerererrrr.. was us having a nice little nightcap with Kalyn & Co. once she was off work. She does, after all live about a whole 1.5 miles from our place, so the misery of a cold car was about the only complaint as we headed to and from.

it's a gramps growler kinda night!

Yeah. Gramps from a growler into Rhinegeist glasses & mason jars is definitely not the worst way to end a weekend. I had a feeling it would be a great couple of days; I'm not disappointed!

Work week, here we coooome....

xo | cmd

Fallish Mondays

I said a few days ago that it is starting to finally feel like Fall! I'm not typically a girlish person, nor have I ever been a trendsetter of any sort, but I admit I was a little excited today to break out the autumn color pallet and boots. I love boots. It's beanie & boot season, now.

I'm pumped.

fall colors, here we come!

 Oh, and yenno what else was pretty daggone awesome today?

yeah. buddy!!

I took to the house to wrap up a few things there before heading out to Salem Gardens to meet up with Kalyn & Keifer to watch the game. I declined a couple of invitations to tailgate tonight at the stadium because 1] I wasn't going to the actual game, 2] traffic/parking down there is a heinous affair not worth the stress, and 3] I'm an old lady apparently incapable of functioning during the work week if I'm up too late. And that would have been way.. too late. The three of us barely made it to the third quarter before we opted to finish it up at home after some grub & a few drinks.

We're apparently all old folks; I don't feel so individually guilty. Haha. Either way, the good old Cats brought a WIN on home turf against the Steelers, which means my father and uncle [born/raised in Pittsburgh] will likely not speak to me for a week now... haha.

Kinda-sorta-short week this week; we're Detroit-bound Friday!

xo | cmd