Smoothies & [More] Panama Prep!

Guess where we went again.. today? 

can you guess? 

I'm not telling you. You'll have to guess.

... Ok I lied. It's Community Blend! The only reason I'm telling you that is because I want you to GO there & support them, as well. :)

ALSO.. THIS CAME TODAY & I AM SO ESSSSITEDSSS!!! [Excited, for those of you who don't speak my version of idiot...]:

1 step closer to panama!

This camera [supposedly] stands its ground when it comes to the outdoor elements and contained forces of gravity [ie, don't throw it off a building]. It's exactly what I think? I need for Panama, as the vision in my head of what I would manage to do with a regular digi cam kind of scares me. Haha.

We'll see.
NINE DAYS TO GO!

xo | cmd 

[Satur]Day of Play!

Today's Highlight Reel:

1. Good morning, happy pup!!
>>> Stella is the stoic of the two, and since she rarely smiles to express herself, this was a rare glimpse of the cheesy face I love so much!

stella pittie!

2. Breakfast! Nom Nom Nom...
>>> I woke up with a craving for French Toast. So, I made French Toast.

delish!

3. Princess Cycling Gear.
>>> We broke out the bicycle for her first spin of the season at the house. We discovered some new parts of the neighboring areas and Syd proved she's just about ready for the training wheels to be weened away!

go go go!

4. Fields of Golden Flowers.
>>> Or, just our yard. While it certainly looks pretty, these little buddies will unfortunately disappear in the next couple of weeks when the lawn mower comes out. 

still kinda pretty ;)

 That meant some serenading [of the Frozen soundtrack, duh] from my theatrical little monster.. ♥

let it GOOO

candid running faces.. haha

more uh... jazz hands?

field of little flowers (:

5. The Scariest Donut I've Ever Seen.
>>> In a moment of extraordinary weakness, I caved and bought this disgusting star-shaped, overly-frosted, sprinkle & gummy crap-covered thing for Sydni. I had zero intentions of letting her eat this entire donut, but she was being good and caught me in a moment of generosity, so yeah. If you're wondering, I took one tiny bite of this thing and decided it was just as disgusting as it looks. I really don't know how people could eat these things all the time and not have heart attacks. Oh, well...

goooood grief.

6. My Family.
>>> These two are my everything.  Today it was team turquoise, apparently.. haha.

my little world ♥

7. Grilling Out With Becky!
>>> An impromptu visit from Becky, who joined us for dinner, suffered a gigantic foot splinter from our deck and still agreed to come back and dogsit for us. There rarely are better friends. (: Hopefully my bribing of homemade mac n' cheese along with Rob's perfectly-grilled chicken & potatoes were enough to alleviate the unfortunate 2.5" splinter that she had to remove from her foot.. haha.

best way to recover from giant splinters?
.... cloudgazing, apparently (:

So aside from gigantic fragments of our deck splintering off into our guest's foot, I suppose we have no complaints from today. Thankfully it was Becky, who is probably my most durable friend. Haha.

Splinter is gone, sun is fading and everyone's happy again. (:
That's a good Saturday!

xo | cmd

FAMILY HERE! [+Photo Sneak Peak!]

My family was here today.
That means....

We took a few pictures. Just a few. ;)

Mom, Dad, Sister & Nephew all came down just for the day, and along with Sydni, the whole lot of us toted off for a picnic lunch and picture session at Eden Park. That place never gets old. (:

I figured I'd launch into the preview right away, since really, that was our day today. There will be more... many more, but I wanted to share some of my favorites! Enjoy! ❤


a little flower | ©cmdphotography2013

kisses | ©cmdphotography2013

adoption: blood doesn't define family; bonds do. [myself with my mom & my sister]
©cmdphotography2013

playing in the water | ©cmdphotography2013

mama's girl | ©cmdphotography2013

sunbather! | ©cmdphotography2013

senior picture, the reprise.. haha | ©cmdphotography2013

[parts of] my family: parents. daughter. myself. sister. nephew
©cmdphotography2013

[**pleaaaaaaaaase excuse the graininess or low reso. quality of some of these; I'm working on the originals and will eventually post those, too. I promise they're better quality!]

So there it is... like I said there's a much bigger collection, but I'm still working on those. I'll get those posted periodically as I get them finished... orrrr... you can check on the Facebook page to see if they're up yet ツ.

 

I'd say today was a huge success. I'm relaxing now with Sydni; she's nearly passed out from all the excitement, and I'm on a good run with these edits.

 

Happy Weekend, Blogbots!

 

xo | cmd 

OWL You Need Is Love ;)

Two things.

1. I have amazing people in my life, both new and old.

2. I'm pretty sure I'll never stop loving owls, even once the world-wide trend that they are now, has expired. I've always loved them, I love them now, and those amazing people I just mentioned, make sure that I keep getting my fixes, where they're needed (:

That being said, and ironically enough as it is, these are two things I got from two girls with whom I've worked. Both of them are [or were] Express FOC's, for different offices, but equally awesome in their own separate ways.

This is a shot from Ali:


i might attempt to own this. maybe. haha.

&& this, is from Elisa, my new FOC here in Cincinnati, who in just a few short weeks has noticed my affinity for the little hooty creatures [yes, I almost said hooters, and then remembered that 90% of the population would misinterpret that.... ].


owl magnets. italian marble camera coaster. kitty cat bandaid/tape!
so sweet!! thanks, elisa!!

She's pretty sweet. How thoughtful! I love it; the magnets are now up on my board here and the coaster will get its fair share of use, too.

DRUMROLLLLLLLLLLLLLL... for the BEST part of today:


minime!!

Tonight was our first night together in my new place. I can't even begin to tell you the gratifying feeling I had curled up on the couch at the end of the day with her. It felt exactly how it did when things weren't crazy, when we were like this every single day. It felt as though we hadn't skipped a beat, and I can't imagine having a Monday end any other way. This little girl, the reason I do what I do, just finished the sequence of things that I've needed to feel like I'm "home."
Owl You Need Is Love.
.. sure, you need some other stuff in there, too.. but let's face it, that's where it's really at.

My job. My house. My family. My boyfriend. My faith. My daughter.
I'm set (:

xo | cmd

Playful Pitties

Things I love [that are relevent to this entry]:

* Dogs.

* Photography.
* Nikon D90.

* Friends.

* Summer Weather.
* Smiling.

All of that being said, now that I'm fully out of the house in Shiloh, I'm up in Granite for the next couple of weeks and therefore living with a few roommates. Some of them happen to be canine; along with Mike, Kelly & Rob, Mike's dog Sasha and Kelly's dog Ziggy, there is now Stella and myself, for the time being. It's been a little boisterous in there when all three pups are wound up, so I made it a point to try and drain out some of that energy today.

It's beautiful outside. I got to the house just as Mike and Kelly were leaving; they took Ziggy with them so he didn't get to be a part of the photo madness that ensued. I grabbed the D90 and took the girls out to the backyard to play... and well, the rest is photo history: 

left: sasha | right: stella
©cmdphotography2013

"teamwork" | ©cmdphotography2013

"happy!" | ©cmdphotography2013

"best friends" | ©cmdphotography2013

"mission accomplished : tuckered out!"
©cmdphotography2013

We had.. a blast. (: I've not finished editing the entire gallery of shots I took today, but these were by far the best, so I definitely wanted to share. We just got back from dinner at Bindy's [hiiiiii, Alicia!] and it is.... time for sleep.

fried green beans? yessssss... thanks, bindy's!

What a good day (:

xo | cmd

& 'Twas a GOOD Day (:

This is probably the second time in a while that I can remember Rob being up and moving on a weekend before I am. He was up at and at it by 7; he and his friends were off to Taylorville for a day long trip 4wheeling & dirtbiking. I'm pretty sure they made it all the way out there before I was even out of bed. ;)


early morning chores (:

 Just kidding. Once I'm awake in the morning, there's no turning back, and after tossing and turning for twenty minutes in a failed attempt to re-enter dreamland, I gave in and got up.

And cleaned my house.

???? Yeah. I dunno.

First it was laundry; I got some of that started. Then I cleaned both the bathrooms, Syd's room and the kitchen.

And then.... I got ready for church and made it there with ten minutes to spare. I was pretty proud of myself. Haha.

Ali brought her friend Alicia, and afterwards, the three of us along with Joey, Tim & DeShawn made a lunch date at CBW before heading our separate ways for the day. The weather is starting to make a consistent upswing into that true Spring feel, and I was determined to make the best of every second. I headed home, grabbed up the first three bins of stuff I no longer wanted/needed, and loaded it along with Stella into the car. 

my errand buddy | stellapittie gone mobile ;)

colorsplash!

She and I made a full afternoon of errands: Plato's & Once Upon a Child [go sell your stuff!!], Goodwill [& go donate the rest!!], oil change and a few other miscellaneous things before heading back to the house for some more cleaning.

I ended up vacuuming, dusting and windexing [it's a verb, c'mon!] all the windows free of Sydni and Stella paw-smudges before Ali, Alicia and Marianne showed up at the door. They weren't there long, but it was nice to have some afternoon company to distract me from my cleaning fury.

Midway through the afternoon, I got the notification that Rob & Co. were finished with their outing; I couldn't help but laugh looking back on it, realizing once again that he and I are on the same level and I need to continue counting my blessings every. single. day. to have him... we're definitely one & the same, and I love it.

we're a silly couple of birds ... ;)

Rob made it home eventually: sunbeat, exhausted and covered with mud. He went straight to the shower. Marianne made her way over; we decided to brave what we thought was a nasty storm brewing. It ended up passing us by, which was probably a good thing since we came out of Walmart an hour later having spent a combined total of just over $700. Haha. Reason being? 



canon rebel!

Marianne just graduated into the big leagues of photo nuts. She had her eye on a DSLR, so after some research and price comparing, she took the plunge and brought home a new Rebel! [Congrats!] We had a good laugh, too, since she banks with USAA & after her initial card swipe for the camera, she was denied a second swipe for a $10 memory card. FRAUD!!! Just kidding.

 

She just left; Rob is fighting 2000-lb sleepy eyelids, Stella's well into some doggy dream, and I'm fading pretty quick, too. I guess it's time to call this one.

 

What an amazing weekend. Love love love.

 

xo | cmd

Hey Friday - I Love You (:

It's that time again! HELLO, WEEKEND!!!

Sheesh. Today was definitely not a bad day, by any means. It'll be easier for me to just itemize this one (:

1 | OFFICE POTLUCK! [I told you today was good.. haha]


mushroom. ehhh... : /

I decided to be a butthead and send this picture to Rob mid-way through the lunch festivities; he loves mushrooms about as much as slugs love salt.... so I figured it would only be right to flash this thing his way.  I for one don't care much for mushrooms, so I didn't eat it when I was finished, but I was feeling particularly rambunctious, so yeah.... ;)

2 | RENTAL CAR? YES!

'ello, rental!

Rob and I quickly decided a few days back that my car with its current tire conundrum would not suffice for a 5-hour jaunt to Cincinnati and back again, so he used his work ties and landed us a nice little rental for the weekend. It's currently sitting with 178 miles on it; we'll just see what that's like when we get back..... it's a spiffy little thing though; guess we'll see tomorrow how it does on the road!

3 | CHALK CHALK CHALK.. aaaaaaaand CHALK

chalk chalk & chalk!

Dawne gave Sydni an Easter basket again this year [love. her.], this time equipped with a slew of Tinkerbell gear. There was chalk included, so of course the most urgent imperative step of action upon arriving at the house was opening said chalk and taking to the driveway. Well, it was more like the cul-de-sac, which proved to be a much larger canvas, and perfect for my mini Matisse. She covered patches of concrete all over that thing with her beautiful little art. Love love love.

4 | NOMORERACK.COM = AWESOMETHINGSFORCORI&ROB


nomorerack.com | obsessed....

A few weeks back, I introduced Rob [on accident, actually] to nomorerack.com. It's a website that retails various products well under the MSRP, and ships them to you in quite the timely manner. Since he's found it, the boyfriend has obtained a small collection of things just as random as the site itself. First it was a couple of down pillows [love them], then some laser pointer / LED light ink pens [entertaining], a few other things, and then today a back up camera for his truck. He went into tinker mode outside tonight wiring it up, while Sydni decorated the streets & I sat by with my Canon in full swing.

....... Speaking of camera.... the whole obsession with nomorerack came from some arbitrary Facebook newsfeed post I'd seen almost 2 months ago for a coffee mug that was shaped like a Canon camera lens. It immediately demanded my attention, both by its creative design and more importantly its price tag... or lack thereof : $12. DUH. I almost bought it on the spot, but for some reason didn't, and then definitely didn't after he carefully instructed me not to.



cameraholic..... caffeinaholic...

Long story short, that arrived at the house today, too, and I am in love with it. Thank you boyfriend, for being your amazing self and for snagging me this totally me mug. Love it... love YOU.

Like I said... today's been a great day. We opted not to head out tonight for Cincy; we'll be headed that way at some super early juncture tomorrow morning. Time to call it an early night (:

xo | cmd

Lounge & Dream of D90's

So.... the snow melted super fast yesterday and today, leaving very little for snowman-making. I give credit to the wild weather patterns of the midwest for that rapid delivery and take-back of the snow. I'm wondering if I will indeed see a slope this year, or if the boards in my garage will just lay dormant for the season.

Anyway, in spite of the lack of snow, today was one of those lazy hazy Sundays that I love. I started off with a visit to a new church; I'm putting out some feelers to see if there's another little outlet into which I can plug myself. I had a great time, and while it was a little on the "big scale" side for my liking, there's a good chance I'll be back to visit. I'll keep ya posted.

Once that was said and done, Rob came by and kept me company while I was doing nothing more but daydreaming.. haha..

Speaking of, I got the D90 out and decided that one of my next endeavors is to save up and do some investing in expanding my arsenal of D90 artillery.

dreaming.... of d90 ;) 

Ah.... and now it's time to wake this buster up so we can grab some grub and call it a day. I still can't believe this year is almost over. Seems like it flew right on by, but I'm not complaining that it's over. Haha.

waaaaaaake uuuuup :p

Back to the work week tomorrow... here we go!  

xo | cmd

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

Cutest Apology Ever

I just want to highlight this for the day and leave it at that:

cutest apology, ever

^ My friend Sarah's daughter snagged her cell phone last night and managed to call me. I wasn't sure what she needed when I saw the phone ringing, but was quickly informed that it was in fact, a hacked effort.

&& then I got this.
&& then I decided she could call me ANYtime she wanted. Haha.

Too funny.

|| On to The Voice, some more edits, and probably a trip to Gold's to work off the Red Robin I shamelessly devoured today with the gals from work. *Sigh. My oh My. (:

xo | cmd

TOUGH MUDDER 2012!

After months of preparation, training, blood, sweat and dieting [do you hear the drums rolling in the background?  haha], TOUGH MUDDER 2012 fiiiinally graced us with its impending presence. Yay, mud!

We started the day off by agreeing beforehand that we would all rendezvous at the Tower at 5:00AM [oh.my.earlybird.]. That being said, we took all measures to have everything as ready as possible last night in efforts to get out the door as quickly as possible this morning. I woke up already dressed for the day and plugged a half-conscious Sydni into the carseat to drop her off at Jarod's. Becky couldn't make the trip out to Poplar Bluff, so she opted to stay back with Lyla & Sydni [thank you thank you!!]. All was going swimmingly until I got pulled over on the way to Jarod's. Here's kinda how that went, in a nutshell:

Cop: "Where ya headed at 4:30 in the morning with a kid in the backseat?"

Me: "Tough Mudder."

Seriously. I wanted to tell him I'd just returned from the casino and was acting as the DD for the 3-year-old in the backseat who'd had oooone too many apple juices. Oh, and thanks for giving me a warning only. I really do appreciate it :), and I was just kidding about the apple juice thing. Hah.

SO, I made it to and from Jarod's in decent time, and soon enough found myself buckled in with Joe and Jarod in the back of Jimmy & Mo's car en route out to Poplar Bluff to the offroad park that served as the grounds for Mudder.


ninja photog mode... commence.

Jason set me up with a killer getup for the day, with which I had more than enough fun throughout the day: L lense and all. I don't need to tell you I had fun with it ;)
Mudder was about as magical as it usually is: loaded up with hilarious moments, great costumes, and of course, pictures galore. There's a full set available online if you feel like perusing the entire day via photo-documentation. You'll have to excuse any gaps you see; we did spend about 2 hours lost on the course due to excellent mapping [that's a joke] by the mudder teams, but it's cool. We got the shots and we had fun doing it. Congrats to The Fighting Cocks for a day well spent!!

Fighting Cocks | Tough Mudder 2012

the ladies of mudder this year... that one front & center won't be so
clean this time next year... #participant!

To celebrate survival of the Mudder, we headed out to Lambert's, which, if you haven't visited, is absolutely amazing and now has my solid seal of endorsement. That, and the servers throw bread at you while you're eating. What more could you want? Haha.

We're exhausted, as you could guess. It's been a good day, but we're callin' it.

Tough Mudder 2012 = SUCCESS!

xo | cmd