Owing Some Odes. Chyeah.

Good Tuesday evening, blogbots :)

Wellll... today was the first work day of a now four-day week, thanks to the holiday. I took a deep breath before walking in the door this morning, and good thing, since it was over in a blinding flash of call-offs, fires to be extinguished, and of course the ever-looming task of weekly payroll. Sidenote: Shortened work weeks are good for many things; payroll is not one of those.

Anywho - towards the end of the day, Joe texted me to see if I'd be up for dinner with our pastor and his wife. Duh. Since we're officially "staff" now, I suppose it would've been rude to decline..... Hah....

JOKE! I was super excited - One, it's our pastor and his wife. The two of them are among the coolest of the cool people we know, and in the realm of admirable humanoids, they are at the top of a very sparse list. Two, whether or not we're dining at their house or out somewhere, they always know how to pick cuisine. As we're still quite the novice pair at navigating around the local dining scene, it's always helpful when the places recommended by other people turn out to be awesome.


pretty lil' macro compliment of google...
[because i know some of you would
call me out on the bacon.. haha]

 Word to the residents of, in, and around Fairview Heights: Olga's Kitchen is a gem. I found it quite endearing based solely on face value because my maternal grandmother's name was Olga. [Remember, I'm adopted, erego only Italian by purchase order ;) ........... some of you will get that later] So we rendezvoused with the Woods at St. Clair Square and quickly found ourselves taking quite the liking to this place. It was one of those clear face-palm moments because I've passed by the place surely a handful of times while at the mall, but never had a reason to stop.

Yeahhhh.. so once we had our fill of snackers and Olga's [menu item.. I'm tellin' you, just get there], we went on mall-walker mode and did some light traversing back and forth across the grounds before we did two trips up/down the glass elevator for Syd, egged on especially by Pastor Ron & Debbie [so clearly grandparents ;)]. All in all a great night, impromptu as it was!

Oh, and speaking of Pastor Ron - we are prolific followers of each others' blogs, and tonight he shared with me the journey of one of his former youth group-ers, a gal just a couple years younger than me, who is in the midst of a repeated bout with cancer. [[While I don't have cancer, I've seen the havoc it can rain on any one person and their families. After heading up the Towerview team for the 2012 Relay for Life, I've gained a deep, earnest appreciation for the ongoing effort of the American Cancer Society, and moreso for the courage behind every individual person who has had to stare cancer in the face. MAJOR kudos doesn't even begin to describe the level of admiration I have for the conquerers :) ]] Soooo.. this girl, from what Pastor Ron told me, recently started a blog, and since that seems to be a thread that we both understand, he recommended I check it out. He seemed to think her candor and style of scribing were similiar to mine, too, which naturally peaked my interest.



remember this? :) | relay for life belleville 2012
the towerview fundraising tire

 So I checked it out.
And I loved it.
Blunt. Honest. Funny.
Don't believe me? -- Check it out for yourself :)
I'll be following these chronicles, for sure.

So...

Today turned out to have some unexpected turns:
Thank you to Pastor Ron & Debbie for the dinner invite, excellent company, and new reading material! ;)

Thanks to Olga's Kitchen for being so fabulously delicious... I'm on to you now..
Thanks to Ashley Brown, the girl with cancer who has decided to laugh in its face rather than succumb to it. I think that's the absolute spirit with which we should approach anything threatening to overcome. That, and pray, of course. :) Fresh perspective? Check.

Over and out, folks.

xo | cmd

RELAY FOR LIFE 2012! [& Office Mini Golf?]

It is finally upon us!
This is definitely post-dated! :)

Hello, Relay for Life!

It was an extended day to start with; I showed up to work a full hour early in hopes of leaving 9 hours later. Today marked our office's 6th birthday, so the bosses decided to celebrate by buying us all lunch. No argument there. We feasted on Applebee's for an hour, until we were challenged by one of our owner's to choose our own pecking order and proceed to follow him out into our office. We were greeted by a homemade, indoor mini golf course, complete with star-shaped post-it tee-offs and Express logo cups serving as the destination holes. Seven holes in all. We weren't sure what to think of it all, but I will say it's been a long time since I've laughed like that.

Here's a taste of what it looked like in the office for about an hour's time:

christine. cori. nancy. courtney.
that's right... office golf, ya'll...

When 4:00 hit, I was out the door in a flurry, headed straight down to Belleville West. The Warrens were already there, with their tent and table set up; I caught them just as they were headed off to the survivor dinner. I was left to my own devices to decorate our space from top to bottom in Italy, for lack of a better term. It wasn't long before the rest of our team came trickling in to lend a hand. Even sooner it seemed from there, we were all rallied together on the track for the opening ceremonies, survivor lap, and then full swing into Relay 2012! 

team towerview!
[thanks, jackie for the awesome painting!]

We had this posted up outside our campsite. Many thanks to Jackie for painting this for the team, and for all the helping hands who came and contributed tents, tables, chairs, and decorations for our site!!

cheerleaders - reminding us how to fight back against cancer

^ Opening ceremonies. It probably doesn't make the most sense just looking at it, having not been there to hear the accompanying narration, so I'll try to paraphrase...

The center shot - encouragement to continue in the FIGHT BACK against cancer. They proceeded to highlight words found within the phrase as elements of available methods to fight back against cancer. 

Cig: Don't smoke. Fat: Eat healthy! Fit: Exercise. Gab: Spread the word! Hat: Protect yourself from sun. Act: DO something today to make a difference for tomorrow! :) 

[just part of ] team towerview!
shirley. jimmy. john. greg. betty. ron. diana. cori. mo. ron.

Our team this year was absolutely incredible. There were many people who were unable to make the actual event, but I wouldn't dare for a split second discount their efforts, contributions, and support. This picture was taken early in the evening and is still just a small taste of everyone that did make an appearance at some point for the night. I am so impressed by the support and action that everyone put into this :) I'm so proud!!

sleepin' in the infamous tire!
becky. cori. mo

Haha. There are so many memorable pictures from this event, but none quite like that of us pretending to sleep in the famous traveling tire. If you were there, you would've heard that strangely enough, none of us hated sitting inside this thing. It's actually pretty comfortable. Is that weird? Haha.. Probably, but either way, if I ever find myself deserted in the midst of abandoned farming equipment, my first choice of refuge is gonna be one of these things. Chyeahh.

This is backdated, durrrrr.. and I'm still exhausted. What an incredible event!! [There will be plenty of pictures to come. Stay posted, darlins...]

xo | cmd 

Life, Oh Life... Hallelujah!

Man oh man, this has been a weekend. I can't complain, not one bit. :)

Friday was our small group.
Saturday was our small group local missions project [hahaha] at the Gobles'.
Today was church, lunch, and just plain old family time.

jump start mma lesson: intro to triangle choke + face bite. hah... :)

Are we blessed, or what??


hilarious.. she put that there and then passed out...

 Our day ran its typical Sunday schedule of Bible study; the DeMonds have joined our class, and Cathie Page's parents were in visiting, as well. I had the opportunity to stand in for Trish in the praise band while she's out of town, which was a great time. Joe was here for the service as opposed to working in or out of town. It was a beautiful morning. We topped it all off with lunch afterwards at Eckert's with Pastor Ron & Miss Debbie. [♥ them!]

Oh, and I wanted to share this, not because I'm so closely or directly involved, but because it moved me :). As we all know, I've been appointed to spearhead this year's Relay for Life team for the church. Since the event revolves solely around conquering cancer and all that goes with it, I felt it completely appropriate to spread this message to cancer: You're at war, and from the looks of it, I wouldn't wanna mess with these guys, either :). One of Towerview's own, Kyle, is heading into his battle with Lymphoma, but he's not going alone. This is just a fraction of the army backing him; in honor of his physical spat with chemo, these guys took the Bics to their heads in support. Jason compiled this montage, and I wanted to share :). I only hope that if I ever find myself staring down something like this, that I'd be so blessed to have such an eager batallion behind me. :) Thanks for the encouragement, all of you - What a testimony!!


jason. kyle. matt
jarod. jim
[[ rallying against cancer! ]]

The rest of the day was spent here at the house, doing absolutely nothing, and more than thoroughly enjoying every millisecond of it. Joe's past work week following the hail storm was maniacally busy, and mine was a bit flurried as well what with Meagan phasing out of the office on a short notice. After a good long nap, the rest of the afternoon meant lounging with the family, enjoying a couple hours of sheer relaxation before finishing up the laundry and putting Syd to bed.
The only problem I can find with jampacked weekends is that they end all too soon and take way too long to come back around. It's back to the grind tomorrow... time to call it for now...

xo | cmd

Relay for Life Kickoff!

HERE WE GO!



american cancer society | relay for life 2012 kickoff!

Relay for Life is officially in full swing for us. Tonight, Lara and I rode together over to Grace Church in FVH, where Mo met us for the 2012 American Cancer Society's Relay for Life kickoff meeting. We scuttled inside just in time to miss the rain, and wasted no time settling in.

I can't express how truly excited I am to be spearheading this project for Towerview! The meeting session tonight was purposed as the official kickoff for all the teams and their fundraising efforts. We heard the testimonies of multiple cancer survivors, and were focused on our own relations and interactions with those who've stared down some form of this disease.

Tonight was an excellent reminder of the potential brevity of life or the potential difficulties that could impede at any time, such as ... cancer. I admire wholly those who have fought, are fighting, or are involved directly in the life of someone who is.


raffle winners! | lara. cori. mo.

My prayer for the next few months is for our church to rally together to make the most out of the experience. More importantly, I hope that Miss Shirley, Mr. Bob, and the other wonderful members of our congregation who have battled any form of cancer will find some encouragement through this.

Relay for Life 2012:

Belleville West High School Track
July 20-21 (Fri & Sat), 2012
7:00 PM - 7:00 AM

Our church team page can be found here! Please help spread the word! 

xo | cmd

Women's Breakfast: Shirley Warren



ladies breakfast @ towerview
guest speaker: shirley warren

I made it out of bed on time this morning and toted my way over to the church for the women's breakfast. By the time we had sat through the presentation from our own Ms. Shirley, I was nearly beside myself: I was reminded today the impact that cancer has on a person. My passion for our church team's Relay was vigorously renewed, and I left feeling so driven to get this Relay thing going. I appreciate beyond words today's testimony, and even though I'm not extremely close to the Warrens, I'll be holding this one close to my heart for a very, very long time. ♥ Not to mention, it was another chance to see some of my fellow beloved ladies for a round of eating and fellowship: Lara, Meagan, & Cathy.
Once we were released from breakfast, I took the opportunity to do some light cleaning around the house before Mo showed up for a quick trip over to Peace by Piece in Belleville. I felt priveleged to accompany her on the mission to purchase her very first pair of TOMS [awww]. We even bumped into Bonnie and one of her girlfriends on the way out. Small world! Either way, our experience went a little something like this:

toms toms toms :)

M: "What color should I get?"
C: "Maybe something neutral, starting out? You can wear it with anything."
M: "K. How about pink sequins?"
C: "How is that neutral?"
M: "Well, true. I'll do red."

haha. Red it was! She wears 'em quite well, I might add. Of course it wouldn't be a TOMS trip without snagging a new pair; I justified that both by that my current treads are starting to [finally] fray out, and also for the sake of the whole One for One thing.

It's going to be somewhat of a relaxing remainder to the day, and I am pretty excited about that :).

xo | cmd