Valentine's Day 2013

Yeah, so as a reminder:

I am not a true advocate of all things Valentines Day. I don't necessarily hate it, as I know some do, but I don't proactively pursue any specific path of celebraton.

HOWEVER, even with all of that being said, it is admittedly fun to do a little something for that handful of people who deserve a little something extra.

For starters, my boss Diana went out on client visits dressed as the Queen of Hearts. She's an outta-the-box thinker like that ;)

my boss... lol

Sydni and I did some little trinkets for a few people, based off another crafty blog [2littlehooligans]. The pictures of ours didn't come out nearly as well as these, but for the sake of repetition, just imagine these, but with yarn hanging loops and a bit more orange in the variegated yard. ;)


easy diy projects? yes, and yes.

Sydni and I finished up our Valentines early last night, so she went on to kiddie movie [& sing-a-long... lovelovelove that!] mode, and I went on to one last DIY for the night... because I love owls, neutral colors, mason jars and Rob .. just that much. Incorporating those 4 elements into one simple little project was well worth it, even if it is for the ominous Valentines Daaaaaaaaay [muahaha...].

DIY window/shaker card? Sure!
[♥ rob!]

Back at the office this morning, I was greeted by this on my desk:

q: "hoooooooo loves you?"
a: "OWLi does!"
.... adore.

Don't you think for a second that I forgot them, either! It was little tiny mailbox time for me; I made sure each of them had a personalized mailbox with some Valentines Day love, too.

you've... got... [cori]mail!!!

Work ended late today, but we made it home and eventually ended up on the computer doing a mini shoot... I have the best Valentine ever ♥

my mini valentine....

Not a bad day, folks. Not bad at all (:
Happy Hallmark Holiday to you and yours!!

xo | cmd

Grade A Effort....

Goooood Thursday.

See #2.

I wish I could skate by with this intensity on the effort side. Wishful thinking.



I needed a good laugh today. Glad I could get it at the expense of someone who thought it appropriate to exercise senioritis on a job interview. *sigh.

Oh a good note, I have to say that my job does carry some sweet perks. Today, specifically, one of my associates brought me some color for my desk, in an edible form. Thoughtful, right? You'd be surprised at how often, in the grand scheme of things, this happens to us here. It's an absolute reminder that our efforts [even on the most droning days] are appreciated. (: Thanks, Ronnie - the candy dish at my desk is now completely full!

replenished- thanks, ronnie!

It's been a good day (:
I suppose I should get back to these photo edits. Shame they won't just fix themselves... lazy pictures....

xo | cmd

Candy Police

Current Mode: Watching The Voice.
Currently Enjoying:

card from my mom. to sydni.
so reminiscent of my childhood, it's unreal.. hahaha

Advice Halloween card from my parents, specifically my mother.

Did anyone else grow up in a household in which your mom commandeered your Halloween candy every single year, sorted it and then only gave you, at most, 4 pieces? Am I the only one?! Haha. I look back at that now with a huge compass of gratitude, but I'll tell ya what, I certainly did not have sentiment as a kid. Sorry about that Sydni, looks like your mama's gonna take after her mama... and your candy's gonna be limited. Tough luck, kiddo ;).

My mom is hilarious.

xo | cmd

Kisses & Made-Up Words

One of the things I tend to enjoy most about the day-to-day routine of my job is the seemingly natural tendency people have to fabricate words out of other existing words in order to convey a point. There's a certain point up to which I find it tolerable and mildly acceptable only given that individual circumstance, but there are other times that send me wandering in deep thought all the way down to the root of our educational system.

I personally appreciate the spice that this type of thing adds to my day. It's not my intention to poke fun at these folks individually, but rather to marvel over the general concept of creating new words at perhaps the most inopportune time: interview time.

For example, over the past week or so, we've began compiling a list of new and purposefully used words that have infiltrated conversations and face-to-face interviews. It's comical, now that I think more on it; not only did people use these words intentionally and without hesitation, they repeated them multiple times to ensure we heard them. We did: loud, clear, and questionably. My personal favorite was shockitifed, as it was coupled with an exclamation point at the end over an entirely separate but major resume blunder. In case you needed a contextual example of how to best use these new words in a sentence [spelling-bee style]:

1. [new candidate] "I had put in a application like last week and needed to verificate did ya'll get it?"
2. [in response to asking what set a candidate apart from other applicants]: "I have over 13 years of really high level managatorial skills, and always had to keep up with new company managatorial policies."
3. [in reference to a resume hacked and inappropriately re-worded]: "I would never write that; I didn't see it until just now, but I am shocktified!"

Lesson for today: stick with simple words until it's proven that the more intricate ones aren't just counterproductive. :)

Sidenote:

Here's my annual thank-you to Jess back at my old Cincinnati branch for introducing me to the Christmas edition Hershey Kisses. I snagged a bag of the candy cane kisses as well as some mint chocolate kisses, and as expected, they are proving to be quite the hit with the audience.

Another sidenote: Tomorrow's Friday.

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssss.

xo | cmd

Trick-Or-Treat | O'Fallon

It's that time of the year again. If you're wondering, no, Joe and I did not dress up for trick-or-treating today. I'm all about costumes, so maybe we'll get around to it on Halloween, maybe not. Last year I went out and about dressed as the Hamburgler, which went over well in a group of my friends disguised as everything from the Green Lantern, Goku, Frisch's Big Boy, and a few Jabbawockeez. Throw in a few characters from Street Fighter and Tekken, and it should answer any questions about most of those friends being Asian ;).

I kid, I kid.
[errrrrrr]

our little raggity ann ♥

So today we geared up for the daylight candy hunt over in O'Fallon with the Babots. I brought out the Raggity Ann get-up that I'd bought for Sydni over a month ago from a re-sale shop and suited her up for the fun. We'd bought her a monkey candy bag way back during one of my weekend visits to Florida when Joe was still in tech school, and so that came right along with us in the car as we toted off across the highway.

landon & lara | sydni & cori
mama's & their babies ;)

We met up with Lara, Alex, and Chicken Little, aka Landon, who, despite Alex's protest was proud to announce that he was a chicken, and gladly demonstrated what a chicken says. We thought it was absolutely adorable. Between Landon and Sydni, there was plenty reason to stop into all the small businesses lining the streets of downtown O'Fallon, and we even stopped at Papa Vito's for a lunch break on an outside patio. Altogether it was a great day: perfect weather, lots of exercise, and of course, candy. Sydni's first real expedition as a trick-or-treated was a success. There are still a few more days in the Halloween season, so we may very well be playing dress up again sometime in the next few days.

For now, we're wrapping up the evening with some family time, so that means I'm outta here. Good night, blogbots! :)

xo | cmd