Headaches & Creampuffs

1. I'm getting old. Okay, maybe it's not so much that as it is the fact that I am not nearly conditioned as I ought to [still] be. My work as a Clydesdale yesterday, hauling Sydni back up the sledding hill on her sled about ten times caught up with me first thing this morning, in the form of a muscle migraine that wouldn't relent until about 8:30 tonight. [Awesome. :/ ]

notes to self.

So there's that. I spent the day curled up in a sedentary ball on the couch, absorbing a few hours of cartoons as Sydni patiently [bless this child, seriously] passed the time her mama was out of commission by coloring some gorgeous pictures as a healing offering. I have the sweetest girl, ever. At one point, she disappeared to the kitchen and returned with a bottle of Smart Water:

"I brought this for you Mommy, because sometimes when I have a headache, I just need water and then I feel all better.. so this can help you feel all better." 

Really? What I have done to deserve this girl's love?  I almost cried. I hugged her and told her that I promised to make up this lost weekend time as soon as my head would allow; she didn't seem phased at all, but rather tucked the blanket around me and told me she would color a pretty picture for me to feel better. I'm proud. Humbled. Amazed. Thankful. ♥♥♥

I am also thankful for my fiancé, who dealt with my lame existence today, and even took it upon himself to tend to the dishes, laundry, light house cleaning, dogs and Sydni while I was busy in my disoriented state of self-pity. He deserves accolades far more often than I openly acknowledge; he is my hero in more ways than one. [Thank you, Rob ♥]

I was awake but still belittled with a migraine when Becky made a last-minute appearance; she came bearing cream puffs from one of the newest potential Findlay vendors:

you serious, right now? 

Dangit, Becky! These things were delicious!
^^ Sometimes I want to loathe her for the things she subjects me to eating. Haha. She made up for the introduction of these decadent things by entertaining mini for part of the time she was there. As soon as she came through the door, she was greeted with, "MISS BECKYYYYY!!!!"

syd loves this lady! 

Miss Becky's a favorite character in this house, that's for sure :)
We made a trade: two creampuffs in exchange for the extra crockpot we had stowed away in a cabinet. Fair enough, right? Haha.. Becky left for the evening and it was time for us all to retire the weekend.

hello? 

^^ Jesse being here for the weekend warranted Sydni's bed fort being taken down so he could use the room without clothes-lining himself in the middle of the night. This was not a Sydni-approved move, so tonight, it was a mosh pit of stuffed animals that did the trick of warding off all the scary shadows and whatnot. My little bug sure does have an imagination [which will greatly benefit her later in life]; we're still working on debunking the kid-myths of bed monsters goblins ;).

#worksinprogress.

Good night, from us to you!

xo | cmd

All KINDS of Flashbacks

Well today definitely trumped yesterday. I woke up at a decent morning hour, and right away was able to celebrate Sydni's first soccer practice! It's a little hard for me to grasp that she's actually a year older than I was when I started playing, but also that she is now playing... aaaand... that she appears to be a left-footer like me. Enter proud parent moment HERE. (: (:

ahhhh! my little leftwinger!

*Sigh. Time, please slow down! :/

On to the rest of the day, I had a few initial things in mind, but quickly realized I'd left my wallet in Mike's truck last night. I didn't mind at all; it gave me a reason to stop by Findlay Market for a couple hours to hang with him and Becky.

welcome to the only cool [outdoor] spot at market today

After market, I stopped by Kroger and snagged up a a couple of peaches for a cobbler recipe I've wanted to try. I came home...& fast forward to the finished product!

y-u-m.

If I do say so myself, this was.. a SUCCESS! This makes me look forward to Fall.. that means baking season for this non-baker. Maybe this year I'll get really good at this whole baking thing.. maybe. Haha.

Anyway, with a new dish under my belt, I spent the rest of the afternoon tidying up around the house and taking a nap before the evening began. It was a late start at that, too; I met up with Nader and Keith just after 11 in OTR. We wound up at Neon's, where I ran into some very familiar faces! I shouldn't act all that surprised, but it was a refreshing sight & hopefully the first of many reprises now that I'm back.

david & nina! blasts from the past... 2004 (:

OTR has yet to disappoint, even on a low-key night like this one. My favorite part of the entire evening however, was the 2-hour stretch of conversation that somehow always happens after the establishments- & even the streets- are quiet. I'm inspired and challenged by these little chats and realize again how thankful i am for candid friends in my life.

"the famous neon's unplugged" ... aka... neon's
summer 2013♥

Suuure, this is backdated... I didn't make it home until nearly 2:30am... and frankly I'm still a little sleepy.

I'll leave this on a grateful note: my friends, this incredible summer... family, Sydni, Rob... all of it (:

Until next time...

xo | cmd

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CEGG!!!

Happy Friday!
I just wanna say ....
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CATIE!!

♥ you cegg!! | happy birthday!!

Oh, how I love that girl! I'll be back in Cincy next weekend to help celebrate; it's gonna be a wild one but I'm excited. Happy birthday to a friend who's always been there, has always been honest and has kept me grounded when I felt like I was falling apart. Love you woman - have a GREAT birthday!

Found another fun one from a few years back [Rock the Runway event!]:

circa 2008

aaaaand... sold.

Yay, friends! 

Speaking of friends, Jay came up to GC to do some work, and so we had lunch over at Applebee's. More importantly, we had a triple chocolate meltdown ... at Applebee's.

With Friday out of the way [halleLUJAH], it was time to veg and enjoy the evening. Dawne had asked for Sydni to stay over with Luke & Olivia for a sleepover, so she was there for the night. Rob and I made ourselves at home over at Hot Shots with some people from his work for dinner, and Marianne eventually joined. By the end of our time there, we'd resorted to spitting ice cubes into various buckets, trays and glasses left on the table.

Somewhere in the midst of dinner conversation, Marianne and I ended up on Pinterest and Facebook, and I found.... another foodie item.

Long story short, Marianne and I cut the trip to Hot Shots short, made a bee-line to Wal-Mart and made it back to the house for the creation of a chocolate chip butter sugar masterpiece.

Yeah, it happened.

pie. chocolate.. butter.. sugar... awesome.... pie.

Happy Friday...here we go weekend!!

xo | cmd

Towerview "Speed Chat" !

Today was quite the buzz at the Tower!

It led off by Trish asking me early last week if I could both fill in for Carla today in the praise band as well as move my solo up one weekend to today. It wasn't until Friday night that I nailed down exactly which song I wanted to present today, and in a typical string of lateness, I found myself without a run through before go time.


natalie grant | alive (mary magdalene)



I'd like to think it went off about as well as it could have :). I really love Natalie Grant's music, but hitting some of her power notes is iffy for me most days. This one (Alive) was pretty moderate as far as belting lines goes; I might just keep it around for another good day to sing it. Easter, maybe? Hrm.. we'll see.  

Back home, I ended up falling asleep [it's been a long week]; Joe took Sydni down to SAFB for the air show to meet up with the Woods & the Cunicos. I'm sorry I missed it, but I did see some funny videos and even heard that mini crawled up on Miss Debbie and passed out. She's silly. And random :)

Nowwww on to the really exciting part! 

towerview speed chat!!

It's heeeeeeeere! [& gone by this point, but it was here, and it was amazing!] A few months back, the deacons' and staff wives had gathered together to devise some sort of event purposed to welcome new members that have joined our church recently. We had something like 27 members to welcome, so the idea was proposed to do a "speed chat." Of course based off of the principles of speed dating, this event would follow a similar format, seating new members around tables with the "old" members travelling from table to table asking fun, pre-written questions to get acquainted in a light-hearted way. Fellowship, welcoming arms and a great atmosphere to boot.



new member books!



Oh, and of course, food. [We're Baptists, c'mon.]

It. Went. Off... WITHOUT A HITCH.

Major, major thanks to the deacons' wives for all of the careful planning and execution of this event, and for entrusting me to create the new members' book. I had the best time doing it, and although I'm kinda glad it's done, I'm happy I was able to contribute, and hope that it helps a little with easing that overwhelmed new member feeling that I know I had when we first got here.

Seriously, it was an amazing time.

I knew before people even started arriving that it would be a great thing; I got to the church to set up my camera and help with the table spreads to find the entire crew already buzzing around. I've not seen so many different desserts in one church basement in a long time, all of which [from what I heard and experienced throughout the evening] were incredible.

We had nearly 100 people show up for this. How amazing! We had a blast - well, I know I did - and, might I say, did a pretty good job of clearing some major space on the dessert line ;)

Photog time: 

dessert spread.. y-u-m.

baptists ♥ food

some of the sillier moments :) | keeping it fun!

full house :)

i love these people | xo

[for all the pictures, go check out the Towerview Facebook page ((& feel free to like us while you're there, heh..))!

My goodness.. it has been a DAY.
-- A GREAT day, that is. Not a bad way to start the week, at all....

xo | cmd