Vote | Hire | Eat | Be Merry!

Haaaaaaaappy Tuesday!

How'd you start your day?

vote, vote, vote! 

I did see someone post a note of caution to the uninformed voter, saying that the greatest service he/she could provide was to stay as far away from the polls as possible. I can't say I disagree; I think by now our nation should be fairly aware of what happens when ignorance shows up in hoards to cast a ballot. I did my best to exercise my due diligence today, but must admit that I had absolutely no business siding in/on certain matters, so for those I refrained. I felt a twinge of guilt that I wasn't more educated, since these issues clearly held enough weight to show up on the list, but that didn't excuse me enough to be a voice in a matter foreign to me.

For those of you who made informed votes that reflect your personal and religious beliefs today, THANK YOU!

On to work it was; today was a good day for a hiring event, which is exactly what Elisa and I scuttled out the door en route to SuperJobs.

fall hiring event 2014!

I love these things!

elisa & me..
... and of course our creepy corner-face-sign-guy... 

The job fair was a blast, as they always are, and, as tradition dictates for these things, was followed by a quick bite at Findlay Market just around the corner.

taste of belgium at findlay market. that's a win! 

I've been skeptical of the weather as we progress into the Autumn season; it's either tolerable or flat-out gloomy, which presents quite the Midwest-standard for dressing in the morning [hint: layers]. We were happy to be able to peel off our coats for this one, and enjoyed lunch on the sunny patio in front of Market. On our way out, we each grabbed a different vendor snack for back at the office, and caught a glimpse of some uplifting artwork on the way out:

♥this is otr! 

And yes, it's nearly 11pm and I'm just now finishing up the at-home work to which I committed in lieu of being gone for the majority of the morning. I had the privilege of helping Sydni with her homework earlier, and catching up with my better half on some upcoming transitions in his and my professional lives - I've got it made and I am thankful, tenfold for the day I've enjoyed.

Happy Tuesday!

xo | cmd

Renaissance & Going-Away

Today we met with  my family in Waynesville, for a day trip to the Renaissance Festival!

Photo blast in 3... 2... GO! 

renaissance festival! | waynesville, oh

the "royal court" [sans the queen, who was "shopping"]

to the stocks with us!

TV talents here at the RT! Kamikaze Fireflies: 

[borrowed image from mostmetro.com]

someone found her seat for the show! 

+ boyfriend. + sister
♥♥

THE MUDSHOW! 

Afterwards, with the fam!

♥♥ [part of] my family! ♥♥

Venturing off in search of lunch: 

it's a great day for a festival! 

boom. found it! giant turkey legs it is! 

....... she's gonna kill me.... ;)
love youuuuu, mom

Next stop: The joust, a horseback ride for Sydni and a VERY special character appearance!

** joust video **

in syd's defense, that was actually a very tall horse.
great job, minime!

could it be?! yep! it's merida!! 

Back on solid ground: 

queeeen for the day! 

the king & queen of our family ♥

took a moment to share the love with my pops

SKY SWINGS!
They've been peddlin' these things at the RT since I was a kid.. and I still don't have one.. haha.

gosh.. these two ♥♥♥ and then some more ♥♥♥.

How to tell if the day was a success? 

[before we even got out of the grounds parking] 

I'm so glad we were able to attend the RT for the first time with Syd and Rob! It looks like there will be many more memories each year at these; with any luck, my mom & sister will have coerced me into dressing up next year, so there's that... I guess stay tuned ;)

The day didn't end with the RT; I was in the shower and transformed into dinner date material as soon as our boots hit the homestead. Brittany's final going-away dinner was at Via Vite; I rendezvoused with the gang.

miss you, kp!

Dinner was great, and I got a few hours of hangtime in with Kalyn, who for obvious reason I rarely see anymore :(. SO glad to catch up with everyone, and congrats Brittany!! Have a BLAST in South Carolina!

Okay so that was the end of the night. I had tentatively planned to make an appearance wherever Jessica and Cassie landed after the wedding they'd attended, but by the time dinner was out, I voted to throw in the towel and get back to my little family.

Phew.
Goooodnight!

xo | cmd 

OMBRÉ!

Ombré hair is a thing these days. I've never been one to jump on the trend wagon, but for months now, I've told myself that it's time for an overhaul on this mop I call hair.

I needed it cut.
And, since I'm already there, I figured I would get something snazzy added on to it.

However, the last time I entrusted my mane to the hands of a salon professional, I dontated 17 inches of my hair [voluntarily] and came out with a shoulder length Asian school girl hairdo [the not voluntary part]. No good. NO. GOOD.

So it was with extreme trepidation that I reached out to Samantha, who is married to one of my first and greatest friends all the way back to my freshman year at college. I've seen her work multiple times on Facebook, and felt I could trust her.

So I went for it. Today was the day I sat at Salon Beck and had the best haircut experience I've ever had! (:

THANK YOU, SAMANTHA!!!!

Time for before & afters! (:

before & after

before & after

I owe all of this to Samantha.. thank you for doing such an amazing job!!!

love this gal!

I completely understand now how anyone's hair stylist can become a social outlet and sounding board, especially for those women [& men] who go on a regular basis. I will certainly be visiting again, but for the time being, I'm loving the new subtly-done hair & can't thank her enough (:

To celebrate overcoming my salon anxiety, Rob & I had a little impromptu date night.

mango tree

I love this guy. I'm home now and stuffed to the gills with sushi & fried rice, but just looking at that picture makes me a little hungry [again]. Haha. Weird, I know.

Anyway, we're home, we're cozying up for the night, and I'm a happy girl.
I've said it before & I'll say it again - life. is. GOOD!

xo | cmd

Workity Work Work Work....

Today was another bustling day of non-stop movement, but it was a productive one, no less.

I started off with a job fair downtown with Elisa, something Express does frequently. We had a great time! 

hello, from us!

We stopped afterwards for a quick bite to eat at Tom+Chee. If you're a Cincinnatian or visit here, I would definitely recommend this as another local must-haves. I took a stab at the Turkey Pesto grilled cheese today and wasn't sorry.

[borrowed image from google, because i inhaled mine before
a photograph was possible.. haha]

Oh, and then there was the mini blizzard that opened its nasty mouth out of the blue, covering downtown Cincinnati with a couple inches of sideways blowing snow in a matter of minutes. We walked out after lunch to find our cars covered, and dealt with slickening roads all the way back to the office.

c'mon weather... stopppppp!

Being gone from the office for as long as I was today created a gap in some of the work I had intended to complete, so for the first [& mark my words, last] time in a while, I parked myself on the couch after work on the laptop, in what became a long but successful effort to get caught up.

I will not be the type of person who constantly takes work home with her. That will never, ever be my priority over my family. I was nearly disgusted with myself tonight for having to do it, and made a commitment to find other ways to absorb work than to sidestep spending time with my family to do it. [//rant]

*Sigh. Go away, snow.

xo | cmd

Weekends Are Fun

What's a good Saturday without a late start, right? Hah...

By late start, I mean we managed to completely skip breakfast. By the time we were all up and functioning, it was nearly lunch time, so we bypassed any notions of venturing down to Taste of Belgium, and instead made a beeline for Eli's, which Jesse's never had.

.. Until today. Eli's never disappoints! 

eli's!

After lunch, we scratched our brains for somewhere to take Jesse that we've not already shown him. We settled on Jungle Jim's, which became the perfect opportunity to both give Jesse a tour of the place and restock our depleted supply of mocha. Additionally, we left with a new growler, a growler koozie [I didn't know they made those...], some various exotic versions of cheese, sausages, juices and chocolate.

in honor of marianne & ali:
jumex & cameron hughes!

jj spoils!

It wasn't surprising that it took nearly an hour and a half for us to wholly navigate through Jungle Jim's with the frequent stops to browse the various sections, so by the time we got back to the house, we were all ready to relax for a couple of hours before catching up with tentative evening plans.

pretty much the afternoon.....

Fast forward a few hours to when we all woke up from power naps, it was time to rendezvous with Carolina at Mango Tree. Sushi tonight was a deeefinitely a good call!

mango tree!

Halfway through dinner, we finally started making some solid plans for the rest of the evening; Carolina figured out where Nader & Co. would be, which meant a trip downtown. I hadn't even taken Rob down to any of the venues in the actual downtown district, so we figured it wouldn't hurt to try it out.

We met with Nader, Keith, Eric and few others at one of the Irish pubs, then tried out some wannabe-ritzy place about which I'd never even heard [which was a bust beyond belief]. It wasn't long before we came to the surprising realization that we'd actually rather be in OTR. Sure, OTR is fun, but we thought it was due time to switch things up. We didn't count on wishing we were back there. Hah.

So as it happened, OTR became our final destination for the evening. We greeted the typical crowds with a little more patience than usual, realizing that the alternatives at this point were ridiculous in comparison. We landed at The Drinkery, which coincidentally proved to be a miniature reunion for several different people that represent the various different parts of my life in Cincinnati before I started moving all over the country.

I ran into Lora.... love & miss this girl!


lora & me, circa 2009

Then I turned around and bumped into Justin Jeffre, a friend of mine from years ago that has quite the history both in Cincinnati and well, internationally, but that's neither here nor there... haha..



justin & me, circa 2008?ish?

And of course, it wouldn't have been any sort of night without some double trouble [just kidding, they're not trouble]! I saw Regina & Renata for the first time in probably eight years.

& tonight, with regina & renata!

And of course, my lovely friends, awesome boyfriend and visiting guest of the weekend were there with me tonight. It was the perfectly energetic, hilarious Saturday night & I'm thankful for every single minute of it! (:

On that note, goooood night blogbots (:

xo | cmd