Happy Birthday, 'Merica!

We really don't know how good we've got it. I know I certainly take for granted the freedoms and amenities that come so easily and immediately to all of us. I am a PROUD American, and am proud to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my beloved country!!

To celebrate, Rob and I loaded up the boat, finishing just as Jessica pulled up to the house to add her gear to the inventory. We hopped in the truck and were off to find Cave Run; it had been recommended to us by a few different people, so we opted to check it out.

We came to the realization about an hour and some change into the trip that there were a number of boats traveling the opposite way on the highway, and that eventually got the best of our curiosity. After some Googling, phone calls and research, we ended up abandoning our original plans of Cave Run, and in turn found ourselves on a direct route to Taylorsville Lake Marina somewhere in Kentucky....

love these two! 

Taylorsville Lake was a blast! I totally dig the fact that my tribe is a pack of spontaneous adventure-seekers, and can roll with just about any situation. We didn't land at our intended destination today, but had an awesome day anyway!

The evening started creeping in, so we packed back up and trekked back to Cincinnati, where it was a quick shower and turnaround, and back out the door we went, to spend the rest of the evening and watch fireworks with Andrew, Jessica and a collection of their friends on the west end of Cinci.

love this guy! 

Fireworks, new [& existing] friends, food and fun! From what I've seen, birthday parties are full of those things, so I'm pretty certain we did it up just right.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY!
U-S-A!!!

xo | cmd

July 4th!

Happy BIRTHDAY, USA!!!

happy independence day!!

This is the official start of being off work for six regularly-scheduled work days! Sydni woke up talking about fireworks, rather disappointed that she had to wait aaaaaallllll day looooong to see them ;). Hahh.. To appease her, we took a little family trip up to Ault Park for a day of romping on the playground before making a stop at my office [yes, on my day off, go figure!] to make a copy of our passports, in the unlikely event we lose them overseas. We're hoping not, but as a preventative measure, we're pretty determined to come back after this trip ;)

family time! ♥

new buggy friends at the park ;)

So there was that, and then back home for a quick nap and decision on plans for the evening. Kalyn ended up joining us; we stopped off at Flip Daddy's for dinner and made our way back to Ault Park, where we set up camp on the lawn and waited for the fireworks.

girl time!

by day...

... and by night!

Tonight was a success, all the way around. We'll definitely be back next year, unless we find something else more enticing than a laid back vibe for the big show. Happy birthday, 'Merica. We love ya!

fireworks time!

Let the weekend BEGIN!

xo | cmd

'Cuz Baby, You're a Fiiiiiiiirewoooooork! [Sings!]

It's no secret that we've run ourselves ragged over the past few weekends. I wouldn't trade any of that time, but with another weekend in our hands, we decided to plan on no plan, which is actually way more our style as it is. We made a resolve as we parted ways in the driveway that if we did anything for the weekend, it would be by chance.

Work was about as calm as we could expect any Friday to be; I was very much looking forward to an evening of relaxing and just hanging out with Rob. We of course spend a lot of time around each other, but sometimes we don't realize we need to just be together.

There's no better way to do that than an uplanned trip out for sushi.
And, where we live, there's no better place to go than Mango Tree.

our reaction to our resolve to "not do anything"
... haha.. love him.

He's the best man I could imagine sitting beside me in life; I'm not one for bushy bouquets of flowers every day, and I've never fully trusted anyone who thinks spending money is a viable substitution for quality time. Even with the means to approach it, he's nowhere near that danger zone. That... that is what I love.

... and i love you too!

Ok, who are we kidding. We're sick of each other. We just wanted FOOD.
[That's totally a joke, btw. Expect for the food part. That's not a joke ;) .. ]

spring rolls & crab rangoon = pre-sushi workout ;)

YUMMMMM!
The sushi, as always, was grade A and gone in no time. We paid our bill, left with full bellies and buckled up for the short drive home. As we were turning out of the restaurant, the sky in the distance exploded with fireworks. We had no idea what it was all about, and could only estimate their origin as the huge church on Newtown Road. Either way, we pulled into the drive of one of the closed businesses near Hahana and sat silently together watching what turned out to be at least a half hour's worth of fireworks. This wasn't a dinky little show!

fireworks!

I caught some of the action on camera..

There ya have it. Tonight's schedule has nothing else on it, and I am completely fine with that. We need a weekend in for a change. See ya tomorrow!

xo | cmd

A RAINY July 4th ☂

 ☂.
Happy Birthday, America!

 

This whole rain thing is starting to get under my skin. This happened a few years ago here in Ohio; I remember it very clearly because I could've sworn I was suffering from seasonal depression. There's just something about skies that stay the same color for days on end and that color is just .... drab.


weather forecast.. booo....

I have my phone defaulted to show the updated weather forecast. Any other time I would guess that it's lagging, broken, something... but no.. it's just been stuck on "rain" or "thunderstorms" for the past week because it's 110% accurate.

So aaaanyway, I was determined not to let both Sydni and myself deteriorate on the couch all day from cabin fever, so after the anticipated beauty of a lazy start [day off, yeahhhh], we made breakfast and watched some cartoons before I shuttled us out of the house if for no other reason that to just get out of it for an hour or so.

Everything around here just seems to be perpetually wet, even when the rain does take a short break. Syd and I ran a few errands, and on an impulse buy, snagged a little project to do when we got home to help pass the time. Oh, and because it's July 4th, and despite the rain, we wanted to be festive about it all!

DIY!
Same shirt, same girl .. with just a little snipping and some yarn (:

Looking at this picture for the bajillionth time now, I just realized that Sydni's arms look rather defined.. I don't know if I think that's funny or cute... or both. We'll go with both. My little monster...

So uhhh.. fireworks!
Well, it was rainy, of course, but Becky stopped by and we figured we'd try and catch the local Dogwood Park display from the house. The park's only about a half mile up the road, so I was sure we would be. I don't know what propelled us to hop in the car and explore what the other options were closer into Mariemont, but we did, and ended up at Graeter's. Rain or not, there is NO complaining when it comes to ice cream. Haha.

rainy July 4th!

Rain or not, it was a good day. I was off work, spent the entire day with Sydni, and celebrated with her and my amazing friend some fireworks, ice cream and most importantly, the reason behind it all, which I absolutely am NOT discounting.


thank you.... thank you. ♥

To you and yours, wherever you are, I hope today was a great day (:
For those who served, gave, serve now or any who may choose to walk the path of service for our great nation, thank you for dedicating your lives for the freedom we have in ours.

Happy Independence Day.

xo | cmd

Eve Of a New Year

I'm getting old. So are my friends.

You know how I know that... besides the fact that this may be backdated? Haha...

.... Just about everyone I've talked to this year had formulated plans for New Year that included more "No idea" and "Mehh... I dunno..." than actual plans. Haha. Personally, I don't hate it. I really had no desire to go anywhere and find myself watching a ball drop surrounded by loud, drunk strangers. It didn't help that the weather started a nose dive into that wet, sticky snow that isn't fun even for play; as soon as you touch it, it turns to slush and soaks through all your clothes at what seems to be double the pace of regular water.

So.... as we finished up our half day at work [right???], Rob came up to meet us at work; Ali joined us and we trekked over to STL Bread Company for lunch before heading our separate ways. Rob & I kept it super exciting with some errands and miscellaneous things before I headed home to do more fun things like laundry, cleaning my house and washing dishes. Haha. Oh, and I managed to get another gorilla bread assembled in that time. I still need to pinch Nancy for giving me that recipe... haha.

Dinner? Red Lobster. We didn't take any pictures, but ironically my other Ali friend posted one just moments afterwards of the exact same dish one of the girls at our table ordered. Nobody's complaining; RL is a good choice if for no other reason than cheddar bay biscuits. Let's just be honest. (:



Festivities pertaining to the actual ringing in of 2013 boiled down to us relaxing with a group of Rob's friends at their house, around a table filled with more food [nooooooooo, lol] and some perfectly sober laughing to move us all from 2012 to 2013. I was a big fan.

We ended the night with Kelly and I watching Rob & Mike set off some fireworks from the yard... haha.. rowdy, I know. It was a competition with the neighbors across the street for a few minutes before we all called it a night. We're party rockers... for sure [pshhh.. haha].


2012 is over. Holy cow.
I'm excited for 2013.
I hope you are, too!

xo | cmd

Happy Birthday, America!

Celebrating another one, eh ole' girl? Well.. I'll celebrate right along with you (: 

amen? amen.

I thought I would start the holiday off in the most high-octane way I could manage:

sleeping in until 8:45am. 

ok fine, i'll go.....

That's RIGHT. You wanna talk about liberating? Welp, sleeping in until almost 9am in the smack dab center of an otherwise work-filled week is probably one of the sweetest little things around. Agree or disagree, I'm all for it. Now, before you start guilting me, I'll go ahead and admit that I leveraged the canceled alarm clock with an immediate trip to the gym. I thought it would be wise to kickstart the holiday by kicking myself into top gear. Oy. 

I left feeling like a soggy noodle, but it was totally worth it. I got home and managed something of a shower before stepping into a swimsuit for the first time in quite some time [errrrr... :/ well...]. Mo & Jimmy were at our place within the hour, and the four of us plus Syd piled into the car and set a course for Splash City in Collinsville. 

splash city!

I'd never been; Mo worked there for a couple weeks once when she was in high school, so it was something of a novel experience for everyone. It was a blast either way, and by the time we were ready to head home, Sydni was all but passed out before we even got to the car. Thanks, energy-sapping kiddie water park! Heh. 

this car.......

Back at home, we all parted ways for a short bit to recoup, shower, and gear back up for fireworks. Becky joined in for the adventure and we made with it - soccer family style [in Mo's van, woot woot!]. By the way, did you know there are built-in carseats in mini-vans nowadays?? I'm way behind on the times, because I had noooo clue this existed. Haha. I told ya, it doesn't take much to impress me. 

Anyway, the fireworks were quite the escapade. We had planned to make it over to one of the bridges connecting MO to IL and posting up there to view the fireworks. What we ran into instead was bumper-to-bumper traffic in East St. Louis. Our first attraction for the evening was a little red honda that decided it would neither proceed nor backup when the metro link warning gate started to fall into place. Instead, it just sat there, idling beneath the caution gate rested on its roof. Some people. Whoa. Notice the full metro car of photographers. There were just as many on the sidewalk and obviously in the cars behind. Hah. 

the dills!

Soooo.. After a futile attempt to illegally park, we finally found a still area by the Ameren facility to watch the dazzling lights pepper the sky. Sydni had herself a grand old time trying to name each burst of color before it dissipated back into the night. 

Oh, and I didn't snag any decent shots of what was transpiring at our post-up for the fireworks. I mentioned that we finally found some solid parking behind the Ameren plant. That much is true. It's also apparently true that in East St. Louis, it's "ok" to let your children [by children, I mean 12 and under] to set of bottle rockets and roman candles right up against the fences that house backup generators and power lines. I think I failed to catch any pictures simply because we were warding off the thought that we would ourselves become a firework while we were watching. Oyyyy vey. 

cori. mo. becky.

We decided to take more pictures of us, instead. Good times with good people!

Back to work in the AM. Awwww. Blech.. 

xo | cmd

July Fourth = Drive Forth.

Happy July 4^th!

To sum it up, we spent the majority of today driving. After an[other] incredible breakfast whipped up by my mother, we loaded up everything except for Sydni’s gear and prepared to reluctantly head back to Illinois.

Sydni spending a full week with my parents at least every 4-6 weeks had become a habit, but with the distance between increasing by about 5 hours, we all agreed that two weeks would be a better arrangement, both for my parents as well as for us traveling back again to get her. It’s going to be very different sans baby for two whole weeks; I’m not sure I’ll know what to do with myself. Not to mention, I’m going to miss her much more than I’m going to let on. [There, I said it.] So she’s there, and we are now here, back in Illinois.



fireworks

We parked outside our place after the grueling commute back, and were greeted by all sorts of fireworks: large, brilliant displays off in the distant, and tiny, homemade shows that popped up in various spots around our neighborhood. I’m not sure what it was, but those little flashes of color seemed to dull the exhaustion of driving and even calm our nerves about leaving Sydni for two weeks.

Oh, and did I mention I go back to work tomorrow? J
Express Edwardsville, let’s do this….

edwardsville express

xo | cmd

Fossils | Festivals | Friends | Fireworks

My parents’ house sits on a very large, very foliage-covered piece of land. As kids, the natural place to find us was usually rustling around somewhere deep in these woods. We built forts, swung on grapevines, and fished crayfish and salamanders with our bare fingers. I decided that it was time my husband caught a glimpse of what I considered the home behind my home.

What I did NOT encounter as a kid, ever, [thank goodness] was a trail of massive bones littering the creekbed for nearly a half mile. In my adulthood, I realize that currently, I’ve seen one too many episodes of NCIS, CSI, etc. to be okay seeing things like this without the creepy suspicion that dirty business has transpired.

Relief: white tailed deer carcasses. Well, relief compared to what they could’ve been.

Disappointment: Hunters hunting, stripping, and dumping on our property = illegal. 



bones | white-tailed deer | :(

 Strange. We headed back to the house shortly after to shower and clean up.


One thing I will forever love about my hometown is its nostalgic feel and the fact that each time I visit, I uncover something or someone I’ve somehow managed to elude for more than just a few years.

Today, my parents, Joe, Syd and I headed to downtown Mt. Vernon for some sort of pre-holiday festival. I’m not exactly sure what it was technically named, but I do know there’s just something about these little events to which I’m drawn. I can’t explain it, but either way, I’m glad we went.   



jasmine

Anyone who attended St. Paul’s Episcopal Church as a kid in the mid-90’s should remember Farm Week. I know I do… well, for the most part. What I primarily recall is a hoard of youth swarming all over an outdoor haven: river and all. From the time I was finally getting all my adult teeth in, this girl has been there doing stupid and crazy things with me. She finally moved away to another bordering school district in the midst of our high school years, but we’ve managed to keep in touch and I love her to pieces.  



krystal

This is a tribute to a girl I befriended somewhere in the middle of middle school. I’ve always been fairly adaptable, but I do distinctly remember how displeased I was [ok, fine, I was actually terrified] that I had to leave elementary school and start the big bad 6^th grade in a whole new building. This girl is one of the first people I met in my quest to survive middle school. I recall she even accompanied us on a family vacation to VA Beach once. Ironically, her family moved to Missouri just as we were entering high school; now that she’s back in Ohio, I’m the one [almost] in Missouri. Timing was never our thing, but she’s still one of my oldest and dearest friends J

Oh, yeah, and there were fireworks.

Mount Vernon loves fireworks.

Sydni also loves fireworks.



family fireworks outing



Actually, this was Sydni’s first experience with fireworks. She did well, considering how loud and flashy they were at times.

Tomorrow = family picnic. I can’t wait!

xo | cmd