Sweetest Day..... And Fried Green Beans

It's a tell-tale sign that I'm in Illinois whenever I review my photographs from the day/evening and undoubtedly come across a capture of fried green beans. I can thank Bindy's for introducing me to these; I'm now an addict and make it a priority to get them each and every time I come back.

yep. 

 ^ I for the life of me can't remember the name of the place we go near Holiday Shores with Dillon where these are served, but that's what happened today when we met up with his dad for some lunch. The rest of the night was spent watching the SuperCross race with Kenny, Taryn, Dillon and Matt, followed by some more exploring and an full circle back to our weekend couch bunks at Dillon's.

Oh, and of course, today is sweetest day, so in lieu of going over-the-top and indulging the card and candy companies of the world on this made-up holiday, I'll suffice to say this:

THIS GUY:

One of my strengths may be writing, but when it comes to adequately describing my

.. appreciation
.. respect
.. love 

for someone, I will fall short of justice even in my most lucid moments of creativity or penmanship. Rob has defied all of my expectations sour expectations, and pulled me out of an emotional gravel-pit that was eating me alive. Through no forced momentum, he managed to earn himself the accolade of my saving grace - in human form. We've so far faced trials we weren't sure we'd conquer, and are now building upon what has been, is now and can be if we stay committed to loving each other in spite of what the world throws at us. We have the same expectations of each other, and for the first time in I-couldn't-tell-you-how-long, I realized that I am an equal in a relationship, not an employee. His heart is bigger than his truck is tall; I don't know if there's a thing he wouldn't do for the sake of our little family, his family or a friend in need - without expecting fame in return. He's empowered me to realize my own strength again, something for which I'll forever be indebted. 

Thank You, my favorite lumberjack, for all the ways you probably don't even notice that make me feel loved, respected and deserving of stability, time and effort. I still sometimes can't believe you moved from Illinois to stand by me, but you'd better believe it means the world and then some that you would - and did. Happy sweetest day! 

*****

I'm gonna get beat up if I keep on with my little e-soliloquy, so I'll leave it at that and wish you and yours out there both a very happy Hallmark-generated holiday [Sweetest Da- well, you get it..]! 

xo | cmd

River Rats

For a split second there, I was sure it would be raining today. We didn't really check the weather for the weekend, but had faith in the elements holding out just long enough for us to be on the water for the majority of this Labor Day Weekend.

We may have wondered what the clouds would hold for the day, but by late morning, this was the starting view:

rob, kenny & the bajas

We departed from Dillon's house, met up with Kenny and Taryn, and loaded the Bajas into the water for a day that would be spent with awesome friends cruising the river.

Dillon & Matt hauled Dillon's jet ski's up to the drop-in in Grafton, so we made our way up river to get them, after picking up Kyle & Jesse. It wasn't long before Rob's mom & stepdad joined in, and from there, the day was at our disposal.

relaxing! 

^^ Jesse took this shot; that's Taryn over there on the right laying out, and I... am pretty sure I was asleep lying on the front of Rob's boat. Womp womp. ;)

After we'd lounged on the shore for a few hours, we voted it was time for food, and found ourselves heading to the Big Kahuna. Oh, and the poor little jetter had to be towed; it looks like an update on some wiring is in order!

poor lil jetter.. 

Finally..... 

front row parking & the bk

I have no complaints on how the afternoon panned out. We eventually all parted ways, and Rob and I headed back to Dillon's, where the three of us parked ourselves on the couch to watch part of the American Ninja Warrior marathon that's been on for what seems like weeks now. It was a toss-up on whether or not we'd actually get out and do something, but we eventually pulled ourselves together and found our fail-proof destination: Bindy's. 

and then there's this.. 

^^ Hahahah.. "It's a satchel. Indiana Jones had one!" - I love this guy. 

And that, folks, is how we're kicking off this Labor Day. See ya back on the water tomorrow! 

xo | cmd

And STRAIGHT for the Fried Green Beans I Go...

In a strange, spur-of-the-moment change of events this morning, I ended up driving the tank to work. I, like the amateur I swear I am sometimes, wish I would've taken a quick snapshot of that thing parked in between the usual cars in the parking lot at work.. haha.

BUT HEY! It's FRIDAY!

no make-up, ready for the weekend!

And here's a little twist to the story of Friday lunches here:

post-lunch, you're welcome.

Hahah. Elisa and I were like ravenous wildebeasts by the time lunch came around; I sorta wish I would've saved a picture of the salmon that went with the salad, but it was almost like my survival instincts kicked in and told me to just shut up, sit down and eat. I'm not proud of the carnage, but to say I really cared is well, nah.

Anywhoo, I checked work off the day's list, headed home and switched into road trip mode for the ride out to Illinois. Rob met me at the house and we were on our way within the half hour. We even caught the sunset as we droooooove through Indiana [Jason Aldean has this whole Fly Over States thing right!].

yeah, so it was way prettier in person... :/

Like the habitual creatures that we are, we made it to Illinois, thought of food, and immediately defaulted to Bindy's. I. don't. know why it's always this place, but it is.

bindy's | granite city, il

Oh wait, yes I do know:

give me... fried green beans!

We laughed over that picture, because I could probably document every single time over the past year that we've gone back to visit, just by timestamping my pictures of these things. Every. Time.

And this is how our weekend is starting.

burst capture mode.. thanks, samsung..

i'm not touching you...
... yes, yes you actually are.
.... meh.

Haha. It's gonna be a long one ;)
Just kidding. We made it!

See ya on the flipside!

xo | cmd

And Here We Go A-Road Tripping...

Well, we got a later start than we would have liked, but it wasn't all wasted.

There's nothing quite like a sunset-on-the-run:

.. accompanied by windshield bug splatter.. lovely.. :/

We demonstrated how gullibly sold we are on the marketing ploys of rest-stop goodies:

.. & lottery tickets. because... uncle si, that's why.

^ In the defense of all things Brach's, they're actually pretty good.

Oh, and even though we rolled into Granite in the dark and endured a very young crowd at Bindy's, we weren't disappointed by the green beans. We never really are - at least I know I'm not.

+ bill in the background... + blue moon in the foreground..

So yeah. We're here, safe and sound... and tired.
G'Nite.

xo | cmd

I GOT.. My Fried Green Beans

Welp, we made it!

We're here in Illinois now, and this is unashamedly backdated. That being said, here's what yesterday would've sound like, had I been telling you about it... yesterday ;)....

*******

Work ended early today, immediately following our weekly office lunch. The benefit of working for owners who are not only generous in every other regard, but who are also Catholic, is that they wholly support not working on Good Friday. Our business kind of dictates that we do at least some work on Fridays, but none of us were complaining when we locked up at noon for the weekend. (:

I took that time to get an oil change and finish up some last minute packing. Fast forward an hour and Rob had joined me at the house, loaded up all his gear, and the two of us were on the road en route to an Easter weekend in Illinois.

I can say this now, because we're past the point of the weekend, but I'd been putting the final outer layers on a piñata for Ali's surprise birthday bash, but hadn't managed to get all of it done by the deadline of hitting the road today.

What'd that mean? It meant me sandwiched in the front seat between the seat itself and a giant slowly-becoming-green handmade piñata. Luckily, I only had about an hour's worth of work left to be done; I was completed and cleaned up long before we hit the halfway mark of the trip.

We stopped first to see Rob's mom. Kyle happened to make a quick appearance, too, and so we started off our Illinois time with that before we were on to Jesse's.

Speaking of Jesse's, Zeppelin is getting big! I love when puppies start looking more like dogs, but I also always miss the puppy size. Zepp's a beautiful boy, and was super excited to see us.

It wasn't long at Jesse's before we decided to set out for dinner, which had been decidedly Bindy's. You know you've been out of Granite for a long time, when you start planning ..... days in advance .... to go to Bindy's. Haha. Really, all I wanted were some fried green beans.

What I didn't know, until tonight, was that Bindy's gets theirs from the Schwan's guy.
Mind. Blown. 

schwans. they are from schwans!

Anyway, we hung out there for a bit, and in the typical weekend fashion that is Bindy's, the clock ticked into the night and drew out several of Rob's friends.

these guys (:

So yeah, we're here. And to Bindy's we went and came...

fave!

And now, we sleep... haha.
See ya in the morning!

xo | cmd

Road Trip Warrior: IL [Again]

Guessss what day it was!
... and no, not Hump Day.

Correct Answer: ROAD TRIP DAY! -- I know that sounds ridiculous to most people, but it's not the 5 hours of driving that excite me [duh], but what's at the other end of it that makes all that solo karaoke time entirely worth it.


road trip warrior face! beautiful day for a drive (:

hey, marc!

I wish I would've snapped a shot of what I walked into when I rolled into Rob's house at 9pm [CST; and yes, I made record time]. He & Jesse had wrapped up their days early and taken the boat out for a spin, so by the time I got there, he was dreamin' away on the couch. I absolutely would've left him to nap if it weren't for the fact that I was on a mission tonight for some fried green beans at Bindy's. Rob told me earlier that Alicia wasn't working tonight, but to the disappointment of my disappointment, she was, and so I got just about everything I could've wanted out of that place. Haha (:

Oh, and what's a trip to this place if I'm not running into my old boss while I'm out and about?

We were there for a whiiile... which obviously means pictures at some point. He didn't realize I was on rapid fire mode, but I wound up with a slew of Rob faces, so heck.. I figured I'd just put them all together! (:

forever goofy... [among the many] reasons i love him. ♥

fools together.. it's why we work ;)

So here I am... in Illinois again! Tomorrow is Mike & Kelly's wedding reception; it'll be great to see them, baby Elaina, and some other familiar faces. I'm sure it'll be a good time. For now, it's lights out!

xo | cmd

I ♡ Perfect Weather

True story.

We had our 2nd week of league tonight at Hahana, and I have to say... I haven't been in much of a mood to extensively compliment the weather recently, but today .. was .. perfect!

myself. keifer. kalyn. beth | backseat sets

We all agreed that the team we played last week was way more fun about it [considering this is a rec league], so we weren't too sad when our opponents today headed out afterwards. We landed ourselves for a post-game dinner at Village Pizza in Newtown. I'm a little peeved that I've never been there before; it's delicious, cheap, aaaaand they serve fried green beans. No, I didn't order them, but they also have fried zucchini, and we did get an order of that. It was a good call. (:

Tomorrow's Thursday... it's almost Friday and that means we're a few days closer to meeting up with my parents to drop Sydni off for her swim lessons that start next week. I'm pretty excited for her, and can't wait to hear all about it.

And dangit! As I sit here settled in for the night, I just remembered the pictures I was supposed to pick up from Walgreens this evening. Woops. I'll get them tomorrow I suppose. Pretty excited for those, too.

.. Enough thinking for now. Lights out!

xo | cmd

NoMoreRack.com Strikes Again!

So, ya'll know about my affinity with nomorerack.com. A few months back, I introduced Rob to it, which has led to some minor splurging on things here and there. He bought me the first camera lens coffee mug I saw on there, which, ironically and coincidentally enough, Becky snagged for me later as well. I have two of these, now, and I definitely don't hate it. I'll use them both, if that was your question (:

caniam d-slr camera lens coffee mug!
[thanks to rob & becky for both getting me one!!]

And fast forward a couple months to today:

caniam l-lens travel coffee mug!
[thanks to ali!!] ... collection complete.
.... for now ;)

I am pathetically excited about this.
It's like my friends know me or something. I am so thoroughly blessed with some amazing people in my life, and I hope one day I can return that favor tenfold. Thanks again to my turtley awesome best friend Ali [if you know her, that makes sense] for the newest addition to my caniam coffee arsenal. (:

I somehow survived work today with minimal sinus issues, aside from a few little sneezing fits and a watery eye that persisted on and off throughout the day. Otherwise, the headache that's accompanied that for the past few days has subsided some, so I'm grateful on all accords for that.

Oh, and speaking of online shopping, Ali also introduced me today to PersonalizationMall.com. My advice? Don't use this website if you like shopping online, personalizing stuff, and saving your wallet all at the same time. Haha. I just did my shopping for my mom for mother's day, and I must say, I'm pretty happy with it. I think she'll love it. 

check it out... (:
[& no, this isn't exactly what I got mom... no spoiler alert here!]

Anyway, Rob just pulled up to the house and it looks like we're off to Bindy's for dinner. Good thing, because I'm starving, and fried green beans sound aaaamazing right about now.

Seeeee ya later!

xo | cmd

Playful Pitties

Things I love [that are relevent to this entry]:

* Dogs.

* Photography.
* Nikon D90.

* Friends.

* Summer Weather.
* Smiling.

All of that being said, now that I'm fully out of the house in Shiloh, I'm up in Granite for the next couple of weeks and therefore living with a few roommates. Some of them happen to be canine; along with Mike, Kelly & Rob, Mike's dog Sasha and Kelly's dog Ziggy, there is now Stella and myself, for the time being. It's been a little boisterous in there when all three pups are wound up, so I made it a point to try and drain out some of that energy today.

It's beautiful outside. I got to the house just as Mike and Kelly were leaving; they took Ziggy with them so he didn't get to be a part of the photo madness that ensued. I grabbed the D90 and took the girls out to the backyard to play... and well, the rest is photo history: 

left: sasha | right: stella
©cmdphotography2013

"teamwork" | ©cmdphotography2013

"happy!" | ©cmdphotography2013

"best friends" | ©cmdphotography2013

"mission accomplished : tuckered out!"
©cmdphotography2013

We had.. a blast. (: I've not finished editing the entire gallery of shots I took today, but these were by far the best, so I definitely wanted to share. We just got back from dinner at Bindy's [hiiiiii, Alicia!] and it is.... time for sleep.

fried green beans? yessssss... thanks, bindy's!

What a good day (:

xo | cmd