Bring On the DOJO!

Elisa and I hosted a hiring event downtown today, and that always means a trip to Findlay Market immediately after.

Today was one of those days that I.. just.. needed.. gelato. 

yes, please.

Folks, if you're in or around downtown Cincinnati and happen to find yourself with a gelato craving, that's your spot.

Go now.
:)

Happy almost midweek!

xo | cmd

Pitch Perfect!

Every so often, I have one of those days that really just doesn't start on the right foot. It's not so much like the old coinage "waking up on the wrong side of the bed" as it is the entire bed collapsed, flipped over, and dumped me into the toilet. Sounds weird, but if I had to guess, I'd say we've all been there at least once.

Well, good news is, I didn't have one of those mornings today.
Bad news is, poor Ali did... sorta.
Ali got in a fender bender on her way in [thankfully she's okay]; her poor car is another story, but she's okay. I totally understand the frustration behind starting your day off that way, so it made me feel less guilty about having a decent morning when we decided we'd meet up after work to go see Pitch Perfect.

See, Ali's boyfriend is a manager at The Lincoln in downtown Belleville. He met up with us for a moment at Panera St. Louis Bread Co. [excuuuuse me] before we made a stop for gelato [hi, Bulent!] and settled in for our final stop at the theater.

I didn't really know what to expect from this movie, but it was..... hilarious. It could've had a lot do with the fact that Ali is absolutely excellent company [toooooo.funny], because by the time we left, we were both nursing side-pangs from laughing through the entire film.

**SPOILER ALERT**


You all know I'm a sucker for vocal competition, harmonies & arrangements. That, and stupid movies like this have always been a ridiculous vice of mine. To top it off, I think Anna Kendrick is the cutest little thing with a stellar voice, and Rebel Wilson is... well, she's Rebel Wilson and you can't help but laugh at her unabashed candor on film.

I said all that to say that I'm glad to have been a part of the upswinging part of Ali's day - hopefully the car situation is resolved soon and everything gets back into working hours.

If I see this movie again within the next couple weeks, well.... yeah. (:

xo | cmd

Date Night :)

♥

^^ Because that's what you do when you're kid-free and your husband's home from travelling! :)

Mo pointed out yesterday when they were at our house that it's noticeably quieter without mini running around. I guess I hadn't really noticed the stark contrast until she pointed it out, but in either sense, we didn't feel like hanging out in the calm of our place for the night. Once Joe was home, we made quick to head right back out the door for one of those rare, cherished date nights that parents of itty bitties see so infrequently. Haha.

We decided to stay local and re-invent the evening on local turf: downtown Belleville. There's nothing I don't love about that little stretch of Main Street, other than that I am always fighting the urge to go home with some handmade or locally-crafted thing that I realistically don't need.

In any event, we took to the streets of our little town and figured we'd stop off at Se7en, a little sushi bar we've tried before and loved.



sushi!

Also, it wouldn't be an outing in Belleville without a stop-off to see Bulent and raiding his supply of delicious gelato :). Duhh... We even ran into a musician there who plays in a local Christian band. He gave us his card, so you can trust that once I check it out, I'll share it all with you, too :)



one of each, please? :)

relay for life 2012 - paint the town purple!

 On our way out of downtown, I stopped to admire and capture the 2012 Relay for Life's Paint the Town Purple efforts by those who volunteered to do it. We were in VBS while they were out and about tying purple to every available post and pole in the area, but major kudos to those who made it!!

Our original theory for the night was that we would stop and see the new Spiderman after dinner, but unfortunately none of the show times were within an hour of us finishing dinner, so we opted to RedBox it and head back to the house to relax.

Good thing, too, since the movie we rented is still sitting on the coffee table, unopened and unwatched, because we are both about to crash out instead of watch it. Go us.

Haha.
We'll try it again tomorrow. :)

xo | cmd

Hangin' Out With the Mini! (:

It's obviously not unusual for Sydni and I to have plenty of mama-mini time whenever Joe is out of town. Our solo weekends vary from the tame nothin'-at-all days to the more adventurous days. Today fell into the category of spur-of-the-moment outing, which might seem, at face value, ridiculous considering it's still 110+ degrees out. Wellllll.. when the AC in your house is just blowing air, not cold air, it almost seems like a better avenue to get outta there for a bit. Check.

We started off with some errands, some long-overdue [grocery shopping], some just plain overlooked. We knocked out all of the more monotonous pitstops on the list and geared ourselves into downtown Belleville. My original thought was to stop and see our new friend Bulent and get some gelato, but I'd forgotten he was closed Saturdays.. this one at least. *Sigh. We spotted another digs right down the block and decided to check it out - I'm so glad we did! YAY, for local businesses!!

Welcome to Peachy! It's a frozen yogurt bar, surely no stranger to the locals, but a new discovery for us, and a perfect reprieve from the heat.

peachy | goofin' around.. biodegradable spoons, duh  ;)

i. let's see what this is all about | ii. tryyyyy it....
iii. love it, mama | iv. approval!
= a+ from the foodie critic!

Good stuff. Of course, since we were down in the heart of the Belleville local adorably unique shop district [that's obviously not official, but that's how I feel whenever I'm there!], I took Sydni in with me to check out the latest happenings at Peace by Piece. She was the smash hit of the staff, especially the owner's dog, with whom she immediately bonded and even kissed on the head before we left. I ended up ceding to a mega TOMS sale [shocking, I know], and left with some ballet flats. < First time with these; I'll have to see how they fare compared to the classics. Of course, TOMS are TOMS, and I support the core mission there, too, so I have less reservation about spending less than msrp on them today. Bwah bwah bwah.....

Oh! Almost forgot. I met Heather today, who both works at Peace by Piece and is a local artisan. Her jewelry [kindred spirit!] sells at PxP, and in an effort to continue supporting local folk, I ordered a little something that she'll be crafting. I won't say or show what just yet; I'll share that whenever she's finished :).

park baby

Anyway, from the time we got up this morning, Syd had been asking: "pretty please, can i, caaaaaan iiiiii???" to go to the park. I ultimately obliged, but not without trying to redirect her desire in another - any - other direction. It was her afternoon, but I certainly was thinking, sure kid. The park. It's as cool out as the sun's surface, but let's go to the park. ;) 

Like I said, I caved, so for a full 45 minutes, we were the only people outside I'm sure, within a 10 mile radius. Haha.

I realized I must've been asleep or somehow otherwise not paying enough attention to her all the other times we'd been to the park recently, because it seemed so sudden when she turned on some avid climbing skills. Yeah, I'm sure it's probably a standard developmental landmark, but I was prepared to aide her somehow. Not the case.

She's a regular little monkey! I'm so proud :).

mini monkey mode - she's fearless!

To my surprise, I was met with absolutely zero protest when I finally decided it was time to head home. Every surface of the play equipment at the park was "too hot, mommy, it's too hot," so after about 12 times up and down the spiral climby thing, we brought our day out and about to an end. She was asleep by the time I had the car started. Hah.

oh hey, sweat..

Now, I'd heard on the radio a day or so back that it's been clinically proven that prolonged extreme heat affects mental functioning. I think I knew that before I heard it, but it certainly made sense and I'm certainly blaming my random afternoon decision on it, too. I for some odd reason thought it would be smart to go running. Any other day, absolutely, but I'm declaring it official that the heat warped my logic so much that I actually forgot.. about.. the heat. Sad, sick irony.

Anyhow, 3 miles later, I was back home, more thankful than ever that I'm headed to Heaven when my time here is through. This weather made me think of a preview of the other neighborhood, and my sentiment on it is that that rat Satan can take and keep this weather ;).

110+ degrees. Running. Outside. I need to suck it up, I know... I just wasn't quite prepared for it today. Haha. Ohhhh well. Three miles is three miles no matter which way you spin it, even if it meant sweating my weight before I was halfway done. Mehhhh...

We are done runnin' around for the day. We're about to head down to camp out in the basement and watch The Little Mermaid for the umpteenth time. Speaking of which, as a sidenote: I was emptying out our dishwasher earlier and Sydni exclaimed, quite articulately:

"Mommy! Look at aaaaall those dinglehoppers!"
[[ credit: Mo.... haha ]]

Whoa. Moments in the life of a toddler girl's mama. Unscripted!

Haha. It's gonna be an early day tomorrow. The VBS kickoff is less than 24 hours out at this point; say a prayer for us!!

'Nite, beloved blogbots.

xo | cmd

Sucker Sinuses [but a] Better Backyard!

Ugggggghhhhkkkkk....

Remember that sinus thing that I'd been hoping wouldn't materialize into anything? Yeah... welllllll... Yeah.

I spent the entire morning asleep.
For what it's worth, so did Sydni. She'd been developing a runny nose and glossy eyes over the latter part of last week I thought I could slip under the radar of whatever bug she had, but that's never the case and certainly isn't this time, either.

I'm definitely sick. Booo, hiss hiss. I was thankful in a slightly disdainful way that Sydni hasn't fully recovered yet; her mild case of the lazies today proved a reprieve to me in my state of complete and utter lethargy.

Sydni was sprawled out on her bed watching Little Mermaid, and I was equally resigned to the couch nursing a sinus migraine when Mo materialized at the front door. She came bearing broccoli cheddar soup from Panera St. Louis Bread Company [I keep forgetting] for me, mac n' cheese for Sydni, and some other soup for herself. Thank you, a million times over for being so thoughtful, Mo!! We ate, and I decided we would finally get out for some gelato. We made a quick trip there, enjoyed some, and headed straight back to the house.

So um, yeah. That was pretty much the bulk of today, in a nutshell. OH! I figured I'd share this with the class, since I haven't yet:

before.
view from the yard | view from the staircase

after.
not quite finished.... yet :)

Here's the before and after of what I did a couple days earlier. This menagerie that was the back patio, out of control as it was, was the direct result of us working full days, not being out there nearly as often as we would've liked, and investing what little free time we both have into hanging out and getting out with Sydni. It didn't take long for this to get unruly, but I finally decided enough was enough, so yeah. That's what happened. 


Anyway, I'm still feeling a lot like what I envision..... death feels like... lol.
It... is... bed...time... for us. 


xo | cmd

Jason de Graaf

Oh, Saturdays. :)

So after last night's small group, we were all pretty wiped, so we took our leisurely time getting up and at it this morning. We decided on a late family breakfast at Crackerbarrel before Joe went his own way to the lawn & garden world of Lowe's and Sydni and I ventured into downtown Belleville for a bit.

Since today really just revolved around trying to kick back and enjoy life some, I thought I'd share some work from an artist I re-discovered recently: He's Canadian, he's talented, and he's got some new work out. For all you artsy kids, these are all acrylics, not photographs. Hard to believe, I know, but I find it even harder to process that he really is this talented.

Enjoy the work of Jason de Graaf :) I know I did! Jason is quickly becoming one of my new favorite artists. This guy is amazing.

Remember, none of these are photographs; they are ALL acrylics. Yay, hyperrealism!

Truly incredible stuff, yeah? Google this guy and see what else he's got; this is just SOME of his work.

Happy Saturday!!

xo | cmd

Hi, Again, St. Louis :)

ah, the arch....

Joe's manager from Atlanta is still in town helping out at the St. Louis store. The two of them were up and out early to slay another day's worth of work. I stayed back in efforts to clean the house up and get some chores done. I timed it right; they rolled back in just as I was finishing up. After showers and a rescue call to Kallie & Sandy to come and watch Sydni for the evening [thankyouxmillions, girls!!!], we were off to St. Louis.

the dubliner

Since Josh hadn't ever been to St. Louis, our first stop, naturally, was the arch. We parked up by Laclede's Landing and spent the next few hours just roaming our way around downtown: Past the packed stadium [Josh thankfully left his Braves shirt for another day ;), haha], all the way up 8th, and halfway down Washington until we found ourselves at The Dubliner.

hangin' out downtown
the arch | the city | the stadium

josh & joe outside the dubliner

We laughed our way through dinner and spent some time getting to know Josh a little better before we picked our way through the sidewalk crowds for two blocks to the Gelateria. Until tonight, Josh had never tasted gelato, so we were all in for a treat :).

mmm.. gelato!

Once we had some tasty gelato on our tongues, we meandered up to the City Museum, if nothing else than to just show Josh the lobby and the outdoor mazes that comprise just a portion of what that crazy place has to offer. Next time you're here, Josh, we'll take you for a visit.

strange little statue..

The walk back to the car was much quicker than the walk up from the garage; of course we realized once we'd made it all the way back through our self-devised labyrinth trail that Washington was a straight shot. Hah. Oh well.

Joe dropped into a snooze on the way back, leaving Josh and I to discuss the undeniable levels of talent of musical artists [Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas.... Reba? haha..] and face the standstill traffic mess that was 64, down to one lane. As psychotic as that was, we finally made it back. I got the sitters back home and now I'm calling it for now..

Mother's Day is just around the clock ;)
[sorry 'bout the minor backdating.. hah]

xo | cmd