RELAY FOR LIFE 2012! [& Office Mini Golf?]

It is finally upon us!
This is definitely post-dated! :)

Hello, Relay for Life!

It was an extended day to start with; I showed up to work a full hour early in hopes of leaving 9 hours later. Today marked our office's 6th birthday, so the bosses decided to celebrate by buying us all lunch. No argument there. We feasted on Applebee's for an hour, until we were challenged by one of our owner's to choose our own pecking order and proceed to follow him out into our office. We were greeted by a homemade, indoor mini golf course, complete with star-shaped post-it tee-offs and Express logo cups serving as the destination holes. Seven holes in all. We weren't sure what to think of it all, but I will say it's been a long time since I've laughed like that.

Here's a taste of what it looked like in the office for about an hour's time:

christine. cori. nancy. courtney.
that's right... office golf, ya'll...

When 4:00 hit, I was out the door in a flurry, headed straight down to Belleville West. The Warrens were already there, with their tent and table set up; I caught them just as they were headed off to the survivor dinner. I was left to my own devices to decorate our space from top to bottom in Italy, for lack of a better term. It wasn't long before the rest of our team came trickling in to lend a hand. Even sooner it seemed from there, we were all rallied together on the track for the opening ceremonies, survivor lap, and then full swing into Relay 2012! 

team towerview!
[thanks, jackie for the awesome painting!]

We had this posted up outside our campsite. Many thanks to Jackie for painting this for the team, and for all the helping hands who came and contributed tents, tables, chairs, and decorations for our site!!

cheerleaders - reminding us how to fight back against cancer

^ Opening ceremonies. It probably doesn't make the most sense just looking at it, having not been there to hear the accompanying narration, so I'll try to paraphrase...

The center shot - encouragement to continue in the FIGHT BACK against cancer. They proceeded to highlight words found within the phrase as elements of available methods to fight back against cancer. 

Cig: Don't smoke. Fat: Eat healthy! Fit: Exercise. Gab: Spread the word! Hat: Protect yourself from sun. Act: DO something today to make a difference for tomorrow! :) 

[just part of ] team towerview!
shirley. jimmy. john. greg. betty. ron. diana. cori. mo. ron.

Our team this year was absolutely incredible. There were many people who were unable to make the actual event, but I wouldn't dare for a split second discount their efforts, contributions, and support. This picture was taken early in the evening and is still just a small taste of everyone that did make an appearance at some point for the night. I am so impressed by the support and action that everyone put into this :) I'm so proud!!

sleepin' in the infamous tire!
becky. cori. mo

Haha. There are so many memorable pictures from this event, but none quite like that of us pretending to sleep in the famous traveling tire. If you were there, you would've heard that strangely enough, none of us hated sitting inside this thing. It's actually pretty comfortable. Is that weird? Haha.. Probably, but either way, if I ever find myself deserted in the midst of abandoned farming equipment, my first choice of refuge is gonna be one of these things. Chyeahh.

This is backdated, durrrrr.. and I'm still exhausted. What an incredible event!! [There will be plenty of pictures to come. Stay posted, darlins...]

xo | cmd 

Souvenier Day

I thought about posting all sorts of pictures of all the things we bought today, but figured that I’d share this one with everyone instead. I didn’t buy it, because I’ve seen it before at a few of the bookstores closer to us at home, and plus they didn’t have the right size. Bummer.

This is a tough pill to swallow, and it stings even more to admit it out loud that this is the fallen world in which we live. Not to mention, this really is the answer to so many doubts about the future of human generations.

I thought about this a lot today. I hope there’s someone else out there thinking about it, too.

Oh, and we also did the Ripley’s haunted house [lame, sorry] and some more mini-golf to round out our card of Ripley’s attractions. We were determined to get our money’s worth of these things. Haha.

We also visited the Nantahala Outdoor Center and picked up some cool things there. I’m proud of myself for not splurging on some Chaco’s, Vibram’s, or tent gear. I can wait… I can wait… I can wait….

Today was our last full day in the Smokies. We head back to Cincinnati tomorrow for the rest of the weekend and then it’s back to the dreamland….

J  See you then!

xo | cmd

Double Date

Work was work. Aside from it being Friday, I’m not here to talk about work. J

Good news: I finally ironed out the kink [at least I believe I did] with the wedding wardrobe issue I’m having. I ordered new dresses today, and if I’m lucky, I’ll see those within the next two weeks. I also ordered the TOMS I'll be sporting, as well as two pairs of silver TOMS for two of my bridesmaids. Scoooore.

toms toms toms toms | ♥.

Earlier tonight, Caitlin and Nick met us here at the house and the four of us loaded up for a double date. First stop: Eckert’s. [Thank you Pastor Ron & Debbie for helping us discover this GEM!] They’d not been, and Joe consumes the biscuits like water, so really, nobody lost there. They loved it, we loved it, and we all left with just one unanimous complaint of overstuffed bellies.

From there, we headed over to a mini golf course near our house. We’d been meaning to visit, but hadn’t yet, so we figured we would utilize a perfect summer evening and challenge each other to 18 holes of putt-putt.



such focus!



I won.

Don’t ask me how it happened, because I bet I wouldn’t get that lucky again in a million years. But, for the record, I won. Haha. I can’t celebrate too much, though, because Joe was the only one of us that managed to sink a hole-in-one on the last hole to earn a free game. Don’t act surprised… J

This little place turned out to be a lot bigger than we thought. Once we finished golf , we grabbed some bats and each took a turn for one round in the batting cages. I’m not nearly as bad as I thought I would be, but not nearly good enough to say I’m anything worth noting. Softball was never my thing. We did decide that we would make another trip soon and try out the bumper boats, go-karts, or the other mini-golf course.

we are barely tall enough to ride these things

*Yawn.
Tomorrow, Joe and I head up to Columbus, IN to rendezvous with my parents. They’ve had Sydni for two weeks now and this will be our halfway meeting trip to pick her up and spend the weekend with them. I suppose I should get some sleep….

xo | cmd

Last Day in the Vern



kobi

Today was our last day here in Mt. Vernon. I woke up today a little sad that we would be heading back to Illinois tomorrow, but not before we had another great day with the family.

I finally got to spend a little time with my cat, whose current residence is here in Mt. Vernon with my parents. This was originally a temporary arrangement, but after six month, my mom persuaded me to let her stay. She’s a sweetie, and while I miss her, I’m glad she’s fitting in here.

We of course had to go to the late service at Faith Baptist, my parents’ church, and the church in which I was a member at the time I was officially saved. [Amen!]. After the service, we did lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s and headed back home.

Dad & Joe loaded up to hit the golf course, while I stayed back with mom & Syd. We spent an afternoon enjoying the sunshine outside and watering the blooming gardens in the front yard. I suited Sydni up in some swim gear so she could play in the sprinkler. I was also amazed at how long a 2-yr-old can stay entertained with a bucket of water and some plastic cups. It makes me wish I was a kid again.



water fun!

When the men were finished golfing and back at the house, we all cleaned up and got ready for an early dinner. We’ve been very diligent over the past several months on praying before meals with Sydni. We pray as a family before bedtime, and I am here to proudly say that not only does she understand that it is something we all do together, but she will remind us if we for some reason forget. These are some of the things that, as a mother, I find more gratifying than anything else. Even though she’s entering into a new phase of toddlerhood [whining, clinging, bossing, claiming….], it’s things like this that I know that Joe and I as parents are managing to do right. The rest, well, we’re working on it. J

*Sigh.
Tomorrow morning we pack up and head back to Belleville. Oh Yippee.

*Bye again, Ohio!*

♥

xo | cmd

Golfing Guys & Galleria Girls

galleria | st. louis, mo



Yeah, shopping. *Kidding.* I’m not a huge free-shopper, meaning that I pretty much lack the ability to and am also not a fan of mall-walking and window shopping. I’m more of the need-it?-ok,-go-get-it-and-be-done kinda girl. So this was a refreshing change of scenery, more or less.

The day started with Joe, Sydni and I loading up and trekking to the Kobularciks’ on base. One of the Sandven’s were there, along with Nick & Caitlin. The boys took care of transferring all the golf clubs into our car, strapped in 1 of the 2 Kobularcik boys, and headed off for a day of golf.

Meanwhile, I stayed behind with Sydni, Caitlin, Bonnie, and the smaller of her two boys. We spent some time relaxing and enjoying the mid-morning weather from her back patio before loading up into her Subaru and setting off for the Galleria in St. Louis.

just keep shopping.....

Hi, 3-story mall.

Sure, it’s not the Mall of America, but for being so accessible, it will definitely quench the thirst of any local wandering shopaholic. Needless to say, we barely covered a quarter of the mall before we left, but it was worth the trip and admittedly nice to have some adult female company (nothing personal, Syd).

Back home, it was a quick sprint from the Kobularcik’s to the Sandven’s for a grill out. We managed to beat the rain, and had a fun evening of grilling out, playgrounds, conversation, and of course, cornhole.

Not too shabby for a first weekend back, I’d say. =]

xo | cmd