I'm Awesome At Shopping!

.. That's a total lie. I'm about as good at shopping as I am at basketball.

& ice hockey.

& juggling hand grenades.

& cooking any sort of red meat.

You get it.

Shopping ≠ My strong suit.
It's okay.

Anyway, today after work, I embarked on day 1 of my mission to find a "semi formal" dress for the event I'm attending next weekend. I'm not a dressy girl by nature, so that in and of itself was the first hurdle. I figured it wouldn't be hard at all to find a piece to fit the bill.

 

Either I'm insanely picky, or I just... honestly... do not know how to do this.

^ found that online somewhere, made me laugh.. totally applicable.

So to my frustration this evening at dress shopping, and to the actual idea of dressing up in the first place, I say... not now. Just. Not. Now. I'll deal with you tomorrow. For now..

Here are some things that make me happy, that share my affinity for craftiness and avoiding big stores unless absolutely necessary. I'm drafting Christmas present ideas.

1. Jewelry. I have a lot of women [& men, too] in my family who admire and appreciate fun, quirky accessories. I just.. I have this really hard time spending exorbitant amounts of money on things unless there's an appropriate occasion [not saying that Christmas is anything less than that, however]; I simply like to give a lot, to a lot, so frugality is never a bad thing. 


via Tzunuum, Etsy
fun. definitely could add my own spin on it.

adore.

no, not mine... but doable.

... and so forth.

2. Scarves! I went on a huge knitting spree two years ago - remember that? Well, at the time I found a blog that I started obsessing over; it was one of those tutorial blogs that shows you how to knit and all that jazz. I found pictures [since I'm too lazy to go find the ones I took sporadically in 2011] of each of my four favorite stitches I learned and completed. I think.... it's gonna be another knitting year!

bring on the needles & yarn! i just got excited again...


3. Foooooooood. Duh. Food. I'd be here until next Christmas if I tried telling you all my favorite goodies for the holiday season, but I think at the top of that list is something I also learned while in Illinois: Gorilla Bread. It's a curse that I have no need for recipe instruction, but that I can recall it from memory. Pretty sad. Haha. Whatever.. I will be making mini versions of this for.... all ya'll this year. Be ready. Be hungry.


drooling already.

... So maybe my failed attempt at shopping today was a good thing, after all. I just caught my second wind of inspiration to actually do some of this stuff this year.

Gears are turnin'....

xo | cmd

Monday Game Night!

Manic Monday @ Work? Check.

Last minute plans with the schhhweeeet friends of mine? CHECK.

Ali made her way down to my house after work with pasta in hand. She made dinner while I made dessert [gorilla bread, big surprise ;)]


gorilla bread & michael scott = happy monday (:

DeShawn joined us for dinner, after which we broke into set up for Loaded Questions. [Way. Too. Much. Fun.] Jay showed up and not long after, Marianne was here too. I'm not sure which one of us nearly hurt ourselves laughing first during this game, but it was probably a very close, hilarious race.


oohhhhh boy ;)

friends, food & funny?? that's a good day....

Rob had been out at pool league all night, but made his way down after it was done. The rest of the crowd save for him and Ali just left, and it's waaaay past all of our bedtimes :p It certainly wasn't a bad way to start off the work week.

See ya tomorrow!

xo | cmd

Winter Halo & a Functioning Furnace!



motor capacitor

If for no other reason than that he's insanely handy, today cannot go without saying a mega thanks to Rob for fixing my furnace. And here I thought I'd have to call someone. Haha. 

I've been procrastinating [duh] putting any service time into meddling with the frigid temperature in my house. Now that it's getting colder outside though, I don't need to run the risk of dealing instead with frozen pipes and all that unecessary jazz.

Soooo.... after a couple of sessions in the basement examining the furnace, a little internet research and the advice from someone he knows, Rob got into the furnace and fixed the daggone thing with a $7 piece no bigger than my hand.

My house... is warm.
And by warm, I mean it's getting there. We're still sittin at 67 and rising, but that sure beats the 59 we were at before all of this.



literally an hour after it came out of the oven .. lol...



Oh, and if you're wondering how to pay for such excellent customer service?

Easy. Make the repair guy gorilla bread to take with him to work. (:



OH... And to top it off - tonight was a winter halo night. I'd never actually seen one of these in person, but I stepped out on the back porch after hearing about "moon rings," expecting to see some sort of tiny irredescent glow around the moon...

... Nope. Sucker was huge! It was beautiful. A little intimidating thinking of the magnitude of it all: it was completely silent with that enormous, perfectly circular ring just sitting in the sky. Folklore has it that it's indicative of approaching storms - bad ones - for the immediate future. We'll see if that holds to it. Either way, it was gorgeous.


winter halo 2012 | gorgeous

Almost Friday... Almost Friday...

xo | cmd

Express Christmas [Because the World DIDN'T END]

Holy smokes, ya'll. It's FRIDAY!

First things first: WELCOME back to the daily Friday grind, especially to all of you who had planned on the world coming to a close sometime earlier today. I really hope none of you are disappointed, especially if you've shelled out wallet weight on Christmas gifts this year or have plans for New Years ;). 

..... things that didn't happen today....

Funny story to get this rolling. Okay, well it's not so much funny as it is just plain weird. It's not really even a story, really, but it's still bizarre: Basically, it was an early night last night, only to awake at 3am to not one, but every single smoke detector in my house on high alert. It was synchronized in that they all started at the same time, but definitely not on the same pulse. For all I could tell, it was one steady blare on surround sound for about five minutes before it... just.... stopped. Weirdest thing ever. We're on a love/hate relationship, my house and me. Between the thermostat tantrums and the smoke detectors party rockin' at random hours of the night, I'm not sold that there isn't some sort of maniacal scheme brewing...... I even mentioned to my friend Rob that I thought this was indication of the world ending.... I don't think I sold him on it. Oh well.

ANYWAY,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
[early!!]

it's a good day for christmas sweaters, peroni & breakfast! (:

By that, I mean that today was my office Christmas party. Everyone in my office has a track record of excellence in the arena of potlucks. I work with all women and a man who used to run a restaurant, so it's pretty fail-proof that we'd be eating well. Oh, and we may have added some additional spirit to the party. Haha.

merry christmas! | with ♥, express

So yeah.... we made with it gettin' busy on some food, but the best part by far [as is customary with Christmas these days] was not only a blast, but hilarious all together. [I'll get some of those pics up soon, too].

Here's just a preview of how thoughtful these people are:



secret santa gift + mini christmas bonus + express columbia fleece?
.... we're loved.

yep. love it. & love her.
merry christmas!

My addiction to popcorn may have finally been satisfied on a whole new level; Diana had me as her secret santa draw, and because everyone here is fully aware of my obsession with popcorn, I got this little guy, all wrapped up and ready to go. Plus, we each got part of our Christmas bonus in cash form, and a suuuuper comfy Columbia logo'd fleece. We were as surprised as we were grateful. It's been a crazy year here, but we're sticking it out and enjoying ourselves.

Tonight I'll drive back to Ohio for the weekend; I can't wait to see my family and a few long lost faces before I get back.

Wish me luck......

&& very MERRY [early] Christmas to all of you, my dear friends & blogbots!

xo | cmd

Who Are You, and Where is Cori?!

Maybe it's the changing of the seasons [literally, and/or in a life-season capacity];maybe it's the current state of flux in which Joe and I find our ever-conflicting work schedules, or maybe it's simply that my interests are self-evolving into new areas in which I hadn't previously found intrigue. I've been fueled over the past couple of weeks to explore new [and not Cori-typical] avenues of creative expression.

1. Knitting.
2. Baking?

I've journaled the journey of my knitting escapades most recently, but the newest niche that's grabbed my attention is baking. Sure, it's not by any stretch a novel concept to anyone, but I've always the propensity for general cooking, with the rare exception of a pie, here and there, but never solid baking, just for the sake of baking.

Somebody call Guinness... honestly.


raspberry stitch



Let it be noted that I have taken this thing to a whole new level, at least concerning my relationship to the aforementioned. I started off my knitting projects with a mini-scarf for Sydni using a purl and bamboo stitch. I have to admit, looking at it even now, I see all sorts of errors that entice me daily to unwind the whole thing and start over. I refrain each time, simply because it's still my first successful run with two needles and has yet to unravel itself. I must've done something right, even if it is clearly a botched little product. I'll keep that as a reminder that everyone has to start somewhere, and that's my somewhere. I launched quickly into bigger needles, same stitch, to craft the autumn-toned scarf a few entries back. At that point, I realized I'm developing a small addiction. Thanks to YouTube, I have conquered a few hours of raspberry stitching, as demonstrated here. It's a work in progress, but right now, progress is my aim.



paula dean's gorilla bread



In regards to the baking: I must attribute my intiative to the many [quite] successful products that my colleague keeps toting into work. She was also my knitting inspiration, so I'm certain I stand to learn a lot from her if we keep it up here in the same office. She gave us a taste of Gorilla Bread, along with the recipe [Paula Dean, so you already know this isn't for health benefit], and I took charge of putting that together this evening. It went over quite well in the Dills household. :)

I've put colors and textures on canvas [nothing spectacular, mind you], put together beats, lyrics, and harmonies for song recording [thanks Don, David, and the EBeat team, 2004-07], and dabbled with jewelry making, photography, and now knitting and baking. I'm becoming an apprentice of it all, but master of few. So, all in all, I'm almost hesitant to wonder what's coming next. Don't be surprised if, in a few months, you tune in to find action shots of a rug loom posted up in my basement. [Kidding... I think].

I'm branching out, folks. I'm hangin' on to the siderails on this one; I have no idea where it's headed.
You've been warned....  

P.S. - Turn your clocks back tonight!

xo | cmd