Kara's Grad Party | USAvPOR!

1. Church.
I'm not really sure exactly what the direction is that our latest sermon series is heading; I'll have to weigh this one a few more times and see if we agree or not. It's basically entitled, What Would Jesus Say To....________________, and the blank is filled with the name of some A-list celebrity. Pardon me for saying this, but it was really hard for me to connect with a lesson centered around what Jesus would say to Kim Kardashian. Frankly, that's nothing doctrinally-centered for me, and I was left disappointed. Sorry to say it, but certainly not one of the stronger messages I've heard. At least Sydni and I had a little more quality time after church:

sunday selfies.. yep!

love her love her looooove her!

2. Kara's Grad Party!
So, Kalyn & Brittany's little sister Kara is graduating from high school. I can only imagine how fast they feel like this has gone; I seriously feel like it was just somewhere around last year, at the farthest, that I met Kara when she was in 6th grade. Holy whoa. Happy graduation, Kara!!

syd found the hammock!

she also found the horses :)

these two. ♥♥♥♥♥.

tree girl

with the powell girls

ladies! happy graduation kara!
[aka, sydni & me with our blonde entourage!]

3. World Cup : USA v. POR!
After Kara's graduation party, we headed back home, where Becky & Mike meet up with us to watch the USA v. Portugal game. To spare you all from the ruckus that came out of that house, here:

this....

... followed by this.

Nobody's mad here!

Thanks again to Kalyn's mom & family for having us out today. Not a bad way to end the weekend!

Seeeee you on the flip side!

xo | cmd

That One Day, Sunday

I was still half asleep this morning when I headed in to church with my parents. I really didn't even have a late night last night, but I'm fairly certain the week is just catching up to me. I was tired and grouchy for a while this morning, but that started to subside around lunchtime when we found ourselves at a very familiar place: R&M Southside Diner. Call me simple, but their shredded chicken sandwich, while nothing fabulous, has been my single favorite thing from this place since I was about... eight or so. I was pleasantly surprised that as far as I can tell, they're still using the same recipe, and I was not disappointed. (:

hello, old friend (:

On my way out of town, I decided to stop by a place that I haven't actually visited in years, but is a staple memory from my childhood. My mom was the president of the Knox County Humane Society from as early as I can honestly remember, up until somewhere in my early college years. She poured her heart into that place, the operation, the mission and the animals, and I had the privelege of being a very participating part of that experience. I stood next to a veterinarian as he spayed and neutured anesthetized cats when I was only 8 or so. I spent a half day plucking off deer ticks from a rescued stray dog in my garage when I was 10. I could read behavioral signs from both cats and dogs by the time I was a teenager, and I can't even begin to tell you how many small rodent leftovers I cleaned up from having 4 cats of our own. Needless to say, this place pruned me to have the compassion for animals I do, along with the working knowledge of how they behave.

humane society & dog kennels/run

^ Oh, and see that building & the dog kennel? I helped build those. I was about 7 when the construction on the building was completed, but I was in my early teens when the kennels went up, and I very clearly remember my crash course in concrete finishing and "entry level" framing work from the construction. I stopped by today if for no other reason than to pay homage to what really was my second home as a kid. THANK YOU, Mom, for making this a part of my life!

And then, in the spirit of follow-up to the reunion last night, I made a quick round down Yellow Jacket Drive, over those rickety speed bumps and into the loop between the high school and middle school where I spent a combined 7 years of my life. My class was the first to go a full 3 years in the new middle school after it was built. I was almost overwhelmed by the memories that came flooding back when I circled through the parking lots.

mvhs & mvms

It was a little funny, too, seeing those buildings now. They almost looked small compared to the way I perceived them when I actually went there. I very clearly remember the floorplans of both of these buildings, and how much time was spent standing outside the middle school (bottom pic) waiting on the busses... for both the middle and high schoolers. At the risk of sounding stoic, I'll just say that it was, for me, a very humbling and nostalgic experience that I appreciate so much more now that I no longer actually live in Mt. Vernon.

Fast forward to my trip back to Cincinnati, which was followed by an immediate session of editing pictures and unwinding. I don't think I shared either of these pics from a few days back, but I wanted to make sure I did now, since I spent a lot of the evening talking to Rob and hearing these two in the background. He sent me these, of the pups being their goofy selves.

so typical.. stella carrying her food bowl around when she's hungry..
.... & sasha trying to steal it..

Gosh, I miss those two. I wish Rob could bring them with him when he comes up for Labor Day, but I'll be a patient mama, I suppose, and see them both the next time I'm there to visit. For now, it's a Skype date with Rob, and so far I've seen the dogs migrate from couch to couch and curl up next to each other.. and the whole thing just makes me want to be there. [Sad face.]

Anyway, it's getting super late and tomorrow is Monday.....
The GOOD news is:
Sydni comes home to me tomorrooooowwwwwww & we'll spend the entire week together.. and then, this weekend is Madison's princess birthday party.... and thennnn, next weekend is Sydni's 4th birthday party at my parents' house.. + Rob + Cirque show ...

.. I am.. beyond! excited (: (:

For now, SLEEP.

xo | cmd

MVHS, Class of 2003!

Among the list of things I find hard to believe:

 

I have been out of high school for ten years.

whoa.

That's right, ten years. Some of you just called me a youngster, and some of you just realized how old I really am compared to the 23-24 you originally thought. Either way, I graduated high school in 2003 and that means that my class and I celebrate our tenth anniversary of freedom from MVHS.

 

In pictures... here are some from the night {find the full collection HERE}!

kait. amy. nikki. britt. collette. me

me. sarah. mary. rachel

known these two since elementary school... josh & jim .. or jim & josh?
... thanks for labeling yourselves by your last names only.. haha..  

rachel. drew. pruitt. kelly. me.

only thing missing in this picture is clark .. haha.. the "brown kids"
of mvhs' 2003 class: me. kevin. brandie.

stef! the face & talent behind SOKAY DESIGNS!

kelly & me
three words: ohio junior miss.
four more words: i miss..those days!

becky & me
cheered together .. sang together ..
... caught my hair on fire in chem class together... standard stuff (:

me & arley... she's on baby #4 & still making it look great! 

me. becky. kelly.
i call this... chemistry choir misfits (:

sarah. stef. me.
known these girls since kindergarten...
... still as goofy as ever (:

Like I said, there are 30 some pictures all together, so feel free to go check 'em out. Many thanks to Kait for organizing this, and to the staff at Winestein for hosting! I had a great time (:

And because I'm old & lame nowadays, I'm callin' it a night. Sorry post-reunion party, maybe next time.

xo | cmd

A Video & Some Tha-ROOOOWBacks

I keep up with the installments of CWM2YO - so here's episode 8. I can relate, for sure, with Sydni.

Funny stuff.

So, remember how I mentioned I would share some "vintage" material I found at my parents' house over the weekend? Well...... here ya go. There are just some of my favorites ;)

This was post-adoption some time, going back for my citizenship stuff... Mom & I noticed that my liaison looks a little elfish... which is just fine, other than that it now begs the answer of where exactly I'm really from.. The Philippines, or... The North Pole. Hrmmm.. ;)

^ Breakfast is served, friends. Look at me in my little jammies, getting an early start on those scrambled eggs... Say YES to that saucepan that I'm pretty sure we still have. Haha.

Camping. I love: 1 - Mom's lumberjack coat. 2 - 1980's pop up camper. 3 - Plastic folding chairs. 4 - My mom as we're going through this album present-day, saying, "Look, you're drinking whiskey!" .. hahah.. well all right then?

Dad & his kid-carrying backpack. I'm on the ground. Something's wrong here.

Cousins.. doin' some good old fashioned front porch sittin... I have no idea where or when this was, but we all look pretty excited to be there. Especially Chris (far left). Rob (center) looks like he wants out, and I'm... well, doing my best to smile. Yay, kids!

My grandmothers on both sides. Top is "Grammy," my dad's mother, and bottom is "Nana," Mom's mother. [Nana is Italian for Grandmother, so that's now what Sydni calls my mom]. I miss them both so much... for all of you out there who still have surviving grandparents, cherish and love them... I've lost all four of mine and there are days that it makes me sad, still. Love you, grandmothers!

HAHA! My younger cousin [I can't say little now, because he's nearly 6'3...] Tyler when we were kids and I forced him to play dress up. In his defense, I pretty much bullied him into this, but he just saw this picture again and basically decided he looked awesome, and is now owning the get-up. Haha... my poor cousin..


I started theater at a young age.. this one I found was from a summer rendition of a Shakespeare play, with Zeva. I just thought it was cute :) Look how little we were!

Sports buttons. I also have the picture of mine from track and cheerleading, but I think one shot is enough. I'm not sure if this was the same across ALL high schools, but I know that if you played a sport at mine, you had buttons. It was just a thing. A horrible thing, but a thing. Good grief.. haha.. look at us babies! ♥


So... I've always been an animal fanatic. My mom was the president of our county's humane society for yeaaars. At age 7, I was standing beside a vet doing spays/neuters. At 11, I was gloved up with a coffee can of kerosene, plucking deer ticks from a poor dog my mom had rescued. By 14, I was stringing cage wire for kennel runs at the place. I thought every kid did this type of stuff.. and looking back, I honestly think every kid should. Either way, mom's work led to Chez, a Golden Retriever rescue who became our dog for years before he finally passed away. I have loved with my whole heart every dog I've had since then, but he will always be my favorite. Miss you, Chezzie.


Knox County & Ohio's Junior Miss Scholarship program - local level. This was my senior year of high school.. our county was typically the home country for the Ohio Junior Miss competition, and once you hit your senior year, most girls opted to do this. This picture was from the poise & composure portion of the competition... and funny fact: following that year, they instituted gloves as a requirement for this part. Something about elegance, but surely not from me.. because let's face it.. I'm nearly as clutzy as they come. Haha. 

Binisuan: A traditional Filipino dance in which you wear a skirt and balance two cups of liquid in your hands and one on your head for an entire dance.. including floor work. I was president of the Filipino student association at UC for a few years, and this was part of my experience.. I loved it, and I definitely miss it. Never dropped a cup in performance! ;)

Not the oldest of throwbacks, but I couldn't help but to laugh at this one.. this was in 2010 when I was in charge of moving our family out of our old house and into a new place. Two weeks prior to this, I'd shattered my collarbone into 10 pieces, which led to the installment of a metal plate and 10 screws in my shoulder. Oh, and that snazzy sling. I had no choice but to do the physical work that I could here, and with Sydni in tow, I became living proof that a mother's job is full time, and when push comes to shove, we will do anything and everything we have to... evidently with a smile and time to take pictures of the experience. Haha.

Last but NOT least... the REAL throwback here.. this gorgeous picture of my mom, age 33 .. working in Pittsburgh. There is NOTHING I don't love about this picture; she's beautiful, all the way around, and honestly, I love her shirt, too.

♥ .
Welp, I promised these, right? Haha. There are more, but I'll save the rest for another time. For now, I'm spent.. the house is clean though, laundry is done, and I'm ready to call this one a night.

xo | cmd

Paddlin' Munchkins [&TBT!]

Today = another perfect day as far as the weather went.
Work = Amiable and productive!
Sydni = With  me, and as we speak, thoroughly spent.
Me = Happy mama, happy girlfriend, happy daughter going home this weekend to see the fam!

That basically sums it up. Today was plain for the most part, but a good day no less. After work, I picked up Sydni and met up with Becky and her nephew Noah at Winton Woods for a quick evening paddle. Needless to say, the kids loved it, and while Becky and I walked away with soaking wet clothes due to a couple of unnamed splashers.... coughcough sydni.and.noah..... haha.

WELL worth it ☺!

tandem kayak time!

becky & noah

me & sydni

she worked so hard! ♥

best. tourguide. ever. | "mommy, look! another duck!"

"dancing boats" haha.. they had a blast!

We dried off some afterwards at the playground, and then headed home to get some ice cream [I promise these things so sporadically, but yenno what, she deserved it ♡].. she did a great job today and worked so hard paddling her kayak.. call me a proud mama, absolutely!

Tomorrow is FRIIIIIDAYYYY!! & that means after work Sydni and I are hitting the road north and heading to my parents' house in the good old Mount Vernon, OH. Semi-on-that-note, in the spirit of Throwback Thursday, here's a gem Nikki posted earlier today on Facebook of some of us on our last day of high school.. which was ten years ago, if I'm being honest about my age here... hahaha.

front: britt. hilary. amy m. nikki. | back: amy s., ginna, myself
mvhs senior year, 2003!

I say that because I'm about to head to my parents' house for the first time since Christmas, and I have no doubt that one of my missions on this trip will be to uncover some long lost artifacts [to be shared at a not-really-that-far-away-but-still-"later" date...]. I'm kind of excited. I'll apologize up front for any and all inevitable fashion faux paus, but hey.. I'm a kid of the 90's and I will embrace it.. wacked out hair, Old Navy shirts and all ;)

See ya tomorrow!

xo | cmd

Happy Birthday, Shef!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CLARK!

2003 | mvhs graduation | mt. vernon

^^ Throwback, 100%.
Hahaha. This is a kid I've known for way too long. It's crazy to think that we've stayed friends through high school [that should've done it alone, haha]. Then of course there's the fact that one of us lives in the midwest and other lives in Cali. I'm happy to say we've still got the friendship, and hope, across the miles, that he has an amazing birthday!!

That was then... and this is now:

my GQ friend | happy birthday!!

You've come a long way friend, and I'm glad to have you as my friend after all these years. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHEF!!

xo | cmd

Happy Birthday, Hillsey!

HAPPY BRITHDAY, HILARY!!

hilary!! xoxoxo.

Ok. This one perturbs me a bit; I cannot for the LIFE of me find the pictures of hilary and I from the younger days we shared. Haha. I've known this little lady since middle school and we certainly had some classy [yeahnotreally] pictures I would've loved to share with the class here. There is a small handful of girls from my high school with whom I'm still friends, and she's right up there with the best of them.

Things that make me laugh thinking about Hilary [numbered, but really in no particular order]

1 | Pearl Harbor. More specifically, trying to watch Pearl Harbor in the theater, in the front row, missing one of your contact lenses.

2 | Getting advice from a lady at Crackerbarrel on which apron would best accentuate the overkill hats we were jokingly donning while waiting on a table.

3 | Writing on my basement wall. Also, the things that are written on my basement wall.

4 | 1990's chick flicks, with subtitles.

5 | Joining me on my family vacations. FAR AWAY family vacations.

6 | Hotel ammenities. Hotel room items, such as hair dryers, bath mats, irons, and towels. Also, hotel phone books. "Life ain't cheap, sista!"

7 | The term "clubbing." Hahahaha. Oy.

Long story short, Hills, I love ya, and I hope today was phenomenal. I understand that the power is out from the huge storm that eclipsed my hometown a few days ago; I hope it's not putting too big of a damper on your special day.

 Happy birthday, dear friend!!

xo | cmd