Sunshine, Bicycles & Good Books

Ohhh, sunny DAYS!
Even though I was working today, I did have an altered schedule that I didn't hate. It was mostly due to a hiring event I hosted in partnership with one of the Northern Kentucky career placement services; she set me up in a conference room for the afternoon and I knew then that the day would be all right:

i'll just swim on in there... hardy har har... 

The event ending gave way to a commute back across the river, which was packed full of commuters until I neared the river line on 275, and I couldn't help but snag a shot of the state line welcoming me back across the water.

and i'm cooomin' on back.. 

I hurried so that I could catch Sydni's bus; it's the first time this year that I've been able to see her off the bus after school, and while I snagged a shot of her coming off the bus, I wish I could've captured her face when she realized she was going straight to the car, with me. Be still, my heart... seriously.

so little, but so grown up.. how's that possible?!

We ran a couple of errands, went grocery shopping and had a mini mommy-daughter date for a snack before we headed home. Today's been gorgeous, and this evening didn't disappoint. Sydni and I cleaned up some around the house, and then I joined her outside for a couple hours of bike riding.

my toothless little darling! ♥

I had to remind her today that there was a time not long ago that she believed she would never learn how to ride her bike, and now.. this.  For hours, if I'd let her. I love everything about it.

I sat outside sprawled across one of the patio chairs, with Sydni blurring across my left and right peripherals as she rode in a circle up and down our street. Eventually, the bike retired to the garage, and for a moment, I became audience to an impromptu 1 person gymnastics meet:

She tumbled on and on, rolled around the yard several times and chased a teasing blue jay until it finally got bored of her being bound to the land. I drank it in, and managed to squeeze in the final few chapters, epilogue and bonus short story at the end of the latest book. I've been afraid of finishing Lady Midnight, because if I'm honest, I've read all 6 of the The Mortal Instruments, all 3 of The Infernal Devices and now this, the first in The Dark Artifices series that Cassandra Clare has released.. all within the span of less than 2 months.

lady midnight - done! 

NOW WHAT DO I READ?! 

Just kidding. I'll hunt down the Bane Chronicles or the Shadowhunter Academy books next and indulge myself in Simon's quest for ascendance. Do I sound like a nerdy maniac? Only if you've never read any of these, I suppose.. haha. Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be the one hooked on a book series like this, but yeah.. let's go with it! 

Anywho, it's late, and we're all spent. Happy Tuesday to you, blogbots! 

xo | cmd

Summer's ALMOST Here

Hiring Event [Job Fair] Number 2!

thank you, brown mackie college! 

Elisa and I were the only Express reps onsite today, among many other local employers and potential employees. In the midst of the hustle and bustle, Elisa and I determined that these events are definitely the best way to both take a breather from the daily routine, as well as capitalize on marketing and recruiting opportunities!

express onsite - day 2! 

Elisa and I are only so creative on days like this, but when the routine we hammered out is ideal the way it is, there's really no reason to reinvent the wheel.

So that meant day 2 of Coffee Emporium, followed by Ault Park, but this time we were able to track down two trees that were ideal for hammocking! [YIIEEEE!]

I convinced Elisa to try mine out, as she's recently expressed interest in buying one of her own. She loved it!

elisa!!!! i think she's been sold! 

We eventually traded spots; I switched out my yoga mat for my hammock, and spent the rest of our mini break accepting my favorite kind of beauty: the simple kind.

ault park

Summer's almost upon us! I picked up Sydni after work today, after her final field trip of the year.

she's ready for summer, too... clearly .. haha

It's been a relaxing evening at home, which is just what we've all needed at the midpoint of this week. Summer is within reach; I can feel it!

xo | cmd

Wednesday - OWN IT!

It's... JOB FAIR season! I scheduled our first two bigger events of the season for today and tomorrow; we loaded up our gear yesterday to prepare for today and headed off in full Express thunder to see where the day would take us.

First things first though: Let me just say that any day that starts like this... is guaranteed to be a fruitful day, regardless of whether or not we're out hiring:

.... a few of my favorite things!

^ I love that, over and over again!

Sooo... yeah, there was the job fair. It's the first of two that Elisa and I have scheduled this week, and I have to say that it went very well! We even stumbled across Kelly, from the Eastgate office - coincidentally one of my former colleagues from the Days of OLD... aka Clearchannel [that's a different story.. haha]

express cinci central | express eastgate

It's not often that we get out of the office for hours at a time, but it's a fun change of pace, especially when the halls are buzzing with potential candidates and business partners!

fun at our hiring event! 

The job fair came to an end, allowing us a small window to take lunch and whatever else happened to accompany that.

Therefore,
Stop #1: Coffee Emporium.
Stop #2: Ault Park:

catching some sunshine!!
ault park | cincinnati, oh 

We returned to the office and finished off the day before parting ways for the evening. I thought it fitting to continue the evening in like fashion, in the gap between work and volleyball:

sideyard hammocking! 

After a few hours, it was time to head to volleyball [by a few hours, I mean 10:20 PM, *le sighhhhh]. It was tournament week, so we plowed through our games at the back-to-back pace that comes with tourney weeks.

We played, we played and played some more, and a few hours later, we stood as league champs! Given that we're a 4C team in a 6D league, I probably wouldn't have predicted this to go any other way, but it was still a blast getting back into the structured league play of Grand Sands, and I'm proud of my quad team.

Yay, team!

martin. cori. beth. paul
league champs!

It is LATE. I am tiiiiiired, and it's an early day tomorrow. See you then!

xo | cmd

The Overzealous Me...

So on March 5, long before I took off for a week to the mountains of Panama, I scheduled the monthly career fair for April. Good job, Cori.

It's amazing that even when I know I'm a ragged mess, I can push on when I have to. I don't know why I'm so baffled by my own ability to do that, but I really wasn't sure walking into that conference room today if I had it in me.

Good news, I did.. and Elisa was a sure and steady supporter through it. We celebrated a slow but semi-successful event [thanks to the rain] with lunch at Findlay. The pops of color there certainly appealed to the otherwise mopey feeling that's been lingering in my gut since I got back to planet USA, and I was quite thankful for the cheerful atmosphere.

colors on an otherwise drab day... ♥ - thank you, findlay!
findlay market | cincinnati, oh 

The day closed, and I headed off in search of something I've been hunting down in my head for the past 24 hours: A bilingual Bible. [I FOUND IT!] As I stood at Family Christian awaiting the completion of my Bible engraving, my sister was kind enough to send my phone into a seizure ;) -

... my sister vs. my facebook photo album... haha.. 

I've made it quite clear to her that she must find a way to come along on the next journey out of the country, specifically with me... which will hopefully be with the Vega team back in the mountains of Panama. Can you tell my heart is still aching to be there?!

Dinner.
More rain. 

I'm already over this week :p 

xo | cmd

Job Fairs & Coffee!

Well folks, it was gorgeous out today, which we determined would be the perfect setting to head south for a St. Patrick's Day hiring event at the Radisson in Covington! Thanks to Tana and Brad, we snagged ourselves a booth at the expo and spent the day shaking hands and people watching with some of our local competitors, schools and businesses. These things are a blast.

express onsite!
elisa & cori 

Another benefit of these things, aside from time away from the office, is that when they're in cool venues like the Covington Radisson, you get lunch in the 360 restaurant at the top, for free. Pretty awesome. Sidenote, I need to bring Rob down here sometime for a date night.. haha.

lunch, courtesy of the radisson!

panoramic :) 

isolated view of the city ♥

Once we'd wrapped up with the hiring event, we began our ascent north from Kentucky back into Ohio, en route to the office.

We got hung up for a minute once we hit Montgomery; there's this little coffee shop situated on a corner near the highway entrances, and while I've driven by it several times now, up until today I'd not stopped to check it out.

Elisa and I are pretty good at scouting out new digs, so we took a small advantage of the beautiful day and stopped in. I am SO glad we did!

1. This is a co-op. That in itself is pretty flippin' cool. They're about as local as it gets.
2. They have a mango smoothie there that is to die for. I know this because I got it, it was gone in a matter of minutes, and I already want another one.

community blend! 

coffeee... coffeeeeeee & more coffeeeeee!
& mango smoothies!!! #perfect

Not a bad way to spend a Tuesday! There was a lot of talent today at the hiring event, and although the first truly nice day of the year doubled with it being St. Pat's was likely the deterrence from what otherwise would've been a packed house, I'm still grateful for the opportunity and glad that we went!

And maaaaaaaaybe, if we're lucky, this means the weather's going to start staying beautiful.. Oh, I dunno... consistently???

Or maybe not. We do live in Ohio. Doesn't hurt to dream though, right? ;)

xo | cmd

Snowback Thursday

Ok, Ohio.. We get it.

it's.... march. 

This would've been way more fun if it were a weekend. Or, if we as adults had snow days like all the kids do [ahem, Sydniiiiiiiii...]. Instead, I fired up the Subie and joined what small crowd of commuters there was between home and work. It was a slow crawl, but I made it to the office with just enough time to gather up our gear for the job fair Elisa and I were set to attend.

perfect weather for a trek through the work day... haha

We arrived at the job fair without a hitch, despite the flurries!

there's no business like snow business.... 

It was understandably slower than usual, given the inclement weather conditions. Elisa's reaction to the entire experience was equally-understandable.

i feel ya. 

To warm ourselves up after a chilly morning at OHMJ, we took a short drive a few blocks down to Findlay. where the newest installment of Eli's BBQ was up and running. SCORE.

eli's bbq! 

Back at home, it was the standard drill of activity, especially during the cold days... ;)

the pups (: 

just.. typical night.. 

hers & mini hers ;) 

Another good one in the books. G'Nite for now!

xo | cmd

Hiring & Hummus

We were baaaaaaack at it today! Elisa and I wrote our day around the job fair we hosted with one of our partners downtown, and as usual, it was a great way to start the day. 

happy job hunting! 

Back at home, I got to digging through some recipes for a good, solid hummus. While I've occasionally experimented with different variations, what I would ideally like to have is a go-to that I can whip up without a second thought, and have it as it is, or add to it from there.

the struggle is oh. so. real.

Well thanks to Cincinnati Locavore's tips that I just discovered tonight on their blog, I think I may well be headed in the right direction.

Read 'Em HERE

There's also THIS: 

via THIS page

Give me a couple of days, folks. I'll report back once I've honed in on my new go-to. 

For now, have a beautiful rest of the week, blogbots! 

xo | cmd

Mama's Birthday | E&C Out & About

Today was a GREAT day! 

1. It's my mama's BIRTHDAY!

love you, mama!!

It goes without saying that my mom is my greatest inspiration as a matriarch, and to say she's also the most vibrant woman I've ever known is also a solid fact. She's the best, and for her today I wish the best! Happy BIRTHDAY, beautiful mama! Another year YOUNG! ;)

2. At work, our marketing team [aka, Dave & Carri] hit the road in full force, and I have to say I'm pretty proud to be translating some creativity across the board into work things. Carri & Dave went to town [literally!] with all of this while Elisa and I kicked it into high gear at the job fair. How's that for teamwork? ;)

express-style greetings! 

3. And let's be honest, Elisa and I grabbed some grub+bev after the job fair. Cincinnati, you've outdone yourself again :)

tom+chee! 

+ a pitstop at coffee emporium ♥

furry bike! 

fun fun & fun :)  

We headed back to the office, where the rest of the day flew on and found all of us hanging out [well, working, but you know] well after the 5:00 hour had passed us by. It's the price of progress, but very well worth it].

Whew! :)
We're halfway there, week!

xo | cmd 

Vote | Hire | Eat | Be Merry!

Haaaaaaaappy Tuesday!

How'd you start your day?

vote, vote, vote! 

I did see someone post a note of caution to the uninformed voter, saying that the greatest service he/she could provide was to stay as far away from the polls as possible. I can't say I disagree; I think by now our nation should be fairly aware of what happens when ignorance shows up in hoards to cast a ballot. I did my best to exercise my due diligence today, but must admit that I had absolutely no business siding in/on certain matters, so for those I refrained. I felt a twinge of guilt that I wasn't more educated, since these issues clearly held enough weight to show up on the list, but that didn't excuse me enough to be a voice in a matter foreign to me.

For those of you who made informed votes that reflect your personal and religious beliefs today, THANK YOU!

On to work it was; today was a good day for a hiring event, which is exactly what Elisa and I scuttled out the door en route to SuperJobs.

fall hiring event 2014!

I love these things!

elisa & me..
... and of course our creepy corner-face-sign-guy... 

The job fair was a blast, as they always are, and, as tradition dictates for these things, was followed by a quick bite at Findlay Market just around the corner.

taste of belgium at findlay market. that's a win! 

I've been skeptical of the weather as we progress into the Autumn season; it's either tolerable or flat-out gloomy, which presents quite the Midwest-standard for dressing in the morning [hint: layers]. We were happy to be able to peel off our coats for this one, and enjoyed lunch on the sunny patio in front of Market. On our way out, we each grabbed a different vendor snack for back at the office, and caught a glimpse of some uplifting artwork on the way out:

♥this is otr! 

And yes, it's nearly 11pm and I'm just now finishing up the at-home work to which I committed in lieu of being gone for the majority of the morning. I had the privilege of helping Sydni with her homework earlier, and catching up with my better half on some upcoming transitions in his and my professional lives - I've got it made and I am thankful, tenfold for the day I've enjoyed.

Happy Tuesday!

xo | cmd

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