Cousins for Christmas

The past week's been ...... one. of. those. weeks.
My heart's been heavy with the weight of some things I hadn't expected, and it's been an emotional rollercoaster. Everything from my soul to my skin feels tired, strained, and in need of some rest and healing. (Don't worry guys, it's a temporary lament - I'm not going anywhere, just being... human.)

I needed a break in the waves, so it was with a heart insanely full of gratitude that I headed out after church to catch up with my Ate Caridel, in town from Arizona for the holiday. To say that I needed the company of these women (& little women!) is an understatement.

I am.. so, so thankful for these ladies.

♥ ate caridel & maricor

♥♥ my heart was so happy to see them ♥♥

just add frappucino ;) 

pinsan ♥ | [cousin]

ate caridel ♥

Aaaaaaaaaalso, I'm not sure why I'd put off watching Crazy Rich Asians until tonight, but I couldn't have picked better company for a viewing party. I loved it, I love them, and I feel immensely recharged.

We're on the homestretch of 2018. I'm thankful for this season, as it's mixed with both anticipation and exhaustion. It's a strange blend, but 2018 has taught me more in one year than I'd expected or hoped. Today was a much-needed, much-appreciated chance to slow down and be present with some of my favorite humans.

I hope you're taking those moments this Christmas season, too - to slow down.. and just.. be :). ♥

xo | cmd 

To Easton We Go!

Dear Future Self: 

It's late in the evening, and I'm still smiling as I think of the day we just had. It wasn't anything huge, but it was everything to have had it, anyway. I hope that on a dark day somewhere down the road, you'll look back at today, in all its simple perfection, and remember how much love you felt today. 

Love, 

Your Present Self. 

**********************************

My mom's birthday was last Sunday, but since we can't be in six places at once, I wished her happy birthday over the phone. We decided mid-week that the weather would be just fine for us to meet up for lunch in Easton, which is just barely an hour drive for them. 

Oh, and in case you haven't been in Columbus in the past 15 years, the answer is yes, we are STILL under construction. 

I'd forgotten how ridiculous parking at Easton is on a Saturday, but we finally made it to the restaurant to meet up with Mom.  

could she be any more adorable?!

happy birthday, mom!

Since we were at Brio, Sydni got to have some fun of her own: 

And entertainment: 

^ I can't handle this girl ;) 

Anyway, more fun from mom's birthday lunch and trek around Easton: 

3 generations ;) 

gosh, these two... 

hahahaha

dad!

i may be partial, but i'm sure my mom is the cutest! 

so. much. love.

After lunch and a quick stroll around Easton, Sydni and I headed another 15 minutes north to stop in and say hi to Maricor.. 

cousin time! 

We're back home now, and with another good Whole30 dinner under my belt, I think this was a pretty good way to wind down the day. A friend of mine just got tattoo #1 tonight, so now I'll be on Pinterest for the next definitely-unhealthy-length-of-time digging around mandala elbow pieces.. because I'm the type of addict who can't bear hearing about it without also going to get one.. haha. 

All ideas welcomed. For now, as Iliza puts it, "PINPINPINPINPINPIN"

Happy Saturday, blogbots.

xo | cms

Hello, August!

Where did this summer go? I saw a quote earlier today or yesterday somewhere on Instagram: 

June & July lasted 4 seconds.

(They're not wrong).

I feel like this Summer has flown straight past me; I gathered that much when June hit and I was in Panama, and then proceeded to spend the rest of June out of state on the weekends. July wasn't much different. Now we're here, it's August 1st, and today was a GOOD DAY to slow down and enjoy it.

I got drafted to head northward for my office's weekly interview round-up in Warren County. Ashley's on vacation this week, and I'm the next closest geographically, so off I went this morning to Lebanon. It was a standard morning of interviews, new employee orientations... all the fun stuff that comprises my day-in-day-out. 

AND THENNNN.. 

helloooooooo, gorgeous!

I'd never been to the heart of Lebanon, so I typed in 'coffee' and waited to see what happened. As it turns out, there are at least four coffee shops/houses in cute little Lebanon, so I picked the first one and saved the rest to explore another day. 

I picked right. 

This is exactly what I picture when I think of quirky little cafe/coffee joints: It was tucked into a row of street-side businesses, decorated like a parlour, and covered with chalkboards and coffee-themed things. The board inside the doorway reads, 'FUN FACT: We have a different flavored coffee EVERY DAY!' And obviously this was where I was supposed to come, because I have an irrational desire for this stuff. 

^^ lampshade ceiling ^^ 

Approaching the counter to order food is a serious affair for me, although not as serious as trying to find a place to order the food in the first place. So I asked what the most popular dishes were on the menu, and was told that both the chicken salad sandwich and cornbread salad were award-winning (literally) items. Let's DO IT, because I am in no way a fan of making my own decisions at a food counter. 

how your food is delivered at royce cafe & coffeehouse:
ADORABLY.

I've never had so much non-salady salad on one plate. Frankly, I never even knew that was an option.

And then I saw this, which will be promptly displayed in my office when I get back to the homefront. I made it a point to thank the owner after this entire lunch experience for doing this, because not only is it a step and statement of faith to add scripture to a lunch order, but it told me that they'd thought well enough about how to encourage people, even if just for a second.

love, love, love.

On my way out, I ordered a Red Velvet Mocha, after again having asked for the most popular vote. Sure, let's do it... and omg this was the right choice kthanksi'llbebackbye. 

wifi password, also my life motto. 

SO FOLKS, if you're ever in or around Lebanon (OH), GO HERE. :)

And if you're ever in or around Eastgate (or Fairfield, don't forget!), go to Jungle Jim's and definitely buy escargot shells five-foot long dog ropes and mochi and most definitely 3 giant buckets of pop boba.

the filipino food aisle... 

Say yes to dog toys. Especially those that are taller than you and can withstand the force of two 70 pound dingos at home.

Today was a beautiful day, and August is here.
Let's do it!

xo | cms 

Work. Oh, Yeah, That Too :)

 My picking this book up is Britta's fault. I want to share the spoilers with everything and everyone within earshot, because I love it so much. Today, I purposefully toted it to work with me, and enveloped myself in a half hour of stillness on my lunch break to continue reading. I'm nearly finished, which makes me sad in its own way, but it's a familiar feeling I have with so many of my favorite books.

lunch break reads♥

With work checked off the day's list, it was time to get home and get back to the gym.
I haven't worked out since 2016. [heheh..] < It's corny, I know, and we're in the first month of not 2016, but the sinus infection that I had last week would've made for quite the scene of me wheezing and eventually/inevitably either passing out or vomiting all over the equipment. BUT, now I'm back, feeling my face again [which is a relic I don't appreciate until it's impossible to do, I've realized], and ready to get back on track with the task of hunting down all.ze.gains. ALL ZE GAINS.

cashed.

Whhhheeew. I'm spent. Not a bad way to end hump day.
We're on the home stretch now - two more days til the weekend! :)

xo | cms

[Measuring] Success

Ya know...
In the shadow of all the things I've seen, read & heard in the wake of this insane weekend in Orlando (namely the varied responses of the general public), I saw this today & thought, "Yes. This is a good summation of how I right now." 

I can't begin to imagine the hellish voids to which the families of those 50 people (& of Christina Grimmie) will wake for the next days.. weeks.. years, knowing what they know and missing those beloved who are gone. There's nothing any store sells that will restore a loss of this magnitude. The deceased shooters will never even be punished with the physical sight of the families they ripped apart.

Am I praying for Orlando? You better freakin' believe I am. Do I believe prayer alone will compensate for what happened? Of course I don't. Do I believe though in the power of American unity? Abso-150%yes-alutely. To me, that says success. A country divided so resolutely on political, religious, (etc.) issues that will put that aside immediately to pick up the pieces of a tragedy like this - TOGETHER. THAT is success. That's what I'll tell my daughter happened: when evil made a statement, people still loved, and love won.

And that's what I want her to tell her friends about the adults in her life, especially her mother. Nobody sets a flawless example, but if I can raise at least one child to be a light in this crumbling world, and to love herself and others exactly where they are, then yeah- that's success.

Add caption

Random picspiration cred: #jimmyjohns #prayfororlando#morelovelesshate #nextgeneration

Just somethin' to think about today... 

xo | cmd

MARCH: Sunshine, Ikea & Donkeys?

Dude. It was freakin' goooorgeous outside today! Am I the only one who nearly fell over walking outside at lunch?

yes, i did that.

Yeah. I'm going way overboard with the daily lunches this week, and with the selfies to match. Here's the thing though: I haven't taken 2 consecutive 1-hour lunch breaks in almost 10 months, so ex-ca-uuuuuuse me if I'm a little chippier than usual ;)! 

^ But really, I indulged today. Whole Foods, for one, is not the 99-cent store, as we all can attest. I'm not shaming those of us who shop there, but let's be real: it's overpriced and we all know it. Today though, I went for it, got lunch, a $5 chapstick and a kombucha [shout out to Jen & Jordan @ Fab Ferments!!], then proceeded to park myself on a painted bench directly outside of Pier 1 to eat said lunch and consume said kombucha.  Yeeeup, I went full-fledged White Girl today.

On top of that, I proceeded to punctuate today with a trip to the second most basic place on Planet Earth: Ikea. Yeah, you read that right, friends: Cori, in one day did a Whole Foods and Ikea run. Ya give a girl two days of lunch breaks and she goes rogue, right? Hah.

300 pages of yes please!?

But seriously, Ikea. The love-hate relationship I have with the place continues, as it probably will until the end of time, or until I no longer need to buy $1 aluminum flower pots, $3 clippy hooks for EVERYTHING IN MY  HOUSE THAT NEEDS HOOKING and 2-for-1 adorable throw pillows.

Wait, what? I mean... the ONE accent table, the ONE bedstand, the ONE bedframe and the ONE set of pedestal legs for the ottoman.

And silverware.

Placemats Nothing Else!

LED light strings Nothing Else!

Bamboo plant! Nothing Else!

Buckets Nothing Else!

Kids art accessories Nothing Else!

CINNAMON ROLLS! Just kidding, these are NOT crossed off. #sorrynotsorry.

Rob is beyond ready for this move to be done; I can see the terror in his eyes when I open my mouth now and the sentence begins with, "What do you think about..." He's a trooper, who is hanging in there and providing the brawn that I don't have, the truck that my Subie is not and the accountability not to go broke... that I do not on my own possess at this time. Kudos to him. 

IKEA on a Tuesday: 

US, at IKEA on a Tuesday: 

let's do this!!
[at 8:45pm... haha] 

hitching a ride

 Spoils of the adventure:

we planned on buying [tonight].... about 80% of this. 

I'm pretty pumped. The guest bedroom will be together in no time, and the rest of this place will be constructed one little bit at a time. I've already enlisted Becky and Jess to assist with the painting, when that time comes. We're almost there; I can feel it.

Oh, and an additional feature of our new neighborhood to which I wasn't savvy before tonight:
We've got.... DONKEYS! These two, named Jackson and some other president name, are little escape artist pals from the farm across the street. Tonight, as we were nearing our road, we noticed them wobbling down the side of the main road; at first glance, it was assumed they were deer, but at closer look, that agile gait of a deer was totally missing, and to be honest, these two looked like the brown versions of our dogs.... so no, they weren't deer.

donkeys. neighbor. donkeys.

I took this picture for corroboration to my claim in case nobody believed me later on. Fortunately though, we weren't hallucinating, which was confirmed by our neighbor when I tiptoed onto her front porch at 10:30 PM to ask about the donkeys. And also introduce myself for the first time. Nothing like a Hi-I'm-new-here intro that starts with, "Sorry it's so late, but I'm the new neighbor and umm.. Do you know anything about the two donkeys out here?"  

The neighbor knew, of course, and even had the number for the farm on speed dial. I'm fortunate that the neighbor didn't answer the door with a shotgun, with it being this late, but I'm super happy that they seem to be decent people with a good sense of humor, especially dealing with roving donkeys [insert witty quips here, re: donkeys].

Happy Tuesday, ya'll. Stay beautiful, like this weather! ♥

xo | cmd

Monday Lunch Break!!

An excerpt from the list of things I love:

* Jesus
* Sushi
* Lunch breaks
* Sunshine
* Friends
* 70° weather in the 1st week of March
* A stellar deal off Craigslist
* Rob & Sydni

It's clearly not the entire list, but it felt appropriate today to highlight those specific things. 

First, and I cannot emphasize to all maybe-two of you readers out there just how liberating it was today to TAKE A FULL, 1-HOUR LUNCH BREAK. You call it dramatic... I call it... rare. 

I'd forgotten over the past 9 or 10 months just how fantastic it is to step away from the desk and everything that comes with it, and just.... exist in a space free of work, errands and anything else that qualifies as an obligation. 

[insert über happy emoji face here]

For starters, I donned a dress to work for the first time in months today. It just... felt right - the air felt promising this morning when I let the dogs out, so I went for it. My favorite boots went with it, and out the door I went to start the week. 

This was not a typical Monday, at all. From the time I woke up to now, it's been nothing but fun. Seriously! I'm going to blame this on Kristin, the new girl at work - she's just now starting her 2nd week, but even so, I'm already feeling layers of stress and pressure peeling off. The girl is seriously a God-send, I'll say that much. Now that she's here, the daily workload will be more evenly-distributed, and with that comes lunch breaks!

Monday lunch break = SUSHI! Extra ginger, pwede ba! [<that's 'please' in Tagalog]

People, listen. If you're going to pursue my heart, you have to start with my stomach. In fact, you really only need my stomach, if the timing is right. I wanted nothing more today than a seaweed roll, and once I got it, the rest of the day was a cakewalk. 

And then the work day ended, and it was on to the next thing: Retrieving an armoire I'd hunted down on Craigslist. The guy who posted it months ago has been experiencing relay issues with emails, and I just happened to swoop in at the right time, as he was near giving up on hearing back again from any of the previous inquiries. Cori, would you pay an 8th of the full price for an armoire in near perfect condition? 

hello, lovely! 

Yes. Yes I would. And I did. And I'm PUMPED. #newhousefurnituuuuuuure

We came, we retrieved, and somehow we [Rob & I, but mostly Rob] finagled that sucker up and over the banister and landing to the 2nd floor of the new house. He probably needs a chiropractor after it all, but hey, it's there, it's ready and as soon as the walls are painted, it'll be a functional fixture in the digs of yours truly.

And with that, folks.. we're good here. The week is young, but God's been good to us for a Monday. We're feeling inspired to get this place under wraps!

Have a beautiful week, blogbots!

xo | cmd

Today I Choose JOY :)

Okay, it's true. I had a miniature melt-down yesterday. I chose to let the mounting pressures of the day get to me, and eventually I caved, because I'm perfectly imperfect and am prone to moments of vocalizing [or not] my breaking points. 

Luckily, I have Rob, who balances me out to a T; he was there exactly when and how I needed him to be - Not with a shoulder and a hug, because he knows me in rage mode and keeps a safe distance [throw chocolate at iiiiiit!!!]. Haha... No, it wasn't that bad, but it was one of those moments that I confided in him and he was the rock that I needed. He talked me off the edge of mental oblivion [how's that for being episodic?!], and back to the center of myself, where I took some deep breaths and came back to conscious awareness of the good that surrounds me. 

And SO... my commitment for today, and for every day, is this reminder: 

every. day! 

Every day, CHOOSE JOY. I chose it today, although the day itself didn't stray from it's usual pace, not once did I feel as though it had the upper hand on me. Amazing what a little JOY can do! :)

On a path to joy, I journeyed up to Whole Foods for lunch, and sat by the window to eat. Alone. I'm an expert people-watcher, so I reveled in the delicious food and entertaining collection of foot-traffic through the table area and outside in the parking lot for a few moments. It was the perfect mini reset, and for some strange reason, it just made me... happy. :)

nommmms! 

Clarissa left early today; her son had a monkey bar mishap that resulted in a broken arm, so we're pulling for him to make a speedy recovery!

It's been a long day, but a good, solid productive one, too. Cheers for tomorrow being even better!

xo | cmd

Sunday Funday

We started off Ali's departure day with church. I was super excited to do so, since she usually has to head out suuuper early to be back for whatever role she's playing at her own church that day. It was a beautiful service, with beautiful people, and we walked out feeling that much closer to our goals of knowing our God more and more every day. 

We managed to do a second take on the selfie, that didn't really work out as planned yesterday while we were at the splash pad. #FINALLY! hahaha

love this gal! 

It was off to lunch after that, with the ever-entertaining Sydni as the main attraction while we ate. I swear, you get one quesadilla into this kid and this is what happens...

She's. hilarious.. hahah. Between the flower in her hair, kicking off her shoes, some strangely adapted version of clogging and the rest of the routine that she created in her head, I can't help but wonder what I ever did before her. My life was a stark [and boring] thing pre-Sydni; I'm sure of that much. Haha...

Finally it was time to do the "see ya soon" thing; Ali packed up her gear and jumped on the road, leaving Rob and me with the decision of what to do with the afternoon. Sydni decided for us, when she sat down for "just a second" and woke up about 2 hours later after a much-needed snooze. We followed suit with her, and after rubbing the nap sleepies out of our eyes, we took to the yard to pull some weeds, mow the lawn and examine our pumpkin plant that's flourishing through the front garden.

And NOW, we are here, noses buried 12 tabs deep in Google Chrome doing wedding research for next year... The fun continues! ;) 

I'd better get back to work.. hahaa..

xo | cmd

Welcome, Clarissa!

We welcomed a brand new member to the Express team today!! Elisa is leaving at the end of this week to prepare for her launch off to grad school, and after several unfruitful weeks of searching, we found Clarissa, who is going to be taking her place. I'm super excited to see our next chapter with her! :D 

welcome aboard!!

I was also pretty excited about lunch.... not just the salmon & green beans, but the fact that I actually remembered to bring it to work. I mean, that's half the battle, right? Haha.. 

Elisa and I took a breather [our first of the day, really] around 3:30, and opted for ice cream... because we were both embracing our inner fat kids today and it sounded awesome. 

and it was awesome!

How'd we never know about this place before?! Not cool...

It's awesome. Cute, small, locally-owned and operated... and delicious. :) 

Time Warner Cable on the other hand, has some absolutely ground to make up, and will stay in the doghouse until the end of time. While I understand it's a luxury, and this will certainly sound like a first-world rant... we signed up for this because we are blessed with the means to support it, and because we enjoy watching it occasionally. So given those two things, the fact that we spend more time speaking with customer service about our lack of service than actually having service is irritating. 

We're almost on board with whoever else has ever though and/or done this... 

last straws.. 

And I suppose if that's the worst thing that's happened to me today, we're okay :). 

It's Monday, and it's sunny. This is gonna be a good week! 

xo | cmd

Yenno.. Just... RAIN.

Here's how the beginning of the day looked: 

workday... and rain. 

Here's how midday looked:

lunch... and rain. 

Here's the drive to volleyball after work:

driving... and rain. 

Here's Grand Sands, in between sets:

volleyball.. and rain

The running theme of pure saturation was branded all the way through the day today. However, there's always a silver lining, and in our case today, that came in the form of winning the league after a round of tournament games! Not too shabby for rain-soaked sand, players and volleyballs. Yay, team!

league champs ;) 

Next session starts next week. Here's hoping for no rain in sight :D

xo | cmd