Mr. & Mrs. Steinway [& Co.]!

I did not want today to end....

First things first: breakfast. We had every intention of heading out to Missouri afterwards to take a look at a bike Rob's been eyeing, but decided to do it tomorrow in lieu of some other things we needed to accomplish before the evening rolled around.

Instead, we took to our first real shopping excursion together. For two people who don't like shopping, I think we did some decent damage in a relatively short amount of time. I blame the infrequency of [retail] shopping we both do, meaning that if and when we go, well... we go.

First stop was for some new dress attire for Rob.. which was simple enough [later realizing also that he and Ryan were wearing the exact same thing.. haha]. Oh, and Rob just bought me a ring. No, don't get all fussy over it; it's not THE ring, but we still shared a good laugh over it. Really it was my intention to buy it once we got to the register but he snatched it up and refused my offer, so.... yeah. Let's hope if that time ever comes for us to start [the.grueling.process.of.real] ring scoping, it doesn't happen quite like that.. haha. ;)

a ring!
haha, and no, it's not what you think, but i think it's pretty.. well, pretty!
[thanks, boyfriend!]

As I said, we went pretty hard at the stores today, given we were only there for a couple of hours, if even that:

retail therapy for men... acceptable when women are around.. haha ;)

Once we got our run at the mall out of the way, it was back to Rob's, a quick haircut for him [by yours truly], and then some quick getting ready before Tawny & Ryan were at the door. The four of us piled into Rob's truck and were off to Yacovelli's in Florissant for Mike & Kelly's wedding reception.

congratulations, mike & kelly!! ♥♥

group shot! | yacovelli's - florissant, mo

♥ i had the best date in the place.. yenno, not biased ;)

[back at] bindy's with my [absolute] favorite ♥

We took a few pictures from the evening, but honestly were having too much fun to stop and take that many. I always regret that the next day, but it was a blast (:

"look up there... " [@bindy's, duh...]

an accurate description of [some] of what ensued tonight, haha...

with kelly | cori. rob. kelly. jesse | reading books?.. with jesse

Congratulations, again to Mr. & Mrs. Steinway! Thank you for letting us be a part of this celebration with you (:
& gooooooooooodnight!

xo | cmd

Cute Little Boys & Chocolate Teeth

I am surrounded by some seriously funny people (:

Work was work; I so rarely want to talk about it after work, so I'll leave that beast alone.

Ali and I made plans tonight with her friend Marianne; our original intention was to help Ali shop for a dress for an upcoming wedding she'll be attending.
..... We didn't get that far.

The three of us rendezvoused at my house and headed over to Olive Garden for dinner. We planned to eat and then continue on to the mall in search of a new dress for Ali. The only problem: we got hung up at OG being goofy instead. (:

It all started because Marianne transformed her hair today by getting a pixie cut, and she was a little at war with the styling on day 1. She ordered a piece of chocolate cake, and ended up with a little in her teeth. That spurred a photo session with all of us, which ended hilariously.

And by hilariously, I mean with Ali and I and some chocolate in our teeth, but more importantly Marianne looking like a scared little boy with detestable dental hygiene on picture day. Haha. ;) I haven't laughed that hard in a whiiiiile.



little boys with chocolate teeth?
.... hahahaha..., sure. :F

.... Killin' me. Hahahaha. 

We did make it to the mall, but only for about 30 minutes. It wasn't enough time to get much done, but well worth the antics earlier.

*sigh... Happy Tuesday, friends (: I hope you've had your laughs today like we have.

Have a great week!

xo | cmd

Aw, I Got the Dundie!



dundie & mr. rat .. welcome to our office ;)



A week or so back, Marc decided to institute a small reward/punishment system for us as we went about our daily business. This stemmed from some issues we had with documentation and some other small flukes, but either way, his solution was this:

For screw ups, you get Mr. Rat. He's an obnoxious, rubbery thing that serves as an eyesore on your desk.
For good works, you get..... A Dundie?? Hahaha. It's not an exact replica, but it's close enough, and that's what we collectively decided to coin it.

So when I rolled into work today, I had the dundie on my desk. (: Apparently I earned it for working from home on Monday. I thought that was pretty sweet of them, yeah?

Well.. the sweeter part of the day came after work, when I snagged Sydni from Dawne's and rendezvoused with Ali at the mall. She hadn't had the chance to meet Syd yet, so the three of us did dinner and some shopping. That's always interesting with a hyper toddler in tow, but we made it work.

Dawne is keeping Sydni overnight; Apparently Luke & Olivia are there and they begged for a slumber party, so I agreed. I took advantage of the unexpected breath to join Rob & Co. for a quick stop at Bindy's in Granite before calling it an early night [yeah, I'm an old fogie these days and I... am... cool... with that. haha].

Short week, yay!

xo | cmd

Owing Some Odes. Chyeah.

Good Tuesday evening, blogbots :)

Wellll... today was the first work day of a now four-day week, thanks to the holiday. I took a deep breath before walking in the door this morning, and good thing, since it was over in a blinding flash of call-offs, fires to be extinguished, and of course the ever-looming task of weekly payroll. Sidenote: Shortened work weeks are good for many things; payroll is not one of those.

Anywho - towards the end of the day, Joe texted me to see if I'd be up for dinner with our pastor and his wife. Duh. Since we're officially "staff" now, I suppose it would've been rude to decline..... Hah....

JOKE! I was super excited - One, it's our pastor and his wife. The two of them are among the coolest of the cool people we know, and in the realm of admirable humanoids, they are at the top of a very sparse list. Two, whether or not we're dining at their house or out somewhere, they always know how to pick cuisine. As we're still quite the novice pair at navigating around the local dining scene, it's always helpful when the places recommended by other people turn out to be awesome.


pretty lil' macro compliment of google...
[because i know some of you would
call me out on the bacon.. haha]

 Word to the residents of, in, and around Fairview Heights: Olga's Kitchen is a gem. I found it quite endearing based solely on face value because my maternal grandmother's name was Olga. [Remember, I'm adopted, erego only Italian by purchase order ;) ........... some of you will get that later] So we rendezvoused with the Woods at St. Clair Square and quickly found ourselves taking quite the liking to this place. It was one of those clear face-palm moments because I've passed by the place surely a handful of times while at the mall, but never had a reason to stop.

Yeahhhh.. so once we had our fill of snackers and Olga's [menu item.. I'm tellin' you, just get there], we went on mall-walker mode and did some light traversing back and forth across the grounds before we did two trips up/down the glass elevator for Syd, egged on especially by Pastor Ron & Debbie [so clearly grandparents ;)]. All in all a great night, impromptu as it was!

Oh, and speaking of Pastor Ron - we are prolific followers of each others' blogs, and tonight he shared with me the journey of one of his former youth group-ers, a gal just a couple years younger than me, who is in the midst of a repeated bout with cancer. [[While I don't have cancer, I've seen the havoc it can rain on any one person and their families. After heading up the Towerview team for the 2012 Relay for Life, I've gained a deep, earnest appreciation for the ongoing effort of the American Cancer Society, and moreso for the courage behind every individual person who has had to stare cancer in the face. MAJOR kudos doesn't even begin to describe the level of admiration I have for the conquerers :) ]] Soooo.. this girl, from what Pastor Ron told me, recently started a blog, and since that seems to be a thread that we both understand, he recommended I check it out. He seemed to think her candor and style of scribing were similiar to mine, too, which naturally peaked my interest.



remember this? :) | relay for life belleville 2012
the towerview fundraising tire

 So I checked it out.
And I loved it.
Blunt. Honest. Funny.
Don't believe me? -- Check it out for yourself :)
I'll be following these chronicles, for sure.

So...

Today turned out to have some unexpected turns:
Thank you to Pastor Ron & Debbie for the dinner invite, excellent company, and new reading material! ;)

Thanks to Olga's Kitchen for being so fabulously delicious... I'm on to you now..
Thanks to Ashley Brown, the girl with cancer who has decided to laugh in its face rather than succumb to it. I think that's the absolute spirit with which we should approach anything threatening to overcome. That, and pray, of course. :) Fresh perspective? Check.

Over and out, folks.

xo | cmd

Runnin' Round Town

… Causin’ trouble!

Not really. I figure that’d probably be maternally irresponsible of me to conjure up mischief with Sydni in the backseat. Or so I’ve heard. :P



cowgirl up!

We headed to church today after Sydni found her cowgirl boots and insisted on sporting them to the morning worship service. The rest of the prime daytime hours today were dedicated to running all over St. Louis and Belleville. Our first mission was to get to a Fifth Third ATM. That doesn’t sound like much of a feat for my Cincinnati/N.Kentucky folks, but here in the Metro East, the Fifth Thirds are all in St. Louis or beyond. So to make deposits, we endure a 30-40 minute drive each way, and get to see all of the newest construction efforts in downtown St. Louis. Woot woot.

We swung by Creve Cour Camera to get an estimate on repairing my poor [still broken] D90. I was pleased to find out that the fixing cost is way below what I’d expected. We walked into

St. Clair Square

on a mission to find a Claire’s or Icing, and found a Piercing Pagoda kiosk right inside the door. Sydni had somehow lost one of her earrings and had been reminding me all morning. We picked up two new pairs for her, and she’s now sporting two miniature September Sapphires. Then it was Michael’s to take a look at some beads for a few birthday presents that need to be made, and finally it was home for Syd’s much-needed nap and my time to take care of some laundry and dishes.

Pretty solid Sunday. Tomorrow will be my first time dropping Sydni off at her on-base daycare; Joe usually does this since he’s obviously headed that way. If my math is right, it’s going to be a long drive to work.

Ciao!

xo | cmd

A Soccer Voyage

To catch ya’ll up to speed on this one:

Joe applied for a spot in the try-out ranks for the Air Force soccer team. He wasn’t sure if he’d be accepted based on just a paper application, but he was, and today our little family of three drove to Lambert Airport to see him off to Langley AFB in Virginia.

We don’t know what the next week or so will hold, but we are praying for all to go well. Good news: he landed safely and is ready to hit the ground running first thing in the morning. The first cut is tomorrow night. While our family is no stranger to traveling parents, this is the first time we’ve sent Joe off not knowing exactly when he’d be back.

Sydni and I budgeted the rest of our day to running some errands, grocery shopping, and cleaning up around the house. We’ll get this place spic and span by the time daddy’s home. We made a pitstop at the mall to snoop around, and found ourselves waltzing out of Build-A-Bear with a "Daddy Spideyman Teddy Bear," as Sydni would have us call it.

It's going to be an interesting few weeks: we wish our Airman the very best luck, and ask that you all continue to send prayers his way for strength, patience, and understanding.

We will! J

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