Photo Shoots & Cold Pressed Juices

One of my favorite things about Cincinnati is that, especially now, it's constantly evolving and adding new dots to the map. Ten years ago, OTR wouldn't have drawn any legitimate interest from many people, but now it's a hub for some of the most delicious and attractive places here in the city.

Today started off with all smiles anyway; it was our 2015 marketing kickoff today, which meant dolling up in Express gear and bringing our A-game smiles. I love these opportunities because for us, it's never just pictures - we have a blast doing this sort of thing and inevitably have some hilarious outtakes when we're done.

Here's a couple of the highlights that we chose for our New Year's greeting card!

i ♥ this team!

It's been said that your work family can definitely be your second family; I don't know about the rest of you, but that couldn't be more true for me and this group of people. These ladies [& one gent] are the people with whom I spend most of the weekday daylight with, and I am beyond grateful that they are who they are and that we can blend the way we do.

Oh, and of course: where there are photo opps, there is always yoga.... duh!

elisa & cori : office yogis! 

Goooo figure ;)

Aaaanyway, once we'd reorganized everything that had been displaced for the sake of photography, Elisa suggested we try out a new place in Hyde Park Square: The Weekly Juicery.

the weekly juicery | hyde park, cincinnati, oh

Now, before you jump to conclusions off whatever preconceived notion you have about juice bars, let me say this: You're probably both right and wrong.

the weekly juicery | hyde park, cincinnati, oh 

If you're in the camp of people who think these places are frilly, overpriced watering holes for the privileged yogis with a weird obsession for $10 shots of wheat grass, well.... you're 90% there. This place is placed strategically across the street from a Lulu Lemon shop, on a block of retailers that yes, cater to the more... refined shopper, if you will. If you are one of those folks who frequents that level of spending on the reg, well hey, good for you - I'm not knocking you, but let's all level up here: Juice bars are a luxury, and as such by default need luxury surroundings to survive.

So that's true. Now, if you happen to be one of those artsy, free-range folks fascinated with all things local ... and fun... and artsy-fartsy like you are, then this place-and those like it- will appeal to you at face value based on those things alone.

See?

i admit i do love that. :p 

Well anyway, I'm certainly not one of those people who would be at this place every day, but I'm never opposed to checking out new things and giving them a shot.

never take yourself too seriously ;) 

Long story short, $20 later, Elisa and I had two bottles of cold pressed, locally bottled goodness:

$10/ea.

I'm 50/50 on the experience. I'm glad that Cincinnati is joining the ranks of juicebar cities, but at the end of the day, I don't know that it's gonna become one of my things, if that makes sense. It'll be a while before I'm on that level.

I'd definitely recommend you at least check it out, whether you're into that kind of thing or not. Expensive or not, it's still yummy, & a refreshing break in the day!

Here's to a day well spent, & a week hopefully the same!

xo | cmd

Office Christmas!

I seriously hope Santa gets a Caribbean vacation after all the work he's putting in this year ;)

@ express, feelin' the festive Christmas love!! ♥

Sheesh, Santa! 

dave. "the twins" [elisa. cori]. carri

In spite of our sometimes [truly] dysfunctional conversations and wading through the sometimes messy gunk that our jobs here can produce, I love my little office family and am thankful to have shared a Christmas celebration with them! 

The rest of the day went by at a grueling pace; as I sat and dialed out the last few calls, I multitasked to pass the time.. Don't worry; everything is done and I even managed to make some headway on things scheduled for next week... Carri would say that's the Sagittarius in me, somehow accomplishing more when I'm overloaded. I can't explain it, so I just roll with it :) 

talking & knitting.
multitasking! 

At home, Sydni and I got busy preparing dinner for our incredible head of the house; Sydni so sweetly explained to me that we "needed to do this because he does so much for us." I may or may not have cried a little when she said that..... ^_^

my own little cooking show! ♥

Rob finally made it home, and while he and Sydni were finishing dinner, I spent some much overdue time with the pups, which I think went over well. Would you agree? ;) 

♥ pibbles! 

And to round out the night, our own little Lila was spotted inching her way closer and closer to Christmas Day: 

sneaky girl! 

^ Oh, and I spy the ornament Elisa gifted me for my birthday [thank you!] 

TWO. MORE. DAYS!!! :D

xo | cmd 

[Belated] Birthday Continued

I honestly don't feel any different now that I'm the "big 3-0." Frankly, it's probably due in large part to the fact that for the past what... 4 [at least]  months now have led up to culminating weekends, gifts and surprises that I can't believe came my way.

It's been a pretty busy week around here, but my team managed to pull together an office birthday gig for me, despite us all being right under each other's noses for 8 hours a day. I had no idea, but it was the perfect final touch to the week and cap on our traditional Friday office lunch.

oooh! ♥

Lunch came in from Habits Cafe in Oakley, and dessert came from one of my favorite places in this neighborhood: Whole Foods!

cupcaaaaaakes! 

you guys are the best! :D

Elisa, Carri & Dave - THANK YOU for all of this today!! You guys sure know how to make a girl feel appreciated :). We're like our own little family here; we don't always like each other, but I'm so thankful for each of them and what they bring to the table. ♥

At home, it seemed like the birthday celevration just wouldn't stop. I took the leftover cupcakes home [duh], and Jessica came by for dinner. THIS girl... did a PSA on holiday fitness this morning on Channel 19, and sheeeee... nailed it. She hadn't seen the clip yet, so Rob hooked up the projector and put about 400 inches of Jessica on the wall for her. Haha..

oh heeeeey jess! 

Oh, and yes... they're gone now:

done & done! 

:)

Happy weekend, blogbots!

xo | cmd 

Happy Birthday, Shef!

Since I made/used this last year to commemorate this guy's birthday, I'm going to take the easy road and do the same thing this year... since I haven't seen him since that last time :(

Add caption

HAPPY BIRTHDAY [30th, at that]
TO THIS GUY! 

Shef, I hope you had an incredible birthday, and that year 30 is all it can be & more. You've earned it! I hope Cali continues to treat you well, and if we're in the same small hometown at the same time this year, I hope to at least say hi :). HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Here in my little world, it was a client facility tour day, which warranted jeans for the day. That of course made office yoga that much more enticing.... and long story short, this:

itty bitty bakasana :) 

^ Those jeans were not interested in any sort of ground work today, but that just made it all the more challenging, and when you're learning to float like I am, it was kind of fun.

Anyway, we just finished up dinner at Main Street with Jess; Chad wasn't working tonight since he's apparently called off Wednesdays for volleyball and life forever thereafter, haha.. but still fun either way.

So far so good on the week! See ya tomorrow, blogbots!

xo | cmd 

And OFF To Summit We Go!

Each year, Express holds its annual round of Sales Summits, in various cities around the U.S., where offices gather together to hear keynote speakers and attend relevant workshops.

Last year, our office journeyed to Detroit, and settled at a lovely hotel in the heart of a construction site. That makes for a great view in the morning [please feel free to acknowledge the sarcasm], and the group "night out" on Saturday consisted of us meandering through a smoky casino in Greek Town.

Noooot exactly our full cup of tea. We dealt with it, but decided then that we wouldn't be back.

Now THIS year, we registered for the Nashville [ok, technically Franklin] Summit, which had us excited, rather than anxious about what to expect out of our surroundings and free time.

Once I dropped Sydni off at Mindi's, I picked up Elisa and we continued on to Carri's place, where Dave eventually joined us. The four of us loaded into Dave's car, and off we were!

Here's a stock photo I pulled off Google, source unknown :(, but obviously way better than what we weren't able to see due to the fog:

[this makes me want to go back to norris lake, btw....]

Anyway, we made it to the hotel with about 15 minutes to spare before Summit actually started. Our rooms weren't yet ready, so we took advantage of the Eastgate office's hospitality and crashed their room for five minutes to transform ourselves from roadtrippers to fairly polished professionals. Downstairs we went, and there was no time wasted.

michael buckley, aka "whiz" from afterburner, inc. 

Our keynote speakers in the general session this year hail from Afterburner, Inc., which is a compilation of former military pilots, Seals and other specialists. "It's not your average group of Chairforce graduates," is basically the undertone. These guys, prior to earning roles as CEO of their current business platforms, operated fighter jets, executed covert missions and came out not unscathed, but explicitly qualified to continue on and lead other people. If you're not familiar with Afterburner, go check them out! (:

We breezed through the day's first workshop as well, a focus on the importance and implementation of social media platforms, relevant to the work we do. After that, we finally found some time to breathe, get changed and rendezvous again for our Cincinnati group dinner.

Oh, here's a nice landscape from our hotel:

2014, franklin, tn! ♥

Let's take a look back at last year's view.... yenno, just for kicks:

2013, detroit. hahahaha. gross.

So yeah. Minor upgrade, yeah?
Dinner tonight was scheduled at Top Brick in Franklin:

just a small [& blurry :( ] segment of our near 30-strong group!
elisa. chris. deb. dave. carri. cori. chuck. kate. jess. 

the ladies of 2712!
elisa. cori. carri.

pretty little lanterns at top brick!

Whew! It's been a high octane day from the time we hit Tennessee, and from what it looks like, tomorrow's going to flow at about the same pace. Tomorrow night, we'll hit downtown Nashville and see what that scene has to offer our blended little group.

For now, Elisa and I are bunkin' up here at the Marriott. G'nite!

xo | cmd

And Then, It Was EMPTY!

I've been so focused on arranging and preparing the new house, that I've neglected any specific updates on the old digs. Welllll... 

then & now..
cleaaaaaaaaan & clear!

The main room at my old house feels so much bigger without anything in it, which I realize is generally the case with any room. I don't care though; I finally cleared out the last photo frame nail from the wall and have officially cleared out all signs of inhabitance from the back half of the old house. Save for our temporary sleep set up, "WE GONE!" [yiiiiieee!]

And, on an entirely unrelated note, I'm also declaring publicly today my affection and affinity for continued healthy eating. This little shoutout is really more for myself than any audience, but a little public posting never hurts when I'm trying to keep myself accountable.. 


greek yogurt + honey + blueberries
who says office life has to be all junk food!?

... I'm bent, folks, on a healthy 2014.

Right now, I'm more excited to [almost] be down to one house, instead of split between two. Home stretch!!!

xo | cmd

You'll Uh, ZULA!

Our office Christmas dinner was tonight, so we basically spent all day counting down in anticipation for the deliciousness that would undoubtedly ensue at 7:00. The day wore itself out without too much fuss, and it was home to trade out the work clothes for some dinner gear!

^^ Stretchy pants, of course. Don't judge. Haha.
Just kidding. Zula it was! The five of us rednezvoused back at the office so Dave & Nancy could tote us down to OTR to what is now one of my new favorite eatery digs.

zula ♥

Y-U-M.
Since Nikki's moving on to other professional endeavors next week, we half-heartedly joked that tonight was her "last supper," and celebrated both her time with us and our team as a whole. We're still the new kids on the block in this area, but I have to say we're not doin' half bad!

Back at home, I flopped on my couch for a few minutes before willing myself to get up and go to bed; I stared at the empty space knowing that tomorrow, I'll see this guy and these pups. I wish Sydni was going with us, but I know we'll have plenty of other times for her to head out there with us.

t-minus one day! ♥

Pretty good little Thursday, I'd say!

xo | cmd

Office Workouts | Solo Floating

Well this one was inspired by the fact that it rained off and on for a large part of today.

tried this today.. loved it

So here's the thing about me: I'm not naturally a sedentary person. I just happen to have what can, on some days be clearly defined as a sedentary job. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my work, but it does have an undeniable habit of parking my tail in a chair more often than not.

And so, it rained a lot today. If I hadn't been working, I'm not entirely sure that I would have been outside, or really doing anything other than meddling around the house. That being said, I decided to put together a little in-office workout to serve a few different functions:

➊ Every little bit helps. LL = Leg Lifts, PU = Push Ups, and SQ = Squats. Increments don't mean much alone, but if you add them together, it's not an ugly number by the time Friday's finished.
➋ Supplement! I have my regular routine outside of work, but if I'm being honest, there isn't such a thing as too much exercise, as long as you're healthy about it.
➌ Guilt trips! There will always be exceptions to this, but honestly if I've just spent tiny increments of time here and there doing 120 squats, 90 push ups and 60 leg lifts, there's no way I'm gonna go out and purge on something gross that I shouldn't be eating anyway. Like I said, that won't be the case every single day, but I've done these reps a few times already today and I can definitely say it's helped steer me clear of the body-debilitating food. WOO!
➍ This gives me an often-WELCOME break from something frustrating or adversely menial work.
➎ I'm competitive. Seeing this on paper tells me I can't make time to do it all in one day. It also challenges me to prove that I can.. and will do this every day.

So uhhh yeah! Day 1 [excuse the beautifully flabby way my shirt's hanging? Whoa.].. Yes, this is how we do it here on our lunch breaks nowadays. We're gettin' it.. gettin' it.. hahaha.

5x each arm.. it isn't much but it's a start!

And in the spirit of physical activity... last but not least, the best part of my day:

^ I am one PROUD mama!

my proud little swimmer!

I took one of the big cameras to her practice tonight, so once I get those pictures loaded and tweaked, I'll get some of those posted, too (:

For now.. goooood night ;)

xo | cmd