Catching Up on 2017...

Well hello, old friend.

It's been exactly 4 months yesterday, since the last time I came here to scribble something - and if I remember correctly, it was something menial. Let me open this then with a bitter admission: I've accepted the fact that my days of blogging for the dual purpose of chronological time-mapping [for my future self] and flexing my penmanship.... are long gone.

Because not all change is bad, right?

I'm not sure where it came from, but I've felt a weird tug for the past couple of weeks that it was time to revisit this blog and just start writing. If there's anything I've learned about myself in the past 30+ years, it's to never ignore that tug. This morning, I didn't have one singular thing weighing on my mind, rather that weird cloud of all the things that just sort of hung around the outskirts of my thoughts. By the afternoon, smaller, focused thoughts, and by the time I left the gym tonight, I was floating in a mental pond of Cori.

.... what a wretched analogy, sorry.

So let's see. Since the end of March alone, the universe has taken full liberty of reminding me that what I have planned is a laughable rough draft of what I'll get. My agenda has very little to do with my life in realtime, other than positioning myself at a when-and-where.... and even that's iffy.

damanji. ♥ you, friend! 

For starters, immediately after my last entry, Damanji shipped off to Turkey for the next year[ish]. We dressed up as mannequins from a Gadzook's display and sent him off with a night of drinks, dancing and a blur of 90s-inspired plaid and Converse. Born from that were some new friendships [both a broccoli-hater AND a Liverpool fan made the ranks, I KNOW, it's been a weird year...], rehashing favorite old memories and accepting that Damanji won't be physically around to annoy and humor us for at least the next 11 months.

And then Angela moved to Boston.
And Nick to Croatia.
And Megan to Ecuador.
At least Becky came back from New Mexico, even if it's just for the Summer.

Speaking of Summer, I can't remember the last time one felt like such a blur.... of everything. 
Here's [more for my future recollection of and proof that I didn't zone wholly out for the duration of] Spring & Summer 2017, as they've transpired so far:

April: Damanji's 90's themed going away party was the perfect kickoff, complete with friends, libations and really loud bass speakers :).

ali. shawn. cori

♥♥

A few weeks later, Ali celebrated her birthday by spending it here in Cincinnati, and a small host of some other favorite friends moved away, varying from temporary to full scale relocation. At the barking protest of my pride, I resumed physical therapy after intentionally avoiding it for.... a while, and found that although I now have one of the best DNS wizards in this hemisphere, I still. hate. PT. Oh, and the Fountain in our driveway has been officially traded in for an Eliminator, because ya know, it's practical to own a Catamaran when you live in Ohio. 

matching tattoos.. because that is what we do...
happy birthday, ali!! ♥♥

May: I returned to Panama with Chris and a roster of 13 other people from Ohio, Vermont and Arkansas who rendezvoused in the Atlanta airport 24 hours before we embarked on a pack-hike into the remote mountains of Balsa, Panama for a week. Run on sentence, you're welcome. We spent that week constructing a physical church building, under the direction of a foreman whose approval of any given task could be determined only by whether or not he was shaking his head at you. A good exercise of trust building in a team setting - I've found - is to incorporate 3 languages, 3 countries and 3 separate U.S. states' worth of team members onto one construction site, provide them with gas generators, power tools and a living blueprint [aforementioned foreman], with the understanding that this structure will be mapped out and finished within four days. An OSHA rep would've been escorted off this site, likely by an ambulatory pack-mule, from the heart attack they would've suffered trying to document this project. BUT, for and by the Glory of God, it came together at the midnight hour, and I had the honor  of singing praise music next to one of my best friends [for the first time], in the first service ever held in the new Balsa church. Not a bad trip. In other May news leading up to Panama, Sydni finished 2nd grade, lost a tooth that same day, and we spent much of the month catching up with family and friends. 

our favorite 2nd 3rd grader!! 

climbing with kalyn & brian | red river gorge, ky

hang times with jennica | columbus & dayton, oh

family biking | loveland, oh

panama 2017

June: The Employee Month of the Year as the count should stand, derived from my entirely made-up metric system: Surprise Factor, Relief Induction, Joy Increasing and Overall Mental Health Appreciation. I returned from Panama with my usual post-missions acute awareness of just how much stuff we have, and talking myself off the ledge of donating everything but the clothes we need for the week. Fortunately, that tirade was lessened by a trip to Chicago for a book festival & Britta's birthday, followed by a long weekend at Norris Lake with some of our favorite friends from Illinois. Oh, and lest we forget that in between those two, I got myself kicked off a sinking ship by the tempest itself, and found myself onboard a 5-star ocean liner the next week. Yeah, I know it was a crap analogy, but it was a crap situation that did a cartwheel and ended up better than ever, so whevs. Life on the professional front did a full reset, which forced me to realize how poorly I'd been just existing before everything changed. Another one of my best friends wound up here in Cincinnati for her birthday, which we celebrated in true Mare & Cori fashion: a soccer game, a piercing session, food, laughing, coffee... and more coffee.

britta boooo's birthday!! ♥ | chicago, il 

norris lake 2017 | norris lake, tn
cori. jess. taryn. liz. rob. matt. kenny. jesse.

♥ happy birthday, mare!! | cincinnati, oh

work fam :)
jess. stef. cori. chris. [missing deb]. tonya. rami. kelley. nick. ashley. brandi

nick & rami! ♥
[taken 7.13.17 ;) ]

July: I fully immersed myself back into my old-but-new job, realizing to no small amount of surprise least once every couple years. I've just accepted this as who I am at this point - perpetually scattered :).
just how neglectful I had been of my inner well-being where my professional life was concerned. Rob's birthday came around, which put us in Illinois for a weekend bash with some of our favorites. It happened to be the same week that Nick & Rami (two of my coworkers) had their wedding! Sydni and her friend Mattie had their first weekend sleepover here at the house, and I managed somehow to lose my entire wallet somewhere between the grocery checkout and my house. Don't worry guys, this is like an annual thing for me at point. Fortunately, everything was handled quickly, and with the exception of an MIA Kate Spade, all is well. OH, and July was the month we really kicked it into gear with the FC games. Now that Cincinnati has its own USL (we're aiming for MLS) team, we now have something to do every random night of the week and weekend ;).

2017 objective: pet all the dogs. these are matt's.

birthday bash for rob's 31st!

liz! 

alejandraaaaa .. or ali, if you're a regular mundane ;) 

jay & cindy came out too! 

ladies ♥

ridiculousness, in motion.

Oh, and some certain folks went and got baptized this month, too.. but that deserves a separate entry, so give me a few more days to rally all those pictures :). 

So that brings us to now, in a nutshell. I've said before that I'll be more consistent in daily updates, and after having written just this one day's slew of stuff-scattered as it is, I know- reminds me why I need to flex the blog muscles at least weekly, and eventually daily, like before.

I promise I'll start stringing together more cohesive trains of words and thoughts, too, once I get back into the rhythm of this without a 4-month hiatus.

Thanks for tuning in, blogbots :)

xo | cms

The Pre-Pilcic-Wedding Party: LOZ

We're HERE!

welcome :) 

It's a mere 3 hour drive from Granite to Loz, which flew by in the company of the three amigos I accompanied for the trip [Rob+Matt+Dillon]. We arrived at the winery, checked into our rooms and settled in for the afternoon until Mike & Esther arrived.

shawnee bluff!

The guys went off to do the rehearsal, Esther and I hung back to do the wine tasting, which took us eventually out to the deck by the pool, with a setting sun and 2 glasses of Centorri for the early part of the evening.

the pool & the view out over the lake

centorri.. x2

The rehearsal wrapped up, and we headed then to the Redhead Yacht Club for the rehearsal dinner. This place has been added to our bucket list of places to revisit when the season is in full swing. NOTED! 

swim up bar & pool area! 

We hung out, watched the Blues game and of course did what we all do best: 

nom nom nom 

^ Gracefully shoved our faces, that is. jk jk. Do you see the four of us, and Matt there in the corner? That food stood no chance ;). 

TOMORROW is the big day! I can't wait to see Taryn's dress and to be a part of this day with them. I love weddings! 

Gooood night, from LOZ! 

xo | cmd 

Nashvegas Bound: Britt's Bach!

'Tis the seaaaason! 

Okay, well not yet, but we're quickly approaching the wedding season, and there's no better way we figured to kick that off than with a Nashville bachelorette weekend to celebrate Brittany's last few weeks as a single woman.

britt & wayne | 4.1.16
can't wait! 

I started the morning off by dropping Sydni at school; I won't see her again until Sunday night [sad face], so it was fitting and fun that we were able to sleep in a little and head off to school together. From there, it was rental car pick-up, luggage loading and then leaving..... right?

Well, almost: 

thank you sasha..... 

^^ My perpetually-delayed everything dog, Sasha, managed to finagle her way off her tether in the backyard today, and in the course of the 7 minutes she was out there anyway, tumbled through some sort of mud and came back in to greet me looking like this. Typical Sasha. 

So after I cleaned up the dog and the trail of chaos she dragged in with her, I departed for the first leg of the journey: Pick up Kara and meet Kalyn in Lexington. The journey begins! 

Kara and I drove to Lexington, where we rendezvoused with Kalyn and continued on to Nashville: 

hello, super photoshopped nashville picture i pulled from google..... 

[^ the picture I took as we entered the city included the AT&T Batman tower, too, but looked more like it was taken from a 2001 digi cam, sooooo.... ]

We arrived at the house we'll be inhabiting for the course of this weekend, where Britt & Co. were already assembled. The cast was complete, and we readied ourselves for a full roster of bachelorette-based activities. 

It's awesome when a group is comprised of various - and very different - walks of life, personal interests, careers, political views and whatever else there is that can vary [so basically anything goes]. I met a few of these women for the first time, and realized very quickly that we come from the same planet, but from very different worlds. 

And ya know what? I loved it :). 

To my cousin Maricor, the Sephora manager & makeup artist extraordinaire: 

These women are your tribe, seriously. I don't know how ya'll do it, but I'm flat out impressed - and a little jealous - that ya'll can draw all over your faces for hours with this makeup stuff
& still manage to not look like you got attacked by a box of crayons. Ya'll are talented, and
I..... am lost. High five, you make-up queens!

look at those artists :p 

After Dalia, Layla, Kara and Brittany came to the rescue, Kalyn and I [the two with the least amount of makeup ability] managed to put on faces for the night and did so with minimal mistake. Success!

Some highlights from the pre-trip:

i didn't do too bad on my own :) 

i hardly ever get to see this girl anymore.. jess, you're such a beaut!

the bride getting her gear!

freakin' adorable!

love you b! happy bach!!

the sisters, aka the blonde kardashians.. haha
kalyn. brittany. kara.

And then it was off to Merchant's for dinner!

cheers to this girl haha :) 

yummmmm! 

with the lovely powell sisters
brittany. kalyn. cori 

kalyn. cori. jess ♥

oh, the antics.. 

[top left] britt. maddie. jess. 
[top right] dalia. jess. layla 
[bottom] cori. kalyn. layla. kelsey. britt

Our original plans [I thought] were to get dinner and then head home for the evening, but once we'd filled up on delicious food, we thought we'd take advantage of already being in the heart of downtown Nashville. So off we set...

the tribe! 

It was an interesting evening from the time we set foot outside of Merchant's, but still a fun experience. We retired to the house via Uber with sore feet and a few fun surprises still in store.

Kalyn's birthday is Thursday [my present to her is back in Lexington in the trunk of her car.. haha], but Brittany pulled some stops to do one gift before the night was over.

the almost birthday girl :p 

Pajamas were all around, which was a great way to phase out the night, in the company of 9 other hilarious women.

the "brown girls" here to represent the philippines & mexico! ;) 

And yes, this is a backdated entry... it got late, and we got tired.

bedtime! 

See you in the morning, for our Studio Goddess dance class!

xo | cmd

MLB All Star Color Run Cincinnati 2015!

Waking up early on a Saturday isn't typically something I look forward to doing, but today was a totally different story, and I'm not sorry at all for rolling out of bed at 7. It was color run dayyyyy! And not just any color run: Today was the MLB All Star Color Run, in honor of the All Star game that will be here in Cincinnati on Tuesday next week.

So up & at it at 7am it was; I rendezvoused with Jessica & Andrew at CYOFL at 8 for some quick warm-up, and then it was off to downtown, where the crowds were already pouring in.

We were readyyyyy..

here we go! 

What. A. BLAST! Seriously. If you're not into fun runs like this, I'm really not sure why. I couldn't have picked a better day for this to happen, nor a better group of people. We had an amazing time! :)

the cyofl team! 

We met up with the rest of the group, got our gear on, and we were off in search of the start line. Let the fun - and color - begin! 

(When the CR posts pictures from today, via bib/team ID's, I'll get those up, too!) 

It was a hilarious bout of running, powdering, music, laughter and awesome teammates among a few thousand of our closest friends. This definitely beat sleeping in today! 

yeahhh! 

The "post run" party was a giant affair right in the heart of Sawyer Point: a field of powder clouds, race day t-shirts boldly staking their claims to the course of the 3+ miles between start and finish. We gathered together in front of the main stage, where beat-dropping-powder throws (I kid you not) looked exactly like this:

Again, I can't wait to see the pictures from today's run... because my team had some of the most fun together today that I've had on any run in a long time. We were covered from head to toe in powder and thrilled about it!

colorfulllll! 

the guys, minus 1 of the andrews..

Poor Jessica wound up losing a battle with her contact lenses, so it was an early departure from downtown for us; we hopped in the backseat, thankful for Bumper's seat cover ;)

just strollin' downtown.. no biggie...

backseat post-race! :p 

I picked up my car and headed home to shower up, unsure of whether or not I'd be able to remove all the swatches of color from my body and clothes. I stripped off my shoes and whatever else I could outside, and realized there was much more than I'd bargained for, all the way to the core! 

lovin' it! 

c o v e r e d ! 

Hilarious.

So I cleaned up and switched gears into swimsuit mode and U-turned it right back to Jessica's, to join her and Andrew poolside for an hour or so. It was a short-lived little visit, before we shuttled Andrew back to his truck and took ourselves and Bumper over to Chipotle for lunch. 

Bumper, the king of the backseat :) 

cruisin' with bumper & jessica! 

The rest of the day was devoted to laundry [fyi, all the color it seems did in fact wash out of even the white tshirt and everything else, too!], clean up a little around the house, and then just... veg.. out. I did some reading, a little shopping and formulated some tentative plans for Rob's birthday.. sorry, no spoilers yet ;) 

The boys are 2 days into their bike trip now; I just spotted a FB update with some cruise pictures along the way in Gatlinburg. I'm... jealous. 

Happy Weekend, Blogbots! 

xo | cmd