Hometurf Touristin'

Today was our day in Granite, before we head out for LoZ tomorrow. We spent it doing truly touristy things, which made me happy :)

First stop: Breakfast!

d'awwwww ♥

^ Let's talk about how Dillon is actually a really good photographer? I don't know why that surprises me, but I really, really like this one - thanks Dillon!

Breakfast at Weezy's: good, simple, inexpensive food.. and cool stuff on the walls:

pretty cool! 

After breakfast, we found ourselves back at Dillon's; I left the boys to their own devices for a couple hours and set off in search of a dress for the wedding. I mean, I brought one, but let's not pretend I'm the first or only one who's ever done that and then decided to go out and find a different one, if for no other reason than out of sheer curiosity of what inventory the local stores have.

Fact: It's the SAME inventory, because they're the same stores that we have in Cincinnati. But just maaaaybe, it'll be something different!? 

Anywho, I found not one, not two, but FOUR dresses, all of which will be donned at sometime in the next year, I'm sure. I finished up my shopping excursion and made my way north to Alton, where the boys were already a couple hours into the afternoon at Fast Eddie's.

colorful chairs! :) 

Matt, Chad & Karrie eventually met us there, and we continued on to Chubby's down the street..

friends! 

 And then it was the Pub House..

charging my phone from the ceiling? sure. 

The night continued on into the late hours when we finally arrived at our last stop; Kenny & Taryn joined us there, along with Mike & Esther and a collection of other friends. It wasn't a bad way to end the night; this time tomorrow, we'll be in Lake of the Ozarks, and in 2 days, Kenny & Taryn will be a Mr. & Mrs.!

It's gonna be a good weekend, I just know it :)

Cheers!

xo | cmd

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

Mini [Making] Macros

Anyone who knows me knows I have a love for photography, for cameras and for anything that can be captured into a picture. Since that's pretty much anything, it's a free range for freelancers like myself.

Tonight was another night with Sydni, which we spent laying low at the house and finishing up some craft projects. It definitely qualified as time very well spent with her, but nothing really worth of a news update.

That is, until Sydni brought my phone to me after she'd been playing on it to show me a picture she took of her food. I thought nothing of it until she said, "Mommy! I picked the little flower button and... and look!"  

Basically, it's a simple picture of a sandwich and some grapes, but Sydni unknowingly turned on macro mode on the phone and snapped an up-close detail shot of her dinner before scarfing it down.

She. cracks. me. up.
Just another small ounce of truth that this little munchkin is following her mama. It's adorable. Great picture, Syd!

It's the little things like this that make it all worth it sometimes.
Gotta love it.

xo | cmd

[Art Post] Wishing I Was a Snail

I discovered Ukranian photographer Vyacheslav Mishchenko today. You should really check him out.

This particular post caught my eye because 1: I've always had some weird fascination with snails. As a kid, they roved in groups in the woods on our property. I couldn't count how many times I attempted to keep one as a pet. It never seemed to work out, usually because I was like, 8-years-old and had no idea how to care for a snail. Poor things. Also, 2: There are so many varieties of snails out there, and more often than not, I forget how fun they are to see up close.

This guy gets up close with snails, and just made me fall in love all over again with them.

Here's some fancy macro photog work, from Mr. Mishchenko:

Ugh. Just.... LOVE.
The last one is my favorite; I love how delicate and deliberate it is, all wrapped up together in one cute little shell.

It's been a while since I shared an art blog. This one is definitely worth checking out; he is an amazing artist!

In other news, volleyball was tonight, and because we live in Ohio, it was of course frigid. Our poor, frozen toes! We had a blast though, as usual, and are hoping next week offers a more.... mild evening for playing.

This week is almost over... sheeeesh!

xo | cmd

Wham BAM, Thank Ya, Marianne!

I was not thrilled that three of my four guests had to leave this morning. None of us really had looked forward to this part, but we made the best of it and naturally grabbed a couple of last minute pictures before they were gone.

just one more group picture (:

^ We look like a World Vision commercial. (:

coffee emporium ♥

In the bustle of everyone packing up, showering and making sure nothing was left behind, the time for church came and went. I hate missing a service, but I committed to making up that lost time with the podcast later on.

Rob decided to get caught up on some of his things while Marianne and I went off in search of some adventure to occupy us for the day. It really didn't take long.
We found ourselves at the Coffee Emporium, which kind of happened by default when I mentioned the mushroom house in Hyde Park. Once we were caffeinated, we hopped back in the car and decided the day was promising enough to include new tattoos. That's right, new ink.

[Holy crap.]

cheetah carpet.. and a blank canvas.

I have had one tattoo before today. It's a rendition of the sun from the flag of the Philippines, altered to reflect the connectivity of my identity as a Filipino-American adoptee. It took me five minutes to draw, and two years to save up the courage to actually do it. That needle came and went when I was 19. Ten years later, it took us 30 seconds to commit to the doing part, and about a half hour deciding on the what-to-get part. Go... figure.

So THIS [thank you, Pinterest] will stand to represent the following statement:
My life has been beautiful, and it has been ugly. The human side of me has created messes bigger than I could have ever deciphered on my own, while the God in whom I believe and give ALL the honor & praise, has righted my sinking ship more times than I ever would have believed possible. It's been a cycle of beauty, mediocrity, heartbreak and learning, and I don't intend that to stop anytime soon. A compass is an unchanging guide to remind me which way I'm facing when I'm completely lost, and fluid continuity of outer arrows remind me that in every stage, in every season, what has been and what will be are what make me... me.

The first tattoo I had was clearly a symbol applicable at the time only to me. I was always more of a piercings gal than a tattoo gal, which worked hugely to my benefit in the years that followed my spree of facial, ear, nape & naval rings and studs. Most of those are marked now only by the little dots or indents left behind. I think I may have gotten my nose pierced alongside a friend in high school, and I'm almost certain she's since removed hers. The obvious point here is that I've never had a matching tattoo with anyone. Not that any one person's struggles are of any less or more credit than another's, but I whole-heartedly believe that Marianne has earned the stripes of this tattoo, absolutely moreso than I have. That being said, the amount of regret I have for doing this on a whim today is next to non-existent.

So after the consequence of making Marianne wait for something... haha...

... this happened ..

that's kyle. and those are both my chins, thanks&you'rewelcome.

.. and eventually looked like this:

done. ♥♥

So uhm, yeah.. went for it, did it, and I'm not looking back. In fact, I'm looking up, down, and both ways before crossing the street.

Fun fact: Once you've started the day with an unplanned tattoo, the rest of said day's agenda really doesn't matter. Haha. So, in the spirit of continued spontaneity, we took a trip down to Park+Vine, where we made our tattoo announcement via their typewriter:

remington says......

[in case you missed it]:

... except skip was nowhere to be found :/ womp womp...

Yeeeup.
Between Park+Vine, Findlay Market, Eden Park & RRT in Milford, we collected some great memoirs for the day:

hanging gardens at park+vine

neighbors of findlay market

my getaway at eden park

me, climbing off the skyline...

.. & marianne, climbing back over it

Onward to Milford, RRT:


guatemala & new york.

Totally need:

honest-to-goodness want.

We hadn't quite exhausted our cameras, but the day was winding down and that indecisive space between lunch and dinner had approached, so we opted for food at Main Street. Kalyn wasn't working, but Chad was, so once Rob rendevouzed with us [via bike, because it was gorgeous today], we hung out for a bit and then headed home.

Now we're here, a trio of sweatpants-clad bums huddled with laptops and a movie playing on the TV. Mare leaves tomorrow to go back to VA, and the work week will commence as it has this reliable habit of doing.

that's a wrap, folks.

On that note... good night, loves (:

xo | cmd

Martes! [Tuesday!]

Instead of a car dashboard picture, here's a phone screen shot. Hah...


-5, ya'll. still cold.

^ Oh, and about those multiple alarms set, it would be fitting that Rob sent me this today, completely out of the blue:

this is me. to. a. T.

^ Har har harrrr...
Speaking of Rob, and me, and all things Rob and Me, he sent me a shot today of Soliman, claiming I've been rubbing off on him in the photography arena. I have to give him credit; for a cell phone, this was not a bad shot.. plus it's of the ever-photogenic big boy himself! ♥

soliman the mastiff ♥

Post-work, I decided it was time to put these new running kicks to the test. I toted them to work with me and we got some good interval running done. I promised myself I would do some circuits, too, so abs it was. I'll see if I can stand up straight tomorrow. Haha.

not great for the first time in a few months.. but we'll get there!
13.1, watch out (:  

While I was planning my next move either for the gym or for this big move, Rob was consulting me for lessons on rice preparation. I am Asian, so obviously this is second nature for me, right? Hah. Just kidding. Buuuut, I have to say I think I did a half decent job explaining the process of fried rice via phone call, and from what he said, I'm thinking it worked out well!

long distance rice dedication from my one & only (:

Rob's pretty impressed with his new culinary abilities; I told him to watch what he wishes for, otherwise he's going to get trusted with multiple weeknights of showing them off. Haha. I wouldn't mind it if he did, or didn't... but I'm proud of him for mastering rice. It's not always easy when you don't have a rice cooker!

*Sigh. I'm whooped. Today was a good day, and I have some plans for the rest of this week to wrap up here before Rob, Jesse, the moving truck & boat get here this weekend. I'll keep ya'll posted.

For now, g'nite!

xo | cmd

FACE MASH [Inspiration]

To the internet, again I must say, Thanks.

Somehow I stumbled upon some celebrity facemashes today, and decided that at some point, I'm going to launch off into my own project of compilations. I'll keep ya'll posted, but I now have some solid ideas of how to incorporate my own spin on the concept.

I'm excited.
For now... here's [courtesy of Freaking News] some celebrity mashups for your random viewing amusement. To make it a little more interesting, the answers are at the bottom of this entry.. see if you can guess who's who? (:


#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

Answers. Ya'll ready? (:

➊ | Alice Cooper & Al Pacino
➋ | Angelina Jolie & Keira Knightley
➌ | Donald Trump & Bill Gates
➍ | Julia Roberts & Jessica Biel
➎ | Meryl Streep & Paris Hilton
➏ | Natalie Portman & Keira Knightley
➐ | Orlando Bloom & Johnny Depp
➑ | Paris Hilton & Jessica Simpson
➒ | TomKat [who needs their names, anyway, haha]
➓ | X-Men Transplant! Mystique & Magneto

So that was ... time-consuming, right?
Not the most content-flavored entry I've ever posted, but I'll be referring back to this later....

Happy almost Hump-Day!

xo | cmd