Pitbull Personal Space

I titled this according to the short list of non-existent things in my life right now. 

I am not complaining, but it's still true. There is no such thing as personal space when it comes to these dogs.

I'm still kinda reeling from the Adoptathon that we attended over the weekend, and after spying on a couple of other baby bullies without permanent homes, it made me want to come home and give mine that extra inch of space (and then they take a mile, because they're pits and that's what they do, duh..). 

h....i. 

For almost an hour, this is how they both sat. Sasha eventually fell over, which is nothing new, but for that 45 minutes of dog breath into my book, it was still endearing in its weird little way.

I've managed to fly under the radar this week - no sick bugs in our home, no unusual crisis at work, and only the occasional hiccup here and there in between it all. I pray your weeks are treating you well out there also, blogbots!

Happy Hump Day!

xo | cms 

PITCH PERFECT 2!!

Yeah, so we talked about cooking breakfast at Jesse's this morning, but didn't have that conversation until we were sitting AT breakfast at Apple Tree. Which..... ok, that's fine, because the food's still good, but uhhhh.. we're definitely cooking at some juncture this weekend.

After breakfast, we made a 2ish hour stop by Geoff & Nikki's - it is sunny and beautiful outside today; we hung out there for a bit, soaking up the day and playing with little [although growing so quickly!!] Emma, before we headed back to Jesse's.

I had a few errands to run, so after a short nap [yeah, that happened, too; Jesse has these two TREES...]:

that happened. it was... awesome.
zZzZzzzzz... 

I came back to the boys giving the backyard smoker a run for its money, and the dogs playing together as though they'd known each other since day 1. That's a big deal for Stella, if you've never met her.

this thing.... #nailedit

pittie party! 

puppy smiles!
stella. sasha. zepplin.

The food came out amazing. Like, ah-mazing. Recommend, recommend.
Rob's mom and Don stopped by for a little while, which was awesome. The last bits of daylight hung around with the smell of slow-smoker chicken

The time came for me to leave the backyard shindig and head to Collinsville, where I met up with Ali and Damanji! That's right.. it was FINALLY TIME! 

pitch 2!! 

Ok guys.. I mean let's be real here. First, this movie came out LAST Friday (5/15). It is now EIGHT days later and I finally went to see it, in the company of literally the ONLY two people I would want with me to see it:

i seriously.. just... love. love. loooove them. 

Long story short, we found a movie theater in St. Louis that looked more like a Marriott than a movie theater, ordered some chicken quesadillas and a Stella Artois [because say whaaaaaaaaaat this place?!] and settled back into sectioned-off captains chair recliners to watch this.

P.S. - I'll see it again, anytime, if any of you out there need a tag-a-long :).
P.P.S. - This:

this is us, basically. 

I'll leave the night that way. I rolled back in to Jesse's closer to 1am than midnight [oh, and this is backdated], just before Rob and Jesse returned from Geoff & Nikki's. It's been an amazing day here in Illinois ♥.

Tomorrow  = Lake & Friends!
One more day here before the trip back to Ohio.

Woo!

xo | cmd 

Thank You, J.K. Simmons :)

This is the benefit of waking up early in my house:

the gang's all there.... passed out.. but there.. ♥♥♥♥

^ My oh my, how I love them.

Folks, today wasn't a monumental day by any stretch, but it was perfect. I have these four, and that's all I need.

A little something I'm absorbing today:

Call your mom. Call your dad. If you're lucky enough to have a parent on this earth, call them. Don't text them. Call them." - J.K. Simmons

I'm outta here for now.
Have a blessed remainder of the week, loves!

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 

Lettuce Learn .... & Love!

Woops.
In my quest to continue eating like a rabbit while at work, I've made it a habit now to pick up a new salad mix each week. I've been pretty good about it, and thought I had this simple thing checked off my list for this week, too. Haha.

Welp, folks, here is what happens when you leave salad mix [sans dressing, mind you] in your car overnight and the temperature drops down to -5°F:

gaaahhhhhh.... no. no good.

I checked over this melted mess of a salad that I purchased yesterday, and quickly realized there was no salvaging, unless I was down for some soggy, slightly icy but certainly saturated spinach and greens. Thanks, but no thanks.

*Sigh. Idiot.
Fortunately, Cincinnati has no shortage of groceries, so the first few minutes of the lunch break meant getting a replacement.

all right. let's try this again....

Setting the two cartons beside each other zapped up any remnants of doubt I may've had on the original salad...


nice work, cori. womp womp womp...

Moral of the story: Don't accidentally leave your salad in your car overnight when the temperatures drop below freezing. You won't want to eat it in the morning. Or ever. Say no... to soggy, browning greens, and yes to the cool, crispy stuff.

yummmmm (:

^ And yes... say yes to rabbit food (:
Just kidding. It's delicious if you ask me, and definitely fits in the regiment of things I should be eating while sitting around at a desk for most of my day.

The workout today was one of those grueling days, primarily because my legs are still in protest of any added range of motion. We finally managed to loosen up some and get some work done before I practically crawled out of there. #WHOOPED.

And then home..
And then dinner..
And then caving to my inner helpless-romantic and watching The Vow [or could it be because Rachel McAdams is the perfect portrait of the classic-but-angsty woman?!]

rachel mcadams [#wcw - sure, why not?!]

The dogs were happy to curl up with me and watch this with me; there was a lot of estrogen in the house tonight.. haha. Stella especially, who is usually my stoic, loner pup, seemed unusually clingy and wanted no more than a couple of inches between us for most of the evening. I obliged, naturally, and Sasha managed to wriggle her way into the mix before too long.

couldn't help it. sometimes i can't handle her.. haha ;)

^ She cracked me up. My Stella, the regal beagle [#butnotreally] of the two, literally hugged me for the entire movie. Yes, I was the little spoon to my dog. I captured this selfie of the moment, and quickly realized there was no resisting the Step Brothers pairing. ;)

Speaking of pibbles, Rob was with Kyle tonight and sent me pictures of his new bully, [appropriately-named] Blue. And Blue... is... beautiful!

hi, pretty booooy!!! [blue, that is. blue. sorry, kyle.. haha]

Whew. This day is gonna end early. Tomorrow's Thursday, which means it's almost Friday, which means.... a whole bunch of stuff.

Goodnight, from us!

xoxo! love, pitties & me!

Stay warm, friends!
G'Nite!

xo | cmd

What a PITTIEful Day ♥

As I woke up halfway late and rushed around my house, I was met with these adorable, pleading little faces. I couldn't help but pause and take a picture before I left them for the day:


"hiya mom.. so about this whole... you-leaving-for-work-AGAIN thing..."
♥ #sashapittie & #stellapittie ♥

I managed today to make it out to the BMV [always a knot in the gut whenever that has to be done] to stand in line and transfer my plates to the Subie. It's official; little Subes is now a legal beagle on the streets! I'll get some new pics up of the little thing as soon as this weather clears up and I can get the BeOhioProud sticker on the back, too ;)

After work, it was leg day at the gym; I feel like a noodle from the waist down right now, so that means soreness tomorrow but above all a successful workout! Dinner = something quick, because honestly I was a little whipped after today. That didn't stop it from being delicious [chicken, red potatoes & zucchini!] Yummmm!

dinnner tiiiiime (:

And then... because it only seemed natural to end the day where it started, I caught the pups showing off their personalities right before bedtime. Stella, the stoic, talkative one on the floor, and Sasha, the forever kid up on the bed. In the absence of Rob & Sydni, these two definitely put a goodnight smile on my face.
I'll leave today at that!

Gooooodnight!

xo | cmd

Mama & Sydni's Day. Of. FUN (:

We.. Have.... KEYS!!!

*squeaaaal!

Sydni and I's first stop of the day was by the new house to drop off the remainder of the security deposit and pick up the keys! YAY!!! While we're not scheduled to be in the house until February 1st, he's given us the liberty to start moving things in at our leisure. WIN! (:

It was the perfect start to a day that only got better.
Sydni and I departed from the house and made our way north, back to the Premium Outlets that we visited last weekend on our way back from Mt. Vernon. I am was in desperate need of some new running shoes, so we took advantage of the mild weather and road conditions to make a little field trip out of it.


outlet trip!

New kicks, newwwww kickksssssss........ (: (:

♥kicks♥

After our outlet trip, I gave in and indulged us both in one of our favorite guilty pleasures breakfast places: Waffle House [I know, I know... don't judge!] 

& no.. the small cup is not coffee.. ;)

For the record, I have never before enjoyed a random trip to Waffle House the way I did today. It was of course entirely contributed to my company; Sydni has a one-of-a-kind way of making me and everyone around us laugh at the things she does and says. It's kind of that thing about little kids that makes everything they do seem funnier, at least... way funnier and more appropriate done by them than if they were, well, adults. I mean, if I saw an adult naming the chocolate chips on her waffle and sending them into Princess Battle, I definitely would have an emotional reaction - it just wouldn't be to laugh. My daughter put smiles on a lot of faces this morning, a feat for which I'm convinced she has a natural gift.

As giggly as she was during breakfast, she quickly furrowed her brows at the idea of a carwash. We're gradually working on her fear of carwashes, which are, in my opinion totally justified for someone who doesn't quite understand the principle of the whole process. Driving your car into a loud, foamy tunnel where it and you are then attacked by foam and hoards of spongy tentacles? I'm pretty sure I freaked out when I was 4, too. Good thing we chose Mike's, which has a child-friendly collection of accessories and staff to distract the little ones.


clean it up, curious g!

... of course, she still demanded to hold my hand. It made the short ride through the wash a little less comfortable, but I'm not complaining at all. If she wants to hold my hand, she gets it, and quite honestly I had a fleeting twinge of mother-moment-sadness knowing that she of course will not always be like this. So we held hands as we passed through the carwash [& Rob, I'm sorry we went through an automatic carwash... haha.. ] and emerged on the other side with a squeaky clean Subie. 

shhhhh! don't tell mr. rob we used an automatic car wash haha ;)

^ Give the squeaky clean part about two days in this weather... but for now it at least looks and feels a little better. Our next stop was the pet store, where I promised Sydni she could help me pick out some new collars and tags [matching, obviously] for the pups. With some coaching away from the everything-PINK-&-FRILLY section [I .... just.... can't .... ] , we finally agreed on some purple collars and heart-shaped name tags.


new gear for the girls!

I also snagged a couple of dog sweaters; I know, I'm becoming that person who dresses her dogs like twins. Fortunately for all of us, neither of the sweaters fit very well on the dogs and I managed to come to my senses about the whole thing in time to return them. Don't mistake, though, I'm still bent on matching gear, and probably a step further than any of us really need to go... but if you've got bullies, I would highly recommend Urban Suburban Apparel for all things pittie (: I have every intention of gearing the girls [and likely us humans, too... haha] up in some UrbSub over the next couple of months... 

zip-ups from #urbsub [find them on instagram!]
photocreds: mayby, malachi & indica - dogs of @noelaniig

 ^ That's on the LIST. (:
For our present list of endeavors for today, Sydni helped me load up everything from our current house's kitchen, to be transported and put away at the new place. I am very pleased to say that I have the entire kitchen at the new house stocked, sorted and organized [as far as dishes, pans, utensils, etc. - the food comes later!] It doesn't seem like much, but it took some time and it's one of the most painstaking parts of a move, so I'm glad I was able to knock it out today. Sydni spent her time with the bag of her stuffed animals that came with us, huddled up in the corner of the living room to a movie on my laptop. She said she was babysitting. I love it (:


she needs... no couch!

We made a couple of trips back and forth to the new place, toting baskets and boxes of clothes, shoes, decorations and whatever other miscellaneous things we could find that didn't require the space of a vehicle bigger than ours. It tuckered us out, but we wrapped up the night just as the rain started to set in.

That's us now, back at our current house, movie on the TV and pups by our side. We absolutely had our day of fun. I think we're both pretty content with how today turned out.

Tomorrow = Church, more moving and hopefully selling Sydni's bed out of her room in preparation for her new, bigger bed she'll be getting at the new house.

G'Nite!

xo | cmd

Harley, Huh...

B-A-C-K-D-A-T-E-D, chyeahhhhhhup.

Today was another really good day.

For starters, Rob bought a Harley today. I'm pretty sure any good day starts off that way ;) He got a deaaaaal on this thing, and with a little of his genius handywork, some of the minor cosmetic stuff will be taken care of [along with some other mods, I'm sure] and if this weather keeps up, I don't doubt I'll see this in front of my house at some point. We'll see!


helloooo, harley!

Yes, that's right.. he's got another toy. I think he may actually hang onto this one for a little while this time... but we'll see ;).

& that's that, huh..
sitting on the back of the boat watching my man
& his new toy... can't say i hate this life ♥

A couple of shameless selfies on a gorgeous day... sure? Why not, I was parked up on the back of the boat enjoying the sun for a little while and it's sometimes what happens when you're me and you have a camera in hand...

welcome to the my beautifully lazy sunday (:

And of course more.. of my best friend.. slash boyfriend.. slash best thing this place has to offer.. I'm smitten, yeah....

more rapid fire shots he didn't see coming ;)

The weekend of course wouldn't be complete without some hangtime with the muttballs, aka Sasha & Stella!

playful gals | october = pitbull awareness month!

These two.. they sound so mean but growling at each other for tug-of-war, but the minute they're interrupted it's slobbery kiss city.. haha.


We started to get hungry, so we decided to make a quick trip out to Wasabi in Edwardsville before I jumped on the road back to Ohio. Pretty good decision, considering neither of us had been there in a while and we were craving sushi.


sushi @ wasabi | edwardsville, il

Yummmm.
We got back to Rob's and spent some more time lazing around with the pups and chit-chatting about this sometimes-chaotic but amazing relationship that we're in with each other. Long distance isn't easy by any stretch, but I'm realizing that when the right people are on both ends, getting together like we did this weekend won't feel like we skipped a single beat. I'm a lucky girl, through and through and I'm stickin' to it. 

i'm baaaack...

Oh, and I took a power nap and left pretty late; night driving on road trips has always been my preference for some reason, so I was just fine hitting the highway in the dark. The only downside? I headed back into EST, which meant an hour ahead.

.. Which meant I rolled into my driveway at 3:15 AM.
So yes, this is backdated.. but it's been an incredible weekend (:
[I'm spent. Adios, for now...]

xo | cmd

Churchaversary & Some Pibble Love

Happy 15th birthday, SonRise!

Say hello to the digs I've recently been making my weekly pitstop to fuel up for the rest of the week. It's been both challenging and fun exploring the various churches in the area, but the search has been narrowed and I think we may have a finalist.

sonrise | cincinnati, oh

The lesson this morning?
>>> Also a huge dose of medicine that I needed more than I realized. I don't need to tell anyone [again] that I am a dire mess in progress on the way to becoming what I know I am meant to be, what I can be and ultimately what I want to be. I am transforming, one day at a time, and I know when I am finally in a place to look back without falling over myself, I will have places like this and the people inside them to thank for that.

Speaking of transformations, I spent the day tasking around my house, and for some odd reason I missed my dogs today. I mean.. a lot. I have two of the most loving, ornery meatballs I've ever met, but I love them and today was one of the first times recently that I just craved having them mulling around my feet and leaving slobbery kisses everywhere.

And yes, my dogs are pitbulls.
And no, they are not violent.
And yes, I am proud of them.
And yes, so are other people.

... And yes, I chanced across two transformation stories today that brought me to tears.

PATRICK'S STORY, one that unfortunately is not confined to any certain type of breed, makes me both furious at the human ability to be cruel. Adversely, I am so glad there are other people in this world put here to counter this type of evil and save a life. Look at this beautiful boy!!

And then there's MAMA JADE. I found this story in a FB newsfeed [thanks, Melissa!]. I don't know why I felt so compelled to share both of those today, but I honestly just... miss.. my dogs.

Hmm. So yeah. It's raining again and my house isn't quite clean yet.
I'm off to finish that and rest up for the week (:

xo | cmd

All Together ♥

First things first: BREAKFAST! [Rinse & repeat with us.. duh..]
* I think I'm losing the battle of favorites here....

"noooo mommy, i wanna sit with mr. rob!"

Well THEN. Haha. Luckily for me, I still have the meatballs [aka S&S Pups, Extraordinaire].. They never disappoint. Okay, maybe sometimes, but I love 'em all the same and was glad to have some time to play with my other two, very furry kids.


stella.. sasha.. sasha.. stella... ♥♥

Rob's mom & stepdad stopped by for a little while; I wasn't expecting it but it was great for Rob's mom to finally meet Sydni. Syd made sure to show off her superhero skill by flying laps around the yard just for them. And yeah, Rob & his stepdad rode the chopper through the grass.. don't mind the tracks ;)

Once they'd left, we realized that the pups had annihilated a stuffed animal [not Syd's, thankfully], leaving little beanbag pebbles scattered all over the floor. I'm sure this was an act of retaliation for us not letting them join the outdoor festivities. In our defense, we would've spent the rest of the afternoon chasing them around the city had they gotten out, unleashed.

You might call this chaotic, noisy or unorganized. I call this the absolute perfect way to relax, with my favorite humans and dogs, all under one roof. It's not often now that we are given these types of days, but when we get them, I celebrate that. This is [& they are] my life. I am so .. so blessed.

I finished off today with some fried rice for all of us, which I have to say paired up with the chicken Rob grilled juuuust perfectly. The littlelest of us all is the biggest food critic, and her plate was clean, so I'll call that a win (: 

easy fried rice!

What a Day.
I. Love. Them.

♥ words just don't cut it....

This didn't turn out to be a bad weekend at all...
Homeward bound now.
xo | cmd

Road Trip Ruckus

Have you ever heard it said that if something can go wrong, it will?

Well, it wasn't that bad [for us at least], but it struck me today that literally each time I've been out to Illinois to visit, some sort of obstacle materializes and challenges my determination to get there. Today it was an overturned semi lying across both lanes of the highway, just across the OH/IN state line. The good news, I heard later on, was that the driver was okay [contrary to the rumors from other bystanding OTR'ers that he'd had a heart attack, etc.]

yikes. :(

We waited, parked with vehicles off, for almost three hours. At one point, I spotted a group of people throwing a football, others doing cartwheels in the grass, and someone tailgating in the bed of a truck. We bade our time by picking flowers.

making the best of time-consuming situations!

There's nothin quite like a road-side flower patch. Haha...
They finally righted the truck and dragged it out of the way; we were fortunate to have been just 10-15 cars behind the actual accident so we skirted through in no time. From there, it was smooth sailing aside from the forever on-going road construction on the other end of Indiana... but we finally made it! 

reunited!

^ And no, Stella is not eating Sasha's head. I just realized it looked that way. Haha.

Sooooooo.. we're HERE, and we're spent.

Goooooood night!

xo | cmd

Doggie Love + Craft Time

Woops. In the midst of my frustrated rants and hazy post-disconcerting-blood-drive-performance yesterday, I forgot to mention it was National Dogs Day [yesterday, that is]! I didn't realize it until I caught a post early on from Tawny on IG, and realized my pups deserved some shouts.

So, in a backdated hoo-rah, happy National Dogs Day to our furry kids! [Rob was sweet enough to Skype them both in over the past few days, which makes me super happy ツ]

aug 26 : happy national dogs day to you & your furry loves!
#stellapittie #sashapittie #petbulls #dontbullymybreed!

I had every intention in the world last night of starting in on the project for Sydni's birthday party this upcoming weekend, but when I got home and opened my computer, my entire body refused to function and thus I was resigned to a night of doing absolutely nothing, on the couch. I was pretty much a zombie last night.

Tonight = entirely different story. I went straight to Michael's after work, grabbed what I needed and came straight home, where I've spent the last four hours of the evening putting together the pin-the-tail-on-RainbowDash board we'll be using for Syd's birthday this weekend. I can't wait until she sees it (:

Ready... set... go!

hoping for the best.. freehand is not my thing.

Process....

pencil outline & first colors painted on!

And fiiiinally... voilá!

finished! [minus the separate tail pieces]

.... & that's pretty much all I did tonight. Tomorrow = final edits on some pictures that have been on my list, volleyball and cleaning up some more around the house... maybe even some yard work if there's time. Gotta love busy summers!

xo | cmd