Sick Day, Hey Hey...

So this was me:

.... for about 10 hours today.
Awesome.

I don't take a sick day unless I feel like I'm physically inches from death; today was one of those days. What you don't see in that picture is how I even got the joy of crawling from room to room when I needed something, for fear that my head might literally explode if I stood upright, and I just didn't see it a mess that any of us needed to deal with.

The GOOD NEWS: I got a call from Grand Sands somewhere around... afternoon [I have no idea what time anything happened today... gahhh], that a spot in the Wednesday 6's league had opened, and while we're just a 4's team, we could have the vacancy if we wanted.

Ummm... NO brainer. The first game was tonight, which I missed out on, but I'm pretty excited to get back on the sand with Paul, Beth & Martin!

But yeah, for now.. this is all I've got. Womp womp :(

Sicky sicky sick....

xo | cmd

Sneezy Sunday

7,467.

What's that number you ask? 

That is my approximate guess of how many times I sneezed today. *H'ACHOOOOO.

I woke up just fine, but by the time we were halfway through the 11:00 church service, my sinuses were at a total discord with each other. Not long after that, the sneezing set in, and from there on out, it was a battle that ultimately left me sore-nosed and sullen on the couch with blanket over my wheezing face. 

Hot, I know. 

The silver lining to all of this? The waking up part looked like this: 

crazy morning hair & i love it. 

And this: 

sleeping bag snuggles

and of course... a wake up call for mr. rob! 

^^ Because who needs sleep when they camp, anyway? 

1. I managed to, without infecting anything, turn the small spaces of time between sternutations into productive increments of cooking. Lunches for the week are done. Yay! 

2. Rob fixed our oven, because... well, that's what he does. He fixes everything. I don't know how he always does it, but it happens and for that, he's pretty doggone awesome. 

3. Sydni took a nap & cut up some paper. Hey, we were all being productive, yeah?  

post-church snoooooze

I'll spare you all any photographic evidence of my lovely state right now: couch-bound with tissues in hand, breathing like a Persian cat on a hot day. While I'm sure that's enticing, this day ends here; See you tomorrow ;)

xo | cmd

21 Day Yoga Challenge

Elisa and I have COMMITTED! Working alongside Elisa has, over the last year and a half, really sparked my interest in yoga. Like, daily yoga. It's gotten to the point that Rachel Brathen [aka @yoga_girl] & Laura Sykora [@laurasykora] are now regular, daily Instagram stops for me.

 

Here's something Rachel Brathen has posed for the yogis of the world: The 21 Day Yoga Challenge.

For me, this is perfect. I'm not even close to being a seasoned yogi, and getting into anything consistently is always a little bit of a challenge if you have any sort of a life outside of whatever that thing is. It's all about adjustment, time management and how badly you want to commit to something.

 

So........ for the next 21 days, starting today.. THIS:

21 days starts now!

Here's the blurb from Rachel's Facebook to kick off the next 21 days:

Day 1 - Do Yoga

The Yoga Girl Challenge starts tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited! The response so far has been absolutely incredible; hundreds and hundreds of posts and we haven't even started yet. I'm so happy so many of you are ded...icated to improving your lives and your wellbeing. So am I! Here are the details for Day 1: Do Yoga.

The theme for the first day of the challenge is simple - I want you to get on your yoga mat. There is no pose you have to fit your body into, no special stretch to accomplish and you don't need to post a certain picture showing off your moves. We are not here to advance our yoga poses; we are here to advance our hearts. Step on your mat at the time of day that suits you best and move exactly the way your body wants to move. Go to your local studio and take a class, try a yoga DVD, an online class, learn from a book or just move intuitively with your body. The choice is yours! This is one of the themes that I would recommend you sticking with for the full course of the challenge: practicing yoga every day. Yoga. Every. Damn. Day. I invented the #yogaeverydamnday hashtag long ago as a way to inspire people to practice daily - use that inspiration and practice yoga for these 21 days ahead! It does not need to be 2 full hours of sweating every day of the week; some days a few rounds of sun salutes are enough, other days just gentle stretching. Listen to your body. But make sure to get on your mat! Establish this. We begin tomorrow. Share a picture of something related to your yoga practice, tag @yoga_girl and #yogagirlchallenge and this challenge will officially be kicked off! See you tomorrow, darlings #yogagirlchallenge

So there ya have it! The whole easing into this is perfect for me today, since I'm still battling whatever sinus issue this is; my head feels like a bowling ball. I powered through it though...

l: elisa, r: cori

all together now! :)

This came after a run to Whole Foods Market for lunch:

#icanteven ... hahah :)

Success. Now it's off to volleyball. See you tomorrow!

xo | cmd

Redemption

I won't say I feel perfectly normal, but in comparison to yesterday, I'm not complaining on the stark contrast. I survived work with no major issues, only a slight headache, which is nothing now.

Luckily, it was another gorgeous day out; Rob and I took advantage of the mild weather and took off after work to run some errands and get ourselves lost for a bit on the bike.

harley sunsets ♥

Like I said, no complaints.

Here's to the rest of this week (:

xo | cmd

SSSSSSSSICK DAY :(



lessons learned.

Last night did not equal sleep. Instead, it was a stretch of hours spent tossing, turning and sweating. I phased out at one point for a few minutes, and awoke so soaked in sweat that for a moment, I honestly thought I'd wet the bed [I did not, haha.. ]

Needless to say, I was in no condition to go to work today. I couldn't even wrangle my head and vision into a place to drive Sydni to Mindi's until nearly noon. Even then, while the day itself was sunny and very tolerable to a normal person, I embarked to and from Milford dressed just shy of a blizzard. Oh, the joys of being sick.

On the lighter side of life, Sydni has hit the little-girl-landmark of giving herself a haircut for the first time. I couldn't help but laugh, because I see the pictures my mom has shown me of myself when I thought I had salon skills in the bag at age 4, too.

nice.

Fast forward to the rest of the day; I've literally done nothing of any real value, other than try to sleep and stay hydrated. I knew I needed to eat, but the very thought of food made me nauseous. Carrots and ginger ale is not a diet I would recommend, unless you're either pregnant or in my case, apparently intolerant to chai tea blends. Then, carrots and ginger ale sound like the best things ever, and you'll eat an entire bag of baby carrots and not have to feel bad about binge eating. I guess that's a good silver lining.

Poor Rob got home tonight, dinner supplies in hand, and took to the grill to make dinner for us. My body went ahead and slept right through that entire experience, including the eating part. Luckily for me, he is forgiving, and even set my plate up for tomorrow's lunch in the fridge. Double the brownie points for that guy.

Today, I'm counting my blessings for my otherwise resilient health; I'm not the person who chronically visits the doctor with head-to-toe ailments, so I'm grateful for that. It only means that when I do get sick, I'm useless.

Here's hoping that I won't be so useless tomorrow.
Sleep is a poor man's remedy; I'm about to be as frugal as this night will let me.

xo | cmd

Sicky Saturday

Today definitely didn't turn out like we'd planned, but at the end of it all, I'm thankful for my resilient, funny, and likely lactose-intolerant little trooper.

We started our Saturday off with an array of miscellaneous errands. That landed us in Eastgate, where we had a small bone to pick with Time Warner [shocking, I know]. Sydni had no qualms though, and perched herself on a tiny stool in front of a tiny computer with a tiny game on it. She, in all her itty-bittyness, looked a lot like a miniature college student, and naturally that warranted a picture. 

i can't handle it sometimes (:

^ See? My studious little girl, complete with leggings, boots and a thermal vest. It's like I picked her straight out of a Miami University kids catalogue. Don't worry, MU friends, I still love you.. but you have to admit the standard campus dress code is a bit predictable. ;)

Anyway, we checked things off our list one by one, and even stopped for some Orange Julius before moving on from Eastgate to Target.

I'll fast forward through our trip to Target, and absolutely through the ride home after that [at least the picture part, because there are none to document what happened... BUT, I can and will safely say that I now firmly believe that Sydni is following in my childhood footsteps of being just about completely lactose intolerant.

How do I know this? I have an incredible boyfriend who took my car straight to the carwash to shampoo and vac out the backseat as soon as we pulled into the driveway. I busied myself cleaning off what was left of the rejected ice cream [+ sprinkles & all.....] from Sydni, her clothes and shoes. She has never thrown up like this; my immediate instinct as a mother was to call someone, but as I inspected her face, breathing, mouth, eyes and behavior as she was in the shower, she already seemed to feel better. I figured I would give it a few more minutes before I summoned an army of paramedics, and realized she would go through two more, far less intense vomit episodes before her belly finally ceded.

No. More. Ice. Cream.

Poor girl. :(
We spent the rest of the afternoon parked on the couch in piles of blankets, making sure there was no more belly aching to be had. By the time the evening rolled around, she was safely munching on some crackers, and even hopped up to start filling her piggy bank [which was our purpose at Target, earlier]. Rob donated a half a water jug's worth of coin to her collection, which she diligently dropped one......by...... one.... into her new bank. 

super saver!

I suppose four years with no major puking incidents is really not all that bad. Lesson learned, right?

.. Right (:

I promised some dinner in return for Rob hanging back with Sydni for a couple of hours while I made a brief appearance for Carolina's birthday. I'd promised her sometime back that I would at least come by to say hello before the gang headed down to OTR for the evening, so I visited with them briefly at Dancing Wasabi while I waited on my to-go order.

myself. carolina. ika

Happy, HAPPY birthday, Caro! I'm sorry again that Rob and I couldn't have gone out with everyone tonight, but I promise we'll get together again very soon and celebrate the right way.

For now, I'm back home with a boyfriend who has definitely outdone himself today, and a happily snoozing little girl who hopefully has a better day tomorrow.

I'm a pretty lucky girl.

xo | cmd

"She Is Not Her Circumstance"

Two things for today:

 

➊

I read something absolutely beautiful today. It was simple, and I felt so compelled to share it that I wanted to do so across all fronts, including here.

If you have a spare couple of minutes, read THIS.
It's a simply-written entry by "Erika," one of many writers for the Christian-based blog, A Deeper Story. I have read a few entries there, authored by various writers, and just added them to my following list. Erika shares an encounter that could have amounted to nothing, had she ignored the opportunity to bless herself with the time spent with her new friend, Diamond. You'll have to read the whole thing for that to make sense, but I'll warn you, it's something of a tear-jerker.

I read this, over and over.. and let the words mull around in my brain for a little while. I picture Diamond, a girl whose distorted sense of direction in this world was positioned that way before she had a chance to learn up from down. I picture her as a child, gathering in the world from the vantage point of a child born to drug addicts, to whom she was likely a fleeting priority, if not a nuissance most days. I envision her crying herself to sleep on the nights when she desperately ached to have a strong, sheparding arm guiding her back to a place of hope and comfort, and I am honestly sad. My heart hurt for her as I read that. I see a teenage girl with a skewed sense of self-worth, giving herself over to lustful temptations because she's never learned how to deny them. A child raising a child, and then two, and then three. And then losing them because she is following her parents' footsteps of addiction and disappointment. I see the world meeting her for the first time at the end of a bad day; she's now an adult and the culmination of her entire life up to this point is nothing she could ever explain to someone in the few seconds it takes for them to form an opinion of her. We see Diamond every day, whether it's obvious or subtle.

Reality check.
We are NOT called to decide who does and doesn't "deserve" grace and mercy from us while we are on this earth. By what standards are we going to be measured when we're gone, anyway? The stuff we've collected while we were here? No. The amount of money left in our bank accounts? No.

Our legacy will be measured and defined
by the impact on those left to share it for us.

 

Whoa, is right. I can't look at my daughter and ever imagine her wanting for something that to me seems so ... obvious. Like a hug. Or a safe place to sleep at night. Or for me, as her mother, to keep the world at bay for her safety when I am supposed to. No, I can not imagine that. Nor can I imagine my own life being so upside-down that the idea of stability is just about foreign, something I dream about at night but have little hope of ever actually achieving. There is a very important, pretty much cardinal reminder here: Whether you exercise an open-mind because of your faith, or if you choose to do it solely out of the concept of encouraging another person rather than berate them, just... do it. When we're little, we think we'll live forever. We won't, but there's still enough time to make it count. ♥

And..

➋

I was met in real-life with the perfect illustration that she in fact is not her circumstance. This coincidentally happened on the same day that I read that blog entry up there ^^. I'm sure there's no real coincidence in it all, more of a chronological unfolding of life-application, if you will. I wasn't quite sure how to condense the situation into a brief blurb, but I did what I could:

rant... rant.

^ Now, a couple of things.
First, I was floored by the number of people who chimed in on this. I left the gym pretty ruffled over the whole ordeal, especially since I blew my chance to say something when I should've. They disappeared just a few minutes into my run, and after I was finished, I did a full lap around the place in search of neon matching yoga pants outfits, but they were nowhere to be found. Second, I am sorry. To the woman working out, I wish I would've just paused my workout to drop a line of reality to those two. I think I'm even more burned by my not doing that when I had the chance to do it. It's like one of those times when you've already had an altercation with someone and you spend the next three hours re-playing the list of I-wish-I-would've-said-THAT-comeback's. Yeah, that is exactly what I'm still doing, like, almost five hours later. GRRRRRRRRR.

Tomorrow's a new day, and if I happen to spot them again, hopefully 1] they're actually working out this time, because frankly it's annoying to be dripping sweat while wondering why the person next to you is there in the first place, and 2] I'll be able to speak a reminder of grace to them in an actual graceful way, as opposed to how I probably would've said it today. Maybe it's a good thing I didn't open my mouth; I'm not prone to merciful deliveries in a state of aggravation like that [i.e, things on which I am trying to improve, constantly]. We'll see.

///////endrant.

I'm still fueled about the whole thing. Sorry. I can't seem to let this go. Even while we were at dinner with Kalyn & Jess, they brought it up after having read my tirade on Facebook. I'm not really surprised, but still glad to know I'm not the only person who wanted to b-slap the perfectly-manicured smoky eyes off those two gals. Grarrrrrr...

BUT, I'll focus on this in the back of mind for the rest of the night and probably the rest of the week. Tonight, I did have a blast with Kalyn, Jess and Rob while we ate at Main Street. Chad of course waited us, which meant some time visiting with him and also Cameron, for the few minutes he poked his head out of the back.

"fat thursday! errr... tuesday... *autocorrect! ;)"
- jess

^ This pretty much summed up the table tonight: plates full of burgers, fries and drinks, to celebrate Fat Tuesday. I, not being Catholic, have always known that Fat Tuesday is the Tuesday after Mardi Gras, but never really understood the actual purpose of it. I know, sounds dumb... but, it's never too late to figure it out, which I did tonight... and it makes total practical sense. Sorry, Catholic friends.. I was just a little behind.

*Sigh. It's been a day. I'm ready to crash and do it all again tomorrow. Actually, we're scheduled to throw a Cyclones game into the mix tomorrow night, so that should be fun, too.

See you, then!

xo | cmd

Say Something..

 Welcome to the first day of a[nother] blustery winter day here in the midwest..

that's about right.

I believe I'm speaking on behalf of at least three quarters of Cincinnati when I say that I'm over this whole driving-in-snow-in-MARCH-now thing. Don't get me wrong, I love powdery snow, but I like to keep it under my board and not under my tires. //rant.... Be SAFE out there today, friends.

Good news, though - PTX has impressed again with this number. I missed them when they were on their first US tour, but I will see them. Eventually. (: And a sidenote, Avi has got to stop singing like that.. I'm developing a celebrity crush. Haha.

^ While I wish Kirsti would've done less grimacing and more smiling in the video, I am still a loyal lover of all things PTX.

What I also love is the generosity of my bosses; the day was moving at molasses speed, so they cut us loose an hour early. What I don't love is the sinus infection/head cold that's taking over my ... well.. head. I headed straight home and crawled in bed, where I have basically stayed all night. I do not handle being sick very well.

Blah. At least the sun was out today, and from what I hear, it's supposed to be on the up-and-up from here on out. Maybe we'll see some Spring after all (:

xo | cmd

Christmas, CONTINUED! :)

So... Santa's rackin' up the overtime hours this week! Just as we expected, we awoke to find a front porch and countertop with nothing but crumbs remaining from reindeer food & cookies. There was an empty glass of milk to go along with it, and a Christmas tree layered with pretty wrapping paper and gift bags.

anyone in there? oh, yes... it's a Christmas monster!

I have a 4-year-old who terrorized Santa's lovely display, and when the flurry of tissue and wrapping paper subsided, we were left with an array of awesome new toys, books, electronics & of course a couple of things for the grown-ups, too.

excitement, galooooore

 

electronics from santa, for sydni and mommy.. haha

Our visit at the Drenn Lodge ended with breakfast, complete with all of our favorite things, before we loaded up the car and set our sights back south to Cincinnati.

I managed to capure this on our way down...

too. much. i can't handle them sometimes ;)

I had made plans last week with one of my favorite friends Jennica to meet up at some juncture today before she headed back to Utah. It's been nearly four years since I've seen her, and we missed out when she was home over Thanksgiving. This time around, we were adamant on making this happen. So, we picked a meeting spot at the new Cincinnati outlets in Monroe, where Rob, Sydni and I fiiiinally ran into Jen and her brother Mikey.

jennnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!! ♥♥♥

Ahhhhh! I love that girl. I promised her that once this whole moving thing is settled down, I'll start looking at a trip out to visit her in Utah for a weekend getaway, or something like that (:

Rob started feeling ill before we even got to the outlets, so after our visit, it was a beeline to the house for him to unwind and relax for the night. I took that time to pack up some more of the house and haul it into the car for dropoff tomorrow night at the new house. It's all coming together!

Tomorrow it's back to work again for a couple of days and then.......... it's 2014. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that. The age old question, where did the year go, is of course streaming on loop through my head, but at the same time I am welcoming all of the changes rolling in with the new year. I saw bring it on! (:

*Phew. Christmas is finally completed, I think. If I missed anything, I'll catch up with it later. It's bed time for us.

xo | cmd

T-T-T-Tuuuuesday.

I took Emergen-C for the first time in my entire life today. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I didn't hate it. It all started when Elisa couldn't decide if she was hot or cold, resulting in a perhaps-diagnosis of being sick. Nikki had EC's at her desk, and was quick to hand them out to each of us.

... & of course in an express cup.... yeeeup.

The good news: I don't feel any different than I did before I drank the stuff, which I'm going to conclude means that I wasn't sick before I did, and it didn't make me sick. So.. THERE. In-ya-face, sicky bugs.

 

In other news, in the world of alliteration-crazed social media hounds, it's Transformation Tuesday, and that means.....

lovelovelovelooooove her.

I couldn't tell you how hard it was selecting only two pictures for each of those years. The kid has so many sweet, sassy and perfectly-timed action shots that I sat there stewing over this for about 20 minute before I remembered it's just Instagram and it's okay. Haha. Still. LOOK AT HER! Ugh. It's not that I wish she'd stop growing up, because really, I'm excited to see how that challenges both of us, but really I wish there was at least a way to slow it down sometimes, or at least re-visit them. My 6lb, 9oz baby girl is now a 4-year-old and I feel like that happened overnight. *Sigh. I love it though ♥.

 

With the day out of the way, I got some exercise in before stopping off at the grocery store and heading home. From there on out, it apparently became my mission to cancel my workout entirely by indulging in a whole bunch of magic stuff as I kicked back by myself on the couch. Don't.. judge.. me. (:

yeah. it was that kinda night.

.... I'm okay with it though, because I'm still at a point where my metabolism will do its job in a timely fashion; I'll run it off if not, and for the record, this is a delicious combination, movie & all.

 

TOMORROWWWWWW = US WOMENS NATIONAL TEAM VS NEW ZEALAND....

... How.. excited... am... I. I haven't been to Crew Stadium in a few years, but I think I'm just most excited about seeing the lineup [because I'm hopelessly woman crushed over Hope Solo]. Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan won't hurt my feelings, either. Haha.

 

G'Nite, blogbots.

 

xo | cmd

Some Light On a Sick Day

I knew it. Sydni got me sick. It's rare that I ever fall ill, but when I do, it's usually because Sydni's passed along some new strain I've never had before. Go figure.

Today started off by me missing my alarm all together. I got to work at 8:30, as opposed to my usual arrival time nearly an hour earlier than that. I spent all morning and the first part of the afternoon in a cloud of bland haze, with my head pounding and my sinuses threatening to black everything out. My bosses finally beckoned me to call it a day, an hour and a half early, and I was in no shape to argue.

i barely recognized my own eyes today for how exhausted they looked...

homemade soup. win.

Within 15 minutes of being home, I was curled up with my favorite blanket in a heap on the couch, fast asleep. I woke up a few hours later and threw together some homemade chicken noodle soup [delicious, despite the irritating head-throbs from standing up at all]. Then it was back to sleep for another couple of hours. It's nearly 10pm and I just woke up. I still feel awful.

The good news today: I came across the video blog links for Sadie Robertson [Duck Dynasty] and her best friend, who have started a series of video devotionals. If you haven't seen Duck Dynasty, well, I won't get into explaining it aside from saying that it's hilarious and if you're anything like me with a dry sense of humor and affinity for downhome country things, you'll love it.

Oh, and if you're a Christian, or really even a parent of children you hope will model their lives after something with more substance and class than the recent meanderings of Miley Cyrus and other followed starlets, then I would certainly recommend you and your family look into Sadie's videos. I know I will be doing the same; I truly admire Sadie and her friend for the courage it takes to stand up for this, for the God we love, and for their beliefs in a world that will, without blinking, do everything it can to bash them and destroy what they're creating. Amen, girls. And thank you.

Thanks, girls. (:
We'll be following TheNewDifferent and its positive message! The world could use more encouragement like this, especially to our youth, who now face more trial and decision that even my generation did when we were teenagers.

*sigh. Now if I could only shake this sinus bug I've got, this would be a perfect evening. I'm on my way to my fail-proof method of the poor man's remedy [aka, sleep]. See ya'll in the morning...

xo | cmd

A Laborious Labor Day

I forgot to mention on Friday last week that Sydni had started a nasty cough earlier that day. Joe brought it to my attention Thursday night, but by Saturday afternoon it seemed to have disappeared all together. I know better though. I could sit in a SARS unit for days and probably come out unscathed.. but when my kid sneezes on me? I'm down for 3 days.

Sydni - 1. Mama - 0.

Rob did what a boyfriend beyond what I deserve would do, and stuck around for a couple hours past what he'd planned, just to take care of me and try to alleviate some of the energy Sydni had. He took her out on her bike for a little bit; I managed to join for a few minutes after laying in a crumpled heap on the couch. He's awesome like that.

my big four-year-old on her birthday bike

When it finally came time for Rob to leave, Sydni was deep in a nap and I wasn't far behind. I did have to laugh at a few of the messages we had on his way back to Illinois... 

.. of the many reasons we get along so well... (:

Reasons why that's so funny:
1. Earlier today, we had a discussion on the fact that a) men don't cry, and b) women don't poop. The unspoken notions crack me up, especially when I meet someone who refuses to acknowledge either or both.
2. About a year or so back, I was parked outside the gas station in Glen Carbon before work, and a stranger came bouncing out of the gas station, on the phone and distracted, and jumped right into the passenger seat of my car. It wasn't a threatening situation at all, as it was a busy morning before work and I'd been to that station over a hundred times. I felt more bad for the poor guy who hopped in my car and didn't realize it; I could see his female companion in the car right next to mine frantically waving and yelling through a closed window at him. We had a good laugh but it was still funny that it happened to Rob today, too.

Anyway, Rob made it home safely, Sydni is tucked in, and I'm going to call it a night in efforts to ward off whatever advancing illness I think I feel. Hopefully it works.

This weekend was more than I could've imagined. I .. am.. BLESSED.

xo | cmd

Sinus Infection? YES. I'll Take ONE.

This was me today. On a couch, though.

But yeah, this was me.

Yayyyy...

hoooooray, sinus infections.

Yeah. That's about it.
Thank you, Midwest weather.
We'll try this again tomorrow.

xo | cmd

Hello, Flu.

It's here.
Flu season. + Me. + Sydni. = A few of my most unfavorite things.


that's me.

 ................. *sigh.

xo | cmd

[Backdated] Birthday Wishes!

I love birthdays! (:

Despite my hesitation from not feeling well yesterday, I woke up in amiable condition this morning and decided to tackle cleaning the bulk of my house. Go figure. Sydni even helped, in spite of her feeling just as crummy as I was just hours earlier. Hmm. That out of the way, I opted for a nap, warding off any oncoming creep of whatever bug I thought I was fighting yesterday.

Ali came over this afternoon bearing gifts, haha. She ordered this little guy for me, and I love love love it.

thank you, friend!!

I decided I did feel well enough for birthday festivities. Ali volunteered to watch Sydni for the evening, so I entrusted her wellbeing to Sydni [yes, I phrased that right], and we headed out to St. Louis to the Broadway Oyster Bar to rendezvous with Rob's friends and celebrate Kyle's birthday. We stopped at Kyle's and picked up both him and his sister, and made our way through the rain to St. Louis.


broadway oyster bar

B.O.B. = Delicious.

From there it was off to Kramden's for some more celebrating, before our final stop out at Jacobsmeyers. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KYLE! (:


♥ celebrating kyle's birthday

Ali is pretty much awesome for hanging with the monster tonight, and I was pleasantly relieved when we got back and found that Ali had in fact avoided Sydni's wrangling and was not tied and stuffed into any closets ;)


ali & monster ;)

I'll tell ya what..... I have some truly incredible people in my life...♥  Real talk.

xo | cmd

It's Beginning. :(

I'm sick.
Well, if I'm not yet, I will be.

Bring on the sleep [including the last 4 hours that I spent passed out on the couch].


can i get a quadruple order?

 Sleep is a poor man's remedy. It's also mine.

xo | cmd

Oy. Monday.

I'm feeling much better today.
 -- Physically, that is. The day itself was a bit more of an actual struggle. I found this little guy [actually, it was passed along to me by Courtney this afternoon] that summarizes the bulk of my day in one little slap:

monday can be a meanie....

Chaa - ha! That's a true story, folks. 

I'm so pleased that the excruciating throbbing of that sinus headache - or whatever it was - that plagued my weekend has subsided. I was almost nervous waking up this morning that this would be day 3 in a row of feeling like my heart had been transplanted directly between my brain and my eyeballs. Hooooray! 

Towerview softball was canceled tonight; the opposing team had their version of VBS this week, so no go on the game. Just as well I suppose since it's still a little soggy out there. It was damp last week, too, so hopefully next week we'll have both a game and well, a dry game. Yeah? 

Oy. It's only Monday. Deep breaths :) 

Let's try this week thing again tomorrow. 

xo | cmd

The Cunicos Join the Tower!

I felt like I navigated the bulk of today from inside a pressurized bubble. This whole sinus thing isn't one of those annual things for me, not by a long shot, so I'm not well-seasoned in preparation or coping with this. I knew I was in for a long day yesterday when even the Neti provided very little relief from this cloud of ick that seems to have certainly settled in for the weekend.

The GOOD news - I made it to church this morning! Well, that's not the good news [albeit it is definitely a start!] - The BEST news of the morning: Mike & Marlene became official members of the Towerview family!!

mike & marlene! [hack mode xxo -facebook ;) ]
welcome to the towerview family!! ♥  

*I can't say that the majority of the morning really stuck with me the first go-round [I dedicated myself to copious note-taking during the service; I earnestly value our pastor's messages, but my sinuses had other plans], but I have every intention on enjoying it again via notes. Oh well, though; I am so excited for the Cunicos to be a part of the Towerview family now!

With all the excitement of the morning service under our belts, it was enough to exhaust both Sydni and me [she's still not 100%, either], so we found ourselves straight home for a light lunch and a very contrasting and heavy nap. That brings us to now, during which time Sydni is propped up in a tshirt and pj pants with her blankie & stuffed animal watching The Little Mermaid, and I'm here, blogging away next to her as I hum along with Ariel in her cavern o' human treasures.

It's gonna be an early night.... Haha.

Dear Sinuses,
Please knock.it.off.soon.Thanks-a-million.
Love, Me.

xo | cmd

Sucker Sinuses [but a] Better Backyard!

Ugggggghhhhkkkkk....

Remember that sinus thing that I'd been hoping wouldn't materialize into anything? Yeah... welllllll... Yeah.

I spent the entire morning asleep.
For what it's worth, so did Sydni. She'd been developing a runny nose and glossy eyes over the latter part of last week I thought I could slip under the radar of whatever bug she had, but that's never the case and certainly isn't this time, either.

I'm definitely sick. Booo, hiss hiss. I was thankful in a slightly disdainful way that Sydni hasn't fully recovered yet; her mild case of the lazies today proved a reprieve to me in my state of complete and utter lethargy.

Sydni was sprawled out on her bed watching Little Mermaid, and I was equally resigned to the couch nursing a sinus migraine when Mo materialized at the front door. She came bearing broccoli cheddar soup from Panera St. Louis Bread Company [I keep forgetting] for me, mac n' cheese for Sydni, and some other soup for herself. Thank you, a million times over for being so thoughtful, Mo!! We ate, and I decided we would finally get out for some gelato. We made a quick trip there, enjoyed some, and headed straight back to the house.

So um, yeah. That was pretty much the bulk of today, in a nutshell. OH! I figured I'd share this with the class, since I haven't yet:

before.
view from the yard | view from the staircase

after.
not quite finished.... yet :)

Here's the before and after of what I did a couple days earlier. This menagerie that was the back patio, out of control as it was, was the direct result of us working full days, not being out there nearly as often as we would've liked, and investing what little free time we both have into hanging out and getting out with Sydni. It didn't take long for this to get unruly, but I finally decided enough was enough, so yeah. That's what happened. 


Anyway, I'm still feeling a lot like what I envision..... death feels like... lol.
It... is... bed...time... for us. 


xo | cmd

Follow the RULES!

Here's a little something that I noticed today that I've seen something like a hundred+ times before, but just now actually stopped to read today on lunch. This is a park at which I find myself almost every single day on lunch, but I'm always parked at a different spot. Today, I happened to stop right under a shady spot next to the sign displaying the park rules.

Here's what I saw:

rules! haha. 

Seems like a pretty standard set of rules to me, I think, but read #6.

This is a public service announcement to everyone that not only are weapons and fireworks prohibited from this park, but so are missiles.

DANG IT! haha.

Sad day for all of us missile-lovers. Not at this park, kiddos. Bummer. Hah.

Just thought I'd share. Hope it made you chuckle, even if it was a courtesy one.

* I'm starting to feel the onset of a cold.... or sinus infection.... or something to that effect. Crossing my fingers that this won't materialize into anything too severe. Oy.

xo | cmd