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

What... Happened?

Remember that time about oh, two days ago, when Kalyn and I went canoeing with her sister and some friends?

Well folks, somewhere in the midst of boat-toppling yoga moves and rope swinging, Kalyn and I managed to basically beat ourselves up.

my nicely-swollen, unbendable fingers

kalyn's hail spot bruises

Kalyn's got an issue with one of her fingers, too, and my legs have a couple of bruises that I didn't notice until today. We're a mess.

Haha.
It's only early evening now, and Sydni's passed out already. She went swimming for the day at Mindi's, and didn't even last for five minutes once we got in the car. We had a couple of minutes of promising time awake when we got home, but my poor girl is tired.

It feels like a long week... yeeesh.
Thankfully, tomorrow's Wednesday (:

xo | cmd

Friends On The Water

We woke up this morning to that atmosphere you can only find when camping. The smell of dew from overnight was still hanging in the air when we crawled out of the tent, and the sun was peeking through between the trees. The campfire ashes were still smoldering, and the familiar feeling of being surrounded by mud and camping gear first thing in the morning set in immediately.

I LOVE it.

I also love being on a boat.
With Rob.
.. And our friends (:

This was day 2 of taking the boat out on the water; yesterday was her baptism to the 2014 season, and today we motored a course around the lake by ourselves for a couple hours before Kalyn, Brittany and Chad rolled in.

Here's the photographic story of that happening :P 

my love (:
day 2!

sparkly water (:

floatin' away!

We decided to dock up for a minute to get our friends in on the action!

hi guys!!!

laid out with my best friend

love. love. looooove. these girls.

And what's a boating trip without doing yoga on the bow of the boat? 

just a little yoga for the trip out

Oh, and the polar plunge, aka the cold water challenge... whatever you wanna call it. It might be warm out, but the water is still pretty.. freakin'... frigid.

trying to talk ourselves into it....

go!
.... coldcoldcoldcoldcold...

We talked Chad & Rob into doing it, as well... 

 

I love these people...  

loungin' out without a single thing on the agenda

besters.

It was finally time to tow in... we were all winding down and ready to eat.

headin' on home



i am one absolutely content girl (:

^ Yeah, lots of selfies on the boat today. None of us could help it; happy people, happy pictures!

 

Rob & I dropped the boat at the house, threw on some jeans and made a U-Turn back out of the neighborhood on the bike to meet the other three for dinner. Our destination: The Eagle in OTR. We hadn't yet been, but we'll be back!  

sweet potato bake, chicken sandwiches, mac & cheese, spoonbread..
... nomsssss.

Whew. That's the way to finish a Sunday! We definitely got some sun out there this weekend, but it's nice to be home again with our pups for a the rest of the night. We're gonna crash here in a minute, I can tell.

I'll deal with Monday when it gets here... hah. G'Nite!

xo | cmd 

Great Wolf Lodge, Pt. II

Day 2, Step 1? DOOF! Spell that backwards and you have our first priority everywhere we go.. hehe.

Don't act surprised. Plus, it was a buffet-style breakfast, which was.... delicious. My daughter eats like a teenager, too, which on an unrelated note is actually pretty impressive ;)

breakfast shenanigans ;)

And after breakfast, we made a pitstop at our room to change and pack up all of our stuff. Sydni spent that time making very important phone calls, first to the local authorities [the cops] to report me for having my shoes on the bed, and then to the fire department, cops and taxi cabs to go and rescue a  kitty in a tree. Ya can't make this stuff up, folks.

Hahahaha. So yeahh... finally we were off on our adventure of day 2 at GWL. There was some more magic questing, and then a beeline straight for the waterpark.

goofin off with  my favorite goofball, ever ♥♥♥

And let me tell you, we had a blast. This little sassafrass had us laughing all afternoon.

silly water monster faces & a lounge in the big kid chair. she looks so tall! :(

My favorite of the day at the waterpark:

like mama, like daughter... ♥!

I didn't think I was going to be able to pull Sydni out of the waterpark, but as soon as I told her we were getting pizza, it was a done deal.

... Sometimes, I actually believe this kid is mine. ;)
Just kidding, of course. I'm the only adopted one here.

Anywho, pizza it was, with Nana, Pappy, and this random giant cupcak-hat-bear-sitting-on-a-cookie statue...

normal stuff.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. Fortunately for us, that only meant bidding farewell to GWL and promising Sydni that we'd all come back sometime. I have absolutely no problem with that.

This is the face of my favorite story-teller, recapping the weekend on the drive home:

she's fabuloso!

Here we are now, back at home, laundry going and a movie in.. and the weekend catching up to us. We're calling this one an early night.

Thanks again to my incredible parents for this weekend!

xo | cmd

Sydni's World!

I concluded four years ago that I was no longer the pilot in my own world.
I am now a co-pilot in the world of a bright, beautifully spunky 4-year-old.
I am probably the luckiest woman on planet earth to have her [says every mother, ever... and rightfully so if their kids are half as cool as Sydni].

Today was another chilly day, topped off with some icy sputters that I couldn't really decipher as rain or wannabe snow. It stayed a muted color pretty much all day; the brightest part of it all came at 6:30 when I sat and watched Sydni do her little fish thing at swim lessons.

She's getting better.. and better.. and better every single time I watch her. That little girl definitely loves water..

Afterwards, we headed home, eager to get out of the testy weather and into some snuggly PJ's, dinner, a movie and a bedtime storybook.

We accomplished all of those things, including a pre-bedtime photo shoot.

..... Complete with a mini video clip!


With that being said, tomorrow is FRIDAY!
There's an Express outing scheduled for tomorrow night at Fearfest up at King's Island; it should be a good time.. we'll see (:

my goofy girl!

For now... that's a wrap. Goooooodnight!
xo | cmd

Office Workouts | Solo Floating

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

tried this today.. loved it

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

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

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

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

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

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

^ I am one PROUD mama!

my proud little swimmer!

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

For now.. goooood night ;)

xo | cmd

Splish Splash

It's all in a day's work, right?
[I don't even know what that really is supposed to mean, but I do know we gave Thursday a run for its money today]

Work was work, nothing especially memorable about the day other than it's one step closer to Friday and that means we'll see Rob tomorrow!

Traffic, as usual in greater Cincinnati, was just.. a joy to navigate all the way out to Blue Ash for Sydni's swim lessons, but once I was there I realized that I would gladly grit through gridlock every single week just to see my little girl do this.

getting ready (:

learning how to float!

.. but never forgetting to have fun ♥

On the way home, Sydni said, "I wish Mr. Rob could see me swim!"
I was reminded in that moment how thankful I am for her. For Rob. For the fact that we are making this work, and that he's made an impact on my daughter. I was reminded why we're all being patient and making this long-distance thing work. We may not always be under the same roof at the same time, but when there's enough of the right kind of love there, we can do anything. I am blessed.

Back at home, it was laundry time, some goofing around [nothin' new there], and packing for the big weekend ahead of us.

this little girl is my world.

I'm exhausted.

Sayonara, Thursday.

xo | cmd

20K, Birthdays, Syd the SWIMMER & Cegg!

Wwwwow.
Logged on to do today's entry and found this:

tweeeeeeeeenty thousand whaaaat?!

So uhmmm.. THANK YOU!! I don't write my blogs for the purpose of counting pageviews, so I'm just as surprised as you should be... haha. Thanks, if you're one of the eye-pairs who's visited, read, loved or hated, or found something to take away from any of my particular journey through this life, then just know it means a lot.

Something I remembered receiving, while I was in the process of physically relocating back to Ohio.. from a childhood friend of mine:

Like I said, I wasn't looking for sympathy, or really even an audience; I write a lot of my entries for my own recall later on.. but it meant a lot then and it still kinda floors me that this thing has been seen 20k times [& not by me!]. Thank you ♥

Anyway, on to some more important news: Today's birthdays include two amazing people I wouldn't DARE forget!

1 || RINIIIIIIIII
I met this girl when I was in 8th grade, at the ever-faithful Skyview Ranch camp, and we've been friends ever since. We clicked immediately through our similar tastes and affinity for hobbies that were, well.. lacking of glitter, glam & all that other crap that the majority of girls that year were after. I will find the pictures, but until I do, I'll just keep laughing at her and I sneaking off into the woods one year and seeing how many times we could shoot each other at a 6-foot point blank range with paintball guns before the other cried mercy. We were interrupted, so there wasn't a winner. I vote re-do!

then & now.. ♥ her!

& s'more:

3 of my favorite moments ever..

2 || JORDAN!
This guy has an insane amount of talent! I first met him sometime in 07? or 08? when his old band [Thoroughfare] was playing through and happened to be at Molly Malone's in Covington. After that, I made it a point to connect with this guy and his crew every time they came through Cincinnati.. and after all these years, he's still just as talented if not more than he was then! Happy BIRTHDAY!

2007 > 2009 > 2013! keep at it my talented friend.. happy birthday!

Birthdays are the best (:
Except.... in the case of toddler swim lessons.. Those.. might be the best today:

blowing bubbles

floating!

my little goggled mermaid ♥ ♥

Gosh.. it's insane how much I love this little girl (:
I am so proud of you, monster.

... And as if swim lessons weren't enough excitement for the night, Catie stopped out for dinner after we got home! Sydni made it a point to make her play doctor's office, which in spite of Andy's medical background, has apparently not transferred to Catie.. haha. ["Okayyy, now you get a shot in your forehead" - we were roooolling... hahaha]

oh yes. that's us.

All in good fun. I love her, and I love that we were able to hang out for some homecooked dinner & catching up. Win!

And on that note, I'll leave you with what I found just moments ago after I was finished doing dishes and went to find out why it was so quiet [you toddler parents know that's not usually a good sign, hah]:


my heart. my soul. my love. my daughter.

So to her, goodnight..

♥ ♥ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♥ ♥

&& to the rest of you, we'll pick this back up tomorrow (:

xo | cmd