Terrible Tuesdays

It's become something of a running joke that at my job, there is no week that actually goes, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. It's more liiiiike....

Monday

Monday #2

Monday #3

Monday #4

and... Friday. 

Am I the only one? I can't be the only one. Haha. In case you think I'm joking, here's a short story:

I left for work just shy of 30 minutes early, rattling off a list of things I'd get done at the desk before the phone attached itself to my head like it usually does for the majority of my 9-hour day. About 5 minutes into my pre-planned embarking, I ran into ..... this:

yayyyyy, beechmont!
:| 

That was only 7:10!

... And also 7:15.
......... And then 7:25.
................... And then I made it past those arrows [woop woop!]... at 7:35.

Long, brake-light story short, I rolled into work around 8:15, which was juuust about right for what's been known as Terrible Tuesday at our office. Fortunately, it didn't stay that way for the entire day. There were some bright spots during which I felt like a snowplow in Cincinnati: rarely spotted but hugely effective when left alone to conquer the weird, muddled road.

[Sorry, Cincinnati]

Anyway, at the homefront, Rob and I teamed up to get dinner rolling, do homework with the mini and settle in after her bedtime to a night relaxing on the couch. Rob's been scrolling through boats for a couple hours, which tells me that after this house deal is closed, Lil' Bit Sum might be Lil' Bit GONE and who knows what'll be parked in the garage after that.

P.S. - We close on the 23rd... say whaaaat?!
^ I'll keep ya'll posted on that one. It's definitely not the worst Terrible Tuesday I've ever had ;)

G'Nite!

xo | cmd

WHAT.. A .. WEDNESDAY

Today started off with a 4-hour commute to work.
That's right, FOUR... HOURS.

I'm totally accustomed to a lengthy commute whenever I take Sydni out to Milford before heading to the office, but today was an entirely different story.

This... a 5-car accident on the Beechmont Levee, was to blame for the severing of a major commuting artery between basically two sides of Cincinnati:

borrowed this from the cincinnati enquirer
photog: liz dufour

^ I didn't know exactly what had happened or see any of the pictures until I got to work.... at 10:30.

There's nothing like an extended stop-and-go drive to make someone crazy, especially when it's in Cincinnati, where the traffic already flirts with the line of insanity when it comes to commute congestion. I left my house at 6:30, like usual, to drop Sydni off in Milford.

7:25 am.

First, I thought it was an unusually-slow advancement through a routine light that does lag, but not like it did today. Every 30 seconds showed another driver doing a 5-point turn in the middle of the road to turn back and find an alternate route. But not us... we're gonna brave it.

ummm....

Crap. Those flares advised us all that not only was our on-ramp closed, but that it was proooobably going to be a long trip back around. The cars coming the other way weren't doing much coming at all.. they were mostly just sitting as we inched on past.

squad car lights

So we followed each other back onto eastbound Beechmont, which, mind you is the exact direction from which I had originally came about an hour and 15 minutes earlier by this point. Squad cars with flashing lights and sirens driving down the medians never really mean good things.

bumper to bumper :(

And back on up the hill, which by this time in the morning [8:25 or so] gave a discouraging glimpse of all the traffic that was clearly headed in the wrong direction.

I decided to share my confusion with my phone's camera:

So long story short [and I do mean long], after using an entire quarter tank of gas in touch-and-go traffic for the next TWO hours of our lives, through stoplights that had been manually disabled and replaced with cops directing traffic, I finally got to work.

The way home was an entirely different, barren in comparison story.
fafa
There was also a much better view (:

gorgeous!

= HAPPPPPYYYY ME (:

selfie joy : no 4-hour commute!!

There are worse things.
And there are BETTER things!
Liiiiiike.. Becky texting me asking to see us tonight! (:
[Sushi it was!]

nom nom nommmmm

Of course, the fish who were not part of the meal had a special admirer, too:

her courtesy half-smile, because
mommy, the fish want to play with me!

Life's good, yeah?
... Yeah (: (: (:

xo | cmd

Entertrainment Junction | Keepin' It Mellow

I made an executive decision today to take Rob somewhere in Cinci that he's not yet been. Usually, I would've reserved this type of field trip for a day when Sydni was also here, but she's already been at least once and he hasn't... so... yeah. Entertrainment Junction it was!

On our way up, we had the fortunately-safe experience of witnessing a high-speed, multi-patrol car chase up Highway 75; reading the newsfeed later on, we found it was a shoplifter who had run over a police officer's foot in her getaway mission from Northgate Mall. The chase ended within visible space just past the exit we took. I've never before actually seen a high speed chase happen.... definitely an exhilirating thing.

high speed chase? uhhh, sure.

We made it to EJ without being witness to any other calamity on the roadway, and when it was all said and done, we both agreed it was a worth a day trip.

didja know?

displays

more displays

me & my love | santa & a window washer ;)

And since we're back in Cincinnati, it meant today inevitably finding some familiar faces for the evening. It wasn't hard. Well, it almost was, after I passed out for about two hours in what felt more like a coma than a nap... but who's counting, right? Rob was nice enough to kick me off the couch and into something better than sweats so that we could head out for a little while. We didn't have any specific ideas, so we defaulted to OTR, land of Neon's, Rheinhaus and Co.

fireside @ neon's

outdoor fire pits & silly friends (:

We found Nader and Keith in no time, and I even ran into some even more familiar faces [Kyle!], and some characters from as far back as college [Sal, Renato & Mischa - hii!!]. Sometimes I forget what and who I'll find roaming around this town now that I'm back. Go figure (:

Easy night though. Church in the morning!

xo | cmd

FIASCO FRIDAY

I'm all about alliteration ;)

Anyway, HOLY CRUD I am glad to see this day come to an end. [hello, backdated entry]

Today was my first run at dropping Sydni off at Mindi's before work; I came all the way from Northside and it didn't take as long as I'd thought - a reassuring thought since I'll be over halfway closer when I finally move. It was an early start though after a restless night; I was running on empty today outside of my excitement for the weekend.

I got my work phone today, along with some more Express swag... I don't know why I'm still surprised at how much stuff my company actually prints with its logos, but I suppose it's that way everywhere and it's a sign of good faring if nothing else ;)


helloooooo, express... ;)
[[this is just a taste of it, too.. haha]]

I really had no complaints when it came to my day at work. We're starting to find some consistency to a routine and things are picking up. I did decide to get my oil changed in the middle of Norwood today, and aside from the boisterous gal on her cell phone for a half an hour next to me in the lobby, there was also this to keep me entertained:


only here......

Yeah. The day was progressing just fine until it came time to head out. I made my way to Milford at a snail's rate, partially due to traffic but moreso by my own choosing of a varied route that took much longer than I'd thought. I finally got Sydni, and together we started out on the road to Illinois.

There was no making this an easy trip:
1. Car fire on 275, blocking all but one lane.
2. Motorcycle/car accident on 75/74 interchange.
3. Sheets of RAIN in the dark as we headed into Illinois, realizing then that there were tornadoes touching down not more than an hour from us.
Long story short, the usual 5-ish hour trip to Illinois wound up lasting 15 minutes short of EIGHT HOURS, and when we got to Granite, the storm had knocked power out completely. Rob's entire neighborhood was pitch black, save for the flickering candles barely visible through some of the windows.

jackknifed fed ex ... :(

I realized tonight how thankful I am for Rob's Macgyver-like ability and problem-solving skills. Since the power was out, the pump in his basement stopped working, and the water started flooding up over the drains. If it were me, we likely would've been floating by morning. Rob on the other hand, had more than one solution, and had the room looking like Frankenstein's laboratory with wires, batteries, pipes, but more importantly without overflowing water. It was a lengthy process though, one that he didn't finish until about 3am :(.

Like I said, we made it safely [amen], but this day could not be over sooner.

Nothin' like a rocky start to a weekend. Here's to the rest of this weekend (:

xo | cmd

Top 10 Reasons I [Still] Love My College R.A.

10 | She now runs Findlay Market in Cinci, and coordinates co-ops between local artisans, chefs, and businesses. How friggin' cool is that?!
09 | She forced me to run every stair at Nippert Stadium at UC, totally against my willl. One week of near immobility, one stop to yak, and a bajillion stairs later? = Totally worth it.
08 | She introduced me to UC Hoxworth blood drives, and essentially mandated participation on our floor.


becky! best ra ever.

07 | Because I would've been stuck with an over-the-top sorority girl my entire freshman year, if not for her intervention. And no, I don't mean one of those tolerable sorority girls; I mean the one that believes the earth shifted gravitation once she entered the scene.

06 | She introduced me into the Cincinnati network of indoor soccer, soccer clubs, and my now beloved Plex-rats of the Tri-County Soccerplex [league champs what?? haha]

05 | She's a beast! Right out of college, she was a forest-fire fighter. She's torn every ligament in her knees except one, has had surgery on average every other year, yet still plays soccer, still climbs, and is still in better shape than I will ever be.

04 | She gave me a sweeeeeet futon that I used for years. Sounds silly, but did your RA give you furniture? :p

03 | She saved my sanity, very literally speaking, by being there for me when one of my roommates attempted suicide. I'm so happy to say that roommate is still around to tell that story, but I would've been a wreck without her quick response and open door.

02 | She scheduled a night out of her St. Louis visit to meet me for dinner! Yay for our 10-yr anniversary of knowing each other :).

01 | We spent 1 year bonding over dorm life, 3 more years developing a friendship, almost 4 more years playing soccer together, and more recently making sure we're there for each other's big events. [She and Paul made it to our wedding.. woo!] She's always been a mentor, sound source of advice, role model, and above all, friend. It was awesome to catch up with her :).

***

Oh, and not to mention, she found a pretty cool little spot downtown St. Louis - If you've not yet tried out The Bridge over on Locust, I would suggest you mosey on over. They've even got a couple Cincinnati brews on tap, if you're into that kinda thing ;).


bridge th&wb | st. louis, mo

P.S. - Try the chicken salad. Delish.
It wouldn't have been a solid trip to St. Louis eateries without a stop at The Gelateria, and of course a quick walk-around of the City Museum [next time!]. She heads back to Cinci tomorrow, but we're already cookin' plans for another outing... keep ya posted.

I'm home now; major kudos to my husband for taking care of the monster for the evening. :)

That's a wrap, folks....

xo | cmd