I Play Sand Rainyball

So, it rained a lot today. Like.... all day. Awesome, right?
No... not really...

right before the lightning... 

The good news, we walked away tonight with our championship Tshirts from the last session, where we somehow managed to pull away with both league champion and tournament champion status. I could've done without the rain & lightning, but I'm not complaining - it was still a blast.

woop woop! 

Let's all say a quick prayer that the rain will not be here when we wake up tomorrow... wouldn't that be nice? ;)

Maybe. We'll see.
G'Nite!

xo | cmd

The MYSTERY Home T

I am left trying to solve a MYSTERY after today.
Here's why:

I'm a huge proponent of local food, clothing, product, music and culture. My philosophy has always been "Wherever local is for you, be a part of it." That doesn't mean drastically alter your slate of beliefs or standards to fit in anywhere, but rather to become engaged in the clockwork of your community. My friends and anyone who's seen a picture of me in the past 12 months would undoubtedly recognize my Ohio Roots hoodie, that I may be wearing down to the threads by this point. [thanks to Mica!]

ohio roots ♥

Anyway, today at work, Elisa announced that I had a package delivered. She and I are so easily-excited by the delivery of things we know are coming; I couldn't remember for the life of me what would be coming, because I didn't order anything.

This....

uhhh, hello, shirt??

  ^ I opened it, thinking maybe I'd forgotten ordering something [my bank account would later tell me no... no, I did not]. In case you don't know what a Home T is, here's what Ohio's looks like:

home (:

^ No, that's not me, just in case you for some reason thought I was a super skinny white girl. If you live in the U.S., you'll probably find yours, too. I always laughed whenever I'd see these and wonder if my family still lived in Colorado like we did originally, if I'd be interested in sporting my state's silhouette everywhere [...a box]. I wonder if Wyoming kids have the same concern... Haha.

So I am... trying to figure out who sent this to me. It's my size. I haven't tried it on yet but I will. I've ruled out the original suspects, so who knows. THANK YOU to the person out there responsible for this... you are a MYSTERY!

Anyway, surprise shirts aside, Sydni and I made our first trip to the gym together tonight. I was completely oblivious to the fact that there was a Fitworks on Beechmont Avenue until I opened my eyes and saw the thing over the weekend. So... instead of skipping a full week of circuits because of the logistics of Sydni's daycare and work, we can now go in the evenings.

She loved it.
So much so, that as soon as we got home, showered and ate dinner, she was done.

my sweet, sweet girl ♥♥

It took everything for me to move her out of our bed to her own room, but almost as sweet as her sleepy little self was her favorite buddy Stella, patiently waiting for her snuggler to climb in bed with her.

I wouldn't have started this week any differently. (:
Life is good.

xo | cmd

Growlers & Beanies & Friends, Oh My! [Rhinegeist Wednesdays]

There's really no better way to celebrate a mid-week than a breather from the routine.

Tonight, that took the form of a trip to Rhinegeist with some of my favorites. I needed my fix of hilarious antics, spontaneous decisions and even some souvenirs.

It's a photo-kinda-story.

holy hipsters, i love this girl... haha

my best friend.

'don't you dare ruin my cougar [ale]!'

photogenically-deficient society (:

Oh, and there was the arrival of Becky!

two of the greatest friends ever.

Aaaaand, timeout.
In the midst of all our silliness, I didn't notice when Rob slipped away.. until he came back with a fresh drink and something else tucked in his back pocket for me....

this. just.... this!!

^ I've had my eye on a shirt from here for a while now... and Rob bought it for me tonight. He. Is. The BEST, ever. How I landed this guy is beyond me, but I'm keeping him, keeping the shirt and keeping my word to always stay grateful for having my best friend here in Ohio with me. Thank you, thank you, lumberjack!! ♥♥

 more spoils...

^ I wasn't the only one who walked tonight with some charms of RG; we snagged a growler, too. Chad chose the medicine jar size and Rob of course bought my amazing shirt (: When we go to RG, we go ... to RG. Haha.

beckyyyyy

We snagged one final shot of us all at RG before the night wound down. This... is how I wanted my Wednesday to go.

love 'em.



We're home now, after a diesel dance party on the way back and some light unwinding at the house. Kalyn lives about one whole mile from here, so I'm guessing she'll be home before this is even finished. Haha.

Good night, friends - have a wonderful rest of the week!

xo | cmd

ALMOST....

At the very tail end of last night, I received two pieces of news that turned the entire rest of yesterday around. I was having something of a sludgy time over the course of the first 11 hours or so, but nearly back-to-back phone calls solidifying the final stages of something I've been trying to untangle for months now served not only as a huge blessing, but a reminder that most of the other fog of the day was menial stuff in the bigger picture.

Also on the roster of things from last night:

coasters!

I fiiinally completed the transfer portion of the coaster-making process on all the sets [+ 2 re-do's, woops] that I had planned. The very last step to these will be the clear glaze, and maybe... just maybe .. reposting a similar shot sometime in the near future after everyone's received theirs and I won't have to hide the pictures with tacky dots. (: Christmas is THIRTEEN days from today, just... FYI. Whoa.

I also received an email earlier in the week from Hahana that our team shirts for both the seasons we played this year were available.

Hahana. Team "Backseat Sets" haha....na.

^^ Merry early Christmas, K, K & B. Hahah.

Lastly, I finally got this sucker in from Marc [shoutout, Edwardsville!!] & have it all set up to add to the rest of them. This really isn't a majestic achievement by any means, but I did have to work up to this for a little bit, so hey, I'm happy (:

boooooyah.... or something like that ;)

So yeah! Those are just some small things that make me remember not to let other things, people or circumstances get under my skin the way I sometimes do. To add to these little benefits, there are some substantially larger things coming my way here in the very near future, and once I have the ground to claim on them, I'll share, too.

Piggybacking off of work-related things, our bosses bought us an early little Christmas bonus, which is just rrrrrrrright up my alley if you know anything about me and my above-average affinity for blankets:

"soft" doesn't even begin to describe this thing...

^ Drooooool. This throw's going to have to stay here in the office, because if I take it home and sleep with it, I might never again get up. Winning (:

I. Am. Blessed. It may seem stoic and redundant, but it's true.
Now on to an evening to spend with my parents, back home in my favorite place the world: their house.

the house that built me... [miranda lambert]

Happy weekend!

xo | cmd

& A Bunch of Random Stuff I Find Online

Every once in a great while, I find myself saving random articles, pictures, tutorials and creative project/recipe ideas off of whatever source they originated. I discovered today that they're starting to overrun space on my desktop; not that there isn't ample room there to share, but it's looking cluttered.

So here's an entry where I use my blog as a personal remember-this-for-later type board..

First things first:
FOOD. [Don't act surprised]:
[also, click on the pictures to enlarge, if you can't see .08 font ;) ..]

1. Banana Burritos ... or, if you're in Asian mode, Sushana:

things to try with syd!

2. Jelly Worms [these look tricky.. but fun .. for Fall & Halloween!]

wiggly...

3. Casseroles. You can so rarely go wrong with giving me a casserole recipe. The fact that there is an entire stick.. of butter, makes me want to prepare this for and send it to Marianne. Haha.

"curse youuu, paula deen!!!"
[and jk, i don't think is a pd recipe...]

4. Cookies. Don't ask. Just make.

things i promise to only make once a week.. at work...

These things are gonna make me start drooling... I'm such a foodie.. not to be mistaken with critic.. just a fanatic.. of food.. more specifically, eating it. No shame. Haha (:

This one made me laugh. A random number called my cell phone while I was at work, so instead of answer it, both for the obvious reason of my being at work, but also because I didn't even recognize the area code, I let the voicemail pick up. I later Googled the number; apparently G+ thought I needed help pronouncing it... assuming I know each sound component of the English alphabet letters already.

ohhhh, so that's why english-inept speakers sound so strange to us:
"fahyv" ??

^ Really? Twenty-six letters to memorize, but you've not yet done 1 through 10? Hmm. "Fawr, fohr." I think I'll start handing out my number in that format. "Eyt,... too,... fawr..." Yikes.

And then there's this... making me appreciate cotton and satellites in ways I probably never would have before:

thank you, buzzfeed.

Yyyyup.

Lastly, for today at least, I found a shirt that I wouldn't mind owning. It makes no sense, which is part of the quirky fun about it, but it's part of a tshirt company whose claim is in the printing of fun stuff specific to various parts of the Midwest [USA]. As someone who hails [mostly] from the MW, I have to say that many of my non-MW friends certainly do this.. a lot. This made me laugh especially after having lived in Illinois, to which nearly everyone would immediately reply, "Illinois? Ah, cool! Chicago!" ....nnnnnnnnnnnnnn...o.

want.

^ Looking at that, I realized I should probably start forming my birthday and Christmas wish list... more for myself than for anyone else.. haha.

Anyway, that's enough menial stuff for today.

xo | cmd