Ali's 25th, Day 2: Tattoos & Other Chicagoland Things

Waking up in the rises above Chicago really wasn't a bad way to start the morning:

good morning, chicago  ♥

Our Saturday adventuring started with a brunch at The Chicken Shop, this adorable 2nd floor cafe in the Fulton Market District:

get outta here, that's adorable. 

georgia peach rooibos + chicken&waffles
the chicken shop | chicago, il

Nom nom NOM. 

Across the street from our brunch place was this: 

next time! 

We were cutting it close on time, so we didn't get to stop in, but it - along with about 400 other places - are on the bucket list for next time. 

The big ticket item on our agenda today was the pitstop at Dream City! 

dream city | chicago, il 

Part of my birthday present to Ali was getting a tattoo together, one of the things we've surprisingly not done yet. We agreed on the design, and the rest was up to the artists at DC Tattoos. Thanks to Leo the steady-handed artist, it was the quickest tattoo session I've ever been in, and in no time we were done! :)  

ali on the left, cori on the right 

thank you, leo! 

We headed back to the hotel afterwards, where the pictures of tattoos continued into the afternoon/evening, even as we were getting ready for the rest of the night: 

"God is greater than the mountains & the valleys" 

twin tattoos... and that stupid strand of my hair the just. never. listens! 

ali's new ink

damanji is clearly enjoying this moment.. haha

So the rest of the night was laid out to us in the form of The Apartment, which is not an actual apartment, but rather an upper level clubhouse of cool people, because I mean.. we were there, right? [insert post-corny joke rimshot here...]

ANYWAY, we had a handful of Chicagoland friends out for the night as well, which made for a fun night of music, spirits, dancing and of course, Snapchat: 

"social anxiety face." 

look at all the snapchats i stole from ali! 

chicago friends!

snapchataholism

blue lights flatter nobody... obviously. 

happy people... happy birthday, ali!

And then, what happens to be my favorite picture of today, was a random photo opp in the hotel elevator on the way home:

31st floor, please!

And we owned our night. Ali, I hope your birthday weekend has been everything you've hoped for, and then some. We love you to the moon & back!

Tomorrow we leave the city behind, and head back home. *Yawn. Can't wait [dull face]. Haha. 

G'Nite! 

xo | cmd

Happy Birthday, Elisa!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELISA!!!!

[borrowed fb photo, mandy paige photography] 

Happy, HAPPY Birthday to my fabulous co-worker! [I freakin' love birthdays..]

In true my-Express-office fashion, Carri and I collaborated our efforts to celebrate Elisa today:

our little birthday spread!  

A few things about Elisa that I've learned in our two years now working together:
1. She loves cats [yay!]
2. She loves yoga [double yay!]
3. She loves coffee [need I continue, really?]
4. She loves local shopping AND eating as much as I do [& emphasis on eating, because yes.]
5. She loves artsy fartsy things, too [quintuple yyyyay!]

So all of those things [& then some] being said, we did what we could to offset the fact that she had to spend her actual birthday mostly at work. :)

First things first, her cards:

Mine:

meow!

Carri's:

namaste... 

Next on the list back when we were planning: CAT THINGS! Better than that, EDIBLE Cat Things:

^^ Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU again to Allie @ Tu-Tu Sweet for creating exactly what I envisioned for these fun little guys! They [as they always are with Allie] were PERFECT PURRRFECT!

Cats. Yoga. CHECK. 

To knock out the Coffee AND Local Shopping part, I went with this:

french press + local shopping = win!
coffee emporium | cincinnati, oh

Yiiieee!!! ♥

What else did I say she liked? Oh, yeahyeah - artsy fartsy things! Carri knocked this one out of the park with her gift:

is a-w-e-s-o-m-e!

I weighed in with what I could on the note of artsy fartsy things, because also [not on the above-mentioned list] I know she also shares my affinity for quirky socks. So artsy deco on socks is pretty much a given.

cozy toes!!! 

The birthday girl herself!!

haha yeahhh! 

Overall, I think we did pretty good ;)

happy birthdayyyyyyy!!! meow!

Happy, HAPPY birthday to one of my favorite working girls [+ extra birthday shout-out to her real life twin brother, Eric!], a kindred spirit in many ways and an all around amazingly down-to-earth person. Cheers to you for the next year & everything in it!

"work yoga twins" 

OH, and there's a follow up to this that will be taking place next weekend.. so stay tuned for that :)

YAY, BIRTHDAYS!!!! 

xo | cmd

"Woot WOOOOT!"

Because I had to...
["Mik-Mik-Mik-Mik-MIKE!!"]


... & because Rob sent me this earlier this morning:

[Love him. The camel, too, but I meant Rob. Love him more ♥]

Today was in fact hump day... the good ol' mid-week that took its sweet little time passing by. On the bright side, tomorrow is Thursday and then it's Friday and then I head to Columbus with Sydni to celebrate her cousin Madison's 4th birthday! I'm not complaining, at all. It even rained some during the day; I never really know if it's raining or not out where I live, but... I thought perhaps volleyball would've somehow been spoiled.

Not even!

Kalyn & Keif were at the Reds game tonight off tickets that KP's dad bought, not realizing we had vollyball on Wednesdays, but it's okay. Beth recruited her friend Meg, and I somehow guilted Ladd to stand in as well, and our half-sub team did some WORK! We put up a couple WINS, so that's always a plus, too [Thanks, Ladd & Meg for standing in!].

OH.. and while all of that is just.. champion stuff, the most critical thing I wanted to post today was that Ryan & Octavian's surgery, aka that "Creccianu" [dubbed from a combination of their last names] yesterday was a success, and at this point the recovery is looking fantastic.

loveloveloveLOVE this!! [check out ryan's shirt!]

carrie & molly
happy birthday!

Amen? AMEN.

Also, happy birthday to the cutest pair of twins I've ever known.. and fellow adoptees, Molly & Carrie! I hope today's been fantastic for you girls! [& Congrats again Molly, on your engagement!!]

Today's pretty much been an awesome day. I topped it off with a Skype date with Rob, which has been a saving grace lately; I have no idea why we didn't think of this a couple of months ago, but it's been a recent thing and it's working out great. We're down to eight days until he comes to visit!!

We are all so blessed, all the way around.
I'll dream on that note, tonight (:

xo | cmd

Happy 30, ROE Girls!

I always wondered what it would've been like to be a twin. Sometimes that thought scares me, because that would've meant the world would have two of me to handle. Haha. Other times, I think it would be hilarious and fun, since the majority of the twins I know prove twindom to be just that. Or, it could be just that the twins I know are all beautiful people, inside and out, so they make the whole shebang look that much better. Either way....

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

- to my former roommate Trisha, and her twin sister, Laura. Today they are the big 3-0, and I wish them both the best of the best for their birthday! (:

adorable, right??
l: i think it's laura, then trisha?... and on the r: trisha & laura (:

birthday memoirs!
b: trisha & catie
f: jacinda. laura. cori

I remember when Catie and I joined the Roe family for a birthday celebration for these two ladies a few years back; we decided we'd tell everyone we were also twins and see if they believed us. [I'm kidding; we didn't, and it wouldn't take more than a snail to recognize that clearly we aren't.] Anyway, happy birthday to these two beautiful girlies and wishes for many, many more!

The only thing about which I'm not sure I'm crazy when it comes to the Roe birthdays is the fact that it marks the first day of JULY, which means it's time for me to do my annual peek back at the first half of the year, and consequently wonder where in the heck it all went. I know I'm not alone. Haha. This year certainly has made its way without lag and while it seemed like it would be a daunting one at the beginning, there was a certain shine to it that I saw early on... I'm convinced the last half will be amazing.

Something else I found for the day that I thought was fitting for both a Monday, the first day of July, monumental birthdays, whatever.... [borrowed this from searchquotes...]


happy ________ ! [july! birthday! life!]

This is going to be a great week for a multitude of reasons... including [but most certainly not limited to:] Sydni being with me all week, Ali & Co. visiting this weekend, a holiday [=shortened work week!], possible camping trip with Becky, maaaaybe having a visit from Rob, fireworks, gosh.. list could go on. I am blessed, and you are too, whether you can see it now or not.

"Wait for the Lord; Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." -Ps 27:14

Here's the the second half of the year.. Happy JULY!

xo | cmd

Happy BIRTHDAY Arthur Twins!

I've not yet found any electronically-documented oldschool pictures of Kacey with which I could embarrass her for today, but at least I was able to dig up some for Jasmine. haha...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO
THE ARTHUR TWINS!

jasmine!
left circa 1999 | right circa 2012

I have older shots; I've known the Arthur girls since we were itty bitties, but those photos are in safe storage [probably a good thing all around, ha] at my parents' house in good old Mt. Vernon, miles away from here and any scanning that could possibly be done. Congrats, girls, you lucked out this time. Haha.

Anyway, today went by as most Wednesdays should at my work: busy, busy and a little more busy. It's not a bad thing - it actually helps the day fly right on by. I made it home and intended on making dinner until Rob suggested a trip to Se7en [ssssssssold]. We even started branching out into new things, including tuna tatacos.... while not a fan, it was fun trying out a different path. We ultimately ended our string of piece by piece orders with the traditional California roll, which is... always a winner. Haha. 

mexicana & crunch rolls | tuna tatacos
se7en! | belleville, il

We made it back to the house and got Stella [aka, The Meatball] out for some play before we settled in to relax and call it a night.....

Here's to the homestretch of the week (:
See you tomorrow!

xo | cmd

Twin Bdays | Deacon Meetings | Volleyball

It has been a DAY!

First off, it's the first day of JULY [holy cow, already??]. More importantly, it's the birthday of a dear friend of mine, who happens to be my old roommate, who also happens to be a twin. Yay, double birthdays! I still remember when she couldn't quite cooerce her duo partner to get a tattoo on their 25th birthday [heh], but I know they are celebrating in style today.

roomies ♥

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, to my former roomie TRISHA & her twinnie LAURA!!

These two are ADORABLE. HBD!! ♥



i told you they were adorable, didn't i??
trisha & laura

Here in IL, the Dills did Sunday in our own style: church and a deacon's meeting afterwards. We got an early start and stopped by for a special breakfast out with little miss; she just insisted on dancing with Daddy in the parking lot before we drove over to church. She's been on a Disney kick lately [parents, nod your heads... you know], so she made it clear that Daddy was Beast and she was Belle for their little sache out on the pavement.

beast & belle.... & beauty brands outside bread co. ;)

Like I mentioned, we had a deacon's meeting immediately after church; Joe is being considered as the next potential staff member, perhaps at a limited capacity for now, but ultimately with the goal of Associate/Assistant Pastor. We met at Bandana's [because if we're gonna eat, we're gonna EAT] to discuss things, and left with the decision resting in the hands of the current board of deacons. We'll hear the final verdict here soon, but we are okay with whatever timing God's gonna lay on this one. (:



syd @ bandana's

The kids had fun, too. Very funny ;)



loralye's rendition of the dills fam ;) hehehe.. notice joe!

After quite an eventful morning, we took advantage of some down time with family-wide naps and lounging around before Joe took off with Sydni to Jarod's to help Alex & his dad move the bathtub out of the house. I'm telling you, that place will be whipped into shape before we know it; they're doing a great job! I got ready to head to volleyball, and made my way over to Clayton without a hitch. It was great seeing the SM folks again and laughing myself stupid by the end of the evening. Good times.



SMMU volleyball time!

these people... haha.. love 'em. post vball @ bw3

Yeeeeeks, it's late. I've gotta be up bright and early for work tomorrow, so I'm gonna bid this one adieu.

Hasta mañana (:

xo | cmd