Love the Climb

I woke up today not forgetting that it's Kalyn's birthday. In honor of that, here's what remains still to be my favorite birthday party yet, from several years ago:

hbd, kp!

With Kalyn down in the Gorge, I didn't have the chance to see her this weekend. However, unintentionally in her honor, we decided to go climbing here. Becky's in town from NM for the weekend, so she joined us for a few hours in the gym.

Sydni was super into all of this, as you can clearly see:

this kid can sleep anywhere.

Once we pried some life back into Syd, it was into the gym and onto the auto's for some fun climbing. I have no idea when I blinked and missed the transitional phase between her not wanting to climb at all and today's skittering straight up a 5.8 without thinking twice about it, but I will take it. I had 5 specific proud mom moments when I heard her voice ring out from the tops of each course she ran - 5 different courses, one of which was a cross between 5.8 and 5.9. For a 7yo who doesn't climb every day, I'd say she's got some shining potential to be great at this if we let her. 

so. proud!

It was a fantastic outing with one of our dearest friends, and made the perfect afternoon pick-us-up out of the dreary weather that ushered the weekend through. 

climbing with becky! 

After climbing, it was lunch at Panera, then home to relax for a little while. It was 70 degrees yesterday; today we were lucky to see 40 degrees, in between the wind and gray sky. And I wonder why my sinuses are having a panic attack? 

*Sigh. Today was a good, full day of fun and quality time spent with mini and one of our best friends. Cheers to the rest of this weekend! 

xo | cms

Saturdays Are For Catching Up

Sleeping in this morning was the most anticipated hour of my weekend. I say hour, because well... my body no longer recognizes the golden opportunity to not wake up and go to work, so it tries to do it anyway... every day. Funny how that works.

Anyway, I somehow willed my body to stay as still as I could convince it to be, and somehow managed to open my eyes again about 2 hours later. Sleeping in has never been so much work, but YAY! Haha.

The day consisted of clean-up around the house, and catching up on things I hadn't had the chance to cover while I was gone all of last week. It wasn't much to document for the purposes of this blog, but it was a healthy sense of feeling caught up with myself and my house.. at least a little bit.

Mid-day, Rob passed out for a nap, which has been happening as a result of the pain meds he's been on since the accident. I took advantage of the downtime and decided to ride in to work for a few hours. I'm glad I did; those brief 3-4 hours were exactly what I needed to avoid feeling as though I've completely drowned in my work after missing 3 days unexpectedly.

I left work and headed straight for Jessica's; I'd promised to let Bumper out for a potty break while she was at the Luke Bryan concert. Bump and I had a great time cruising around the apartment complex, before I packed up the contents of the crockpot for fridge storage and headed on my way home.

See ya soon, Bump!

cutie! 

Oh, and we committed ourselves to a night of absolutely nothing, which turned out to be the best idea we've had all week. Despite the yucky feeling of declining friends' offers to go out and about doing things, I think the excitement of last weekend should hold us over for at least 5 more days until the next weekend.

All's well in this little casa. G'Night!

xo | cmd

Holy Cow. FINALLY Friday

Aaaaand FRIDAY it was! In full Friday fashion, too, might I add!

The day did its due diligence of giving us a solid run for our money in stamina, patience and productivity, but we fortunately came out on top with the day at our command. The weekend is HERE, and I am ready to welcome it!

I'm pretty certain Sydni would agree:

It's gonna be a good one, I can see it already!

Have a wonderful, safe & rejuvenating weekend, friends!

xo | cmd

Ides of March.. & A Tired Brain

What do you do the day after Supercross?

NOTHING. You do NOTHING.
And you ENJOY it.

Rob stayed the night with Dylan and Dillon in Indy last night, so they were on the road still by the time church came around. I went solo, enjoyed an incredible message and shared it with Rob when he did make it back.

I was reminded of a couple things today:

1. Don't do laundry when you're tired. You will probably [if you're me] not use the important parts of your brain, and end up putting a red sherpa blanket in the same load as wool socks. You will spend about 40 minutes at the end of that mistake hand-plucking red strings off your socks.

good job tired brain. 

2. It being the Ides of March, I went rogue for dinner and started a massacre not of people [because I just... don't do all that], but of random items of food in my kitchen. It turned out to be a very successful venture - a little mixed up, but hey.. who's perfect?

redemption, tired brain. 

Whew. I love doing things on weekends, but it's the day after that always feels like a 9-ton truck ran over my brain and body.. here's to some early SLEEP & a good start to the week tomorrow!

xo | cmd

Grrrrr..

I freak out over stupid stuff every once in a while; I know that.

THIS.. is one of those times:

What's that you ask? Well, this is where I found myself mid-afternoon, after one of my associates thought it fit to bail on an assignment to which she'd committed well in advance. With the clock ticking, it was one of those desperate measures calls, and I was out the door in a flash to go and cover. Not particularly how I wanted to spend the last few hours of an already abbreviated week, but hey, we do what we've gotta do and that's that.

So...... to say that I'm pretty doggone excited to spend the weekend now with my little family is a colossal understatement.

And sorry universe, for freaking out. :)

xo | cmd 

Farewell Sunday :(

Kyle opted out of joining us for an early lunch today, but he made up for it by finishing off the leftovers...

From where?

Well.. where else would we go.... Hahaha. 

eli's bbq | cincinnati, oh

Sunny day, smoke pit BBQ, and the best mac n' cheese in greater Cincinnati?
As cantankerous as this place can sometimes be, there are certainly a good share of no-brainers. Eli's BBQ is one of them. We'll call it even, since Rob loves Eli's and I love Bindy's fried green beans. We both use those as selling points to convince the other to visit.. heh. Just kidding.

Anyway, we took advantage of relaxing for the early part of today, before the boys had to head off back to Illinois. I'm here now, a couple hours later, feeling that familiar "down" tinge after an awesome time with awesome people that seemed to have ended too soon. I'm happy though, because I'm reminded every time that I have surrounded myself with some of the best people I could imagine.

proud to say i'm his.

I'll leave it at that: thankful for surprises, for friends, for hilarious moments and random adventures. I'm bummed that the weekend is over already, but Sydni is back here tomorrow so I am absoLUTELY looking forward to that!

Fun keeps on comin'! (:
Here's to the week!

xo | cmd

Dear Week, Please End Already

Sentiment for today:

#truth. [cred: explodingdog.com]

progression just today.. ouch :(

I don't know why this week has felt so long; for me, it's only been four days since I was off on Monday. Tomorrow, thankfully is FRIIIIIDAY, and that means Sydni and I are home-bound after work to my parents' house. It doesn't look like Rob's going to make it.. he's got poison ivy or something along those lines threatening to put him out of commission even for work tomorrow. I feel awful now as I sit and blog about it because I've been selfishly disappointed all evening knowing he won't be able to come, but realistically it's smarter that he doesn't, at least not feeling the way he does and having to drive on top of that. I'm being a big baby about it, when I need to start using my brain and not my heart for things like this. Silver lining? He was going to brave it for my sake, and deal with the drive. And.. there will be plenty of other weekends to plan this. I'm a lucky girl, to the core.

Now GET BETTER, LUMBERJACK! ;)

 

So tomorrow I'll snag this little road trip buddy and we'll be off to my parents' house. She's been in quite the singing mood lately... all I can say is that she can serenade me all the way there and back and I know I won't mind it one bit! (:  

[& no, she doesn't sit in the front.. just fyi... lol]

Jamie & Nader called, as well tonight.. looks like we're going to have to put this off another day or so. I'm done for the night... oy...

 

*yawn... g'nite.

 

xo | cmd

Lá sona naomh Pádraig! [Almost]

Well, it's not the real St. Patrick's Day yet, but that didn't stop us from celebrating here at the office since we really won't be together as an office family on Sunday. Soooo... [sans Linda :( ... ], HAPPY DAY O' GREEN!

the express family [minus linda :( ... ]
tonya. andi. marc. cori. ali. diana

Potluck mode? Yes. Complete with corned beef & cabbage, potato salad, cheese & broccoli and an angel food cake topped with green sprinkles. Yeah, we know how to do it up around here when it comes to small office potlucks ;)

Oh, and no, I'm not Irish (clearly), but I do have a pure affinity for the color green; I found this on the Color Run page today and wanted to share, because I love... green... that.. much. 

color green (:

Love love love.

*Phew. The work day was something closer to absolutely neurotic than calm and peaceful like we'd hoped, but that's what makes our job what it is, and we do what we can to keep the ball rolling when one of us is MIA. Linda deserved a day off, so we were happy to pick up where she'd left off, even on a last-minute job order for double digit crew numbers. Oh, we brought it... haha.

Work aside, [HELLO WEEKEND!!!!]

We're headed out tomorrow for the weekend in Indy... here we goo..... (:

xo | cmd


Oh, Beautiful FRIDAY [International Women's Day!]

First things first: Happy International Women's Day! [&yayyy, sort-of-obsolete-holidays! haha]

... found this on my fb earlier; thanks km!!

So.... It's been a long time since I've been so excited for a Friday that didn't serve as an introduction to anything specific for the weekend. Today really was just another Friday, but I've been stoked about it all week.

Oh! Before I get to Friday, let me share with you something I forgot to yesterday because I was so busy ranting about degenerate behavior...... I tackled a recipe given to me and can't say that I hated it. I did think of a few ways to doctor this up for the next time around, but for the first attempt, not too shabby.

pull-apart pizza bread!

[Yumm.]

Anyway, back to today - I think it was because this week has been pretty brutal as far as work's concerned. We've been over-the-top busy for the first time this year, and with an essentially new staff blending together over all of the ramp-up projects, it's been both a challenge and a truly incredible thing. [Yeah, teamwork!]

That, and I took an actual lunch break today for the first time in over 3 weeks. It may seem like a small victory, but when you're in an office from 7:30am to 5pm every day and the only time you use the front door is only at those two times, stepping outside midday for an hour almost seems like a foreign affair of some sort. I almost didn't know what to do with myself, even though it's just Glen Carbon and I've been spending 40+ hours each week here for the last two years. Still pretty funny. There was a different energy in the office today, which was a refreshing contrast to earlier in the week when I wasn't sure if we'd all make it with our sanity in tact to today. I've got a killer team, that's for sure. (:

rompers!

With it being Friday, it would've seemed natural for Rob and I to make some impromptu plans of some sort and end up out for the entire night somewhere. We stayed true to the last-minute nature we do so well and ended up at his friends' house, where we all spent the night relaxing, as opposed to the noise and crowd of being out somewhere. Definitely needed sometimes (:

There were some playful pups there, and I think they had enough energy and play to make up for double what we weren't doing just lounging back. Didn't mind it one bit...

Speaking of four-leggers, my poor meatball Stella spent the majority of today and obviously this evening locked up in her room, so we made it back here to let her out and stretch the legs some, while we sat and tuned up the guitars for a bit on the couch before calling it a night.....

..... which is where we are now. This may or may not be backdated, but hey, that's not important ;)

WEEKEND, here we are. I missed you....

xo | cmd 

Eeeeeeeet's FRIDAY!

Happy MARCH FIRST, in the MIDWEST:

Happy friday happy FRIDAY!! 

Marc & Diana are still in Utah until Monday, so when I say we legitimately earned our casual day today, I'm talkin' major adherence to the honor system and some downright hard work, all week. They keep making this weird decision to leave me in charge of running the ship when they're gone; all I can say is that I am so proud of my team and everything we did this week to get everything done.

the team [minus andi] - circa december 2013 @ edison's :)
[linda. diana. marc. cori. ali. tonya]

They.... are ... teriffic. 

And then there's Rob. It's been a loooong week; I knew that I was in need of some serious unwinding. He's been a stable source for me for a while now when it comes to putting the work week to rest and just enjoying life a little bit. Like any jaded person, I've been through the ringer so to speak... I'm re-discovering how to slow down and just enjoy the moment every so often. He's been a huge part of that; he's been a friend before anything else and for that I am so thankful. I'm not an outwardly-emotional person, so let's revel in this little thought before I shut my mouth.. haha.. and don't tell Rob; we don't want him getting a big head ;).  [#endSappyMoment].



oh hey ♥

We made it out of the house and up to Granite for dinner, and ended up at Bindy's with some of his friends, doing what we do best when there's no agenda: goofing off & remembering that the small laughs in life are sometimes some of the best.

*Yawn... It's been a good night.

Tomorrow = Major house cleaning, errands, and maaaaaybe picking up another member to the household... Weeeeee'll see.. I'll keep ya posted. ;)

xo | cmd

Gratitudes 2013

Yeah, so it's safe to say we got something of a delayed start today after being out for most of last night. It was entirely worth every minute [great show, great company, great time!], but it came with limited activity for the early part of today.

In the spirit of things belated, I figured I would share something I actually saw a few days ago, at the actual beginning of the month. Excuse me for being five days behind on posting, but I think it's an awesome idea and I very well just may go get a mason jar solely for this purpose. It'll have to be a big one, I've already decided, because 2013 is gonna be a loooong, event-riddled year, I can already tell you that.

Really, anything in a mason jar is generally a winning idea, and I like focusing on the things for which I'm grateful, so yeah.. great concept all around.

I'll start: I am... intensely thankful for my job. I work in a position that's faced every single day with honest, driven people who've endured oftentimes more than their fair share of bad luck, who are unemployed. I have the chance every day to directly impact those people, so not only do I have a job, but my job has a specific purpose and a very tangible payback. I am BLESSED.

Anyway, I suppose I'll start doing normal human things today, like moving, eating... that sorta stuff.

Happy January 6th!

xo | cmd