El Maguey's

I don't think I ever mentioned that the girl training me for my position at the Edwardsville office is leaving at the end of this week. As an office, send-off dinner's aren't uncommon, but they are more interesting when it's held at a place to which I've never been. Although El Maguey's turned out to be your standard Mexican restaurant, it was still good, and I appreciated the opportunity to sit down in a more casual environment with the people I see for 8 hours a day every Monday through Friday.

el maguey mexican restaurant

I honestly miss the staff from the office back in Cinci. There isn't much I can do about that, so I'm determined to make the very best of and keep an open mind to this new staff; ironically, aside from the owners, I would technically be considered the senior staff member if ranked by longevity with the company. I have high hopes for my run here, and I do wish my departing predecessor all the best luck in her new job!

¡Adiós, y hasta mañana!

xo | cmd

Tuesday Perks

Today I’m feeling rather hopeful.

I’m going to be bold and say that I am finally adjusting to my new environment at work. Not a day goes by that I fight the urge to compare my old office to my new office, but the confusion seems to be subsiding and a more distinct sense of organization seems to be emerging. I have strong hopes that we’re all headed in a productive direction.



hello, dresses!



Anyway, as I sat in front of my computer arguing with payroll (Tuesdays, love it….), the UPS guy popped in with two unnecessarily large boxes. The store name tattooed across every inch of its surface was a dead giveaway to the fact that the dresses I ordered on Friday, made it safely to me by Tuesday. Not too shabby, and quite frankly a monstrous elephant removed from the back of my mind.



I also managed to order a few other odds and ends which I’ll need to complete the wedding ensemble, and if all goes well, I expect those deliveries to be just as punctual as the first.

When 5:00 hit today, I left work feeling an overall sense of accomplishment and progress. I headed home to Joe and Sydni, who, as it turned out, weren’t even there yet. That gave me ample time to get laundry moving and start dinner with minimal interruptions. They made it home shortly after me, and immediately set the goal of watching Road to Perdition while I was making dinner. Did I mention we’re harboring a Tom Hanks addict? ;)

Behold, the pierogie:



pierogies, pre-adornment

Yum. Home run on that one, if I must say so myself. I rarely say that of my own culinary doings, but after a long day of haggling employees for lost hours and adjustments, it felt good to focus on nothing but the flavor of the food.

I think I'll ask my mom for her pierogi recipe. She makes these suckers from scratch, and there's not a chance in the world I'd argue with that. :)

All in all, not an awful day, for me at least. I’m still praying that Joe and this weather deal will start to get along better and stop butting heads.

Tomorrow = midweek. HUA.

xo | cmd

Week 3. Here We Go.

Yeahhhh, Monday.

And yeah, it’s freakin’ HOT outside. I’m not usually one to be discontented with warm weather, but this is a little out of hand for the Midwest. So yeah, *sweating*….

Today was one of those days during which I was so entirely consumed in my work that I skipped lunch altogether and was consequently faced with leaving an hour early. Welcome to the perks of hourly wages. J  Ha. So, that gave me plenty of time to do some light exploring of Belleville, which meant stopping by Peace by Piece, a local shop that carries only American-made products and caters to the sale of local artisans. My kind of shop… 



peace by piece | belleville, il



I had planned on stopping there for one reason only, and found exactly what I needed within the first minute I entered. It’s certainly not Park & Vine, but it’s mildly comparable. I’d definitely go back. Now if only I can hunt down a local dig that carries all natural products and all the hippy stuff I love: Moby’s, cloth diapers, beeswax soap, household items made from recycled bike parts… ya know, that sort of place. Any suggestions?

Towerview’s softball game was scheduled for 6:00 PM, but I craftily used both Sydni and the well-overdue grocery trip to escape sitting in the blazing sun for 3-4 hours straight. Joe headed to the game; Sydni and I headed to Dierberg’s. We managed to shop, return home, and shelve everything within the hour, which left us plenty of time to catch the second game. By the time Syd and I made it to the field, the heat had partially retreated, so the evening was tolerable. We didn’t pick up any wins tonight, but the guys played well and we had fun watching. Plus, Jarod rode his motorcyle and had forgotten shorts, so he opted to simply chop off the lower half of his jeans. Yeah for softball fashion statements. :)

before: jeans | after: jean shorts

It’s still hot, even inside, and I’m pretty sure I’ll end up falling asleep as close to ground level as I can….again, tonight. We’ll see.

xo | cmd

USA v. JAPAN

There are a handful of televised sports that can hold my attention, but nothing quite like soccer. Especially if it’s an important game. By important, I mean, World Cup finals important.

So this morning was fairly relaxed: nobody wanted to wake up early, not even Sydni. She was zonked on the fold-out couch when I woke up around 9am. Mom & Dad came over from next door and we did the hotel breakfast thing. After breakfast, we decided to take a quick swim in the hotel pool. Syd is still hesitant of deep water, but is coming around faster and faster each time. She’s brave! Her first order of business was jumping into the pool from the ledge with one of us there to catch. I’d say that’s a good step for a 22-month-old!

Around 1, we loaded up the cars and headed back north to Indianapolis. We drove past the old location of Glass Master’s (Joe’s professional alma mater), which is now nothing more than a pile of excavated sand. He showed me the new building which he and his team had basically transformed from the ground up with their own hands. Our stop landed us at the B-Dub’s, where we settled in to eat and watch the USA v. JAPAN women’s World Cup.

I had high hopes. I think we all did. There was a part of me that kept saying I wouldn’t be horribly offended if Japan won; after the tragedies that have forcibly taken the country’s attention captive, that victory would be a welcomed encouragement. I’m glad I had that thought inkling in the back of my mind, because when it was all said and done, we basically handed Japan the game and they came out victorious. It’s depressing, yeah, but I’m not going to speculate here.

abby wombach | hope solo

Let me just say though: Hope Solo and Abby Wombach may be tied for my athletic girl crushes. Don’t judge. Haha.

After 120+ minutes of soccer, Joe, Sydni and I hit the road for the 4-hour trip back to IL.

That lands us here, now, home in the house which has not experienced A/C since we left. My word, it’s muggy in here. Haha. Good news is: we made it home safely. My parents made it back to Ohio safely, and we’ve finally got Sydni home. We sure did miss her.

I’m sleepin’ on the downstairs floor tonight, folks. True story.

G’Nite.

xo | cmd

Let's Go See SYDNI!!

Part of me doesn’t feel like it’s been just shy of two full weeks since we last saw Sydni. The other part of me feels like I haven’t seen her in forever, therefore I couldn’t wait to get to Indiana today to meet up with my parents and her. She’s been doing her monthly stay with Nana and Pappy, but with the distance now over double what it was when we lived in Cincinnati, we voted for a two-week stint instead of just one. We’d taken our break after the July 4 weekend; while we’d enjoyed some time sans toddler, we were more than ready to see her.

We got a late start, 150% due to me, as my husband would argue. We were afraid my parents would be left waiting for nearly an hour for us at the hotel. My poor parents got stuck on the outside of Indianapolis behind a haz-mat spill, and ended up gridlocked in traffic for almost 2 hours. We beat them to the hotel, but thankfully they weren’t too far behind us.

Mom, as usual, was prepared for a picnic feast. We set up camp in the hotel dining area, cooler and all. Let me tell you, my mom doesn’t mess around when it comes to food. J



edin outlets



After the late lunch and some settling in, the five of us headed back up the highway to the Edinburgh outlet malls, where we did some shopping and got some decent exercise after hours of being cramped in vehicles.

One day I’m going to look back and wish I had ten thousand more chances to meet up with my parents after they’ve had Sydni for a week, two weeks, etc. I am so blessed to have the parents I have and even more so that they are the people that they are.

Tomorrow we all head back home. Maybe the USA will get a decent win over Japan in the Women’s World Cup. Who knows.. who knows….

ZzZzZz…..

xo | cmd

Double Date

Work was work. Aside from it being Friday, I’m not here to talk about work. J

Good news: I finally ironed out the kink [at least I believe I did] with the wedding wardrobe issue I’m having. I ordered new dresses today, and if I’m lucky, I’ll see those within the next two weeks. I also ordered the TOMS I'll be sporting, as well as two pairs of silver TOMS for two of my bridesmaids. Scoooore.

toms toms toms toms | ♥.

Earlier tonight, Caitlin and Nick met us here at the house and the four of us loaded up for a double date. First stop: Eckert’s. [Thank you Pastor Ron & Debbie for helping us discover this GEM!] They’d not been, and Joe consumes the biscuits like water, so really, nobody lost there. They loved it, we loved it, and we all left with just one unanimous complaint of overstuffed bellies.

From there, we headed over to a mini golf course near our house. We’d been meaning to visit, but hadn’t yet, so we figured we would utilize a perfect summer evening and challenge each other to 18 holes of putt-putt.



such focus!



I won.

Don’t ask me how it happened, because I bet I wouldn’t get that lucky again in a million years. But, for the record, I won. Haha. I can’t celebrate too much, though, because Joe was the only one of us that managed to sink a hole-in-one on the last hole to earn a free game. Don’t act surprised… J

This little place turned out to be a lot bigger than we thought. Once we finished golf , we grabbed some bats and each took a turn for one round in the batting cages. I’m not nearly as bad as I thought I would be, but not nearly good enough to say I’m anything worth noting. Softball was never my thing. We did decide that we would make another trip soon and try out the bumper boats, go-karts, or the other mini-golf course.

we are barely tall enough to ride these things

*Yawn.
Tomorrow, Joe and I head up to Columbus, IN to rendezvous with my parents. They’ve had Sydni for two weeks now and this will be our halfway meeting trip to pick her up and spend the weekend with them. I suppose I should get some sleep….

xo | cmd

Betrayal!



qdoba quesadilla



Dear Chipotle,
I’m sorry. Today I ate a quesadilla from QDoba, and I didn’t hate it.
I feel like a traitor, but I promise I’ve not forgotten you.
For what it’s worth, I still think you’re better. 

Apologies,
Cori

P.S. – This was Joe’s fault. Had he not had an early day, he wouldn’t have met me for lunch, and we wouldn’t have randomly picked a lunch spot.

P.P.S – Ok, that’s a lie. We decided together. He’s sorry, too. We’ll see you soon.

xo | cmd