Snow. Snow Everywhere ❄❆

One of these days, I'll start paying more attention to the weather forecasts.

no, i was not prepared for this.

I stepped out back to let the dogs out and found my neighbor calf-deep in the snow in his driveway, clearing his car. Apparently I wasn't the only one caught off-guard by the white mess. I was a little upset that it all looked so powdery, and well... fun .. and instead of playing in it, we'd all be heading to work. Schools, I assumed by the trails of kids I saw toting sleds down sidewalks as I was driving in, are closed today.


it's so pretty!

The commute to work was slow but steady; thankfully Nancy pardoned us all to arrive later due to the road conditions, and as much as we just inched along, I'm certain that extra hour or so made a huge difference. I have to admit that although the roads looked like junk, it was otherwise a pretty drive. This, once again, is the midwest. This is what winters in Ohio were like from my childhood. (:

snowy roads & snow-covered trees

And then there was work... which was mildly productive in spite of the weather. Nancy treated us to lunch, so naturally there was no protesting a baked potato in the middle of the day..


guilty eats.. and it's only tuesday... haha

^ No worries, though. I made it to the gym after work and in my own pained silence, trodded away at burning off whatever I could for the day. It was leg day, so of course my lower extremeties at this point feel more like noodles than limbs, but hey..... worth it ;)

Dinner post-workout was well worth it.

ooommmm nom nom nom (:

And then, as I was checking over everything for the evening at the new digs, I peeked inside the mailbox to find that Rob had beat me to the punch in having something delivered to the house! Sneaky, that one... Apparently he ordered facemasks. I couldn't decipher a company name from the shipping address, but it doesn't really matter; they're pretty nifty.

+ jacket + helmet = alllll set!

I told him I was wearing this thing to work. In the minute or so that it took me to sport one and snap a picture, I have to admit it got a bit toasty. Oh, the stuff available to us.. hah.

Anyway, I can feel the soreness encasing my legs the more I sit here, so it's time for a goodnight stretch session and some sleep.

*Crossing FINGERS for no. more. snow tonight! ❄❆

xo | cmd

And Then, It Was EMPTY!

I've been so focused on arranging and preparing the new house, that I've neglected any specific updates on the old digs. Welllll... 

then & now..
cleaaaaaaaaan & clear!

The main room at my old house feels so much bigger without anything in it, which I realize is generally the case with any room. I don't care though; I finally cleared out the last photo frame nail from the wall and have officially cleared out all signs of inhabitance from the back half of the old house. Save for our temporary sleep set up, "WE GONE!" [yiiiiieee!]

And, on an entirely unrelated note, I'm also declaring publicly today my affection and affinity for continued healthy eating. This little shoutout is really more for myself than any audience, but a little public posting never hurts when I'm trying to keep myself accountable.. 


greek yogurt + honey + blueberries
who says office life has to be all junk food!?

... I'm bent, folks, on a healthy 2014.

Right now, I'm more excited to [almost] be down to one house, instead of split between two. Home stretch!!!

xo | cmd

Little Sunday Things

First things first:

sonrise!

Sydni and I started Sunday off right with another well-delivered message from the pastoral staff at SonRise. This whole feeling-like-everything-is-applicable-to-my-life thing is a both refreshing and intimidating. It's as if the material being shared is realistic for the every day paths we follow, yet gritty enough to force some solid introspection on motives, habits, beliefs and behavior. Top it off with the side of grace with which it's given, and the perfect morning message is created. No complaints here (:

Today was sunny enough to keep us out of the house for a little while; Sydni reminded me that I needed to get "new oil" for the car, so we did that. The staff at Valvoline and I spent twenty minutes laughing at Sydni's collection of goofy faces as we sat in the bay while the work was being completed...

silly little spirit. i love that about her.

Oil change complete, we debated playing in what light snow was left around the yard, but opted instead to continue plugging away at straightening up the house. At this point, we've made major headway, but without staple living room furniture [aka, the couch, end tables, tv, tv stand, etc.], it reminds me a lot of a dinner plate with all the food shoved out to the edges.

..... stiiiiiiillllll workin' (:

I'm content though, with the progress. We've sorted through a lot of stuff in the past week, and the majority of it all has found its proper home. It's not bad for just us girls here ;)

We successfully enjoyed another weekend, and now Sydni The Emperor [not to be confused with an Empress, because apparently that's NOT A REAL THING, MOMMY....] and I, along with the pups Castle Horses are relaxing a little before we have to face that 5am Monday wake-up call again. ;) 

the emperor and her steeds.. haha

"add caption."
- no. ♥

Let's see if we can escape Monday. Ya think so?

...... yeah, neither do I.
G'Nite ♥

xo | cmd

Smileys Saturdays

I had three very contagious little grins following me around all day long:

sydni. sasha. stella.
happy girls!

It hasn't actually snowed hard in a couple of days, but it hasn't melted away yet, either. I was hoping for some time outside with Sydni, but after judging the sheer covering left on the yard and the soft ground beneath it, we decided it would be worth our time and may just make more of a mess than prove to be much fun.

sitting snow.

So, before we finally got out to run some other errands, I took to putting away a few miscellaneous things at the new house, and Sydni entertained herself and the dogs with a cuddle party, complete with every stuffed animal we've transferred so far from house to house. I realized after a few moments of complete silence that I should probably check to see what mischief was being attempted, but was instead met with this adorable scene:


"mommy, sasha and me and stella and all my animals and this baby in
the pink carrier thingy, we are having a cuddle party. and this blanket,
too. and this bag of all my little thingies. we're cuddling." - sydni

Hahaha. Adore.
It's getting pretty chilly outside, so we're cozying up and keeping warm for the evening. These days with no agenda are some of my favorites (:

Tomorrow it's church, followed by another day of whatever we please.
.... Weekends are pretty cool. ♥

xo | cmd

WE. FINISHED. ONE!!!!

*SQUEAAAAAAAL!

I am proud to say that Sydni and I managed to finally complete the first room of the new house. It just happens to be her room, primarily because all of her stuff was compact and easily moveable around the house. Whatever the case may be, her room is DONE and ready for her to move in!

she's proud of it, too! (;

I can't really justify why this felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders tonight, other than that, in the spirit of moving, all of this grunt work has finally materialized into a finished product. Woo! The next step in the Sydni's bedroom process is updating her bedding, but we have plenty of time for that.

After we configured and re-configured all the shelves and furniture to our liking, I celebrated this small victory by collapsing momentarily on the bed. Syd on the other hand wanted to showcase some of her newest dance moves. I gladly obliged to be the audience.


We'll turn this house into a home yet..... just wait. Haha. Rob's lucky they forgot the steel support beams for the other bed frame, or I'd be sharing whatever debacle I could create in reconstructing that thing, too. In time..... in time.. haha.

For now, we're outta here. We're having a slumber party tonight since we have NO agenda tomorrow and are both planning to take advantage of sleeping in!

Happy Weekend!

xo | cmd

No Coffee After Noon

Don't judge me.
Today was a coffe day.
Like...... noon coffee. Yeah, I had my chance to snatch it up in the morning, but I didn't really feel like it until noon. 

whatev.

Anyone who knows me [namely myself, in this case] should know... very well .. that coffee is like sheer adrenaline to me these days, since I've actively cut back on daily consumption. Drinking COFFEE... at NOON.... probably would've been ill-advised by the 4:30pm me. Duh.

Basically, it meant that I was in no mood to do any more moving of any more things to any more places by the time work ended and I was en route back to the new digs. This, again, was a selective choice that I made out of my obsession to reach a desired state of semi-organization. I pushed myself into a lot of frustration this evening, wasn't very kind to Rob [who isn't doing anything wrong...] and left the house knowing I hadn't accomplished what I wanted to for whatever reason lay between me and what I deemed to be progress.

And then I saw this, posted who-knows-where, and promptly made it the background on my phone:

truth. rinse & repeat!

^ This really is not that serious, Cori. It's just moving, and I have plenty of time to get everything where it needs to be. Also, you look and sound like an idiot getting aggravated over what really.. is nothing.

That being said, I've apologized to Rob for being such a downer and noted to myself that there will be a 10am-or-sooner cutoff to consuming coffee at work. Real. Talk.

So yeah. We'll try again, tomorrow.

xo | cmd

Wednesday: Guess What? Moving....

Here is a single-item list of ways I probably would not have chosen to start off my Wednesday:

good move, cori.

^ That is what happens when you drive 8 miles over the speed limit in a school zone in Norwood. I'm not blaming anyone here; I was driving, I had a choice, I managed to keep strong my once-every-3-years speeding ticket streak, etc..... Luckily for us all, there wasn't a daggone kid in sight. I'm not condoning wreckless driving here; don't think I am. I'm just naturally aggravated by it, and kiiiiinda wanna kick myself for not remembering the cars I see pulled over likely for the same reason nearly every other day on my morning commute. Dumb, Cori... dumb.

Anyway, with that expensive start to the morning, I was hoping the day would improve. It did, because honestly improvement is a choice of reaction to circumstance.. or something like that.. and without too much fuss the day put its fangs away.

..... Well I take that back.

.. winter?

^ Before Wicked Wednesday finally gave way, there was a 6-mile stretch of blizzard-like conditions that materialized out of nowhere on the highway. This obviously caught us all off guard, even though every licensed driver in the midwest should be used to roulette weather by now. Whatever. We made it out to the new house safely for another night of organizing. I've tasked this out now, and made it a goal to complete certain areas, one step at a time. Otherwise, I'm all over the house meddling with one thing in each room, only to have half a dozen things started and nothing finished.

tonight's goals: assemble the craft desk & book case

Mission completed!

And now, we rest. The weather forecast doesn't even know it's own shadow at this point, so we may wake up to eight feet of snow or a flood tomorrow. The best thing we can do now is sleep away the hours until we get to find out.

ZzZz!

xo | cmd