Family Day on the River & Sydni's Birthday Party!

My family is here today!

It's not often that my parents and sister come down to Cincinnati to visit, but today was that day, and it was awesome. My mom, dad, Heidi & her son Jonathan made the trip from Mt. Vernon to spend the day with us, which we decided would happen on the river.

We'll start the photo reel off with my mom, who cracks me up like nothing else. This is her, before the boat has even fully left the boat trailer on the loading dock. Sydni doesn't even have her life jacket on yet; I think mom got hers on while we were still in the truck ;)

oh, mom (: 

Then there's my dad, looking as dapper as could be ;)

♥♥♥♥

give it a go, dad ;) 

We stopped for only a brief moment, far up the river to test out the waters, but decided quickly that today just wasn't the day for all of that. Instead, we set our sights back downstream to the LBYC for some lunch.

sister! ♥♥

pre-lunch siesta

Once we stopped at LBYC, it was lunch and then the most important item on the agenda: Birthday Presents!! 

it's time!!!

reading cards

art set

crazy sand! 

you & me 

It was finally time to load up and head on back.

syd's new baby! 

hugs from aunt heidi!

love this candid of heidi in the background! ;) 

With birthday presents in tow, we headed back to the house, where the fun continued.

my little girl, and her little girl!

so. stinkin'. sweet.

Unfortunately, Heidi & Jonathan were due back in Mt. Vernon, so they left as the evening approached. My parents were in for the night though, so we ordered pizza, found some movies and tested out some of Sydni's new gifts while we waited on our food.

kinetic sand with nana! 

I couldn't have asked for more out of today. I'm so happy they were able to come down!

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 

Express Training, Continued

It's what we DO!

welcome, ya'll.. 

I arrived at my original Express home in Eastgate this morning, chose my seat for the day's training session, and looked up to see the caped Express man [that Chris won during the auction at last year's sales summit] staring back at me. Haha. I immediately Snapchatted that to a few select people who would understand it, and was thankful when Chris eventually moved it to the other side of the room.

And yes, I had to dress up for this occasion, which I figured was the perfect excuse to don this little diddy:

who is this person?!

And yes, that's in the bathroom. Judge away ;).

This may have been one of my favorite training sessions so far; there was so much information covered and I plan to be quite intentional in exercising some new practices for the day-to-day grind. This is prep for Sales Summit.. should be fun!

The best part of my day, though, wasn't being away from my own office for the entire day, but rather picking up this little tuckered-out bug after work..

kindergarten is tough. 

That's not bad for a Thursday. It's already Friday tomorrow! Woot!

xo | cmd

Hello, Fall Session!

IT'S FALL...............SESSION!
Here's a stock photo of some volleyballs chillin' in the sand, because I totally forgot to take pictures of our team tonight!

yay! 

I'm the worst, I know. Anyway, Jessica couldn't make the early game, so Paul stepped in for her. We didn't pull off a win, but it was great to see Paul and have him back on the court with us for a night. [Thanks again, Paul!]

Jessica eventually showed up, but by coincidence we were all pulled onto different courts to sub in for different teams, and didn't see much of each other until it was time to go.

Go to eat, that is. We're getting better and better at this every week, it seems. Haha. I say that because not only did we graduate from Hahana's menu tonight, but when Becky, Rob and I settled in at Village Pizza, I realized they serve fried green beans... and well, game over at that point.

yesyesyesyesyesyes.

^ That's the snapchat I sent to Dillon, to which he replied that I was going to turn into a green bean.

Would that really be so bad? ;) 

Hahah. Oh, and if you're wondering what "CUPINE" is, watch this clip. We did over the weekend, and it became a running joke for the entire time. CUPIIIIIINE!


You really can't say much after that, so I'll leave this be, and wish you and yours a gooooood night!

xo | cmd

Things of Tuesday

Here's an appropriate meme to describe both today and how I felt about today walking into it:

basically.

Of course, being the intentional optimist I wish I could effortlessly be, I've already considered the fact that this is a 4-day week, and that is awesome. It's going to be a loaded week, but hey, it's cool.

First, Carri starts tomorrow! She's our new sales gal, and I'm pretty pumped to get her on board. Dave set up her desk today with a gorgeous blue orchid, to greet her when she gets in in the morning.

re-positioned by yours truly; dave is great, but he's
still a guy with guy decoration skills ;) 

And then there was the lunch I brought: leftovers from last night's feast, and if I may say so, almost better the second time around.

sweet potatoes + parmesan crusted chicken + green beans

Aaaaand, I set out on a quest to find some last-minute items/gifts for Sydni's upcoming birthday celebration this weekend. Based on a web search, I was confident I would find what I needed at Bed Bath & Beyond.

I didn't, but what I did find was good enough, and although I didn't buy it, I'm glad to know this stuff exists... because yenno, some people are into that kinda thing ;)

i said some people. not this person. ;) 

Lastly, to cap off what felt-kinda-like-Monday-but-was-actually-one-day-closer-to-the-weekend,-yay!, a sushi date night with my main squeeze.

i am spoiled. 

Turns out this Tuesday wasn't so grimacing after all ;)

xo | cmd

FIVE. FIIIIIIIIIIIIVE.

HAPPY.

BIRTHDAY.

SYDNI!!!

It's time for this mama to come to grips with the fact that she has a 5-year-old. Little miss is my only child and for now, it's both a tough pill to swallow and a beautiful milestone, all wrapped up in one sassy little chickadee.

1. & then 5.
love love love love love.

I, embracing the typical ASIAN way, and on top of that being the typical MOTHER, consequently have thousands upon thousands upon probably a thousand more pictures of this girl from the beginning to now.

She is my light, my purpose and above all my greatest achievement. I live for her and daily give thanks that I was chosen to be her mama. Happy birthday, mini-me. I love you!!

******* 

Here in real time, Syd is actually with her dad today, since she was with me last year, and that's how trades work. [sad face.]  We celebrated Syd's birthday over the phone with her, with the actual celebration of course to follow. We also did some heavy driving today, back to Ohio from our extended stay in Illinois for the weekend.

family of four!
.. just.. missing.. one.. ♥

We're HOME, safe & sound.
Now that's a weekend! Thanks again to our awesome friends for their hospitality! Ya'll are the finest :)

Happy Labor Day to you & yours! I hope today was safe and awesome for you!

xo | cmd 

Labor Day Lake Loungers

Labor Day Weekend, Day 2.

As expected, we spent another day on the water. Dillon's dad lent us the pontoon for the day, and we cruised our way out to the middle of the lake in Holiday Shores, where we anchored down with several of the other lakers for an afternoon of floating and friends.

There are some pretty fun people out here, and I'm glad we got to spend a day with them! Once we were off the water, we loaded up and headed just down the road for some grub.

Don't judge me; I've already accepted the fact that I shouldn't eat these, but I've also accepted that I really don't care. ;)

this is the.. third time this weekend that i've had these..
this is the first time ever, that i've had them served in a dog bowl. 

Haha. Oh well.

Tonight was the perfect end to a Sunday, even though it feels like Saturday since we're not leaving until tomorrow. We parked ourselves on tailgates and chairs in the driveway for what seemed like hours, just talking and watching some Supercross, before friends started dispersing and we called it an early night. I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels the demand of this whole getting old thing.. ;)

G'Nite!

xo | cmd