Holiday Shores On the Water!

Today started off with breakfast at Lenny's with Rob's mom and Don, before we headed back to Jesse's for a nice long bout of laziness. The morning hours crept on past, and by noon we were ready to rendezvous with the rest of the group on the lake for a day in the sun.

We drove up to Dillons' dad's, where we hitched a tow from one of the clan out to the pontoon, and from there, it was the rest of the day at our disposal.

this guy! ♥  

There are few greater things in the world than spending time with either family or friends, or both! Today was an awesome day, filled with sunshine, refreshing lake water, friends and good times.

not sure... not sure.. hahaha

courtney & matt 

Even the ducks were out to play: 

little family! :) 

We floated, we stopped off at some of the lakeside dives, and eventually found ourselves rounding out the night at Gilliganz. We ate a late dinner as we compared our after-sun skintones and laughed about random things, before parting ways in the downpouring rain back to Jesse's. 

It's so nice to have one extra day of leisure time; Sundays for us here are usually spent driving back home, but since we both have tomorrow off, it'll be one more day. 

See ya then! 

xo | cmd

PITCH PERFECT 2!!

Yeah, so we talked about cooking breakfast at Jesse's this morning, but didn't have that conversation until we were sitting AT breakfast at Apple Tree. Which..... ok, that's fine, because the food's still good, but uhhhh.. we're definitely cooking at some juncture this weekend.

After breakfast, we made a 2ish hour stop by Geoff & Nikki's - it is sunny and beautiful outside today; we hung out there for a bit, soaking up the day and playing with little [although growing so quickly!!] Emma, before we headed back to Jesse's.

I had a few errands to run, so after a short nap [yeah, that happened, too; Jesse has these two TREES...]:

that happened. it was... awesome.
zZzZzzzzz... 

I came back to the boys giving the backyard smoker a run for its money, and the dogs playing together as though they'd known each other since day 1. That's a big deal for Stella, if you've never met her.

this thing.... #nailedit

pittie party! 

puppy smiles!
stella. sasha. zepplin.

The food came out amazing. Like, ah-mazing. Recommend, recommend.
Rob's mom and Don stopped by for a little while, which was awesome. The last bits of daylight hung around with the smell of slow-smoker chicken

The time came for me to leave the backyard shindig and head to Collinsville, where I met up with Ali and Damanji! That's right.. it was FINALLY TIME! 

pitch 2!! 

Ok guys.. I mean let's be real here. First, this movie came out LAST Friday (5/15). It is now EIGHT days later and I finally went to see it, in the company of literally the ONLY two people I would want with me to see it:

i seriously.. just... love. love. loooove them. 

Long story short, we found a movie theater in St. Louis that looked more like a Marriott than a movie theater, ordered some chicken quesadillas and a Stella Artois [because say whaaaaaaaaaat this place?!] and settled back into sectioned-off captains chair recliners to watch this.

P.S. - I'll see it again, anytime, if any of you out there need a tag-a-long :).
P.P.S. - This:

this is us, basically. 

I'll leave the night that way. I rolled back in to Jesse's closer to 1am than midnight [oh, and this is backdated], just before Rob and Jesse returned from Geoff & Nikki's. It's been an amazing day here in Illinois ♥.

Tomorrow  = Lake & Friends!
One more day here before the trip back to Ohio.

Woo!

xo | cmd 

The Drive: OH, THE. FUN. :|

You guys. 

This drive today... was long. 

1. Zac Brown Band at Riverbend. 

= friday night traffic... ohhhh joyyyy! :/ 

2. Rush hour in Louisville. 

* le sighhhh..

3. Construction.... EVERYwhere.. because we live in the Midwest and that's a fact of life. 

e v e r y w h e r e . e e e e e e v e r y w h e r e . gahhhhhh

Long story short folks, this is backdated.
We're here in Illinois, and ready for this weekend to start. 

xo | cmd

Talk To Me, Pinterest

We're leaving for Illinois tomorrow, and today was one of those fast forward days that didn't seem to stop even for a moment. It was an early morning at work, a rapid fire day at work, and then straight to the hour+ roundtrip to get Sydni and come home.

It was one of those days that tested my sanity and showed me that my patience extends further than sometimes I've even been able to believe.

It's days like this when I [and excuse me in advance for how cheesy this is going to sound] find myself clicking through Pinterest to find some additional inspiration. I told you it was cheesy. BUT, it worked, and I thought I'd share some of them with you, my fellow blogbots... in case you're in need of some additional oompf today:

First - get your mind right. If the world is fine, don't reinvent the day by creating your own problems, drama or dischord! The right outlook from us, starts with us.

This one has resonated with me tenfold over the past several months. As patient as I try to be, I've always found root in this principle. As I attended a soccer camp some odd years ago, one of the evening motivational speakers said to us that in her history as a player, the best and most respected players she knew were the ones who very rarely had to vocalize their successes or abilities. They demonstrated it instead, which left impressions far more powerful than just words. I love that. Either BE it or don't, but either way, just DO something and stop telling me all about whether or not you do it, are it, or [insert verb here] it.

More lighthearted on this one. As an adult, I find the struggle here more often than I dismiss it, especially when my plate gets cluttered with the responsibilities of adulthood:work, parenting, bills, social obligations, etc. Thankfully, I have a five-year-old who is constantly reminding me that wonder is an ageless, timeless thing that is essential to our survival - at any stage.

It got crazy today, and in a few select moments, I know that I let the pressure get the best of me. This is a memo to myself, on days like this... in moments like that. Be still, self. Just... listen. 

A reminder to myself that regardless of how the world around me - and those in it - choose to function, adhering to this myself is nobody's responsibility but mine, and it should be one that I actively choose to make each and every single day. Can you imagine if we all made strives for the greatness of glorification of the God who made us, and for each other, rather than for our own often-depraved agendas? #fantasyworld

Lastly, this one. There were several others that seemed so much more cleverly-worded, philosophical, more eloquent, more visually enticing, whatever... but I saw this one and realized that it's the exact opposite of what my human brain wants to do on days like this. It is the exact opposite of what I want to do, but the exact thing I need to do. Amen? Amen.

It's days... like... this.... just breathe. :)

I read those again a few times, and then looked up to my own life here in this moment, right now:

I am home. I am here, present in this moment and proud of the simple little life that I'm blessed to be a part of. Love & light, from us to you.

Happy Thursday!

xo | cmd

Clone the Hiking Pack

It's heeeeeeeeeeere!

So way back in March, when my SonRise team and I headed off to the mountains of Suiche, we were equipped with borrowed hiking packs, courtesy of Chris' old church up north. It's been on my bucket list for about the past 5 years now to snag my own new pack, but I never got around to it... until now.

Out of curiousity about a week ago, I asked Professor Google about "Swiss Gear Hiking Pack," to see what the results that would ping back from the World Wide Web of Wonder.... As it turned out, the exact same bag that I carried for that trip was on Ebay, used twice by a seller who found that he had another bag that he wound up preferring.

Bottom line, I bought it.
And today, it arrived!

it's here! :) 

I let Elisa have the pleasure of opening the box, and before I knew it, this happened. Dave came out just as she was answering a call, stuck somewhere between a mountainous trek and an office:

hahahha

The arrival [& excellent condition!] of this new/used hiking bag shoved my day in the right direction; I topped it off with a client meeting in Springdale - with a fellow Pinoy!, and then with a 3-2 win over our competition at volleyball.

And now I'm home.. planning my next outing.
Any and all ideas are welcome!

xo | cmd

Uh Huh...

Marianne sent me this via Pinterest today:

Guys.. I can't. The truth in this is that I need this logo'd over everything I own. I need this. For sure.

Instead of wearing that around like I wanted to today, I took the expected route and went to work, then the gym, and then home... [rinse & repeat, amiright?]

Dinner was an easy selection, and part of what I love about workouts: less guilt on the carb side...

spaghetti carbonara

^ That's a stock photo; tonight we used veggie noodles and did not take a moment in the space between the stove and shoving it in our mouths to photograph. Noted, for next time though.

Phewwwwwwww.... yeah.
See ya tomorrow!

xo | cmd

KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION!!

STOP IT.

Sydni graduated Kindergarten.. today. STOP IT. STOP IT. STAAAAAHP.

Already?!

syd & her class!

When I woke up and got ready this morning, it was hard for me to believe that I would have a first grader by the time the afternoon started. Rob and I met up with my parents at Sydni's school, followed eventually by Joe, his mom and Nikea.

We followed the crowd of parents and family outside [Sydni clearly had the biggest fan club], where Syd and her class had prepared this little number for us:


I mean... get outta here with all that cuteness!

action shots :) 

The celebrating continued, family style:

her dad's side

my parents! [aka nana & pappy]

my world! 

group shot

Syd's dad and mamaw had to leave, so that left us with my parents to enjoy the rest of family day and explore what Sydni's day looked like.

r: "what do you wanna do this summer?"
s: "um..... boat. and swim. and play in the park!" 

^^ Those two :) :) :).

making a tye dyed shirt! 

playing on the playground

Pappy, the patient observer: 

this guy... hahaha...

bubbles!! 

The playground time came to an end, so we headed inside to show Syd's classroom to Nana, Pappy & Rob:  

the book cover syd duplicated

the "clip" system - i love this! 

My heart was so happy today, watching Syd accept her certificate of kindergarten completion. As much as her dad and I have our differences, and likely always will, she looked so completed, and so content to have all of her close family there.. and that, really, is all I could've asked: for her to be this genuinely happy:

my heart. 

After the celebration, we grabbed lunch with my parents, then headed off on our own to return to our day at work, while my parents spent a few more hours with Syd. They eventually dropped her back off at her dad's before heading back north themselves, completing their daytrip. I am so thankful for them and for their willingness to make that journey.

Work finished with a big meeting, which was a great thing [I'll fill those blanks in later; it's a lot], before I finally made my roundtrip back to Rob, rendezvousing with him at the gym.

AND, we wrestled a Pinterest recipe into submission for dinner tonight, and it was pretty daggone good:

turkey & sweet potato skillet! 

nom nom nom!!! 

Whewwwwww! What a day! Life is good. Life. IS. GOOD.

xo | cmd