Robin's Birthday & A Driving Lesson

Happy birthday, Robin!!!

Today started out with some sleeping in..... because Saturdays should always be that way. Right? :) 

... By sleeping in, I mean 8:45am. Watch out, I know. :) 

Anyway, we loaded up and headed over to Eckert's to meet up with the Pages and Robin and her boys; Joe and Adam had decided they would take the kids out to the farm for the day while we took Robin for brunch and a movie to celebrate her birthday. Well, the guys taking on five kids for the day was a large part of the birthday present as well, so I wouldn't dare detract from that value ;) 

I've never had breakfast at Eckert's, but after today, I certainly will again. Deeeelish. From there it was off to Wehrenberg, where we met with Rachel and headed in for a late morning showing of The Words, starring Zoe Saldana [who I adore!] and Bradley Cooper [who Robin adores! haha.. ]. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from it, but whatever that was, it wasn't that. I definitely liked it; very unique. I'll probably have to re-watch this one at some point. Either way, it was a fun little outing and we even snagged a shot of us.... with Bradley Cooper. It was definitely by chance, lol. 

cori. rachel. cathie. robin.
...... & bradley. hahaha.... 

We found after the movie that the guys had finished the fair and apple picking at Eckert's, and had moved the party to Chuck-E-Cheese. We rendezvoused there for a short bit before heading back home for some family-wide nap time before making with it onto what is now an open driving range, literally. Remember a few days back when the Alexanders' birthday gift for Sydni arrived at our house and we weren't able to take it for a spin?

Well......

She's DRIVING!!! :-O

uh-oh..... driving already!

She had a BLAST. Holy cow. I loved every second of it. Love love love love her. A million x million thanks to Gerald & Leslie for their incredible generosity and for being so thoughtful!

Time now for some dinner with the fam....

See you tomorrow at the Tower!

xo | cmd

Rainy Day Koinonia

it's a good night for
italian food :) 

It rained a lot today.

We still had small group.

I love these people.

... and we love food, too. Italian food, tonight.

There's not a whole lot more I can say that hasn't already been said when it comes to Koinonia nights: these people are incredible and it's a blessing to have them at over for studies every other week.

It's still raining.. and I'm spent. Early day tomorrow, too.
xo | cmd

"Jeep Jeep!" - It's Heeeeere!

Give ya one guess as to what was on our front porch when we pulled up to the house.

Nothin'? 

Okay, well since I know you cheated and read ahead, yes, the jeep is here!

special delivery! 

living room driving ;)

A bajillion thanks to the Alexanders for getting this for Syd. I still can't put together the words to express our gratitude for this. Sydni just about lost her mind when she saw the box; I can't imagine what we'll be seeing once this thing is ready to go.

Joe took to entertaining Sydni while I built this thing - my apologies for my omitting of the trademark Barbie logo stickers; I'm taking this one small accepting step at a time by absorbing the amount of pink on this thing. She loves it, and that is plenty of justification for me, flamingo pink as it may be :)

I think Joe and I were almost more disappointed than Sydni that it was raining.tonight. I'm positive that's because she doesn't yet realize that this new toy of hers will zip around at a whopping 2.5 mph once she gets in it. We'll have to save that for another day, probably Saturday since tomorrow is Koinonia.

Either way, it's here, it's built, and the battery is currently charging.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU Gerald & Leslie [&the girls, too!]. We love it!

[It's almost the weekend!♥]

xo | cmd

!! FINISHED !! [Towerview Design Projects]

It's perhaps not a good thing that I blog so frequently that at times, it all blurs together & I forget what I have and haven't shared with the class.

So, at the risk of repeating myself? Well, I do that a lot in real life, too, so whatev'.

Over the past... month-ish? or so?, I've been working alongside the deacons' wives at our church on the construction of a new member handbook. We devised this to go in conjunction with the new member social [quickly approaching!] scheduled later this month; each new member will receive a new member handbook packed with info on the church, our ministries, and the deacons themselves. I know that I would've really found this helpful when we first joined [not that I hold any qualms, because I... just... love this place now], because joining a new church can be a little overwhelming if you're not sure where to start.

That being said, I launched myself into design mode and over the course of the last month or so, pieced together information from ministry leaders and deacons, comprising a complete how-to guide of how to navigate everything from the actual building, appropriate ministries, and the people to ask if and when questions or concerns should arise. I had a blast doing it, I just wasn't sure if that day would come on which I would see the finished project [college lit paper flashbacks, whoa].

And then Cathie sent me this today:

and..... print! :) :) :) :) :)

 Yiieee!!!! I wasn't able to make it to church tonight, but I can't wait to get my hands on one of these just to see how they turned out. This may not have been the most complex design project ever, but I'm gonna go ahead and be super proud of it anyway, not so much for the face value of what was put in there, but because I have high hopes and expectations that these will ease a lot of that up-front tension for new members who want to get plugged in but aren't sure how.

Oh, and speaking of:


[because we can party and eat with the best of 'em! ;) ]

^^ I had the privilege of putting these together, too [thank you, deacons' wives!!]. If you're not sure how the social's going to work, you should probably just come and check it out for yourself. It's gonna be a great time, and we'll have the chance to get together over delicious food and get to know each other a little better. [How could we not love a proposition like that?!].

One last little diddy, and I promise I'm done giving PSA's for the day.
[A million thanks to my Towerview family for entrusting me with these projects.. I'm having a blast doing them!]


september 29. Seeeeee..you....THERE! :)

Oh man. There's so much going on at the Tower right now, and these few events are just barely scratching the surface. I can't wait :)

Happy Wednesday!!

xo | cmd

Owing Some Odes. Chyeah.

Good Tuesday evening, blogbots :)

Wellll... today was the first work day of a now four-day week, thanks to the holiday. I took a deep breath before walking in the door this morning, and good thing, since it was over in a blinding flash of call-offs, fires to be extinguished, and of course the ever-looming task of weekly payroll. Sidenote: Shortened work weeks are good for many things; payroll is not one of those.

Anywho - towards the end of the day, Joe texted me to see if I'd be up for dinner with our pastor and his wife. Duh. Since we're officially "staff" now, I suppose it would've been rude to decline..... Hah....

JOKE! I was super excited - One, it's our pastor and his wife. The two of them are among the coolest of the cool people we know, and in the realm of admirable humanoids, they are at the top of a very sparse list. Two, whether or not we're dining at their house or out somewhere, they always know how to pick cuisine. As we're still quite the novice pair at navigating around the local dining scene, it's always helpful when the places recommended by other people turn out to be awesome.


pretty lil' macro compliment of google...
[because i know some of you would
call me out on the bacon.. haha]

 Word to the residents of, in, and around Fairview Heights: Olga's Kitchen is a gem. I found it quite endearing based solely on face value because my maternal grandmother's name was Olga. [Remember, I'm adopted, erego only Italian by purchase order ;) ........... some of you will get that later] So we rendezvoused with the Woods at St. Clair Square and quickly found ourselves taking quite the liking to this place. It was one of those clear face-palm moments because I've passed by the place surely a handful of times while at the mall, but never had a reason to stop.

Yeahhhh.. so once we had our fill of snackers and Olga's [menu item.. I'm tellin' you, just get there], we went on mall-walker mode and did some light traversing back and forth across the grounds before we did two trips up/down the glass elevator for Syd, egged on especially by Pastor Ron & Debbie [so clearly grandparents ;)]. All in all a great night, impromptu as it was!

Oh, and speaking of Pastor Ron - we are prolific followers of each others' blogs, and tonight he shared with me the journey of one of his former youth group-ers, a gal just a couple years younger than me, who is in the midst of a repeated bout with cancer. [[While I don't have cancer, I've seen the havoc it can rain on any one person and their families. After heading up the Towerview team for the 2012 Relay for Life, I've gained a deep, earnest appreciation for the ongoing effort of the American Cancer Society, and moreso for the courage behind every individual person who has had to stare cancer in the face. MAJOR kudos doesn't even begin to describe the level of admiration I have for the conquerers :) ]] Soooo.. this girl, from what Pastor Ron told me, recently started a blog, and since that seems to be a thread that we both understand, he recommended I check it out. He seemed to think her candor and style of scribing were similiar to mine, too, which naturally peaked my interest.



remember this? :) | relay for life belleville 2012
the towerview fundraising tire

 So I checked it out.
And I loved it.
Blunt. Honest. Funny.
Don't believe me? -- Check it out for yourself :)
I'll be following these chronicles, for sure.

So...

Today turned out to have some unexpected turns:
Thank you to Pastor Ron & Debbie for the dinner invite, excellent company, and new reading material! ;)

Thanks to Olga's Kitchen for being so fabulously delicious... I'm on to you now..
Thanks to Ashley Brown, the girl with cancer who has decided to laugh in its face rather than succumb to it. I think that's the absolute spirit with which we should approach anything threatening to overcome. That, and pray, of course. :) Fresh perspective? Check.

Over and out, folks.

xo | cmd

Labor Day!

Labor Day = No work. WA.HOOOOOO!

1| Forest Park.  2| Downtown St. Louis 3| Caleco's. 4| Airport :(

We spent the day out and about with my parents before they flew back to Ohio. There were a couple of parks, a great restaurant, an adventure through downtown detours, and lots of pictures. I wish Joe's mom could've been there with us today. We'll see her soon. I can't wait to update her pictures with mini, too!

For the sake of unnecessary words:

pappy + mini | nana + mini | daddy + mini

We love parks. A lot. It would only be fitting for us to take a little jaunt to a big park to hang out for the day. [Great photo opps x lotslotsnlots].

if you don't know... get to knowin'. it is.... delish. 

There's food, and then there's fooooood. This is the latter. If you haven't been, get to goin'. You won't regret it. Nom nom nom nom....

beautiful scenery!

We took a stroll into the old courthouse, too. It's under some minor construction, but it's still functional and it's quite picturesque once you get into it. I'd be inclined to head back for some more shots; there are some mad macros just waiting.... I can feel it.

camera. fun. fun with cameras. ♥ 

I recently ceded to my phone's incessant requests to do a system update. I don't know why I put those things off as long as possible; I think I have some subconscious inkling that by updating, I'll find myself with something important erased, or with some glitch that rode in with the update. [[First world problem, hi...]]

not of this world..... hrmmm.. lol. 

One of the system revisions was via the camera; I noticed a new purple button when I went to take a picture of Sydni at the table. That button = picture effects. This is just a sample of what could happen in 10 minutes. Good stuff. 

My parents are well on their way back to Ohio now; we're here unwinding for the evening. I'm trying to come to the terms with going back to work tomorrow. Shortened work weeks post-holiday are always dicey little things. I think I'll dwell for now on the fact that is indeed a shortened work week. 

Yeah. We'll go with that one. 

Hope your Labor Day weekend was amazing! 

xo | cmd

FALLUSIONS [Optical Illusions]

I am a firm believer in the artistic power of optical illusions.

I found a few that seemed fitting as we blend into the real autumn flavors of the midwest. I hope you find these as soothing as I do (:

Enjoy!

Happy Sunday!

xo | cmd