All Things Pre-Kindergarten.....

My daughter goes to kindergarten tomorrow.

TOMORROW.

I think I'm ok. Actually, yes, I know I am; what I think the issue is is my believing that she's old enough to be going. Elementary school is the easy part; I'm excited for her and can't wait to see her off on first day. 

For today, that meant the big 5-year doctor visit, wellness check, etc.
This chick's a trooper. 

hearing test

blood pressure

lots of waiting around ... ;) 

And when it was all said & done: 

"it's a school kid giraffe!" - syd

You're killin' me, mini. 

Back at work, I made it a point to have an extra healthy day myself, which made me happy just based on the colors alone! 

and yes, i'm apparently learning my containers today, too ;)
booowlllll... 

After work, I found myself back in Milford at Sydni's school for the orientation night. We toted her school supplies and did everything from meeting her teacher, seeing her classroom and gathering all that first-timer parent info in preparation for her big day tomorrow. 

Now it's only a matter of hours before we're up and at it to see her off on her first day. 

Yay, kindergarten! 

xo | cmd 

Shark Week!

We had tentative plans to head north to King's Island today, but those were dashed when Shayne and Cassie opted out.

Instead, we parked ourselves on the couch for a couple hours and soaked in some good old fashioned SHARK WEEK!

I love... shark week.
So does Sydni.

Appropriately so, we decided to take a trip south to Newport, to the aquarium, to see some of this week's celebrities up close and personal.

but first... a turtle shell! 

creature of the hour
[sorry about the photo quality; the real camera stayed @ home]

shark ray

my little half shark ♥

For the most part, there can only be so many different pictures from the same aquarium, so we didn't spend an exorbitant amount of time today hovering around each exhibit... just some of our favorites.

jellies' tank

sydni named this one "brain jelly" 

My personal favorite from the afternoon:

a puffer and my favorite hands? yes, please! 

syd's favorite

And lastly, on to the baddest boy in the wetlands: Mighty Mike! 

awh. jussa wittle guyyyy... 

or maybe a bit bigger than that. 

ok, maybe a lot bigger.
.. sizing up to mighty mike! 

albino alligator on the way out ;) 

We followed the aquarium with dinner [& of course breadsticks] at the Olive Garden before coming back home. These no-agenda Sundays are my favorites, and to spend them with my favorites -- including Shark Week -- is more than I could ask for.

See ya on the work side tomorrow!

xo | cmd

Dad's Birthday Bash

Loaded post, heeeere we go!

Today was Dad's birthday celebration! I'll cut to the chase, since it's been a long day and I want to make sure I get everything in here ;)


First things first. Yoga.
There is something I can't translate into words about how... perfect it is here in the mornings.

#yogaeverydamnday

Once the rest of the family was up and at it, we started in on breakfast preparation. Dad wanted birthday pancakes, so he led the way alongside the best little helper in the house.

Soon Nana came and scooted him from kitchen to patio table setup, and consequently picked up where he left off in the pancake mixing. After all, she made the stuff...

This was Sydni's reaction when I told her that the entire family was coming, and that we'd voted her responsible for making a "bajiiiiiiillion" pancakes:

"uhhhh.. no way, mom"

^My adorable little mad scientist!

Moving on.. Did I tell you Sydni and my parents have formed a band? It's uhhh.. a joyous sound - we'll just put it that way, haha. Just kidding. They love every second of the ruckus..

Nana & Pappy even purchased water balloons to add to the fun. We never actually got around to the water part, but Sydni showed us how to properly inflate and flash-deflate them.

moments before she let go & sent it flying!

It wasn't long before my sister, nephew, niece & great nieces [whaaaat?!.. yeah] arrived. From there on out until the time they left, it was picture time, badminton time and celebration time.

emmie & sydni
model & photographer in training!

ya gotta start somewhere... ;)

my sister heidi & her granddaughters, along with my mini-me

joyful hanny!
precious little great-niece of mine ♥

sweet moment between heidi & hanny

silly sister candid moments

the big girls emmie & sydni chasing bubbles around the yard

mom & rob

sweet little hanny

my compassionate little girl & spanky, the 21-year-old cat
we adopted as a kitten, when i was a child ♥

lady cornhuskers [minus the other two big girls]

my better half ♥♥

♥ sisters.

no makeup, no fuss, no worries.
♥

Last but certainly not least [& disappointingly sans Sydni, who insisted that she wanted no more pictures. In her defense, she was a trooper for the rest of the day!] - the celebration of my dad. Happy birthday, to you! We LOVE you! 

happy birthday, dad!

I love this family of mine. I'm still not over the fact that Sydni wasn't in that last picture, but she sure made Pappy's weekend by being there for his birthday party.

We're en route back to Cincinnati now and looking to take it easy for the rest of the night. It feels like a Sunday but I'm thankful we still have one more day. Here's to the rest of the weekend!

xo | cmd

Headin' To The Dren Lodge

It was definitely a feel-good Friday:


feel good colors!

It was one of those rare Fridays in which everything seems to fall into place as though you purposefully put it there. Including lunch:

nom!

Yessss.
It was also one of those Fridays that included a post-work road trip. This time it was north to good old Mt. Vernon. We're home.

We made better time on the road than we'd expected, so Mom & Dad, aka Nana & Pappy, set up a little bonfire and some treats for our hungry bellies.

pretty little glow

We roasted some hot dogs, ate our vegetable sticks [duh; we're at my mom's house now...] and then broke out the s'mores sticks and all the fixins.

pappy getting her started

love my little campfire bug!

telling nana secret ghost stories

*Yawn. We're HOME.
Tomorrow we'll celebrate Dad's birthday. See you then!

xo | cmd

Because... Meditate. That's Why.

See this?

wax cord bracelets...

I'm obsessed. I figured out how to essentially replicate PuraVida chords and now I'm considerably obsessed with new color combinations, etc. Needless to say, I've got Bengals & Reds seasons covered, along with just about any other special event or regular.. day. :)

Today is Day 2 of the Yoga challenge, and that meant some meditation.

center yourself.

^ Yeah, that's poor form, I know. I am working on stabilizing myself to sit deeper into these things, and of course find the time to do that while at work. Thank goodness for lunch breaks around here.

much better

This one makes me want to fall asleep. I didn't, but I'm just sayin'. This is a perfect way to unwind for even a few short minutes, although I wouldn't recommend curling into this one for more than a few minutes at a time.

Anyway, not much else to report today. It's in the back of my mind that Sydni starts school on TUESDAY next week, but other than that, my nerves have so far sustained and all is well. ;)

xo | cmd

21 Day Yoga Challenge

Elisa and I have COMMITTED! Working alongside Elisa has, over the last year and a half, really sparked my interest in yoga. Like, daily yoga. It's gotten to the point that Rachel Brathen [aka @yoga_girl] & Laura Sykora [@laurasykora] are now regular, daily Instagram stops for me.

 

Here's something Rachel Brathen has posed for the yogis of the world: The 21 Day Yoga Challenge.

For me, this is perfect. I'm not even close to being a seasoned yogi, and getting into anything consistently is always a little bit of a challenge if you have any sort of a life outside of whatever that thing is. It's all about adjustment, time management and how badly you want to commit to something.

 

So........ for the next 21 days, starting today.. THIS:

21 days starts now!

Here's the blurb from Rachel's Facebook to kick off the next 21 days:

Day 1 - Do Yoga

The Yoga Girl Challenge starts tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited! The response so far has been absolutely incredible; hundreds and hundreds of posts and we haven't even started yet. I'm so happy so many of you are ded...icated to improving your lives and your wellbeing. So am I! Here are the details for Day 1: Do Yoga.

The theme for the first day of the challenge is simple - I want you to get on your yoga mat. There is no pose you have to fit your body into, no special stretch to accomplish and you don't need to post a certain picture showing off your moves. We are not here to advance our yoga poses; we are here to advance our hearts. Step on your mat at the time of day that suits you best and move exactly the way your body wants to move. Go to your local studio and take a class, try a yoga DVD, an online class, learn from a book or just move intuitively with your body. The choice is yours! This is one of the themes that I would recommend you sticking with for the full course of the challenge: practicing yoga every day. Yoga. Every. Damn. Day. I invented the #yogaeverydamnday hashtag long ago as a way to inspire people to practice daily - use that inspiration and practice yoga for these 21 days ahead! It does not need to be 2 full hours of sweating every day of the week; some days a few rounds of sun salutes are enough, other days just gentle stretching. Listen to your body. But make sure to get on your mat! Establish this. We begin tomorrow. Share a picture of something related to your yoga practice, tag @yoga_girl and #yogagirlchallenge and this challenge will officially be kicked off! See you tomorrow, darlings #yogagirlchallenge

So there ya have it! The whole easing into this is perfect for me today, since I'm still battling whatever sinus issue this is; my head feels like a bowling ball. I powered through it though...

l: elisa, r: cori

all together now! :)

This came after a run to Whole Foods Market for lunch:

#icanteven ... hahah :)

Success. Now it's off to volleyball. See you tomorrow!

xo | cmd