FRIIIDAY!

Phewwwwww, Friday!

So, here's a throwback that has resurfaced from years back. Remember this girl?

nancy. meagan. cori. courtney
express edwardsville - 2012

^^ [Original photo from  THIS May 8, 2012 entry] This was from Meagan's going away party, during my time back at the Edwardsville Express office. It's been about 3 years since I worked with Courtney, but she just recently paired up [such a small world!] with one of Rob's good friends.

Happy Birthday, Courtney! 

lol.. happy birthday, girl! 

At work, we were [still] celebrating Elisa's birthday; she chose The Eagle for her lunch out, and with it being our standard Friday office lunch, it worked out perfectly.

the eagle | otr - cincinnati, oh 

^^ YOU GUYS. If you've not been to this place yet, you need to go. :) This is the first time I've been there for lunch, but it's just as good if not slightly better than dinner. Haha. YUM!

We endulged ourselves with chicken, spoonbread, mac&cheese, grits, fries and succotash before wrapping up and heading out. Well, almost heading out. Despite the bitter sting in the air, we braved the walk down a few blocks to 1215 for some mid-afternoon pick-me-ups:

elisa & i spotted a fun selfie wall...
1215 wine & coffee bar | otr - cincinnati, oh

peppermint mocha = per.....fect! 

Peppermint mochas on Fridays are an incredibly encouraging touch. What's even better though, is when you receive a little something you've been anxiously awaiting for a few weeks. 

That was today, too! It was a random day perusing Etsy when I ran across The Copper Fox, specifically a Latitude & Longitude bracelet stamped with a line I will forever love: The House That Built Me. Anyone who knows me knows the gratitude and love I have for the house my parents built, in which I did grow up: physically and emotionally. That place built me, just as much as my parents built it. So when I saw this item listing, it wasn't a tough decision to fill and empty the little shopping cart icon. 

IT ARRIVED TODAY: 

i am... in love. 

And I... I can't. It's beyond perfect. This girl Sarah who creates these pieces and runs the little Etsy shop will never know how much I truly treasure this little cuff and what it represents to me. Love, love. LOVE. 

I took off at the day's end, en route to get Sydni and thankful for it being Friday. Rob called as I was heading back to the house, and let me know that Jesse had made it town and was at the house with Zeppelin! Syd and I pulled into the driveway at the same time, and spent the next hour or so catching up with our friend... and furry friend :)

yay, weeknd visitors! hi zepplin! 

And then there was the question of dinner: Jesse wanted to try out something local, so we voted again for Buca Di Beppo, where we wound up with enough leftovers to last us probably through the middle of next week. #PIZZA. Haha. 

buca with mini! 

So that's not a bad way to start the weekend!

We're supposed to get some heavy snow overnight tonight folks - be CAREFUL out there if that applies to you, too!

TGIF!
xo | cmd

Mini Yoga

I've been telling myself since we had our last big snowfall that I really need to [still] get Sydni some new snow pants. It's hard for me sometimes to justify that sort of thing as an immediate priority, I think mainly because in my mind, I know that the snow will fade and it won't be winter all year long.

So after work, Syd and I made a run to Target for snow pants.

Let me break that down for you: We went... to TARGET... for [JUST] snow pants.

that's about how that went

So yeah. Perhaps I didn't fully think that one through: I know better than to think I'd legitimately head into Target and buy only snow pants - I mean, assuming they even still had any [ok, they did..].

So on the bright side, we did get snow pants. AND, they were on sale. So that justifies the rest of the stuff that we bought to maybeormaybenot go along with them:

Oh, and ALL of these were for SYDNI - 

Neon patterned ankle socks

Yoga pants

Mint green sports zip-up... with thumbholes

An Elsa shirt

A Little mermaid nightgown

A $1 tiara

It could've been worse, right? 

So we headed home, where Sydni immediately wanted to climb into her new yoga pants and unroll her yoga mat [also purchased by me at Target on a separate, entiiiiirely unintentional buy, of course]. I happily obliged her request to follow suit, and we spent the next hour working on her warrior pose form and taking lots of mommy-mini yoga pictures: 

warrior

She's working so hard! There are still some kinks to be worked out, but we are definitely heading in the right direction:

tree pose [sorta ;)]

We have our Laura Sykora moments, too.. haha.. 

love my mini yoga time! 

These are the memories I'm going to reflect back on and realize again and again just how fortunate I am to have such a beautiful little girl, with a beautiful little soul. She is a beacon of light on the gloomiest day, and can reverse whatever sour mood that's found me as a result of this life's grudgery. I'll cross the bridge when the time's here for her to awaken to the harshness of this world, but for now, I revel in the beauty of her innocence and and proud beyond words of what she's becoming. 

Anyway Anyway, Aaaanyway... 

Tomorrow's Friiiiiday & that means the weekend! WooO!

xo | cmd

Here We Snow Again...

It's baaaaack!

snowy snowy snowy! 

^^ Ok, so that's a dumb shot out of my window, but here's why I took it:
That mirror was clear when I stopped at the stop light. And this is what it looked like when the light turned green. YAY, snow!

lovely. 

Yeah, so I live eight miles from my work. The clock in my car is set 20 minutes fast [yeahyeahyeah, I'm one of those people... I know...]. So in reality, it was 6:49am when I hit the route from my house to my office... My car said 8:16 when I got to work, which meant it was just before 8am in real life. I stopped for a couple of donuts on the way, but that's just a detail.

because, well.. because. 

I'm not a huge fan of driving through this stuff, but I have always and will always love to play in it!!

♥ snow snow snow! ♥

Here's a glimpse of what the rest of my clan did while I was working:

i was so. stinkin'. jealous.

I missed a lot :(

i've taught her well ;) 

I unfortunately missed Syd today since it was her dad's evening of the week, but I'll see her again tomorrow when she's back. She's a lucky little bug having been off school so far 3 days this week; for the sake of parents everywhere, here's hoping they're back to it tomorrow!

Be SAFE out there, friends!

xo | cmd

Happy Birthday, Elisa!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELISA!!!!

[borrowed fb photo, mandy paige photography] 

Happy, HAPPY Birthday to my fabulous co-worker! [I freakin' love birthdays..]

In true my-Express-office fashion, Carri and I collaborated our efforts to celebrate Elisa today:

our little birthday spread!  

A few things about Elisa that I've learned in our two years now working together:
1. She loves cats [yay!]
2. She loves yoga [double yay!]
3. She loves coffee [need I continue, really?]
4. She loves local shopping AND eating as much as I do [& emphasis on eating, because yes.]
5. She loves artsy fartsy things, too [quintuple yyyyay!]

So all of those things [& then some] being said, we did what we could to offset the fact that she had to spend her actual birthday mostly at work. :)

First things first, her cards:

Mine:

meow!

Carri's:

namaste... 

Next on the list back when we were planning: CAT THINGS! Better than that, EDIBLE Cat Things:

^^ Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU again to Allie @ Tu-Tu Sweet for creating exactly what I envisioned for these fun little guys! They [as they always are with Allie] were PERFECT PURRRFECT!

Cats. Yoga. CHECK. 

To knock out the Coffee AND Local Shopping part, I went with this:

french press + local shopping = win!
coffee emporium | cincinnati, oh

Yiiieee!!! ♥

What else did I say she liked? Oh, yeahyeah - artsy fartsy things! Carri knocked this one out of the park with her gift:

is a-w-e-s-o-m-e!

I weighed in with what I could on the note of artsy fartsy things, because also [not on the above-mentioned list] I know she also shares my affinity for quirky socks. So artsy deco on socks is pretty much a given.

cozy toes!!! 

The birthday girl herself!!

haha yeahhh! 

Overall, I think we did pretty good ;)

happy birthdayyyyyyy!!! meow!

Happy, HAPPY birthday to one of my favorite working girls [+ extra birthday shout-out to her real life twin brother, Eric!], a kindred spirit in many ways and an all around amazingly down-to-earth person. Cheers to you for the next year & everything in it!

"work yoga twins" 

OH, and there's a follow up to this that will be taking place next weekend.. so stay tuned for that :)

YAY, BIRTHDAYS!!!! 

xo | cmd

Snowy Snowy Snow Days...

Cincinnati finally succumbed to the snow we've not really seen much at all so far this year.
OH, and it's President's Day - a holiday recognized by seemingly every business except ours.
Just kididng. Kinda. ;)

Today... was a mess.

[thanks, google!]

 ^ I skipped taking pictures of everything around me today covered with white flakes, but that picture kind sums up what today really was. SNOW. Lots.. of snow. I mean, we're not on Boston's level yet or anything like that, but if I didn't know any better, I would have believed that Cincinnatians have in fact never seen snow. It was a little ridiculous out there.

So with that being said, the majority of Cincinnati stood dormant today: schools, many businesses, cars with poorly-performing tires... etc. Between the holiday and the snow, it was recommended across the board that everyone stay in unless absolutely necessary.

We had a short day, so that was nice. The snow hindered most of our workload unanswered, since our clients were mostly closed, and new interviews opted out of traveling through the mess for that. I'm happy to say I accomplished at least one thing that brightened up the otherwise drab & freezing day:

pto for dayyyyyyys ;) 

That's right, I finally added all of my impending PTO to the board, and with sweet satisfaction took solace in knowing that the blistery-blustery crap of today is only temporary.

With the work day behind me, I headed home to spend the extended evening with my little family.

dinner in on a cold night = ♥♥♥. 

Sydni and I snuggled up for a little bit for some e-gaming..

♥ my mini! 

And of course, her artwork for the evening [I am seriously one proud little mama]:

omagosh... love. her. 

^^ She was so proud of this! And I am so proud of her! The lucky little bug doesn't have school again tomorrow, so she was granted a half hour of staying up past her bedtime... Mama however still has to work in the morning, and I'm betting the roads are going to be... a blast.

G'Nite from our family to yours - Stay SAFE & WARM out there!!

xo | cmd 

Comet Bluegrass Allstars | Non-Girly Girls Weekend Planning

Before I say anything about the little that actually happened today, I've got to give some credit where it's due: Rob was a trooper yesterday, hiking through the Gorge with me in spite of not feeling well. I don't deserve his type of dedication, but he braved it and I am grateful for that time we got to spend together. #bestever♥

Today, however, he paid for his exposure yesterday. I headed off to church, while he was bound to the bed with a chest cold unlike any that he's had so far. :( 

I breathed in some weekly love solo at the service before running some errands and heading back home. I spent the afternoon engrossed in some hard-copy journaling and meditation on the Transformed devotional that accompanies the series we're in now. 

amen! 

Rob was diligent in his pursuit of sleeping off his bug today, so when evening rolled around and Becky beckoned me to The Comet for live bluegrass & tofu quesadillas, I didn't have a legitimate reason or want to decline. SO, off I went to join her; I definitely don't regret it :) 

bluegrass allstars! 

We ate, we laughed, we chatted for almost two hours with a gentleman from England and listened to live bluegrass music. We also started formulating plans for a non-girly girls weekend, prompted by Kalyn's latest disappointment [we'll just call it that], which will be purposed as a way for each of us to re-calibrate and breathe in some inspiration and encouragement from each other. I think we are ALL in very real need of this. We've planned for April, as of now.. ideas are welcome! 

pretty much. 

^^ We say 'Non-girly' because our idea of such a weekend is one spent buried in a remote location away from civilization. Showering is optional; journaling is not. Said weekends always revolve around camping, hiking, biking, climbing, trekking, yoga'ing, canoeing and/or kayaking, or some variation of all or some of those things. Just the thought of incorporating these three women into the same trip with that environment makes me feel peaceful.

I can't freakin' wait. Plans [weird, I know] start NOW!

I hear we're supposed to get a nice snowy punch in the gut overnight tonight, so pop those windshield wipers up and sleep tight tonight, Midwest blogbots! Be SAFE tomorrow!

xo | cmd

Valentines & Birthday & GORGE [Oh, My!]

to all of you, love... me!

Happy Valentine's Day, folks! Whether that should translate to Happy Lovebirds Day, or Happy Singles Awareness Day, whatever... do what you need to BE HAPPY today, and extend love to someone. ♥

We took a different approach to Valentine's Day this year, by hitting the southbound road early in the day, en route to the Gorge. Red River Gorge, that is :). 

First things first: In Powell County, KY, if you are injured, you will be high-rollin' your way to the hospital:

hilarious. 

Anyway, we left early and made it to the gorge for a day celebrating Jessica's birthday! We met her, her family and the solo welcome party at the door:

bump-a-lumper... 

Don't ask me how I managed to get ZERO pictures of this killer cabin + separate yoga house + sauna and hot tub arrangement that we spent the day in; somehow I managed to do exactly that, and am very disappointed in myself.

awww.. look at him! 

A few other faces joined the party and we managed to load everyone up for a hike up to the arch. It was threatening snow, but that didn't phase us one bit, as we embarked like city-slickers out into the woods armed with nothing but our coats, hats and gloves. This is depressingly funny & ironic because literally everyone in this crowd is savvy to the common sense/equipment/supplies of trail hiking. You just.. don't ever do what we did today. Ever. Fortunately, there were no major issues, and we all made it down into the valley and back out in the same shape.

Pictures, pictures, pictures!

so many places to go :) 

icicles everywhere

icicle cavern

posed for a group shot! 

the arch! (: 

jess & clan!

love this of jess & bumper!

happy valentines day!!! xxo ♥

Whew! It was a blast out there, and although we nearly got snowed in on the mountain, we made it safely back to the cabin, where we spent the rest of the evening playing games, eating & making valentines cards. 

happy birthday, jessica!!!

The darkness set in around the cabin, and our plans to stay the night - whether with the Ghantous clan or with Kalyn, as originally planned - came into question due to the already-fallen snow and impending freezing overnight temps. We spent a few hours in deliberation, until Jessica's dad decided he was taking off, and we voted to just follow him down the mountain and out of town. 

Poor Lexi wasn't happy at all about this adventure. The poor girl didn't have her winter boots on for this trip, and didn't know what to think about what she'd been through today... 

lit up like a lexi Christmas tree :( 

Anyway, I was bummed that we didn't get to see Kalyn, but am glad that we made it back home safely without any issues. The commute back from the Gorge was almost a welcome 2 hours, compared to 5-6 hours that we usually endure between here and St. Louis.

Anyway, we're home, safe & sound, with just minutes to spare until it's officially Sunday.

Jessica & family - thank you again for having us down to celebrate your birthday! Cheers to you, and many, many more!!

xo | cmd