Random Evening Cruises!

It's FRIIIIDAY!! Wooo!

What a week it's been! I had to admit that while this has been a wholly productive week at work, I was ready to welcome the weekend and the fun we've planned for the next couple of days. On top of that, Jesse's in town for the weekend, which is always a great time!

I met Rob and Jesse at the house after work, and on a last-minute decision, we piled into the truck with boat in tow and headed for the river. I texted Jessica along the way, who was at the Red's game with Jill, and agreed to hitch a ride with us.

on our way!

coming up to the stadium - cincinnati, you're a beaut! 

gorgeous.. 

We swung by the Serpentine Wall to get Jessica and Jill, then were off to Ludlow Bromley for dinner.

lovin' it! 

on the river!

the haaaaat ... thanks jessica! haha

We haven't been to LBYC in a little while, but it was the perfect night to kick back and relax with good people, good food and live music! 

we look a little ragged from the boat ride, buuuut.. i love this guy! 

Once we had dinner under the belt, we hopped back on the boat to drop Jessica & Jill back off. It was a karaoke ride back, in preparation for tomorrow's Tim McGraw concert! 

these two! :) :)
[and me... being creepy in the background?!]

mid-dance party shot.. thanks jesse .. haha

love her at night! 

so thankful for this guy. so, so thankful! 

What a perfect Friday night! :) 

It's canoeing tomorrow, and then Tim McGraw on the water! Gooood night! 

xo | cmd

School Supplies & Bike Training

This week is flying right on by. I keep telling myself I'm "getting ready for summer," only to realize that "Summer" is running circles around me as I try to rationalize how it's already almost August.

As if that wasn't enough, here's a fun fact from today: 

SYDNI AND I WENT SCHOOL
SUPPLY SHOPPING. 

already?!?! 

i can't handle it. 

Sooooo..... Don't mind me as I sit here at the end of my day wondering how in the world time has gone by this quickly: Between school supply shopping for first. grade, the fact that she's got her first wiggly tooth, and the idea that within a few hours' time, she'll probably be riding this sucker solo... 

training wheels are gone! 

I just... I don't know. Am I the only one who wants time to slow down??

kiddo, you're the best.. 

Syd, you have no idea how much we love you, and how much fun it is to walk this walk with you. I hope you had fun today picking out all the school supplies for first grade, and that you know how great you'll be at riding your bike!

Happy Thursday, loves :) 

xo | cmd

Today I Choose JOY :)

Okay, it's true. I had a miniature melt-down yesterday. I chose to let the mounting pressures of the day get to me, and eventually I caved, because I'm perfectly imperfect and am prone to moments of vocalizing [or not] my breaking points. 

Luckily, I have Rob, who balances me out to a T; he was there exactly when and how I needed him to be - Not with a shoulder and a hug, because he knows me in rage mode and keeps a safe distance [throw chocolate at iiiiiit!!!]. Haha... No, it wasn't that bad, but it was one of those moments that I confided in him and he was the rock that I needed. He talked me off the edge of mental oblivion [how's that for being episodic?!], and back to the center of myself, where I took some deep breaths and came back to conscious awareness of the good that surrounds me. 

And SO... my commitment for today, and for every day, is this reminder: 

every. day! 

Every day, CHOOSE JOY. I chose it today, although the day itself didn't stray from it's usual pace, not once did I feel as though it had the upper hand on me. Amazing what a little JOY can do! :)

On a path to joy, I journeyed up to Whole Foods for lunch, and sat by the window to eat. Alone. I'm an expert people-watcher, so I reveled in the delicious food and entertaining collection of foot-traffic through the table area and outside in the parking lot for a few moments. It was the perfect mini reset, and for some strange reason, it just made me... happy. :)

nommmms! 

Clarissa left early today; her son had a monkey bar mishap that resulted in a broken arm, so we're pulling for him to make a speedy recovery!

It's been a long day, but a good, solid productive one, too. Cheers for tomorrow being even better!

xo | cmd

Tuesday is Friday and Stella's a Rabbit

I found this today, which I'm going to go ahead and take as a directive... so umm... yeah. That's legitimate, right? Haha

if only... 

At home this evening, I was looking for a particular set of pictures that I thought were being housed on the memory card of my water camera, but realized quickly that they're elsewhere. I did however, find a shoot that Sydni must've done while she was cleaning her room last week. Among the near 20 pictures of Stella and Sasha, I had to share my favorite of the collection:

hahaha

^^ And that is what Stella looks like when she's mid-yawn with a set of ears on her head. She looks so mean! Hahaha... In her defense, she doesn't always look like that:

..... what?

Only Sydni gets away with costume ideas and other miscellaneous experiments with our dogs. Hilarious ;)

We're almost halfway through this week.. whew!
Cheers, midweek :)

xo | cmd

Sunday Funday

We started off Ali's departure day with church. I was super excited to do so, since she usually has to head out suuuper early to be back for whatever role she's playing at her own church that day. It was a beautiful service, with beautiful people, and we walked out feeling that much closer to our goals of knowing our God more and more every day. 

We managed to do a second take on the selfie, that didn't really work out as planned yesterday while we were at the splash pad. #FINALLY! hahaha

love this gal! 

It was off to lunch after that, with the ever-entertaining Sydni as the main attraction while we ate. I swear, you get one quesadilla into this kid and this is what happens...

She's. hilarious.. hahah. Between the flower in her hair, kicking off her shoes, some strangely adapted version of clogging and the rest of the routine that she created in her head, I can't help but wonder what I ever did before her. My life was a stark [and boring] thing pre-Sydni; I'm sure of that much. Haha...

Finally it was time to do the "see ya soon" thing; Ali packed up her gear and jumped on the road, leaving Rob and me with the decision of what to do with the afternoon. Sydni decided for us, when she sat down for "just a second" and woke up about 2 hours later after a much-needed snooze. We followed suit with her, and after rubbing the nap sleepies out of our eyes, we took to the yard to pull some weeds, mow the lawn and examine our pumpkin plant that's flourishing through the front garden.

And NOW, we are here, noses buried 12 tabs deep in Google Chrome doing wedding research for next year... The fun continues! ;) 

I'd better get back to work.. hahaa..

xo | cmd

ALI's HERE!

It was too late last night when Ali arrived to do mich of anythddng other than a quick catch up before bed. Knowing we wanted to take full advantage of today made it that much easier to find sleep wirhout delay.

Today = bright and early start in the house, complete with homemade breakfast, compliments of Ali and me! We pulled out all the stops and produced a full spread, including pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, turkey bacon and toast. I mean, we had a full day of fun planned out!

First stop: The 513 City Flea! One of my favorite Washington Park events to frequent at least once or twice each season, even if I walk away with nothing but the receipt for a Street Pop long-ago devoured. 

gosh you're pretty, washington park... 

The Summer City Fleas mean that the splash pad is in full operation, and if we're being honest, it was only because our parents taught us manners that prevented every adult in the park from joining their kids running through the course of water jets.

summer splash pad!

i mean.. she's thinking what we were all thinking today #95degrees

Ali and I managed to drag her out of the fun for a twenty-second selfie opportunity, a decision that was apparently eqivalent to asking for her to walk a lap around the planet [huffy puffy!].

the girls! 1st take, nailed it! 

We trekked over to Findlay Market for lunch, which afforded each of us the vendor to satisfy our cravings. Becky's newest initiative, Dirt: Modern Market, is in its soft opening stages, but we were able to check it out. Ali bought some custom jams, while Sydni had her own photo shoot outside.

my little mini market girl 

celebrating dirt! 

After Findlay, we headed home to drop Rob and Sydni, then continued on to REI, in search of Ali's first pair of Chaco's! It would've been a straight shot, but I took a scenic route and Coffee Emporium got in the way, like it does for me on many occasions.

We eventually made it to REI. It wasn't as fruitful as we'd hoped, but long story short, she's all set and Chaco'd up for a good while. 

We did so well on our venturing this afternoon that there was next to no rushing when we arrived back at the house to get Rob & Syd. We set off to the movie theater, where the Minions  3D experience awaited us.

minions 3D! 

We did a post-movie dinner at Logans nearby, and finally circled back tothe homefront to wind down.

Tomorrow it's church with Ali before she heads home, and then back to a brief bit of the reality that is the to-do list around here. 

What a beautiful day! Seeee you tomorrow!

xo | cmd

Elisa's Last Day

Ugggghhhhhhhhhhh....

Today was Elisa's last day at Express. I've got a few different sets of emotions to deal with today...

One of them is sadness, because of the obvious reason that she's an awesome person, inside and out.
Another is that she's been my sole, stable source of sanity and clarity at work, and in the past 3 years, we've been through the ringer here at our office. Literally only Elisa can fully testify to and re-live the history of this office, and I don't know what I would've done without her!

Far unlike a few [one recent in particular] members of the Express team who've come and gone, she's an honest person and a friend before anything else. Our team won't be the same without her, but we have no business telling her not to go and pursue her dreams!

E - you're awesome, and I'm so glad that our paths crossed on this journey that started as coworkers and will continue as friends long after this! THANK YOU for keeping me sane, for laughing with me, for understanding the frustrations and celebrations of our job, for dealing with crazy [from coworkers to associates and everything in between!] and for always being there to talk sense into me when I thought I was in over my head. I'll see you asap when I visit that-a-way in Chicago! :)

my gift from elisa... isn't it supposed to be the other way around!? :o

Tomorrow we'll be flying solo with Clarissa, and while I'm super excited to launch off into our next chapter, it's going to be a very strange feeling doing it in her absence.

MISS YOU ALREADY, CHICA! See you soon :)

xo | cmd