ALI TURNS TWENTY FIVE, FINALLY!

I've been trying to turn Ali 25 for 3 years now.
[this entry is post dated.... ]
I don't know why it always seemed fitting to wish her a Happy 25th, on her 22nd, 23rd and 24th, but this year I can say it legitimately. Twenty-five for the win!

The birthday weekend started yesterday, when Damanji and I arrived in from the STL & Cinci Metros, respectively. Today was the real start of our Chicagoland weekend to celebrate one of our best friends.

1 | BREAKFAST! 
.: Eggs. We went to Eggs. No, seriously, the place is called [just] Eggs. It sounds like a broken sentence, but that's the name and that's the place and it was fun. I don't, however, recommend that you order the Georgia Peach Crepe, unless you like the combination of sourdough, cottage cheese and canned peaches... warm... together. Otherwise, it was definitely a fresh little vibe and I'd go back and try something else on the rather extensive menu.

metiiiculously unfolding the carry out bag
#militarybagfolding ;) 

2| NAPERVILLE
.: Ali's job as a live-in nanny has her living here, so she's become acquainted with several of the local shopping spots, etc. etc.

on our way! 

The highlights of this outing include but are most definitely not limited to:
DAVIDsTEA. Who do I talk to about getting one - or more - of these in Cincinnati, like.. yesterday?! Sorry, but.. Teavana, who? Cincinnati, you need a DAVIDsTEA, and that is that.

davids tea | naperville, il
so. much. yesssss. 

yesssssss! 

We hit the NVille outlets, as well; the birthday girl was loaded down with giftcards to use, and the plunder was bountiful: Sephora, Kate Spade and Pac Sun on the top hit list. We even managed to spot an interesting story parked in the lot outside: 

shark attack?

3 | NANNY LIFE
.: We stopped at Ali's "house" after our downtown Naperville tour, where she lives as a nanny. It should come as no surprise that it's practically a castle in a neighborhood of other castles, that has heated floors, awesome decor, a retractable cover and a fluffy dog named Lola:

oh ya know... 

if this was my house, i'd live in this room alone. 

ya'll already know.. where there's a dog, there's cori.
#sheissofluffffyyyyyyy

4 | BUBBLE TEA
.: This makes the list because I haven't had bubble tea since I lived in Illinois, which, if you've been counting, was over 3 years ago. I think the universe was savvy to this fact as I ordered [and paid for] one "taro with lychee," but received a taro and a lychee. Was I mad about this? No. Was I probably over-hydrated? Yes.

twofer.. and asian for the win! 

5 | CHICAGO! 
.: After our adventures in Naperville, we made our weekend ascent into Chicago, where the city lay waiting for 3 more tourists to take advantage of all is has to offer within a 3-day span. We checked into the hotel, and within half an hour, Ali's friend Lindsay rendezvoused with us to start the city celebration.

'ello, chi!! 

Our first stop: Happy hour at Howells & Hood!

quick stop before dinner! 

calamari.. yes please... 

The meat of the evening was dinner at Bar Siena, where our reservation awaited us. We changed, put on our evening faces and made our way out to an incredible dinner to thank Ali's parents for her existence :).

happy 25th birthday, beautiful friend! 

damanji! 

Things on the menu that we ordered:
Kale & cranberry salad
Roasted peppers
Corn ravioli
BAKED POTATO SOUP + MAC&CHEESE: 

leave me alone i need a moment....... *drool. 

cori. ali. lindsay. shawn.
♥♥♥♥

6 | CHICAGO AFTER HOURS :)
.: Ali only turns 25 once, at least legitimately... so naturally it was off in search of some spirited fun. We're in Chicago, so it wasn't hard. Thanks to Lindsay's guidance, Uber and a stellar tender at HVAC, we made the evening shine in special honor of Ali!

stop #1

stop #2

stop #3, with candid faces.. kinda ♥

A lot more of the pictures I have from tonight are blurry... but I suppose that's bound to happen when standing still is less fun than dancing until your feet want to remove themselves from your body entirely [current mood]. 

Good night, Chicago. You're beautiful. See you tomorrow! 

xo | cmd

Mondays Are For SnapChats

Except today, that wasn't necessarily true! We walked into the office this morning to learn that Riss was out, and thought the day might carry a similarly petulant attitude. 

But alas, that wouldn't be the case..

It all started with this: 

hiiiiiii guyyyyyyyssssss... 

Can I HELP YA?! If there's one thing this weird gourd filter did, it game me alien eyebrows that are on point, man... Haha.. I sent that darling portrait off to a few close friends [and now am sharing it with the general public? #whatever #ImComfortableWithMyAlienNoggin]

From there, it blossomed into a morning and afternoon filled with work, but also littered with endearingly-awful portraits [.... kinda] of some lovely people I know:

ali. in all her snappy glory. 

i. am. sooooooo.... pretty. gosh. jealous? 

i seriously cannot.... ahhahahahaha
rob... kristin

Ya'll know Rob by now, but maybe not Kristin - she's one of the 2 incredible gals with whom I co-exist at the office, and I love the lady to pieces.

Except... when we try this. Now I'm just scared of her:

face swaps. maybe not our thing? 

^ She kinda looks like the lady version of Kim Jong Un (with a double set of teeth and a brute looking scar that's actually my hair?!), and I look like like a younger, female Asian Gary Busey. As funny as it is, it's definitely unsettling, and I'm thankful that in real life, our faces truly do much better suit our respective faces ;).

And of course, some filter fun:

wooo! 

Guys, this is the kind of mood that needs to come around every Monday. Can we vote to end the sullen, moody Mondays and exchange them for ones that are light, fun and productive?

Happy Monday, blogbots; have a terrific week!

xo | cmd

The Journey [Is a Long One]

Dude, hoooooly driving..

Where the trip to South Carolina went off without a hitch, the haul back was quite the contrast:

Cons: There was so. much. traffic. 

There were detours.
Ignorance was running rampant on social media.
Thirteen. Hours. In. The. Car.

PROS: 
Woke up to the smell and sound of the ocean, palm trees and sand.
Tackled the journey with one of my best friends & her beau.
It was gorgeous weather the entire trip.
North Carolina bartenders will make you a specialty Wedding Tea, if you ask!
Plenty of time to peruse and reflect on photo reels from the weekend.
Finished reading City of Bones (now on to City of Ashes!)
Took a stand against ignorance and self-made bigot #forthewin #saynotowestborokids

Traveled back through the 5 states: SC, NC, TN, KY & OH! 

Returned to my family: Rob, Syd & the Pups!

I'm... tired. Like, beyond tired. Today was a gorgeous day, and while I'm here blogging, the newlyweds should be well on their way to their Caribbean honeymoon. I'm so thankful to have been a part of this wonderful weekend, and can't wait to see the pictures!! 

Love, love & sleepinginmyownbedyesssssss... 

xo | cmd 

Happy Birthday, Catie! ♥

Tuesdays around here have earned the nickname Terrible Tuesdays: a pun off terrible TWO's, indicating that Tuesdays have the temperament, agitation and inconsolably fickle head of a human toddler on her worst day. 

I wasn't alone on this sentiment today; Kristin and Clarissa had their fair share of the action today, and by the time 5:00 rolled around, I think we'd had our fill of Tuesday in general. SEE YA NEXT WEEK, BUSTER..... haha.

In other - and way cooler - news, today's Catie's birthday! I had several shots to choose from for the commemorative photo, but this one is so accurate to our friendship that I couldn't pass it by: 

circa 2008

^ When you find someone with whom you can shamelessly don adult onesies [that just happened to also glow in the dark and have little grippers on the feet, don't hate..], then you know you've found one of the good ones, haha.. Also note that that picture was taken after work on a mid-week, and that we weren't under the influence of anything except spontaneity. These types of things happened more often than you'd think! 

After work, I did a quick costume change at the office, and scooted out the door to soccer practice with Becky. She'd asked me to assist in coaching a squad of U10 and U11 girls on the east side, and I happily obliged that. It was a blast!

soccer practice time! 

Not a bad ending to an otherwise tempestuous Tuesday; I'm pretty pleased with it all and feeling much better about approaching tomorrow ;). 

Adios!

xo | cmd

Happy Workaversary To Me!

Once upon a time, I started a job with this company called Express: 

my first express family : cincinnati east, oh
photo circa 2010

I'll never forget it - March 15, 2010: It was a Monday, and it was my first day on this new job I'd found on Craigslist, at a place I'd never heard of a month before that. I jumped in with both feet and remember very clearly my first full week at Express Employment Professionals: computer training [yay!]. It was an overload of information, a time I look back at and laugh at how many pages of notes I took, on things I wouldn't need to know, really. I had no idea where that job would take me, or if it would lead to anything at all that would be stable, or permanent.

When the news came down that I'd be moving to Illinois, I lost a lot of tears grasping the idea of leaving behind one of the best teams on which I'd ever been. And then, I met Marc & Diana, and became part of their team as a transfer. As part of that team, I would go on to experience almost 3 years of team restructuring, process adjustment and even an office expansion. I became a staffing consulant, and eventually grew into a sr. staffing consultant role. I met Ali, who is now one of my best friends, as a product of working together there, and still to this day have lasting communication and friendships with that team. 

my 2nd express family: glen carbon, il
photo circa 2012

The decision to move back to Ohio wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but out of that came the opportunity for me to work alongside Dave and Elisa [& some other endearing characters: Nancy, Lizzy & Nikki.. and then some other more questionable thankfully short-lived cast members, but I digress >_<...] 

my 3rd express family: cinci central [part 1]
photo circa 2014

It wouldn't become the longterm Cinci Central family unit, but the time I spent working with each of them is invaluable.

Then came the revolution; Dave sold the business to Paul, Elisa went to grad school in Chicago and the last toxic cell was cut from the team all in the span of a couple months. From there was born the new and battle-ready Cinci Central team. It's a world of difference in dynamic, but we're steadying the foundation together and it's amazing to see how far we've come!

my [technically] 4th express family: cinci central [part 2!]
+ our significant others, along with chris & deb!
photo circa 2016

It's been a crazy ride: 3 different offices, 4 franchise owners, a multitude of different co-workers, events, seminars and the like. I wouldn't trade it for anything; this place is just as much a part of me as the 8+hours we invest into it daily throughout the week. I never would've envisioned myself working for a company like this, but now that I do, I'm grateful for every chaotic minute and wouldn't have it any other way. 

Six years later, here I am - still in one piece and ready to see what's next. 

Let's go, year 7! 

xo | cmd

T H E L A S T M O V I N G D A Y

God willing, that is.

We spent the first half of today at the mercy of a 26-foot box truck:

loaded up! 

on the roaaaad again... 

I cannot express the appreciation I have today especially for good friends: Mike, Andrew & Jessica, ya'll are life savers. This would have been a very different day if the three of you hadn't made an appearance and donated your time, brute strength and encouragement. Haha.

At the new house, the boys took to unloading the big stuff, while Jessica and I committed to building furniture. This wouldn't have been a priority, except that Rob's parents were due in town in the evening and otherwise would've been shacked up on the couch... which... no. So bed-building it was! Ikea certainly doesn't operate on any shortage of screws, bolts, washers, nails and HOLES DRILLED THE WRONG SIZE.. haha. The hammer ran a marathon today, but we made it happen. 

go go ikea go!

The frame was built and the mattresses were laid. The guys showed up at the last minute before the mattress pads and bedding were added, to test it out:

exhausted movers approved.

mattress topped! 

It was nothing more than a blink it seemed between the time that Andrew, Jessica and Mike left, and Rob's parents arrived. When they did, this little blur came tumbling out of the car. Meet the newest addition to his dad's house: Duke the pomsky! 

duke

stop it, ya cutie.. 

I'm obsessed. Seriously. This dog is so freakin' adorable, it's disgusting. 

dog selfies. dogfies. 

^ I mean... c'mon. Look at this guy! I'm excited to head back to Illinois in a couple months or so to visit and see how much he's grown. 

In the meantime, we've just inhaled dinner out of styrofoam boxes with plastic utensils, because the dishers and real flatware are hiding in some unmarked box somewhere in this place still. That's all part of the adventure though, right? Hah. 

We're all spent. See ya in the mornin!

xo | cmd

Car Hoarding: Friday Edition

My life, currently.. moving:

another day, another car slammed to the ground with stuff.. haha

I promise this isn't my life, year round. It's not even my life daily.. I swear!
For now though, this is my car - stuffed to the gills with random everything; I really do feel like there's a cat or two hiding somewhere in here, likely having materialized by the amount of clutter. There's probably a quilt back there crocheting itself, too, because that's the path I feel like I'm taking when I get into my car and it looks like this.

okay, not a quilt... but a comforter. even better. 

TGIF. Moving. Tomorrow is the big move, with the big truck.
This is almost over :).
Rinse & repeat: This is almost over.

Happy Weekend! ♥

xo | cmd