It's a New Week!

Yes, yes it was.

One of my favorite things is a collection of people who can suffer joyfully through something together. One of my not-so-favorite things is that the reason we're suffering is because midwest weather seems to be having a midlife crisis. As a result, I along with a bucket of my fellow Ohioans are feeling the glowing effects: sinus infections, colds, flu, bronchitis, strep and delightfully-disgusting things that are coughed up first thing in the morning.

Beautiful visual, eh?

What I do look forward to on Mondays, for now at least:

And no, I didn't mean jumping ship after the standard Monday [although fitting, yes!]; Mondays mean new episodes of Shadowhunters, and I think it goes without saying I'm a hooked fan. I'm still 110% surprised at how much I don't hate all the plot departures in the show (vs. the books). When we got hit with Lydia in season 1, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to handle these, but now that there's been a shift change with the writers, all the non-booky things seem to be weaving a course of their own that's still comprehensive, and dare I say it's kind nice? 

^ If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you really need to read the books. Honestly, I'd start with The Infernal Devices and work your way through those before The Mortal Instruments. It's all just... so good. So. Good.

SPEAAAAKING of TMI, this this THIS THIS THIS THISSSSS came today and I'm tripping over myself in excitement. I've been hunting this specific edition of Lady Midnight down since just before CHRISTMAS, when I spotted it on a couple of my favorite book instagrammers' feeds (bookstagrammers?). I learned it's a limited edition, and mostly specific to the UK. The Book Depository website told me it was out of stock, and the only available copy I could find in the U.S. via Ebay was going for over $200. I think not. THEN, just when I had a friend living in London who offered to procure this from a Waterstones and send it to me, Book Depository emailed me to let me know it was back in stock, and well.. the rest is history. This gem arrived today, from Australia, and it is even more beautiful than I'd imagined! ♥♥♥♥

i. am. swooooning.
#nerdstuff #goldenrunes

It's so.. beautiful. And it adds so nicely to the mantle shelf, which speaking of that.. is going away hopefully this weekend, if not very soon thereafter. The last thing I need is to replace a broken mantle and whatever book damage happens when gravity has had enough :p

So I'm outta here; it's time for the episode. One of these days I'll channel my inner Christine Riccio and do a book or episode review. We'll see. We'll see. 

xo | cms

Love the Climb

I woke up today not forgetting that it's Kalyn's birthday. In honor of that, here's what remains still to be my favorite birthday party yet, from several years ago:

hbd, kp!

With Kalyn down in the Gorge, I didn't have the chance to see her this weekend. However, unintentionally in her honor, we decided to go climbing here. Becky's in town from NM for the weekend, so she joined us for a few hours in the gym.

Sydni was super into all of this, as you can clearly see:

this kid can sleep anywhere.

Once we pried some life back into Syd, it was into the gym and onto the auto's for some fun climbing. I have no idea when I blinked and missed the transitional phase between her not wanting to climb at all and today's skittering straight up a 5.8 without thinking twice about it, but I will take it. I had 5 specific proud mom moments when I heard her voice ring out from the tops of each course she ran - 5 different courses, one of which was a cross between 5.8 and 5.9. For a 7yo who doesn't climb every day, I'd say she's got some shining potential to be great at this if we let her. 

so. proud!

It was a fantastic outing with one of our dearest friends, and made the perfect afternoon pick-us-up out of the dreary weather that ushered the weekend through. 

climbing with becky! 

After climbing, it was lunch at Panera, then home to relax for a little while. It was 70 degrees yesterday; today we were lucky to see 40 degrees, in between the wind and gray sky. And I wonder why my sinuses are having a panic attack? 

*Sigh. Today was a good, full day of fun and quality time spent with mini and one of our best friends. Cheers to the rest of this weekend! 

xo | cms

Pretty, Pretty Books

This isn't the first time I've said that Book Depository will be a (the?) key contributor to my ultimate financial downfall. The fact that UK-designed covers and jackets are just so... beautiful, is a hard truth to ignore. 

And most of the time I don't ignore it. I do just the opposite and indulge it. And then I'm at work and things like this happen: A postman drops off a very obviously-shaped box and I open it, usually at least halfway certain of which book or books it contains. Today, I'd remembered that Ink was somewhere in transit, but I'd forgotten about A Little Princess. 

Staaaahp. They're so.. PRETTY! 

no, thank YOU, Book Depository!

Ink might stand alone until I at least get my hands on the gold runed copy of Lady Midnight, but ALP will find its home with neighbors in its collection set.

^ I just re-read what I typed there and realized that the nerdvibes today are far. too. real.

Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful Wednesday; I  know I did.

Cheers!
xo | cms

Pitbull Personal Space

I titled this according to the short list of non-existent things in my life right now. 

I am not complaining, but it's still true. There is no such thing as personal space when it comes to these dogs.

I'm still kinda reeling from the Adoptathon that we attended over the weekend, and after spying on a couple of other baby bullies without permanent homes, it made me want to come home and give mine that extra inch of space (and then they take a mile, because they're pits and that's what they do, duh..). 

h....i. 

For almost an hour, this is how they both sat. Sasha eventually fell over, which is nothing new, but for that 45 minutes of dog breath into my book, it was still endearing in its weird little way.

I've managed to fly under the radar this week - no sick bugs in our home, no unusual crisis at work, and only the occasional hiccup here and there in between it all. I pray your weeks are treating you well out there also, blogbots!

Happy Hump Day!

xo | cms 

Refreshed

Every so often, there comes a day when my skin feels especially like my own, and I feel an added amount of gratitude for it. Today was one of those days. I'm not really sure what it was, other than that God knows the things I need, when I need them.

24 jan 2017

I was in the middle of a midday decompression (aka, lunch hour), and caught myself in the mirror of a dressing room for what felt like the first time at all today. The vertical mirror lights reflected off my eyes and for a split second, it registered that I looked very cat-like. I laughed and took a selfie, because that's what you do in those situations, right?

It wasn't until almost 6 hours later that I finally posted the thing, and the response I got was a quick but real reminder of how the encouragement I needed would come from a handful of strong, empowering women that I have the privilage to know in both real life and through their social media feeds. Another friend from years gone by also surfaced - one who, as part of an even smaller collection of people, stood by me through some of my weirdest years in college, as I grappled with my identity as an adopted Asian-American. It's not to say that I don't feel good on other days, but even with compliments and positivity trickling back in, I felt as humbled as ever by the notion that a simple selfie could prompt others to speak words of light and positivity.

That's what it is, really. It's the constant flow of negative energy that has clouded my social media feeds. It's the uncertainty for our future that weighs on our shoulders - some more visibly than others. It's the division that we see broadcasted across the country, and the fear that we try our best to swallow or ignore, that we are as a country, heading towards complete and absolute self-implosion. It's those thousands of voices that creep into my head when I least expect them to, and I start to lose sight of my own course and the one true voice of reason that really matters.

I went to the gym with this newly-recovered momentum of confidence, and was approached by another person to share the circuit I was doing. I gladly did so, since it had been shared once with me. Another encouraging moment. I finished an exhausting workout and headed home to a protein bar, dinner and my Bible:

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. ::2 Timothy 1:7::

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. ::1 Thessalonians 5:11::

I know this entry is a bit all-over, but as I've said a dozen times before - I love ya'll, but these entries are as equally for my own reference at any given point tomorrow or next year, when I need to be reminded of where my feet and heart stood at any particular time.

And today I feel refreshed. A little lighter in body, heart, soul and mind. A little stronger. A little better than I was yesterday, and a little more confident that I am empowered to be empowering. My hope is that each of you beautiful people out there can find the same peace, and then share it in your own world.

Good Night!
xo | cms

Cable Work ;)

Here's the exact three stages of my gym time today: 

1: SUPER READY LET'S GO BECAUSE GAINS DON'T HAPPEN IF I STAY HOME ON THE COUCH! 

and also, who's coming with me?!

2: Doing the work. This is one of my favorite little burners, and although I kinda lost count during the video, I would recommend doing at least 3 sets, with 10 walking out and 10 walking back. Deep squat and try to keep your back straighter than I did here :p. The resistance band makes me concentrate on not letting my knees bow in or my feet lance out, and the ankle weights are there because I forgot to take them off before I started. Yes, they look silly and no I don't care....

3: Two hours later, after my legs have sworn off the rest of my body and I almost wrecked twice going home because said legs were too tired to drive...

this is standard for me.

I don't usually post gym-related things, but after just a couple months, I'm feeling the results of what I've done so far, and I'm not about to stop there. But yeah, I'm wiped. ZzZ. 

xo | cms

New Small Group!

We are BACK! It's been far too long since we found ourselves in an evening life group session; tonight was far overdue.

For the past couple months, we've been flexing our wings and exploring a new church, which is being planted by members of our previous church. It's closer to home and some of our closest friends from that church have joined ranks in the planting process. After much prayer and consideration, we decided that exploration wouldn't hurt, and if we wound up planted there as well, then so be it.

lightpoint church!

And it looks like we are taking root. Tonight we attended our first session of life group with the Ricks and several others from the church. I'm always a huge fan of life groups for a multitude of reasons, but I think the first and foremost is that it provides a platform for us to do life with each other outside of the formalities of a Sunday morning worship experience.

Tonight we covered a lot of ground in a series that we're processing through, and as an unexpected turn, I accepted the offered challenge to serve unofficially as part of the content and composition editing team. If you're reading this, please go ahead and send a prayer up for me if you wouldn't mind; a large span of time has passed since my English degree has been applied to something in a professional landscape, if you don't count my OCD grammar, syntax and spelling scrutinization of what I actually do for a living.

So yeah. Prayers appreciated, and tonight my heart is full from the time we spent in fellowship with a fraction of our new church family. If you happen to be in the Cincinnati area, and are looking for a church family that can and will accept you as you are and love you where you are, consider this an invitation to come and check it out:

Lightpoint Church Cincinnati

Good night for now, blogbots! 

xo | cms