Skin in the game.

I’ve been working on this shopper in-store display project for Gillette Venus featuring four-time world surfing champion and US Olympic hopeful, Carissa Moore for almost a year now. And all the hard work is finally paying off because the displays are starting to show up in stores. We found the displays that I designed first in Walgreens and then Meijer. This afternoon the group creative director at Grey Midwest presented all the work we did on this project to the entire creative department. I snagged a few of the photos of the endcap he used is his presentation…

His photos were styled much better than mine. During his presentation, he had a bunch of really nice things to say about me. And after his presentation, he had some really nice things to say about me in a group chat with the creative department as well…

This display was inspired by an outdoor shower at the beach. After his presentation, I posted this end cap display to my design Instagram along with the initial design theme mood board, my concept sketch, the final rendering, and the photos…

Not long after I posted to Instagram, I noticed Carissa Moore liked my post…

And that makes the whole thing pretty dang cool. ๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ’ป๐Ÿ„โ€โ™€๏ธโค๏ธ

There were some really pretty clouds.

Good morning from Northside. There were some really pretty clouds this morning…

Mack and Bear crashed out all day in the office…

Oscar usually hangs out in our front bedroom during the day. I made Taco Tuesday tacos for lunch today…

They were delicious. I love tacos. Especially on Tuesdays for Taco Tuesday. And Genifer made chicken ramen stir-fry for dinner…

It was delicious as well. She always finds the best recipes. It was a pretty evening…

Good evening from Northside…

We made it through another Tuesday. At least there were some pretty clouds today.
๐Ÿ˜€โ˜๏ธ๐Ÿพ๐ŸŒฎ๐Ÿ”โค๏ธ

Timehopping.

Five years ago today was the MLB All-Star Game live from Great American Ballpark in beautiful downtown Cincinnati…

Five years on and it’s still one of the most incredible sporting events I’ve ever attended. But it wasn’t just the All-Star Game, it was all the build-up to the game, all the months of excitement around Cincinnati and all the events of All-Star Week that made it such a memorable event. That, and getting to snap a photo of these guys…

We’ve done some pretty incredible stuff in Cincinnati.

Thanks for all the wonderful memories,ย Timehop.ย ๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿฆ•โšพ๏ธโค๏ธ

Some BBQ chicken and a new bear.

Good Monday morning from Northside…

We rescued a dog over the weekend. We got him from people we know that didn’t want him anymore. They would leave him outside all day, if he was inside he was trapped in his crate. They wouldn’t give any love or attention and overfeed him. His name is Bear. And he’s the newest member of our family…

He slept right next to me in the office all day today. We’ve already become really good friends. I hope him and Mack will become good friends too…

I haven’t had a chance to take many photos of him yet. And the ones I’ve taken haven’t been good. Hopefully, I’ll get some good photos of him in the evening this week or next weekend. I don’t understand how you could be mean to him. He’s just a big sweetheart and is really well-behaved and mild-mannered.

After working for a bit, I noticed Mack wasn’t in the office with us. I went to look for him around the house and found him just chillin’ up in our bedroom…

I came back to check on him a little bit later and he was sleeping on our bed…

We hadย another one of the Kroger Prep+Pared Home Chef Express mealsย for dinner tonight. I forgot to take a photo of the label like I usually do. But this one was tortilla crusted BBQ chicken with cheesy potatoes and corn or something like that…

Whatever it was called, it sure was good…

It was another really delicious dinner. We really like theย Kroger Prep+Pared Home Chef Express meal kitsย a lot.

UPDATE: We found the meal at Kroger again…

I wasn’t far off on the name at all.

Good evening from Northside…

It was another good Monday. This week is going to be a busy one. ๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ—“๏ธ๐Ÿป๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ”โค๏ธ

Painting and pizza party.

Good morning from Northside…

While I was having my epic soccer Sunday, Genifer decided she wanted to paint our first floor half bath. We got a gallon of paint while we were at Lowe’s yesterday…

She’s getting tired of all the grey in our house. This is the before photo…

We took the shelf down and removed the outlet and vent covers…

Then she painter taped it all off…

And then she got to painting…

And now our bathroom is a very pretty sky blue to go with our pretty blue tile floor…

Genifer did an amazing job of painting! The bathroom looks so good! Oscar and I did a good job of supervising…

And later before the start of the Louisville City match, I ran over to NYPD to pick up some pizza for dinner. An NYPD Pizza party reward for painting and epic soccer watching…

I wonder what happened to NYPD’s awning? Our pizza and wings were all set when I got to NYPD. It’s pretty amazing that you can order online from NYPD and 15 minutes later, you’re heading home with a pizza…

We were so ready for our NYPD Pizza party that we just dug right in and didn’t even take a photo before we started eating…

Mmmmm, Station House with banana peppers…

NYPD changed their boneless wing count while keeping the price the same. You used to get 10 wings, now you only get six. Time to find another side to order with our pizza. But we still love having NYPD right around the corner…

And good evening from Northside.

It was a really good Sunday for just hanging around the house. ๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ—“๏ธโค๏ธ

And here’s what actually happened.

I had this really epic soccer Sunday planned. And as you know, very rarely does anything ever go as planned. This is what actually happened with my epic soccer Sunday. I watched all the matches. But the results weren’t as I would have liked them.

Last night, the start of the FC Cincinnati versus Columbus Crew match didn’t start until well after 11pm because the match before theirs had a weather delay. I stayed up to watch the entire match. I don’t know why. It was bad. Really bad. It was the first match in charge for FC Cincinnati’s new manager, Jaap Stam. And it looked every bit of it.

News flash… FC Cincinnati is still terrible and lost 4-0.ย 

This morning we watched the second half of Wolves clinical 3-0 thumping of Everton. With the win, Wolves became the first English side to win competitive games in two different Julys in the same season. I was all set for the start of Toronto versus DC United. But the match was postponed because of COVID-19 concerns. I mentioned we might watch yesterday’s Doosan Bears-Lotte Giants KBO game but we actually watched it yesterday. My Bears lost 5-4. Jose Fernandez hit a two-run homer with two out in the ninth to pull the Bears within one. But then the next batter flew out to center and that was the ballgame. I was also going to touch-up my quarantine haircut but I did that yesterday too. I got new clippers when we were running around yesterday. And I wanted to give them a try. They worked really well.

So with that, we had to endure Aston Villa versus Crystal Palace in its entirety. I don’t know how Crystal Palace don’t get relegated every season. Every time I see them play, they play the most uninspired, uninterested, and just plain boring soccer. Even when we saw them play FC Cincinnati at Nippert Stadium, they were pretty boring. Palace beat FC|C 2-0. But today, Palace lost 2-0 to Villa. Again.

The North London derby started well for Arsenal with Lacazette’s absolute screamer. The Gunners took a 1-0 but then the defense. Sigh. Arsenal. After the match, I changed from one of my Arsenal polos to my Leicester t-shirt. I switched the channel to ESPN to watch a bit of Parma-Bologna so I didn’t have to watch the Jose Mourinho post-match interview on NBCSN. I’ve never liked him. I can’t envision a scenario that would cause that to change.

Leicester looked to be rolling right along after Jamie Vardy scored his league-leading 26th goal. But then the wheels came off the Leicester wagon after the referee awarded Bournemouth a penalty. Leicester was reduced to ten men after a red card and Bournemouth would go on to score three more times to win 4-1. What. The. Heck?

Lousiville City started their USL season hosting Pittsburgh Rverhounds as they opened their new soccer-specific stadium. Speedy Williams scored the first goal for City in their new home. But then they gave up three unanswered goals to lose 3-1.

Are you seeing a trend here? All of my teams took a 1-0 lead and then lost.

Minnesota was trailing 1-0 as the clock approached the 90th minute. And then United scored two goals in stoppage time to win 2-1. The first was a penalty kick at 90+2 and then the winner at 90+7. And with that, Epic Soccer Sunday was salvaged!

It would have been a real bummer if all my teams lost. Thankfully, Minnesota United saved the day. ๐Ÿ˜€โšฝ๏ธโค๏ธ

It’s finally happening!

I can’t remember the last time we had an epic sports day. One of those days where there are so many good games on TV, you don’t how you’re going to watch them all. It’s been soooo long since we’ve had a really epic sports day. It’s been so long since we had sports. But today is truly an epic sports day! I’m calling it, EPIC SOCCER SUNDAY! This is what I’ll be watching during today’s massive football feast with the teams I’ll be cheering for highlighted in blue…

I’m not entirely sold on watching Toronto-DC United. I guess it depends on if I managed to stay awake until the end of last night’s FC Cincinnati versus Columbus match. ย The 10:30pm starts during the MLS is Back tournament are just a little late for me. I might also watch my Doosan Bears versus Lotte Giants KBO game that was on ESPN very early yesterday morning. We’ll see how it goes. I might also touch up my quarantine haircut first thing this morning.

Of the four matches I’m really interested in watching today, Arsenal seems to finally be finding their form after the restart. The Gunners are undefeated in their last five with four wins and a draw against Leicester. Spuds are doing their best Totteringham over their last five with two wins, draws at both Everton and Bournemouth, and a whopping 3-1 loss away to Sheffield United. Leceister City are currently sitting fourth in the league and hope to regain their pre-COVID-19 form against Bournemouth, who have lost four of their last five. My Foxes have just one win in their last five with two losses and two draws. But with Chelsea also losing to Sheffield United yesterday, a win could put Leicester back in third.

Leading up to Sundayโ€™s USL Championship restart, two-time USL Champion Louisville City will be christening their brand new, $65 million state-of-the-art, Lynn Family Stadium at approximately 30% of the new facilityโ€™s regular 15,304-person capacity.

And finally, there’s my Minnesota United. Before the season was suspended, the Loons won both of their matches, 3-1 away to Portland and 5-2 away to San Jose. So I’m super excited to have them start playing again. I stocked up on MNUFC gear in the off-season, and I’ve been waiting all year to finally have the opportunity to wear it.

There are other matches on Sunday too. There are two early Premier League matches on Sunday. Wolves face Everton at 7am. Wolves have been in great form since the restart and hadn’t given up a goal until they play Arsenal last weekend. The second match is Aston Villa versus Crystal Palace. And it just sounds like it’s going to be a boring, lifeless draw. But watch it end up being the most exciting match of the day. AC Milan plays Napoli in Italian Serie A at 3:45pm on ESPN+. The Rossoneri stunned Juventus 4-2 midweek. And there’s also the late MLS tournament match between Real Salt Lake and Colorado Rapids at 10:30pm on ESPN. I don’t know that we’ll make it all the way through the late MLS match. But I’m pretty sure it’ll be on our TV as we’re heading to bed.

It’s going to be an Epic Soccer Sunday. And I couldn’t be more excited. ๐Ÿ˜ƒ๐Ÿ“บโšฝ๏ธ๐Ÿค—๐Ÿ’ฏโค๏ธ

A really good Saturday.

Happy Saturday morning from Northside…

We made a run to Lowe’s this morning, and unexpectedly ended up with a new patio set. We didn’t realize how big it was until we tried to get it to fit in the back of the Audi…

We had to take it all out of the box. But we managed to get it home. And it looks great out on our back patio…

Genifer had another BLT for lunch. I put some deli sliced turkey on mine to make it a delicious club sammich…

Good afternoon from Northside…

We went over Taft’s Brewpourium for pizza because it’s really the only place we feel really comfortable going during the pandemic…

Taft’s has set up seating back at their bar…

We ordered our new favorite pizza. It’s the white pizza with prosciutto, cherry tomatoes, and arugula after bake. It’s so good…

We love the Brewpourium. It’s our favorite pizza in all of Cincinnati…

As we were heading out, a train started to roll by Taft’s…

Trains are so cool. Good evening from Northside…

It was a great Saturday. And tomorrow promises to be an epic soccer Sunday! ๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ—“๏ธโค๏ธ

We made it through another week!

Good morning from Northside…

I love these types of clouds. They’re so pretty…

After we walked the dogs this morning, we ran over to Kroger. I’m really happy that they finally made wearing a mask mandatory in public…ย 

We stocked up on Shining Stars

Today, Kroger had both the bear and the train in the international aisle…

Kroger’s been having a balloon display by the vegetables recently…

The cutest display was with the condiment balloons or the Cinco de Mayo balloons.

After we got our groceries from Kroger, we ran into Meijer to look for another one of the Venus in-store displays I designed. And there it was…

This display looked really great as well. And then we stopped at Mad Llama for coffee…

When we got home, I had a big bowl of Shining Stars with my Mad Llama Java Whip…

After work. we had delicious BLTs for dinner…

I really love BLTs. When we took the dogs for their evening walk, the skies looked kinda ominous and threatening…

Thankfully, it seemed like those dark clouds had passed us…

The ice cream man drove by…

Of course, we didn’t have any money on us. Because we were just walking the dogs.

Good evening from Northside…

It was starting to look threatening again. But when we were walking down the steps, the sun came back out. At the bottom of the steps, we saw this Northside sidewalk snail but it was hiding inside its shell right in the middle of the sidewalk…

I picked it up and moved it over so it wasn’t right in the middle of the sidewalk…

Those are some really grey clouds. I’m happy we made it through another work week.

This evening we watched more of Hanna Season 2 on Amazon Prime. ๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ—“๏ธโค๏ธ

Two for two on masalas.

I had more of the spicy noodles for lunch. They were less spicy today…

For dinner tonight, we had this Indian Channa Masala that we got from Whole Foods…

We really liked the Tikka Masala we tried from Whole Foods. This one was chickpeas slow-simmered with onions, tomatoes and spices served over rice and it was so good. I wish we knew more about Indian food. What little I’ve had, I really like a lot. It has such unique, good flavors.

And speaking of good, good evening from Northside…

And we’re almost to the weekend again. ๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ—“๏ธโค๏ธ

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