it was my birthday this past 17.12! my, what a difference a year makes. last year’s celebration was non-stop. this year’s celebration was non-stop with the babes! it was low key and cozy.
obviously, this post if very delayed but nevertheless an occasion. i had some other vip things to talk about that superceded this post. don’t get me wrong…i love my birthday! ever since i have been with hc, he’s always made it important and that means a lot to me. here’s a blast from the past…some photos from last year’s celebration:
we had dinner at an italian restaurant, la luce, set up by my darling friend andrea and hc. i was blessed to have some wonderful friends {matt, johann, danielle, dana, andrea, frank, & kip} and family {kim, thuy, dan, & terry} celebrate with me on that special occasion!
hc commissioned a cake from alliance bakery in the form of a lv gift box! how adorbs! i loved the cake…and it was sooo delish.
[birthday bash from 2012 – coat, vintage burberry]
***
here’s to my wonderful birthday celebration with our newest, adorable addition – baby olive!
[this is my current look at home nowadays]
i definitely wanted to break out my tiara but it was buried downstairs in the basement 🙁 {i mean, pj’s aren’t quite the tiara ensemble but i’ll rock one for any occasion!}. oh well, it can always make it’s appearance next year. a girl’s birthday always deserves a tiara!
we celebrated at home with just the three of us. hc made a delicious dinner [it’s called order out at mana…so delish] and i made my wish when i blew out my birthday cake candles! shhh…wishes are always kept secret so they can come true! hubby charming so thoughtfully gave me a gift from jcrew {a fav store o mine}! a buffalo check coat…loves! so outdoorsy chic!
[mana… a modge podge of goodness]
[happy beurffday!!!]
[make a wish]
[jcrew boxes are always filled with wonderful surprises]
here’s to an amazing year past. 2013 was full of joy, laughter, love, family, friends, and many blessings! the most joyous event of the year? our baby girl olive! finding out i was pregnant since february and being on this journey almost this entire past year has been eye opening, life changing, and miraculous.
i love seeing the glass half full all the time, so any bumps in the road this past year has truly been for the better…learning from your mistakes, forgiving others or yourself, do something better for anyone, and try, try again.
thank you for my family, thank you to my family. my greatest support system. through trials and turbulence, family will always be there no matter what. i am blessed to have this through the doan’s and the heintz’s. two wonderful families, truly special people…hc and i are so fortunate to be surrounded by such strong foundations.
thank you to my friends who always stand by me. they are the most amazing people and i am lucky to be surrounded by such good people. as life goes on, it’s good to have some solid peeps in there.
///
we spent our new year’s eve with friends and family. we trekked our way out in this crazy weather to have dinner at rpm. i loved the ambience and the food was delicious! so freakin’ yummy.
[don’t mind me a glass of presecco]
[our artsy, dramatic attempt]
we settled in at the bar, waiting for the rest of our party to arrive. it’s great when you live 10 minutes away and no one is really on the road! we ordered drinks and conversed our time away. since everyone was running a bit behind {holy snow!}, we decided to order apps. we had the smoked salmon crostini, prime beef meatballs, gnocchi alla romana, and the crispy ravioli. small bites that were way too small ’cause every morsel was so yummy, i wanted more!
[the ladies bedazzled for the evening…obviously i don’t know which direction to look at]
anyhoo, our party finally got there {phew! safe and sound!}, and we were seated! yay! and away we went with our over consumption of food for the evening!
we ordered a whole bunch of plates to share. i loved tasting all the different flavors. we then moved onto desserts…i had the tartufo, so decadent!
[our pasta course // my yummy tartufo]
it was a snowy, wintery night for a new years’s eve celebration.
After dinner, we headed back home to ring in the new year with olive and hc’s family.
[midnight kiss]
on new year’s day, we celebrated with a fun breakfast. Complete with sparkles, mimosas, and lots o coffee! it was a perfect beginning to a fabulous new year!
[our new year’s table spread!]
[starting off the new year right…family and a super yummy breakfast by hc]
[olive’s one month birthday cake]
papa insisted on having cake for olive’s one month. ask and you shall receive. i love a good ol’ home baked cake!
here’s a blast from the past. it’s us on the eve of 2012 ready to ring in 2013!!! my what a year it has been!
we celebrated at gt fish and oyster with our friends and family last year. it was a delicious meal…entree after delicious entree. gluttony at it’s best. we started our feasting at 10pm and giddily rang in the new year at the restaurant with lots o hollering and noise!
[2013]
[the sassy gals]
[dana and moi always matching in something, as usual]
[bex and james, who live in seattle, celebrating with us!]
farewell to a fantastic 2013 and hello to a fabulous 2014! i wish for everyone health, happiness, love, and many blessings for the coming new year.
happy new year everyone!!!
“should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? should old acquaintance be forgot, and old lang syne?
for auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we’ll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.”
on christmas day, we ventured out into woodstock to visit olivia!
she was in town with her boyfriend aaron {they currently live in florida} and i was so excited to be able to see her! we had planned on going over to her parent’s house {can you believe that i’ve known olivia for 6+ years and i have never met her parents or her brother henry?!} and hang out on christmas day.
we slept over at hc parent’s house due to our logistics that day. we got up and aunt wendy so kindly cooked us a christmas pancake breakfast! she makes some really delicious cakes! also, dick opened his gift from jane…she commissioned a canvas wrapped collage of olive pictures!
[cute canvas wrapped collage of olive]
we gathered ourselves and finally headed our way to woodstock. a half hour later, we were at our destination. it was so good to see miss olivia!!! we were greeted by her family and the socializing began. we were offered drinks {orange juice for me and beer for hc!} and we cozied right in. they were in awe over little miss olive. between mrs. gantner and olivia, olive was passed back and forth…so nice for mommy to be hands free!
we ended up staying at their house for over three hours! it was so nice to sit, relax, and catch up. it was so wonderful to get to know her parents, they are such lovely people! it meant a lot to us to be there!
here’s a fun fact: when olivia and i were visiting her sister claire in d.c. {i was 4 weeks pregnant at the time and didn’t know it!}, we were walking through the grocery store across the street from her sister’s place {picking up taco ingredients for dinner, like lime for the guac!}, discussing baby names. that’s when i decided i loved the name olive or the french pronunciation & spelling of olivia {with an accent over the a}. crazy right? that’s the true story behind baby olive’s name!
[olivia with olive]
[goofing around with my sweet olivia and cuddly, soft bruce!]
i didn’t want to leave but we needed to get back to the heintz’s for the second part of christmas day. they were hosting it at their house and everyone was already there by the time we got back.
[kait super happy to be holding olive]
[daniel finally holding his cousin olive // he protested quite a few times!]
appetizers were being served and the party was in full swing! we greeted and chitchatted with all the cousins, aunts, and uncles. baby olive was immediately snatched away and passed amongst the family members! i was then bombarded with gifts for baby olive. so sweet of everyone for thinking of her. it’s so fun to open up presents full of cuteness.
the kids ate first {mickey d cheeseburgers and fries} and then ran away to play the evening away. then the adults got to eat! i was hungry! the lasagna was very delicious. we conversed, mingled, and hung out the rest of the evening. after much imbibing and noshing, we were ready to head home.
[merry christmas!]
it was an amazing week and christmas celebration with all our friends and family. we are so lucky to have such special, wonderful people in our lives. God bless everyone!
we had a whirlwind week! we had visitors friday, saturday, and sunday {love to all my friends who have come over to our abode see baby olive}. then later on sunday, we mustered up the energy to go to marina and corey’s house for a festive get together {hello…football!}. we wanted to meet up with everyone for the holidays and not only that, carol was in town and pammy was going to be there too! so we had to see everyone!
[carol, pampers, and rina]
the next night, we had the wee christmas party at the werner’s. it’s an annual party they throw every year {for decades now, actually} and it was my fifth wee christmas with them! there is a lot of good food, lots of friendly faces, and santa claus comes to the party!
baby olive was passed along to everyone at the party…she was a hit! how can you not love a little baby?! plus, a warm thank you to pat and pete who gave baby olive a wonderful, generous gift from pottery barn kids! so thoughtful and kind of them! she’s so lucky!
i love going there every year. that’s what i love about the holidays, you get to see people you don’t always get to see and that is always wonderful!
[christmas at the werners // they have many trees! // i love this family shot!]
[olive and santa…santa claus was loving olive’s little feet]
christmas eve has always been the big celebration amongst the doan’s. over the years, it has evolved from a very late night to now, an earlier evening since we have kids!
we headed over to my parent’s house early {or as early as we could}. we ran some errands prior and then we were stuck in awful traffic on our way there. we arrived an hour or two later than we planned {oops!} but hey, we got there safe and sound!
i scurried inside with baby olive and my parents freaked out. they hadn’t seen baby olive in awhile and were so excited to have the little babes in their arms. she was sound asleep in her carseat so we left her in there for awhile but my mom pretty much had the baby in her arms the entire night!
my mom insisted on feeding us so {how can you say no?!} we waited around a bit until the food was ready. what was on the menu? chicken soup with rice and egg rolls. so good. it’s so good that grace ate it!!!
right after eating, i needed to make a pit stop at target to do some last minute exchanges. hey, if i can get out without the bebe and quickly do some stuff, i’m on it! thuy and i went together and it turned into a much longer trip than expected. oh well! i got some stuff done {although the target was a wreck and it was hard to locate items} and was satisfied.
[baking sugar cookies!]
we went home and started cooking and baking right away! kim, huy, and thuy did the cooking and i went upstairs to do the baking. i wanted to make sugar cookies for the kids to decorate later!
[the pretty plaid table spread by kim}
[place cards!]
[it’s not christmas without poinsettias!]
once dinner was had {um, best dinner ever! thanks kim, thuy, and huy for the delicious meal}, the kids were summoned to decorate cookies while everyone else cleaned up. once all that was done, the gifting began!
[thuy’s homemade cupcakes…how cute!!!]
it was so cute to see reagan, bennett, and grace open up their gifts. they get so excited and they all absolutely made out with some stellar stuff! once the kids were done, the adults randomly opened theirs. we, for the past several years, have done secret santa for each other. as we have gotten older, it just made sense. we can buy our own stuff but it’s fun to do this just to partake in the holiday spirit! we get to guess who was our secret santa and i nailed mine! i knew it was my brother dan!
[cutest cousins! ready to open presents!]
[christmas jammy photo!]
[the boys]
[grace loving her horse snow globe!]
after gifts, the kids played and played and played. they had such a fun time! they ate cookies and drank hot chocolate and ripped their toys apart.
[my most favorite gifts // christmas mouse book personalized just for olive! thank you kim and thuy…such an awesome gift for her // rifle iPhone case from dan // my birthday gift from kim and thuy – a jonathan adler bowl!]
it was a very lovely weekend and christmas eve {and it was a white one…i love it when it snows on christmas eve!}! such a great time shared with our friends and family. we are truly blessed and thankful for all that we have.
i hope everyone is enjoying their evening with friends and family. i hope everyone is warm and surrounded by the twinkling of holiday lights, the smell of baking cookies, and pretty, glittery decor. may your evening be of a belly full of yummy home cooking and spirits.
we decided to deck the halls a weekend earlier than usual because we weren’t sure when the babes would come {she kept us in suspense}! little did we know we did the right thing!
[coffee, quiche, fruit, and juice]
we started out the morning with hc’s homemade quiche! so delish! i’m so spoiled by him! it was a very relaxing morning. we agreed to have a totally lazy day!
hc did all the leg work. he brought up all the holiday decor from the storage room and we were ready to go right after brunch {actually right after our very long nap!} ha! i was tired! yes, even though i just woke up, i was still tired so a nap was in order…it was super comfy sleeping in the nook of hc’s arm.
so, finally, we got up and started on the decorating! we blasted the christmas music to get ourselves into the festive mood!
[a holiday must!]
[unwrapping all the fun ornaments]
[hc doing his best fluffing the garland…he wouldn’t let the preggo wifey do it]
[ornaments housed in bird cake stands]
[i love festive pillows! it just adds a holiday pop to the room]
[bar wear :)]
[ooohhhh, pretty]
[my hand made card holder from last year!]
[my hand made snow globes, holly, and silver mercury votive holders]
[ho ho ho, welcome in!]
[i love fresh pine!]
[tree topping! uh, this year, i was in no condition to be carried or picked up by hc to put the star on the tree!]
[oh, christmas tree! how pretty!!!!]
[the delicious meal hc whipped up after a hard day of decorating! love him!]
i love decorating for the holidays! it’s been a joy of mine since i was a child. decking the halls so gets me in the festive mood! it’s so pretty, fun, and brings back so many fond memories of holidays past.
i still have a bit of final touches to do but overall, i’m feeling the holiday spirit!
we were committed to go out for johann’s birthday on a saturday night but being 39 weeks pregnant and working 5 days straight, i was beat. seriously dunzo. my feet ached so bad and i was having major cramps, amongst other ailments. so, unlike me {i am not known to cancel plans}, we cancelled out on his birthday party 🙁
i was super bummed and really wanted to get together with them to celebrate his birthday {i might have missed out on saturday night but i was going to celebrate his birthday gosh darn it!}. so we were able to work it out and get together on a tuesday night, after the weekend! yay!
we decided on folklore {a yummy argentinian restaurant right by us}. it’s so good! they kindly picked us up from our abode {although i was ready to walk to the place, it’s only a few blocks from us} and dropped my preggo butt off at the restaurant {muchas gracias}.
during dinner, we exchanged gifts. i had johann’s birthday gift but they had gotten little baby olive a gift too! so thoughtful! it was so sweet of them and very kind!
[dinner by candlelight]
[love this restaurant!]
[the adorable couple]
[the hubs and me]
[opening his birthday gift]
[loving his gift!]
[so…we didn’t expect a gift in exchange!]
[love the pretty card]
[jonathan adler nightlight // how sweet and thoughtful!!! so perfect for the baby’s room!!!]
[happy birthday johann!!]
we absolutely love the jonathan adler night light {huge fan of his products}!!! it’s perfectly matched with the decor and definitely useful! i love things that are pretty and functional! thank you matt and johann.
after imbibing and noshing on some delicious eats {along with non-stop fun convos – i love matt’s interpretations of everything…especially his most recent trip to taiwan}, we were done and merrily we went home!
huy came home! yes, he came home for about a week. it was great seeing him and tashina! we were able to spend their first day in town at my p’s house. my mom gets so excited to cook for everyone! we all hung out for a bit around the house and then sat down for a delicious dinner with the famille! i love, love my mom’s cooking!
how hilarious is this?! r donned a rick ross shirt huy brought over from l.a. his friends design these tees through their company called pizzaslime. i love the tats and bling on little r.
capturing r through a red glass bead…so artsy, huh? this is what happens when you are just sitting around entertaining yourself. i, unfortunately, erased the awesome footage of r singing and dancing for us {whoops..} but he is such a ham!
playing around with the big belly bump. trying to get creative with this big bump of mine…why not make silly faces on it?
[goofing around]
[tashina and huy]
we were able to spend sunday night celebrating dan’s birthday as well! we all met up at baisi thai in oakbrook. hc and i ran into a store to quickly buy something before dinner, thinking we might be a few minutes late. of course, we were the first ones there! do we ever learn that when it’s a doan outing, we should never be on time?
on tashina and huy’s last night in town, we gathered together at my parent’s house for a final dinner {butter and garlic shrimp with a ramen vegetable stir fry} and a lazy night in just to chill and hang before they take off back to l.a.
overall, it was great seeing them. such a good time. too far in-between on visits! well, next time…christmas! cheers to family time!
