delicio-so!

Posted on June 30, 2013 by tandem in love

a sunny sunday afternoon called for a fun, shiny outing!

i met the fam and friends for brunch at hub 51. delicio-so! i came in and saw that the fam was already seated {so excited for our day}. we were waiting for miss thuy to arrive, when she finally showed up…let the manger begin! it was early enough where it wasn’t super crowded, so getting into line wasn’t a hassle {i no likee when you have to wait in super long lines at brunch buffets!}.

i filled my plate full of copious amounts of yummy goodness. pancakes {butter & whipped cream, mind you}, honey bacon, sausage, potatoes, fruits, oh my! i’m infamous for going to a buffet and eating just a plate full {not quite the bargain eater!}. besides, being preggers, i get full quite quickly {only to hear it gets worse in the 3rd tri…um, ugh!}.

after brunch, we headed down to the lake to hang out at millennium park. the boys were loving the water! b has finally gotten over his antipathy of public watering holes! they giggled, they ran {um, big no no but they wouldn’t stop!}, they splashed, and had a grand ole time! after spending some time there, we traipsed around lurie garden, got some lemonade, and merrily went on our way home.

[mommy and daugher]

[enjoying his desserts]

[the infinite plate of sweetness]

[happy father’s day!]

[sistas! enjoying my iced decaf americano in this hot weather!]

[what a cute little man]

[the boys having a blast]

[such hams!]

quite a great sunny, summery day it was.

dearest dana

Posted on June 29, 2013 by tandem in love

happy beurffday dearest dana!!!!

[she had to debut the fry in the picture]

on a warm saturday night, dana’s friends all came together to celebrate a big milestone for miss d! we hit up the classic fizz bar {her fave place to celebrate!}, dominated the outside garden area, and giggled our way through convos!

i was so excited to see irina and patrick! they came out for dana’s party and i was so delighted to be able to catch up with them! she was so thrilled to see that i am pregnant! we always talked about getting pregnant together, so it was my turn to tease her about it!

after drinks {yum-o lemonade for moi} and a sizable load of fries delivered to my table, the sky opened up and poured on our parade {uck}! zooomm! everyone ran for the door to get inside the bar!

once inside, i was able to visit a bit with jacob. love him! he surprised dana {he lives in michigan} by showing up unannounced! what a lovely birthday present!

i had such a great time conversing with everyone. i actually made it past my bedtime just for dana! the group was ready to hit another bar, when this old lady decided it was time to go home and hit the bed!

happy day dear friend! love you!

rainbow

Posted on June 27, 2013 by tandem in love

somewhere over the rainbow…

what a pretty surprise! as i was driving home, i was caught in the middle of a major downpour! it was so heavy, you could barely see out your window {those black windshield wipers just looked like squiggly lines on my window as my car was engulfed in water}! after a few minutes of heavy rain, it started to stop. within a minute, a beautiful rainbow appeared {yippee}!!! it lasted quite a long time and it just made me smile! i rarely see rainbows and i was so delighted with this one!

i was searching for my pot o’ gold but all i got was faster moving traffic…you just gotta find the luck somewhere!!!

xoxo

go hawks!

Posted on June 24, 2013 by tandem in love

congratulations blackhawks!!!

immediately after their win, i hear nothing but fireworks, honking, and screaming on these chicago streets {the energy is palpable}! what a feeling! i love this city! so amazing! go hawks! what an intense game leading into an incredible, prodigious win!

cool exhibits

Posted on June 17, 2013 by tandem in love

it was a long, good weekend indeed. lovely weather, lots o fun activities, and plenty of relaxing! woo!

we spent our fabulous sunday, first, by going to mass at st. clement, then had a sunny al fresco breakfast at frances [first time ever for me, eating sausage corn dogs for breakfast!], and fun trip to the science and industry museum. we love going there because it’s so interactive {what grace likes} and educational {what we like}!

it was fun exploring all the cool exhibits. it had a u-505 submarine exhibit, an awesome blip in history during world war II. it had realistic reenactments to show us how it all went down and how they overcame the enemy sub!

rich absolutely loved the art of the bicycle exhibit! grace and i left him there to explore the other parts of the museum. oy! he took forever! he spent at least five minutes on each bike (we had to ditch him 😉 ! the coolest part of that exhibit was the bicycle that was made out of cardboard and it sells for only $20!!!! we want one!

we wrapped up at you! the experience, a great dive into the human body, mind, and spirit. grace couldn’t wait to show me a 3d display of how big the baby looked at my current state!

[gracie + me going through a circus exhibit]

[cool little models on display]

[he’s so interested, non?!]

[can you spot grace?]

[stick your head far enough in the hole and you get to see a surprise]

[u-505 exhibit]

[make a shadow, hold still, and the butterflies will land on you!]

[grace at science storms]

[daddy daughter at the art of bicycles]

[more bicycles]

[a tandem made for us!]

[grace testing her power at you! the experience]

we explored so many more exhibits than that during our trip there! afterwards, we hit the museum shop, grace had to get freeze dried ice cream! it was, practically, her sole purpose of this trip! we were finally on our way home after a fun but exhausting day to relax some more! woo hoo!

xoxo

happy father’s day

Posted on June 16, 2013 by tandem in love

happy father’s day to the best dad ever!

i love my dad to bits and i think he’s the most amazing father ever. his love, care, and guidance were uniquely his own. growing up, you appreciate the craziness and kookiness your parents can offer. i don’t think any child realizes that until they are an adult!

my dad, growing up, was warm and loving. there were days i just loved to curl up on his lap, especially when he came home from work. it was my favorite time. he would put his wallet away, change his clothes, make his coffee, sit on the floor, and i would curl up on his lap. we’d talk about our day or just sit and relax. he always smelled a little of metal, smoke, and coffee…and that was actually really comforting to me {strange but true}!

cheers to my dad, to his always unconditional love and support!

xoxo

dunkin’

Posted on June 13, 2013 by tandem in love

thursday was grace’s last day of school! we headed up north to go pick her up and have her for a long weekend.

as we were on our way to leave, i was totally craving a cronut. so much so, i told hubby charming that we needed to go to nyc to get one! um, he said no. boo.

so, i suggested the doughnut vault…we were stressed for time, so i was told no again [insert sad face}. well, the closest doughnut establishment to us and en route was dunkin’ donuts…hey, it’s better than nothing! especially for this pregger lady who wanted to eat doughnuts! so it is. my first doughnut craving. i was a happy gal.

[nellie not so happy she had to take the back seat while we eat donuts]

[yum!]

[i plowed through them and so did hc]

[haha, trying to be a safe driver and pose for me!]

although i’m still on a mission to get my cronuts {trust me, i’ve already checked if they will next day ship…negative}!!!! hehehe. cronut new york, here i come!

xoxo

sprinkles

Posted on June 9, 2013 by tandem in love

it was a lazy day for me + hc. we decided to go shopping downtown just to get out for the day. the weather was nice and the temperature was perfect! we shopped at some favorites…it was more of a shopping spree for hubby charming {someone went clothes horse cray!}.

after some hefty shopping, we were ready to head home when we realized that kim + terry were in town. they were heading to lincoln park to hit up the anthropologie for some goodies and then possibly to piece for dinner. we were in debate on meeting up with them because we had just eaten {blame my pregnancy on the weird eating schedule}.

well, a wrong turn home propelled our fate towards lincoln park! so on our way we were to surprise them! we almost beat them there {traffic was very bad for them}. kim needed to find teachers gifts, so while the boys got comfy on the couch, we perused the store to find something cute! mission finally accomplished {interjected with some french dr. suess readings to the nephews by moi} and we debated on whether or not we were going to go to dinner. by that time, we were ready to eat again.

so off we went to piece! we rushed there in fear that there would be a really long wait {it can spike up to a two and half hour wait on friday/saturday nights!!}. we were seated right away {score!} and got down to some grubbing. the boys were fascinated by the sopranos pinball machine {we love anything that can keep them preoccupied}! they loved the ballerinas on the poles *wink* *wink*!!!!!

i surprised them with some sprinkles cupcakes! yum! red velvet for r and vanilla for b. after filling our bellies up with some delicious pizza {a red and a white sauce magical combination each}, we headed back to our place for some extra chilling.

[our pitstop before dinner]

[anyone want some pizza??]

[one frosting bite at a time]

[rooting for the hawks!]

[chillin’ on north ave]

we watched some kiddie movies, played with grace’s horses, and ate some ice pops. it was getting late and they commenced their journey home. it truly turned out to be an extra lovely day! spending the time with hc and getting to spend the evening with my family! double yay!

xoxo

spending time together

Posted on May 28, 2013 by tandem in love

hubby charming is home! hubby charming is home!

yaaaayyyyyy!

we also get a pet for a week! ms. nellie. how cute is she?! i’m excited for some quality time with hc. having some delicious meals together. going on lovely walks together in this warm weather. chilling. snuggling. doing nothing. spending time together. period.

hc is loving our new waffle maker {thanks dave + carrie!}. waffles, hashbrowns, grilled cheese sammies, oh my! we are loving this new device!

[adorbs]

[snuggle]

[freshly brewed decaf o deliciousness]

[before the whipped cream]

xoxo

the boys

Posted on May 27, 2013 by tandem in love

as i was leaving for work, i saw a text from kim that they were at cpk! i text her back and they had just gotten there, so i ran up to meet them! we sat down for dinner {kung pao for me!!} and drinks; we caught up on the latest while the kids entertained themselves relentlessly.

after dinner, as lovely as the evening was, we strolled the mall to enjoy the warm weather.

we decided to go visit thuy at madewell. we walked all the way there, r then says to us…’thuy works really far!”, which wasn’t really far but i guess far in kid time!

we stopped by to say hello. the boys really entertained themselves there! after our visit, we shopped around the mall {keeping an eye out for some cute dresses for me!}. after making a complete circle, we parted ways. i said goodbye to the cuties and headed back home to chitown. it was a perfect nightcap to the evening, being able to spend time with kim and the boys!

xoxo

tandem in love

{life is truly beautiful and it should be celebrated + shared.}

Category Archives: c’est la vie

delicio-so!

dearest dana

rainbow

go hawks!

cool exhibits

happy father’s day

dunkin’

sprinkles

spending time together

the boys