i was so excited to meet baby asher! my friend jodi was pregnant with her second child and had a scheduled c-section {prentice // northwestern // chicago}. so, i knew she was going to have her wonderful little baby on a weekend where i could see her! easy peasy!
we had a jammed packed day, the day i decided i would visit her and the new babes. we were already running around doing too much {what’s new?!} but i was determined to stop by. besides that, i had already told her i would. i am a women who stands by my words. it’s very rare i renege, very rare. sometimes it happens {it would have to be an extreme circumstance} and i will get very upset because i don’t like letting people down.
anyhoo, since we had olive and she couldn’t go upstairs to the room, hc just parked downstairs {olive was sleeping} and i ran upstairs to say hi. i vaguely remember where to go…i toured the place once when i was pregnant, i had visited jodi when she had jett, we attended a few prenatal classes there, and hell if i remember anything when i was in labor!
so, i checked in with the front desk and cruised on up…totes finding my way around. the memory is a powerful thing. i found her room and knocked on the door. her mom, ann {love this women}, opened up the door and i came inside. her mom was holding the precious asher. oh he was soooo tiny. you forget how tiny they are when they are born. although asher was two pounds heavier than jett!
i said hello to handsome jett, such a cutie! love that little face. i chitchatted with them for a bit and then matt arrived back, he had gone out to get food for them. it was so great to see all of them. i loved catching up and seeing the little baby. he is so precious and darling.
[adorable jett]
[little presh baby asher]
after a 15-20 minutes or so, i had to go since hc and olive were waiting downstairs. i am super excited that jodi will be off the next few months and now i can see her without going through the hassle of questions: when do you work or are you free, etc? woot woot!
oh children are such a blessing. i can’t wait to see these beautiful faces again soon!
matt’s mom, sheri, was in town and really wanted to see baby olive. of course we had to oblige! we always seize an opportunity to see matt and johann and bonus points that his mom is visiting!
it was a busy day ahead of us. we or rather, i tend to squeeze too much out of a day sometimes. i overbook or think we are super humans where we can be or do multiple things in a small period of time…forgetting that we have a child. hahaha! no, not really but still dragging olive everywhere is sometimes a drag. not in a annoying bad way but when it comes to scheduled naps and time in a car, those things can get wonky when you are always on the go!
anyhoo, we arrived at matt and johann’s in no time flat. they live in north center of chicago. it’s such a cute little neighborhoody area. as we were ringing their doorbell, johann flies by in his car! we waited for him to park and come let us in. he had run out to grab some last minute ingredients for our late lunch.
once inside, olive started exploring and slowly become comfortable in the new environment. she was curious about peanut. she knew there was a dog around but she wasn’t sure where he was! little peanut was in another room because johann was nervous that she would jump all over olive and knock her around. so we had to wait until matt came home to see if peanut would be nice with olive.
[the table setting]
[my babe…she loved throwing the dog’s ball around]
[our engagement gift to matt and johann]
[my energetic toddler]
johann was a cooking fool. everything smelled delicious and we couldn’t wait to eat! matt was still at work and his mom was downtown exploring, so we waited for the two of them to get home and eat.
while we hung out, we were served wine, cheese, and crackers to munch on. olive loved the crackers…she kept calling them chips! haha! we conversed with johann and enjoyed our time with him while he prepped the food. i love johann {and matt, of course!}. he is such a great guy, a fantastic husband to matt, and so, so sweet. truly a wonderful person inside and out. we are so blessed to have this fabulous couple in our lives. ya know how they say you should always surround yourself with good people? well we lucked out with these guys.
[the hubs]
[grilled zucchini]
well sheri and matt finally arrived home and it was time to eat! matt and johann finalized a few items of our meal and it was lunch time! we sat down to a lovely table setting and passed the dishes around and noshed away. it was a delicious meal! johann did such a fab job on every dish. i was stuffed and happy!
after dinner, matt and johann suggested that we go get ice cream. hells yes! i love margie’s ice cream! we decided to drive over there instead of walk {we didn’t want to walk with olive because we didn’t bring the stroller and it was a looooooong walk for a 22 month old}. it was such a beautiful, beautiful evening.
[sheri, johann, matt, and moi]
[pot roast, risotto, and grilled zucchini]
[in awe over her sparkle ring]
[curious over peanut…she was so sweet to him and gently pet him]
[yum!]
[my baby girl…so sweet]
[ice cream galore!]
while at margie’s, we definitely ate waaaayyyyyyy toooooo much ice cream. like too much. i was so stuffed i felt sick. yes. i ate so much ice cream, toffee bits, chocolate, whipped cream, and such while we were there. it was shameful.
after hanging out for a bit at margie’s, we decided it was time to go. it was a wonderful afternoon with matt, johann, and sheri! we were so thankful for the hospitality and squeezing in a chance to see them! it was a fabulous afternoon hanging out with them!
we have known andy for a looooong time. he grew up right across the street from us. kind of like how carol and i grew up together, my brother dan and andy grew up together. so, when we received the invite to their wedding, i was beyond excited to go!
when hc and i tied the knot, we invited andy to our wedding, natch. we invited just andy. my brother, dan, asked me if andy could bring a date. mmmmm, ok i said. hey, it’s andy. what’s one more person added onto the guest list?? {anyone who has gotten married knows the wedding guest list nightmare situation} so, here is andy at our wedding reception and he introduces me to corinne, a girl he had just started dating.
fast forward four years and now they were getting hitched!!! how fabulous! the ceremony was at a local church by our house. it was beautiful and sweet. i always get teary eyed at weddings. i love them so much! i love that it’s about love, commitment, faith, and unity. just a few words to describe it! weddings always evoke such strong emotions within me.
[the cute saying and wedding programs]
[my brother dan, the best man]
[the poor, blurry pic of the bride]
[her wedding band]
[his wedding band]
[wedding program and cards]
after the ceremony, i rushed home to change my outfit, pick up the hubs, and take olive over to my parent’s house so they could watch her for the evening. we cruised on over to the reception banquet, it was quite close {a good thing because we were running late!}, and nabbed a great parking spot next to the building. as we were walking in, we ran into my sister thuy. we have a tendency to run into her at the same time whenever we are going to the same destination, although we are always traveling separately!
we walked in to the pretty welcome table. they had vintage glass window panes written with all the guests names and the table numbers. they also had frames where we signed our names and wished them something sweet. speaking of sweet, when we first entered the reception space, the ginormous dessert table caught my attention! yummmmmm!
we saw the bride and groom but of course they were flocked by a ton of guests {we decided we would track them down later}. as we stood there and chitchatted, my brother dan walked up and greeted us. we small talked about the wedding and finally decided to take a seat to get this party started!
[the sign in table]
[seating chart]
[the yummy dessert table]
[my awesome brother]
[siblings]
[sister love // we coordinate]
[the centerpieces made by the bride and groom]
as the wedding reception began rolling, the speeches started…i was anxiously waiting for my brother’s speech. one: he’s a super quiet guy two: you don’t envision him as a public speaker and three: he’s my brother and i only hoped he would do well in a situation like this because, he’s my brother! duh!
the father of the bride gave a wonderful, beautiful, heart warming speech. it was sweet, loving, and heartfelt. then the bridesmaid gave her speech…i thought, ok, my brother is being set up well. then came dan. i was stoked. he was relaxed, articulate, and damn funny! he hit the right notes and had the crowd going. it was perfectly timed, not too long and not too short. he ended it on a sweet, loving note toasting the love between the bride and groom. bam! he nailed it. i was so proud!!!! i screamed from across the room, “BEST SPEECH EVERRRRRRRR!”. oh yes. i got chuckles from the table around us. i definitely can be rowdy and redic at times. hahaha!
per usual, typical wedding shenanigans ensued. my sisters and i were goofing off, we raided the dessert table, we mingled with different folks, took more stupid pics of ourselves and ate and drank too much. isn’t that what weddings are about?!
[the dessert table was in demand! we hardly got any!]
[with the beautiful couple]
[goofing around]
so this part is where it gets wild. andy decided he was going to sing a song for his bride. he did a fabulous job! he nailed the song and was completely entertaining! it was pretty cool to watch. as he stripped down to his shirt and pants, he continued to sing to his wife. at the very end, he turned his back to her and he dropped to his knees and then fell onto his back. this is where his groomsmen grabbed his legs…slid him under her dress and he nabbed the garter belt! hahaha! it was the best garter belt grab i have ever seen!!! so flippin’ hilarious and oh so good!!! way to go andy!
[andy sung to his bride and then went in for the garter!]
[garter toss]
after dancing to a few songs, nabbing a pic with the bride and groom, and eating too much food, it was time for hc and me to head home and get our baby girl. we had soooo much fun at their wedding! andy and corinne, we wish for you and your marriage enduring love, respect, never ending faith, laughter, and happiness! thank you for letting us be a part of your special day! congratulations love birds!
we love our playdates with brady and now brooklyn! i was excited to meet up with kim, i love hanging out with her. she has become such a great friend over the years and i love that our kids are so close in age.
we gathered ourselves up and headed out to her house. it was a gorgeous day. the sun was shining and the temp was perfect. we arrived right on ‘time’ and we were ready to play!
olive walked in all cautious as usual. she was intrigued by the dog and the new environment. i was happy to see kim, got a hug from bradybear, and scanned the room for miss brooklyn…there she was, all snuggled in her bouncy. oh, she’s a chunker!!! the baby rolls were ah-maze and she’s growing up so fast! slow it down brooklyn, slow it down!
[what’s the matter brooklyn??]
[warming up to each other]
[hi baby brooklyn]
of course, it took olive and brady a bit to warm up to each other. olive immediately took to the toys…brady hovered around, curious and concerned. it’s so fantastic to see them interact or lack thereof. olive totally minds her own business, she is quite content playing by herself and brady looked like he wanted to interact but didn’t quite step over that boundary, just yet.
slowly but surely they started to play together but brady being a boy, he was just a wee bit rough with olive {oh he’s a boy!}. poor olive, every time brady pushed her around, she wasn’t quite sure what to do!
kim had cooked us a delicious casserole for lunch! how lovely. we decided to ‘eat’ lunch but that is always a circus in itself. olive didn’t want to sit and eat, brady sat down for two seconds, and kim and i barely touched our lunch and wolfed down bits and pieces of it throughout the hour{s}. hahaha! #momlife #momproblems
of course, kim and i just blabbed and blabbed and blabbed on and on. our relationship has always been like that, we are quite the chatty cathies when we are together. we droned on and on from subject to another. it’s like we never have enough time to talk or when we decide it’s time to leave, we will gabbed about stuff for another hour! while we were hanging out, her hubby mikey came home to say hello! love the guy…he’s a sweetheart and quite the funny guy. it was great to spend some time catching up with him too! after a bit, he had to go {back to work!}.
[she loved the big bear]
[this was pretty much brooklyn in and out]
[mikey made a cameo appearance]
[olive loved sitting in the bucket]
[me and my babe]
[hugs goodbye]
hours and hours went by and before i knew it, it was getting past her nap time and getting too close to traffic time! we said our goodbyes for like an hour {haha!} and finally parted ways. olive gave brady and kim hugs and kisses goodbyes and we headed home. olive was out within minutes in the car and i was content that we had such a great day with kim and the kids. love her and her family! we can’t wait to see them again!
i apparently forgot i had this post sitting in my files…oops! better late than never! sooo….
i had plans to go to the renegade craft fair in wicker park. we had lived right in the area for years and it was on division every year, so there was no question i needed to go. i love checking out all the small shops, listening to their stories, and seeing all their love go into the products that they make!
on the agenda was a quick visit to andrea’s place. she had a really tight schedule that day, so i decided to traipse on over to her place before i spent some time at the craft fair. she lives just right off division, a few footsteps away from the fair. i love walking. i do. i love walking e v e r y w h e r e. it’s the best thing. i love walking along the street, admiring all the shops, soaking in the rays, and people watching along the way. living in the city, it was my favorite thing to do. just walk. i didn’t need a purpose or a destination. i just needed to get out and soak in the craziness of the city.
[i love walking]
[loving the beautiful annabelle]
[precious babe]
[haha! annabelle’s expression is like “whaaaaaa?!”]
[i love this goofy pic of us because it looks like annabelle and i have the same surprised un-ready face going on. haha!]
after spending an hour or so at andrea’s and getting cheeky with her little babe annabelle, i headed back down the street to the fair! my number purpose was to find earth cadets and purchase some pillows. it was a bit overwhelming, because there were sooooooooo many vendors {hundreds!} and i was worried i would be looking for hours just to find her shop. lo and behold, it was literally the fifth shop i ran into! sweet! i looked around but i couldn’t find the pillows i wanted to buy. i asked a random women standing there and krissy {the shop owner} was actually ringing up a customer when she said, “did you contact me on instatgram?” why, yes, yes i did! we chitchatted a bit and talked about the product, what she did, where, how, etc. it was great getting to know her for a bit. she didn’t have the pillows on hand but she offered me a great deal and i was sold. i can’t wait to get the pillows onto our new chairs! yayyyyyyyy!
[random snap. i obviously had my camera on and i accidentally snapped this pic of me walking. i kind of like it.]
[earth cadet onesies]
[i could not take a pic of this adorable doggie! sooooo cute!]
[seriously the best craft fair around. the best.]
[i love our city]
[my old stomping ground and our favorite gelato place]
after i purchased the pillows, i walked around and soaked in all the greatness. so many cute shops from all over the country. i loved all the goodness, met so many great people, and found so many wonderful products. i looooooove renegade! it was such a great afternoon.
it was such a beautiful day. such a gorgeous, sunny, warm, perfect day in september. as the days become shorter and cooler, i revel in rare days like these when the temperature and weather is just right. plus, this was literally the last days of summer…’cause today is the first day of fall!
i met dana at our favorite place {southport grocery} and we brunched alfresco. the sun was so intense, i loved it. we caught up on life’s current happenings. there is always so much going on with dana {lately} due to the fact that she is getting married next year and there is always something super exciting happening.
i definitely remember that time in our lives when we were engaged. it was so much fun, exhilarating, and joyous. there were always such positive vibes coming our way. we loved the parties, the people, the attention, the love that went along with being engaged!
anyhoo, we enjoyed our meal and banter while we basked in the sun. after brunch, dana needed to complete a few errands and per usual, we did them together. we headed on over to papersource to peruse a few gift items and in typical fashion, i purchased waaaayyyyy too many cards. i absolutely love stocking up on cards. birthday cards, christmas cards, wedding cards, thank you cards…you name it, i stock it. if you ever need a card, just stop on by. haha!
[mmmmm, refreshing iced coffee]
[hi dana…you’re the best]
[my usual, the southern]
a last minute thought i had was to get our nails done! sweet! dana was game and so i made some last minute appointments at a nail salon i have been to. the nail bar that i frequented often was actually on southport. the lovely place was bought out to put in bigger retailers {boo!} and the techs relocated to different locations. i found out my tech had relocated to a shop just down the street, so that is now the nail place i go to but getting an appointment with her is always a tough task!
well, she was booked that day, so i had to, unfortunately, go with someone else and let me tell you! this nail tech was alright. she was a little rough and that was no bueno. in the end, my tootsies were done and i was a happy camper. dana and i managed to pick out the same nail color {without knowing}. if you know dana and i by now, we tend to show up in similar outfits, so picking out the same nail colors was a given! ha!
[give me some color]
[selfie at the nail salon]
[we chose pinks. my pedi and her mani and some bling]
after a relaxing time at the nail salon, we headed out to a bookstore where dana needed to do an errand. we perused the wonderful items on the shelves. my favorite section was the kid’s book area. i loved reading as a child and i hope the same for olive. kids books nowadays are so cute, cool, and chic. yes, they are! dana gifted olive with the cutest book ever too! i must say, this girl knows a good, perfect, hit the nail on the head kind of gift to give. she is always on point.
[boys town chicago]
after several wonderful hours together, we parted ways. dana walked home and i headed back to go see my beautiful babe. it was a lovely, serene, relaxing day together. a much needed time to spend with my dear friend.
i always enjoy my time with olivia. i must say that i am blessed in life to know such good people. but they always say, surround yourself with people who are positive, people who support you, people who love you. so, we did.
the day started out hot and humid. i honestly didn’t mind it, only because it had been so cool the days prior and i definitely don’t want summer weather to end just yet. i love the sun on my legs and being able to enjoy being outside and it’s not chilly or freezing {yet}. we have plenty of time for that kind of weather! so, welcome warm weather, welcome back after a week of hiatus!
i picked up miss olivia and she suggested going to tokio pub, a japanese restaurant. i was sold. i love japenese food! it was quiet and cool inside. there weren’t too many patrons and olive was being cute and shy. she had definitely reached an age where she gets super silly and wild. like any toddler. she’s become loud, crazy, and rambunctious. but in typical olive fashion, she becomes quiet and shy with anyone she’s not totally familiar with. so she was being a bit sheepish with miss olivia but took right away to the crayons and doodle sheet the server brought by!
[crayanles won’t roll off the table. hahaha]
[my sweetheart getting creative]
we perused the menu and both wanted some udon soup. yes, it’s blazing hot outside and we order a hot, big, hearty bowl of soup. hehehe. our food was served and it was delicious. olive enjoyed her chicken fingers and fries. i was quite surprised by this little cute. she didn’t really want any of her fries. whaaaaaa? was this my daughter?! she was so into eating the chicken fingers! that was totally fine by me!
olivia and i had a great time catching up. i love hanging out with her and she loves hanging out with olive! after a long lunch, it was time for her to get back and i was a bit sad. i’ve said it many times before but hours and hours can pass hanging out with her and feels like a blink of an eye!
[pretty cool decor]
it was fantastic hanging out with olivia on this beautiful summer day. happy friyay everyone! muwah!
on our third day in vegas, we started it out the right way again…c a b a n a time! woo! we started early {again} and this time around we ended our pool time a bit later than the day prior. our first day at the cabana, it actually rained. like hard. everyone was in awe because it never rains in vegas and if it does, it only lasts for a few minutes. but the rain that happened the day prior was fierce. it thundered, there was lightening, and it rained very heavily where they were posting flash flood warnings! thank goodness we had already clocked in some major pool time before it rained but it did cut it short by an hour or two.
our second day at the pool, it did rain again but it was very short lived and we were back out in the pool partying it up within no time! after spending 7-8 hours in the pool…yes you read that correctly…we spend that much time out in the sun drinking, eating, and ‘swimming’, we all went back to our rooms to get ready for the evening.
this time around, we were heading out to old vegas {aka fremont st.} for some sushi and amusement. we met up with matt and johann, grabbed a cab to our destination of choice and didn’t fear for our lives like we did the day before with our crazy reckless cabbie driver!
[strawberry lemon vodka lemonade!]
when we arrived, it was quickly apparent that old vegas was double the craziness of the strip. our eyes were getting whip lash from all the {discreet} gawking and weirdness swirling all around us. we slowly walked our way to the sushi restaurant and we were 100% entertained along the way. we finally made it to the restaurant {super cute and quaint place} and we were seated right away {we had reservations and we were early but it was not a problem…thank goodness because panda – aka johann – was hungry!}!
[old vegas & sushi]
[ready to manger manger!]
[fremont street has gotten crazier!]
[people peddling for money]
[bright lights, lots of people, and pure craziness]
[need i say more?]
[the man in the diaper scared the crap out of hc, rightfully so and said. hahaha]
after we ate, we walked along freemont street again. it was so overwhelming and honestly, quite sad. so many ‘street’ acts were going on, waaaaaayyyyy too many children up too late and viewing a lot of nuttiness, it all really made my heart heavy. it was gritty, real, and definitely a world i am not often exposed to {i really don’t view myself as a sheltered person either}. but it was heartbreaking to see so many people doing what ever they could to make a buck and it was just a wee bit disturbing to me. after we spent some time in old vegas, we headed back to our hotel area and got ourselves some gelato and called it a night!
***
the next day, we were meeting liz, josh, and family at mon ami on the strip for brunch. before we met up, we stopped at giada for a drink! it was delicious. i had a prosecco sangria that was super yummy! we enjoyed the ambiance, decor, and the movie they were playing on the telly! i was totally sucked in…it was subtitled and fabulous. the movie was called nights of cabiria and i was in love.
after a few drinks at the bar, we headed out to mon ami for brunch and we were all on time! woo hoo! we were seated on the patio and got down to business with our order. i claimed the diy bloody mary bar, matt ordered a ginormous st. germain drink, and we ordered a bunch of apps to start with. it was fun and yummy. we had a great time with everyone as usual. you can’t beat eating, drinking, and amusing conversations.
[cheers! prosecco sangria…yum!]
[matt’s tall drink of choice]
[little brienne]
[their lovely alfresco dining area]
[lovely liz and her beautiful babe]
[delicious scallops]
[love these two]
after brunch, we all trekked back to liz and josh’s cars to head on out. one car went back to their house and the other car {us} went to a mall so josh could pick up stella’s birthday gift. while josh did that, we stopped by the yard house for {you guessed it!} another drink. heyyyyy, it’s vegas!
[the yard house]
[s’mores…you just can’t go wrong]
[liz and josh’s pool]
[stella, liz, josh, hc, matt, johann, and cheri]
we all then headed back to liz and josh’s house and ended up staying there the entire afternoon and evening until it was time for us to leave. liz cooked us dinner {tacos}, the boys hit the pool and drank whiskey, i hung out with the ladies, and in the end, we were all outside by the pool enjoying the warm evening.
it was another fabulous trip to vegas. hc and i had the best time hanging out with matt & johann. we love vacationing with them! we also loved that my brother and tashina were able to join us and we always love seeing liz and josh {notice the love theme here?!}. every single one of them are great people and we are so lucky to have them in our lives. we are so blessed!
so, i couldn’t squeeze our vegas trip onto one post. it would have been waaaayyyyy too long! i think a two part story is just perfect. i must also say that i have been so behind on my posts. always too much to do with very little time!
we were so excited about our trip. we were looking forward to getting away and relaxing for a few days. it had been a bit since hc and i have had some time to ourselves {besides the random date nights – in which we need to get better at that too!}.
i’ll leave out the details but our flight there had a {not so great} layover so we spent our time at the bar {who doesn’t?!}, had a few cocktails and eats before we boarded our plane destined for sin city! during this time, i learned, from hc, how to properly order a ‘philly cheese’ steak sandwich and also they don’t call ’em philly cheese steaks either! you learn something new each day!
[just me and my louis]
[our view for a few hours]
[wiz with]
[cheers to layovers!]
[here we go!]
once we arrived in vegas, it was a series of events that started our fabulous get away off on the wrong foot! first, our or i should say my luggage took forever to show up! after waiting quite a bit to retrieve it, we finally got a cab to the hotel. our check in was smooth but once we walked into our hotel room, it totally stunk like smoke! ugh. just awful! hc called downstairs to complain but he didn’t get any real answers and no real solve for the problem.
they sent a gentleman up from housekeeping and all he did was empty out an aerosol can of scented spray into our room which made it worse {i couldn’t even breathe}!!! argh, i was fed up! that was it…i walked downstairs and inquired about why we couldn’t switch our room! after a long exchange of words, we didn’t get our room exchange {due to the nature of the rental} but we did get a credit!
hc and i finally settled in after a very long day and woke up to a beautiful, sunny, warm fabulous day! we had rented a cabana {something we do every time!} and we were ready to soak in the very bright sun and consume many delicious libations!
hc secured the cabana and johann was already down there by the time i had gotten ready and joined them. as i was relaxing, johann and hc went upstairs to get matt to join us and the party ensued! after a few hours, huy and tashina finally joined us! the last several years we have visited vegas, huy has been able to join us…we are lucky he’s so close! just a few hours of driving from l.a. and bam! you’re in vegas!
[my bro and his fiancé, tashina]
[delicious lobster eggs benedict]
[we loooooove our cabana time!]
[goofing around…poor matt got splashed by huy]
after hanging out at the pool all day, some dark clouds rolled in and we decided to call it quits at the pool. we traipsed our way back to our hotel room and got ready to head out for the evening. we cruised around the hotels to get to caesar’s forum shops {my favorite place to shop while in vegas} to pick up a few things for matt.
our final destination that evening was at the pamplemousse restaurant right off the strip. it’s a quirky, mysterious, dated french eatery that matt’s sister, liz, recommended. our cab ride there was the most obscene ride i have ever taken! like ever! we clung on for our dear lives! the cab driver sped down the boulevard as if he was in the indy 500 and blew e v e r y red light he hit. i don’t mean a light that had just turned yellow to red but a full blown red light! i think he went through four in a row and then as we neared the restaurant, he realized it was on the left side and proceeded to stop in the middle of the three lane street {mind you, without a signal on to notify the other drivers we needed to turn} as cars flew by us! oh em gee. we, obvs, made it there unscathed by the care of God.
[hanging at the grand gardens in bellagio]
[love these two]
[we looove starbucks! a chic looking starbucks in caesar’s forum]
pamplemousse was vintage, chic, and it felt like we were straight out of a movie. keifer, our server was a riot. pure delight. he totally made our evening, our meal. his personality was quirky and amusing. he told us the history of the restaurant, we played vegas trivia with him, and he was absolutely sweet and kind. we ordered the five course meal and every morsel was delicious. keifer insisted that we ordered the belgium chocolat mousse…he said it is made in true french style! oh, it was absolutely fabulous. perfect and sweet.
[getting ready to dine at pamplemousse]
[cutest couples ever]
[best crudites presentation]
[palette cleanser // sorbet with champagne]
[dining with the best: hc, liz, and josh]
[seriously. to die for decor in this place. vintage, funky, quirky, so vegas]
[pure french chocolate mousse // divine]
we loved, loved our experience at pamplemousse. it was entertaining, fun, delicious, and grande. we had the best time hanging out with the group and laughing with our fun server, keifer. i love exploring and reveling in such fun vegas finds!
oh, sweet baby. yes, she was adorable, darling, and oh so tiny!!
beautiful brooklyn is an absolute doll. we were so elated to have finally met her. we arrived at their house, walked in, and we were greeted right away by bruster, kim, and brady. after hugs and hello, i immediately asked where the little babes was. kim directed me to the bouncy in the living room and i was in love. she was so tiny, fragile, and sweet.
i was a little nervous about holding her only because within the last six months, olive has been so crazy upset with me holding any of my friend’s baby! so, there i was, ready to hold the precious little bundle and side eyeing olive at the same time. i picked up little brooklyn in my arms and olive didn’t blink an eye. she continued on, i think she was more excited at all the toys in their house! sweet! i could finally hold a baby! hallelujah!
[she walked in like she owned the place]
[sweet little brooklyn]
[holding little brooklyn]
kim and i caught up on life’s latest happenings. i love hanging out with this gal. from the moment we met, we have always had something to gab about. seriously. we can talk and talk and talk. it must be my friend qualification, a prerequisite. hahaha! if you can blab from one subject to the next, you are destined to be my friend!
around noon, we prepared the kids lunch and ordered ours. olive and brady ate together and then kim and i had our lunch. i must say, these kids were cracking me up. it is so amusing to watch them together. brady and his wild ways and olive and her stoic actions. after an hour or so, they finally were meshing together! that is when all the cuteness ensued! it was so fun to see them in action and how they vibe off of one another. olive became more animated and loud and brady become a little bit more subdued and more open to olive. kim and i had the best time watching them interact.
after several hours of hanging out {we only parted ways because it was nap time for both our kids}, we packed ourselves up to go. i was sad to leave. we greatly enjoyed our time with them and their newest addition, beautiful brooklyn.
[beautiful mama and babe]
[such a silly girl! she loved the tent!]
[such a cute pic of them!]
[me, brooklyn, and kim]
[this was tooooooo cute. hugging and kissing each other goodbye]
we had the best time visiting the new family of four! congrats kim, mikey, and brady! brooklyn is so perfect and precious.
