a little blip

Posted on April 27, 2015 by tandem in love

i was excited to meet up with olivia for lunch because it was her birthday week! i was glad we were able to get together and do a little celebrating with just us gals.

of course, i met up with her during the week…it’s the only way, lately, for us to get together. i was waiting for her to get back to me on a time and we didn’t settle on one until late morning, which caused me to run a bit behind. i needed to pack up olive’s things, get her changed and ready, get myself ready, drop her off at my parent’s house and get myself on the road {with all the interruptions i have along the way with miss olive’s shenanigans!}.

i arrived much later than what i wanted to {olivia had a meeting planned at 1:30pm, so we only had a little over an hour to gab} but nevertheless, we were able to get in some good ol’ catching up! we talked about her birthday plans, we talked about our little ones {well, olivia’s darling niece fiona is a month older than olive}, and we talked about how life was treating us.

[the card was all colorful balloons, a perfect match!]

we really want to get together soon with our boys and just hang out. of course, aaron and rich have a lot in common and totally have a bromance going on {they loooove geeking out over cars and such} and us gals just want to chitchat…it’s what we do best! haha! we just love our girl time!

after eating our delicious salads, i had olivia open up her gift! i loved her little bag and card i gave her. i’m so bad when it comes to parting with the cards and packaging that i buy. i always have such a hard time letting go. i love all the cards, bags, tissue paper, wrapping paper, etc. that i buy that i actually dislike giving it away! i know, crazy right? but i’m sure there are folks out there that can relate! it’s so pretty and most of the time one of a kind, that my heart gets a little sad giving it away, especially my cards. i’m obsessed with buying cards. i love christimas cards, thank you cards, baby cards, birthday cards, wedding cards, any kind of cards and my most favorite kind are letterpress cards.

[i rarely eat salads but nordstrom has some pretty darn good ones]

[opening up her gift]

[i love packaging & finding coordinating cards]

anyhoo, there’s my tangent for the day! i love cards & pretty packaging! well, after lunch, i dropped off miss olivia and headed back home to see my baby girl! i always miss her so!

xoxo

we didn’t go to southport grocery

Posted on April 21, 2015 by tandem in love

i love meeting up with my bestie dana. our dates are always a blast. whether we just meet for brunch or hang out all day together, it’s always so nice to spend some qt with my girl!

we decided to not go to southport grocery. *gasp*! yes, it’s true. but no worries, my lovies, no worries. we will be back next time, i’m sure of it! we went to our other favorite spot, m henry’s! yum, yum, yum. i only order one thing from there and it’s their blackberry bliss cakes. it’s soooooooo good. nom.nom. of course, i get a side of bacon and a mix of orange and grapefruit juice to top it off.

when we were seated, olive was totally fixated on dana. just a dead stare. we sat down and the little babes couldn’t take her eyes off of dana. it was hilarious. the wonderful server {who immediately placed a water cup & fruit down for her} brought berries out for her and she really wanted to eat them. she slowly picked up a strawberry without flinching and slowly put it in her mouth without taking her eyes off of dana! hahahaha! it was tooooo cute!

[this cracks me up…olive couldn’t stop staring at dana but she really wanted to eat her fruit]

[still staring at dana, eating her strawberry]

[mid-action eating shot of the babe]

[americano]

[olive and i matching in our printed leggings]

after brunch, dana needed to do some errands. of course, we are always happy to tag along. plus, it was such a beautiful day {well, it turned out to be a beautiful day}. dana needed to pick up some essentials for the abode, so went traipsed through a few different stores to find the perfect items for her.

we always have the best time just hanging out, no matter what we are doing. it’s so relaxing and chill. after we found the necessary items for her home, we called it quits. it was quite the lovely morning and afternoon together. olive had a great time with dana {vice versa} and i had a wonderful time with the both of them…two favorite peeps of mine!

[printed leggings and grey cardigans]

[smiles]

[i love this picture of olive and dana just walking side by side, chillaxin’]

[running around target, like a boss]

we then headed on home so miss olive could take her second nap of the day. natch. happy day everyone!

xoxo

yappy yap

Posted on April 8, 2015 by tandem in love

as i have said in previous posts, when matt, ande, and i get together – it’s a complete gab fest! yappity yap. we love getting together to catch up, especially on beautiful sunny days, like this one!

we finally, finally coordinated a date to get together for lunch. we decided to meet up at ande’s work place because it was the easiest and most convenient for all. matt and johann live up north, so it wasn’t too much of a haul for him and i’m always game for something in the city.

it was a gorgeous day. the sun was shining and the temperature was puuurrrrrfect. as usual, i was running so behind…olive napped a little bit longer and later than expected, so we were rushing around, trying to get out of the house and hoping we weren’t going to be too late!

we got there in a jiffy and strolled our way to the store {i will probably geek out about the weather several times throughout this post, so hold onto your britches}. matt was already there inside with ande. since ande was working, she decided that we go somewhere close and blue door it was!

[blue door farm stand]

[waiting to order our food]

we had just missed the crazy lunch hour, which was good because it can get a bit crazy inside, especially when it’s first come, first serve seating. it’s no bueno when you have a stroller and a {sometimes} fussy babe.

we ordered our food and found a cozy nook to chill in. once we sat down, the gabfest started. of course, matt had the most to say! i mean, we all talk but matt definitely does take the cake on that one! we caught up on life’s latest happenings and olive entertained them both. ande is so stinkin’ cute with miss olive. she is too adorable…she dotes on her, she admires her, and she was so cute wanting to push olive in the stroller to and from the restaurant. i loved it.

[hanging out]

[sipping her juice & those cheeks!]

[those pouty lips]

[the beautiful ande]

[after the lunch rush…phew. cuz it ain’t pretty in here when it’s busy]

[twinning it up]

[grilled cheese with kale chips]

after the restaurant, we knew ande had to get back to work, so we joined her! it was so gorgeous out, we had to hang out a little bit longer. we love visiting her there and catching up with her associates as well. ande insisted on holding olive, we both were hoping it would happen since miss olive is not good with strangers! lo and behold, baby olive let her {i mean, ande had only been doting on her for over an hour now…you would think she had warmed up to the nice lady!}! it definitely was a kodak moment. i snapped a pic as quickly as i could!

i asked matt to join in on the pic and that is when olive got uncomfortable! oops. snap.snap.snap. i went with a few pics. hehe.

[she let ande hold her!]

[then she freaked out when matt got too close]

[loving the motorcycle]

[i love these three]

after harassing her and her employees for quite sometime, matt and i decided to part ways. he had to get home to his hubs and i had to get home to my hubs. it was such a fantastic day – great, great weather and even more fabulous friends. of course, we can’t wait to do this again. until next time lovies! muwah!

xoxo

i figured it out

Posted on March 25, 2015 by tandem in love

ever since olivia has moved back home from florida {almost a year ago}…our schedules are so off that we never really get to see each other. i totally miss our hang time. we used to get together for lunches/dinners/whatevs all the time. practically living side by side in chicago, it was soooo easy to meet up. we love our gab sessions. we are two gals who can talk and talk and talk. sometimes we get kicked out of restaurants, well not really but we do shut some places down sometimes. hmmmm, that seems to be the case with a lot of my friends {matt? ande?}. we can sit there and gab and gab; we can then slowly feel the stares of the restaurant workers on our backs…usually a hint to us that it is time to leave and gab somewhere else.

anyhoozle, i was sitting around {or not} and thinking about how i have missed my girl time with this lovely lady. as she was moving back into chicago, my family was moving just outside of it. so, that convenience was eliminated. her job became a monday through friday thing, so our schedules never coordinated. i then realized that her job wasn’t too far from where we live and i was sure she had a decent lunch break time everyday, so i texted her to figure it out. voila! we can get back to our regularly scheduled program. yeeeaahhhh boy!

i picked liv up at her work spot and we decided to go to a place called roti. now please understand that where she works is smack dab in the middle of suburbia land and the restaurants all around are just chain restaurants. what you say? what is wrong with chain restaurants? well, one…i’m not a fan. yes call me a snob. go ahead. i’ll call myself one. i’d rather drive into the city and eat out there then eat out in the ‘burbs. it’s just not my thing. um, that is one reason why i pitched a fit at the idea of moving out to the ‘burbs. don’t get me wrong…there are plenty of independent, fabulous restaurants in the ‘burbs that i will go to. fer shizzle. but that doesn’t hold a candle to the city {duh}. soooooo, {sorry for the tangent}, long story – that is why and that is probably going to be the case, on why we will probably always eat at some typical chain restaurant when we meet up for lunch go forward.

so, here we are: enjoying a good meal at this mediterranean spot. i actually left little miss olive behind because it’s been awhile since olivia and i have had some one on one girl time without the babes. it was pretty awesome to be able to complete my sentences and finish my stories without distractions! although she was greatly missed, olivia is soooo good with olive and of course she adores her!

[dearest olivia]

[the delicious eats]

[my girl]

after an hour of gabbing {which was waaaayyy too short}, i dropped miss olivia back at her office {we also did our typical – sit in the car for another 10 mins /sometimes it’s been an hour/ and gab thingy}. it was fantastic to have met up and catch up. i love this girl. i can’t wait for more lunch dates with her and olive!

xoxo

me + my mini

Posted on March 18, 2015 by tandem in love

heyyyyy there, lovies. the weather has been faaaaaantastic around here as of late. we are getting quite excited about it! it was so unexpected. we were having such cold, cold temps around here and then all of a sudden *boom* it became warm! and when i say warm, that translates into 60 degree temps! wooo hooo! it’s a flippin’ heat wave!

so, olive and i had a day together where we didn’t have to do anything. we didn’t have to meet up with anyone. we didn’t have to be anywhere. we had the day to ourselves and it was wonderful. we relaxed in the morning. did our usual routine and then that afternoon, we decided that we were going to go the mall and hang out. hey, being a mall rat isn’t a bad thing! we looooove shopping!

our first stop was at victoria’s secret to say hi to some lovies. olive was not a happy camper. she has been afraid of strangers since she came out of the womb. so, naturally, if any of the employees got too close to her…she freaked out! poor thing. i wish she was more open to people she didn’t know, well at least to the people she didn’t know that i know, haha! i guess that is a good thing. she should be afraid of strangers! stranger = danger!

[visiting our friends at the mall]

[the look of fear – this is basically how she looked anywhere we went in the store]

[olive couldn’t get away fast enough]

after we said hello at the victoria’s secret store, we happily went to say hi to the land of nod workers. now, i had registered at this store for olive’s baby shower, so not only did i frequent their store for any events that they host, i shopped here non-stop while i was pregnant {and still do!}. plus, it’s a perfect place to take your kid because it’s magical toy wonderland. olive had a blast. she was in kiddie heaven. she didn’t know where to start. she roamed around, looking at al the fun stuff she could play with. it was too, too cute!

i think her favorite toys were the food/tea set and table. she pretended to eat the fake food and drink from the cups. i was fascinated. i loved watching her play. she is so sweet and lovely, it’s just pure entertainment for me. we spent quite awhile in the store. olive was having too much fun and i didn’t want to interrupt her glorious playtime!

[she had the best time at the land of nod]

[tea time]

[who needs a cup when you can drink from the pot?]

[she loved playing with the kitchen sets]

[tea time with her imaginary friends…she would pick up the chicken leg and pretend to eat it]

[she would pick up the duck and call it a doggie]

after the land of nod, we trekked out way towards the other end of the mall. i stopped by the gap to visit my dear friend, matt. love him! he’s one of my besties and such a great, great guy. olive only gave him a questionable look, but i think she was preoccupied by her snacks to worry too much. we stayed and chitchatted for a bit with matt before we took off to nordstroms.

we went to visit our favorite kid shoe salesperson at nordy’s, dee! she’s such a sweetheart and is so great with olive! we love getting a balloon from the store every time we visit. only just a few months ago did olive become very fascinated by balloons. they were just odd looking items to her before; then one day, she was mesmerized by them. she loves balloons. she loves to bounce them around. she loves to drag them around with her and it amazes her that they float!

[visiting matt]

well, there ya go lovies. me and my mini me had a wonderful day at the mall. it was so beautiful out, we had to get outside to enjoy it. we had a great time visiting our friends and shopping!

xoxo

andrea’s baby shower

Posted on March 16, 2015 by tandem in love

i’m so excited for my friend andrea, she is having her baby girl soon! so, of course a baby shower was in order. her lovely friends, nikki and claire, so graciously hosted such a fete in honor of this momma and her baby girl.

it was a beautiful, beautiful day. the sun was shining {ahhhhhh} and the temperature was puuurrrrfect. the shower was held at a cafe called fennel and iris. it is tucked away in the lakeview neighborhood, right on belmont.

i parked only a few blocks away and traipsed my way towards the restaurant. it was so nice out, i wouldn’t have minded if i had to walk 10 blocks, but having on heels slimmed down my walking distance! i was lucky to have found a spot so close…i guess the luck of the irish was by my side that morning. hence, ALL the chicagoans who were already out and getting their drink on so early in the morning. natch.

[my gift for baby]

i moseyed on in and the party was already in full swing. it is such a cute, quaint little place. it was kitschy and unique. i ran right into a few friends right away, ginger and katheryn had just arrived as well. i was super excited to be there because it’s been awhile since i have seen andrea {busy, busy lives} and some of her friends who i adore. they are all such good people! i mingled and caught up with a few ladies, while i sipped the delicious mimosa nikki had so kindly handed to me.

[the cute, little restaurant fennel and iris]

[morning mimosas]

[katheryn, beth, andrea, and ginger]

[kitschy and quaint decor]

[ginger and katheryn]

after a few more minutes of socializing, we were asked to be seated. i was so enwrapped in photo taking, i was pretty much the last person to take my seat! i decided to sit with the ‘moms’. i wanted to get to know them better myself. the first time i met everyone was at jamie and andrea’s wedding and we didn’t get to converse much, so i thought, now is a great time! it was so delightful to chit chat with everyone. jamie’s family are all so sweet. we had a great time getting to know one another and enjoying all the delicious food!

my two favorite nibblers were the deviled eggs {sooooooo good!} and the so called ‘pudding’, honestly, it looked like a frittata to me! nevertheless, those entrees were the most savory. i could have eaten just that but of course, i tried everything {but the fruit, i can eat that anywhere anytime!}.

[the deviled eggs were divine…i could have eaten a dozen!]

[such a cool interior]

[their so called pudding {it really looked like a frittata to me} was soooo good!]

[tika, andrea, sarah, and holly…check out the photo bomber]

[apple and pear pie]

[so delish]

after brunch, they served the most delicious ‘apple pie’ in a jar. there were baked apples and pears, topped with a simple round ‘crust’. mmmmm, sweet goodness. the baked fruit, cinnamon, and sugar perfectly balanced one another out.

after desserts were served, the opening of gifts began. by that time, jamie and oliver had stopped on by to join in on the festivities. of course, ollie was quite vibrant with his choice of words and opinions! he’s such a smart, funny kid! andrea proceeded to open up sweet gifts, after sweet gifts. baby stuff is just too darn cute and fun.

[teeny tiny]

[andrea and ollie]

[hostesses with the mostesses, nikki and claire]

[with the beautiful momma]

[andrea’s mom, gail, jennifer, jamie’s stepmom, and patricia]

[granola favors]

[the wonderful couple with their soon to be newest addition]

after all her perfectly wrapped gifts were opened, we all hung out afterwards and lingered around to catch up with one another a bit more. i really had such a great time connecting with everyone. andrea is such a wonderful, sweet friend and naturally, all her friends are just the same.

i am so fortunate to have such a lovely lady in my life. she is sassy, smart, sweet, thoughtful, and kind. i can’t forget to mention stylish and fashionable as well…hmmmm, maybe that is why we get along so well?! hehehe.

anyhoo, claire and nikki did a fabulous job on andrea’s shower. it was perfect – down to the invite, decor, food, favors, and the fun hostesses! thank you so much for letting me be a part of such a special day! andrea and jamie: we can’t wait to meet your precious baby girl!

xoxo

flashback friday

Posted on March 13, 2015 by tandem in love

today takes us back to july 2011.

here we are at our friend’s, kim, wedding. it just seems like yesterday. no, really, it does. it was a warm summer day and i was super excited to attend kim’s wedding. we {as i have mentioned before} were engaged at almost the same time…me just several months before her. so, planning our wedding together was quite the bonding moment! we had the best times just chatting it up, comparing notes, reveling in the up’s and down’s of planning a wedding, and just totally having fun with it.

miss jodi actually got married before both of us. almost a year before me. so, obvs it was still really fresh for her, so we definitely had fun talking up a wedding storm all the time.

anyhoo, back to this pic. we had such a great time celebrating kim and mikey’s nuptials. we had fun, we were goofy, and we totally partied it up. it was great because we were sitting with a bunch of folks that we knew and of course, us folks didn’t hold back on our humor, wild stories, and drinks. of course, once the dancing started, we did our best to rock out the dance floor!

[jodi and me]

i love this dress. it was a fantastic borrow from my beautiful sister, thuy. she always has the best articles of clothing. that is what is so great about having sisters {and two sisters who are pretty much the same size}, we can interchange your wardrobe…so it’s like having a huge closet! the brooch is mine, a vintage find from several years back.

the weather is suppose to be ah-maaaaaze this weekend. eeeeekkkkkk! i am waaayyyy too excited. oh, spring, come on over! we missed you. well, i hope y’all enjoy this weekend. happy friday lovies!

xoxo

wrigleyville date

Posted on March 9, 2015 by tandem in love

after two strikes, i thought i was going to get called out with my girl time with dana. but we fiiiiinally got together and did our usual routine. i’m going to say that dana was at fault for the both times prior we couldn’t get together for a brunch date 😉 the first time, she was sick {okaaayyy, i forgive her} but it did snow quite a bit and no one wants to go out when it’s snowing…a big pain in the behind. the second time, she just plain forgot. yup. she forgot about us. i texted her the night before and asked about our plans and she was like, ‘whhaaaaaa?’. yeah. she had last minute changed her work schedule and didn’t tell me!

anyhoozle, it worked out great because olive had a wellness check up {not too far from where dana lives} and it’s always easy peasy to jet on over to southport from where we were.

[at the pediatrician…she was excited to be signing her own paperwork. that is until the nurse came in with needles…eeeekkkkk!]

after olive’s appointment, we drove on over to wrigelyville {which is less than 5 minutes} to meet dana for lunch. of course, we met up at southport grocery! it was a full house but we were seated right away {sweet}. we ordered our usual dishes and dana had a lot to share with me! so much new news and possible changes! oy, i was having a blast catching up with dana, as always. we only had a few hours together because she had to skadaddle to a purim party later that evening that she was hosting for jnf.

[in our ‘hood…our favorite place to be: southport grocery]

dana was super excited that her and olive were having these amaze bonding moments. their relationship was rough from the start. from the moment olive came into this world, she had been skeptical of dana. she wouldn’t let her hold her. olive would barely let her look at her! it was a work in progress and they made leaps and bounds this past date!! yay!

they were like buddies. best buddies. holding hands, giving hugs & kisses, and she let dana hold her with ease. wowza…my baby is growing up 😉 olive was so amused by dana. she liked copying her and playing fun peek a boo games together. it was pretty awesome to see.

[dana loving olive…]

[studying her crayon colors]

[work of art]

[me and my beautiful babes]

[can you see me? now you can’t. can you see me? yup, that game]

[simple plating…boisterous flavors]

of course, after brunch, we headed on over to our favorite place, anthropologie. olive was in heaven. she ran around and around and around. she smiled from ear to ear and happily bounced everywhere in the store. her and dana just walked side by side and giggled at each other.

[yeah, since we were walking two doors down, we wrapped her in a blanket and barely put on her hat. dana was dying over her cuteness. she was loving olive so much]

[she was like, ‘wait, do i walk around with this blankie on me??]

[she was soooo happy running around everywhere]

[she discovered a bunny]

[and then became one]

[then found a little chickadee]

[then became a funny bunny again]

after anthro, we hit a couple of more stores and called it an afternoon. we had a great time chit chatting, eating, having fun, and building memories together. i loved seeing olive and dana together. it warms my heart and makes it so full!

xoxo

flashback friday

Posted on February 27, 2015 by tandem in love

today takes us back to 2011.

this was the year that we got married but it was also a year where we had 9 weddings to go to, including our own! it was quite the year of wedding! this picture was taken at our friend jaime’s wedding in june. carol was a bridesmaid and, obvs, i was a guest! ooooohh, and we were so tan from the summer already!

it was a little bit of a cray summer for carol. not only were j and i getting married {she was a bridesmaid for the both of us, my matron of honor} and she had to to pick and choose what she could attend because she lives in seattle!

i love this picture of us because we are and look so happy. who doesn’t love attending weddings?! it’s always fun and filled with love. plus, it’s a big parteeee! socializing, drinking, eating, dancing, and vivacious behavior is widely excepted. i clearly remembered it being a very warm, humid day. it was, overall, a perfect day to get hitched.

ahhhh, warm weather…hurry up! chiberia temps is just too much! well, i hope somebody out there is going somewhere warm this weekend, i’ll just live vicariously through my old summer/vacay photos! dreaming away…

xoxo

new housey

Posted on February 9, 2015 by tandem in love

goodness. we finally had our chance to meet up with jodi and jett. it had been awhile since we had last hung out {maybe a few months ago?}. of course, the holidays had hit us and we were busy, busy, busy! so, finally we sealed a date!

so, on this snowy day, olive and i packed ourselves up and headed out to jodi and matt’s new housey! i was super duper excited when they purchased their place…it’s always a fantastic feeling when you buy a new home {a sense of accomplishment}! there really isn’t anything like home sweet home. it’s always the best place to be, isn’t it?!

i was a bit bummed it was so snowy. i just didn’t want to deal with it since our commute was on the longer side and i didn’t want to struggle with bad road conditions or even traffic {yuck}. but it wasn’t so bad…we cruised there and the roads were fine. we arrived at their house in no time. it was too cute…jodi and jett were already at the door waiting for us, happy we were there.

we got inside and jett immediately wanted to show me his room. so, we all went to his room and hung out. olive and jett were slowly warming up to one another. jett was much more keen with me than he was with olive! slowly and surely they started to play together. or it was more so, olive tagged along while jett was running around like a mad man!

[warming up to each other]

[she was really loving this toy]

[tooooooo cute]

it was so sweet, since jodi and jett missed out on olive’s first birthday party, they had gotten her a gift! so thoughtful. we opened up the gift and then sat down for some lunch. jodi made a yummy pasta salad and we also had sandwiches and chips. we fed the kids while we ate, but soon jett and olive lost interest and wanted to run around. jett was insistent that we head downstairs to play! jod and i brought our plates downstairs while the kiddos ran back and forth…their interests peaking from one toy to the next!

[opening our gift!]

[‘reading’ her card…too adorbs!

]

[her cute little outfit]

[sweet jodi and me]

[playing around and giving hugs]

[this pic makes me laugh. it’s jett running towards olive, hugging her, but he flew at her full force where they both just plummeted to the ground and jett landed right on top of her. as you can tell, olive really didn’t know what hit her. she was totally startled.]

[my cat baby trying to fit herself into a box]

[giving kisses!]

[drunk love]

we hung out downstairs for awhile. time was totally flying by! i didn’t realize it was already so late in the afternoon! we could have hung out all day and night! the hours just flew right by and before we knew it, it was time to go {we didn’t want to get too stuck in traffic and you know how i like to time out olive’s naps!}.

it was too cute, olive and jett gave each other several hug goodbyes and sweet kisses! adorbs! anyhoo…i had a fabulous time catching up with jodi…she is the best! i love talking up a storm with her anytime and always!

xoxo

tandem in love

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

Tag Archives: friends

a little blip

we didn’t go to southport grocery

yappy yap

i figured it out

me + my mini

andrea’s baby shower

flashback friday

wrigleyville date

flashback friday

new housey