america’s bday part 1

Posted on July 8, 2015 by tandem in love

the morning of the fourth, we attended the hinsdale independence day parade. i’ve gone in the past and it’s such a nice little parade. well, it’s not very little but it’s very nice!

we packed up and headed on over to the town in the jeep! it was too gorgeous out not to ride in this car! olive was ready to celebrate america’s birthday! she had her festive outfit on accessorized with fun red accents.

it was a bit of a debacle looking for parking. there were sooooo many people! we heeded kim’s advice and looked for parking at madison school. it was jammed packed but we created our own spot. cyops – create your own parking spot. haha!

[ready for the fourth!]

[on our way to the parade]

as we were walking towards the parade, we bumped right into thuy! perfect. she led us to our group. there, helen, michael, terry, kim, and the boys were all set up. we had coffee, thuy brought the donuts and we were set. olive loves her aunties so she was in their arms right away. we chitchatted, imbibed our beverages, and waited for the parade to start!

hinsdale is such a cute, quaint town. it’s so serene and adorable. it really is. the houses are ah-mazing and gorgeous and it’s like freakin’ cheers where everybody knows your name. haha. my brother in law terry grew up there and his mom still lives there, so it’s definitely a home base for my sister and terry. it has fun shops, yummy restaurants, and the education programs are spectacular, so it’s definitely a place to be.

[with her auntie kim]

[thuy, me, helen, and lan]

[starbucks, doughnuts, and parading]

we heard the sirens, so that signified that the parade was coming. i loved all the fire engines, police cars, and vintage vehicles that were in the line up. it’s fun because they do reenactments of the revolution, there are pom squads, flag girls, and other fun things to look at. we greatly enjoyed all the music and entertainment. olive stayed, mostly, in my arms and throughly enjoyed the parade. she waved and waved at all the passerby’s. they throw out candy and goodies for all the kids as well! so, when olive is older…this part willl be fun for her.

[the start of the parade!]

[watching the parade with auntie kim // romper little ladies boutique // moccs my little beautiful shop]

[the boys]

[red white and blue]

[my baby]

[i tried getting a pic of sam…this is what i got]

helen and michael’s son was in the parade! his baseball team won the world series, so they had the privilege to ride in the parade. how cool! i tried snapping a pic of him with no luck. all i got was a tiny little profile. wah.

[olive with her super auntie thuy]

[parade’s over!]

[i had to snap a pic of this pretty awesome house]

after the parade ended, we headed on out and home. we needed to get ready for our guests coming over for our fourth celebration! as i said earlier, we ran into thuy on our way to the parade and, funny thing is, we ran into her again on our way out from the parade! we just can’t escape one another!

it was definitely a great start to our independence day!

xoxo

happy july 3rd

Posted on July 7, 2015 by tandem in love

last year, on july third, we had gone to eye in the sky festival in lisle. we loved it. it was fun, entertaining, and yummy {we love carnival type food! greasy and fattening}! this year, we planned on going to it but my sister, kim, suggested for us to go to the taste of oakbrook or her friend’s country club to watch the fireworks. we were game for anything. i do love experiencing something different from what we normally do!

we picked up my sister, thuy, and headed on over to the golf course. it was quite the long trek to the hot spot! lots and lots of green. we walked, and walked, and walked and finally found the crowd. they had hot dogs, popcorn, and bouncy houses for the kiddos! how fun!

[the sunsetting on our walk towards the event]

[she loved the bouncy house]

olive was smitten over the bouncy houses. she played in the ‘smaller’ kid bouncy house and had the best time! she is such a little spider monkey. she loves to climb anything! she would only climb up the slide versus using the ladder like any other kiddo! she dances to her own beat. she did that over and over and over and over. probably for an hour or so. i just sat there and watched her have fun. that sweet smile on her face is the best. i also wanted to make sure no big kids would run her over {and it’s always the boys…they are so rough!}! only once did she get smashed. a boy somersaulted down the slide and kicked olive in the face…not cool. not cool at all.

after a long while of playing in the bouncy house, i finally convinced her to leave. it was perfect timing because hc had brought us food! we noshed on hot dogs…yes, it was a fancy affair! olive thoroughly enjoyed eating her hot dog, she would make goofy faces while as she ate. such a funny lady she is!

[my sweet babe]

[my cray cray hc]

[mmmmm, hot dog]

[waiting for the fireworks!]

[crazy kids…sam, reagan, and bennett]

[crazy gals…thuy, kim, and helen]

the sky finally turned off it’s lights and it was time for fireworks! this is olive’s first time watching fireworks. last year this time around, she was only seven months old and in bed by the time fireworks began! this year, i’m not as regimented with her bedtime but besides that, she’s naturally a night owl!

[watching her first fireworks with dada]

it was a very relaxing and low key evening, watching fireworks on this lovely third of july! we had a great time hanging out with everyone. thank you to helen and michael for inviting us! it was a fantastic time to experience fireworks this way.

xoxo

cubs family day

Posted on June 30, 2015 by tandem in love

i was super excited to have experienced cubs family day at wrigley field! it’s for season ticket holders and aunt wendy so kindly invited us! it was a perfect day weather wise, sunny and in the mid-seventies.

of course, we got on the road late {i gotta get my coffee!}, it’s like olive knows we are on a time crunch and she always, always wants to be in my arms or cries for me. i am always the last one getting ready because i am catering to her needs and putting myself last in the get ready department!

anyhoozle, we arrived not too late and met up with aunt wendy, her friend kyle, and his girlfriend taylor at the cubbie bear. we walked on over and inside to wrigleyfied; the peeps at the field were doing introductions and letting us know about the timelines and what was available for us for their family day event.

[introductions to the season ticket holders]

our first thing on the agenda was the clubhouse. we had the chance to see where the players get ready and come out onto the field. it was great to see where they chill and pretty awesome to get a chance to sit in their dugout as well! of course, we snapped a bazillion pics. everyone had to get their fair share!

[the clubhouse]

[‘locker’ room]

[fam jam]

[super fam jam]

[go cubbies!]

[in the dugout]

after we made our way throughout the clubhouse and dugout, i wanted to walk around the field and get some pics of the infamous ivy! also, along the entire back field wall, they had bouncy houses galore! it’s too bad olive is too little for them…there were so many big kids that she would have been trampled so many times. i had no idea how the bouncy thing worked so i placed olive inside the first one i saw. weeellllllll, it was actually the ‘finish’ line and these big boys were starting to come through! i screamed, “watch out, there’s a little girl!!!” but they didn’t hear me. poor olive fell over and started freaking out because she couldn’t get her balance to get back up. i jumped inside the bouncy and literally bounced everywhere trying to grab my child. it was hilarious! i rolled all over the place and my legs flung in the air as i desperately tried grabbing for olive to get her out! hahahahaha! i made it…my baby girl was out safe and sound.

[the ivy!]

[right before she is about to be trampled by the big kids!]

[mom to the rescue!]

we walked around the whole field and went though the visitor’s dugout and up and around to the jack daniel’s eating area. we grabbed our boxed lunches and sat up on the seats overlooking the field. we had the typical hot dog and chips meal, of course olive gravitated towards the chips and lemonade!

after we ate, we walked over to the media booths above the field where they broadcast the game and were the organist plays. we sat in the seats and chilled for a bit before we headed back downstairs to the souvenir shop.

it was a fast 2 1/2 hours! there was so much to do too! they had all the bouncy houses, tattoo artists, face painting, games, and so much more. we only did half the stuff they offered {hey, there is always next year!}.

[jack daniels patio]

[sipping her lemonade or really she stole daddy’s lemonade]

[organist]

[goof ball sitting in the media area]

we perused the souvenir shop as our last stop and after that we said our goodbyes. it was a great day spent together and we were so excited to have experienced cubs family day. it was definitely a day to remember.

xoxo

summer to do!

Posted on June 25, 2015 by tandem in love

our summer to do list is here!

i love summer and i love creating a list of fun things to do every year. sometimes we can check all of the lovely things off our list and sometimes it’s just a list to inspire us and sometimes we just don’t get to all of it. though, it’s definitely something to aspire to every day!

getting outside to enjoy the weather is so great {as long as it’s not stifling hot and muggy…that can be a sticky situation…no pun intended. hahaha!}. summer is so short lived here in chicago. we get the wonky weather transition during spring {good days and bad days}, it’s when the weather app is your best friend. you’re trying to figure out if you need a coat or not or how will you dress your little one for the day but come summer, you always know it’s shorts and tanks.

so, without further ado, here is our summer list of things to do!

1. go to a carnival

2. buy ice cream from the ice cream man

3. go to the pool {you would think that this was easier to do…}

4. make s’mores

5. catch fireflies

6. eat funnel cake/snocones/popsicles

7. go to the farmer’s market

8. blow bubbles

8. go boating

9. pick berries

10. go to the zoo

11. created sidewalk chalk art

12. go to the museum

13. go to an ice cream parlor

14. go to a cubs game

15. eat alfresco as much as we can

there ya go. our summer to do bucket list. i am hoping we will accomplish everything on this list this summer. it seems easy peasy enough…although i did feel like i always missed the ice cream man every time last year! i might stalk him this time around.

anyhoo, what’s on your summer bucket list this year? i am hoping to possibly add to this fun round of activities…we’ll see how fast this set will get accomplished! cheers to warm weather!

xoxo

memorial day fun

Posted on June 1, 2015 by tandem in love

i am, obvs, a bit behind on my blog posts and a bit out of order…oh well! life can get so busy, hectic, and time is so darn precious! but nevertheless, it’s always better late than never!

so, we were double booked on this beautiful, glorious day. we could’t have asked for better weather…it was sunshiny, warm, and the most perfect temperature. hc was chomping at the bit to drive the jeep. how could i say no? everything was in alignment to do so.
we were headed to marina and corey’s house for their going away party. yes, sad but true, they’re moving to boston. i’m so excited for their new adventure but super bummed they won’t be around town anymore.

we were the first guests to arrive. we wanted to get there as soon as we could because we had plans with hc’s parents as well! as soon as we pulled up, the boys were in awe over hc’s jeep! i told them that they could jump inside and they were all so excited!

we walked up and said our hello’s to marina, corey, and her parents – muma and poopie. i love them. i’ve known marina since 7/8th grade and pretty much have known her parents since then too. they are such good, sweet people. i could hang out with them all day!

[i love how i caught hc in the reflection of my sunglasses!]

[ready to party!]

[the kids were soooo excited to see hc’s jeep pulled up…they all jumped inside!]

[such a cute picture with tilly, that is dana in the background…she was so sweet with olive]

[me with the mrs. that is moving away…wahhhhh]

[i love these two…they are the sweetest]

slowly but surely, more guests started to arrive. we mingled, nibbled on random apps, and imbibed refreshing beverages. i couldn’t wait to meet miss amelie! i had not had the chance to meet the little beauty. oh, she’s sooooo sweet. such a little princess, just beautiful! of course i only had her in my arms for just a few minutes…miss olive found me and started to throw a little fit. she does not like babies in my arms! boo…i only had a few minutes with the babe but it definitely was wonderful for the few short moments!

[me and the beautiful amelie…she’s soooo precious]

[rich loving ben]

[the two cutest peeps]

after a few hours of hanging out, we had to go. we were super bummed…let me tell ya, we could have hung out there for the whole day. it was so great seeing everyone {love them all!} but alas, we had to get to our next engagement!

***

we cruised back home, switched out our cars, and jetted on up north to hc’s parent’s house {right off the river} to continue our memorial weekend fun. when we arrived, his parent’s were out on the boat so we put olive in the swing and she was a happy camper. that girl just loves the swing!

as soon as they came back, aunt wendy started grilling. we all hung out on the patio while the food was being cooked. olive was definitely having a fabulous time {she was super giddy to see her sister grace!}, she was at gramma and papa’s house, they love to spoil her by letting her do whatever she wants and feeding her lots of sugar!

[olive loving the swing]

[red white and blue]

[the fox river]

[pretzel sticks and yoohoo…so healthy!]

[missy, aunt wendy, and hc]

after we ate and had our desserts, we all just kind of chilled. olive was a hot mess. she was sweaty, sticky, and dirty…yuck! we gave her a quick bath there before we went home. baby girl was not going home like that!

it was such a fantastic day with everyone. we had the best time hanging out with our friends earlier and had so much fun hanging out with the fam later on in the evening. it was a perfect day…weather, people, and fun all rolled into one lovely time.

xoxo

friday night lights

Posted on May 18, 2015 by tandem in love

it was a lovely, warm day…the weather called for some outdoor activities!

hc conjured up our evening’s activities, he always thinks of fun stuff to do! i love that about him. anyhoo, our town’s downtown area always hosts certain cars shows on specific days of the week/month. so, we packed up the jeep and headed out on a short car ride to check it out. our first one for the ‘summer!’ to do list!

this was olive’s first jeep car ride. i was a little nervous because it’s obvs an open space and it was a first for me with the babes! i didn’t want her tossing her toys or anything she liked in the air or else it would be gone and then what?!

[cruising around in the jeep]

within minutes, we were downtown and we easily parked the jeep and set out for our walk around. it must have been a gto themed night because there were a ton of cars from different years there. hc was in car heaven. if i recall correctly, ’65 is his favorite year and that car style was there that evening. ya had to wipe the drool from his chin.

we saw all sorts of fun cars and heard a lot of roaring engines. olive was most entertained by the loud engines. they were her favorite type of cars. she would excitedly point to them and her eyes were just glued onto the vehicle until it was out of sight!

after we circled the entire event, it was time to fill our bellies. there was a plethora of food establishments to choose from and hc really had his eye on the irish pub that we have been to before. i was game and to the restaurant we went. there was a little bit of a wait for both indoor and outdoor seating. we were up for either but just our luck, the first seating available was outside! it was soooo nice out and when it’s a warm evening like that, i love sitting outside {as long as the bugs are on the DL}.

[the little red wagon]

[rich was digging all the gto’s]

[hc was dying over this one]

[doesn’t she look like hc here?]

olive had definitely been miss independent of late. she likes to do things her way, on her terms, and don’t you get in her way! so, this evening, she was all about not sitting in her highchair. she wanted to wander around our table and peek at all the patrons. well, the table next to us had a dog with them, so that was olive’s number one priority. so, it was a bit understandable on why she didn’t want to be in her chair…she couldn’t see or play with the dog!

[selfie – don’t mind her chin…that was bad accident that i’d rather not get into]

[cheers! olive loves to cheers!]

[she only wanted to be outside her highchair…womp, womp]

[shepard’s pie]

we enjoyed our irish fare, drinks, and sitting alfresco for the evening. olive is part irish…that is why so loves to eat only potatoes. hehehe!!!!

after dinner, we headed on out and decided to take a little spin around the downtown area in the jeep. hc got some shot outs from strangers on his cool jeep and we got a hello and wave from our neighbor who lives down the street from us!

it was a perfect, quiet, low-key evening. we really enjoyed our little friday night lights outing!

xoxo

mom’s day

Posted on May 13, 2015 by tandem in love

i was super excited for my second mother’s day!

me and my sisters were so busy and preoccupied leading up to mother’s day, that we didn’t make brunch reservations in advance! we always book our brunch date weeks ahead of mother’s day, because we know how quickly spots can fill up and we never just want to go to just any ol’ restaurant for brunch!

well, this year, with the boys {nephews} being so busy with activities…we decided to have a later affair instead of an early morning one. and with us being so behind in the game of reservations, we decided to host an early dinner at our house!

the hubs and i love having people over! it’s our thing and we truly enjoy it! so, we set out to coordinate a fun, quick get together at our place for mother’s day. we decided a nice, simple tablescape and some small, cute decorations were in order.

thuy and kim came over early to help set up. terry and kim so graciously picked up the food, hc made a vegetable side dish, and i prepped the punch!

hc did a great job setting up the table. he did all the pre-work {ironed the napkins and tablecloth} and set all the place settings! what a guy! kim brought fun little potted herb plants for the centerpieces. i prepared all the ingredients for the punch. thuy brought over balloons and together, we made cute little balloon chandeliers for the each table. i also love the little nook we have in the corner for drinks/desserts/whatever you want to make of the set up. i put together a banner and hung cafe lights as a finishing touch for the area {again, side note: i can’t waaaaait until we get rid of that awful wood paneling!!!}.

[beautiful flowers from my sister, thuy]

[oh baby olive just waking up from her nap]

[our punch garnish]

[happy mom’s day!]

[apple cake, water, & punch]

[potted herb plants as centerpieces]

[the fanciest kids table evah!]

[pomegranate champagne punch]

as hc and i prepped our place, olive took a good, long solid nap! thank goodness…peeps were on their way over and we needed a well rested babe for our guests. it was a small get together. it consisted of me, hc, my sisters, our brother dan, my brother in law, his mom, his sister, and our dad {unfortunately, our mom was not feeling well…boo}.

while the kids played, the adults imbibed the delicious champagne punch and mingled. we waited until everyone was over before we served dinner. the food was delicious and it was so much fun to sit down, eat, and share stories. after everyone was done eating {i cleaned up…my favorite thing to do!}, and a few people exchanged mother’s day gifts! so sweet and fun!

i then served desserts and coffee. thuy had brought an apple cake, lynne made a delicious lemon cake {soooo good!} and the kids had ice cream. we all hung out for a bit longer and the kids were wild and crazy, running all around. after a few hours of hanging out, it was time to say our goodbyes. everyone slowly trickled out and soon the house was almost empty again. *sigh*

[terry and his mom, barbara]

[mmmm, tasty]

[the hubs and me]

[my mother’s day gift…citrine rose gold earrings!]

[me and my precious babe]

[my beautiful flower plant from lynne]

[these two…]

[me and my sisters]

i had such a lovely, lovely time on mother’s day. i absolutely love my gift from hc, i very much enjoyed our company, and i really had such a wonderful time hosting everyone at our place. we truly love having friends and family over…it seriously makes life go round.

i hope everyone had a beautiful day like we did. life is grand. happy mother’s day to all!

xoxo

hb to my dear dad

Posted on May 11, 2015 by tandem in love

it was my dear dad’s birthday! it was a very low key day. we gathered together at my parent’s house for a little birthday feast and of course, it was portillo’s. my mom was feeling under the weather and typically she loves to cook up a big dinner but since that wasn’t the case that day…fast food it was. natch.

we divvied up our food and jumped right into our typical family banter. as i was setting up everyone’s order, olive {of course} saw the food and insisted on getting up on the chair to eat. she nibbled on a few fries and then got bored and wanted to get down. oh kids, they have a two second attention span!

[the boys playing outside]

[olive holding her uncle’s hand…something she never does with anyone!]

[yup, portillo’s]

[um, no, this is not what she ate…but she was sure loving it]

after dinner and cleaning up, it was time for dessert! birthday cake, of course! we brought out his present and dad took a few photos with his favorite grandkids. i lit the birthday candle and brought out his cake, as we all sang happy birthday!

olive was so confused. she didn’t really know what was going on. we tried to get her to blow out the birthday candle but didn’t get it, so mr. reagan did the honors. i loved that i captured him second by second blowing out the candle…it’s too cute!

[thuy’s creative gift wrapping]

[dad with his grandkids]

[happy birthday!]

[yaaaayyyy, happy birthday!]

[i love these pictures of reagan blowing out the candle!]

[cake and ice cream]

[olive going bonkers]

[these kids…]

after cake and ice cream, the kids played around and the adults relaxed and conversed. it was a very chill time and it was great to have celebrated my dear dad’s birthday! he’s seriously the best dad ever! i love him sooooo much and he means the world to me. i am so blessed to have a man that is so loving, kind, and caring as my dad {amongst many other things but words just can’t describe him or how i feel}.

happy birthday to the greatest dad in the world!

xoxo

flea market

Posted on May 7, 2015 by tandem in love

it was a beautiful day and we definitely wanted to do something fun and be outside! hc is always so great at finding us something to do, i love his efforts and his will at being creative.

he suggested for us to go to the kane county flea market. i was game! we have been interested in going to this flea market for quite some time but they are only open the first weekend of the month and we usually forget or we are too tied up during that weekend where we can’t go. this time around, it was perfect timing, so packed ourselves up and headed on out.

i was surprised on how close the flea market was. i mean, it wasn’t as far as i thought it would be. we got there in no time and i was excited to walk around and peruse the area. the parking wasn’t that bad…just a few minute walk and we were inside the grounds. we immediately found a really cool seller of vintage looking signs. hc and i were excited over the merchandise, they had so many cool items but the big question was, “where would we put it??!”. we were in love with a lot of items but finding a home for some of this stuff is what caused us to stall in purchasing. we were mainly looking at stuff for the yard/outside or hc’s garage space.

[we loved this little nook and all the cool signs they offered]

[selfie at the flea market]

[we thought grace would love this antique horse]

a little bit into us being at the flea market, the weather started to change. it got a little cooler and hc checked his weather app and the area was going to be hit with a little rain. it was a bit of a bummer because it was going to halt our shopping excursion. we were trapped inside for about an hour and a half but we didn’t want to leave because we really wanted to look around. we probably wouldn’t have another chance to go a month from now if we left, let alone if we even had a free first weekend coming up.

[when she is not into something or approving, she will furrow her eyebrows…it always cracks me up]

[i tried tapping her cheeks and she gets snippy with me…haha!}

[waiting for ice cream with homemade waffle cones]

[annnnddddd, more bad eating, funnel cakes! yum!]

[she seriously cracks, me up. she’s so not into strangers and when they try to say hello to her, she kind of freaks out. this expression is classic. she will turn her head down and stare awkwardly. hahaha!]

[she definitely didn’t like that women talking to her. oh, olive!]

the rain finally let up and we started exploring again. we zig zagged all around, we purchased some funnel cake {yum!}, and scoured the entire area. we had such a great time at this flea market. there were so many cool things to look at! olive was a trooper and such a cutie {soooo many people fawned all over her cuteness}. we definitely want to go back soon and possibly walk out with something fun for the house. until next time!

xoxo

first warm evening

Posted on May 6, 2015 by tandem in love

it was an awesome day. the weather was amazing and the temperature was just perfect.

my bother and his roommate, carl, had been over all day fixing his car in our garage. since it was getting close to dinner time, we invited them to stay and have dinner with us. so, hc fired up the grill and i prepared all the fixings. i had purchased pre-made burger patties from whole foods {gorgonzola, swiss & portobello, and chipotle flavors} and a bunch of sides {kale salad, broccoli salad, and pasta} to accent our meal. it was an almost no cook night. we wanted it to be an easy, relaxing, and quick dinner prep & clean up.

we were super stoked because it was the first warm evening {on a weekend} and we were excited to have our first meal alfresco! well, it was the first warm evening that we had patio furniture where we could eat outside! ha!

we love our new set, although, like the rest of the house…i can’t wait until we have a new patio to go with it! big dreams, big dreams…

anyhoo, we prepared all the food, dan and carl cleaned up from fixing the car all day and we all sat down for a lovely, delicious dinner under the stars. it was fantastic. i loved eating outside {especially with miss olive who loves to throw her food everywhere!}, i enjoyed our conversations and i just loved the fabulous weather that surrounded us. {before the crazy bugs populate!}

[we love our new patio furniture! we just now need a new patio…]

[burger trimmings]

[chillaxin outside]

[i’m slightly obsessed with funny olive eating pics]

after devouring our savory burgers, sides, and imbibing our beverages, i cleaned up while the boys and a girl sat outside. i brewed some coffee and served sweet treats i had picked up from whole foods {which they graciously left two tasty morsels behind for moi!}. as the boys hung out, i cleaned up the kitchen and the dishes, grabbed olive for a quick bath and continued to clean up the house.

[the remnants of desserts {and coffee}]

it had been a long day for them so while i was dressing miss olive in her p.j.’s, dan and carl swung inside to say their goodbyes. it was such a perfect, wonderful evening together. i had a great time enjoying the beautiful weather with my family and friends! seriously, my life revolves around my friends, family, eating, love, shopping, imbibing, and fun. not necessarily in that order and not everyday…but almost.

xoxo

tandem in love

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

Tag Archives: famille

america’s bday part 1

happy july 3rd

cubs family day

summer to do!

memorial day fun

friday night lights

mom’s day

hb to my dear dad

flea market

first warm evening