it’s a girl!

Posted on February 14, 2016 by tandem in love

eep! happy valentine’s day!

yay! and it’s going to be another baby girl for us! yup! we are pregnant with a little baby girl! how exciting! i knew it! i knew it! when we announced our pregnancy on christmas eve and day to our families, i told everyone that it was a girl before i really even knew. haha!

it was definitely hard to keep it a secret. oh my. everyone and their grandma asks. i would definitely say being pregnant is a cause to not telling the truth. you deny that you’re pregnant the first twelve weeks…you tell people you don’t know the gender because you know peeps are going to harass you. it goes on and on but i am sooooo glad the cat’s out of the bag and we can talk about it, get excited, and plan for this baby girl!

i am all about olive having a sister! she does have grace but grace is so much older and unfortunately, not around as often as we would like. so, a sister close to olive’s age is going to be so much fun, so much fighting, so much craziness! i am looking forward to it. i feel like sisters are built in best friends. i think women really hold families together. i love our mother/daughter bond and i can’t wait for olive and her baby sister to do things together, hand in hand. i am ready for some crazy girl time!

as hc always says, it’s almost impossible for him to have a boy. he has a group of best friends that all have little girls. between the four of them, i think they all have 9-10 girls? and no boys! they call themselves the X men. haha!

[my favorite! look at her pose]

[i love these pics so much!!! obvs, this is not a maternity dress…haha, but even when i was skinny, these darn pockets still stuck out!]

well, happy valentine’s day indeed my friends! we are so excited to welcome our baby girl! we can’t wait to meet you sweet lady, we are so in love already!

xoxo

watercolor valentine’s day cards

Posted on February 12, 2016 by tandem in love

last year, miss olive helped mama make some valentine’s day cards to send out. this year, olive did it all on her own! i was so proud and excited!

i was out shopping with my sisters one night and we stopped by a paper store to peruse around. it was perfect because it was on my list to grab some extra supplies for olive’s valentine’s day cards. i had a lot of ‘stuff’ at home so i didn’t need much because i am a craft hoarder. haha!

one morning, i set up her table and asked her if she wanted to draw {duh, i obvs knew what her answer was going to be!}, she was so excited to ‘draw’. who knew this kid would be so entertained and paint for hours?! she was loving it. she painted heart after heart after heart. i didn’t think she would plow through so many cards! i had purchased a set of 20 and had a leftover pack at home, not thinking she would paint every single one of the paper hearts! she was having a blast.

i taught her how to wash off her paintbrush after each color and all of a sudden she became a pro! i didn’t have a paint smock for her but she is such a neat little girl, she didn’t get a drop of paint on her cute little outfit nor did she paint outside the heart’s lines!

after painting all her cards, i then helped her place her stickers on each one. i pulled off the sticker and she happily stuck it on each heart. it was too cute…she would place each sticker on there so wonky! crooked, sideways, or upside down if i didn’t help navigate her a bit!

[the preparation]

[a favorite valentine’s day decor…i actually bought this a few months after olive was born and didn’t have a place or a real purpose for it until this year!]

[she is usually so careful but i realized i need a smock for her! although she did not get one drop of paint on herself at all]

[we pulled out our valentine’s day books…our favorite, olive my love]

[my baby doll]

[she’s too cute…cleaning off her brush to pick a new color to paint with]

[her final touch: placing stickers on her valentine’s day cards]

after we finished all the cards, i assembled them all inside red envelopes, sprinkled some with confetti, and addressed them with a silver sharpie pen. in hindsight, i would have totally bought a finer point sharpie pen because the thicker marker took up way too much space on such a little envelope! eep! i sealed each one with decorative, festive print washi tape and a pretty little spring time flower postage stamp.

hc dropped the cards off in the mail and we were excited at the prospect of everyone smiling when they opened up their little valentine’s day card from baby olive.

xoxo

a lovely day together

Posted on February 9, 2016 by tandem in love

i had a couple appointments in the city and hc took a half day so he could come with us! i love it when he’s able to do that!

i was excited to spend the day together and not have to do everything by myself or really, myself and olive. it’s always so nice to have hc around to help and be by our side. besides the fact that we just love him and love having him around!

we strolled into the office and olive absolutely loves the fish tank inside there. she is totally glued to it every time we come by for a visit. she loves to say, “look, fish!” over and over again, it’s just the cutest thing. this time, hc and olive waited out in the waiting room while i went in for a quick check up with my doctor. of course i did the dreaded weigh in {blah}, which is a bit stressful every time! we listened to the baby’s heart beat – yay! strong and healthy! we talked a bit about any issues and ta da! i was dunzo. quick and easy.

[heading to the doctors!]

[she loves the fish tank at the office]

after my check up, we made a pit stop at our favorite place to eat, southport grocery. oh how i love eating there! i sent my dear friend dana a pic text to tell her that we miss her. before dana switched to a nine to five job, we used to hang out there allllll the time. so it was fitting to send her an i miss you text.

[hanging with my babe]

[olive deciding what she wanted to eat]

[she’s so silly]

[taking selfies and yes, she’s swinging a knife]

[love her so much]

of course we had a yummy experience at the restaurant. i always enjoy my food and service there. it was a quick lunch because we had to mosey on our way over to olive’s appointment. she had her two year wellness check up down the street.

we got there early and waited out in the waiting room for a bit. olive was completely amused by their mini table and chairs. she had to sit and try out every single chair that was there like goldy locks. too cute!

we were called in and the nurse, as always, asked me to strip olive down to her diapy. i was completely amazed at olive’s calmness and willingness to cooperate. she let me take everything off, then the cutest thing happened…she asked me to put her headband back on! oh, she is usually ripping those things off, so i was in love with the fact that she wanted to wear it!

the nurse asked us to bring olive out into the hallway to get measured, weighed, etc. i was amused, now that olive is two, she gets weighed in and measured like a big girl! i said, “oh! no more baby stuff for you! it’s all big girl stuff now!”. olive was so delightful. she cooperated and was kind of entertained by it all! she happily stepped onto the scale to get weighed, she stood there like a champ to get measured, and didn’t mind one bit when the nurse stuck the metal rod under her arm to check her temperature. i was so proud of her! she even stood very still when the nurse measured her head.

the reason why i am so happy she was so cooperative was the fact that all the visits, all the way up to her eighteen month appointment, olive has been a nut! she would scream, cry, everything, when the nurse or doctor tried to do anything with her. this time around, she was just humming along and i was so excited to see the changes in her attitude and mood. she’s becoming such a big girl!

we got the ok from the doc, olive received one shot, and overall, i would say it was an awesome visit! although olive would disagree with the shot part. eep!

[at her wellness check up]

[poutastic]

[cutest little bunny ever]

it was such a lovely afternoon with my favorites. a wonderful time in the city, great news from all ends, and eating at one of our favorite places. i would definitely call that a successful afternoon date!

xoxo

january snapshots

Posted on February 5, 2016 by tandem in love

helloooooo february! oh my. january was a tough month for me. well, december was a very tough month for me. january was a bit better, concerning fatigue, time, and sleep but overall, it was a long two months of a lot of things. obvs, i didn’t do a december snapshot {or a november}, i couldn’t keep up with my blog posts, i was just too plain sick and tired to maintain everything, although i did my best, attempted, and tried. i think to an outsider, one might think i still did a lot but personally, i slacked on a lot of things.

i am so glad the first twelve weeks of pregnancy is behind me and i have had positive feedback on the growth of our baby {grow baby grow!}. man o man, did the first trimester of pregnancy during the holidays kick my ass! january was still a little rough because the sickness didn’t dissipate right away {which sucked} but i felt so much better and much more energetic.

january was very low key and very relaxing. we didn’t do much, i didn’t do much, and i was aaaaaaaa ok about it! i wanted to slow down a bit, not post as much, blog as much, and go out as much. i craved sleep {and still didn’t get much of it} and most of the time, i wanted to go home and put my pj’s on. how exciting, right?! anyhoo, here is a gathering of january photos. enjoy!

[happy new year! yay 2016]

[the moment she was done taking pictures]

[her new thing, watching her cartoons on my computer in our bed]

[celebrating this wonderful lady]

[my favorite time of the day…morning snuggles]

[stuffed animal heaven]

[having lunch with uncle huy]

[love these two]

[her favvvvvvorite thing to do at target]

[chillin at the grandparent’s house]

[with my better half]

[celebrating this lady’s baby girl]

[interesting way to eat a hot dog in a bun]

[love my silly girl]

[being super silly, she loves selfies]

[cutest pic everrrrrr]

[watching dada take down christmas lights outside]

[happy birthday thuy!]

[cheer to finding out the gender of the baby!]

there ya go lovies. what a wonderful past month. such great memories, such great times. cheers to a fabulous february!

xoxo

casual day

Posted on January 19, 2016 by tandem in love

i had an eye appointment in the city. yes, i still travel to the city for all sorts of things, like getting my eyes checked. i have been going to the same place for 11 years so i can’t give it up…at least not yet.

custom eyes just remodeled and it look amazing inside. i was so super bummed i left my phone in the car because olive looked so stinkin’ cute sitting in their windowsill reading a book. wah.

anyhoo, after my appointment, olive and i had the day free to do whatever and since we were in wrigleyville, i decided to just do a bit of walking and shopping around. we strolled down the street to the local starbucks and grabbed our usual. olive was being so stinkin’ cute. oh how i love her! it was super windy outside {of course, making it chillier than it really is!} but it didn’t bother olive one bit.

[our stomping ground…starbucks!]

[starbucks goodness]

[my old ‘hood]

after our starbucks stint, i decided to hit a favorite shop of mine, anthropologie! i love this store, especially during the holidays. it stocks the most beautiful decorations, wrapping, and ornaments. i am always so giddy shopping around in there ’tis the season. plus, they sell my most favorite candle of allllllll time, the volcano scent. best. ever.

[anthro on southport]

[chillin’ on the couch]

[‘scuse me!]

[love this one of us!]

after we hit anthro and a few other shops, i decided to call it a day there on southport ave. olive needed her nap soon and i don’t like her missing out on it! we had a lovely afternoon together. we giggled, shopped, hugged, kissed, and just loved one another. oh how i love this little girl so much. she’s my bestie and seriously the cutest little thing i ever did see. i cherish our beautiful days we spend together!

xoxo

blinging in the new year

Posted on January 9, 2016 by tandem in love

it was a whirlwind leading up to nye. i was so excited, relieved, and happy to have told everyone about the pregnancy but still, the nausea and exhaustion plagued me. i had a busy, busy day ahead of me.

i had a dr.’s appointment early in the morning, so i dropped olive off at my parent’s house because i didn’t want to drag her around – how un-fun for her! it was boring talks with counselors, a lot of waiting around, needles, and whole lotta unfunness {i know, i know…that isn’t even a word. hahaha!}. anyhoo, after the appointment, i had to meet my sister’s at the grocery store and pick up all the food and beverages for the party. that took quite some time. then i had to haul my butt over to the party store to pick up the balloons and party supplies, then i had to go to the post office to drop off some packages, then i headed home to unload my entire car {bags and bags of groceries, party supply bags, and two dozen balloons}. it was like a flippin’ clown car.

after i cleared out the car, it was then all about the work inside the house. i had to clean, clean the bathrooms, put away all the groceries, start prepping the area for the party, decorate, and eventually get the apps started. blah! i chugged away at everything as i had one eye glued to the clock to make sure i was on track. it was almost 5 o’clock and i was alllllllmost done! i ran into the bathroom to get ready and my sister kim and bro in law showed up to help! wooooo hoo!

it looked great {i must say so myself}! i had set up the photo booth, decorated the table spread, set up the dessert table, hung all the decor, and assembled all the kid’s favor boxes! my sister finished the apps, i was getting dressed when everyone started to arrive. perfect timing.

it was mainly family with a sprinkling of a few friends. as the night wore on, it got a little bit more crowded and packed with twists, turns, and surprises. my brother and his fiancé were suppose to fly out but their flight was over booked! bad for them but good for us! that meant they were going to ring in the new year with us! first time in who knows when last!

[blinging in the new year!]

[i really wanted the numbers 2016 on sticks but last minute, no one had it available to buy, so i scurried home, hastily cut it out of glitter paper i had at home and voila!]

[kid’s favor boxes: mini party hats, candy, toys, noise makers, poppers, glow sticks, and play money]

[adult’s table: confetti, glasses, hats, noise makers, party crackers]

[photo booth fun]

[huy and tashina]

[me and my baby girl]

[delicous apps]

[looooooove these ladies]

[i will say this until it is done, but don’t mind the kitchen under remodel!]

[these crazy kids]

[looooooooooove ba]

[cousins in plaid]

[lan, avery, and pete]

[cheers!]

[they’re so cute]

[love this family so much!]

[crazy bunch]

[seriously?]

[they discovered our undecorated bay window and it because a stage for them!]

[happy new year! cheers to 2016!]

[happy new year!]

all in all it was awesome! we had great drinks, delicious food, and even better company. it was a very, very good night. i loved seeing old friends, good friends, and clinking our glasses of fizzies with such lovely people at midnight. auld lang syne!

xoxo

wee christmas

Posted on January 2, 2016 by tandem in love

it was the annual wee christmas party!

hc’s friend’s dave’s mom {got that?! ha!} and dad host a christmas party every year called wee christmas. they have been doing this for decades. ever since i have been dating hc, we’ve attended every party. i love going to this. pat and pete are such warm, welcoming people and i love all of their friends, children, and grandchildren.

their house is always so festive and fun. they literally decorate every room in the house. christmas trees, santa’s, something festive and fun everywhere. it’s like santa’s house inside. there are always lots spirits to go around and tasty apps. i love visiting with everyone and every year, there are always the same faces with some new ones stopping by once in awhile.

olive was not comfortable, as always. she clung to me for dear life, although she did lighten up a lot faster than usual. she was intrigued by all the decorations and kept wanting to point out every santa figurine she saw. so, since she couldn’t point out all the santa’s in my arms, she actually wanted to get down so she get could get a better look at all the fun decor. totally fine by me! although she stayed super close, at least i didn’t have to carry her for a long period of time! phew!

soon, food was served and we ate and mingled some more. i had a great time getting to know a few new faces at the party and catching up with some old acquaintances. right after dinner is served, santa makes his appearance! santa visits every year at the party, reads a story, and hands out fun gifts to the little ones.

it was quite adorable when maggie called for olive to sit in her lap and olive obliged. i tried to snap a good photo but with so many crazy kids, it was hard to get a pic without someone’s arm or face right.in.front.of.my.camera. hahaha! olive was quite content until santa showed up! ohmygawd. total freak out! she immediately burst into tears! she was soooooo scared! even in my arms, she kept crying. she wouldn’t look at him and wasn’t happy until we left the room and she was far, far away from him! ha! no presents for her!

after santa, desserts were served and olive was a happy camper again. she stuffed her face and became a cute sweet babe again. hc and i were having a great time but alas, we had to go because we needed to pick up grace and didn’t want to get out there too late and get home even later.

as usual, we had a fabulous time at wee christmas. we enjoy going every year and look forward to it always. merry merry indeed!

[my love]

[olive loving the ‘munny’]

[she loved the little wooden horse and all the wonderful vintage toys in the basement]

[it was so sweet, maggie called for olive and she came over to sit in her lap. how sweet!]

[here’s santa!]

[she was terribly upset! no santa!]

xoxo

christmas brunch

Posted on December 28, 2015 by tandem in love

hc, olive, and i had a wonderful, casual afternoon hanging out in the city. it was my birthday and we hit the city to enjoy an afternoon of festive fun. brunch was at my favorite place, southport grocery! yummmm!

it was bustling inside but not too crazy packed like it usually is…it’s probably because we were a bit past lunchtime, so it was perfectly busy. we sat in a corner and throughly enjoyed our time together. i ordered my usual, the southern and as usual it was deeeeeelicious. i stuffed myself silly, rich enjoyed his spiked beverage and meal, and olive had a blast drawing. she loves to create fabulous works of art!

after we noshed on our yummy meals, i perused the shelves of the grocery store to see what items i wanted to buy to put in our gift baskets for our neighbors. did we want to create a dinner theme? a breakfast theme? a dessert theme? we went with the breakfast theme. breakfast is my most favorite meal of the day! i could eat breakfast all day! so, we picked out a yummy pancake mix, maple syrup, a peach spread, christmas sprinkles, and holiday cookies to top it off! it was all so cute! they do such a great job packaging it all up.

all while i was getting the gift baskets together, hc was chasing olive down and feeding her. she was so into her drawings earlier, she wouldn’t eat any of her food but once she was done, hc got her to eat most of her meal while she ran around the store. eep! she’s a funny one.

after brunch and basket making, we traipsed around southport and shopped a bit for gifts and christmas goodies. it was such a wonderful, beautiful afternoon. we had a great time together…it was a very joyous, eventful day. we were elated from an appointment we had earlier in the day and we were on cloud nine, thankful for all the blessings we have in our lives. thank God for the wondrous gifts that he brings.

[olive checking out the kids menu]

[selfie]

[such a silly babe]

[she’s very good at ‘cheers!’]

[soooooo yummy]

[perusing]

[she’s soooooo silly]

xoxo

holiday downtown

Posted on December 16, 2015 by tandem in love

we made our annual trip downtown to field’s on state. yes, i still call it that. call me old school. it’s still comiskey park, sears tower, these landmarks will forever live with me in their original names. it’s not like i don’t like to lead change, think differently, or i am not open minded. it just irks me that some family or some company pays more money so they can have their name etched into these chicago landmarks. yes, sears was named after sears robuck and co {the largest retailer at the time} but there is history behind it all. not just the fact that someone dumped money towards the building and says, “ok, we are now naming it blah, blah, blah”. ok, ok. enough venting.

we started our day with lunch at the french market. i love going there. there are so many fun little shops and yummy eats. we walked around trying to figure out what we all wanted to eat. we purchased the kid’s meals first and let them eat while all the adults mulled around, trying to figure out our palette of the moment.

[working the runway]

[sooooooo many delish goodies]

[my favvvvvvvvvv]

[i snapped this pic because of the above lights but now i find it funny because the three girls in the picture look like me and my sisters in a less sophisticated way. thuy is to the left, kim in the middle, and that would be me…yes, with the colored hair]

[love these little rug rats]

i decided to go with a vietnamese favorite, banh mi. unfortunately, it was an ok meal. there just wasn’t the right kick to it. my favorite banh mi is from ba le up in argyle or really, my aunt vuong’s banh mi. my aunt’s sandwich is the most delicious, hands down.

we walked around, i bought the kids candy and purchased some hot, freshly made sugared donuts for everyone to eat. i love going there on the weekends too because it’s so quiet. the market’s busy time is monday through friday {since it’s down by the train station}. so, on saturday, it’s chill and crowd free and you can casually walk around without waiting in line at any booth.

[banh mi]

[mowing down a hot dog]

[being all cute while we wait for our freshly made donuts]

after our little lunch fun at the french market, we headed down to fields on state for some holiday fun. we typically head to the eighth floor to see the tree in the walnut room. we snap some pics, relax on the sofas, and just chill for a bit before we head downstairs to their ornament room. we love going there to nab a few ornaments for our tree.

before we actually did all that fun stuff, the kids wrote their letters to santa. it was so cute. reagan was so serious about it and olive intently wrote hers with beautiful doodle marks. after their letters were dropped off in the mailbox to the north pole, we headed on up for some christmas tree fun.

[she was loving the felix in a box]

[writing letters to santa]

[in deep thoughts]

[hanging out on the ‘clean’ carpet]

we perused the different trees and we were trying to figure out what ornaments we wanted to buy. hc found his ornament right away! it was a glass red fire engine truck. of course! it was a perfect ornament. i thought – hmph…he scored a cool ornament right away. i looked and looked but i was having a hard time finding an ornament that i really liked. i finally walked into a room that they had in the far back and found a whole bunch of ornaments that i loved! give me a dessert ornament any day and call me a sucker! i chose an ice cream cone ornament as my decor of choice!

after we hit the ornament room, we cruised downstairs to grab a drink and a bite to eat. oh my…there was a line for everything! everything! i went to starbucks and it was quick to order but it took over 15 minutes to get my drink! bananas! anyhoo, after our stint downstairs where the restaurants were, we all decided to call it a night. we all gathered our treasures for the day and headed home.

it was a lovely day {the temp was amazing…60 degrees!}. we had a great time spending the day in the city with our family. it was fun, yummy, and festive. i love going downtown and seeing all the pretty christmas decor and experiencing the hustle and bustle of the chicago. it’s all part of the cray holiday season!

xoxo

santa

Posted on December 8, 2015 by tandem in love

last year’s visit with santa was successful yet unsuccessful. it was fun and interactive but olive’s time with santa was terrifying for her. alas, this year was no different! eep!

we arrived a few minutes late to our scheduled appointment time but santa’s house was running behind anyways. it was quite chilly out, so it was nice that we could wait inside until it was our turn to go on our adventure to visit santa.

olive was not having it. since she’s turned two, she has been so anti-crowds, anti-strangers. there were two other families waiting inside with us and olive did not want to be in there with them. she screamed, she shrieked, she wanted to go outside and be away from everyone. she kept saying, “outside! outside!” and pointed at the door. hc insisted that we stay put. i was upset because olive was upset and we couldn’t console her. she was screaming at the top of her lungs and these poor strangers had to listen to it!

within a minute or so, it was our turn to go on the adventure with santa. well, olive’s mood inside the waiting room set the tone for the rest of the event. ugh. she was so frustrated and upset throughout most of the tour. it was stressful and i all i wanted was for olive to enjoy the fun trip to the north pole! she did enjoy the interactive screens and part of the sleigh ride to the north pole {although there were some parts with the dragon that scared her!}. when she saw the dragon on the screen, she started crying and buried her face in my side. awww, poor thing!

we finally arrived at the north pole and we were waiting our turn to see santa! the whole week and time leading up to her visit, i tried my best to prep olive on the idea of santa claus. she recognized him and would point him out, so i was hoping that when she saw him in person, it would be a familiar face that she would be looking at!

hahaha. nope. what was i thinking?! that was a far fetched hope of mine! we walked into the room and immediately, she freaked out. she started whimpering and frantically clung onto me. santa stood up and said we could sit in the chair to take a family photo together. oh em gee. the look on olive’s face is hilarious. she was like, “i still know there’s a strange man behind me in a red suit.”

santa was a trooper. after a few family pics together, he was ready to take on olive. the photos captured are hilarious. i didn’t post them all but these are the best ones! there were a few more screaming poses, where olive looks like she’s fighting for her life but i felt like the two down below were the most descriptive of her visit with santa!

after our visit to the north pole to see santa, we were magically transported back to oakbrook center! haha! after our adventure, we decided to check out the christkindl mart to see what it’s all about. we perused the cute little shops and purchased some potato pancakes to munch on. they were deeeeeelish! yum! olive was most piggish over them, she became upset when hc or i tried taking a bite. what a little piggy! she insisted on having the last bite and after she did, she said, “all done!”. yeah, no kidding olive, all done alright miss piggy! ha!

[she was very unsure of what was going on and shrek scared her!]

[ready for a sleigh ride to the north pole!]

[we loved all the interactive screens for the kiddos]

[immediately, she was like, “who is this man in the red suit?! i don’t like.”]

[classic]

[santa was sooo good with her! actually, he was quite funny.]

[christkindlmarket at oakbrook]

[sooooooo yummy!]

after we walked around the christkindl mart for a bit, we decided to head home and get cozy for the rest of the evening! it was fun {well, maybe olive didn’t think it was as fun} and we really enjoyed our little festive evening together visiting santa. ho ho ho!

xoxo

tandem in love

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

Tag Archives: olive

it’s a girl!

watercolor valentine’s day cards

a lovely day together

january snapshots

casual day

blinging in the new year

wee christmas

christmas brunch

holiday downtown

santa