we decided that brunch at wishbone was a must. it had been awhile since we ate there and the day looked promisingly lovely, so to the restaurant we went! o and i were at home waiting for hc {from work} and thuy to come over. once they arrived we headed on out.
it, as usual, was too cold downtown. darn that lake. on a day that could reach 65 degrees in the outlying areas, it will be 15 degrees cooler closer to the lake. ugh. anyhoo, we got there and waited only a few minutes before we were seated. we had a super outgoing, charismatic server {which always makes for a fun dining out experience}.
i love wishbone…i’ve been eating at this place {the first experience was the one on ashland} for a long, long time. it’s yummy southern style breakfast and it always hits the spot. i ordered waaayyyy too much food for olive. i thought that the kids side dishes would be small but they were full side portions {hey, it was on the kids menu…so i thought…}. i ordered her a pancake with fruit, a side of potatoes, & a side of sausage. i wanted her to have a variety but thank goodness hc polished it off, so it wasn’t wasted. 🙂
after brunch, we were interested in the idea of walking around, maybe at 900, and shopping but we just weren’t up to it because of the cold temps and wind. so we actually went home instead.
[we are excited to eat at wishbone]
[selfie fun at wishbone]
[being clingy with daddy]
[loving her strawberry lemonade {it’s really thuy’s lemonade}]
[biscuits and gravy with eggs over easy]
it was a fun afternoon outing at a favorite place to eat. i’m glad we got out to enjoy a bit of the sunny weather on this fine day. happy times!
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!
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!
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!
it was a calm, snowy morning. we were waiting for olivia and aaron to swing on by for a morning brunch at our house. so, {a little bit about miss} olivia is always so tardy for everything. aaron had committed to a brunch time of 11am, naturally, we didn’t expect them until noon {because olivia is always soooo late!}. well, eleven o’clock rolled on up and i had just put olive down for a nap, finally got myself dressed for the day, and i was helping hc set up for our brunch when the doorbell rang. whaaaaa?!!!! they were on time?! holy cow! i will credit mr. aaron for getting to our place on time, he said he was the one who committed to the time promised and by golly, he was going to fulfill it. oh, how i love him for that!
thank goodness we were ready!
hc was just finishing up the last dish and we got down to business. he had made a delicious quiche and hash for brunch. we served lots of coffee, beer {yes, beer for the boys}, optional berry mimosas, fruit, and cinnamon rolls to top off our menu. it was so good. yes, it was. i’m so lucky to have such an amazing cook of a hubby!
[olive finally letting olivia be near her]
[delicious quiche, hash, and fruit]
after brunch, we just hung out. it was pretty awesome to have them over. it was quite chill and relaxing. olivia and i ‘gossiped’ {according to aaron 😉 } and the boys talked shop and talked shop and talked shop. oh, these two will definitely be boys together. it’s kind of funny…olivia and i fall into such girly gossipy roles {um, we love our long talks!} and our two men will be such gearheads and exchange a bunch of jargon non stop. honestly, though, lately it feels like i never have enough time with my dear olivia! i do miss our girl time together when we would talk for hours on end. no joke, get us together and we can jibber jabber like no other! oh how i miss those days.
[the boys chillin’ with olive || it was a pajama morning for her]
[tickle tickle]
[pouty face]
[always making a mess]
[i love baby pigtails]
[the group trying to get in on a pic with olive…she was like ‘nope’]
after a few hours of hanging out, olivia and aaron headed on out. they had lots to do for their upcoming week! it was incredibly awesome that they had come out to our place for brunch {and vice versa…we love going to the city to see them!}. we love, love hanging out with these two and adore them both so much. such a great couple and of course i heart olivia to bits. she’s such a sweetheart.
it was definitely a wonderful morning brunch. cheers!
i was excited to see kim and brady, it had been a few months since i saw them {at olive’s first birthday party}. we set up a date and decided upon a mid morning brunch…that meant skipping olive’s usual morning nap. i’ve only done it twice before and twice was it a disaster. well, okay not a total disaster but you can definitely tell when the babes doesn’t get her usual morning nap. she does get grhhummpyyy!
we met kim and brady at wild berry; we had met in the area, at the adjoining restaurant once before. it was when kim was on maternity leave and i was pregnant! it was a short wait to be seated…our pager went off within minutes and we were led into the dining area, to the back. they had high chairs for the wee ones that were really short. the kiddies kind of sat below the table line versus at it or above it. kim and i both commented on it…it was just that the babes were trying to see over all the ‘stuff’ on the table, so it was a bit difficult for them to look at each other!
anyhoo, we just started gabbing and gabbing. we started off with drinks and fruit for the kiddos but didn’t bother to peruse the menu. the server came by and we had her come back another time so we could look over the selection and decide on something.
kim and i talked about all sorts of stuff. i love that we are still friends and in touch! we have known each other for 4 1/2 – 5 years?? it’s so crazy to see it in writing…that it’s already been that long, and sometimes it seems like we just met but no, we’ve been ‘single’, engaged, married, and now we are mamas!
i love that we can connect on soooo many things…it’s great when you can share ideas, frustrations, and happy stuff with a friends and feel comfortable doing so. kim shared some amazing news with me! i am super delighted about the big announcement and look forward to the progression! life is good. life is great!
[hiiii brady]
[my babes]
[kim and brady]
it’s so interesting when you hang out with your friends with babes. it’s {obvs} all about them! we constantly fed them, obliged to their grunting, and did our best to entertain them if they were fussy. olive was eventually dunzo with sitting in her highchair and so i pulled her out and she walked back and forth, back and forth between the tables, crawled under her high chair a few times {my cat baby} and sat underneath it for a bit, and then she would eventually crawl back out and circle around again. it’s amaze that we can even hold a conversation with each other with all the distractions that we face when we are with them!
we finished up our meal {um, i walked away realizing i ate pretty much nothing!}, paid the bill, and headed out. i knew the little babes was going to knock out with a nap in the car. we said our goodbyes, it was too adorbs what happened next {i wished i snapped some pics!}! we put brady and olive down next to each other and told them to hug each other and give a kiss. almost a full make out session ensued! they hugged and kissed and kissed each other. oh em gee…i almost died from the cuteness! that was the best. a sweet little entertaining ending to our fun brunch date!
as always, i get super excited to meet up with my darling dana. we both had prior commitments {conference call, possible venue searching, and a doctor’s appointment} but we don’t let that stop us from getting together! the good news is that everything else fell through and it was just going to be a me, dana, and olive day! i love how that happens. i told dana that i love how we are so busy but we will always squeeze in time for each other and the cards will all fall into place. natch.
so we met up at our usual place and ordered our usual breakfast’s, and did our usual thing. chit chat chit chat chit chat. we all sat together on the same booth, with olive in-between us. it was perfect. she was trapped, i could pay attention to them both, it was easy to feed her, keep her comfortable, and enjoy myself {because she’s content}.
[plethora of beverages]
[hey, i’m just chilling]
[always soooo serious]
[the southern aka the usual]
we hung for a bit at the restaurant. it was nice to just take our time, relax, and be on our own schedule. we did our typical walk over to anthropologie after brunch, we perused the racks, checked out the sale, and then moseyed along to our cars to head to our next destination. we decided we would spend the rest of our date at target. woooo!
[juice drinking maniac]
[shopping our favorite store // olive loved riding shotgun just like this…so safe!]
after i changed her diaper and fed her, she was a running fool! she did.not.want.to.be.in.the.cart. she just ran everywhere. she’s a fast little devil. i was trying to shop but i was basically just chasing after her! she was too cute. she would slightly touch everything but not mess anything up. she would run up and down aisles and she ooh’d and ahh’d over everything at her eye level. i was amused just watching her.
[so chic, oh baby olive fashion]
[keeping up with her]
[mean mugging at starbucks]
after an hour or so in target, olive was spent. she had the tiniest, tiniest morning nap and she was not happy by the end of our shopping trip. she was dunzo. it was time to strap her into the cart seat and have her go down for another nap. and so it was. i have to add in that it was not very easy to get there. {my next ten minutes goes like this} she was screaming, wouldn’t let dana watch her so i could use the restroom, i kept losing track of my stuff due to her fussiness distracting me {where is my phone? where is my wallet? stuff you shouldn’t lose track of!}, dana and i then spilt my venti coffee all over our cart and into my shopping bag {ugh!}, and when we finally got to my car, her car seat seat belt was all twisted {and i couldn’t get it untangled!} and my baby girl was screaming in her seat! oy…what a debacle. it was not the kind of end to our date that i wanted! i shooed dana away with a big hug and proceeded to tackle the seat belt with success. score: seat belt 0 – moi 1.
we finally drove off {phew!} and little olive was out within five minutes. she was a tired little peanut. all in all, it was quite a wonderful morning/afternoon with our lovely miss dana. muwah!
matt and i have been dodging each other for some time. ya know, life’s busy schedule has caused us to miss each other each week. so, we finally got a day to ourselves and we were able to set up a brunch date!
we decided to meet up at the bongo room. a favorite brunch spot of mine. olive and i got there first. as usual, the wait was long…ugh. not the greatest when you have a little one. matt got there a few minutes after us {looking super dapper} and we contemplated on going to another place but in the end, i preferred to keep our wait with the bongo room.
so, we strolled our way up the street to get some coffee at…guess…starbucks! you guessed right! we walked back to the restaurant and chit chatted outside until the hostess called us for a table.
i love wicker park. *sigh* it was such a beautiful day to be out and olive and i had the best time strolling around. i really do miss the city. sometimes it makes me sad. i love the density, the chaos, the culture, the hipsters, the boutiques, the ah-maze restaurants. i do feel fortunate i am able to visit it every week and that most of my friends are still living there! thank goodness for that!
[silly rabbit // striking a pose at our favorite coffee place]
[nice look olive]
we were seated in a booth…score! i love sitting in a booth at the bongo room and it’s a rarity to get one. especially if you are a party of two. well, this time we were a party of 2.5, so we scored a booth!
olive was a happy camper {for a moment} sitting in her booster and eating cereal puffs. she eventually had her super fussy moments, but more on that later. so, matt and i got down to business. matt just spurred on and on and on about life, work, life, work, life, work. i just adore him. he is such a dear friend of mine and i am fortunate that we have kept our friendship strong throughout all these years.
we were set to order, he was a good boy and ordered a salad; whereas i was a bad girl and ordered the oreo pancakes. so decadent, sweet, and delicious. annnnndd, a side of bacon. duh! of course i did! my post pregnant hips and tummy protested but my taste buds won the fight. so, yes. i consumed the monstrous pile of sugar and fat. mmmmm, every bite was well worth it. hee.
[such a cool interior]
[decadent]
during lunch, olive was getting super, super fussy. baby girl skipped her morning nap {mistake! huge mistake} and started to have a fussy meltdown. she whimpered and cried. she was. so. tired. she threw everything on the floor, shrieked, and rubbed her eyes.
unfortunately our brunch date was short lived. i wanted to hang out longer but olive disagreed. matt and i said our goodbyes and parted ways on this gorgeous day. i quickly nursed olive in the car, put her in the car seat, and before the car even moved, she was out. she passed right out. thank goodness! she definitely needed her much delayed shut eye. and that was the ending of our brunch date with mr. matt.
our morning started off very sweet. olive and i had our wonderful snuggle session and after that, i got a lot done around the house while olive played in the living room. cleaning and organizing, two of my favorite things to do {yeaahh, that’s right…boo ya}.
i put her down for her morning nap {as usual, she went down later than expected} and after she woke, we scurried on our way to meet dana for brunch. we were cruising but as soon as we hit the city, traffic was a mess. they closed down part of congress, so we had to detour down michigan ave. {yuck!!}. who the heck would ever drive down michigan avenue if you had a choice?! what a hot mess. we slooooowly drove down the avenue until we hit lsd. phew. finally! once we were on lsd, we cruised to our destination.
we had decided on brunch at mhenry’s. oh, how i love this place. it’s yummy and good. it’s a quaint little restaurant tucked away in andersonville. they seriously have the best pancakes {ok, it’s tied with the bongo room}, amongst other delicious breakfast/lunch items.
i parked the car and we ran towards the restaurant {eekkk! we were so late!}.
finally, we were reunited with our darling dana! we settled in and excitedly started our gab session. dana was so happy to see olive! she’s not a baby person at all but she adores little miss olive. so much so, we joke around how olive is really her baby ’cause dana loves, loves asian babies {well, at least, in this case half asian!}.
[my cutie pie]
i was totally feeling like an egg and bacon breakfast. so, a tasty omelet was in order. it also came with potatoes and fruit. annndd to wash it all down, i had ordered a mix of orange and grapefruit juice {my favoreeete, yum}.
[orange/grapefruit juice, leeks/dandelion/ scallion omelet, and a side of bacon]
[oh, she’s soooo silly]
well, here came the real test. dana has been so jelly of kt + kar‘s connection with the babes. olive, from the get go, has loved being in their arms and totes lets them hold her. hmmm, dana, not so much. every time, i mean every time dana has tried to hold miss olive, she has had a melt down. click right here and here for some proof.
after brunch, dana was ready to go. she was ready for the challenge. she was ready to hold miss olive and not have her cry! i passed little o over and ta da!! magic. miss olive was calm as could be. dana was super delighted and happy to be holding olive without her crying! so, of course, i went picture cray. yay! her bad spell had passed and olive was a happy babes in her arms!
[dana sUPer ecstatic that she is holding o and o isn’t crying!!]
[closing the place down]
[yum fresh baked cookies…i got mexican wedding cookies for myself and chocolate chip for dana!]
after brunch, we had a bit of time, so we walked over to gethsemane to peruse some of their flowers, plants, and october goodies. i wanted to get a head start with some fall decorating, so dana and i picked out a few fun pumpkins for the house.
[going to gethsemane flower shop]
after walking around the beautiful garden center, i purchased a bunch of cute little pie pumpkins {plus some white, some striped, and some gourds} and we parted ways. dana needed to get herself to a jnf meeting and i needed to get home {and olive needed her afternoon nap!}. it was a wonderful and successful afternoon spent with our darling dana. olive is her new bestie and we can’t wait to see her again soon!
there was so much going on {ya know, life!} between me and jodi, we were lucky to finally set up a brunch date together!
my morning started off swell but the rain really, really put a damper on my start out the house! ugh, yucky rain…when it does rain, oh my, it slows everyone down on the road {more on that later}.
first off, i thought it was going to be warm out. nope. i walked outside and turned around to change my outfit, again. it was chilly! so that slowed me down. i was constantly forgetting something of olive. oy vey. whether it was her toy, her snacks, or her {just kidding!}, that slowed me down. well then, i was already having a late start out the house and i needed to do a few errands before i met up with jodi. no bueno already.
i knew i was going to be late, so i text jod to give her the heads up. of course, traffic was sloooooooww. everyone drives like there is ice on the streets! hello. it wasn’t even raining anymore but the trouble it causes! so, as i made my way into the city, inner city traffic was just as bad. i needed to hit river north to stop by my salon to pick something up. then i needed to make my way into lincoln park to pick something up from boka. that. took. forever. i finally made it to the restaurant, wishbone, just a few minutes after jodi and jett showed up!
then the cuteness began! they were soooo adorbs together. jett kept saying ‘baby! baby!’. then he wanted to hold her hand. *sigh* you just wanted to melt looking and listening to these two babes. cutie jett wanted to give olive all his food…which of course, olive would take in a heart beat but she wasn’t allowed to eat it. i’m going to wait a bit before i feed olive tortilla chips 😉
[they were just toooooo adorbs together!!]
[scrunchy face]
jodi and i immediately started to catch up on all the latest news. i was super duper excited for her and matt, they had just bought a house! our lives have been almost mirror images of one another, just months apart in succession. she got engaged, then i got engaged, she got married, then i got married, she got pregnant, then i got pregnant, i bought a house, then she bought a house. we love sharing our experiences together and celebrating the good bits and working out the tough ones.
[our two cuties!]
we made sure we perused the menu and decided on our orders before we dove deep into our conversations. i chose the yankee scramble…it was soooo delish! and the bacon was amaze {amaze}. there was so much food, i couldn’t finish it all or rather, you shouldn’t eat this much food?!
[sooooo good]
after eating and talking for an hour or so, we packed up our things and headed out. jodi and jett had a commitment to attend to in the ‘burbs and i had olive’s doctor’s appointment down the street.
it was too cute, jett really wanted to push the stroller so push he did! we were in stitches on how stinkin’ cute it was to see him push olive down the street. he couldn’t see, he had no idea where he was going with that stroller, but he sure did a great job getting that stroller down the street!
oh, it was such a cute afternoon {despite the crazy road rage to get there!} and i was super happy to have met up with jodi and cutie jett. i love these two, the little bugger is so darling!
it turned out to be a beautiful afternoon and olive and i enjoyed our sunny walk to her doctor’s appointment. i love walks, i love sunny days, and i love being with my little olive. oh happy day.
