andrea and i were finally able to set a date for lunch. oh em gee…it was way, way too long overdue for a girly gab session with her!
hc and the gals headed to the grandparent’s house, so i had the morning and early afternoon to myself! that is such a rare thing for me! when I am at home, i always have olive, so to not have her is an odd thing for me. i’ve got to learn to appreciate my time without her {i mean, i do enjoy it but it’s not often so it’s not easy to acclimate}! i do love being with that little gal all the time!
i headed out and quickly cruised to the city. i met andrea at her house. we needed to go over some event planning {some future fun stuff in store} and fine tune some of the details involved. after our gab session and hashing out some great ideas, we headed out to brunch.
our choice to manger? the savoy. it was a beautiful day and we traipsed our way to the restaurant. none of us had ever tried this place so we were quite curious about it. we walked into some cool decor and we were seated right away.
[the menu]
[love the barstools]
[fresh daisies]
andrea and i ordered the same plate…the granola pancakes {yum}. of course we ordered a side of bacon with it {i love bacon!}! annndddd, to wash down all that food, i requested coffee and orange juice as well. a perfect brunch combination.
we conversed, caught up, and had a really good time. i love hanging out with these two! after brunch, we walked back to andrea’s place and then headed out to do some fun errands together.
[the wonderful couple]
[granola pancakes and bacon]
[my girl]
[coffee and juice…i love the juice glass it was served in]
after a few fabulous hours together, i headed back home. it was a wonderful time spent with these two wonderful people. i’m so happy we were finally able to catch up and spend some quality time together.
on my day off, i had made plans with matt to meet me for lunch. it so happened to be olive’s six month check up on this day as well.
so i packed the kids up and off we went to the city. it was a gorgeous day and traffic was light. a perfect combination. we found a close parking spot and walked our way to the restaurant. our place of choice was wishbone. hc and i love this restaurant, it’s yummy southern breakfasts are the best. matt had never eaten at this place! crazy to know because i have been eating here since the late 90’s!
[outfit of the day // zara baby shirt, cherokee pants]
we had just arrived at the restaurant when matt walked through the door. we were seated and perused the menu to decide on what to nosh on. grace went with the chocolate chip pancakes…of course {everything chocolate for her}! i chose the combo of two eggs and pancakes. yum! i devoured everything!
[wishbone]
[hanging out]
[sister love]
[eggs over easy, corn muffin, cheese grits, and pancakes]
matt and i caught up on the latest happenings in life. i’m so excited matt and johann are getting married in a few weeks. we talked about what they were planning and doing for the wedding. we seriously can’t wait! we love them and look forward to celebrating their marriage together.
after catching up and eating our delicious meals, matt walked with us to olive’s doctor’s appointment. leave it to me, again, to not even snap a picture of me and matt together! darn it! sometimes being with matt is like swirling around with the tasmanian devil! i get swept up in the whirlwind and forget my purpose!
[smirky selfie]
anyhoo, we trekked inside for olive’s check up. she was weighed and measured and then we waited. and waited for dr. perlman. she finally came and examined my little girl. all was good! i love dr. perlman…she is the sweetest and smartest lady! she is so wonderful with olive.
after her time with the doctor, we waited a little bit longer and then the nurse came in to give little olive her shots. yikes. baby girl had no idea. she was playing and smiling like a champ until the nurse came in and stabbed her twice! she shrieked and then got over it. awww, my cutie.
[at the doctor’s…not her favorite place but was definitely preoccupied and happy for a moment!]
we left the office and walked our way back to the car. i must admit, much to hc’s dismay, i am terrible with paying the meter. sometimes i do, sometimes i don’t, and most of the time i don’t repay, so there is the chance of me getting a ticket for an expired meter sticker!! eekkk. i do it all the time. so, as were walking back, i had no idea when the meter sticker expired! ha! that didn’t stop me from making a pit stop at starbucks with the kiddies!
[i think i have a starbucks problem]
we made a restroom stop, ordered drinks, and made our way to the car. not without forgetting the louis vuitton diaper bag at the starbucks! omg. we were at the car {no ticket btw…and it was expired by 45 minutes…hehehe} and i was ready to put olive into the car when i looked around and screamed, “omg, we left the diaper bag at starbucks!”. thank goodness is was only across the street! grace ran back in and grabbed it. phew!
besides forgetting to snap a picture of me and matt together and forgetting the diaper bag at the starbucks, our afternoon together was absolutely wonderful!
what a wonderful, beautiful day it was! it was so exciting to have olive’s baptism finally here. i was filled with so much anticipation!
i was a bit nervous if olive would get fussy. she does get temperamental sometimes {duh…like her momma!} and can get cranky. we had a lot going on that morning too. getting olive up, feeding her, getting her dressed, getting grace ready, me and the hubs finalizing our outfits, packing up our stuff, getting out the door on time, and picking up some last minute items along the way!
[olive’s beautiful, handmade baptism dress by tashina // it’s made out of french chantilly lace, silk charmeuse, and silk chiffon]
well, hc sped his way to the city, he was nervous we were going to be late, {something he never really does} and we got there on time {phew!}. our party was already there waiting outside of the church, we quickly greeted them and scurried inside so we could get olive changed into her beautiful baptism gown.
[our beautiful moms]
[could they be any cuter??]
[peonies]
[grandpa and the boys]
we changed olive into her baptism gown in the brides room {how fitting!}, left our belongings there, and traipsed our way into the church. we met up with all our guests in the front two reserved pews. everyone oohh’d and ahh’d over how adorbs olive was!
[dressing her in the baptism gown in the bridal room]
[olive in her gorgeous dress]
[generations adoring each other]
[our pretty little girl]
[prim and proper]
mass began and we started out in the procession. up went the alter boys, the liturgical ministers, us, the godparents, and then father ken. we bowed before the alter and walked up to stand beside the font. father ken came up and asked us what name do we give her and what we were asking for of God’s church today. after that, we were dismissed and walked back to our pew to be seated.
[here we go! rite of passage]
then right after the homily, we were asked to come up again to go through the rites of baptism for olive. father ken anointed her with oil, referenced the white garment, lit the baptism candle, and recited the prayer over ears and mouth.
then came the dunking moment…i chose to have olive fully immersed into the holy water. to closely replicate and reference what john the batiste did, according to the bible. during the homily, we stripped olive down and draped her in a white towel. once fr. ken finished asking the questions to the parish and us {ya know…the do we reject satan, etc.}, he reached for olive and pulled her out from the towel and fully dunked her into the font three times…in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit.
[getting ready for the holy water]
[full immersion!]
olive was in good spirits! she came back safely into my arms and the cozy towel. fr. ken finished the rites, olive was announced as the newest member of the church, the parish applauded, and we were seated. it was awesome! it was such a wonderful, special moment…i was so happy to share it with our church, so excited fr. ken performed the rite, and so proud to have kim and terry as olive’s godparents.
after church, we walked our way to the restaurant. it was only two blocks away! it was such a beautiful day, i couldn’t have asked for better weather. the temperature was perfect and the sun was shining so brightly!
we rented out a private room at d.o.c wine bar. it was spectacular. it was such a large space, there were couches and chairs, and a fireplace. a perfect space for the kids to run around and hang out. they had set up long tables for everyone to sit and eat. the bartender was so accommodating and the food was absolutely delicious. the whole wait staff there was fantastic.
i had purchased a cake and had it redecorated to an all white buttercream frosting. i made fun toppers for olive’s cake and fashioned pretty, blooming peonies onto the top of the fluffy, yummy cake. i loved how it turned out…so whimsy and cute!
[baptism cake]
[love these kiddies]
[love these two!]
[noshing]
[family first // missy, aunt wendy, john, jane, and dick]
[my fair ladies]
[the ladies!]
after everyone downed their tasty libations, noshed on yummy eats, and filled their bellies with sweet treats…we slowly parted ways. it was such a great morning and afternoon. we had a truly wonderful time celebrating olive’s baptism with our friends and family.
we trekked our way home to get into comfy clothes and relax. after a bit, we headed on over to my parent’s for dinner and olive’s aunties showered her with more gifts! her first tiffany gifts…so spoiled! i am so thankful to everyone for all the generous gifts she received…olive is so blessed to be so loved!
[olive’s goodies]
[olive’s first tiffany gifts]
[cousin love // tiffany galore]
we seriously had the most delightful day. it was so perfect – olive’s custom made gown, the beautiful ceremony, the wonderful weather, the delicious brunch, and the best part? we were able to celebrate it with our loving friends and family. i am so thankful for both our families…we are truly, truly blessed.
soooo on sunday funday mother’s day celebration…olive and i started the day lazily lounging in bed. i love this little peanut. hc got this momma another starbucks start! we relaxed together, that morning, before we headed to parker’s for a mother’s day brunch.
[morning selfie]
[watching videos together]
[morning pick me up]
we got ready and merrily went on our way to the restaurant. we pit stopped for some beautiful flowers for the famille at the grocery store. on our way there, the babes decided to take a little nap. how cute is she?!
[nap time before brunch]
[beautiful flowers for some beautiful ladies]
we arrived at our destination. it was a madhouse inside! whoa. dan was the first to get there and then boom…everyone was there, the whole family literally trickled in within seconds! we were seated right away and ready to eat! it was a brunch buffet, so we literally sat for a minute while the server took our drink orders and then we all scurried to the buffet tables, ready to fill up our little plates.
[kir royale…favorite drink]
[our coordinating outfits // olive is in little tots long sleeve onesie, gapkids pants, and hair clip by etsy]
[buttercream topped cupcakes, it was really good!]
[olive having a moment with uncle dan]
[olive having a smiley moment with her cousin]
[celebrating moms]
after brunch, we trekked our way home for a just a second to then head back out. we took my mom to a pretty little garden center so she could pick out flowers for the yard!
[flower shopping]
after that, we headed back home to my parent’s. we relaxed for a bit there before we headed back out to our home {ya know…that long car ride home we have}! of course, more work had to be done on our house, so wasting the day away is never an option!
[coffee break with my chunker munker]
overall, it was quite an amazing mother’s day. i am thankful for my beautiful mom, my wonderful husband, and my amazing daughter.
my first mother’s day could not have been better. i am so blessed to be a mom. i am so blessed to have such a loving mother. i am amazed that it was my first mother’s day and i am in awe that this little baby is ours…making it quite a special day for me. i still cannot believe that i am mom, it’s a milestone in my life that is a dream come true.
i know that i just rambled a bit. i wish i was more eloquent about it. i have so many thoughts and wonderful feelings around this…it’s hard to capture it all in words without spewing a lot of random phrases!
we celebrated my dad’s birthday on a beautiful, sunny sunday {common theme of late…i just can’t get enough of the sunshine right now}.
we all met up at pf chang’s, in lombard, for a birthday lunch in honor of our papa. little o was having a good ol’ time in her carseat before she got a little fussy. i had to then pull her out so she can get all nosey and see what was going on around her!
we ordered apps and waited for my parents to show up {um, the guest of honor was late!}. they finally did arrive, along with my lovely o voung. i love my aunt. she’s such a sweet, sweet lady. i was so happy she was there to celebrate with us!
[selfie at the restaurant]
[wearing their favorite hockey team]
[my two loves]
[olive being all melancholy]
after lunch, we invited everyone back to our place for cake and ice-cream! yay! my parents walked my aunt through our new house as i prepped for serving desserts! i purchased two yummy, yummy cakes from whole foods. a decadent carrot cake and a sweet vanilla cake to serve. we topped off each piece with either chocolate or vanilla ice-cream. nom nom.
so i am the worst picture taker ever on this day. i didn’t get to snap a photo of everyone who joined us in my dad’s birthday celebration {ya don’t see kim, terry, my mom, aunt, or thuy} and worst so…i didn’t even snap a pic of my dad! whaaat?!
anyhoo, it was a great day to celebrate my dad’s 77th birthday. happy birthday to the best dad ever.
soooo…i’m finally getting my easter post up! woo. woo.
easter definitely was a whirlwind. being smack dab in the middle of our move, it was a much needed, forced break for us. to make it even more amazing was the fact that it was 70 degrees outside!!! so beautiful! the sunshine was wonderful and always puts me in an even better mood!
we traipsed our way downtown to zed451 to meet up with the fam for a delicious easter brunch {ah, missing the city life already}. it was the immediate famille and terry’s sister, lynne, her son patrick, and their mom barbara who joined us for this fabulous holiday!
[easter basket chaos // first easter bunny rattle from aunt missy]
[ta da! the final products for the kiddos!]
[my little lamb]
[ready to go!]
i really enjoyed the brunch at the restaurant, it was tasty, and very diverse in their selection of foods. their kale salad was amaze {i could have taken the whole plate to our table and eaten only that}. the cinnamon roll was sweet, fresh, and gooey. the offerings of meats were endless {brazilian steak house style}. there were lots and lots of decadent choices of accrouments to nosh on.
i love food. it makes me happy…i dislike being hungry and i will always try something new and different. i am so perplexed by people who are so steadfast in their limited, narrow choices of food. for me, life revolves around eating {savor the flavors of the earth!}, drinking, and family! there should be no limitations on ingredients, just personal exploration to really take it all in and enjoy all of your senses.
[chambray world]
[my little easter bunny]
[awesome cinnamon roll // olive with the boys, she’s staring adoringly at her uncle terry]
[sister love // bloody mary loving]
[thuy and dan]
[kim and olive // mini boden dress and tights]
[the beautiful sunshine]
[drinking beer with daddy]
after a wonderful brunch with the famille, we headed back to our house before we drove that long car ride over to my parent’s {hehe…it’s like a one minute & thirty second drive 😉 so, before we did that, we pit stopped at the home depot {we were surprised that they were open on easter}, our new favorite store, and purchased some house goods. during that field trip, our little sweet olive fell asleep…what doll.
[since we were in the middle of a move, we did a pit stop at the home depot before heading to the p’s. olive decided to nap 🙂 ]
we did an outfit change, when we arrived home, {comfy clothes, here we come} and sped our way to my parent’s house. there we had a wonderful dinner together and the kiddies received their easter baskets.
[reagan and olive]
[gift basket exchange]
[olive’s basket from kim, thuy, r + b]
[her adorbs doll // her cutie outfits]
[how cute?!]
[the aftermath]
the entire day was just wonderful. we had such a great time celebrating easter with our families! blessed be this day of love.
my dear friend dana and i planned a quick afternoon date.
she is hosting seder this year at her new home, so she’s been working hard and practicing her cooking skills for the upcoming dinner at her place. we felt very honored that dana had invited us to experience seder with her and her family. hc and i are super, super bummed because we can’t go. so sad! it happens to fall on a day that we have a zillion things planned and it cannot be cancelled. boo. we are very sad that we will be missing out this wonderful event. the food sounds delicious…brisket {slow cooked by dana’s dad!}, zeroah {lamb}, matzo, maror {horseradish}, karpas {vegetable/celery/parsley}, eggs, red wine, & lots of desserts. her friends and family will all be there and we will miss out on this special religious occasion and all the wonderful food!
[olive cried every time dana tried to hold her!!!]
dana trekked on over to our place and toted her homemade matzo ball soup with her so we could taste test her creation. she warmed up the soup on the stove and served me a bowl. i was waiting in anticipation to try it! yum. it was delicious! it was flavorful and filling. the matzo was very dense and had soaked in the broth; with each bite, every mouthful of matzo was tasty and savory. i felt very special to be taste testing her handmade creation for a very important occasion in her life!
[the delicious matzo ball soup {huge matzo!} // so good]
after the matzo ball soup, we noshed on some cubbie donuts. yes, you read that right. cubbie donuts. dunkin donuts partnered with the cubs and created a donut to support their cubs charity! how awesome is that?! i love doughnuts. that was our sweet treat after lunch. they were so scrumptious. every bite was like heaven in my mouth.
[the cubbie donut…only sold in chicago-land dunkin’ donuts, for a limited time, to support the cubs charity!]
after eating, we just hung out and caught up on life’s latest happenings. dana had a jnf meeting to get to mid afternoon, so after hanging out for a bit, she had to go. so sad. olive and i were having a great time with her! well, we were so excited to have tried her matzo ball soup and hc was super excited to have a pot of soup waiting for him at home!
on my day off, olive had a doctor’s appointment at noon, so that left some room to meet up with the darling dana for a early afternoon brunch.
we went to olive’s sweet pediatrician, dr. perlman, for her four month check up {best doctor ever}. ugh, i had forgotten that she was due for her immunization! poor babes…she just has a freak out when she gets her shots. but she did good 🙂
after her appointment, we rushed to meet dana. olive’s appointment took longer than expected and dear dana was already waiting for us. we quickly found a parking spot {score!} and ran inside. of course, we decided to brunch at southport grocery! one of our favorite spots!
i had to order the baked oatmeal again. feeling a little obsessed with it of late. dana and i were on a feeding rampage. we were feeling like our stomachs were bottomless pits, so therefor we ate a lot of food and we were still hungry!!! nom.nom.nom.
olive was awake for the beginning of the meal and then decided to doze off and take a little nappy nap for the rest of the dana date.
after brunch, dana and i decided to get ourselves some starbucks. we stopped by my car and assembled the stroller to take a little walk on this beautiful, cool, sunny day. the sun was shining and that was all that mattered. it put a smile on our faces. dana wanted to push the stroller, so that turned into a very slow walking pace! she was worried that the bumps and cracks would disturb olive! ha! that baby can sleep through anything!
after our coffee run, we perused a few more shops and then said our goodbyes. i was a little sad to be going home {i really wanted to walk outside some more, but olive needed to wake up and get a feeding}, i did want to enjoy the beautiful sunshine a little longer, c’est la vie.
[olive looking up at her momma]
[baby gear and food choices]
[decisions, decisions, decisions]
[yum oh yumminess // baked oatmeal and bacon]
[hiiiii…just chillin’ with my girls]
overall, it was a wonderful day with my baby girl. we had a swell time together on this lovely day! cheers to sunny days off!
we celebrated jodi’s birthday at a restaurant called hutch. it happened to be st. patrick’s day weekend, so it was in fact a madhouse of an evening {the streets and sidewalks were littered with drunken wannabe irish species}.
i scurried home from work, rushing to feed olive, and then get ready myself, with very little time to spare. we were already running behind and with it being a holiday weekend, there was a lot of traffic. we finally got to our destination {being very late!} and joined the already engaged group of peeps.
i was very excited to spend some time with this lovely group, it’s very rare that we get to see all of them at once. i love jodi and her friends, they are a great bunch of people.
we jubilantly conversed, imbibed a slew of alcohol, and mingled with one another. after a bit {and a few drinks}, we finally ordered our entrees. we had a lot of fun; sharing stories, laughing over silly things, and doting over our children! jodi, myself, sarah, and kim all have children that are one year or younger! so, it’s a lot of fun to compare notes and show each other tons of pictures!
i sat next to matt, jodi’s husband…i love the guy, a really great dude. i love how comical he is and what a sweetie he is to his family. jodi and matt are probably the most calm, docile, happy go lucky couple i know! i feel very blessed to have them in our lives!
[oh…the whoas of picture taking. jodi closes her eyes and i last minute avoid that darn flash]
[hutch…american classics]
[jodi, sarah, and kim]
[oh so good // burger and fries]
[jon, nikki, and jodi]
[hc, moi, and matt]
[snickers pie]
after consuming a lot of fries {thanks for sharing jod!} and my delicious burger, we ordered dessert {totally unnecessary but in order for the birthday celebration}. the snickers pie was to die for. decadent, rich, and sweet as can be! yum. yum.
we wrapped up with our tab and said our goodbyes to trek out in the snowy night {yes, a lot of snow, again}. it was a good time with everyone…a much needed evening out for hc and me {our first time leaving olive with the nanny for a date night! yay!}. we relished in being baby free for the evening but of course, we rushed home and couldn’t wait to see our sweet baby girl!
irina and i met through work years ago. she has a son, alex, and for years, i always bugged her about having another child. she constantly retorted with ‘only when you have a baby!’. well, we ran into each other last summer at dana’s birthday party and i was pregnant with olive. i then finally got to harass her about having her second child!
little did we know she got pregnant right after that with a baby girl! so, now we are going to have little baby girls together and some fun play dates in the near future!
i was quite excited to receive her french themed baby shower invite in the mail. i couldn’t wait to see the beautiful momma in her full glorious pregnant state.
dana picked me up and off we went to revel in the festivities of girly goodness. she had her baby shower held at eiffel bistro in barrington. the decor was precious…lots of tulle, pink, paris, and sweetness all around the private party room.
[the delicious french menu // the pretty centerpiece]
[the weird baby pin i found really cute]
[part of the baby games, wearing pearls…if you said the word baby or crossed your legs, you had to give up your pin or pearls]
[dana at her second baby shower ever…her first was mine!]
we ate delicious food, drank a lot of sparkly pink lemonade, and noshed on decadent morsels of desserts. it was a fabulous time; we had a lot of fun with all the games, getting to know her other friends, and spending some quality time with the lovely irina.
[macarons and creme brûlée]
[with the girl of the hour…irina!]
we are so excited for your new addtion to the family! we can’t wait to meet the beautiful baby girl!
{not even one week after irina’s shower, she gave birth to emma nicole!! congrats to her and her family!}
