happy love day to everyone!
may your day be filled with hugs, kisses, sweet treats, pretty flowers, smiles, and love.
olive wishes you to have a wonderful, happy, fun valentine’s day!
[i’m trying to smile, despite what mommy makes me wear]
[i’m so stinkin’ cute…or so what mommy says all the time]
[am i done yet?!]
life is too short. tell someone you love them today!
xoxo
finally, i made valentine’s day treats for my darling nephews!
first, i made s’more packages for them. i created labels on craft paper that said, ‘everyday i love you s’more’. i had purchased hershey’s bars, peeps pink marshmallows hearts, and organic graham crackers for the fun contents inside.
i filled each bag with lip and heart sprinkles {fun element}, placed the ingredients inside, and sealed the bags with the labels. i then placed felt hearts on each label as final touches to the festive packages! ta-da…valentine’s day s’more treats. a yummy, festive, edible gift anyone would love!
[lovely tasty ingredients]
[voila! final product ♥]
[awww, everyday i love you s’more too!]
next treat? a box full of goodies! i purchased these precious boxes from the dollar section at target {love that area!}, found a few fun toys to fill the present up with, and stuffed the bottom of the box with soft pink tissue paper to add to the festive packaging. i love all the bright colors and fun patterns.
i filled the colored patterned glassine bags full of conversation hearts and wrapped each bag with twine to seal it shut. each box contained a fuzzy pom alien, a squeeze toy, tattoos {they are nutty about tattoos!}, silly putty, candies {nut free, of course}, and their bag of s’mores!
[aerial view!]
i had so much fun making these little gifts for the boys. it’s always a joy for me to have time to create and get crafty!
i’ll add a few more surprise trinkets and voila! valentine’s day gifts for r + b! yay!
i hope you are scheming up some great ideas for valentine’s day. i have a dozen more creative things i want to do! there’s never enough time in the day or week! whether it’s a yummy dinner recipe, a crafty gift, or a sweet treat surprise! happy day to creativity!
xoxo
so, valentine cupcakes were next up on the list!
cupcakes. moist, yummy, delicious, sweet cupcakes! just your typical mix, festive liners, sprinkles, and trimmings.
i wanted the cupcakes to be trimmed with sweet fluffy frosting, fun heart sprinkles, and cute festive adornments! i truly desired to pipe the frosting {looks more professional, non?} but unfortunately, i did not have enough frosting to do so. boo. so i used a small spatula to spread the frosting on each cupcake instead. i sprinkled each cupcake with the most adorable heart sprinkles {they are so cute!} and topped off each one with a sugar candy heart envelope or a conversation heart! voila! my fun, sweet, festive, holiday cupcakes.
i couldn’t wait to devour them once i was done decorating!
[mix it up]
[decorating]
[milk and cupcakes]
[eat up!]
next up? sweet treats for my nephews!
stay tuned!
xoxo
reasons why i love valentine’s day.
[my pinterest board]
1. it’s such a fun, bright holiday in the middle of a dreary season.
2. the occasion is a great reason to dress up!
3. there are so, so many yummy treats to eat.
4. i can make fun crafty things.
5. dressing olive up in cute garbs.
6. making fun gifts for my nephews.
7. decorating our place.
8. baking sweet festive cupcakes.
9. watching romantic movies.
10. celebrating love!
what are your sweet reasons to love on this valentine’s day?!
xoxo
it’s always fun to peruse the stores and web for fun valentine’s day goodies. valentine’s day comes at a perfect time in this dreary winter. it brings bright colors and fun goodies to our lives!
i loved valentine’s day as a kid. it was fun, exciting, and sweet! i loved, loved getting valentine’s day cards at school. it was fun collecting them and seeing how cute they all were. of course, it was a joy to decorate your own valentine’s day mailbox! finding the perfect empty shoe box and cutting out your own designs from the red, white, and pink construction paper, making it as pretty and lacy as possible! best part of valentine’s day at school?! having a party at the end of the day, eating home baked cookies that were brought in from a few classmate’s moms, and going home with a lot of sweet treats!
looking at all the cute valentine’s day decor had me reminiscing! below are a few cute, sweet items i found for the upcoming holiday!
little girl’s dress from etsy // pbk plates // pugs n kisses from etsy // vintage cupid decor from etsy // pbk valentine’s day mailbox
how adorbs is this dress? unfortunately, it doesn’t come in little baby sizes but i couldn’t help but crush on it a little bit! i want to buy this, for when olive gets a little bit older.
i love, love these vintage style plates from pottery barn kids. the designs are so whimsy and festive. so adorbs and perfect for a holiday table, topped with sweets!
these sweet treats are perfect for anyone on valentine’s day. yummy, cute decorated sugar cookies are always a great gift for anyone, like for myself 😉
a little vintage cupid would be perfect floating around the window, shooting his arrows at strangers, playing matchmaker! i found this on etsy, i’m such a sucker for vintage, chintzy looking decor {mixed in with modern pieces, of course, to balance out the look} for the holidays.
i am in love with this item! the pbk envelope is so absolutely darling! perfect for olive to receive little love notes from her admirers!
there you go! just a few favorite picks of the season!
xoxo
happy chinese new year everyone!
i recall celebrating chinese new year every year with a big party at church! there was always a lot of food {yummy banh mi sandwiches}, decorations, games {gambling, anyone?!}, and generous red envelopes for us kiddies! that was my favorite part…receiving those little red envelopes filled with money. i loved collecting them and would get excited getting a present from anyone! my o vuong would always give me a gift on new years every year…i was always filled with anticipation to see her, knowing i’d receive a pretty little gold and red pouch stuffed with a fun surprise inside! such sweet memories!
may the year of the horse bring y’all good luck, love, happiness, longevity, wealth, and prosperity!
happy spring festival to all!
xoxo
happy new year! wow, 2014!
here’s to an amazing year past. 2013 was full of joy, laughter, love, family, friends, and many blessings! the most joyous event of the year? our baby girl olive! finding out i was pregnant since february and being on this journey almost this entire past year has been eye opening, life changing, and miraculous.
i love seeing the glass half full all the time, so any bumps in the road this past year has truly been for the better…learning from your mistakes, forgiving others or yourself, do something better for anyone, and try, try again.
thank you for my family, thank you to my family. my greatest support system. through trials and turbulence, family will always be there no matter what. i am blessed to have this through the doan’s and the heintz’s. two wonderful families, truly special people…hc and i are so fortunate to be surrounded by such strong foundations.
thank you to my friends who always stand by me. they are the most amazing people and i am lucky to be surrounded by such good people. as life goes on, it’s good to have some solid peeps in there.
///
we spent our new year’s eve with friends and family. we trekked our way out in this crazy weather to have dinner at rpm. i loved the ambience and the food was delicious! so freakin’ yummy.
[don’t mind me a glass of presecco]
[our artsy, dramatic attempt]
we settled in at the bar, waiting for the rest of our party to arrive. it’s great when you live 10 minutes away and no one is really on the road! we ordered drinks and conversed our time away. since everyone was running a bit behind {holy snow!}, we decided to order apps. we had the smoked salmon crostini, prime beef meatballs, gnocchi alla romana, and the crispy ravioli. small bites that were way too small ’cause every morsel was so yummy, i wanted more!
[the ladies bedazzled for the evening…obviously i don’t know which direction to look at]
anyhoo, our party finally got there {phew! safe and sound!}, and we were seated! yay! and away we went with our over consumption of food for the evening!
[festive attire // dress – last season’s akira]
we ordered a whole bunch of plates to share. i loved tasting all the different flavors. we then moved onto desserts…i had the tartufo, so decadent!
[our pasta course // my yummy tartufo]
it was a snowy, wintery night for a new years’s eve celebration.
After dinner, we headed back home to ring in the new year with olive and hc’s family.
[midnight kiss]
on new year’s day, we celebrated with a fun breakfast. Complete with sparkles, mimosas, and lots o coffee! it was a perfect beginning to a fabulous new year!
[our new year’s table spread!]
[starting off the new year right…family and a super yummy breakfast by hc]
[olive’s one month birthday cake]
papa insisted on having cake for olive’s one month. ask and you shall receive. i love a good ol’ home baked cake!
cheers!
xoxo
happy new year’s eve my lovlies!
here’s a blast from the past. it’s us on the eve of 2012 ready to ring in 2013!!! my what a year it has been!
we celebrated at gt fish and oyster with our friends and family last year. it was a delicious meal…entree after delicious entree. gluttony at it’s best. we started our feasting at 10pm and giddily rang in the new year at the restaurant with lots o hollering and noise!
[2013]
[the sassy gals]
[dana and moi always matching in something, as usual]
[bex and james, who live in seattle, celebrating with us!]
farewell to a fantastic 2013 and hello to a fabulous 2014! i wish for everyone health, happiness, love, and many blessings for the coming new year.
happy new year everyone!!!
“should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne?
for auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.”
xoxo
on christmas day, we ventured out into woodstock to visit olivia!
she was in town with her boyfriend aaron {they currently live in florida} and i was so excited to be able to see her! we had planned on going over to her parent’s house {can you believe that i’ve known olivia for 6+ years and i have never met her parents or her brother henry?!} and hang out on christmas day.
we slept over at hc parent’s house due to our logistics that day. we got up and aunt wendy so kindly cooked us a christmas pancake breakfast! she makes some really delicious cakes! also, dick opened his gift from jane…she commissioned a canvas wrapped collage of olive pictures!
[cute canvas wrapped collage of olive]
we gathered ourselves and finally headed our way to woodstock. a half hour later, we were at our destination. it was so good to see miss olivia!!! we were greeted by her family and the socializing began. we were offered drinks {orange juice for me and beer for hc!} and we cozied right in. they were in awe over little miss olive. between mrs. gantner and olivia, olive was passed back and forth…so nice for mommy to be hands free!
we ended up staying at their house for over three hours! it was so nice to sit, relax, and catch up. it was so wonderful to get to know her parents, they are such lovely people! it meant a lot to us to be there!
here’s a fun fact: when olivia and i were visiting her sister claire in d.c. {i was 4 weeks pregnant at the time and didn’t know it!}, we were walking through the grocery store across the street from her sister’s place {picking up taco ingredients for dinner, like lime for the guac!}, discussing baby names. that’s when i decided i loved the name olive or the french pronunciation & spelling of olivia {with an accent over the a}. crazy right? that’s the true story behind baby olive’s name!
[olivia with olive]
[goofing around with my sweet olivia and cuddly, soft bruce!]
i didn’t want to leave but we needed to get back to the heintz’s for the second part of christmas day. they were hosting it at their house and everyone was already there by the time we got back.
[kait super happy to be holding olive]
[daniel finally holding his cousin olive // he protested quite a few times!]
appetizers were being served and the party was in full swing! we greeted and chitchatted with all the cousins, aunts, and uncles. baby olive was immediately snatched away and passed amongst the family members! i was then bombarded with gifts for baby olive. so sweet of everyone for thinking of her. it’s so fun to open up presents full of cuteness.
the kids ate first {mickey d cheeseburgers and fries} and then ran away to play the evening away. then the adults got to eat! i was hungry! the lasagna was very delicious. we conversed, mingled, and hung out the rest of the evening. after much imbibing and noshing, we were ready to head home.
[merry christmas!]
it was an amazing week and christmas celebration with all our friends and family. we are so lucky to have such special, wonderful people in our lives. God bless everyone!
xoxo
2013
we had a whirlwind week! we had visitors friday, saturday, and sunday {love to all my friends who have come over to our abode see baby olive}. then later on sunday, we mustered up the energy to go to marina and corey’s house for a festive get together {hello…football!}. we wanted to meet up with everyone for the holidays and not only that, carol was in town and pammy was going to be there too! so we had to see everyone!
[carol, pampers, and rina]
the next night, we had the wee christmas party at the werner’s. it’s an annual party they throw every year {for decades now, actually} and it was my fifth wee christmas with them! there is a lot of good food, lots of friendly faces, and santa claus comes to the party!
baby olive was passed along to everyone at the party…she was a hit! how can you not love a little baby?! plus, a warm thank you to pat and pete who gave baby olive a wonderful, generous gift from pottery barn kids! so thoughtful and kind of them! she’s so lucky!
i love going there every year. that’s what i love about the holidays, you get to see people you don’t always get to see and that is always wonderful!
[christmas at the werners // they have many trees! // i love this family shot!]
[olive and santa…santa claus was loving olive’s little feet]
christmas eve has always been the big celebration amongst the doan’s. over the years, it has evolved from a very late night to now, an earlier evening since we have kids!
we headed over to my parent’s house early {or as early as we could}. we ran some errands prior and then we were stuck in awful traffic on our way there. we arrived an hour or two later than we planned {oops!} but hey, we got there safe and sound!
i scurried inside with baby olive and my parents freaked out. they hadn’t seen baby olive in awhile and were so excited to have the little babes in their arms. she was sound asleep in her carseat so we left her in there for awhile but my mom pretty much had the baby in her arms the entire night!
my mom insisted on feeding us so {how can you say no?!} we waited around a bit until the food was ready. what was on the menu? chicken soup with rice and egg rolls. so good. it’s so good that grace ate it!!!
right after eating, i needed to make a pit stop at target to do some last minute exchanges. hey, if i can get out without the bebe and quickly do some stuff, i’m on it! thuy and i went together and it turned into a much longer trip than expected. oh well! i got some stuff done {although the target was a wreck and it was hard to locate items} and was satisfied.
[baking sugar cookies!]
we went home and started cooking and baking right away! kim, huy, and thuy did the cooking and i went upstairs to do the baking. i wanted to make sugar cookies for the kids to decorate later!
[the pretty plaid table spread by kim}
[place cards!]
[it’s not christmas without poinsettias!]
once dinner was had {um, best dinner ever! thanks kim, thuy, and huy for the delicious meal}, the kids were summoned to decorate cookies while everyone else cleaned up. once all that was done, the gifting began!
[thuy’s homemade cupcakes…how cute!!!]
it was so cute to see reagan, bennett, and grace open up their gifts. they get so excited and they all absolutely made out with some stellar stuff! once the kids were done, the adults randomly opened theirs. we, for the past several years, have done secret santa for each other. as we have gotten older, it just made sense. we can buy our own stuff but it’s fun to do this just to partake in the holiday spirit! we get to guess who was our secret santa and i nailed mine! i knew it was my brother dan!
[cutest cousins! ready to open presents!]
[christmas jammy photo!]
[the boys]
[grace loving her horse snow globe!]
after gifts, the kids played and played and played. they had such a fun time! they ate cookies and drank hot chocolate and ripped their toys apart.
[my most favorite gifts // christmas mouse book personalized just for olive! thank you kim and thuy…such an awesome gift for her // rifle iPhone case from dan // my birthday gift from kim and thuy – a jonathan adler bowl!]
it was a very lovely weekend and christmas eve {and it was a white one…i love it when it snows on christmas eve!}! such a great time shared with our friends and family. we are truly blessed and thankful for all that we have.
xoxo