a cozy vday in

Posted on February 17, 2014 by tandem in love

this year for valentine’s day, we had a cozy night in. in our pj’s that is…it was that cozy! we truly had a wonderful valentine’s day together. it was the best one yet!

my, what a difference a year makes! last year, we spent valentine’s day at one of our favorite restaurants, roy’s. you can read about it here. i wasn’t even pregnant with little olive yet either! now look where we are at! blessed with the cutest little cupid ever!

[cutie patutie]

this year, we had dinner at home and i couldn’t have asked for more! we waited for hc to come home that evening; he arrived at the door with a bouquet of beautiful flowers and a sweet, sweet card for me! we relaxed for a bit before hc started his cooking magic. he fancied out the dining room table, opened up a delicious bottle of wine {thank you to terry for the gift}, and started to whip up some amaze appetizers {oh em gee!}. i am a lucky gal!

[the cute card from hc // a few fun, valentine’s from us and others!]

[gorgeous flowers from cattails]

it was a three course meal totally at our pace and comfort, which i was absolutely loving. the three of us sat down to nibble on the savory appetizers hc had made. stuffed artichoke hearts. they were to die for. so stinkin’ good. dangerously delectable. i wanted to eat the entire dish as my entree but i knew some more yummy goodness was on it’s way!

[the fancied up table // the amaze stuffed artichokes]

after noshing on some starters, we continued to sip wine, enjoy each other’s company, and chill in our warm abode. all the food was prepped, so once i started to feed the babes, hc started to cook up our entrees. we then sat down for our main course. words cannot describe how piquant the dish was! i was in love with every bite! i couldn’t thank hc enough for the best meal ever!

[the prepping of the soon to be devoured entree]

after our main course, we then devoured our decadent dessert from alliance bakery! hc had purchased a red velvet heart shaped cake from one of our favorite bakeries, down the street. we sliced it in half and savored every morsel of this rich, moist, sweet, yummy cake.

[olive’s first photo bomb // the wonderful, sweet red velvet cake]

[family selfie! doesn’t olive look amused?!]

it was the best valentine’s day yet. i have had so much fun celebrating it the past several weeks and it ended with a wonderful family night celebration this past february 14 ♥!

much love mes amies!

so now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 corinthians 13:13

xoxo

foto fun

Posted on February 16, 2014 by tandem in love

the other snowy day, we ventured out to the land of nod to take some vday pics! here’s a sample of pics from the photo shoot from this past post!

the store had created a fetching backdrop for the pictures; patterned chairs, heart pillows, and darling stuffed animals to pose around with for the photos! katherine salvatori was the photographer who captured the fun pics for valentine’s day! the photo shoot was quick {the store was quite quiet, making it even better for us to play and shop!} and our afternoon evolved into a great time together.

the pictures turned out quite festive. here are a couple of the charming snapshots:

ya gotta love all of the festive stuff going on here. hearts, dogs, red, pink, oh my!

i love this one of grace. so precious!

happy love day to all! i hope everyone had a wonderful february 14!

xoxo

is it christmas?

Posted on February 15, 2014 by tandem in love

i ventured out to my sister’s house this past week to celebrate a little love with the nephews.

i hit the roads during rush hour {ugh}; it was congested but not so bad! i was constantly moving and it didn’t take that long to get there. i was, at first, hesitant to travel out there because it was suppose to snow during the late afternoon, which is a recipe for a driving disaster!

i brought over valentine’s day cupcakes and i set the boy’s presents on the console as i walk in. it was too cute, they kept asking who those presents were for. i told them it was for two boys named reagan and bennett, i asked them if they knew who these two boys were. bennett looked confused but reagan blurted out, “that’s us!”. i told them there are more little boys out there name reagan and bennett, which made them giggle. 🙂

[it’s fat free…yum]

[olive chillin’ while we ate our dinner]

after a healthy dinner of portillo’s, we exchanged presents! it was so fun! i gave the boys their gifts, and they gave olive her gift. thuy had brought the boys and olive presents too! there was a lot of exchanging and gifting going on, the boys screamed out, “is it christmas?!”. lol.

[the boys with their vday presents // s’mores // alien pom growth on r’s face]

[the cute stuffed animal // olive’s vday fashion // r + o]

kim, r n b, had gotten olive the cutest stuffed animal that came with the most adorable tutu and headband! we dressed her in it and we were just delighted on how darling she looked! it was so precious.

[r + b decorated olive in valentine’s day stickers! // baby’s first valentine // wooden animal blocks]

[love her first valentine’s day card]

thuy had bought olive awesome wooden toys and a lovely outfit {so cozy and cute}. i love wooden toys. i want to stay as close as possible to just buying wooden toys {quite a feat but i’ll try my best!} for olive.

[thuy’s stenciled clutch gift for me! // auntie kim and olive {look at her face and skinny legs!} // adorbs outfit from thuy]

it was a very sweet evening with the family. we had a blast celebrating valentine’s day together. it was filled with lots of love, giggles, and charming fun.

xoxo

happy, happy love day

Posted on February 14, 2014 by tandem in love

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

valentine’s day treats

Posted on February 13, 2014 by tandem in love

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

lovely cupcakes

Posted on February 12, 2014 by tandem in love

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

land of nod

Posted on February 11, 2014 by tandem in love

have i mentioned that i love land of nod?? yes, i did register there but i was in love with this store way before i became preggers.

it’s such a cute, whimsical, fun place.

***

we started out the morning with the hubs. he made banana pancakes topped with shaved chocolate and fresh, sweet bananas. we drenched the pancakes with vermont cinnamon maple syrup…yum! a big shout out to my dear friend olivia, who gave us this wonderful gift for christmas {along with a cook book that hc has used several times…delish recipes!}.

hc then left to go hang out with the bro-in-law, terry. they went to a cider fest at navy pier. so that left me and the kids to have our own fun for the day!

land of nod was offering their customers a chance to take valentine’s day photos with a professional photographer. how awesome! so, i packed up the kids around noon and headed out to the ‘burbs. the one thing that sucked?? it had just started to snow {boo}. that made for some heavy traffic out and i was already running behind {i forgot a crucial component to the bugaboo stroller and i had to turn around 🙁 }

anyhoo. we finally made our way to the store {it was quite pretty, though, with all of the snowfall…i have to find the beauty in the snow that we have been having!!!}. little olive was fast asleep when we got there…i didn’t want to take her out of the stroller {she was a tired peanut}, so grace and i took some photos together and the photographer took some pictures of scrunched face olive in her carseat.

[lol…she looked mad. rockin’ an 8o’s headband look]

after our pictures, the kids played together in the store. there was so much to look at. i was really loving their felt garlands. they had colored pennants, dots, stars, hearts, and clouds! the cloud garland was too darling to pass up, so i purchased one for olive’s room. a perfect addition to her cloud themed chambre.

[cloud garland]

[fun times in the reading corner]

[thuy just chillin’ at the kids table with her coffee]

[r being cute // photo by thuy]

[b being extra cute // photo by thuy]

we then shopped a bit at pottery barn kids, i had to pick up some gifts for some upcoming events {the next few months for us are going to be busy ones! birthdays, baby showers, vacations, oh my!}. i talked myself out of buying more valentine’s day trinkets {i was totally tempted. i mean, i can always find ways, ideas, or reasons to make or create anything crafty}. pbk has really fun decor but i’m dunzo for now.

after that, we went and grabbed lunch at cpk. the kids had your typical cheese pizza and plain pasta. i split a rustic pepperoni pizza with thuy and kim ordered quesadillas. as we sat there eating at cpk {they have huge windows surrounding the whole restaurant}, i could see that the snow was really coming down! it made me nervous to drive home because of the traffic we would face.

once lunch was done, we traipsed our way over to nordstrom to peruse their departments. i pit stopped at the women’s lounge to change and feed little o. nordstrom has such an awesome women’s lounge! i love their mother’s lounge…a cozy, comfortable place where you can feed the babes. while olive was feeding kim, thuy, and the kids went to west elm to shop around. the kids ended up decorating paper hearts for a good cause!

[the kids decorating hearts at west elm for st. jude’s hospital // photo by thuy]

i ended up going to my parent’s house to avoid the crazy traffic back to the city {i did not want to be sitting in a parking lot with the kids in tow} and thuy so kindly took grace, r + b to go see the lego movie, while kim headed out to finish up some things on her list.

[olive showing off her valentine outfit and her vday ‘beer’ belly // be still my heart…i love her so! // cherokee cardigan and pants, carter’s onesie…similar here]

i did dressed o up in a cute valentine’s day outfit for the so-called ‘sleep’ photos at lon! a soft, minty polka dotted onesie with a little mousey holding a heart balloon, a light pink cardigan, and heart printed pants. i also had her wear a flower headband. baby girl was not happy. she doesn’t like things on her head. but it was so adorbs though!

by late evening, we ended up all together, back at my parent’s house! kim came over after she did a few errands, thuy brought the kids back after the movie, and terry & rich came by after their escapades downtown. we then enjoyed the rest of our night as a family 🙂

xoxo

top ten vday loves

Posted on February 10, 2014 by tandem in love

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

my valentine

Posted on February 9, 2014 by tandem in love

valentine is a sweet holiday ♥. either you love or hate it…and i have never hated it. it’s not just about being in a relationship with a significant other {i’m gonna say it, but a lot of single people run with this idea about v-day, which makes it such a bitter holiday for some!} but it’s about love. we always have people around us that we love, so why not celebrate it?? don’t fall into the idea that it’s only about couples! use this day to express to others how much they mean to you and how much you care about them!

i wanted to get festive but not expend too much energy into it, ya know…with a little one, it’s a bit difficult to have spare time or even spare hands! so, first things first, i bought baby girl her first valentine’s day book! it’s called, ‘olive, my love‘. how sweet is that?! i absolutely love this series…it all started years ago, here’s a short story:

christmas 2000 {yes, that long ago}. i was shopping at oakbrook one evening, as i set foot into the nordstrom there…i was instantly delighted by their holiday decor!! i was in love! the strung lights, the little dog reindeer…what was this?! i wanted it all! i thought their decor was so darling and whimsical! i then inquired an employee about it, i wanted to know where i could buy the lights and all the fun decorations they had out, and i wanted to know more about the ‘other reindeer’. she was so stinkin’ cute! so there it was, the beginning of my obsession around ‘olive the other reindeer’ and any other book with her cute little character in it. 🙂

i decided to make a fun garland for our windows. very easy and plenty festive. i purchased lace doilies and crochet shaped flowers. i then rummaged through my craft bins and found my red twine. i strung the doily hearts right side up and upside down, every 3-4 hearts, i placed a crocheted flower. i just repeated it until i achieved the length i desired.

voila! so easy peasy!

i also made a ‘kiss me’ banner out of construction paper. i just free-hand drew the words out with pencil and cut out all the lettering and the heart. i then affixed it all to my red and white twine.

next up: a fun, bright garland!

i then made a valentine garland out of scalloped circles to add to the festive ambience in our place. using my valentine construction paper, my trusty hole punch {um, for some reason it took a lot of energy to hole punch! my palms hurt!}, and twine. ta-da! a fun, bright garland to lighten our moods! love how it looks!

next up? cupcakes! moist, yummy, delicious, sweet cupcakes!

stay tuned!

xoxo

brunch + shopping

Posted on February 7, 2014 by tandem in love

olive and i had an afternoon delight filled with yummy eats and a little shopping.

we met up with jodi and jett at southport grocery. i love going there!

we were a bit worried about the space inside, because it’s quite a small shop/eatery; but everything worked out though! we were able to squeeze ourselves in and enjoy our time there. i love spending time with jodi and jett. he is sooo stinkin’ adorable. like i’ve said before…i love his noggin’! his big head and big chubby cheeks are so cute!

jod and i caught up and enjoyed our time together. we got up to date with the latest news and oohed and ahh’d over our babies.

olive was quite, quite cute on our ride over to wrigleyville. she was wide awake on our way out and the whole car ride there. she was never like that before! she was so intrigued by her environment, just bug eyed and looking around. it was so cute. i couldn’t get enough of her adorable face all curious looking and gazing at everything. she was awake all the way to the restaurant, once we got inside and seated, that is when she started to drift. about 10 minutes into us being seated, she zonked out. too cute.

[jett looking cute and getting creative on the table paper. already an artist!]

[selfie fun]

[sleepy olive. what a little peanut.]

[excited to eat!]

[baked oatmeal and bacon! it was sooooo good. what a {somewhat} healthy, sweet treat to start the day with!]

after brunch, we strolled over to anthropologie to shop around. i had to get a few gifts and just absolutely love that store! they have the cutest, most whimsical house ware items. my most favorite, favorite candle is called volcano…i’ve been buying it for years. i loved it when they offered it the mercury container, so pretty and very festive for the holidays too!

i also fell in love with this matte lipstick! such a pretty color…it’s called geranium from albeit. a bright, poppy, coral pink. it’s goes on smoothly and lasts a really long time! it totally brightens up the face!

{albeit matte crayon}

jod was shopping with me but i felt so bad dragging her ’round and ’round in circles trying to figure out what to buy! we finally hugged and parted ways and i kept circling the store! i finally decided on a few items…a couple of gifts for others and a couple things for myself 😉

it was quite an enjoyable afternoon, being able to relax with friends and my little one!

xoxo