easter ’19

Posted on April 30, 2019 by tandem in love

oh, it was a very busy {leading up to} and very tiring week after easter! you know meeeeee, always piling on too much and loving every second of it. i swear if i didn’t plan months in advance, then i’d be a creative hot mess. LOL.

easter morning started out with the girls waking up and screaming their way to their baskets. well, olive screamed her way! hahaha! ellie, for some reason, was in a mood and pouted her way towards her basket. oh guuuurrlllll.

olive was so excited the easter bunny dropped off her unicorn ponycycle! her face was priceless when she saw it! i absolutely love that they BOTH love it and they sometimes ride it together…it’s so cute! ellie feels comfortable on it too, so the gift was a win win!

they then went through their easter baskets looking at all the goodies. they were very excited over their shoes! yay! olive had to look at everything and make a comment on each item. once they were done perusing their basket of goodies, everyone got ready for easter brunch.

but before we left, we did an easter egg hunt outside! the weather was Ahhhhhhhmazing. the best kind of day to celebrate Christ! the girls had so much fun hunting down their eggs! i made paper plate markers for the eggs and to help guide the girls through the hunt! hc did the set up {y’all know kiki doesn’t get up early if she doesn’t have to!} and did a great job with hiding all the eggs! we had filled them the night before with candies and moj moj animals. olive loooooved them all and loved that they also glowed in the dark! bonus!

i was quite proud of miss ellie getting a good amount of eggs too! she did good! once the hunt was over and the girls went through their egg surprises, we then headed downtown for brunch with the famille!

our place of choice was baptiste and bottle at the conrad hotel. we were very curious on this restaurant. i told my family that it better be amazing as it took two weeks and a whole lotta phone tag to finally nail a reservation at this establishment! we walked in and the interior looked lovely, modern, and moody. i was totally eyeing the scrumptious dessert table that greeted us!

they walked us over to our table{s} and didn’t even push them together to seat our party of 13! i had to ask them to do so. i mean, if you are out with a whole group, would you want to sit at separate tables?? that made no sense! then our server came by and he was energetic and very nice! then, 45 minutes later, our drink orders were still not fulfilled, our food still hadn’t come, and i was completely irritated. it was prix fixe menu!! the kitchen obviously knew how many people they were serving that day AND the menu was set…so waiting almost one hour for our first course to come out was ridiculous!!!!

i went to the hostess stand and asked to speak to a manager. he was very nice and polite and i was cordial and calm. he immediately reacted, apologized, and came over to our table to help our server out. for goodness sake, my sister ordered coffee and asked for cream and sugar and 15 minutes later….she still didn’t get. i had to do something!

once the ball started rolling, our server continued to mess up {he’d take away our plates and then would forget to bring in fresh plates so we could continue to eat} but we were in deep and there was no going back. the poor guy did his best to accommodate us but i really think serving was not his forte! the good new was, the food was delicious!! we really did enjoy our brunch despite the subpar service. we were with the right people and that was all that mattered.

thuy brought the kids their easter bakets and olive went nuts over what she bought her. she literally had to wear everything thuy bought her! ohmergawd, olive is so extra. the girls are so loved and so spoiled by their family. we are so so lucky to be close to them, in all aspects.

after our long and yummy brunch, we all traipsed our way over to the new shop – dylan’s candy bar store! it was bright, fun, and smelled way too sweet for me! it was a candy land dream! every type of candy, the largest cotton candy cone i have ever seen, and everything was way overpriced! LOL. of course, olive suckered me into buying her a lollipop! no pun spared.

our easter was perfect. the weather was perfect. the day was perfect. remember it’s your mindset. live positively. count your blessings. cherish the moments with your people and be thankful for what God has given you. then your filter will always view things as perfect because it is.

*****
EASTER MORNING

[here they come!]

[look at that excited face!]

[she loves her ponycycle!]

[she was totally pouting for no reason]

[there she goes!]

[easter baskets]

[bunny sunglasses]

[gong through their goodies]

[scattered goods]

[oh that face]

[gummi’s on a stick]

[LOL doll in a chocolate egg]

*****

EASTER EGG HUNT

[isn’t she sooooooo sweet?]

[finding easter eggs]

[egg hunt markers that i made the night before]

[eggs in plain sight]

[bunny egg markers]

[looking for eggs]

[reaching for the eggs]

[a whole lotta goodies]

[ellie’s goodies]

[she’s loving her moj moj’s]

*****

EASTER BRUNCH

[she loves her cousins]

[ellie alllllllways attached]

[bagel and lox]

[the cutest cousins]

[avo toast]

[baskets from auntie thuy]

[she’s so excited over her basket]

[dessert table]

[agata and dan]

[reagan, kim, and bennett]

[check out all her moves!]

[my sweet extra girl]

[a rare family photo]

*****

DYLAN’S CANDY BAR

[rainbow rice krispie treat]

[the biggest rainbow cotton candy stick i’ve ever seen!]

[grandma and her grandkids – minus ellie]

xoxo

bunny good time!

Posted on April 17, 2019 by tandem in love

it was a mix of many things this past weekend. it was the weekend before easter and hc’s birthday. we were able to do a lot of fun easter driven things and unfortunately, most of the birthday inspired activities fell through. there was the snow storm on sunday which cancelled plans for a lunch up at hc’s parent’s house. i had planned a spa afternoon and dinner at a yummy restaurant for his actual birthday but that fell through as hc had to stay late at work {his boss was flying in mid afternoon and he had to be there}.

nevertheless, it was still a good, fun, relaxing time!

we had a date with the easter bunny on saturday morning. as usual, our morning started off slow and always winds up in a frenzied rush to get out of the house. i didn’t want to be too late, as in, i wasn’t sure if the line for the bunny would be too long. last year, it was at least an hour and half long wait and we arrived there early!

we were third in line, which was great! the person manning the virtual wait list told us to not go far, as we would be up soon once the bunny arrived. hey, no problem. we grabbed a seat right by the check in and waited until we received a text from the virtual queue. i received the text that we were up next, so i walked up and the host told us to step in the 8 person deep line. um, what? what is the point of a virtual line if your place in line is not honored?? i was annoyed. hc made a great point, it was worthless for us to arrive a half hour early to secure our place in the virtual line and if we had arrived 40 minutes later, we would have not waited and had the same place in line as our virtual queue, because it didn’t matter. we could have just walked up and it would have saved us time in the morning and all the rushing we did just to secure a place that was not recognized. i was peeved.

the good new was that the line moved quickly. the bad news was, ellie was starting to freak out. she was sooooooooooo scared of the bunny. i mean she was freaking the f8ck out! as our turn with the bunny drew near, she started to melt down. i was holding her and she literally screamed for my sister, thuy, to save her {who was standing outside the ropes}, she said, “i want thuyyyyyyy!” and cried. when it was our turn, girlfriend literally belted out in the loudest voice, “noooooooooooooooooo! no! nooooo! no!!” everyone was like “awwwwww” as in they felt her pain.

we got a few pics in and we went on our merry way. poor ellie…i didn’t want to traumatize her! i felt so bad she was freaking out hard core. although olive was a pro! she was so excited to see the bunny and couldn’t wait to tell him what she wanted for easter! i get it though…olive was not keen on santa, bunnies, or anything of that sort until she was about 4 years old, so we have time with ellie {only being 2 1/2!}.

we all walked to a favorite restaurant called the blue door kitchen and garden {off of elm and rush}. we were seated upstairs {it’s so quaint and cute}, where it was a little more spacious and less crowded. the girls were so well behaved but it helped having their cousin with them, reagan, who is so good with them!

we ordered food for the girls right away and libations. we hemmed and hawed just a wee bit on the entrees but finally concluded to a few delicious choices. i really enjoyed everything about the restaurant: the ambience, the decor, how relaxing it was and the great service. i also adore how the girls love to explore and how comfortable the environment was for them to do so. that always makes for a relaxing, stress free dining experience!

after brunch, we traipsed our way back to bloomingdale’s, where we hung out a bit more {we are a bit obsessed with aster hall}. kim and reagan had to head back for his baseball game and thuy had plans with a friend in the evening.

once we arrived home and settled in, we dyed easter eggs! it was such a fun time. olive truly loved it and had a great time creating different colors, drawing on the eggs, and making unique designs. we used shaving cream with food coloring to create swirl dyed eggs, we had mod podge, glitter, confetti, markers, stickers, party hats and metallic paper to promote creativity! ellie, on the other hand, preferred to watch us, yawn, and roll her eyes at us. LOL. she’s such a character.

we crammed a lot into our saturday but i wouldn’t have it any other way. i love being busy and keeping busy and diving deep into anything holiday related! happy easter week my friends!

*****

900 NORTH SHOPS CHICAGO

[anxiously waiting for the easter bunny!]

[being skeptical about everything]

[she styled her outfit and hair!]

[we really had to talk to ellie and tried to convince her that bunny was a good dude]

[miss ellie couldn’t stand still for anything]

[playing around and waiting for the bunny]

[look at ellie crying!]

[i totally didn’t want to be in the pic but here we are!]

*****

BLUE DOOR KITCHEN AND GARDEN

via tandeminlove.com [she was entertained by her little figurines]

[pretty plates]

[enjoying our time with family]

[pretty corners everywhere]

[high tea]

[mes seours]

[classic ellie]

[hc ordered a drink called the boss and it just baffled olive why they kept serving the boss to dada. LOL]

[the prettiest restaurant]

[my sweet tenacious babe]

[chicken and waffles]

[i am obsessed with kale and cabbage salads!]

[the prettiest light…auntie kim with the prettiest ladies]

[hustling through the streets of chicago]

[the clan gang]

[my old stomping ground]

*****

EASTER EGGS

[easter egg dying]

[working diligently]

[eggcited over the colors!]

[how ellie dyes easter eggs]

[glitter, confetti, party hats, markers, food dye…oh my!]

[shaving cream food dye colored eggs]

[her easter egg bunny creation]

xoxo

spring break staycation

Posted on April 4, 2019 by tandem in love

olive loves hotels. she loves staying at a hotel. she loves sleeping in them. she loves watching tv in the room. it cracks me up how much she loves being there. from one vacation to the next, olive will always hint to me how much she loves flying on a plane and staying at a hotel.

well, for spring break, we decided to do a staycation in our favorite city! there would be no airplane but definitely a hotel stay! on our way there, olive kept exclaiming how excited she was for our ‘family vacation!!!!!’. so adorable!

we stayed at the millennium knickerbocker hotel and my sister {last minute} ended up staying at the park hyatt hotel, a few blocks away! they were suppose to fly to california but some health issues put a stop to that, so they wanted to get ‘away’ and booked a room at a hotel off the ave too!

so it was extra fun having family with us! the kids jumped on beds, swam, ate, stayed up way too late, ate some more junk food, shopped, perused toy stores, explored, and then some!

the weather wasn’t so great {hello chicago!} so we didn’t venture outside as much as we liked but if you’re staying in chicago, i highly recommend visiting millenium park, lincoln park zoo, the shedd aquarium, the science and industry museum, peggy notebaert nature museum to name a few!

we loved eating at food life in watertower place, ghirardelli’s, aster hall at 900, benihana’s in the hancock building, eataly are some great places to take your kiddos!

we had such a fun time with the kiddos! they loved staying at the hotel, exploring new places, and breaking all the rules!

[immediately chillaxin’]

[the sweetest sisters]

*****

[watertower chicago lego store!]

*****

[walking hand in hand]

[my world]

[she’s so cool]

[really olive?!]

[swim time at the park hyatt hotel!]

[having fun with dada]

[she’s so happy]

[sweet kisses]

[laughing at the boys]

[best of friends]

*****

[ellie was enamored with the park hyatt’s dog, parker]

[she was too cute with her!]

*****

[this awesome new eatery is at 900 north]

[ordering our food]

[these three…ellie is not quite there yet]

[this was so so so so good!]

[she loves to talk. about. everything.]

[the sweet lady behind the counter gave olive her little chocolate heart for free!]

*****

[this picture just kills me. i love her so much, it hurts]

[silly sisters]

[ellie is always running off somewhere]

[she loved this ponycycle!]

[they’re so cute]

[wonderoll rolled ice cream]

[she loved american girl doll…what little girl doesn’t?]

[silly babes]

[she was so excited!]

*****

[oh my]

[ellie insisted on wearing these glasses at night]

*****

[she loved seeing al the fish and animals – ellie screamed, terrified]

[she’s so sweet]

[it literally sparkled]

[olive loved how big this fish was!]

xoxo

papa’s birthday ’19

Posted on March 5, 2019 by tandem in love

we traveled up north to meet rich’s dad and famille to celebrate his birthday!

he picked a place called beelow’s. this would be the second time i’ve eaten there and the second year in a row we’ve gone there to celebrate dick’s birthday there. i, unfortunately, have had two subpar experiences with their food! now, everyone else loves this restaurant and has had a great experience with their food! the service is typically fantastic, which makes all the difference but i think i’m cursed to have not so great encounters with my main dishes!

when we went last year, i ordered the scallops. i looooooove scallops! when my entree arrived, it tasted like it was doused in salt! oh it was tooo salty! i ate one scallop and didn’t finish the rest. i could not eat it or the greens it was sitting on. my whole entree was lost. i was so disappointed! then this year, i decided against sea food and went for a tasty burger. i ordered the fried onion and blue cheese burger with truffle fries! i was excited to eat! i dug into my burger and it was very good! i loved the fries as well. as i was eating my burger, i noticed a piece of black hair on it. i was like, what? how did my hair get in there?? i was wearing a ponytail and i thought it was odd, since my hair really doesn’t fall out in that style. i went to grab the hair off my burger and it was ENTWINED in the meat. ohmergawd. barf. i just about died.

i immediately stopped eating my food. i couldn’t believe it!!!!! i was disappointed and i was once again, hungry! hc looooved his meal, which was great ’cause he didn’t have the best experience last year either. so, at least this time around, one of us had a good meal!

our evening was super chill and as usual, always wonderful when you get to spend it with family! despite my meal{s], it was so good to hang out with the fam. the girls always love seeing their sister, grace, and they absolutely love seeing their papa and gramma! auntie missy is always killing it with the selfie game…she’s queen of selfies and olive and ellie love taking them with her!

it doesn’t matter where or what we do to celebrate papa’s birthday, we just love being with him and gramma! happy birthday sweet papa!

[isn’t she so sweet?]

[she’s so silly and sassy]

[selfie! no filter, no editing, sometimes i look young and other pics i look old AF]

[the birthday papa and his granddaughter]

[rich and jane]

[missy, brian, rich, and jane]

[daniel, grace, and aunt wendy]

[gramma and olive]

xoxo

birthday snowstorm

Posted on January 25, 2019 by tandem in love

hbd to my sister thuy!

my sister kim planned a birthday dinner for thuy but an incoming snowstorm {an expected 8 inches of snow in some areas} derailed our plans for the city and we also ended up switching days too. the snowstorm was suppose to start on friday evening and go super strong throughout the night and into saturday morning, so we changed our dinner plans to friday evening instead. we diverted our eatery of choice to a local restaurant called cadence.

our reservations were later that evening but the snow didn’t start until 10-11pm; the weather folks predicted the snow to start around 3pm, then 6pm, then 9pm…hahaha! so, we were in a good place from a driving perspective.

i’ve never been to this restaurant and the decor was pretty cool – a modern woodsy feel and the our server was super friendly and prompt. we ordered drinks right away and perused the menu on suggestions to help guide us on what we were going to order. we got a bunch of yummy shared appetizers and i ordered the salmon which was soooooo good! i throughly enjoyed everything we ate!

what was so fun too, was that throughout our dinner, random employees at the restaurant would come up to thuy and wish her a happy birthday! that was so cute and nice! what a great way to make someone who’s celebrating an occasion feel special! they even brought out a polaroid camera and snapped a group picture of us and printed a few copies for the gals! i loved that!

i had brought a cake with a topper and sparkler candles to surprise thuy! i told our waitress that if she couldn’t light the sparklers, i brought regular candles instead. after our entrees, she brought out the cake with the sparkler candles lit!! it was so fun to see and experience!

the snow started to come down furiously and the ground and cars were becoming blanketed in white. we wrapped up our delicious dinner and headed on our merry way in the beautiful snowstorm.

it was a fun, warm, wonderful evening celebrating thuy! cheers to many more wonderful birthday celebrations sis!

[a fun night for me and hc]

[this was really, really good]

[birthday shots courtesy of the restaurant]

[birthday girl]

[happy 21st birthday!]

[a signed card from the staff and polaroid pic!]

xoxo

nye ’18

Posted on January 4, 2019 by tandem in love

hello 2019!

hc was at work and i was at home with the kiddos. i had done a lot of my prep work the days prior – grabbing drinks, food, accessories, ordering balloons, buying decor, etc. i knew i had to get it done before monday because i knew monday was going to be jam packed full of nothing! haha!

our day started out slow. we woke up late and hit up the grocery store for some last minute items. the girls were too adorable shopping with me. ellie insisted on sitting in the cart and olive wanted to grab the mini red shopping cart and help me shop! it then ended up with ellie wanting down and helping olive push the cart around the store and filling it with goodies! it was sooooooo cute!

once we got home…it was already early afternoon! i started prepping some things but before i knew it, it was ellie’s nap time. i put the, getting sick, little babe down, right then thuy was knocking on the door. she wanted to come over early and bake cupcakes at the house for the kids. olive was quite excited to help thuy bake! she loves to help in the kitchen. she helped mix and decorate them and she definitely had a fun time!

hc came home early and was surprised i hadn’t finished decorating! ha! like i said, it was a slow morning and afternoon. i started my hustle and got everything dunzo by 5pm, got myself ready, and continued to do the final touches in the house – lighting candles, turning on mood lighting, hc started a fire, and then i started to put together my cheese plate.

i also created a champagne bar! i collected veuve cliquot, moët et chandon, la marca prosecco to make fun cocktails! i had raspberry sorbet, sugar cubes, mint, limes, lemons, berries, bitters, and rock candy sticks for an endless combo of tasty beverages!

everyone slowly trickled in around 6/7pm and kim started cooking her dinner for the night. she decided to make a shrimp diavolo, arugula salad, and pull apart garlic bread. yuuuuummmmmmm. dinner was ready by 8:30pm, which was perfect for new year’s eve! eating late, serving dessert late, and then counting down the new york’s new year is how we roll!

this year was just family and it was perfect! although we were missing our usual suspects – you know who you are! our evening consisted of eating well, drinking delicious libations, and cheered to the new year together!

2019 – don’t disappoint us, you’ve got some heavy competition!

[olive helping thuy make cupcakes for dessert]

[thuy’s diy cupcake toppers]

[so proud of her work!]

[kids table]

[boxes of goodies – hats, poppers, candies, glow sticks, and noise makers]

[our go to app when hosting]

[oh, my poor ellie was sick]

[adult table]

[kim and terry]

[champagne bar – create your own cocktail]

[my poor under the weather ellie]

[the goodies]

[the cutie pies]

[my bat girl…she really wanted to wear this!]

[terry, bennett, reagan, and kim]

[desserts!]

[super aunty thuy with her kids and pouty olive]

[happy new year!]

[diiiiiiiiiiva]

xoxo

christmas day

Posted on January 2, 2019 by tandem in love

i was looking forward to christmas morning. this year, olive was fully engaged in it. 1-3 years of age, she didn’t care. 4 she sparked interest and age 5, she was full blown into it! she’s been so thoughtful, opinionated, detailed, and just so funny with her ideas, comments, and conversations. i’m sooooo loving this age!

we don’t wrap santa gifts {hello, it’s so much easier and they know those are his gifts versus ours that are wrapped} and olive walked out from her room with the most sheepish, excited look on her face! she was gleeful to see that she received all the gifts she asked santa for!

we waited for ellie to awake before we opened up the gifts from us. we wanted to do that with ellie but having such a late night on christmas eve, ellie was wiped out and slept in late. so, we cooked breakfast and hung out until we heard her stir. we all then went back to the tree and the girls opened up the gifts from us to them! ellie’s most favorite toy was the cash register from santa!!!! she looooved it and still does!

hc and i then got crackin’ on our preparations for christmas dinner. we had his side of the family coming over at 3pm and we needed to decorate and start the food. the good news was, everyone was bringing something. whether it was apps or side dishes, it was fantastic to have bits and pieces of the meal being brought over by someone else, so the burden wasn’t completely on us!

this is our second year hosting christmas. it was passed on to us after the aunts and uncles discussed how they were getting old and tired and needed the kids to carry on the tradition. this year, we had 27 or so people at our house. holy cow! {i hardly took any pics!} let me tell you…our entertaining space is quite small, so that’s a lot of people crammed together.

nonetheless, it was wonderful, merry, and full of love – everyone made do and i think we fret over our small space more than anyone else. our evening was filled with great conversations, joy, and merriment – exactly how christmas should be spent with family!

[my sweet girl]

[she looooooves bath bombs!]

[so in love]

[rudolph the red nosed reindeer]

[surprising, ellie was not into presents this year, although it may seem like she was through these pics]

[her most favorite toy from santa – a cash register]

[ellie, it’s a scanner…not a phone. hahaha!]

[my sweet girl]

[rich’s side of family]

[christmas dinner tablescape]

[jane and aunt vicki]

xoxo

christmas eve ’18

Posted on December 28, 2018 by tandem in love

christmas eve. it’s such a special evening. i get so excited leading up to this day. the magic, the love, the merriment. there is something so wonderful about spending this evening together as a family. maybe it’s the hustle and bustle that envelopes you. maybe it’s because everyone is in a good mood. maybe it’s the sound of christmas music and strangers saying merry christmas to you. maybe it’s the joy and smiles that exude from your children filled with anticipation of candy, toys, and a visit from santa. maybe it’s the smell of a delicious dinner waiting to be served. maybe it’s the wine kicking in. hahaha!

whatever it is, it’s truly the most wonderful time of the year. we spend christmas eve at my parent’s house annually and i love the coziness of it all. the kids have fun darting all around and playing. our family members ebb and flow to different parts of the house to socialize and immerse themselves in random conversations and activities.

once dinner is ready, we all take our seats and my dad says grace. this year, we had mom’s crab soup, tenderloin, sautéed mushrooms, corn, mashed potatoes, {i’m sure i am forgetting something} and agata brought her homemade cabbage pirogies sprinkled with chopped bacon!!! her dish was the highlight and hit of the night! it was sooooooo flippin’ good!

after dinner and clean up, we served desserts and then we all changed into our christmas pj’s and posed for our family photo. a tradition running, maybe, ten years strong…or close to that! once that was done, the kids became super excited because we started our gift exchange. it’s soooo delightful to watch their excitement and joy!

oh gosh, the girls are so fortunate to get so much!!!! the gifts kept rolling in for the kids. ellie was a bit fussy and was not into opening gifts but olive on the other hand – she was a pro! oh my, it was such a long and lovely night. after each gift was opened and desserts were consumed, we had to get home. it was almost midnight!!! so late for the little buggers. plus, santa was coming soon!

what a perfect and wonderful christmas eve. we are feeling so grateful for everything – life, love, health, family, and friends.

[bûche de nöel]

[tashina and huy]

[olive is sooooooo extraaaaaaa. aren’t they the cutest cousins?!]

[she’s so sassy, sweet, and thugalicious]

[ellie loves dogs]

[how sweet is nutmeg and ellie?]

[our sweet family]

[christmas is for chillin’ with the fam]

[kim’s table centerpiece]

[kids table]

[plaid anyone?]

[hamming it up]

[ellieeeeee, she was hugging reagan so tight and making the funniest faces!]

[thuy and mom]

[how sweet is this?!]

[y’all. i can’t even with olive’s faces. hahhaa!]

[i had to post them all because she’s so cute!]

[christmas pj’s]

[the doan zone]

[there goes olive again with the cute expressions]

xoxo

winter ballet recital ’18

Posted on December 21, 2018 by tandem in love

even though this is her third recital {second winter one}, i still get so excited, although less nervous. the anticipation of seeing her perform gets me all giddy, happy, and feeling so proud of her!

we typically split the driving duties…i take olive early to drop her off before the show and hc will take ellie and make it in time for the performance. this time around, thuy, dad, jane, dick, grace, dan, agata, hc and ellie were in attendance to watch olive perform to ‘santa claus is coming to town’.

she did such a great job! she had high jumps and perfect poise. oh, it’s so cute to watch her dance! it makes my heart melt seeing her confident and growing in her execution. don’t get me wrong…these girls were so goofy, all over the place with their moves, and so fun to watch! that’s the best part! seeing each kid do their own thing and not really following a routine is always so funny and endearing.

anyhoo, after the recital ended, i grabbed olive from the pick up room and brought her back to her fan base. everyone then showered her with kisses, hugs, and flowers. after quite a few pictures, we all headed to a restaurant down the street called pierce tavern, a new joint in the downtown area.

it was a bit of a wait, so we walked across the street to the toy shop and the kids had fun while we waited for our table to be ready. a perfect shop to go to when the wait is long and you have kids! our experience at the restaurant was great! hc and i really loved the food, ambiance, and decor. it’s a cool cozy place with a diverse menu. i really think we found our go to place and that’s saying a lot because we don’t have one after all these years out here!!

moving from chicago to the ‘burbs leave little to be desired in the restaurant department. that’s the one thing we truly miss about not living in chicago anymore. we had easy, quick access to so many wonderful restaurants and bars and being out here – well, we haven’t found a place close to home that we love and we’re hoping that this is it!

it turned out to be such a lovely, loving afternoon. we all had a great time watching olive perform and our lunch together, afterwards, was just perfect. excellent job on your ballet recital miss olive. we are so proud of you and love that you love what you are doing.

[she’s so sweet]

[walking into the waiting room…excited to see all the other ballerinas!]

[the girl with a million silly faces]

[getting on stage]

[they started off sleeping and waking up like little blooming flowers]

[‘sleepy heads’ getting up to stretch]

[plié]

[done! walking off the stage]

[this…oh my heart. it’s melting into a puddle]

[she was like, ‘kiki…i can’t hold all these flowers!’ haha!]

[double whammy…papa deux bisou]

[oh, proud mama here!]

[olive and her super aunty]

[dan and agata]

[a yummy bloody mary – extra spicy please]

[silly cats]

[a perfect sign for hc]

[celebrating my birthday, at home, too!]

xoxo

holiday downtown

Posted on December 19, 2018 by tandem in love

we did our annual holiday trip to macy’s on state this past weekend! we did our usual routine of eating up on the 7th floor, shopping for ornaments, and just shopping around the store.

we love to buy ornaments from here every year, grab a little candy from the shop downstairs, and just take in the hustle and bustle of the season. dan, agata, kim, terry, the boys, thuy, mom and dad came out this year. we stayed at the department store for several hours and then headed home to our house to decorate gingerbread houses! before we left, we were able to admire one of their animated windows at macy’s. olive was so enamored with all the trumpets and christmas lights and wonderment all around her! her and ellie were so amazed as we walked the streets!

once home, we tidied up a bit and then kim and fam and agata and dan came over. kim brought over wine, cheese, and paté to nibble on. the boys brought food over to the house and the kids ate dinner. we had ordered pizza for everyone else and once all the consuming of food was done, we set up the gingerbread houses for the kiddos!

the kids had a blast! olive looooooved decorating her house. she was so excited and looking forward to it for days! olive did such a great job decorating her house – she didn’t even get frosting on her fingers! a big thank you to dan for being her structural engineer and making sure her roof didn’t fall down. thanks for holding the house together while olive decorated around you!

overall it was a great, fun festive day with the family! i love being able to spend the time with them during the busiest season of the year. that is what matters most during this crazy month! we soaked in the holiday mood and created some good memories together.