leprechaun trap ’21

olive wanted to create a leprechaun trap and once i was involved, it was all downhill or uphill from there!?? LOL i say that because i am so darn extra! once we started, i couldn’t stop adding in all the extra details. i rummaged through my craft supplies and added and added and added all the cute things. olive was game on! she loved everything i suggested and i loved everything she suggested.

we added in bling, anything shiny to make sure we attracted the leprechaun to the abode. we even made a curtain to hide the fact that it was a trap. olive insisted that we make a bed inside the box because she didn’t want the leprechaun to be uncomfortable once he was trapped. she’s so sweet! after we spent way too much time on the trap, it was ready! olive was so excited and couldn’t wait to go to bed.

the next morning, the leprechaun did pay us a visit! what a mess he made! he turned our house upside down and made such a big mess, especially in olive and ellie’s room! he threw confetti everywhere and rummaged through their rooms looking for anything gold. the girls were shocked, excited, and in awe over the mess he made and that he dodged their trap. darn it! i told the girls, maybe next year!

leprechaun trap
leprechaun trap
leprechaun trap
olive wanted to make sure we gave directions to the leprechaun to go through the tube to get his gold.
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olive painted the rainbow and we sprinkled the clouds with gold glitter.
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olive wanted to make it cozy for the leprechaun, so she made a crinkle paper bed!
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we made curtains to hide that it was a trap!

random st. patrick’s day fun!

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st. patrick’s day macarons by two brothers bakery
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painting cookies

kids halloween party

it was so sweet of our friend elisa to throw the cutest halloween party for our girls!

elisa and i are cut from the same cloth…as in we love to craft, be super extra, and throw parties! haha! yes, our minds never stop creating and before we know it, our simple party blows up to a crazy craft storm where too much is never enough. LOL

well, elisa’s party for the girls did not disappoint! we arrived late because the girls had swim lessons and we walked into a frenzy of crafting craziness. the girls who were already there were making halloween inspired wands, masks, and other fun things.

olive and ellie jumped right in and were instantly having fun with the other girls. all the moms were congregating around the drinks and food and that’s exactly where i ended up! my love language, food and drinks! and you can’t beat the great conversations we engaged in…these mamas are the best and are so fun!

there was so much cuteness involved. elisa not only had the girls crafting for hours, she had a pin the tail on something game, a candy bar where the girls could choose different types of goodies to put in their cauldrons, a photo booth, and the most festive favors to take home! it was absolutely adorable!

these are the moments i live for. i love socializing and i love that my girls have so much fun with their kiddos. it’s the best combo in life! hanging out with mamas who get you and kids who are besties cannot be beat.

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[excited over their handmade wands]

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[the cutest cupcakes]

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[sweetest luisa]

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[surveying the scene]

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[the cutest charcuterie board]

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[we have a queen barb and a mermaid]

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[spider cake]

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[handmade masks]

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[she’s so sweet!]

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[candy bar]

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[they’re the cutest]

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xoxo

pre-school birthday party

ellie was invited to her first preschool birthday party for her friend Sienna {back in september}!

sienna and ellie started in prek3 together and will continue on as classmates for the next many, many years to come!

her mom, kelli, hosted the fete at a local princess party place in town. it was a beautiful day out and ellie was super excited to attend her friend’s party. olive had attended a party there for her friend betty, several months prior – right before the shutdown, but i didn’t take her, hc did. so, i had never been to this establishment.

we arrived to a lot of pink and princess everything. the girls could dress up as fairies, by picking out fun tutus, wings, and crowns. ellie was obsessed! she loved the rainbow wings and tutu. she originally picked a pink iridescent skirt but then soon found a matching rainbow one that went perfectly with her colorful wings.

once dressed up, they could walk the runway to show off their pretty gear. couple by couple, the girls working the venue eventually got all the little ones into their make up chairs and painted their faces and bedazzled their hair with a ton of glitter each. LOL i was like, dada is going to be so mad. he hates glitter!

after they had their hair and make up done, the girls then got manis! once everyone was decked out, they all walked the runway again before the pizza and cake was served!

overall, ellie had the best time with her friends! it was nice to be able to go to a party with just ellie’s friends! she’s always hanging out with olive’s friends – which is great! but it’s nice to have her hang out with girls her age, specifically the girls she goes to school with.

thanks kelli and sienna for having us at your party! it was so much fun!

[nice photos by morgan clare photography…bad photos by my iPhone LOL]

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[isn’t she adorable? she was happy!]

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[getting her make up done]

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[getting her nails done]

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[they are the cutest and the silliest!]

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[werk it finn!]

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[she loved dressing up and walking the runway!]

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[the birthday girl!]

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xoxo

pool party

summa time. the livin’ easy.

i tend to veer towards olive’s classmate’s moms socially. we all hit up kindergarten with the knowledge that we were in for the long haul. our kids were going to be in school together for the next 9 years! get togethers come easily and we all rely on each other for support in all areas of our lives, in which i’m so thankful for!

i felt bad for ellie as she truly just hangs out with olive’s friends. just a month ago, she started asking about her friends. oh, baby girl! my bad! i needed to get in touch with her preschool friends!

well, it’s good to have a friend who has a pool as pool time, right now, had been so scarce! i coordinated with this mama as she coordinated with other mamas and boom! we had a full fledge party on the horizon!

i’m so thankful to kelli for opening up her home to all of us! not only is her house gorgeous, her backyard set up is a dream!

as soon as we arrived the girls were game! into the pool they went without looking back! the best part of this whole experience {besides visiting with the mamas?} was ellie becoming 100% comfortable in the water. last year, even with her floatie, she would n o t go into the pool without one of us holding her. she was so scared! while in the pool at kelli’s house, she only would hold onto the ledge and not let go. after a 20 minutes or so, i finally went into the pool and she latched onto me. i was playing around with her and i slowly let her go and she drifted into the pool and discovered that she could ‘swim’!!!!!! she was beyond the moon!!! her excitement was palpable! it was so sweet to see her have that aha moment!

the girls swam, ate, swam some more, continued to snack, swam and finally…hours later {4 hours to be exact}, the girls were exhausted! we said our goodbyes and shimmied on home. they were so tired, they fell asleep in the 10 minute car ride home.

it was a wonderful afternoon spent with the sweetest mamas around!

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[splash!]

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[olive and her friends]

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[she gained her freedom and discovered she could swim in the water with floaties]

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[lunch time!]

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[olive]

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[luisa and emi]

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[sweet ava]

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[aren’t they the cutest?!]

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[popsicle time]

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[we love our school community!]

xoxo

post SIP playdate

the girls did very well staying occupied and entertained during our shelter in place. there were no complaints but only a few questions about what was happening outside our house. i was super grateful they were happy as clams playing together and never truly fighting. there was the occasional bickering but overall…they love  playing together!

once phase 3 came about, we slowly inched our way towards socialization outside of our family. it was joyous, satisfying, and exciting to socialize with friends and to see our kids finally play with other kids!

by the time we had this play date shown, we had already had three playdates within the past week!!! crazy. we were on a roll and loving it! the funniest part about this get together was when my girls got out of the car and my friend erica says, ‘annie has the same shirt!’…right when she said that, her daughter came running out wearing the SAME tee shirt! hahahahahaha! i was dyyyyying! it was perfect! the girls were all dressed alike and i couldn’t have been happier or more content!

let me tell ya. if you think you are happy now, having kids creates more joy than you ever thought possible. yes…speaking strictly from my experience. i love my girls so much and seeing them with our friend’s kids fills my heart with joy!

anyhoo, random rant.

erica is someone i met through the girl’s school. she’s a wonderful, sweet, and caring person! we met at the beginning of the school year and we instantly clicked! the best kind of start to a friendship!

erica and i relaxed, drank coffee, the girls played and we had a wonderful time conversing in the sunshine. it was simple, fun and good to be together. we are so blessed to have the community that we have and we’re so thankful the girls go to the school that they do!

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[sweet friends]

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[ellie serving them food]

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xoxo

morton arboretum

we love the morton arboretum! it’s endless possibilities of fun!

a couple of months ago, olive expressed to us that she wanted to go on a picnic. why yes baby girl. let’s do it!

we were all excited to picnic at the park as we’ve never done it together! long story short, i bought a picnic basket for hc for some occasion when we first started dating…i honestly can’t remember when. we had thoughts of going back to ravinia to picnic during a concert or something. we then got married, had kids, and forgot we had it. LOL

well hc dusted it off and we were ready to go at it! we choose a sunny sunday afternoon and packed all the essentials olive deemed necessary. sandwiches, fruit, drinks, and chips. hc brought a mini bose for some music, a soccer ball, and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. it was gorgeous out! not too hot, not too cold – just right! the temp where you lay on a picnic blanket with a cloudless sunny sky and could fall asleep.

the adults drank wine, the kids had juice boxes, and we ate our food with the most beautiful scenery. the girls and i explored the area and stumbled upon a creek…which they were not interested in. hahaha! we played kickball and relaxed. it was seriously the most perfect afternoon.

we have membership to the arboretum and it’s worth every penny. honestly…if you go to the arboretum twice in a year, it literally pays for itself! there’s so much to explore there and the kids love it!

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[we spotted a troll!]

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[they weren’t as interested as i thought they would be. LOL]

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[kicking around the soccer ball]

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[we’re ready to set up our picnic blanket]

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[olive deemed this perfect picnic food]

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xoxo

kt and harper

it’s always exciting and always good when your friends come over to visit!

it had been a long time since i had seen kt and harper. we saw each other months pre-covid but then add on another 4 months, it was well over a half year since we last saw each other!

well it was time! kt and harper came over after noon and it was glorious! it was so good to see kt, catch up and have the girls dote on miss harper. she’s so cute! she was such a good baby and my girls could not stop paying attention to her! they sat next to her. played with her. loved her. it was darling to see and i know miss harper loved all the attention!

harper has gotten so big! she’s grown up so much and was sitting up, rolling, and throwing things, i could not get over those baby rolls. so many chunky rolls! so squishy and squeezable!

my time with kt was wonderful. we talked non stop and had so much to discuss! we kept jumping from one subject to the next, get distracted, start another conversation and then try to circle back to the convo that we sidetracked off of. LOL

i ordered lunch for us and everyone ate together. we then hung out some more and chatted our afternoon away. hours and hours passed and before i knew it, hc came home and in a bit, it would be dinnertime! where did the time go?! i asked kt if she wanted to stick around for dinner and she was game! sweet!

i whipped up a quick pasta carbonara and we continued our, what seemed like, endless chats. we ate dinner together and conversed some more! hahahaha! 8 hours later…kt relented and decided to go home. honestly, she could have stayed all night but miss harper needed her bed!

it was an amazing day with a very good friend and her beautiful baby. i love days like that. i love friendships like that. this is where you count your blessing and know life is good.

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[sweet baby harper]

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[olive loves taking care of harper]

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[aren’t they the cutest?!]

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[harper is a doll]

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[the cutest crew]

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[they melt my heart]

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xoxo

a day of chill

we had a long overdue date with dana and famille. it was a cold and dreary day in chicago which called for a cozy day date with this beautiful family. we traveled north to their abode to hang out, have some lunch and catch up.

dana and scott are pregnant with their second b o y! such exciting news…we are so excited for them and can’t wait to meet him. it’s pretty amazing to think about our journey together. i met dana yearrrrssssss ago…maybe 12 or 13 years ago? we were single or kind of single and years later, as the circle of life happens, we are married to wonderful men, and have the most beautiful children. we weathered good times and really bad times and have stayed close together through life’s crazy ride!

the girls were so excited to see the toys…LOL naturally! ellie loved rosie, the dog, and they settled in quickly as hc and i were happy to be there and spend some time with these two lovely people.

the boys grabbed some strong libations while us gals caught up with each other. after some time, we decided to grab some grub from a corner eatery down the block. we gathered everyone together and took a short walk to the restaurant to grab some food to go. we debated on eating at the place as it’s not spacious and there were so many individual people on their laptops scattered throughout the place, there wasn’t a conducive spot for  a large group like us. no matter…we were happy to go back to their place to eat and relax in a comfortable environment!

as we spent the afternoon at their abode, dana’s parents stopped by to drop off some things! we were so happy our paths crossed and we had a chance to say hello and hang out for a bit with the rubin’s!

after several hours of fun, we said our goodbyes and headed home to our sweet home. it was a perfect sunday spent with wonderful friends.

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[little abe]

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[love this family]

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[the girls loved abe’s toys!]

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[he’s so cute!]

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[the girls goofing around at the corner eatery]

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[scott and abe]

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[goofy girl]

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xoxo

you had me at starbucks

we try our best to see our friends matt and johann every other month…90% of the time, we are successful! we love these two and it always brings us joy seeing them!

they are always so gracious and always offer to come out by us but we love chicago and will take any chance we can get to hang out there.

we decided to meet downtown, have lunch at blue door and attempt, i repeat, attempt to get in the new starbucks reserve roastery.

lunch was fabulous. i love the blue door and the space is so quaint, vintage, and modern. the food is always on point and delicious and so is the service. when we arrived, ellie was not warming up to anything. she insisted on sitting by me and was not friendly with matt and johann…it had nothing to do with them, just her always being fickle.

she slowly warmed up to them and we all were enjoying ourselves with libations flowing and good food before us. as we were catching up with life, matt and johann asked us a very serious question. they asked us to be the godparents to the their future adoptive child. cue the tears. like tears jumped out of my eyeballs. i was so touched, so honored, so full of love that they felt that, out of all the people in their lives…they chose us to step into that role. i immediately replied yes. YES…i felt compelled and it felt right to say yes to such a request. of course hc said yes as well! okuuuuuurrrr, that made the day fantastic!

after lunch, we walked over to the new starbucks, secretly hoping that it would not be busy. LOL the weather and temps were amazing. a beautiful sunny day with temps in the 40’s…hello! as we turned down erie street, we were like no. oh helllllll no. the line stretched almost a city block. with the place being open only a couple days paired with warmer sunny temps, on a weekend, that was a combo for disaster.

we immediately said no and walked our way to the peninsula hotel and settled our tushies into a cozy booth at the z bar. yes…we went from drinking and eating to drinking and eating. hahahaha!

our day was fabulous. just perfect. we loved seeing matt and johann and thoroughly enjoyed our time together. when you fill your time with amazing friends and family…you win at life.

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[the boys]

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[my favorite brunch drink…mmmmmm]

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[love this babe so much]

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[i love christmas time and all the decor]

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[my loves]

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[biscuits and gravy]

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*****

P E N I N S U L A  H O T E L

Z BAR

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[she loves nina]

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[johann…so darn good with the girls]

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[she loves her guncle johann]

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[oh you know…it’s only 38 degrees outside]

xoxo

flower farm workshop

my friend dana emailed me a link to a flower farm workshop and, uhhhhh, before i even read it…i said, YES please!

that was a no brainer. i didn’t know where it was located. i didn’t know what time the event was. i didn’t even know how much it cost. YES please.

so, dana and i agreed to go and i asked dana if i could invite olivia. obvs, they are friends through me but i didn’t know if it was just a dana and me time she had in mind, specifically, or if she didn’t mind me inviting olivia…so that was another yes!

dana so graciously offered to drive and coordinated the logistics for us {thanks babe!}. they promptly arrived at 8:30am at our house and off we went! the drive there was, strangely, very long. well, it was a long trip distance wise but usually when you are heading somewhere, it tends to fly by because you are excited for your destination, etc. nope. the drive there was loooooong.

we finally arrived and our event began! it started with coffee and pastries…a chocolate croissant to be exact. yum! we were the second or third group to arrive and right when we did, a strew of cars were right behind us. the temperature was just right…a little cool and on it’s way to warming up a bit. we enjoyed the crisp air while eating our croissants and sipping our coffee, provided by the hosts. once everyone arrived, the tour began!

jeanie, the owner of brightflower farm, led us through the several acres of flowers she grows. she was so informative, diligent, and so darn good at what she does! truly a strong, smart, brilliant women who has a passion for flowers. she was full of knowledge and so well versed in every detail surrounding alllllll types of flowers. natch. she talked about bugs, watering, weather, seasons of growth, flower genus, when to do this and that to your plants, building greenhouses, land sustainability, suitability, and so much more! i was so amazed by her! i loved her passion, laid back ways, and how powerful she is!

once we walked through her magical fields of gold, we rounded back together and were directed by steven {ceo and co-owner of flowers for dreams} to come back out to the beds and cut our own, specific types, of flowers for our arrangements.

that was FUN! everyone scattered about the farm and circled back to the white tent with their prizes in hand and our assembly line of flower arranging began. we were able to pick from buckets of gorgeous flowers already precut for us! once we all had our vibrant blooms, steven walked us through on what to start with first in our arrangement, how to cut stems, what each plant was, how to take care of our flowers, and guided us on how to create depth and character with the placement of our flowers.

i loved watching everyone creating their own unique style of arrangements. everyone’s creativity and personality showed through each of the vases. as i was coming near the end of my picked floral pieces, i decided i needed more stems to fill it up and out, so i headed back up to the flower station and nabbed a few more flowers to create a fuller spread within my vase. then – ta da! i felt pleased and satisfied with my work of art!

once everyone was finished, they walked us through our homestyle lunch spread. they had hired a chef and jeanie’s husband {who was a culinary chef} took to the grill to put some finishing touches on a few delicious food items for our menu. we were served pulled pork, michael’s personalized homemade bbq sauce, rolls, grilled portobello, pickled beets, chickpea salad, coleslaw, and several homemade desserts. it was all soooooo good!

during lunch, we hung out, relaxed, reveled in our floral arrangement beauty, satisfied with our hard work. while we were eating and chatting, michael offered us to take home his farm grown red peppers and tomatoes right off the vines. how awesome was that?! so many people jumped on that one. once everyone’s bellies were full, the crowd started to thin, as the event was coming to an end.

as our trip home began, we were so happy to have experienced such a wonderful event {thanks dana for initiating it} and we were buzzing over the day’s memories. our ride home was quick! like i said above, our trip in was slow but our journey home was fun and exciting! before we knew it, dana was pulling up to our house and i was super sad to be parting ways with my girls! i had such a great time at the flower farm and i absolutely loved hanging out with my bestie babes all day long!

it was a much needed day of girl talk, relaxation, beautiful scenery, and delicious food. the best part of my day was the company! thanks dana and olivia for being so awesome…love you gals so much!

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[the cutest welcome sign]

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[ready to cut some flowers]

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[jeanie…the farm owner, walking us through a tour of her flower farm]

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via tandeminlove.com[my girls]

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[quite the amazing women! so educated, smart, tenacious, and cool]

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[loving our tour!]

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[everything was gorgeous]

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[chop chop]

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[i picked this one]

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[ready to arrange our flowers!]

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[a little inspiration on assembling my own vase of flowers]

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[a beautiful mess]

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[ta da! my flower arrangement!]

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[having fun and having the best girl time!]

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[our final products!]

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[i can’t get enough of my flowers. LOL]

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[i love these babes!]

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*****

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[my arrangement in our abode!]

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[looking beautiful on our dining room table!]

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xoxo