Playing in Petaluma

Posted on February 18, 2013 by casadeberry

After nearly two weeks of being sick with the plague, and with the weather warming up the days a bit, we decided to take a little drive up north to the lovely town of Petaluma. We stopped by the seed store — closed on a Saturday?? boo! — and had some yummy pizza, but it was the stop in between that was my boys’ favorite.

Powell’s Sweet Shoppe is a kid’s dream come true. All sorts of candy line the walls, fill drawers in the armoires, and stand ready to fill plastic bags for you to take home.

My little man looks a little overwhelmed, doesn’t he?

I might get this when they start their US History lessons ;D

Love all the old-fashioned sodas!

This is where my husband and I stopped – the truffles were so good!

I had the Milk Chocolate, Chocolate Decandence, and Chocolate on Chocolate – yum!

And look, they had LEGO versions of my Niners!

The boys stocked up on gummies and some other goodies before deciding it was time for lunch. After our pizza, we drove home and started working on cleaning up the backyard. We continued on Sunday and things are looking much nicer although my hamstrings are killing me!

And for the record — no spoilers — but this is where I drew the line for Downton Abbey when I found out a couple of months ago. It was bad enough that they killed off my favorite female character a few eps back, but really? According to writer Julian Fellowes, he had no choice but to do what was done in last night’s episode. Sorry, Jule, you are a WRITER, you should be able to come up with better ideas than that. I think Mr. Fellowes is brilliant at writing things like Gosford Park, where it’s a couple of hours and he can weave his magic, but he fails miserably at long-term character development and plot pacing, two key elements in a series. Another one that is on the verge of losing me is Once Upon a Time, but that’s best left for another day – hope your week is a wonderful one!

Meeting the YHL peeps

Posted on February 4, 2013 by casadeberry

A few days ago I was thrilled to go to the Young House Love book signing in Palo Alto, California. My sweet friend J went with me and was not only lovely company but also at times, was my “stuff holder” and “photo taker”.

Having worked at a bookstore long ago and being a voracious reader, I have seen my share of book signings and I have to say, this one was very well put together. First, and most importantly, people in line were fed. It was 90 minutes or so we waited in line so let me say that this was super important:

J holding some cookies for her psycho friend to photograph.

These were so YUMMY, although J was more taken by the adorable little cups. I snuck around while J held my place in line to take some pics of John & Sherry – can I say she has the most perfect skin?

I also caught sight of these STACKABLE little bottles. Aren’t they perfect?

Ninety minutes later, it was my turn. I’ve tweeted John & Sherry before to say I think that I think Sherry looks just like Emilia Clarke, the actress who plays Daenerys on Game of Thrones – yay or nay?

Sherry agreed and John mentioned she’s playing Holly Golightly on Broadway, which I didn’t know.

I also brought a little something for Miss Clara:

Got my book signed and then hit up a Chinese restaurant for lunch with J. Then we wrapped up the afternoon by going to IKEA ;D A fabulous day with a wonderful friend and lots of yummy goodness!

Fifty Shades of Brown

Posted on August 31, 2012 by casadeberry

We had a blast on our camping trip – but let’s face it, there were less-than-glamorous aspects that we had to contend with for four days. The first one was the aforementioned wasps; they got a couple of the kids, so we had to designate off-limits areas. The second one, or rather, uh, number two, was a most odorous situation. Meaning, no-flush toilets. Our friend P, who, along with my husband, decided to aim their headlight down the long-drop toilet to have a look, christened it Fifty Shades of Brown. That’s boys for ya, because I used those toilets as much as they did and not once, NOT ONCE, did I feel the compulsion to aim my headlight so I could see better. Bleargh.

ANYWAY, on to better things now.

The man tackling the wasp situation

The day before we came home we went to a river, it was such fun – the boys busied themselves with building a dam.

Friendly river duck

Our youngest enjoys a jam session with our friend J:

See? This is proof that I was cleaning those boys up whenever I could ;D

The next morning, it was time to pack up and head home:

“Thank you very much, good night!”

And that was our four-day adventure at Yosemite. The boys love camping, playing around in the woods, and being manly men with their buddies. We love hanging out with friends and family and having great food. And wine. Wine is good.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Camping in Yosemite

Posted on August 29, 2012 by casadeberry

We spent a fabulous four-day weekend camping in Yosemite – it was the boys’ second time camping and they had as much fun as the first time, which is to say, A LOT!

Our day started early on Thursday, I think our oldest could have used a couple more hours’ worth of sleep

Our youngest got right into the spirit of the thing and started carrying manly amounts of fire wood:

He also loved helping daddy set up our tent:

Dinner that first evening was basic camping goodness:

With one twist:

Dear auntie L. had a birthday so we got her favorite cake – German chocolate!!!

Friday was Dirt Day. Or Filthy Friday. Or Messy Monkey Day. Or something.

I swear I wiped them down about 56 times that day, but five seconds later they were filthy again.

It was a losing battle.

But the food was awesome.

Breakfast rocked — hot and fluffy pancakes, yummy fresh fruit, and bacon, lovely bacon.

Dinner was delicious flank steak, asparagus, salad, and baked potato (I didn’t have one).

The squirrels were in love with our food:

Even diving into the trash can to retrieve bits of it!

Our friend K made the most stunning, the most amazing (yes, I love MasterChef!) the most refreshing gazpacho. Seriously, it took all my willpower not to grab her plastic container and run with it into the woods:

But the tracker jacke–, I mean, the wasps, were kinda scary.

Lovely port.

Don’t remember much after this shot ;D

More camping adventures later this week!

Our trip to Disneyland: part 3

Posted on May 4, 2012 by casadeberry

Our last day at Disneyland brought us back full circle – Dumbo was the first ride my boys ever rode. They were obsessed with elephants at the time and I think we went on this a good dozen times. Each day.

Alex chose to wear one of his pajama tops (made by me) for the day:

The carousel is always a favorite!

The boys tried their best to pry the Sword from the Stone:

In the end, my husband told them, “maybe next time”.

On Thursday, we started the drive back home, with a stop at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History — more specifically, their Dinosaur Hall:

The boys loved seeing all the skeletons and interactive features — their interest in dinosaurs is not as strong as it was a couple of years ago; now Godzilla and superheroes have taken higher places of importance, but still, dinos continue to fascinate them.

We drove home after our brief visit, with a few stops for nourishment and bathroom breaks — the sky looked like this for most of our drive back:

But it wasn’t too bad, even when it did rain. We got home late, tired, happy, the boys eager to play with new toys, us adults eager to fall into bed, but all of us very, very grateful to Gran and Grandpa for taking us to Disneyland. Again. My little man did so well this time around, he was very clear when it was all getting too overwhelming for him and he and I would go back to the hotel room so he could spend some time in more calm surroundings. My big boy is such a good big brother, always looking out for Alex and such a delight to hang out with. There were a few moments of crankiness, but hello, some of them were mine, too.

Good-bye for now, Disneyland — I am sure we will see you again!

Our trip to Disneyland, part 2

Posted on May 2, 2012 by casadeberry

Our trip to Disneyland continues with some collages I made of the boys:

My boys LOVE Tarzan’s Treehouse – I went up that thing once and decided that was the last of it for me. My back started to kill me and it took two rides of the Indiana Jones Adventure to fix it. That thing is better than a chiropractor, I swear. I went on it once when my back was pretty locked up, and when it was done I swear half the pain was gone, so of course I went on it again. It worked like a charm. Worth the price of admission right there ;D

Ssshhh – don’t tell them it used to be the Swiss Family Robinson tree house.

If you liked Cars, you will love the new Cars Land opening in June, they’ve recreated Radiator Springs and have several attractions and shops almost ready to go – a friend of my husband’s is an Imagineer working on this project and s/he showed us the preview room (open to everyone) which includes some of his/her work. Don’t want to get anyone in trouble so that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Alex decided he was getting overwhelmed by it all so he and I went back to the hotel room after lunch and we just hung out, played on my laptop, and I caught up on a new cookbook I got.

More about our trip in the next post!

Our trip to Disneyland!

Posted on April 30, 2012 by casadeberry

We were gone last week, and for a very good reason – Gran and Grandpa decided to take us all on a vacation to Disneyland!

My oldest made it clear upon arriving at the hotel room that he meant to have a ferociously good time!

He was also very happy to see the many Avengers posters around D’land and Downtown Disney

Waiting in line for the Jungle Cruise – the boys’ all-time favorite!

My youngest loved looking out the hotel room window — we were on the third floor and he thought it was awesome being able to look down at all the cars and people

My little guy wasn’t tall enough for Star Tours so Grandpa kept him entertained.

(yes, we are totally getting lots of ideas for a future birthday party or room makeover!)

More on our trip to D’Land in my next post!

Wedding guests

Posted on April 16, 2012 by casadeberry

Our dear friends J&M were married on April 7th and we were thrilled to witness their two lives becoming one. I call J my husband’s “boyfriend” and M and I kid about their “man dates”, and M has become a dear friend, I must admit I teared up during the ceremony.

The venue was the gorgeous Mission Ranch in Carmel — owned by Clint Eastwood — and the weather could not have been more perfect. Sunny but not oppressively hot, with a nice breeze to keep everyone comfortable.

Some wedding guests were uninvited, but very charming:

The rehearsal dinner was held at a local Italian restaurant — the food was amazing and my tiramisu was divine!

The wedding and reception were wonderful – I don’t like to “scoop” the bride and groom’s photos so I will wait for them to share their professional photos and/or the ones I took and shared with them, and then I’ll share them with y’all. My husband was a groomsman so I hung out with the men throughout the wedding day, even documenting the moment when the sandwich shop where they were going to get lunch at was closed, and we had to head to Safeway instead. It was a sight, 4 guys in tuxes and me taking pics like a paparazzo ;D

Hope this Monday is a beautiful start to your week!

Swedish baby shower

Posted on November 28, 2011 by casadeberry

Over the weekend, I had the honor of hosting a baby shower for my sister-in-law, K. Her husband is from Sweden, where they live, and she’s visiting for a couple of weeks, so it was out only chance to get together and celebrate. I keep referring to her baby as baby Thor or baby Freya, but no, those are NOT the names they’re considering In fact, some of the names K likes for a girl (they don’t know the gender yet) are the ones I would have given to my child if I’d had a girl. I would LOVE it, if K’s baby is a girl, for my new niece to have those names I love, so yes, I am a little biased in what I hope she has.

Since we don’t know the baby’s gender yet, I decided to do the shower in the colors of the Swedish flag – blue and yellow:

I even learned to make pompoms!

Some of the wine was renamed with the names of Swedish places and the mommy- and daddy-to-be’s last name.

My husband did an amazing job decorating the house for Christmas, it looked beautiful!

I came up with a few games, including a crossword puzzle:

I had a blast planning and hosting the shower and even got gifts from my mother-in-law and sister-in-law for hosting! My husband was a fabulous assistant, he took many photos, helped set up, kept people fed and with drinks, he made my job so easy. K said she had a good time and was very thankful, which means the world to me. I am so excited for baby Thor or baby Freya to arrive next spring!!!

Christmas in the Park

Posted on November 26, 2011 by casadeberry

It has become a holiday tradition for Gran and Grandpa to take our little family to Christmas in the Park. This year it was even more special because my sister-in-law, K, is here from Sweden where she lives with her husband. We all met at the light rail station and took the train to downtown San Jose.

During the walk from the downtown station to the park:

I love taking pics of my handsome men