Category: 2012

2012, autumn, bath, craft, decor, fall, ribbon

Fall accent craft

by casadeberryLeave a Comment on Fall accent craft


Recently I decided to make a little something something for the bathroom — I was walking around Daiso and saw plain wood boxes, so I grabbed one and decided to fall-ify it a bit.


Two coats of dark brown paint later — this was the bit that took the longest, waiting for the paint to dry — I added a lovely dark orange bit of ribbon I have had for a while. I used yellow ribbon to make a little flower accent and added the year in a cardstock circle.


I had leftover brown cardstock so I made a little tag and added glittery chipboard letters to spell out “autumn”. The filler apples, scented cinnamon sticks and candle were also in part of our fall decor bin, so this was a super cheap craft, I paid less than $2 for the little box and everything else I already had.

So there you have it, a little piece of fall for not much money — hope you have a wonderful week!

2012, autumn, kitchen, red

A bit of fall in the kitchen

by casadeberry4 Comments on A bit of fall in the kitchen

Last week I decided to bring some autumnal bits and bobs into our kitchen.

I purchased some lovely mums destined for some baskets we have hanging outside the front door — aren’t these gorgeous?

These red cup and spoon measures were much needed, we have had the same measuring cups and spoons forever, are, in fact, missing a few, and a couple are even cracked, so I got these super cheap ones at WalMart, and love the pop of color they bring:

Those plastic bins with handles are from the Container Store, but HELLO!!! I just found similar (i.e. practically the same) bins at a Daiso store — sort of a Japanese dollar store, except most things are $1.50 — and I bought three there. If they have more next time, I will be getting some more because I love them.

Snack bowls in chartreuse are stacked on the lower shelf – these don’t go in the microwave but are so useful for quick after-school snacks:

My morning coffee tray is ready so waking up goes as smoothly as possible 😀

My dear friend J got me hooked on Torani Sugar-Free Salted Caramel syrup – so good! My usual Vanilla and Hazelnut are taking a break for now.

I also got a mat for the area in front of the sink and my feet are loving it while I do dishes, but it didn’t make for a very exciting photo, ha!

The dining room is getting fall-i-fied soon!!

2012, friends

Art & Wine Festival

by casadeberryLeave a Comment on Art & Wine Festival

We spent this past Saturday morning at the Santa Clara Art & Wine Festival.  We walked from our friends’ home to the park where the festival was taking place and spent a few hours browsing through all the crafty booths, doing a lot of people watching, and finally, enjoying some yummy food.

My husband and our friends M&J stop at the beer and wine booths:

There were lots of lovely creations and M treated herself to some beautiful earrings

The pretty duckies were enjoying the warm morning

We got to the festival early so we could avoid the later heat and crowds.

The food smelled great – my husband and I chose cheesesteak sandwiches and J&M had some portuguese meat sandwiches:

We ended our meal with some funnel cakes – we split one of the plain ones:

and then headed home – my awesome mother-in-law was watching the boys so we could have some fun grown-up time.

The rest of our weekend was pretty mellow, I made a little fall accent and switched some summer decorations for fall ones. I am pretty much over this hot weather. I know, I know, 80 is not that bad, but when it’s almost 9pm and I’m still sweating, it’s too hot for me.

Fall is almost here and I am soooo ready to welcome it! Have a great Monday!

2012, hair

I’ve been chopped

by casadeberry6 Comments on I’ve been chopped

I had been thinking about cutting my hair for a while.

This is how long my hair was last week – I had gotten it trimmed after our friends’ wedding in April but it had been a couple of months since so I figured it was back to this length:

I had this inspiration pic saved for a while, I loved that the cut was short but still soft and bouncy:

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I tracked down the original source of the pic – Stephanie from life.love.babies, isn’t she gorgeous!? – and found a few more on her haircut post.

My fab stylist did a wonderful job!

This was my waaaaa! moment ;D

This was my hair after I left the salon on Thursday:

And, can I tell you something?

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It feels so much healthier, bouncy and full of body. I’ve styled it straight as in the picture, and I’ve let it dry naturally so it has some waves and it looks great both ways. If a stray curl flips the other way, it just makes it quirky. Love, love, love it.

Off to another adventure-filled week – hope yours is wonderful!

2012, girl crush, movies, tv

Girl Crush: Alison Pill

by casadeberry2 Comments on Girl Crush: Alison Pill

I first saw actress Alison Pill in The Pillars of the Earth, playing Princess Maud/Empress Matilda:

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I thought her portrayal was gutsy, and a highlight of the production. Then I watched one of my all time favorite movies, Midnight in Paris, and was delighted to see her, completely transformed, as Zelda Fitzgerald:

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Her accent was spot on, and her performance, which could have been over the top, was instead very nuanced and bittersweet. And yes, that’s Loki as F. Scott Fitzgerald.

A week ago, I decided to check out The Newsroom, the fabulous new (to me) show from Aaron Sorkin. You must understand that I am hopelessly behind on new TV shows so please indulge me in my fantasy that this show is brand new.

Luckily, HBO ran a marathon — which showed me just how behind I really am — of episodes and I was able to catch up and wonder, I guess along with others, if Jim Harper was purposely named as such, given his Jim Halpert -like role. Anyway, to my surprise, there was talented Miss Alison as earnest production assistant Maggie Jordan, torn between arrogant and hot producer Don “eat me” Kiefer and rumpled good guy Jim Halpert. Sorry, Jim Harper. And no, I’m probably not caught up yet so don’t spoil it for me, please!

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Another “The Office ” tie in is that the actress playing Lisa, Maggie’s roommate and Jim’s unwanted girlfriend, played Dwight Schrute’s one time love interest Isabel.

Okay, so I’m not the only one thinking this Jim Halpert/Jim Harper thing is weird/confusing/intentional? Gotta love Google.

Dear Miss Alison, I am sorry this post that was intended to be All About You got derailed by the Jims Conspiracy. I think you are a brilliant actress and look forward to seeing you in many more awesome projects. Sincerely, Me.

2012, boys, california, outdoors, summer, travel

Fifty Shades of Brown

by casadeberry2 Comments on Fifty Shades of Brown

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!

2012, boys, california, family, friends, kids

Camping in Yosemite

by casadeberry6 Comments on Camping in Yosemite

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!

2012, boys, photography

Payback

by casadeberryLeave a Comment on Payback

I did a lot of camera-aiming at people this weekend. We went to Yosemite and had a great time camping and at one point I turned and my oldest was doing this:

I didn’t wash my hair for four days so I will not be showing you the picture he took ;D

But I will share some of the others later this week.