Category: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

Dreaming of Anthropologie

by casadeberry4 Comments on Dreaming of Anthropologie

My sweet bloggy friend Michaela recently posted about some fabulous — and budget-friendly — gift ideas. She included items from Anthropologie so off I went to their website. Which is as far as I trust myself with Anthro, because if I were to walk in there, it sure wouldn’t be a budget-friendly visit for me!

I am currently into kitchen goodies, what do you think of some of my wish list items?

anthro kitchen

First would be a couple of adorable ceramic baskets, in turquoise, of course. On my counter, they would store some garlic or shallots.

I’ve been lusting after that milk bottle measuring cup set for ages. I know that 5 minutes after getting it in my house one of the cups would break, but still, I want it 😀

The pale turquoise tea towel would never be used, of course, but it has two things going for it – the color and the tea motif. I love me some tea on a cold morning. Revolution’s Earl Grey Lavender is by far, my favorite, but plain Earl Grey does the job as well.

I have one of the egg crates in white for teeny earrings, delicate brooches, etc. but I want a turquoise one as well. Of course.

This sweet salt-and-shaker set is just adorable. The warm orange/red/olive green palette makes it perfect for our kitchen/dining room.

Finally, I want these chalkboard-label spice jars but I’d use them for my craft supplies, I can envision a dozen of these holding various bits and bobs to embellish projects.

What do you think? Isn’t Anthropologie a great source of inspiration? I find myself coming up with projects every time I visit their store or website. Then I look back and see that I need to do laundry. Hope you liked some of these items — are you lusting after some Anthro goodness?

Uncategorized

Girls’ Night Out

by casadeberry4 Comments on Girls’ Night Out

I spent Saturday evening with a fabulous group of women, eating amazing food, and having some great laughs. Our dear friend M was having her bachelorette party and I was happy to be along for the ride. Also, it was my first limo ride — I know, I’m such a peasant. We headed up to the city and had a gorgeous 5 course meal at one of Hubert Keller’s restaurants, Fleur de Lys.

To my surprise, there was some Peruvian flavor to be found at this French restaurant:

A lovely gazpacho on the left, it was so good and refreshing; on the right, a quinoa salad topped with prosciutto and aji amarillo, a typical Peruvian hot pepper.


The Appetizer Symphony included — clockwise from top left — tuna fondant with caviar, caesar salad with spätzle, foie gras, smoked duck crostini and a parmesan mousse. I loved all of them except for the foie gras, which I don’t like, and the parmesan mousse.


A lovely seared swordfish was next, it was perfectly cooked, and the asparagus, topping and sauce were delicious. I cleaned this plate for sure.


I chose the filet mignon with a lobster mac-n-cheese en croute – holy crackers, this was the best mac-n-cheese I’ve ever had. The filet was cooked and sauced to perfection.


Last, but definitely not least, was the dessert plate. So good!!! Chocolate and praline parfait with a marshmallow napoleon on the left, very light and crunchy, and to the right a chocolate tuile with lucuma ice cream. Lucuma ice cream is a traditional Peruvian dessert, and in fact, we make it at home in the summer, it has the texture of vanilla and a taste like vanilla and sweet potato. Sort of. It’s difficult to describe exactly, but it’s so good, I think most of the ladies liked it. The blackberry was perfect as well.

We also enjoyed several bottles of Cabernet with dinner, courtesy of the bride-to-be, and then it was time to leave. We had about an hour until the limo took us home so we went to the Waterbar. We chatted for a while and ordered another round of drinks — mine was a “grown up” hot chocolate made with Ghirardelli chocolate, of course, then some Kahlua added along with something else I forget. It was SO good.

The ride home was filled with more laughter and conversation, I had met a couple of the ladies before but it was nice to get to chat with them. We are all so excited about the wedding, the bride and groom are so dear to us and we can’t wait to see them saying “I Do”.

Uncategorized

A little Valentine’s corner

by casadeberry4 Comments on A little Valentine’s corner



Goodwill tray I decoupaged with some Paris-themed scrapbook paper, votive holder from the $1 section at Michaels, favorite wedding portrait in World Market frame, clearance candlestick from World Market that was painted with ORB, plain white candle dolled up with scrapbook paper, heart ribbon from the Dollar Store and a Hershey’s kiss pin my momma sent me.

2012, organizing, pantry, storage, Uncategorized

Organizing someone else’s pantry

by casadeberry4 Comments on Organizing someone else’s pantry

The conversation went like this:

and before I knew it, I’d agreed to help a friend with her pantry.

Dear Friend’s house does not have a lot of storage, so her (and Mr. DF’s) laundry room has become THE storage room for non-perishables, linens, pet supplies, home improvement items, etc.

I forgot to take a photo at the very beginning, but at this point we had just cleared out the second shelf from the top.

I asked DF what would work best for her – we put the items that are least used on the very top shelf, including some appliances and seasonal items. My main goal was to make the space as functional as possible for her and her husband. We sorted and grouped items together:

Camping items together on top of paper towels.


Different paper towels (recyclable) and cleaning cloths.


All the large cans of paint were moved to the back, since they are only kept in case a touch-up is needed. They were formerly in front of the shelves, taking up precious real estate. The white tower is next to the washer and dryer, so the laundry supplies went on top and the less-used light bulbs went below.

By the end of the afternoon, we had cleared out a lot of items that were no longer needed, shelved items according to frequency of use, and made enough room for items to be grouped in appropriate clusters, i.e. soups and broths, beans, various rice varieties, coffee supplies, pet supplies, etc. Here is the storage room by the end of my visit:

Then we moved on to the kitchen cupboards – the result of going through every corner is finding many items you’d forgotten you had, and also a few past their expiration date.

The baking goods cabinet.

We enjoyed some soon-expiring chocolate chips, and then I went home to my men. DF said she was very happy with the results and I think we did a good job going through everything and deciding what the best place was for each item.

So that was my adventure organizing someone else’s space – hope you enjoyed it!

2011, california, colors, decor, entertaining, family, home, husband, living room, november, parties, Uncategorized

Swedish baby shower

by casadeberry5 Comments on Swedish baby shower

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!!!

2011, autumn, entertaining, family, friends, Uncategorized

Thankful for feasts and festivities

by casadeberryLeave a Comment on Thankful for feasts and festivities

This holiday season we are hosting SIX events at our home. I know, we’re crazy. But I love it. I love going to other people’s houses, too, but then I’m always thinking about the boys. If they’re home I think about what they’re doing or if they’re driving Gran nuts or if they’re eating or or or. If they’re with us, I think about them knocking things over and playing nice with others, etc. At home, they’re in their turf and I can relax more.

The first event was the get-together we had for my 40th. My husband and his parents did 99% of the work so I just enjoyed everyone’s company and the great food. My mom made two flans, those things are so rich and delicious, and were definitely enjoyed. Here’s a funny bit about flan.

The second event will be Thanksgiving. We sort of stole it from my mother-in-law since she got her new dogs. I would walk in her house and within 15 minutes I’d be sucking on my inhaler. I’m not allergic to all dogs but the longer-haired ones do give me trouble.

The third event will be a baby shower. I am so psyched. I am planning lots of sweet things, or rather, “Swede” things, since it will be a Swedish baby 😀 (flag pic from Facebook).

The fourth will be a family dinner. We might have some guests from out-of-state and we had such fun last time they were here that we would love to host something for them. It’s still a maybe so we’ll see. (pic from The Martha)

The fifth will be Christmas breakfast and lunch. Again, stolen from my mother-in-law. The boys open the avalanche of gifts – we really do have generous families and friends – and then they go play with the boxes (ha!) while we eat breakfast with my in-laws. We do a quick dishwasher load and get things ready for lunch, which is when most people show up.(pic from The Martha)

The sixth will be a New Year’s Day brunch. We are not planning on going out this year so we invite friends and family to get over their hangover or to start the New Year with us.(yep, again – pic from The Martha)

So this is our plan so far, lots of friends, lots of family, lots of good food and wine, lots of wonderful memories being made — that’s what holidays are all about for me. Hope your Thanksgiving is wonderful, and if you do not celebrate, I hope you have a great rest-of-the-week!

2011, about me, autumn, birthdays, boys, california, entertaining, fall, family, forty, friends, home, house, husband, kids, parties, Uncategorized, wine

Birthday weekend, part 4

by casadeberry8 Comments on Birthday weekend, part 4

After lunch and a nap, we got ready for dinner at Allegria.

Last year, our friends C&D had come to Napa with us and they’d gifted me a bottle of Caymus zinfandel.  I decided to bring the Caymus to my birthday dinner at Allegria and share it with my hubby and our friends J&M.

The wine went perfectly with our entrees and it was a delightful dinner.

Little did I know that our friends C&D would gift me another bottle of Caymus for this birthday – score!  Now I have wine for next year’s birthday dinner ;D

On Sunday, we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed home because we had invited people to celebrate with me – the party started at noon and we got home about 90 minutes before that.  My mother-in-law had watched the boys for us, my father-in-law got the house ready for guests, and both of them along with my husband did all the food.  I am so grateful to them!

I saw something this board on Pinterest and decided to make my own:

The afternoon was wonderful, it was so nice to see so many people from so many facets of my life.  When thinking about what to say if people asked what I wanted for my birthday, I took my inspiration from the book that started my veggie garden adventure – Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver.  For her 50th birthday, Barbara asks everyone to bring her a plant.  I couldn’t do the same since her birthday was in May, perfect for planting, but mine is in November, and I was guessing many plants would not survive the winter.  So instead, to those who asked, I simply asked for seeds.  Any type of veggie or flower would do.  And oh my goodness, I now have a serious stack of seeds for my 2012 garden!  Plus other, very generous gifts that will all come in handy.

I didn’t want to blow out FORTY candles so my husband, helpfully, decided to get four “decade” candles.

My boys had tons of fun as well since they had lots of friends to play with.

It was such a wonderful end to my birthday weekend, so many wonderful friends and relatives.  Despite all the whining and moaning I’ve done about turning forty, I know am a very lucky girl.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Uncategorized

Birthday weekend, part 1

by casadeberry5 Comments on Birthday weekend, part 1

I turned 40 on Saturday. I am lucky that I have wonderful family and friends to make the thing less traumatic, and part of the celebration included a couple of days in Napa.

This helps a lot when you’re starting to worry about getting old. A few of these and you stop wondering what size Depends you’re going to need.

We headed up there with our friends J&M – M set up a tasting at Kuleto Winery, which is just gorgeous and full of lovely things I wanted to buy.


They had the cutest pear candles and all sorts of goodies but my favorite were the two sweet dogs that greeted everyone who arrived.

The tasting room was beautiful as well:

They had different cheeses and crackers to try with the wines, and those were yummy.

After the tasting we walked around for a bit before heading to our hotel room. The grounds were a little gray because it had been raining but they were still beautiful:



I could sit in this little spot and read for hours, couldn’t you?

We had dinner at Fume, I had the Flat Iron and my husband had the Filet. I don’t remember what our friends had (my bad!) but everything was quite good.  J&M sprang their air miles for our hotel stay as a gift to me, we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn and had a very nice stay.

More tomorrow!