2012, family

A new mommy to congratulate!

by casadeberry2 Comments on A new mommy to congratulate!

My new nephew was born at around noon (CA time) yesterday. It was evening time in Sweden, where my sister-in-law, K, and her Swedish husband live, and I am glad everything went well. No name or other deets yet, but I am so incredibly happy — a little bummed that it will be months before we meet our Swede new relative (see what I did there wi . . . never mind.) but so, so happy at the thought of sweet newborn toes, the soft downy cover of hair on his little head, the soft cheeks.

I decided to be up most of the night so I can sympathize with the new mother — not really, I’ve been up with my youngest since 1:45am. Yeah. My oldest told K to not name the baby until they visit us 😀

Anyway, wishing a super Happy Mother’s Day (a couple of days early) to the newest Mommy I know! And to all the other mommies I know, and my mom readers. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

2012, girl crush

Girl Crush: Evan Rachel Wood

by casadeberry2 Comments on Girl Crush: Evan Rachel Wood

I’ve stopped watching award shows in the last couple of years. These days, I am relegated to hashtagging it on Twitter to find out who wins and then watching the acceptance speeches plus whatever interesting bits happened during the show, on YouTube. Such is the life when children take over your telly.

A couple of years ago, I was reading one of those “Best Dressed” articles online and Evan Rachel Wood caught my eye.

I mean, hello, the makeup is absolute perfection, the updo formal enough but messy and youthful, and the dress suited to her figure AND the event.

I made a mental note to see if this was a one-time-lucky kind of thing, and was thrilled to see ERW as Queen Sophie-Anne in True Blood.

Here’s another red carpet apeearance:

Honestly, I think she is one of those rare creatures who can do just about any kind of colorway when it comes to her hair and makeup. I’ve seen pics of ERW as an angelic light blonde, as a dirty blonde, redhead, brunette, and everywhere in between. Nude lips, pink lips, rose lips, red lips, she can pull off just about any color and she can play good, bad, innocent, lost, evil, you name it.

Then she went and did something that has been the kiss of death for many a starlet – she cut off her hair. And, no sh**, she still looks amazing!
Innocent in her little haircut

Kick-ass and androgynous

OWNING that red carpet!

And seriously, I don’t think MY feet have looked this smooth since I was a week old:

Now, my husband just asked me if ERW is my style muse. To be honest, no. Mostly because of the boobs. There’s no way I can pull off the super low-cut styles she rocks because it would look pretty tacky with my D-cups. Also, my skin coloring limits what hair color I can get away with — I just appreciate someone who can be so put together in such varied ways. Obviously, if might be her stylists who are doing all the putting together, but ERW absolutely OWNS her looks. Whether it is a vest and pants or a white couture shirt dress, she doesn’t look like most generic starlets of her generation.

And when she can pull off a look that is so generic in show biz — the pretty blonde

and still make it her own, I admire that.

2012, flowers, food, fruits, gardening, plum, veggies

Garden Update: First Week of May

by casadeberryLeave a Comment on Garden Update: First Week of May

There has been a lot of growing going on in our backyard — I can’t wait for harvest time to start enjoying our veggies and fruits, do some canning with friends and family, and feed my family lots of wonderful, homegrown food!


Imagine about 40 of these babies and you’ll get an approximation of what we have in the backyard. From the original 72 plants I grew from seed, I gave some away and donated some to my youngest’s school. I figure a few are not going to make it, but the truth is, I need to buy more cages — eek!


We grow some of our strawberries on the top of those upside-down hanging tomato planters. Last year we got lots of berries and lots of tomatoes, so we’re going for it again. A friend gave me another planter so hopefully they both do well.


My roses make me smile every time I go out to the backyard. I think some of them are going to decorate our home this week.


Our plum tree will give us lots of sweet, juicy plums this year. Plum jam is a pain to make but just so good!


There are hundreds (thousands?) of tiny grapes, the size of a pin’s head, all clustered and green right now. They’re Concord grapes, and once they’re ripe, my boys love to run around the backyard, scooping up a few each time they pass the grapevine.


I had never heard of Swiss Chard until I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle — and no wonder Barbara Kingsolver likes it so much! We bought the plants once, three years ago. It just comes back on its own. I did get some Chard seeds for my 40th, so I’ve added to Chard Row.


One of my favorite fruits to eat as I’m working in the backyard are blueberries. I’ll be weeding for half an hour or pulling tomatoes off their plants and run over to grab a few blueberries. Then the boys see me and pretty much empty the plant of its fruits within 10 minutes. And hey, that’s why I grow stuff, right?

I have lots more to show you in the next Garden Update – peas, broccoli, corn, carrots, beans, etc. Stay tuned!

2012, boys, california, travel

Our trip to Disneyland: part 3

by casadeberryLeave a Comment on Our trip to Disneyland: part 3

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!

2012, boys, california, family, travel

Our trip to Disneyland, part 2

by casadeberry2 Comments on Our trip to Disneyland, part 2

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!

2012, boys, california, travel

Our trip to Disneyland!

by casadeberry2 Comments on Our trip to Disneyland!

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!

2012, colors, glam, makeup, orange

Tangerine Tango @ Sephora

by casadeberry1 Comment on Tangerine Tango @ Sephora

I saw this collection a couple of days ago and decided that I would stop by Sephora soon and see the colors up close, but so far, I like what I am seeing.  Pantone’s Color of the Year, Tangerine Tango, has been interpreted as a make-up collection at Sephora.

Now, I am not one for orange eye shadow or liner, but . . . nail polishes and nail glosses?

Oh, I’m there, sweetie. Back in a few to show ya what I got ;D

2012, cooking, health

Cookbook Review: Chloe’s Kitchen

by casadeberry5 Comments on Cookbook Review: Chloe’s Kitchen

When I learned that a Vegan chef had won an episode of Cupcake Wars, I must admit I was intrigued.  I have dabbled in vegetarianism and veganism a few times but always fall back to my carnivore ways.  My husband and children are usually less-than-enthused by veg dishes and I end up demoralized and go back to our usual fare.

HOWEVER!  I went through the aforementioned chef’s website – ChefChloe.com – and her recipes seemed very doable and accessible. I’m already very familiar with non-dairy milks because of my son (and my own) lactose issues, so I decided to purchase her new cookbook and give some of her recipes a try.

The first one was a Bolognese sauce for my pasta-addicted household. Yes, we love our carbs over here. My oldest usually likes his pasta with just a little butter, but when he saw my husband eating his pasta with the delicious bean-mushroom based sauce, he asked for some. And then some more. My youngest cleaned his plate with no problem, and so did the rest of us. I liked that the texture of the pasta wasn’t slimy like when I try to make a Bolognese sauce with faux meat. Score 1 for Chloe, and for me!

The next recipe I tried was Chloe’s Fettuccine Alfredo. Now, my husband LOVES his Fettuccine Alfredo so I knew he might not be ok with a substitute sauce for one of his favorite dishes. He has been very good at trying new things, since we made a vow on January 1st to eat healthier. For the most part, we have kept our promise. Keeping it real here, he loves pizza and ice cream and I love chocolate, but I figure if we’re eating well most of the time, a little indulgence here and there isn’t a bad thing. So I made the vegan Fettuccine Alfredo and, out of the corner of my eye, watched him eat it. He loved it! The sauce was very creamy and flavorful, and I liked that I can get the ingredients at my regular store, unlike the ingredients for some other faux-cream sauces I have seen.

I have not been compensated in any way for this post; I am just super happy to have found healthier versions of some favorite recipes. If you’re looking for new, flavorful recipes to try, give Chloe’s Kitchen a try!

2012, boys, family

Things my kid has said

by casadeberry2 Comments on Things my kid has said

Yeah, this is going to be a “isn’t my kid funny?” posts, so if that sort of thing makes you want to gag, feel free to hit the Backspace button 😀

My oldest has inherited his daddy’s gift of gab (and of arguing his way out of situations!)  so since he started talking, he’s come up with some funny ways of expressing his thoughts with his limited language.

The first one I remember was “nose sauce” — back when he was 2, I think.

He was very aware of his body and things that happened and wanted to name everything. Since he didn’t know the term “runny nose” he came up with his own.

Another one was “sky car” — vehicles have always been important 😀

The funny thing is, he said “vroom vroom” for car, but an airplane was “sky car”. Our backyard is right under a landing path for the local airport, so in the evenings we used to go out back and just watch the planes go by. They still do, of course, but it’s not as important now, LOL.

One of the latest terms, and the reason I started thinking back to other stuff he’d come up with, is “armpit grease” — seriously, the kid runs around like a maniac most of the day, so of course, he gets sweaty. I am SO not looking forward to the teenage years with my boys, mostly because every friend I’ve watched Bridesmaids with points at me when this scene comes up. My only comment is, it’s “graduated FROM high school”, thank you.

Not looking forward to the blanket-cracking years.

2012, california, friends, husband

Wedding guests

by casadeberryLeave a Comment on Wedding guests

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!