2014, clothes, clothing, fashion

Refreshing the old wardrobe

by casadeberry2 Comments on Refreshing the old wardrobe

Keeping two growing boys in clothes that fit them (easier for the younger one, obviously, with all the hand-me-downs) and look good has been a full-time job lately, with the various growth spurts that have taken place. I think my oldest is about to do some sprouting so soon it will be time for all new pants and shirts that don’t bare his bellybutton when he raises his arms.

However – my husband, my very own Tim Gunn, the man who, two weeks after we started dating, pointed at a pair of jeans on a Banana Republic window and said “those would look good on you” (and was right!), said to me “you need clothes.” So, for a change, I got a few things for me and not our monkeys.

2014 Spring

Now, not all these things are new, but I was thinking SPRING and put together some of the old and some of the new in this board. Just the fact that we got me three new pairs of pants is amazing. Two pairs of jeans and one pair of trousers, because I’d been wearing my two old pairs of jeans to death.

The three pairs shown are all super comfortable to wear and fit me well. I am 5’1″ with serious hips and short legs, so finding things that fit is not always easy. From left to right:

Jeans – Modern Straight from LOFT, Gray – Lee’s Relaxed Boot Cut, and Jeans – Levi’s 512 in Black.

I will show you some of the ways I’m going to put various combinations together in the next couple of posts. See you then!

2013, 2014, award, house, husband, nails, past project, purple

A WOOT and a Radiant Orchid

by casadeberryLeave a Comment on A WOOT and a Radiant Orchid

My awesome husband’s fabulous idea of adding color to our backyard by making redwood frames for flowers won this:
Visit thecsiproject.com

for the whole of 2013!

I love The CSI Project and it was pretty surreal to see they chose our project as their favorite of the year.

So that was the WOOT! and now for my first take on Radiant Orchid.

My friend Carina and I went to a new (to me) beauty supply place and holy moly it was awesome. There I found a color I thought would be a good fit for Radiant Orchid and guess what, the name of it is Foxy Roxy. Named after my sweet puppers, how could I resist?

I got a few pale colors and a very pretty tomato red. Then I got out of there before I could spend the grocery money.

Does anyone else need like 5 more hours to the day? Because I totally do.

Weekend Bloggy Reading

2014, accessories, colors, purple

Radiant Orchid – are you game?

by casadeberry2 Comments on Radiant Orchid – are you game?

Pantone’s color of the year for 2014 is Radiant Orchid, a vibrant color that is surprisingly easy to incorporate to your wardrobe or makeup routine.

Sephora is partnering with Pantone and has released a signature lipstick in Radiant Rush (1). This color is bright and attention-getting. If you’re not quite sure about it, you can try a beautiful gloss like Illamasqua’s Tantrum (2). After all, I love my Givenchy Velvet Purple gloss, which my darling husband gifted me.

If you want to try this lovely shade on your eyes, check out the innovative way makeup goddess katosu wears it under her lower lashes (3). Isn’t her work stunning?

Old Navy has a plain v-neck shirt (4) that would be a welcome spot of brightness this winter, or you could go for a scarf (5) from Nordstrom, or even a pair of pumps (6) for the office.

The ways you can incorporate Radiant Orchid to your look are endless. I’m going to check out my Old Navy because you can never have too many v-neck t-shirts. At least I can’t. When you’re 5’1″ and have big boobs, v-necks are your friends. I will totally admit to being smitten with Lenny Kravitz as Cinna in The Hunger Games and buying a gold eyeliner, so a Radiant Orchid-esque eyeliner is in my future.

Are you game for adding some of this lovely shade to your life?

2014, cosmetics, nails

Nail woes

by casadeberryLeave a Comment on Nail woes

The other day I IG’d this picture of my sad, sad little cuticles:

Sorry if you were in the middle of eating. Pretty nasty, right? I do wash my hands five trillion times a day, so I am sure that is not helping my dry skin at all, but to be honest, I have also tried a few lotions, creams, and cuticle oils and the result is always the same: Within twenty minutes, my skin looks dry and horrid again.

I know how glamorous (ha) my life must seem, but let me break it to ya: I don’t have time to apply stuff every twenty minutes. I need something that works, that I can apply in the morning and at night, and maybe apply once in the middle of the day. That’s the level of my commitment.

I am a sucker for pictures of pretty manicures even though I keep my nails super short, and I read a comment mentioning a product called Nail Butter. They are American-made and cruelty-free. I won’t preach about choosing cruelty-free products; right now I am educating myself and I have gotten rid of a few things. I plan on ridding myself of more and choosing cruelty-free products, but as slippery as that slope is, it’s not the point of this post. Nail Butter is not gifting me anything, I have placed an order and am awaiting its arrival and I hope it makes my cuticles better. Not because I am vain, but because I want my skin to be healthy and the skin around my nails just looks gross.

Will keep y’all posted – I know, please try to control your excitement – on how things go. For now, though, if I run into you, please don’t look at my hands ;D

2014, entertaining, family, friends, holiday

Third annual New Year’s Day Brunch

by casadeberryLeave a Comment on Third annual New Year’s Day Brunch

What better way to start the new year than with a bunch of friends and lots of excellent food? After the success of our second annual NYD brunch, we knew our little tradition had serious traction and prepped for good times and good food to start 2014.

The talented Desiree from The 36th Avenue designed adorable printables which came in handy for our celebration – I added a bit to the large printable, but other than that, the design is all hers.

Steve, his mom and his aunt do some cooking:

Steve also made monkey bread, and our guests brought yummy scones with homemade jam, homemade breakfast sausage, fresh fruit, OJ, sweet potato hash, brownies, etc. while we provided coffee, pancakes and waffles, and eggs and bacon.

As excellent as the food was, it was even better to have family, and friends from all areas of our lives, getting together. Truly a great way to start 2014 – cheers!!!

2013, baking, boys, holiday

Sugar and Ginger and Frosting, oh my!

by casadeberry3 Comments on Sugar and Ginger and Frosting, oh my!

Life has been sweet around here 😀

My friend Jen got me this adorable plate:

And then we proceeded to make a complete mockery of all the Christmas cookies on Pinterest. I shouldn’t have had such high expectations.

I discovered that the minimalist approach was best for me:

Steve, of course, rocked his detail work.

Jen and I needed to run some errands, so I ended up resorting to the good-old “frost and sprinkle dump” method:

What can I say, it serves me well.

My little one wanted to make gingerbread man cookies, so off we were on the next adventure. He, too, has embraced the minimalist approach, because he made this one and left, leaving his brother and I with tubs of frosting, sprinkles, and assorted goodies:

My oldest took the opposite view with a Ginger Zombie Apocalypse theme:

I chose to create a homage to my beloved Niners and their current quarterback:

And we all ate too much frosting.

The end.

2013, friends

Sweet day

by casadeberryLeave a Comment on Sweet day

My dear friend J sent me a link to the promotion Sprinkles Cupcakes is currently having – bring an unwrapped toy and you get a free cupcake. Hello!!! I quickly rounded up three toys the boys had never wanted to play with, in fact, they were still sealed in their plastic wrap, and off we were to our local Sprinkles.


J had never been to Sprinkles. Wait no, she had never been to a cupcake store – time to remedy that, and in turn, donate some new toys for local children’s charities.

We were giddy 5-year-olds in that store, eventually made our selections – after letting a couple of people go in front of us because seriously, that display is a little overwhelming. I’ll tell you what I chose – Black & White, Carrot (for Steve) and Vanilla for my boys to split. We sat there eating our cupcakes, grins on our faces, happy to hang out and eat something decadent.

Sprinkles will be holding this promotion until December 15, so if you want to participate, you have three days left. I am super happy that we made a little day trip out of it and got to spend time with my good friend.

Have a wonderful weekend!