oh. my. gosh.

 

yesterday I walked into my room.  I heard a strange noise.

my cat was in my closet. standing on his hind legs.  pulling my shoes off my shoe shelves.  he had several pairs on the floor and was digging for more.  what the--

hopefully he didn’t snag any of them, I thought.

I shoed him out (haha) and started putting them back.

oh no.  he didn’t.  because I wouldn’t call it snag.  I would call it ate.

What the heck!!??  The stinking cat ate my shoes, are you joking me?

And it totally shows when I wear them too.      

I just got these shoes like two weeks ago.   I have no words.

 

I had just brought home these little cans of amazingness which helped keep the smile on my face despite the shoe incident…

 

Oh baby, I have waited a long time to try miss Annie Sloan’s CHALK PAINT!

The paint is expensive but DIYers are raving about it to no end and I haven’t heard a bad review yet – everyone is blown away. 

These are the claims, which I have heard confirmed:

• use on walls, furniture, floors, whatever
• one coat coverage most times
• water clean up, even after it dries on brushes for weeks
• colors can be mixed, and different shades can be achieved with the same color using the different waxes
• you can thicken it by leaving the lid off, or thin it with water to show wood grain through
• use it on any surface including wood, plastic, stone, brick, concrete and metal
• no sanding or priming – ever
• distresses easily
• extremely low VOCs so it is great for the environment

Here are some examples from my favorite furniture refinisher, Miss Mustard Seed…

Pick up your jaw off the floor now.  =)  Pretty neat, huh?  Those images are from her gallery. 

There aren’t a ton of stockists for this stuff.  The shop I went to is The Bella Bungalow in Arlington, and although I was in my usual flaky fashion and showed up a week early for her grand opening, she was so friendly and helpful and spent time to help me even though her store was closed. 

The paint is spendy.  I had an unexpected commission at work, so I splurged.  And with the clear and/or dark waxes I can actually create 4 or 5 shades with just these two colors.  I am also considering painting my kitchen table, my stools and two dining chairs.  The last review I read said a gal painted a big nightstand and did two coats of wax during her toddler’s nap and she only used a half inch of paint.  That convinced me.  I will definitely keep you posted on my progress.

I know this is a teaser post of sorts, but I just couldn’t wait.  Anyone else tried the Chalk Paint yet?

madre de futebol

 

Actually, I don’t think that is a correct translation: I was going for Soccer Mom.  Yes, this fall I officially became a soccer mom.  Reminds me of when Ty and I were dating and I said that when I became a soccer mom I wanted to drive a black SUV with tinted windows like the FBI ones.  Weird. 

Our little guy had a hard time with the failures that come along in a game of soccer at first, but after a couple games and after us encouraging him that the game kept going and he got to keep trying, he was loving it.  I took the camera to his last game and took a portrait (he was riding dirt bikes on picture day), and some action shots…

May the force be with them?  Not sure.

He kicks just like I do.  I have a few pictures of me in that exact pose making that same face.  Scary.

You will notice a common trend in the most of the pictures…

A ball way out front with a mob of kids chasing after it.  Yep.  The whole game.  Not a whole lot of strategy involved at this age. 

I love the sillyness of that second to last one and the concentration in that last one… just seconds apart.

This one cracks me up…

They look like they are pausing for a hug, but in reality, he just knocked down Morgan from his own team and the girl in blue that he appears to be hugging just happened to be smiling already and doesn’t yet realize that he gets soccer confused with football and he is actually tackling her.  Nice job Mark.

The whole game I must have heard this question a dozen times…

 

I think it is their favorite part.  It was so dark by then, I am surprised I got any photo at all.  Mark just saw this and confirmed that the tunnel is his favorite part.  He told me, “It is like you were running and you went into a tunnel.”  Enlightening.

I’ll be back with more this week.  Trying to get a set schedule at work and get back to blogging on a regular basis! 

california version 2.0 ~ part 2

 

Sorry part two took me a while.  I am a little over scheduled right now!

Get ready for serious photo overload – I am determined to cram the rest of the trip into this post!  So picking up where we left off- here is the beach at Carmel…

Those three dots were surfers. 

The sand was the texture of sea salt and stuck to every. thing.

Neither child was a fan of the crashing waves…

 

“TNT” is for “Ty –N- Tasha” …also coincidentally an explosive.  ;)

This is when the sun started to go down…

Seriously gorgeous.  If you need a get away I highly recommend Carmel.  Same as the last post, here is a link to Leah’s post on Carmel, and the Carmel by the Sea website.

The next day Leah introduced me to someone very important…

I had never been to H&M.  I am now a fan.  Might have spent a good chunk of my paycheck there.  For those of you who don’t know, H&M is on-trend fashion, but much lower prices than your main-stream places like Nordstrom.  Pretty cool.

That afternoon, we went to the Stanford campus which was so pretty…

Okay, I wanted to be an architect for a phase of my teenage years, mainly so I could design horse barns, I think.  Anyway, I have never seen any architecture as amazing as this church – it truly was awe inspiring to be inside that huge, detailed, beautiful place.  Makes me want to travel the world.  Oh, wait, would I have to go on an airplane again?  Is there more amazing architecture within driving distance from WA?

Our last great adventure was going to the theatre inside Netflix to watch a movie (Eric works there – nice company perk, huh?).  I was totally lazy and didn’t take pictures.  The kids were beat and we forgot the movie and had to go rent another, but we did it anyway.  The kids and I ended up falling asleep, but still it was one of my favorite parts of the trip.  We wanted to get a picture outside in front of their cool neon sign, but we were all groggy and we settled for this one. 

Hahaha, we all look so great.  I think it was like eleven.

And the next day, we had to pack up and say goodbye to Eric and Leah and their sweet little California home.  :’(

Thanks so much for having us, E&L!  It was pretty much the best vacation I ever had!  And definitely so far for the kiddos! 

california… version 2.0

 

Last February we drove to California [see posts one & two] to go to my Great-Grandmother’s 100th birthday.  While there, we had wanted to scope out the area our friends Eric and Leah were moving to, but we couldn’t cram in the couple extra hours of driving and they hadn’t even found a house yet.  But a couple weeks ago (I am a slow blogger these days) they were brave enough to have us all for a visit. 

The kids were great at the airport at 5 AM, much to my surprise.  They had to get up at 3:45 AM!!!  Mark was fascinated with the airport happenings, and Ty told Susie to go to sleep and she tried really hard…

 

If trying really hard is taking off your shoes, laying down with all necessary sleeping equipment and then repeatedly poking yourself in the eye to show how miserable you are that you have to hold still.

The kids and I got to see some views for the first time…

Had never seen an airport from the inside or the landscape viewed across one of those huge wings.  Uh, yeah, you might have guessed the kids had never flown before but can you believe I had never flown before?  Not on a jet, that is.  I had been scared because small aircrafts give me excruciating headaches for several hours afterwards, but the jet was really okay!  I did think we were going to die on the way back when there was some turbulence, though.  Might have something to do with our recent LOST marathon.  During the turbulence, I kept thinking if someone tells me we’re going to be okay like Jack told Rose, I am going to lose it.  Bad timing for a LOST marathon.

We had only gotten 1 hour of sleep the night before (long story) so we were all zombies the first day.  Ty and the kids took naps and Leah and I laid around in the sunshine a while and gossiped caught up.

That night we went out to a Ramen restaurant.  Ty and I didn’t even know there was more to ramen than Top Ramen.

Okay the ramen looks a little weird… and it wasn’t just my picture – I was like “Hmmm…” when it showed up, but it was really fresh and super flavorful – I ate it all.  And the french fry appetizer – WHOA.  First of all, realllly good – that  ketchupy, barbecuey, mustardy mystery sauce was super tasty.  And second, those thin pieces that look like paper were moving.  Yes, I said MOVING.  Leah, we never did get an answer as to what that was, did we?  Maybe cheese.  Maybe fish skin.  Whatever it was, we figured it was the heat that made it wiggle.  Crazy stuff.  But good.

The second day we did this…

 

There were approximately one bazillion sea lions out on that rock.

Continuing on the 17 mile drive there are other scenic viewpoints…

We finally reached Carmel By The Sea…

I was too awestruck to get good drive-by pictures of the huge homes, but I think you get the jist… Tons of million dollar mansions and million dollar little cottages lining this ocean-cliff road shaded by beautiful trees.  Stunning.

Here are some views from the little town itself…

A shop called Jane Austen at Home?  I was too darn giddy about the town, I didn’t even go in!!!

 

Such a beautiful town.  Kind of reminds me of Leavenworth, where you feel like you stepped into another country.  It feels European and every. single. nook and cranny is finished and beautiful.  It is no wonder celebrities frequent this town. 

More to come tomorrow; most importantly, the beach.  Oh, baby, the beach.  I wanted to cram everything in one post but it is not going to happen.  Four days of loveliness does not fit in one post. 

Links:

Carmel By the Sea page with various videos.

Leah’s post on Carmel.