weekly photo dump. week 6.

this week was full of fun in the sun, friends over for dinner, some flea market shopping, and some good food.

can't beat that! 

one of my favorite things to do on sundays is head to the flea market. there are some great finds there and some you are left scratching your head about. really? 14 bucks for a mason jar. not so much!
i found some great stuff for our bedroom and i am super excited to reupholster that stool with a chevron print to match my bedspread! i wanted that green depression glass to come home with me but it was one of those ridiculous prices!
my cat loves our bed and the sun. also, i made our bed for a week straight! and my toddler loves boxes and played in this one for an hour straight. cheap entertainment.

monday we had a playdate at play source with traci, calen, and leah. the kids had so much fun and we got to catch up and gossip  chat about life!
if you live in the la area, this place is a must. very fun!

we always celebrate fat tuesday. a good reason to get together with friends, eat good food and have some wine.
b made some gumbo/jambalaya that was so good! we had some drinks in my newly redone patio/shed and the the boys played together...in the box!
ryland got the baby in the king cake which means he hosts the party next year. he is 3 so i'm not sure how that's gonna work!

wednesday i planted some more plants and spruced up the front patio a bit. we played outside and had some major chalk art time.
we also celebrated national margarita day with out famous margaritas. sooo good!

thursday was mommy day and i got a manicure which is rare these days! one accent nail, too! love this look. i also got my hair cut and colored. purple streak for the win!
in the evening we went to a friends movie screening at the silent movie theatre. yes, the movie had sound! this theater is old and so historic. i was a great time!

friday was full of outdoor fun in the warm weather, some trader joe's shopping and wins, and turkey burgers for dinner. i have a little boy who has been under the weather so staying home and making sure he gets better has been an the agenda!

our saturday morning walks have become a ritual and today we hit up the park on the way back home. we mostly walked around the park and found a tree with a painted heart on it. d wasn't feeling good so we came home for some lunch, a nap and some word world. after the sickie went to bed papa and i had a mojito and watched some tv. saturdays at our house! watch out!

this week we have a few things on the agenda to get done before brandon heads back to work in a few weeks. 

hope you all had a great weekend!

xo

Friday Favorite. What's in my Gift Wrapping Arsenal.

i'm a wrapping paper / wrapping paraphernalia addict!
i'm a total sucker for a pretty package. i can't help myself. who doesn't love to receive a box wrapped in pretty paper, with some nice ribbon or twine and a cute gift tag? i know i can't be the only one.
i have a stack of paper, gift tags, ribbon, twine etc just itching to be used and this month we have a ton of birthday parties so i'm excited i get to be creative and come up with a pretty package idea.
here are my favorites from olive manna that i have in my gift wrapping arsenal. if you haven't checked out this site, it's a must for paper junkies like myself!


i love a beautiful wrapping paper but lately i have been using kraft paper. it is sometimes cheaper and  thicker, plus you can dress it up how ever you want! plus if you are like me and like to be all matchy matchy with your paper and ribbon, kraft paper is brown. you can use any color to make it pretty!

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then you can make it look like this..

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or like this with some washi tape or masking tape...

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wooden gift tags that can be dressed up to say anything with a stamp! so easy and pretty!

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chalkboard and dry erase tag labels are great because you can write anything on them for any occasion. you don't have to have a specific label for a thank you or a birthday gift. and if you mess up like i often do, you can erase!!!! genius! also more genius, they can be reused by whomever you give them to. circle of gift wrapping life right there! 

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and finally, every package needs a pretty bow so i often use this linen ribbon to make it a little prettier and also, again, recyclable by the person you give the gift, too. 

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hope you all have a great weekend. we are planning on getting some stuff done around our house an possibly purchasing a garden box so we can start our herb garden. spring has sprung in los angeles and we are soaking up the sunny la weather! 

xoxo

thrifting thursday link up!

i am not sure i even qualify as a 'thrifter," but i am linking up to mandy's post anyway because i went to the flea market and found a few things that might qualify me as a "thrifter!" is that even a word?!? 

sunday i made a little trip to the fairfax high flea market, a huge market in the parking lot of a local high school. this market is ah-mazing. tons and tons of stuff. some for a good deal, others making you wonder "really? 50 bucks for a crate?!?" ridiculousness!
so with an iced chai in hand (isn't that the drink of choice for "thrifting'?!?), i strolled the parking lot ALONE (baby was at home with daddy) looking for some goods for our room. i was also looking to score some pyrex because lately i am all "zomg! pyrex sighakhdlahrjebgjkb!" i am obsessed with it.
i found lots of pyrex but mostly what i already had, but i did find a booth where the guy was wanting to get rid of stuff and not leave at the end of the day with anything. jackpot! give him your best offer and he would probably take it. and he did. and this is what i came home with. 

the date underneath the stool says 1950's. this will go in our bedroom and will be covered with a yellow or gray chevron fabric to match out bed stuff. 

Magazine holder and a gold seat for our bedroom. Not too sure if that seat will be used for but I fell in love with it!  

Magazine Holder for our living room. I have been looking for one of these forever! and fell in love with it immediately! 

a few things i fell in love with but didn't buy were some gorgeous depression glasses and plates and some old cameras to add to my collection. seriously the amount of stuff at this place is unbelievable and if you and the time could take all day to go through. 

there you have it! some great finds at the local flea market! i have some great pyrex from here, as well so if mandy does this link up again i will post pics of it. seriously amazing stuff!
 xoxo

Wordlessish Wednesday. Hey Girl.

so on valentine's day i posted a hey girl v-day edition. if you are not familiar with hey girl then you need to head here asap and get your ryan gosling on because swoon, meow, etc. he is hot!!!
there are so many different memes for this but i am loving the handmade these days. 


i take like 80 bazillion photos of d so i thought why not have some fun with my toddler + hey girl! 
so here it is....
another toddler hey girl!

weekly photo dump. week 5.

the fact that i have kept this up for 5 weeks is mind blowing to me. it really is! i have blogged for a year and almost a half and took a huge break for awhile. this is a milestone for me, y'all!
it is fun and the iPhone apps make this genius and easy! 
so yeah, we will see what i say on week 10!

sunday was all donuts, early morning baths, and a fun carnival themed birthday party where i got to see some old friends. i am in love with this theme and the whole lion tamer photo booth was genius! we had a blast, as did the birthday girl. 

today we prepped for valentine's day with some super easy and yum little treats. 
d gave me the "mom enough with the photos" attitude which was both awesome and not so awesome since hello, this is a photo post! 
we played with all the fun play food we have and the play sushi i found in the dollar bin at target was a total win! also ikea has some adorable play food that is not plastic or cardboard. 

we celebrated valentine's day with some homemade heart shaped pancakes that my picky toddler wouldn't touch. why? because they weren't round or frozen! the kid knows what he wants!
we went to whole foods for dinner stuff and b made a delish filet mignon along with a salad and baked potato. it was soooo good! 
valentine's day is so different now that we have d. it is actually more fun. we have always celebrated the day but every day is full of love with this man of mine! 

we had a weird rainy day today so we spent most of it inside playing with trucks, legos, and reading a ton of books. i also made a really good chicken dish i found on pinterest. 
another pinterest win!

thursday was "clean off the crap on the table" day! both the dining room table and the kitchen nook table are free of crafts and laundry! and we can now eat without pushing thing out of the way. let's see how long this lasts!
we also played with play dough for awhile today. i am going to attempt some handmade glitter play dough this week.
i also wore my giraffe scarf i scored the other day because i am obsessed with it! cute, huh?!?!

friday i ran to target, sans toddler for some gardening gloves then saw the boots above and about died in the aisle. i love them!!!! i am considering going back because i need gardening boots! you know for all the gardening in the fields i do!

we also went to gymboree today and after i went into nordstrom to tease myself over buying some tom's ballet flats. i want some so badly but the cost is a killer! 

i also fell in love with a this gorgeous LOVE pillow at cost plus which by the way might be my second favorite store. so. much. stuff that rules! 

cheese and crackers were dinner because both b and i were in the mood for some good espresso cheese and brie!

we had a lazy saturday and it was great! we went to the farmer's market for lunch, the grove for an anywhere chair for d, and got to see a super cute mardi gras dog parade. seriously adorable! 

i ran into anthro for some goodies and decided i want to move in there asap. anyone with me on this?!? 
i am obsessed with coloring my hair and am thinking of trying the chalk technique above for a little color that isn't permanent. not sure yet! i will keep you all posted on this!


hope you everyone had a great weekend! looking forward to this week and a fat tuesday celebration with friends at our house!


i am linking up with the lovely amy at a good life blog. 
check out her weekly baby bump photos! so adorable. 

happy love day, friends!

sharing the love,
toddler style.....

weekly photo dump. week 4.

another week at case de lott full of fun outings and toddler time.
we are going on a whole week with no naps and it is about to be the death of me. i am tired! this boy is full of energy all day and we are constantly trying to find ways to keep him busy! he is a great independent player, so there's that!
*yawn*

sunday we tried on new sunglasses i found at target in the dollar bin! they were so cute i bought 3 pair because we are notorious for loosing sunnies in this house. lots of homemade lattes were consumed while d played on his laptop and sent a few "emails" and wrote a "new blog entry!" this computer kills it.

the days are still gorgeous here. i know i sound like a broken record! we spent the majority of the morning outside playing with new toys like the big dump truck i found at target. 

flavored water is my new obsession since we had a flavored water bar at d's party! i find myself drinking more water this way. guess cause it's fancy!

i tried a new recipe for cookies that was pretty good. i'm always looking for good new recipes.

this boy was dirty! so a long bath was in order and early bedtime, as well. 

the first tuesdays of the month at the Natural History Museum are free so we hit up the dino exhibit for the day! we had so much fun! d loved the dinos and the big polar bear.
we spent the whole day there checking out all the animals and running around! we will be back for sure. it was a great day for all of us.

wednesday we hit up the farmer's market for breakfast , fruit, and a barnes and noble run. we played at the bookstore with the nook. i seriously want to buy one of these for d so i can get my iPad back!
since we are doing the whole no nap thing these days, we stayed long enough to ride the trolley a few times and then headed home where i made valentine's day cards. and then realized how dumb this idea was!
target for necessities was later in the afternoon where i bought a chai latte and an apple juice for the little guy. also, cup holders for baskets?!?! genius!

morning walk to grab coffee, head to the post office and the grocery store were all we did today because some days you need to sit around and not do much!
those green beans?!? they were all d had for dinner that night. weird kid.

friday was gymboree day. i didn't take the stroller in hopes that the non napper would walk the mall and be exhausted. yeah, not so much.

5 dollars later we rode all the mechanical rides at the mall, watched the puppies at the pet store sleep, watched traffic and the buses and had a snack. 

we got home, he said "nigh nigh!" 

and then no nap. so yeah. over it!

we went for sushi later that night and i had some sake and beer and enjoyed every single ounce of it! afterwards we walked to get some froyo and again, i enjoyed every ounce of it! this no napping makes my jeans tight!

an early morning of flower shopping, coffee, a trip to magnolia bakery for some treats to take to a friends house for dinner and a baby announcement by said friends rounded out saturday! such a fun evening with lots of wine and homemade pizzas! 

this week i have to clean up this house. yikes!

such a mess and i am starting to get crabby because of it!!

hope you all had a good week!!! 

per usual, i am linking up with the lovely amy at a good life!

I might have said one or two of these things.

i am sure you all have seen the "Sh*t (fill in the blank) says."

i love these and so many are spot on.

i ran across "sh*t urban moms say" and zomg! this is so perfect. so, so perfect.

i mean for other people i know, not for me. because i have never said some of these things. :side eye:

well maybe the whole foods thing, but not the other stuff. ok, well maybe the part about the iPad and wine but that's it!

swearsies.

handmade valentine's day ideas. also, i am running out of time!

valentine's day is right around the corner.

annnddd.... i decided i was going to make valentine's day cards for d's friends and our family. 
what have i done lately? cut out some hearts and decided that this was a dumb idea! 
there is one thing to blame for all this martha stewart wanna be attitude. i am looking at you pinterest! too many ideas that are adorable and i am like "i can totally do that!" pin! pinning! pinning x 1000. then i go back to my holiday board and i look at what i pinned and realize, "so not gonna happen!"
but i am not gonna waste all my craft stuff and am back on the handmade train. 
so here we go, the ideas i am loving but am somehow not sure how i will pull of! 

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all of these are way adorable and probably out of my league but i am going to try and narrow down the option and craft away. 
good thing the dvr is full and we have plenty of wine.
crafting, wine and dvr party for the win!

weekly photo dump! week 3

i am currently writing this while watching the super bowl halftime show like 5 hours late.

this is what happens when you have a toddler that doesn't like the tv on if it's not bubble guppies or sesame streets. come on! 

we had another fun week which consisted of a toddler still trying to give his mother gray hair by fighting her on naps, playing outside, and lots of coffee because *yawn* the no napping is exhausting these days!

sunday we went to the park with the intentions of enjoying the gorgeous weather and tiring out the small human. one of two things happened here. i will let you guess which one! i also did a little cleaning. nothing like a fresh set of sheets and a clean bathroom!

monday we went to target for some "essentials" (yeah right!), some new chairs for our yard and then to the grocery for some dinner fixings. d wore his sunglasses in the car and he looked adorable, per usual. 
honey butter pork was not the menu. so good you guys! i wrote about it here. you will love it! i also drank some wine with dinner out of my new wine glass that i won from johnna. i love it! 

the morning consisted of some outdoor time and lounging my our new chairs with iced coffee, some sticker time which ended in a meltdown because apparently stickers on his skin is no bueno! nap time didn't happen so i went to the grocery store for some milk and ended up buying a reese's egg and diet coke. that right there, was a highlite of the day! 

wednedsday we hit up the getty museum for some running around, culture, and a tram ride. we had so much fun! it was a gorgeous day and pretty clear so we could see all the way to the ocean! the tram ride was a huge hit but d loved the kid room just as much. i highly recommend this museum whether you are there for art or just architecture. it's awesome! and.....the toddler napped!! 
even more awesome!

we love cpk and their mac-n-cheese, so lunch was just that. we did lots of coloring and drawing with our new color pack from my godmother. so cute right? and we ate the heck out of some mac-n-cheese and pizza. the white pizza is to die for! then we came home for some playing outside and a little sesame street. dinner was a bust for d, so b and i ate gyozos from trader joes. yep. that's all we ate and we loved every second of it! the perk of being a grownup!

friday we finally went back to gymboree and met up with d's friend. being away from gymboree for awhile made for a happy toddler when we arrived. also, holy smokes he can do some much more than he could a month ago! craziness! still likes to eat bubbles though. after gymboree we watched some la traffic from some huge glass windows at the mall. this is a highlight of this boys day. he loves traffic. good thing baby boy, because la has a lot of it! after traffic watching we went to the pet store where we oohed and aahed over a dogs we will never have because we have 2 cats that would eat them!

park playmates are our favorite so saturday we met up with our friends and had a 2 hour playdate where the boys ran around, chased a squirrel, "rode" the dino, and basically wore themselves out. that was awesome! i went to coffee bean for a late afternoon pick me up and then made homemade lasagna which oh my gah, so good! also, i cut a bazillion hearts in hopes of completing my valentine's day cards on time!


next week - operation tire out the toddler! we have got to get this boy back to napping. it's my mission!!


i am linking up with amy for another week of photos! 

pinterest recipes. installment one.

i am not even gonna lie. pinterest has my heart. i love this site and am not ashamed to admit it.

i have gotten countless ideas, recipes, crafts, etc from pinterest and all make me look like i actually kinda of have it together sometimes!

two recipes that we have tried in the last week that are full of win were a pork tenderloin and an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. so yum!

first up, honey butter pork tenderloin. 

i stumbled across this little gem and the picture sold me on it! it looked amazing. 

i am guilty of that whole judge a book by it's cover thing. the picture looked gorgeous so i pinned. then i went back and looked at the recipe itself and hello?!?! super easy and quick. what i need these days. see having a toddler. 

we changed up the recipe a bit and added a shot of bourbon (one of those days) and grilled it instead of put it in the oven. 

it was so good and we had leftovers that turned into taco night. even more delish!

i am always looking for new things to bake and i found this little gem one day on smitten kitchen, which by the way is an amazing website! go there after you read this! you won't regret it. 

oatmeal chocolate chip and pecan cookies have to be one of the best cookies i have tried in awhile. easy to make, simple ingredients, and a that recipe makes a descent portion, i have stashed this away in my recipe file. 

i have made them twice in two weeks, they are that good! i changed up the recipe on this, too. i omitted nutmeg because i'm not a fan of the flavor and cut back on the orange zest. (i read some comments that said it could be too strong)

i know everyone has caught on to the interest phenomenon and is pinning left and right. if you haven't you live under a rock! is there a recipe you have tried that is a must? something that was a total fail? let me know! i'm always looking for new things to try.