Arm Knitting and Finger Knitting

I was feeling so stressed with school and the oh so intense 3/4 mark of the semester so I thought it's time to DIY something. When I learn a new craft or make something it really helps me get my mind off of the things that cause me stress. 

I used these videos to learn from youtube: arm knitting by Michael's one more for arm knitting by Simply Maggie and finger knitting by Simply Maggie.

I used Lion Brand Yarn wool ease thick and quick in the color 'fisherman' you can find it here but I purchased it from Michael's. and I used two balls at the same time so every thing was extra thick, this was suggested as an option in one of the videos. and for the finger knitted ear warmer I only did two sewn together instead of three and used all one color. 

over all this was a really fun craft that only took a few hours to learn and make and I'm already getting a lot of use out of the scarf! 

here are some pictures of the final products: 

Adorable dress :)

The Mr. and I went shopping and I found this stunning dress for only 10 doll hairs! It's black and ivory knit with sweet winter patterns.  I'm wearing it here on Thanksgiving with a red cropped cardigan from forever 21, black leggings from American Eagle, two-tone high boots from Modcloth, pearl earrings covered by hair and sporting red lips with Revlon colorburst matte balm in the color 'standout' my new favorite red lip color!

"I got bangs!"

Name that movie quote anyone? (it's legally blonde...hehe! one of my faves)

 I actually did get me some bangs and I'm pretty happy about it as you can see in the photo above :) I needed a change but I didn't want to go chopping it all off just yet so this is the result! 

long hair + bangs = smiles

** this will be a small enlightenment for you today, your valuable time used to simply enter into my brain when it's on stupid mode and enjoy what lives in there. Here's a little tid bit of the love I have for one of the most ridiculous movies made: Legally Blonde.

Some of my most favorite quotes from Legally Blonde:

• Elle "Whoever said orange is the new pink is seriously disturbed"
• Warner: "You got into Harvard Law? Elle:"What like it's hard?"
• Hairdresser in the salon "OMG the Bend and snap, works every time!"
• "The rules of hair care are simple and finite, any cosmo girl would've known!"
• Elle: "Exersice gives you endorphins, endorphins make you happy, happy people don't shoot their husbands! They just don't!"
• Margot: "Yeah, Luckily"
• Margot: "Awe look, there's like a judge and everything! Vote for Elle!"
• Enrique "Don't you estomp your little last season Prada shoes at me honey"

I hope ya have a Perfect Day! ;)

Part Two: 
Outfit of the Day: I wanted to dress comfy today so I pulled on this soft jersey striped skirt from old navy and tucked in a colored layering tank top under my white 'boyfriend' v-neck ($10 a la target) Then I added a belt to keep the skirt up at my waist and I had myself a comfy cute outfit. I love when I actually have the time and care to put in the effort into wearing my favorite tried and true clothes in a way that turns them into put together outfits instead of just throwing them on and heading out the door.

Also I miss dancing so much!  

Baseball Game Fun!

The Mr. and I got the wonderful opportunity to go to a San Francisco Giants game at the new AT&T Park! (well new to me) I haven't gone to a Giants game (or any MLB game) since I was about 8 years old and It's something we haven't done together yet, so this was an exciting opportunity! We went with a group of coworkers, traveling together on a bus and tail-gating in the parking area, needless to say we had a blast! This turned out to be a great game to attend because the Giants won and there were two grand slams made by the Giants! Those grand slams happen to have set a record for the Giants because it was the first time a pitcher and a catcher hit grand slams in the same game! Go team! We also got free bobble heads! ;) Here's another fun collage from our fun day!

Thanks for hanging with us!

Love, Cait

Proud to be an American

Happy 4th of July y'all! I'm so thankful for this country, the land of the free, and grateful to call myself an American! This is a majorly fun holiday consisting of family time, yummy food, summer weather, swimming, grilling, humming patriotic tunes, my Mom's yogurt jello, my nephews crying when they have to get out of the pool, watching fireworks, and making jokes about tater tots! I love my family to bits, Independence day, is a great time to relax all together! 

here's some pictures from our fun day!

"He makes me melt like a popsicle on the fourth of July" ~'Little Rascals'

I am really loving photo collages lately! This one I made on my phone with the Photo Grid app for android 

 The gang!:  Bro, Dad, Mama, Hubby, Mother, Father

lots of love

The one and only good picture of the beautiful fireworks

I'm so thankful to God for the founding of this nation, the land of the free, and also want to say a big "Thank You!" to the brave men and women of the armed forces who continue to keep us free. 

I hope everyone had a great holiday, a safe holiday, fun times with your friends and family! Take care y'all! 

love, Cait

Girly Stuff

Hello,

So I'm super excited about all my birthday presents! Everyone was so very generous and really blessed me! Thank you to my awesome family!!! I love you guys!  I used a few already and wanted to share some looks and crafts that have come from these thoughtful presents.

something you all should know if you don't already is: I pretty much love pink! I have a pink keyboard...and mouse...yea... and I also wore pink everyday for an entire school year because I'm silly like that. So now that that's out there, lets check out this stuff!

DIY canvas tote:

(using stencils and my new Cricut machine)

Oooo, sparkles!

here's my new bag

and my tools

I used my Cricut machine to cut out the flower and I already had bought a 'Martha Stuart Crafts' stencil pack (on clearance) and I also already had the fabric paint from a previous project. In regards to the paint: "Is that...?" you ask, "Why yes, it is sparkly neon pink fabric paint!!!"

I love the look of raw bland canvas with the bright sparkly pink designs

and I mean "whoever said orange was the new pink was seriously disturbed"

lol!

I used the flower as a sort of backward stencil. I really liked the way the canvas was soaking up the paint and the softer look it created when I used the flower in reverse.

As you can see I used the other stencils in the regular way :) 

very fun and simple craft!

Naked 3 Palette, oh mai gosh! Well it's not that new but it's new to me and I love it!

here's me being weird, taking selfies and what not...lol!

This is a beautiful set of eye shadows by Urban Decay! Lots of rosy neutrals pretty shades to play with. 

This was my first go at it, so here's what I did:

1. urban decay eye shadow primer, samples come with the naked palette three along with a nifty double ended brush! 

2. lightest shade in the pallet, called Strange, it's a creamy matte color and I put this in the inner corner and then brushed it all over the rest of my eye lid all the way up to just underneath my brow.

3. I dabbed on my Mabeline New York 24 hour color tattoo creme eye shadow color 'Inked in Pink' (got this at target, it's a soft pink with a metallic shine to it) I put on the lower portion of my eyelid. (it's a creme shadow so it helps powders stick and look really great)

4. I used a fluffy eye shadow brush to put the color 'Limit' into my crease. It's a slighly darker matte pink shadow.

5. I took a smaller detail brush to put the color 'Nooner' into the outer corner of my eye lid and blended it into my crease as well. 

*I was considering stopping there, it was a very nice soft look but of course since it's new I wanted to try some more...hehe...

6. I used my finger to add the color 'Trick' on the center of my lid. It's a rose gold color and with a lot of shimmer, I was nervous about getting glitter all over my face so that's the reason I used my finger :)

7. I tight lined with dark brown eyeliner and used my powder eyeliner by bare minerals on the top outer portion of my lash line.

8. I took my white eyeliner to tight line the bottom rim

Woah this is a lot! Sorry! 

9. I used my favorite eyeliner on the outer third of the bottom lash line . It's an Urban Decay glide on eye pencil called 'underground'. It's a shimmer-y, pink-y brown (i don't know, i just love it) 

10. And then... I put the color 'Nooner' a dark pink matte shade (the same one I used for the outer corner of my eye shadow) underneath my bottom lashes to set my eyeliner and create a soft blended look. 

11. last step, umm... last two steps: curl eyelashes and put on mascara.  

I finished the look with a soft pink lip liner and a lip gloss by bare minerals. 

Pretty, Pink, and Done! Ha!

Thanks for hanging with me and I hope you have a great day!

love, Cait

Photo Collages!

Hey, 

Just wanted to share some cute photo collages I have done recently using PicMonkey. It's fun and free, easy to use, so check it out for your photos if you like!

I have enjoyed using this site on occasion. There are cute layouts and lots of free filters and editing options. It's like scrapbook but with out the mess ;) 

Fun birthday date nights :)

*click 'em to see the larger version

Burn at the Barre

I took an awesome Barre class today with my sweet friend and we did indeed 'burn at the barre' and it's still burning! lol! I have been looking for a barre class in my city but sort of hoping it would turn up at the gym I already have membership to ;)

 My friend recommended this class and taking it together was so fun! We both have dance backgrounds so we understand barre in that sense but it was great to use it in a different way to condition our bodies more! 

Thanks girlfriend for the recommendation and I can't wait to take it again soon!

Quinoa Lunch

I am OBSESSED with quinoa! it's just so good and can be flavored any way you want! it's quicker to cook than rice and it's texture is so light! 

Here is a lunch version i made yesterday:

Ingredients: 

• leftover quinoa from the night before :) (keep reading if you want to know how I cooked mine)
• 1 can black beans
• shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• roughly chopped cilantro

directions: reheat leftover quinoa in the microwave for about a minute and a half, stir *tip: place a wet paper towel over quinoa bowl in the microwave to keep it full of moisture. rinse the beans in a strainer place in a microwave safe bowl and heat for about a minute. mix beans and quinoa together then add in cheddar cheese and microwave again for 30 seconds and stir. then roughly chop some fresh cilantro and mix that in. 

That's it! such a quick lunch!

here's how I made my quinoa:

1 cup of dry quinoa, rinse in a mesh strainer, put it in a medium pot with 2 cups of water and 1 tsp pink sea salt and 1/4 tsp garlic powder. bring to a boil. once it's boiling set the heat to low and let it cook 15 minutes. at this point all the liquid should be absorbed and the quinoa looks almost clear except for the little c-shaped white part ;)

one of the fun things about B working from home some days is having lunch with him!

A Favorite Outfit

 Hey hey! I want to start putting up some of my favorite outfits up on the blog! This is actually not a super recent photo but I love this outfit and since the weather is warming up I will be sporting it again soon! 

here it is head to toe:

beige fabric flower bobby pin from target, Daily Lunch Date top in Giraffe from Modcloth, ivory basic tank top from forever 21(I seriously love these because they have so many shades and they are only 2.50), accessory belt taken off the dress it came with... gold tone and beige leather wrist watch from charming charlie, orange capris Michael Kors from T.J. Maxx, woods and wildflower sandals in brown from Modcloth. 

Why do I love this outfit?
This outfit is one of my faves because it is full of my favorite things! Giraffes are my favorite animal, orange is one of my top fave colors, gold tone is my preferred accessory shade and this beautiful top was gifted to me from my mamma! she's definitely a favorite person in my life! 

Here's another way I styled this top:

dark orange ribbed tank from the Gap, Daily Lunch Date top in Giraffe from Modcloth, jean capris 'artist' from American Eagle, sandals. 

This is my simple version when I'm going for comfort and keeping things low key. 

pictures of pictures

Check it out! I finally finished an engagement scrapbook... yeah.. I'm behind. But that's okay! Scrappin' is a hobby, it's a fun way to relax, and I'm thrilled I finally got around to finishing this one :) 

front cover is padded light green leather with a small square b&w photo

front page with some handmade embellishments and a framed favorite from our engagement shoot with a very talented friend Joni

Green page set of photos from the special day he popped the question, photo creds to my now sister-in-law, Andy, who also did the sweet color editing in the bottom left photo.

brown floral page set, b&w together with full color photos... "mr. and mrs. to be"

"happiness is... YOU and ME" gray and teal page set with white accents and butterfly embellishments

Blue garden page set. "B C together forever"

Vineyard page set

1 John 4:19

We love because he first loved us.

Brown page set "LOVE" and "forever friends" 

Red Rose page set with b&w photos

"Love is Beautiful" 

Last page celebrating our 3 years together.

love always

Married life Push-up Challenge

Beau and I got the great idea that we should do a push up challenge! 

Our Challenge: 1 push up + 1 more every day

We will do it together everyday and hold each other to it! 

 It's been a lot of fun doing this challenge with him and we are not near done yet! Our goal is to do 100 push-ups continuously so we are working our way there by adding one everyday. We started on April 1, 2014 with one push-up. At first it felt silly because we were already used to doing at least 15 continuously. We laughed and it has brought us closer, it's something we look forward to, not really the push-ups so much as the feeling of our arms burning together and laughing about it!

 Accountability is a great thing in fitness and in life! Find a challenge or make one up, like we did, and do it with your spouse or your best friend. It builds healthy habits and builds your relationship too! Good luck!!

Tonight's dinner made with love...

Hey! I just had to write this right now because I'm jazzed about a tasty quinoa pilaf I just made!!

my quinoa creation:

Ingredients:
 cup dry quinoa
1 can chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon pink sea salt
ground black pepper
1/8 garlic powder (not garlic salt)
splash of olive oil


Directions:
Rinse quinoa well in a fine mesh strainer rubbing gently (do this for longer than you think you should...like 2 minutes) I know it's like "nah dawg I'd rather skip that" but it will turn out bitter if you don't rinse it. toss some olive oil onto a skillet and toast/dry the quinoa. Add seasonings (rosemary, garlic powder, salt, pepper) Put chicken broth in a medium sauce pan add the quinoa and seasonings put the lid on and bring to a boil, once it's boiling set the timer for 15 minutes. After it has cooked for fifteen minutes turn of heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and enjoy!


Fun facts about quinoa (as told by me): It's pronounced Keen-wah... ancient grain... healthy... lots of protein... delicious... fun texture... many flavor options... it looks neat when cooked... fiber... I want to make it for breakfast...i think i'll stop now.

*1 cup of quinoa dry will yield 3 cups wet


I paired this with lemon infused boiled chicken breast, which was slightly lacking in flavor but was still good. I simply boiled boneless skinless chicken breasts in water with fresh lemon juice and lemon pepper seasoning. I enjoyed the subtle flavor of lemon on the out side of the chicken breast but it was very faint and once chewing the chicken it mostly tasted like plain 'ol chicken breast so this one needs some tweaking ;) That's the fun in cooking though trying new things and learning.

Kirby is 1!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRBY!!!!

Kirby was adopted to our home when he was eight weeks old. Ever since June of 2013 he has blessed us with his cuteness, his sweetness, and his playfulness! He loves to talk to us with his meows and he purrs when we wake up in the morning. He has given us lots of laughs and he is a great addition to our little family!

We love you Kirby!

Boxed Brownies Transformation!

It seems like every time I go to our local grocery store the first thing I see is boxed brownies mix and Oreos. It's like my eyes zero on their target, anything chocolate! haha! So anyways, I try to keep one box of brownie mix in the pantry at all times just in case ;) When I asked my handsome hubby this morning if there was anything I could get him from the store, he said "we ran out of chocolate almond milk yesterday" and then he mentioned that the last two bananas we starting to look pretty old. I offered to freeze them for smoothies but he said "how about making some banana bread instead of freezing them this time?" I deliberated and I was like: "ok, sure!" (it's weird to quote myself lol!) I reminded him that we need to finish the brownies we had already made a few days ago (that are now sitting on the counter getting old) and it's a beautiful thing that us ladies can do, we can have a conversation that flows over many topics changing the subject with ease but our men just don't think in this way. In his brilliance he exclaimed, "Banana Brownies!" this is where this post gets fun! 

disclaimer* baking is not my strong suit, I would much rather saute something, or boil it, or grill it, but when it comes to baking I usually don't get it right. These turned out good though, so if you are among the baking challenged this is a no judgement zone and feel free to give these a whirl because they are easy to make!  

here's what I did! 
Easy Banana Brownies: 

Ingredients: 

1 box of brownie mix 

2 ripe bananas  

1/2 cup (divided) mini chocolate chips

these are the items the box suggests:

1/4 cup water (I used 1/4 cup milk instead, mine is on it's final week so I'm trying to use it up) 

1/2 cup oil (I used canola oil)

1 egg

Directions:

pour the brownie mix into a mixing bowl. mash the two bananas with a fork in a separate bowl. lightly whisk in the egg, milk, and oil into the bananas. Using a mixing spoon make a well in the center of your brownie mix to pour in the wet ingredients. pour your banana mixture into the well and stir until incorporated. fold in half of the chocolate chips. grease your pan and pour in the mix. top with the rest of your chocolate chips. bake at 350 or according to your brownie package. also refer to package for baking times per type and size of pan you choose. 

These Brownies turned out super moist and fudgey! To cut out some of the moisture you could play around with how much oil and water/milk you add since the bananas are a wet ingredient. next time I think I will lessen the oil for sure but I did love 'em how they were. 
**baking is not my forte, I only use boxed stuff and even boxed cakes prove to be too much of challenge for me. haha! My cookies from scratch never turn out right, either fluffy cakes or completely flat (like my gingersnap fail post from Christmas) So please feel free to comment and send some baking tips and encouragement my way. Thanks!

love, Cait

Oopps! It's a.... BOY

So my sis goes in for another ultrasound to see how our future niece is doing and the doctor says, looks like it's a boy! Say Wha??? Apparently this little boy has a few tricks up his sleeves and he is mighty funny! We had a party and everything for this little 'girl' but at least we got some cake! haha! The whole family, though shocked at the sudden change, is super excited to welcome baby boy number three! They will be the 3 Musketeers and this will be a funny story to tell him as he grows!

We love you so much already little boy!!! 

We can't wait to meet our newest nephew, coming in August!!

Iced Green Tea (gone ahhh-mazing!!!)

I just made a fantastic brew of iced green tea and I'm feeling so accomplished! I love to make iced tea but I usually make it with black tea for that stronger flavor and caffeine kick. This time I decided to go for a lighter and more antioxidant rich green tea version. 

I'll let you in a little secret, I don't like green tea! UNLESS it's ice cold! haha! That's probably weird but my taste buds seem to have preferred temperatures for foods and drinks. Here are some examples: coffee must be piping hot and stay that hot for the 30 plus minutes it takes me to drink it ;) Food must be hot as opposed to warm, and I like water at three different temperatures: hot, room temp, and ice cold but of course not luke warm! So there you have it, just a little insight into my taste buds but back to iced tea!  

Ingredients:

4 cups (32 fl oz) of very hot water

2 green tea bags (matcha types have extra antioxidants or so I've read)

juice of 1 and a half small lemons (to taste) 

1 (1/2 ) table spoons honey (to desired sweetness or even omit if you don't want it sweetened) 

Dash of pink sea salt and a sprinkle of lemon zest

24 ice cubes

Directions:

Heat the water to very hot, I use an electric tea kettle. Pour the hot water into desired container over two tea green tea bags. Let brew for five minutes. Remove tea bags and stir in the lemon juice, honey, dash of salt, and sprinkles of lemon zest. Once everything is dissolved into the tea add the ice cubes and refrigerate for 4 hours.

* It may be ready before the four hours especially if you fill a glass with ice and then pour but that just a note for those who can get a little impatient at times like myself ;)

** if you like stronger tea flavor add more tea bags to the brew.

and here's a bonus cat pic:

 Kirby enjoying the special present we brought home for him from Pismo! An empty shopping bag!!! :P 

Gutiar

I'm practicing guitar again!! Beau is trying to re-learn on the other hand (because he's cray-cray like that) so I thought this would be the perfect time to review and start over my learning with him! It's so great to do things together and we had a wonderful night last night playing together! 

E-Chord

 G-Chord

C-Chord 

D-Chord 

First Family Photo!

I came across this photo out of place on my computer today and I thought this would make the perfect throwback Thursday (since it is Thursday) The only issue is I can't instagram it without cropping out one of my beloved family members so I just decided this blog post is my instagram for today! lol!

Happy #tbt Y'all 

A Get Away With My Love

Here are some pictures of our sweet weekend at Pismo Beach CA

our beach access hotel and one of the rooms behind us with the ocean view was ours for the weekend! my man did such a great job picking the hotel!!!

lovey dovey

The Pier

Morrow Bay

beach handstands

jumping on the bed! I love the 'burst' mode on my new camera! 

eating calzones at Del's

arabesque 

sunset

sweet

kisses

girly girl

handsome guy

hey crane, you look like a Charles!

This weekend was a perfect amount of rest and relaxation! We got to recharge our minds, our bodies, and our marriage by spending some quality time at Pismo Beach. It was so nice to have each other's undivided attention and spend our time one on one for a whole weekend! The sights were beautiful, the sun was warm, the water was cold, and the sound of the ocean each night was soothing! 

Some Highlights: 

Adventures:
Our EPIC walk:  we worked our legs hard core on Saturday when we walked from the hotel along the beach all the way to the pier, out onto the pier, back up into the downtown area, ate at Splash cafe for lunch, and then walked all the way back to the hotel! 

Morrow Bay: Giant Rock!!! So great to see and walk around this beautiful state park!

Wine tasting: we got to learn a little more about wine at Tolosa winery in San Luis Obispo. We did a customized tasting in their tasting room of their signature white wines. 

Beach Time: our hotel was perfectly positioned above the beach with great access down to it, each day we walked down there and enjoyed the sand, sights, and surf. The weather was fantastic and I loved the feel of the beach at sunset! Added bonus was the sound of the crashing waves each night that sent us straight to zzzzz's land ;)

Food: Calzones ant Del's pizza,Fresh clam chowder at Splash, salad and sandwiches at Paneras, burritos at Chipotle, and cinnamon rolls at Old West Cinnamon Rolls.

Items: we bought salt water taffies, 2 bottles of wine, new shorts for the Mr. new sandals for the Mrs. and a sweet little outfit for our future Niece :) We collected 1 intact sand dollar, 1 very cool gray and black square rock and 3 sea shells.