fancy friday

So, it would appear that the weeks are slipping past me and the only posts I can manage are about what other people blogged about this week.

So be it.

Here's what I fancied this week:

Hilda's book clocks are pretty high on the GOTTA HAVE list right now. Go visit for her awesome book clocks, stay for her breathtaking photography.

Maria over at Lulu Letty looked so incredibly fantastic in her 70's nod, that I had to scoot on over to asos and pick up that cape pronto. I went for the camel version, though.

Hot chocolate on a stick?  Done and done.

The H&M Spring 2011 Lookbook is all kinds of pretty. Part Halson, part day-glo Mad Men - I'm smitten!!

Liberty London and Apple team up to make some awesome laptop bags and sleeves. I'm feeling the sleek embossed leather versions.

This shot from a mountain cabin in Kvitfjell, Norway has me eagerly anticipating our holiday trip. We'll spend some time at a friend's cabin in Norefjell, and I just can't wait to see Norway in the winter!!

This weekend we're looking forward to spending some time cozied up inside since the forecast is calling for 4 days of RAIN! We get to spend Saturday eating, drinking and nodding out in a turkey-haze thanks to Friendsgiving. Sunday will be reserved for recovery and recovering. I'm assisting a friend with a little re-upholstery project and I can't wait for a craft day!

What's your favorite rainy-day activity?

XO,

Chelsea

fancy friday

So, um, oops. Its Friday. As in, I didn't post all week, had a million ideas rolling around in this head of mine, the days rushed by and nows its Friday. A rather hectic week indeed with the kiddos being out of school on Veteran's Day, my office moving to a new office upstairs, a friend's fabulous new job and us prepping to start P90X (YIKES!!!!!!!) this Sunday.

So here I am, on Friday, rounding up my favorite "fancies" of the week. First. Post. Of. The. Week.

Sad. But I just have to chalk it up to life being, well, life. Pinky swears that next week will be more fun around here!

I may have not been posting, but I've been doing some reading. Does anyone else's Google Reader constantly say 1000+? I just cannot seem to catch up on all the wonderfulness that's out there in bloggy world. I did, however, manage to round up some things I fancied this week:

Check out this super cool Venice surf-pad, which has me dreaming of outdoor showers. We had one across the street from our little house in Laguna Beach when I was a baby.

Everything Vanilla Sugar whips up is mouth-watering, I-need-it-right-now delicious. I've got a can of Organic Pumpkin just waiting to make these fancy pop tarts.

Bromeliad posted an awesome DIY knotted necklace from the fabulous ladies at http://honestlywtf.com/.

A beautiful and inspiring little roundup about branch centerpieces has me almost wishing I was cooking a Thanksgiving meal this year. Almost! Instead, we'll be taking in the beauty of Yosemite.

I've recently become obsessed with The Brick House and every fabulous thing in that house. Here's a fun terrarium DIY for anyone itching to get in on the trend. I've done one myself, but I'm totally in love with the cool succulent version!

I've been dying to find a cape ever since last fall when I stumbled across a fabulous one that was unfortunately too big. Seeing Julie nail this cape and plaid look has re-invigorated my craving.

Mr and Mrs Globe Trot have me seeing green with envy. Their photographs are breathtaking and their story is totally inspiring.

Miss Modish's new kitty photo Friday has me missing having a kitty in the house. Babe, are you reading this???

ps - here's some fun little press snips from our gig as Dream Angels for the Dream Foundations benefit last Saturday. We got to pose with David Archuleta and Andrew Firestone and his gorgeous wife. We saw Dan Akroyd, Rob Lowe, Bill Paxton, Priscilla Presley,  Kimberly Locke, and David Crosby. It was so fun to be a part of something so amazing.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend planned. I'm working. And attending a baby shower. For which I need to whip up some sort of fantastic homemade gift.

What are your plans?

XO,

Chelsea

break out the spandex

Christmas came a bit early for me this past weekend! I'd been hunting for a road bike and finally found just what I was looking for. We had checked out a few bike shops so I knew what size I needed and of course, Carl knew exactly what else I needed. A week spent trolling craigslist and look what I found:

My own pink lady!! Apparently this bike previously belonged to someone in the ladies cross country cycling club called the pink ladies. She's painted black with pink handlebar wraps. Very cute. But the pink will probably be nixed in favorite of some white tape to keep her sleek looking.

We spent Sunday cleaning her, I learned how to change my bike tubes and even took a test spin (and of course some gratuitous photos). I can't wait to get to know this bike. And yes, I will be purchasing those oh-so-sexy spandex shorts with all the padding in the butt. I feel an awful lot like Debbie Hunt in the movie Singles when she gets all suited up in spandex and winds up kissing pavement.

Getting a bike has been high on the wish list for a while. So I'm quite smitten. With the bike, and the sweet guy who made Christmas happen in September. Thanks honey!

What's on your wish list right now?

XO,

Chelsea

what's new around here

What a wonderful, lazy weekend! I seriously wish every weekend could be like this.

We got the kids up extra early on Saturday morning (in the dark!) to grab some delicious Mexican pastries and head down to Butterfly Beach to watch the sunrise. We all bundled up in sleeping bags and laughed while we ate our delicious treats. Unfortunately, it was a foggy morning but no one seemed to notice!

Other weekend awesomeness included a day at a lovely watering hole watching the kids play in the water and some sun-soaking by the adults, a stop-off at Cold Springs Tavern, a delicious dinner at home, spending a day in bed watching movies and giggling like kids and a nice long walk to a friend's new home to round out the weekend.

A recent little visit to my favorite place...

Why does Anthropologie have so many irresistible things?!?! I had a little birthday gift card to use up and couldn't help but add a few more bowls to the latte collection, a sweetly-hued blouse, the most amazing smelling (and looking) candle in sultry black and possibly my new favorite thing to read at bedtime - a book about macarons! I'm hoping to try my hand at making them again since my last endeavor fell apart - literally.

How was your weekend? 

XO,

Chelsea

happiness is...

being a proud mama as I watched this sweet little guy graduate from Pre-K on Friday,

 

friends and loved ones that come hang out with you at work

(it helps to be working at a winery on a beautiful Saturday afternoon!!),

waking up Sunday morning and fixing a delicious and healthy breakfast with your sweetie,

(ok, so I didn't actually do much in terms of making this meal happen. But I did make the tea!!)

and a fun SATC2 girl's night filled with fabulous food, yummy fun cocktails and an amazing group of ladies.

Weekend - accomplished

How was your weekend?

XO,

Chelsea

fancy fridays - hello summer!!

Well, around SoCal, spring usually brings some summer-like temperatures, along with May Gray and June Gloom...its sort of a schizophrenic time as far as the weather is concerned. We've already had a few hot streaks. But I never feel quite in the summer spirit until Memorial Day rolls around. I know its not even really "officially" summer until June, but the onset of Memorial Day is the reality check that bikini(eek!!) and BBQ season have finally arrived!!

We've already had our fair share of BBQs this spring - Carl even whipped up his own BBQ sauce to dress up our drumsticks last weekend. However, I've been feeling less than thrilled about the actual "bikini season" part of things. Not to mention the impending trip to Norway (meeting his family - yikes!) which has put me in healthy-eating and workout mode.

With a good deal of our friends out of town, it means no prior commitments or the tempation of last-minute soirees that we're quite fond of hosting. I'm looking forward to a weekend of hanging out, chilling out, working out and cleaning out our very messy office and possibly the garage. I have high hopes, I know!! It sounds lofty but I'll be happy if I manage to spend some time snuggling my loves and working on some crafty projects I've had lurking around the house.

Prospects for the weekend that I'm most excited about:

A sunset cruise aboard the Double Dolphin with both the kiddos in tow. Sunsets in Santa Barbara are among my favorite things to experience.

A trip to the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning is definitely in order. Its the perfect thing to inspire my clean eating, pick up some cilantro and tomatoes to plant, and pick up some picnic goodies. 

With our Farmer's Market goodies in hand, I'm hoping to head over to the Mission to check out the I Madonnari offerings...

 and settle in for at picnic in the famous Mission rose garden.

And that's just between now and Saturday!

I'm also super psyched to try out Brandi over at Mucho Mucho Bueno Bueno's awesome t-short tutorial,
 another T-shirt redo into a pretty dress for Harper,

and something I always mean to do but never get around to...

give myself a pretty manicure!! Although I'm positive mine won't be nearly as elaborate and pretty as these. I'm happy if most of the polish ends up on my nails and not everywhere else. And I promised one very sweet little girl some polished toes too! She got her very first "pedicure" at preschool the other day and now she's pretty much obsessed. There are the cutest pictures up ate her school of her with her little feet in the tub and getting her little toes polished! I just love that sweet little girl!!

And my one last goal for the weekend - buy the stinkin' Tracy Anderson videos already. Kassi and I have been chatting it up about these and I finally need to just do it already (and hope my honey fixes the projector so I have something to watch them on)!!

What are your plans for the long weekend??

XO,

Chelsea

favorite things

Last night Carl made us an especially delicious homemade pizza. First attempt at making his own homemade pizza dough. The results were amazing! Its so incredibly easy that I seriously doubt we'll ever go back to store-bought dough again.

Carl's Curry Pie

Homemade pizza dough

2-3 chicken breasts (cut up into bite size pieces)

Curry sauce (we used a bottle of Trader Joe's Curry Simmer Sauce)

1 onion - sliced

Cilantro- a handful or two depending on your tastes
Mozzarella cheese - shredded

Pizza Dough:

we used a great recipe from The Kitchn

the ingredients are super simple and include:

3/4 cups (6 ounces) of water
1/2 teaspoon of active-dry yeast (if using instant yeast, you don't need to dissolve it during the first step)
2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour (we used wheat flour)
1/2 tsp salt

Once you've made the dough, just roll it out, get it on a baking sheet or pizza stone and go crazy!!

For the curry topping:

Carl tossed the chicken pieces into a bowl and smothered them in the curry sauce

He then laid the chicken right on top of the dough (I was a bit skeptical about this one - I was WRONG!)

I carmelized the sliced onions

He chopped some fresh cilantro from our herb garden

Keys to a great pizza:

Put on your toppings first - no cheese

Cook for about 5 minutes, rotate 180 degrees (to make up for the oven's hot spots)

Cook another 2-3 minutes, THEN add your cheese

Cook another 3 minutes and VOILA - its pizza time!

 And don't forget that glass of Sangiovese...

Carl enjoying some of his favorite things: homemade pizza, glass of good red and favorite T-shirt

More favorite things from this weekend

Watching this awesome drum group banging it out:

These kids were amazing. Check the head-banging they've got going on.

A fun little walk downtown, with a quick pit-stop in front of our amazing Museum of Art

And a very necessary pit-stop here for some delicious gelato

More sweet goodness from here

Its always a must when I work up in Los Olivos

How could I resist these sweeties?!?!

Coming home from work, my honey waiting with a cocktail (sort of a necessity after the lame-o day I had) and our amazingly talented friend, Rusty Lindsey there for an evening serenade in our front yard

If you get a chance, please check out Rusty's site. He's awesome, and if you live in the SoCal area there's a good chance you'll be able to check him out live!

And finally, enjoying some craft time

Hope your weekend was filled with favorite things as well. 

XO,

Chelsea

work it out weekend

For once, I am actually posting a weekend wrapup on a Monday. Its a miracle!

But amazing things happen when you don't have an overbooked weekend and you plan to, well, plan!

It was a wonderful weekend of relaxing, getting things done and rejuvenating our tired spirits.

Things accomplished:

amazing relaxed breakfast with the family

zoo time with the kiddos

An afternoon nap (I never get these!)

Taxes!! 

a wonderful dinner celebrating this lovely lady

birthday girl and I doing the matching gray shorts pose

budgeting - icky but necessary

cleaning

crafting - almost finished with my very first piece of embroidery

and last but definitely not least - two tickets to Norway please!!

(photo source: flickr)

YIPPEE!!

and finishing it all off with a romantic dinner for two

Weekend: fully accomplished

I'm ready to tackle Monday!!

How was your weekend??

XO,

Chelsea

weekend rewind

I really do need to get better at posting weekend highlights on Monday, rather than Thursday! I just never quite get it together by then though! That will be my new goal for next week. Maybe.

This last weekend was a whirlwind of activity! From charging it down to LA for a night with some friends and much needed catchup to a pit stop on our way back to SB for some cliff soaring and then lots of get togethers back in town to celebrate the fun Easter weekend!

Graham about to take a picture of me taking a picture of him. He was having "lens envy"...

We had dinner at Spanish Kitchen on La Cienega. The black mole was outstanding! One bottle of champagne, 3 desserts, a latte and a round of port later and we were all stuffed! But we somehow managed to finish off the night with a dip in the hot tub and a bottle of Cristal! How's that for fabulousness?

A little breakfast at Basix the next morning was something we could hardly wait for!

Saw a Harper Ave sign on our way and of course had to stop and snap a shot of that!

you know I love me some Freeeeench Toast and Tam and I love our fishbowl mimosas!

modern buildings in West Hollywood

Highway 101

Carl ridge soaring Bates, while I ran along the train tracks overlooking the ocean and then jetted down to the beach to built a heart with rocks for him to see from the sky.

We rushed home to scoop up the kiddos, color some Easter eggs and prep for a huge brunch feast the next day! Fantastic Mr. Fox was an awesome diversion for the kids while the adults were busy in the kitchen.

Easter egg hunt madness

backyard "lasso golf" which is the PC name for testy toss!!

my favorite part of brunch - dessert

it looks like eggs, but they are really homemade meringue cups with lemon curd! YUM!!

Clearly a good time had by all. 

(and yes, that is my new Liberty of London for Target shirt. I was surprised that the Tar-jay I hit up on the way to LA had quite a bit of Liberty left. Yay!!)

Everyone retreated after brunch for a little naptime. I cleaned, grocery shopped and we watched Sherlock Holmes. Being lazy felt pretty awesome, but we somehow rallied ourselves for another party Sunday eve. 

Whew!!

I need a nap just thinking about the busy weekend!

Thankfully, its been a restful week.

Looking forward to a date night with my two hunky guys tonight. 

A little dinner and How to Train Your Dragon 3D.

What's your favorite part of brunch?

XO,

Chelsea

neverending birthday - part 2

Talk about a lucky guy! We celebrated Carl's birthday again last Saturday. Ok, not last Saturday as in two days ago, but last last Saturday! How's that for confusing on a Monday?

His party was also a little celebration to "warm" our house, but it was mainly about Carl. He was travelling for work on his real birthday, so I had this waiting for his return:

I had originally wanted to make a fabric birthday banner, but I thought this was a fun alternative. I still plan to make the fabric birthday banner, but I've got some time now since we are sort of done with celebrating birthdays - at least ones in this household - until August!

Lucky Carl also got to indulge in a birthday flight, complete with audience. Its hard to beat a beautiful Santa Barbara morning, overlooking the entire city, taking in this view

and savoring the wonders of childhood

then we all get to watch in amazement as Carl flies away

going...

going...

gone!

He's a pretty lucky guy indeed. All his favorite things in one place.

But it was no rest, because we rushed up to prep the house for the party.

And like a bad hostess, I was so busy with everything that I didn't take a single picture. But the word on the street is that Axel and Inga got some great shots. We should be able to see those as soon as they are able to return to Norway and clear themselves of jetlag. So, yeah, hold your breath...

I did, however, manage to get a snap of the neverending CAKE BALLS

This is a picture of cake balls, day two. They didn't turn out exactly as planned, but I had a great time having my girlfriends help me with them. Lots of "ball" jokes to be had, and impersonations of the infamous SNL "Schweaty Balls" sketch, which if you haven't seen you should hulu immediately!

I'm off to bed, but first, maybe one last cake ball...

Good Night!!

XO,

Chelsea