Moonstruck!

In honor of the "supermoon" I thought I'd share this pic I took tonight. It really was a particularly beautiful sight. I didn't have a proper camera, so I used my iphone and my Hipstamatic app. I thought it came out pretty cool.

A Pirate Party!

So this Saturday will be the twins 3rd birthday. Can't believe it is already here! I chose a pirate theme this year because my boys are such big fans of Disneyland's "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride. They love to pretend they are pirates. We have had many a sword fight in our house! I took the time to make an invitation for the party myself. I drew caricatures of my boys dressed as pirates and found a cool free font online to make it look authentic. I hope they have a great party this year. Now it's on to making pirate cut-outs out of plywood for all the kids to put their little heads in for pictures.  I'm also making another plywood cut out of a ship with holes in it for the kids to aim water balloons at. Another game will involve "Walking the Plank" with an egg on a spoon.  I think I might have to pull an all-nighter or two for this party! They probably will not remember it, but I will. It's going to be a so much fun!

Dancing Through the Day

 

On Friday we delivered the new studio number signs to Gotta Dance Studio and they came out great! It's such an improvement from the roughly painted numbers that were on the doors. It was really nice to be out of our own studios as well and get to socialize with someone other than each other. Not that we mind it-we love hanging out together, but we often don't really see anyone else. The twins also enjoyed the outing, running around in all the open space and very nicely keeping themselves occupied while we worked.

It was especially nice to do this job, because this dance studio has a special place in my heart. When my daughter was 3 she developed a very severe stutter and went through several years of speech therapy to overcome it. As I think everyone can imagine, stutters can severely damage confidence and self esteem and are brutal to overcome (and often never are). Her speech therapist warned us that it would most likely only be managed and never cured. I was determined to get her through it with as little emotional damage as possible. I started to think of talents that she could develop that didn't require talking and dance naturally came to mind. It was also something she had an interest in, so it seemed like the perfect fit. Angela checked around and found Gotta Dance Studio and we got our girls enrolled that same week.

 

Samantha and Sydney before their first recital, June 2008

All of the teachers were so wonderful with Samantha and if they noticed her stutter, they did an amazing job of not showing it. Her classes gave her so much self confidence, which is the one thing she needed most. It's been 5 years since her first class and her stutter has been quiet for some time now. I know those dance classes were a huge part of her overcoming this huge obstacle in her life. I will always be grateful to Cindy and all of her instructors for what they did for her!

Jennifer

Rainbows In The Clouds

Well it's been a hard week for a couple of people who are very close to me. I've been trying to give what little comfort I can and be helpful. Of course that's hard to do when you're sick, which I unfortunately am this week. Watching them go through really rough spots has reminded me of how lucky we all are to be here and what a great gift it is to be able to hold someone's hand or give them a really big hug. Even just to sit like a lump on the couch with your kids watching movies is something to be cherished, like I was doing this afternoon. We were watching Madeline and in one of the scenes you hear Louis Armstrong singing "What a Wonderful World" in the background. It struck a cord with me and I decided to drag my sick little butt over to the computer and get a little creative.

Another great quote came to mind while I was working on this. Last year I was watching an interview with Maya Angelou and she said to always remember you're never alone, because "You have rainbows in your clouds". I absolutely LOVED what she had said and then 2 days later I was hiking with my kids and I took this picture. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There actually were rainbows in the clouds! I didn't think it would show up in the picture, but when I checked it, there they were!

Jennifer
www.castleberryds.com

Fireplace Makeover

A while back I tackled the job of making over my very ugly and dated fireplace. It had this rough looking, very 70'sish wood mantle and plain white tile and absolutely no personality. I've never built a mantle from scratch, so I went down to Superior Moulding with my husband and a photo of what we wanted in hand. One of the guys working there help us pick out the moulding we would need and then we were on our own. It took us a couple of days to get it done (nothing is ever quick when you have kids running around) and some help from a friend, but it was well worth it! It really dresses up the living room and we actually use it now. Before we didn't, because it was such an eye sore and we didn't want to attract attention to it.

Jennifer

www.castleberryds.com

A Bedroom Makeover to Cheer Me Up

My new Chair!

 

This is the blanket I really wanted, but it's wool and it's $100.00.

Not a good idea to spend that much when you have kids and

animals on it all the time. It just wouldn't last. For those of you

that don't have to worry about such things, it's available

through the Victorian Trading Company.

 

 This one was on sale at Cost Plus for $29.00

Recently I lost the beautiful tree that grew outside my bedroom window. It was old, lush, big and beautiful. It greeted me every morning when I woke up and opened the blinds. I loved how the little bits of sunlight sparked through it's tiny green leaves and made designs on my bedroom walls. It was fabulous and it was my friend. Unfortunately, it was planted too close to the foundation and it had to go before any damage was done. The day it was cut down I sobbed. Since that day I have not opened the blinds, because the view is so bleak without it. Honestly, I didn't even want to go into my room at all. I decided there were going to have to be big changes in my room, so it wouldn't seem so bleak without my tree.

My first purchase was this gorgeous chair from Pottery Barn that I got a great deal on. It was a discounted floor model and it ended up being 60% off. I couldn't believe my luck on that one! I also got the palm tree, so I would have something else living in that corner of the room again. I'm in the process of trying different wall colors, as you can see by the little patch of paint by the lamp. I've never been crazy about the yellow and this is the perfect time to change it. I'm also on the hunt for curtains. I haven't found the right ones yet, so I might make some instead. I want something light and airy, but covers the view (or lack thereof). I also need a better pillow. I had this one and it does the job for now, but I want something with teal and green like the one below. I'm considering designing my own fabric on Spoonflower, so I can get exactly what I want.

Pier 1 Imports

Jennifer

 

www.castleberryds.com

Inspiration Flew In Through An Old Window

  

AFTER

BEFORE

Here is my latest passion-hand painting on windows! I found this old window in the garage when we moved into our house 7 years ago. All this time it is been sitting out there, waiting for me to be inspired. A few weeks back I was hit with sudden inspiration-don't know where the idea came from. It just popped in my head almost out of the blue. I wasn't even thinking about the old window (at least my conscious mind wasn't.) I love ideas like that-I call them "freebies" because you aren't struggling to get them, they come like they were free! As soon as it popped in my head I got to work. I have never done sign painting before, so it was a bit "trial and error" at first. 

I liked the way the old original finish had the chips and scrapes, so all I really did was knock off some of the old paint that was really peeling. Then I gave the glass a good scrubbing and started to work on the painting. I sat and imagined where this window could have come from. I thought it would be neat if it were from an old beach shop store front along a boardwalk. It's hung from a hook I bought at Anthropologie and some chain and screw eyes from the hardware store. 

This project was so much fun that I went out this weekend to a couple of architectural salvage yards in Pasadena and bought a few more. This window and more will be coming soon to our website!

Angela

www.castleberryds.com