our weekend in pasadena

this past weekend the fam and i headed to pasadena for a friend's baby's baptism.  my husband has been on the go for what seems like months now.  last week he was in wisconsin, the week before phoenix, the week before... who knows.  i lose track.  he got home at 10:30 friday night and we hit the road at 9am on saturday.  this was the lovely view from our balcony, which cost us nada (thank you hotel points!).

daddy and daughter were in need of some quality time together.  we didn't do anything too exciting, just hung out by the pool for a little bit and explored old town pasadena.

when one parent travels for work all the time, it has a tendency to make the time spent at home like work and often we are rushed to get x,y, and z done in the two days in the weekend.  if we stayed home this weekend my husband would have had a laundry list of things to do, made by me of course, but during the week i'm taking care of little miss s.  maybe things change once kids get older and can make their own lunch and bathe themselves!  sometimes we just need a little time out, even if it's a one night stay and two hours away.  i wish i would have taken more pictures of the chapel the baptism was in and some of the beautiful homes in pasadena, but i was too busy living.

now, you know i had to get a little shopping in.  i've been wanting to hit this furniture store up for quite a while.  it's not in pasadena, but we took a little detour on our way home.

 come to mama!

 loved this piece

 and really, really love this light

 little miss s was dying to get in this car.

hope your week is off to a good start so far!

Ready Freddy?

In honor of Valentine's Day and my daughter's favorite color I wanted to share some of our favorite red items in our house.  First up, red tulips sitting upon a vintage notebook.

red tin chair

red cowgirl boots

red pencils

my grandmother's vintage red gingham shirt

heart shaped dishes

I hope you have a lovely valentine's day, friends!

a little guest posty post

hi friends!  wanna see how my little cutie and i made this "conversation heart"?  let me introduce you to such small steps for a how-to.  erin, the author of such small steps asked if i would be interested in guest posting a valentine's day craft.  thank you Erin for thinking of me and also, thank you to Annie of Lovely Things for sharing this project which inspired mine.

happy crafting,

amber

exposed

the content of these photos has absolutely nothing to do with this post.  it gives you a good look into what's going on in my life though.  ha!  this post is about a little doo-dad i just bought called an expodisc.  the photo above and the photo below were taken at exactly the same time, in exactly the same place, less than a minute between shots.  no settings on my camera were changed except for the white balance.

i did not edit either of these photos.  the only difference was that i used the expodisc before taking the second picture.  the difference is insane!  the colors are so rich and accurate in the second picture!  i went to a photography workshop taught by this very funny couple when i was attending alt.  they have a great story.  they travel the world taking pictures of people.  they bring their kids with them and home school them along the way.  can you imagine that?  what a rich experience they are giving their children, all while living a creative life.  their pictures are some of the most beautiful pictures i've ever seen.

they recommended this little guy.  crazy that this little thing can change my pictures so dramatically.  they also said you could use a grey card to achieve the same results, but the guy at the camera store looked at me like a deer in the headlights when i asked if they had any.  major difference in my pictures, right?  the expodisc was super easy to use.  i rarely read manuals and have ants in my pants.  i want instant gratification and that is what this gave me.  this now concludes my commercial for the expodisc , just kidding.  i'm just shocked at the difference it made, so wanted to share with you.  i can't wait to see how this, among a few other things i learned improves my pictures.

happy monday!

do you go there?

do you ever buy used shoes?  this is only my third pair of used shoes.  they were too good to pass up.  at first, the idea of used shoes seemed a little weird to me.  you can't exactly soak them for hours in oxiclean, like clothing.

i haven't been to a thrift store or flea market in quite some time, and after reading this post and this post this morning, my girl and i hit the thrift store.  lucky me, someone who had a large collection of ferragamo shoes in just my size recently made a donation.  there were at least 20 pair of italian designer shoes ranging in brands from bally, ferragamo, to bruno magli, some of which were priced as low as $3.95 and hardly worn.

i loved this pair the best but there is a pair that i foolishly left behind.  i'm kind of kicking myself about that!

this is a great heel height, a little more than a flat, but not quite a heel.  if buying used shoes creeps you out, you can check out some advice from janet here.  these will look so cute with these pants and a sweater or with black tights and a dress.  have you stumbled upon any good finds lately?

smiles,

amber