dandelions in the grass

Summer is officially official:)

2009-06-21T03:13:00.003-06:00

"Summer is for breaking. Pack nothing. Leave without a note. Follow your internal compass. Wear what you slept in. Sleep in what you're wearing. Use spf. Listen to the ocean but don't take it's advice word for word. Insist on karaoke. Steal a heart. Lose track of time. Live your life. Display skin. Attract a following."

Home

2009-06-20T02:02:00.003-06:00

I want to live in a place like this where it is an afternoon trip away from the beach and/or lake and only snows one day a year.

Photo from Stacey Michelle's flickr

I just want to live in this tree house, please.

2009-04-20T01:52:00.008-06:00

This is the treehouse of my childhood dreams. Better than that board I stuck between the branches of an old oak tree with the hopes to add on one day. It was a good reading/picnic spot until the pincher bugs took over.

A rope and pulley! How exciting is that?

This looks supremely cozy. Love all the natural light.

Perfect nap place!

I love this! I am so going to make one of these for a future backyard. Looks comfy and peaceful.

You don't have to have kids to build a treehouse do you? Good. Photos by Jean-Marc Palisse

Pretty, pretty, pretty, good.

2009-03-17T20:37:00.004-06:00

Whenever I saw/read something cool today I kept hearing a man's voice in my head saying, "pretty, pretty, pretty good". I couldn't figure out who's catchphrase this was. I thought maybe it sounded like my friend Janel's Papa Frank who we lived with this summer in Burbank. Then a few minutes ago I realized it was Larry David! I haven't even watched Curb Your Enthusiasm in over a year (which is sad). Anyway, I'm glad I got that figured out. Here's some youtube proof I'm not (that) crazy.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T20:31:00.003-06:00

(Image via Gawker via ladybugbkt's flickr)

Cool Fish!

2009-02-27T01:37:00.002-07:00

Video of this fish with a transparent head was just released. It's the first time it has been photographed alive. Pretty neat!

Scary pizza dream!

2009-02-26T02:52:00.004-07:00

So I miss my nephew. It's been two months almost since I've seen the funny four year old. I was just remembering a dream he told me about and it made me laugh.
We were playing one day over Christmas break right after he'd taken a nap and he said:

Oh, Cass I had a dream! We were eating at a restaurant.

Who was?

You and me.

What restaurant were we at?

You know, the main one.

Oh, the Mexican one?

No, pizza.

So what happened?

There were big scary monsters everywhere! And a dinosaur! And there was a big
clock.

A big clock?

Yeah, on the table! Mom (calling to his mom), I still want pizza, k?

Haha, his dreams make him hungry just like mine do:)

Future reality TV stars?!

2009-02-24T14:44:00.004-07:00

So Nate's bro Mike thought it'd be a good idea for he and Nate to try out for the Amazing Race. So we filmed a submission video! It was a ton of fun thinking of ridiculous things for them to do. Kristin (Mike's wife) and I directed and I filmed this masterpiece. It was the first time I ever edited any sort of video too! Watch it!

So they spent a few minutes talking about themselves but the video could only be three minutes so I had to cut that out.... but I did leave in one comment from Nate.... I couldn't not! I thought it would be too perfect with the other clips of him. Malicious editing - maybe. Funny - definitely.

Happy Valentines Day

2009-02-14T04:10:00.003-07:00

Hope the sparks are a flyin'.
Much love:)

Weekend Update

2009-02-01T01:02:00.006-07:00

Friday night was a good ol' time. We celebrated my, Mary, Rosemary, and Becca's birthdays at Sego Art Center in Downtown Provo. Good friends, art, music, food, yay:)

Thing two: Recently I discovered picnik.com. It's a really great site where you can edit and be creative with your photos. Here are a few photos from the party showing you a little sample of what you can do with picnik. To try these sorts of effects upload your photo and go to 'create'.

Before
With Boost (basically color saturation)

Before

With 1960s Photo Effect

Before

With Holga-ish Camera Effect and cropped square

Before

With Cross-Process Effect

I bet ya just can't wait to try some of these with your photos!!

Just a photo or two:)

2009-01-31T00:58:00.003-07:00

My friend, Luke, had an assignment for a photography class so I helped him out! Here are some of the pics from the shoot!

Lil Miss Flirt

2009-01-29T00:34:00.004-07:00

So, the first time Josie, my 1 1/2 year old niece, met Nate, he walked in the door and she started crying (big guy, deep voice). That was in September. Over Christmas break she saw him more often and slowly warmed up to him. Well, I didn't expect her to like him this much! Here are some pictures I snapped with my phone of Josie being a huge flirt! First she scooches next to him on the couch, then rests her arm on his shoulder, then fixes his hair! It was the funniest and cutest thing ever!

Sundance Film Festival

2009-01-25T23:50:00.008-07:00

This weekend Janel, my friend and two time roomie (college in Santa Cruz and this summer in LA), came to visit me and we hit up the Sundance Film Festival in Park City with my friends Luke and Mary. We had a ridiculously fun time and now my throat is sore from laughing so much. So, we saw three films this weekend. Friday night we saw Louis-Michel. There are no words to explain the heinous nature of this movie, but I'll try. Afterwards we were kind of speechless and left wondering, what just happened? It was a French film that included a tasteless 9/11 spoof, cancer patient exploitation and suicide, and baby killing to name a few. It was seriously the worst of the worst so we thought, hey it can only get better from here! And it did! We saw Moon on Saturday morning and we all really liked it. It was a sci-fi future setting with an indepth character storyline and a cute robot (voiced by Kevin Spacey). I hope it got bought so you all can see it. Then Luke and Mary saw Bronson while Janel and I ate and mosied around Main St. Our last one was The Animation Spotlight filled with animation shorts. Some I liked, some I loathed (there was this crazy scary one), some I (and Janel and Mary) slept through, and a some I loved including I Am So Proud of You. I don't know where or how you would see it, but try! It was funny, it was thought provoking - we all really enjoyed it. And there was a Q&A with it's director, Don Hertzfeldt, afterward. Then we came home, dead tired and filled with red vines.

For those of us without photoshop...

2009-01-21T02:13:00.007-07:00

this thing is pretty neato. It makes your photos look old and antiqued. Highly addicting though! The site is in Japanese but it's pretty easy to figure out. Here are some summer pictures I did!

"This will be the day"

2009-01-19T23:41:00.005-07:00

An American band.

2009-01-17T00:18:00.008-07:00

If you haven't listened to Kings of Leon, do. They've sold millions of records in the UK, but not so much here at home. They are a southern rock band of brothers and a cousin whose songs sound unique but also have a classic rock familiarity. They recently released their fourth record and all four are worth listening to. I never get tired of them. I am in love with the leadsinger, Caleb's, voice. Definitely one of my favorite bands.

Here are some music videos mixed with their old home movies.
Manhattan

Crawl

Live performance from 4 years ago.
Trani

Also, listen to Use Somebody, The Bucket and all the rest.

Project:)

2009-01-15T00:35:00.003-07:00

I love this. It's so inviting and pretty and bright and cheery and kind of cozy, too.

I'm working on something similar for my room right now. I bought some picture frames at DI yesterday for 75 cents a pop, and I have some more from DI that I bought and spraypainted a while ago. (They are currently being stored in a suitcase I got from DI...) I have an aversion to buying new things... especially when there are so many wonderful old and cheap things to choose from, including Lacoste and Ralph Lauren polos which I got for three dollars each yesterday. I'd say it was a successful DI trip. And for all you non-Utahns: DI equals ginormous and amazing thrift store. Oh, so my decorating project! I'm excited about it! I'll post the results for all who care to see:)

I wish I knew how to quit you.

2008-12-16T02:41:00.001-07:00

Good job Mom!

2008-12-16T01:07:00.002-07:00

Congrats to my mom! She became President of California Association of Realtors of Tehama County on Saturday.

Family and trees and a schoolhouse.

2008-12-16T00:11:00.019-07:00

These are some pictures I took on Thanskgiving day.

So excited to see this!

2008-12-11T21:46:00.000-07:00

Beautiful.

2008-12-11T02:01:00.000-07:00

Can't Wait for Christmas Break!

2008-12-09T23:19:00.003-07:00

Nothing is better than the run and jump hug. I get one every time I go home from this guy, who just happens to count down the days until I get there:) I was talking to him on the phone before I went home for Thanksgiving and said I would be home in 7 or 8 days. He said, no Cass, 9 days. He was right. Here is his Cass, look, Grandma's glasses! face.

Here comes the snow.

2008-12-09T20:19:00.003-07:00

Well, it's cold and it's going to look like this soon. (I took these from my bedroom window when I lived in Grandma Grace's basement last winter).

Brrr...that looks chilly! Oh, let's not forget Xandertron, the other roommate, who helped ring in the Christmas season. He loves Christmas, can't you tell?

New Read

2008-12-07T22:33:00.002-07:00

This is the next book on my list. Have any of you read it? It will be my end of semester, Christmas break and traveling reading material.

This Wheel

2008-12-07T01:07:00.010-07:00

I don't often enough think of the fragility of life. I take life for granted. I live and I think like seeing another morning is guaranteed. It is frightening how wrong that is. Today reminded me. Today was my Great-grandmother's funeral. It was in California, so I didn't go. One week ago, Saturday night, I was packing my things at home to leave for the airport at 3am to fly back to Utah. I had the thought that I wish I would have visited Grandma Vi. I wondered if she would be around the next time I was in town. I thought, I could have fit in a couple hours of driving to see her. The next morning after I had gotten back to my apartment from the airport, my mom told me she found out Grandma Vi had died the night before, Saturday night. She was in her nineties, her husband had died a few years before. The family expected it, yet did not want to see her go.

At work tonight, I had a table of 25 people. It was a family in town for a funeral that was earlier today. The woman who passed away had her grandchildren, children, and husband there. They were in a somber mood, yet endlessly nice to me. Her husband talked to me for a while about his wife, she had had breast cancer for five years but had been doing much better, so everyone was surprised at her passing. She was only 66, he said, but look at this beautiful family we made. How much gratuity is added for a group this size, he asked. I told him it was 18%. Make it 20!!, he said, with a big smile on his face, it's the holidays! It's Christmastime! I was so glad to have met that man and his family.

And today, a young life ended. The most special, happy, very good kind of life. A person who everyone liked. Someone who very much deserved that affection. A smile that was constant and genuine. It is almost unfathomable that a person like that was taken so quickly, so unexpectedly, someone whose death causes so much sorrow to so very very many. I will pray and pray for his family.

And if you never stop when you wave goodbye

You just might find if you give it time

You will wave hello again

You just might wave hello again

I like my job:)

2008-12-06T16:13:00.002-07:00

I enjoy being a waitress. It makes me happy to meet nice people everyday. Like yesterday when a family with three boys came in. Whenever the boys asked for something or I gave them something they would say, "Thank you ma'am". Or the other day when I was serving a family with a little boy about five years old, he told me, "I love the service!". Or when people are about to leave and tell me, "You were great!". My job makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside:)

"A whole mess a babies"

2008-12-04T18:52:00.002-07:00

Hahahaha, ok last cute kid post for a while. This was just too funny... especially the end!

A memoir I will remember...

2008-12-03T23:58:00.006-07:00

While I was browsing the magazines at the airport before my flight home for Thanksgiving I noticed a book that had been on my reading list for a little while. It's called The Glass Castle. It is Jeannette Walls' captivating and true story of her childhood and family. Her memoir reads like fiction and is hard to put down. I bought it as reading material for the flight home and back but finished it a couple days after arriving home. I was sad to finish it. It is one of those I wish would just keep going. Read this book if you want a glimpse into an extraordinary life.

Cute kiddies

2008-12-03T21:14:00.002-07:00

Kids have all the answers!

Docucrazy!

2008-12-03T14:10:00.003-07:00

I need to watch and write about six documentaries today!! Yikes! Luckily, PBS has a whole bunch online in the Wide Angle series. If you're interested you can learn about things like the effects of the conflict in Darfur, pressure in Chinese prep schools, immigration and a lot more here.

The case of the stolen national landmark.

2008-12-03T02:10:00.004-07:00

Did you hear the Empire State Building was stolen?!? Don't worry, it was returned safely. Read the quite interesting article here. It'll make you wonder what else is going on unnoticed in this country...

Yoga Baby

2008-12-03T01:47:00.003-07:00

I got to spend time with my neice and nephew over Thanksgiving and they were so much fun! My mom and sister tried doing a yoga a while ago while Josie was in the room so she learned a few things!

Josie

Jeremiah

Yoga Baby

Words of the wise.

2008-12-02T02:09:00.007-07:00

I have quotes of the day on my igoogle homepage and I really like one of today's.

Invention is the mother of necessity.
- Thorstein Veblen

Makes me consider how much I really need. I've been trying to purchase very few things and get rid of some of things I do have. After moving from place to place I've realized that things really do weigh you down and can sometimes be more trouble than they're worth.

Family Photos

2008-12-01T01:06:00.002-07:00

I love this picture! The fam old fashioned style. That's me holding the doll:)

Family Photos (parents)

2008-12-01T00:33:00.009-07:00

My dad.

Dad in high school in the powder puff game. He's the one with the camo hat.

My mom. Such a fashionable toddler.

My parents' senior photos.

When they were dating.

More Family Photos (grandparents)

2008-12-01T00:08:00.009-07:00

Here are a few photos of my grandparents.
My paternal grandpa and his family. He's the one holding the soda can.

More pictures of my grandpa.

He's the one on the left in this one.

This is a photo of my paternal grandma and her family in Oklahoma during the Depression.

Here she is in the forties.

My maternal grandpa's senior picture.

My maternal grandma's senior picture.

Family Photos

2008-11-30T23:49:00.005-07:00

I scanned a ton of family photos over break for a Christmas project I'm working on. I love these pictures of my maternal Great-grandma Dorothy who was born in 1915 and died just under two years ago.

These are her daughters, my grandma and her twin sister.

He's not in character, he's just ORNERY.

2008-11-24T04:05:00.004-07:00

I got to see A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All tonight and there was plenty of merriment and Christmas cheer to go around. Hilarious with a dash of John Legend in a forest ranger outfit. What more can you ask for this Christmas season? I was trying to explain to everyone there how funny this clip I saw with Martha Stewart and Stephen Colbert was. Well, I found it so here it is to enjoy. See, Martha didn't realize Stephen stays in character and she likes to pronounce words like crazy accurate. Silly Martha. The last 30 seconds are just great.

Glory days.

2008-11-24T02:51:00.003-07:00

So, the little town of Corning in Northern California that I call home had the 13th Annual Corning Hometown Christmas this weekend. While looking online for some lighted tractor parade pictures to post I came across some Corning Country Cardette Drill Team videos. I was suprised to see they performed halftime at a King's game this year. Movin' on up!! I always had a lot of fun on the drill team although I definitely don't miss those high kicks... I once had to do 1,000 on the last day of a semester to make up tardies:/ Check out these videos from the King's game halftime and a Corning football game halftime. They're good!

Quote this.

2008-11-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

Use what talents you possess.
The woods would be very silent
if no birds sang there,
except those that sang the best.

-Henry Van Dyke

LIFE

2008-11-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

Life Magazine may not be around anymore, but it's photos are. The vast collection of around 10 million photos (most of which were never published) have become available online. Find photos and art dating back to the 1750s through a simple LIFE Google search. Here are a few I found.

Paiute Indian chief Tau-gu standing w. American explorer/geologist Maj. John Wesley Powell nr. Rio Virgin River. UT, US 1873

Migratory farmers (pea pickers) changing their flat tire along route US 101. Santa Maria, CA, US February 1936 Photographer: Dorothea Lange

A group of African-Americans walking down Beale Street. Memphis, TN, US 1938 Photographer: Alfred Eisenstaedt

Two women riding their bicycles. France 1940

More Gavin Volure please!

2008-11-21T23:43:00.000-07:00

I really love 30 Rock and I really really love Steve Martin so this week's episode was almost too good to be true! If you haven't seen it yet you can watch it here.

Here's a clip.

Or, if you are under the age of 5, don't worry! You can still get your 30 Rock(s) fix.

Pretties.

2008-11-21T17:39:00.000-07:00

I love this handmade jewelry by MDsparks on Etsy. I just may have do some Christmas shopping there. Oh, and they're extra special since the jeweler is local, in SLC.

I think this sparrow nest necklace would be perfect for my Audubon Society member, bird watching and bird rehabilitating sister (I think I'm safe until she knows this blog exists). And I love this take on a pearl earring.

I'm smitten over these lockets... I've always wanted a nice locket. The last one I had was a really cheap one I bought at a fair when I was little and it gave me this weird rash so I couldn't wear it.

Happy Weekend!

2008-11-21T17:03:00.000-07:00

No better way to start the weekend off than with some awesome animal videos! More amazing animal videos here.

Ninja Kitty

Peace Keepers of the Animal World

Why, oh why?

2008-11-21T16:46:00.000-07:00

Pushing Daisies has been cancelled! There may be a movie made to tie up loose ends but that is only a mild consolation. I mean, Arrested Development was cancelled forever ago and still no movie yet!

Sure to be a classic.

2008-11-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All...
Airs Sunday on Comedy Central. I wish I had TV!

In other cookie news...

2008-11-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

So, usually I'm one for homemade cookies, but since I have no flour, sugar, eggs, butter or anything else required to make cookies, oh except for salt, I do own salt, I figured it might be a little wiser for the wallet to buy the dough for $2. I got some with little peanut butter cups then added some walnuts. Mmm... as good as the real thing! (Ok, last post of the day. My first day blogging, I couldn't help but go overboard with posts..)

Tough, Cookie

2008-11-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

"Mother's cookies, an Oakland institution for 92 years, has been shuttered, its owner seeking bankruptcy protection for the company.

The ending was abrupt: Workers for the company, which shifted its baking and distribution operations to plants in Ohio and Canada in 2006, told workers Friday that operations would cease and cookies would no longer be made as of Monday" - SF Chronicle

It's sad to think I'll never open another bag of delicious Parade cookies. It was the perfect combination of chocolate sandwich, mini chocolate chip and of course the sprinkled frosting animal cookies. Where was Mother's Cookies' bailout?

Proceed With Caution: This blog may contain an abundance of ridiculously cute things.

2008-11-19T17:37:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, my hamster, Cuddles escaped his hamster house and was missing for several days. He decided to return by crawling into my bed in the middle of the night and scurrying around on my back. I mistook his little rodent feet for that of some scary rat/mouse which of course made me cry/scream repeatedly and sobbingly, "There's a mouse on my back!", (although not move, for some reason. I guess I thought freezing would would do the trick) which then made my parents rush in and turn on the light only to start laughing at Cuddles scampering around on my back and my tear soaked face buried in my pillow. I hadn't gotten over the spine tingling (literally) experience and subsequent aversion to mice/rats... until now!

boots:)

2008-11-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

Every girl needs a nice pair of boots. I found these vintage Nine Wests at Santoki Vintage on Etsy and in a size 8 1/2!! How could I pass that up?

a lovely weed

2008-11-19T02:39:00.000-07:00

I think only as a child can you truly appreciate the dandelion flower. When you grow up it becomes the dandelion weed. When you're little, you can blow it's seeds and they fly through the air. When you grow up the seeds land and create more weeds. I hope I always like dandelions.