Fall Cass Life

I love FALL in Minnesota. We are so spoiled here with the 4 seasons. I tend to complain about winter but overall we have it good. Andy has been working really hard on our back yard since we moved into this house 2 years ago. This summer we had the opportunity to buy a Rainbow play ground from some youth kids that have out grown it. Zion is loving it. Andy just got it up a few weeks ago with the help of our neighbor Mike. They had to clear brush, cut down some trees, level it off, water it etc. But it looks fab. We have mulch down to help prevent muddy children. It is awesome to watch Z play back there. This picture was taken from our deck. 

 This is a shot from the deck at the changing colors. my FAV>

It is so pretty. I can't get over it. I still pinch myself that I get to wake up to the majestic view everyday......

 My dad recently came to visit for the day and I had him hang up this beauty. My mom gave it to me for my 30th a year ago. She is so stinkin talented. I heart HOMEMADE! It matches so well with our colors in our home. I have it hanging in living room. My dad made the hanger and I painted it yellow.

 Here is some fall-age in the entryway. I love my apple orchard finds. I put the gourd on the mug rug from Jody. My candle is from Hallmark. The rocks are pier 1. The frame and the hurricane is TJMAXX.

I put the pumpkin in my adorable Martha Stewart birdie cake stand. So prec.

 I got these pumpkins two years at Target on clearance. I love them.....Perfect on the table for decor. I like the contrast of the stick table runner with it.

Love myself some fall mantle love. 

I had fun decorating the mantle with some pumpkins, gourds, and flowers. I got the clock at Hobby Lobby, yellow vase at TJMAXX and the mirror is from Target. I think the "C" is from Restoration Hardware. 

 Zion is girl after my own heart with all the art she likes to do. It is a daily question around here from her, "mommy, can we do a project"? It is so cute. She had fun painting the pumpkin that now sits outside our front door.

 Then there is this pumpkin. HOW CUTE! Our friend Chelcy made this for Zion when she was born. Kiyah is getting so much use out of it with it being the perfect season for it.

Speaking of my girls....look at this gem. so special......heart melting now.....

My lovely mums.....that don't look this good anymore. I am so bad with flowers/plants. augh.....What are you doing for fall? Have a favorite tradition.......or recipe to share? loves. xoxo

I create

It has been awesome having a maternity leave for the obvious reasons....spend time with family. bond with Zakiyah and Zion. Make family dinners/eat family dinners. ( normally we don't get family dinners Monday-Thursday do to our work schedule) Just the act of slowing down has been wonderful, well the Christy version of slowing down. But I have been doing some fun changes on the home front this fall.

I got together with my friend Kati recently and mentioned that I wanted to do a chalk board wall in the kitch. She told me she had extra chalk board paint that I could use! PERF! So that day I took advantage of nap time and made it happen. This is a before pix of the kitchen.

After! I love it. I have yet to buy dust-less chalk. Did you know it exsisted? Best invention ever:) We are going to use the chalk board for bible verses. quotes. meal planning. notes. art. and Z2 art. I am excited. 

  Here is the left wall by the desk area.

 the right wall by the patio door. I moved the floral art on the wall by the door. Isn't the ice cream parlor table precious. Our good friend, Shel has borrowed it to us for as long as we can use it. Zion lives at this table. I also switched out our curtains for a more fall/cozy look. They are from a good friend of mine. I think they are from Linens 'N Things. They are a burnt orange Micro fiber. I love them. I have hemp wrapped on them now since we are still using the deck.

Here are the old curtains. They are Pier 1 gold striped. I love them as well. But its fun to switch out seasonally. I still really want to paint the rest of the kitchen this winter. I just can't decide what color to do. Ideas, anyone? 

Here is a close up of the curtains. I love myself a good damask pattern.

I also just picked up this awesome vintage tray that is from my Grandma Cherie. It totally reminds me of growing up and having happy hour at her house. Cheese/Crackers and Root Beer for the kids. I put it in my dining room on the buffet.

Isn't it cute?

I also just made this painting on a canvas! I love it. I have been really into layers my art with different textures. I took an old painting from our old house and recycled it up. Considering it was just sitting in our storage room.

Here is the before painting. I love it as well but it was time for change. I started with using mod-podge and glueing newspapers on the canvas. Then I took some sticker letters and wrote out scripture. "The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God." Andy picked out the verse. Then I painted over the stickers with different colors. While the paint was still wet, I peeled off the letters and allowed the painting to dry. Then I took a sharpie and outlined the letters so they popped off the canvas more. I wanted to paint poppy flowers on the canvas too. So I whipped up some flowers and then used some paint markers (best thing ever btw) and wa-la! It was done. I have it hanging on my fireplace stone. I LOVE IT!

I just hung this Bless All Who Enter sign by my front door. My Friend/client gave this to me for Christmas last year. I have been meaning to hang it this whole time and finally got around to it. Great quote for the entryway.

On top of the craziness at our house, Andy, my rockin hus just finished our deck! PTL. I love it so much. It was a long summer project. Digging holes. putting posts up and having it look like a pergola all summer. When we had Kiyah in August, he finally had time to work on it. It was such a busy summer for us so that was the best time for him to concentrate on it. A shout out to Mike, Luke, and Isaac for helping us out! We went with composite deck wood in a light gray and white metal spindles. I LOVE IT SO MUCH!

  It is 19x12 feet. It is the perfect size for our fam. It is a balcony deck....no stairs needed. Especially with our small flat portion of the yard.

 Zion sitting on it right after it was done. Isn't it gorgeous?

Here is a view from the kitchen facing out. We are so spoiled with this view.
So that is the updates on the projects at the cass casa. xoxo.

Zucchini Banana Coconut Bread

I just have to say that I love zucchini desserts. It is crazy how many recipes there are out there with this fab. veg. The other night I created a mighty good loaf of bread. I loved it so much that I thought I would share:)

Preheat oven at 350. grease (2) 9x5 bread pans. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. all purpose flour

1 1/2 c. almond flour

1 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. nutmeg

3 c. shredded zucchini ( dry the shredded zucchini)

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. sugar

2 ripe bananas

1/2 c. melted coconut oil

2 eggs at room temp.
1 c. greek yogurt (i used greek gods plain 2%) at room temp.

1 t. vanilla extract

I mixed the dry ingredients together and added them in 1/3 increments to the remaining ingredients. Then pour the batter into 2 pans!! 

Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. Enjoy! It is defnitley a Cass fav! Make sure you let the bread cool before serving! 

3 Things

Three things I am currently loving right now for my hair.......

Serious Conditioner! This has been been a staple for my hair for over 5 years now. It is by far the best deep conditioner I have used. It has sunflower seed oil and peppermint extract. It rocks!!! I use it once a week. It is perfect for all hair types. dry scalp issues. post summer dry hair. great for rebuilding your strength and protein for the hair. It smells heavenly! I love it. all you do is leave it in your hair for 5 minutes...and wa-lah! Its only $26 for a tube and lasts forever!

Another thing I can't live without for styling my hair is my teasing brush by Monroe. It is made of  100% boar bristles. It adds volume and is heat resistant. One of the main reasons why it is beneficial to use a teasing comb verses a brush or normal comb is this prevents breakage and spilt ends. It is easy to use and awesome. They are $15 and well worth every penny.

Oh Moroccan Oil, how I love thee. This product has won so many awards for many great reasons. It is the staple for styling my hair. I love it on every hair type. It creates a barrier when you apply in wet hair for styling. That way heat won't affect it. It is great for adding weightless shine and creating volume. Moroccan Oil prevents breakage and spilt ends. I sell it in two sizes- one is $17 and $43. The big bottle should last a year. All you need is one pump. You can apply in wet/damp hair or dry hair. Oh and did I mention how great it smells. The aroma is amazing. You will love.
If you need any of these products, come on in to Tala. Mention this blog post and I will give you 15% off.
Happy Friday!

Zakiyah Nova's Nursery

There is nothing better than decorating a room. Seriously, it is an addiction and passion of mine. My husband gets so annoyed with my desire to create work for him. You can call it nesting. You can call it a healthy dose of baby prep. I feel like it bonds you with your baby while you are pregnant. We use a bassinet in our room for the first month or so. But after that, I spend a lot of time in this precious room. So why not make it beautiful. The nursery was Zion's nursery when we moved in. We just moved her into a different room across the hall in June. When we moved into our home back in December 2010, we didn't do anything crazy to the room. We just set up our current things I had. I always planned on customizing both rooms once we were expecting baby #2. Our plan is to have it as a nursery for a couple years then have the girls in Zion's room. So the current nursery will be a office/art room/guest room. So When I picked out the paint color, I wanted something bright and light without being too baby for the future needs of the room. 

Here is the area shot of the room. Its a color called Frostwork by Sherwin-Williams. I love how it is a good mix of vintage, blue/grey/green, bright and cheery. Its perfect. The crib is craigslist from when I was preg with Zion. I got the chair/ottoman from my parents when I was pregnant with Zion. 

Details of the amazing quilt my mom made for Zakiyah. I got it in the hospital as a gift. It is perfect.

Here is a picture of the closet and door. I got the birdie hook at Pottery Barn Kids on clearance. The dress is from my mom. It was my Great-Great-Grandparents....so we are talking 120+ years old. How awesome. I just had pictures taken with Kiyah wearing it too. I will post those later:) It is very special to me. I got 3 dresses total.

This is the crib.... I made the pillow cover with jody fabric. I followed a tutorial on everydaybeautiful

The sheets are target from when I had Zi. I got the Piggy from my sister Chels. The Lamb is from my friend Amy- they are the infamous stuffed animals from England called Jelly Cat. Which is where my friend Amy lives. :) The ugly doll is a Cass fav. from our friend, Matt Call.

The birdie close up with the awesome wrinkled dress :)

 Jody made me the flags. I HEART!!! with Jody fabric of course.

I already had the dresser from BabiesRUS but updated the look with Anthro knobs. On Clearance, of course. I like how they are art deco.

I hit up Pinterest for inspiration for the art. I love this scripture. It is a good one for us to be reminded of often.

I painted this for Zakiyah a couple days before she was born!

Here is a shot of the gallery. I quickly got some pix framed for now after she was born. After I get my Fagan pix, I will be changing them out. I am Type A what can I say. priorities..... the top left frame says, " let her sleep for when she wakes..she will move mountains." AMEN. the cross is from our friends, who own a flower shop. It says, "I will hold you always in the palm of my hands." Isaiah 41:13.The art on the right upper side is what Zi made for Kiyah. The two frames on the right are by my fav artist, Sabrina Ward Harrison. The bottom left frame is from our friends, and the girls Rochester Grandparents- Bruce and Sherry. Its recycled barn wood- I LOVE.

A shot the right wall.

My mobile is Pottery Barn kids, another clearance gem. I got it when I was pregnant with Zion. I love felt and the the floral fabric. So feminine and girly:)

Here is the lamp I whipped up. I tore apart the existing shade and asked for scraps from Jody and tied knots every 1" or so. I love it. I got the idea from Pleated Poppy.

Here it is with the light on. I put a low watt bulb in...nice and dim for nursing and story time. I have had the eiffel tower base since college. All of my doilies are from my grandma Cherie. They mean a lot to me as well.

 good ole birdie clock....i adore.

 I painted the table a light grey. It was a quarter find for my rents at a garage sale when I was in college. I added a glass knob to fancy things up a bit. I got the chevron basket at my fav. place...TJ MAXX. Holler.

Patina butterflies...precious.

 Hand sanitizer in a fancy pink soap dispenser. i despise the ones they come in.

Here is my Gold Rush $3 shelf. I had my dad paint the same grey as the table. I sanded it down after to rough it up. I got the name plate from my cousin Lynn. I love it. Its a Pinterest goody as well.

 The wooden shoes are HAND CARVED by Grandpa Wayne. They mean a lot to us...so special.

 The "DREAM" letters are metal and fab. They are Pottery Barn. I have had them for 12+ years. Something I bought in college for above my bed, justifying my expensive, unrealistic-broke-college-girl purchase with, "they will go in my daughters room someday". ha. but I still love them!

The ABC's are on a cork board wrapped in burlap. This was a access to something. It is so random/ it was a big piece of wood so we made it look custom. random turned into purpose. I got the mirror when I was preg with Zion- Target. the Bookshelf is Goodwill. Baskets-TJMaxx. the Birdcage/for hair pretties is from TJMaxx too.

 I got the ABC's from zulily...love. and covered the clothes pins in scrap paper. I m not in love with the use of the board yet. probably will switch out with time....good for now.

So there it is....i love it. so fun.....hope you enjoyed!