let's be friends

i saw this on a blog that i peruse and i thought it might be fun...

i would like to get to know my readers better so i thought we could start off with you guys answering a few questions... sound fun? i'll answer them too so you can know a bit more about me.

if you choose to play along, then just copy and paste the questions into the comment section and add your answers. be sure to add a link to your blog so i can check it out too!

1. how old are you?...... 29

2. where are you from and where do you live now?...... i'm from the central coast of california - santa barbara, santa maria, lompoc, solvang/santa ynez... i now live in huntington beach, ca

3. what music have you been diggin lately?...... bing crosby christmas, republic tiger, arcade fire and always david gray

4. favorite food(s)?...... i love me some grilled fish tacos, chips and pico de gallo - i could eat that every day. also sushi and homemade soup. i love food.

5. single, married, divorced?...... married for a bit over six years

6. kids? if so how many and how old?...... tyler 12, tannyn 5 and tayli 2

7. what are three blogs you read daily?...... gosh, i peruse a lot of them! and i love so many... for different reasons... check out my sidebar for the list of blogs i peruse. i just can't narrow it down to three!

8. what is your favorite Christmas/holiday tradition?...... decorating the house and tree with the fam the weekend after Thanksgiving and eating chocolate covered cherries, drinking sparkling cider/champagne all while listening to Christmas music.

9. what is your new years resolution this year?...... i don't do resolutions but i do have a lot of goals - eat healthy, work out a lot, open up an etsy store - to name a few.

10. lastly, if you're a blogger how long have you been blogging? and if you don't have one, how long have you been reading blogs?...... i have been reading blogs since my sister started one in june. i didn't even know there were all these blogs out there! i have been writing a blog since october - only a little over a month ago!

okay, your turn!

xo,

kass

photo fun

me and taylaylay babay

my sister told me about a site called picnik that lets you play with your photos... so stinkin fun.

you should totally try it!

have a happy friday my friends.

xo,

kass

ps. i also "decorated" my header using picnik... so fun!

anthro inspired owls

on my post this morning, i told you that i made some owls, using an owl ornament i saw at anthro as my inspiration....

here are my owls

i made them for the kiddos... one for each. the brown one was my first attempt and my least favorite. can you say ugly yarn ball? white one was my second... it's okay... and the gray one was my third, which is my favorite. they were fun to make and pretty easy too. why spend $18 on an owl ornament from anthro when you can make one yourself!

go here or scroll down to my previous post for the the inspiration pic.

let me know what you think... i love comments... they make my day!

xo,

kass

migraines and owls oh my

my husband suffers from complicated migraine syndrome.

The term "complicated migraine" is no longer used. It commonly referred to attacks of prolonged aura symptoms that could last hours to days or opthalmoplegic migraine where patients developed a partial or complete paralysis of the nerves that are needed for eye movement.

Other unusual types of migraine with aura include hemiplegic migraine and basilar type migraine. Familial hemiplegic migraine can be inherited and has been linked to one of several chromosomes. During attacks, patients develop stroke-like symptoms with sensory and/or loss of strength of muscles. Rarely, this type of migraine occurs without a family history. In basilar-type migraine, patients have migraine aura with neurological symptoms related to the base of the brain called the brainstem, including dizziness, hearing changes and visual disturbance. Unlike migraine with typical aura where numbness can occur on one side of the body, in this form both sides are affected. Sometimes, patients will loose consciousness or pass out with these headaches.

Another form of migraine is retinal migraine where the patient's visual symptoms occur in only one eye, stemming from the retina itself versus the portion of the brain involved in vision, as is the case for the typical migraine aura.

Migraine can also be associated with serious results such as aura lasting longer than a week with or without brain infarction (stroke), and migraine-triggered seizures.

Patients with these types of unusual migraines should be evaluated and treated by a specialist. Because the cause of these migraine types is not fully understood, patients with these symptoms should not use triptans for acute treatment.

on march 4th of last year, my husband was driving to a meeting in LA. as he was driving he started feeling tingling in his hands that led to his feet and his face. he pulled over and called his mom who is a nurse. she called the paramedics. they called me. they told me that it looked like my husband had had a stroke and that his brain wasn't working correctly. i freaked out. they told me which hospital to go to. i called friends and neighbors who watched the kids and took me to the hospital. i thought he was going to be dead or brain dead. it was the scariest time of my life. i got to the hospital and they had told me that it seemed as if my husband either had tourettes or was highly intoxicated because of the crazy way he was acting and speaking. they put him in the ICU for three days as a neuro patient. during that time they ran test after test to see what was wrong. they couldn't find anything. they finally told us that he suffers from complicated migraine syndrome. 

complicated migraines do not run in his family. however, normal migraines do. he has had a constant headache since that day.... it is now nine months later and he still has it.... every. single. day. we have had to take him to the ER about five more times due to an "episode" or "attack" and last night was one of them. 

my sweet husband planned a date night for me last night. we hadn't been on one in quite a while... that's what happens when you have three kids.... he got babysitters (our good friends adam and alisha) and he took me to sushi. we were planning on seeing a movie but during dinner his head got really bad so we came home. he went to bed early and woke me up at 4am this morning. i got the kids up around 5am and we all went to the hospital. they gave him drugs through an IV and monitored his blood pressure. he slept. i went home and got the kids ready for school. the hospital discharged him and now we are home. he is still in so much pain but trying to sleep it off. i pray every day that the Lord would take this headache from Dan... but for some reason He is allowing this trial to happen in our lives. God is the Ultimate Healer and i know that some day He will relieve Dan of his pain. i just pray it's sooner rather than later. i hate seeing my husband in so much pain day after day. 

thanks for reading. your prayers are appreciated.

on a lighter note, yesterday i spent some time making owls inspired by some i saw at anthropologie the other day... i'll post pics of them later but for now here is a pic of my inspiration. 

xo,

kass

advent and a wreath

the last two days i have been busy making an advent calendar for the kiddos... since i don't have a sewing machine things take soooo long for me to make. i mean, i can't completely ignore the kids to get my crafting done. or can i? my sweet son, tyler, offered to watch the girls for me yesterday so that i could hide out in my room (i was on the verge of a migraine) to finish the calendar. and finish it i did. i had a grand plan to have a backdrop for the pockets and to incorporate vintage buttons into it somehow but that didn't happen. i just wanted to finish. so, here it is

i embroidered the numbers and hand stitched the pockets, then punched holes in the back and tied them onto a finger garland using yarn. they will be filled with a piece of candy for each child and a verse from the Christmas story in the Bible. maybe next year i'll sew the pockets onto a pretty backdrop and add my vintage buttons...

i also made a wreath last night. i've been so inspired from all the pretty wreaths i've been seeing in the blogging world that i decided to make one of my own.

it's not super christmasy... which i love. i am so over red and green this year.

 i tore apart a berry wreath that i had bought a few years ago... it was just TOO country for my liking... and wrapped an old knitted scarf around the wreath. i then cut apart another old scarf that i had crocheted and made three balls out of it. then i cut out some felt circles and sewed them on either side of the balls. i'm pleased with how it turned out but my favorite thing is that i had all the materials within reach already. AND since it's not too christmasy i'll be able to keep it up all year if i so choose!

let me know what you think. i love feedback... good or bad.

happy hump day.

xo,

kass

Two Things i Love... Around my Home

since we're all in the Christmas spirit... being that it's the first day of december... i've decided to post two Christmas decorations i'm lovin and will be doing this each tuesday of december.... hope you enjoy!

our dining room tree with our homemade ornaments

every year my son and my step-dad make ornaments for my son to give as gifts... this was last years.

little kassi... i made this in first grade for my mom

i love love love these handmade candy canes. i bought these in a cute little town in PA two christmases ago...

these make me happy and remind me of my fun vacation in PA with my sister

what are two Christmas decorations your lovin today?

please tell

xo,

kass

ps. my friend brandi over at mucho mucho bueno bueno (super rad blog) wrote a fun little post about love and featured an email and pictures i sent her... so fun.. so be sure to check it out. she also runs a salon in houston and is having a giveaway on her blog of some fab hair products - so check that out too - i mean, who doesn't like a giveaway!

hot and healthy tuesdays

okay, not feeling too hot or too healthy this tuesday morning. ugh... last week was horrid for me!

as most of you know, my sister, keely, and her friend, mama m, have set up the hot and healthy thru the holidays challenge... here are the questions they asked us this week

1. starting week 5.... seeing any progress?
nope. not at all. it's depressing actually.

2. do you feel like you are "getting your groove on"? a nice routine?
nope. last week ruined me and i only worked out once.... sad sad sad

3. are my pilates exercises kickin your butt (in a good way)?
nope. haven't done them. gosh, this is a sad post.

4. how about the healthy tips from mama m?
let's just say that last week was not a healthy one for me... too much food, dessert, wine and beer. i feel gross, actually.

so this week keely and mama m have asked us to work out for a total of four hours. i can do that... hopefully.

are any of you ladies doing the challenge? if so, how did you do last week? am i the only one who feels like a fat cow? if you are interested in linking up or reading any other ladies progress then be sure to check out keely's blog.

i'll be back later with two things i love... around my home (Christmas edition) later on today.

xo,
kass