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Northern California

This Last Week of Summer & Other Chat

August 11, 2014 By kimwheeler No Comments

Happy Monday friends. Just checking in with you all… How’s your summer? Still savoring?

Well, we have officially a week left if you go by the school calendar! That’s not much. What the heck happened to starting after Labor Day?

We did a little day trip to Carmel yesterday. My boys spent some time building sand sculptures.

I spent some time holding the blanket down, and reading. Twas so nice.

We had lunch at my favorite restaurant, Casanova.

I highly recommend a stop there for the Soup de Jour and homemade bread and butter. It’s especially cozy and warming after a foggy beach walk.

Yesterday cream of artichoke with spinach was the soup. That with fresh olive bread was AAAMAZING!!

Did I ever mention they make the soup in small batches and bring a copper pot out and ladle it into your bowl??? Where else do you get that? I know I’ve gushed about this place before.

Loads of charm at Casanova.

Don’t be intimidated by it’s small size from the front. It’s a veritable maze of quaint rooms and patios behind the front cottage. It’s easy to pop in for lunch. Dinner may need a reservation.

We also have been trying to enjoy as many dinners at home alfresco.

Eating outside always feels like a special night.

 The boys love it too and stay a little longer at the table which we like. We just discovered a new favorite wine, Cuvee Los Gatos, from our hometown winery, Testarossa. The 2011 Chardonnay is wonderful and try it if you can. It can be bought at the winery, but our local Lunardi’s store has it currently. It’s around $24. We are so spoiled by good wines that we rarely pay that much, but this is worth it.

The tomatoes have liked the unusually hot summer we have been having.

I can’t say the same!! I miss our 80s and high 70s with cool nights.

We did get some summer rain which was so nice and unusual.
I’m really hoping for some real weather this fall and winter.  We barely had any last year.
On the bright side we swam so much this summer. Not a day went by that my kids didn’t use the pool.
They will kill me for using this, but I am anyway. 😀
My oldest Jackson is going to be a junior next week. Unbelievable. Hard to comprehend.
Seems like just the other day I put this photo in a frame from a trip to Pt Reyes.

Looking at the sizes of them I guess it was a few years ago actually.
How is it they grow so much in that 12-15 year old span? Your not noticing it and then you see a photo, and your baby has become Lurch!
Argh!!

On a lighter note, still trying to keep the Hawaii vibe from vacation alive in the home.

Hawaii has a lot of these vintage postcards. I tuck them in mirrors and on pinboards.

I’m going to try to have my guide to my Big Island favorites out this Thursday. I don’t know what happened to my blogging time this summer, but it’s been weekly at best and once school starts I’ll have more time for more posts.

Keeping it real though, a lot just didn’t happen this summer.

You know all those plans to clean out closets, pantries, and garages? It never got done and it sure isn’t this last week.  I have however threatened my 12 year old hoarder with no new school supplies until he purges his room and desk!!

The pets and the man cave..aka le garage, have gotten some quality time though. Don’t look at this disaster with workbench projects, (we are building a robot apparently), gaming devices and everything else.

I just close my eyes when I walk through!

 When I get aggravated at the slacktitude, (my husband’s word), I try to remind myself they’ll be cranking out school work soon enough. (I hope!)

Yes, back to school, it’s not all BAD! I’ll have a bit more time for myself. I’m looking forward to fall and fall clothes. I can’t wait to clean out the closet and look at what I can do with the old wardrobe.

Just popped into Anthropologie in our town and fell in love with this…

This Bloomfield Tee is so easy and I love the front pockets and colors.

Florals are still having their moment and apparently pastels are going to be happening for fall and winter as well. We are talking Easter colors, according to Vogue and others!! Should be interesting…

So maybe this could be a cute transitional piece?

One more fashion note, I did buy a tote already for fall. It’s easy for running around. I love having a bag to throw my shopping in as I go about the day. It’s light and perfect for travel too. I don’t know why, but light totes are my new favorite and I just don’t see the appeal in the heavy and structured bags anymore. It’s either these or a wristlet. Okay sometimes a clutch. I’m enjoying streamlining right now.

What do you think of totes?

I love the brown and black combo and the polka dot lining. It’s called the Kerrington Shopper and it’s from Tory Buch Fall 2014 line. I was in the store the other day there are too many cute things to count. Love the whole fall clothing line and it coordinates with these bags.  
I want to buy the small coin wallet in polka dot to match when I can.

I’m wearing the tote with my white outfit for Adrienne of The Rich Life’s How I Wear My White post.  Some chic styling ideas for wearing white. She’s also got a fun series started with videos of makeup tips with a very talented makeup artist, Veronica. Something to check out if you want to freshen up your look and get a new visage for fall.

I’m done meandering here and if you are still with me I’ll be back later this week to share my fun visit to California designer Trina Turk’s digs in Burlingame and the fabulous things she has for fall wardrobe and also for the home.

Happy week!

Kim

Filed Under: Anthroplogie, Carmel, Casanova, family, Northern California, Summer decorating, Summer time, Tory Burch

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