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Santa Cruz

Our day with Renee Fox Photography

When Jace was 8 days old, we went over to my friend, Renee’s, home studio to take some newborn pictures! I’ve always wondered how these were done, since most of the newborn pictures I see are of babies sleeping and peaceful, all curled up in weird positions. Miss Renee knew all the secrets to make our little boy cozy and happy, with heated blankets, white noise makers, space heaters and ssshhhing. Maybe a little too well. . . . we sure did have a lot of *accidents*. Baby boy first peed on Daddy. Then, when we moved him to the couch he peed on that, too. We felt so bad! I had requested close-up shots of all his little features and she did just that {even some of his newborn peach fuzz}! Thank you, Renee, for capturing such sweet pictures of our little boy {I promise to include some couch cleaner in our thank you gift!}. I don’t want this newborn phase to end and will cherish these photos for life. Here are a few of my favorites:

{our little fox!}

{This was before he pooped all over the cheese cloth and blanket below, hahaha.}

{I love his toesies!}

{Father & son holding hands, so sweet}

{You can find Renee Fox Photography on Facebook. She’s such a wonderful person, and soon to be midwife!}

February 25, 2014 by cherjoy

30 in Kauai, Heather by Hand, Santa Cruz

Blogging date at Verve Coffee

Miss Heather and I had a fun girly day planned together over the weekend — pedicures, lunch, the book shop, dessert and then Verve Coffee for some blogging and brainstorming! Verve is such a great coffee venue. Couples cozy up with books, students come together for study sessions, friends meet up to chat. It’s really one of the best, centrally located coffee houses in the Cruz. They even have a pop-up location in New York City right now for market testing. Too cool, and very smart if you ask me. But that’s Verve for you. Very cool indeed.

We set up shop in one of their booths and ordered coffees {decaf for me of course}. Heather and I have some exciting goals for ourselves this year. It’s so fun to share in them together! By the time we were done catching up and running ideas by each other it was already 5:00p! I love those days when the hours fly by before you realize it. When you’re having such a wonderful time with a friend that you could sit together forever. I’m so thankful to have Heather as a friend. I truly think we’re each other’s biggest fans. Maybe that’s why we continue to find ourselves working together professionally.

{Heather was not feeling very photogenic, but I still snapped a pic. Ha!}

January 27, 2014 by cherjoy

Projects, reads, Santa Cruz

Bookshop Santa Cruz & Laura Davis

Miss Heather and I are HUGE fans of Bookshop Santa Cruz. It’s our favorite place to go downtown. We literally could spend hours just walking around, browsing books, magazines, notebooks, gifts, and letterpress cards.

Heather introduced me to Laura Davis & The Writing Journey, and on Monday we attended one of her creative writing workshops at the Bookshop. Laura prompted us with different words like ‘vaseline’ and ‘chainsaw’ to get our creative juices flowing, and our hands moving. We were given 7 minutes to write about these different word “prompts”, then share them with your neighbor. All you’re allowed to say after listening to someone’s writing is “thank you”. I laughed at how sporadic my writing was. Must be how my mind works. I’m definitely a newbie to this creative writing stuff, so hopefully I’ll improve and be able to write more eloquently with each workshop.

It was a great crowd! A lot of creative minds out there, with different approaches to writing. I already penciled in the next few creative writing workshops, and will be doing Laura’s weekly writing prompts via email. In case you’re interested, every Tuesday Laura sends out a writing prompt via email. You then can take a few minutes out of your morning or day to complete it. I picked up a little notebook to get me geared up for my Tuesday prompts! What a great way to unleash your mind and get some things down on paper. Perhaps I’ll finally find my blogging “voice”.

Bookshop Santa Cruz also hosts different reading programs each quarter. Heather and I are doing their Winter Reading Program as well and are starting with Maisie Dobbs. If you finish 3 of the books on the reading list you get a free glass of wine at the Bonny Doon tasting room, a free Buttercup Cakes cupcake and a gift card back to the Bookshop. Worth it to me!

{I think my 2014 is already off to a creative start! Yay.}

January 10, 2014 by cherjoy

Projects, Santa Cruz

To do in the Cruz: make a bubble terrarium at DIG Gardens

Last week I stopped into DIG Gardens, sort of on a whim as I was driving by, and am so glad I did. Everyone talks about DIG gardens here in Santa Cruz. It’s the place for succulents, gardening workshops and other patio decor. They offer great classes for succulent frames {like the one I did}, wreaths, orbs and more — would love to take one!

As I was perusing around, I came across their DIY terrarium station, where you can create your own bubble terrarium {also called an air plant?}. These little planters are great for your kitchen or bathroom windows. So adorable, and so easy to create and care for {you water sparingly with a spray bottle}. I picked out a shape and some epiphyte and started thinking about what else I wanted to add to it. When I got home I completed it with some sea shells and sand from our beach, and boom — a bubble terrarium for our kitchen window {that I already love so much}!

{brings me so much joy!}

January 9, 2014 by cherjoy

Friends, Santa Cruz

Our Christmas visitor

We had a visitor this past weekend, and oh, how we love visitors!! My friend Sara stopped into town to spend a day with us, so we tried to get in as much as possible, at some of our Santa Cruz hot spots. Starting with Bocci Cellars for lunch and bocci ball – of course!