The World of Hair Accessories

I rarely get to waste away an afternoon playing with ribbon, fabric, and paper. For that to happen it means one kid has to be napping and the other one has to be either fishing with Grandpa or at a friend's house playing & not destroying ours... and then there is the husband! Well, I consider myself kind of lucky because he is always working on some project of his own anyways so he will leave me alone if I leave him alone- DEAL :) And then, when I have "nothing to do" (sigh) I go and pull out craft projects I have been saying I wanted to try and NEVER have the time for. It is actually nice when I am able to craft because I know my CHORES are done and family is not just sitting around wondering why I am keeping them locked up on a beautiful Cali weekend day while I am making a barrette.

So the crafty bug has hit me AGAIN (I am not sure that it ever really leaves me) and decided I wanted to explore the
World of Hair Accessories!

It started off with a plain barrette, some cloth, and a needle & thread and the rest is history! I have even sold some- hopefully an Etsy adventure I can explore later on as well :)

Here are some photos of my latest creations...



Cloth Flower Barrettes





Ally wore the pink flower for her graduation pictures :)





She insisted on wearing ALL four colors to school this day!
Proud of her Mommy :)








Leopard Headband!







- Simply Me ♡

Thirteen Miles

I have been pretty busy lately and though I have been following my fellow bloggers, I have not had the time to sit down and write about what has been going on in my life. So I thought I would write about this past weekend :)

Every Sunday a number of my family members go on a six mile walk and we have been doing a pretty good job at NOT missing. For the most part we stick together and walk at the same pace- speeding up or slowing down to talk in different groups/conversations-- you know, getting the week's worth of gossip and news! Every other month we meet at six in the morning and we walk/hike a thirteen mile trek around the back side of Thrump's Golf Course and onto Abalone Cove. This past Sunday was our thirteen mile week and the time change made it even more of a feat. Not being able to fall asleep until 3am and having to get up at 5am for a 4 hour hike was VERY HARD. But we did it- YAY! We made it back to Point Fermin in four hours and then we sped off for our typical Sunday brunch at Pronto's (lol) where we are known not as order numbers but "AMIGOS". Here are a few pictures of our hike...

The hiking begins here... 2 1/2 miles into our walk

That spot of red is Nana- still going strong up the biggest hill.

Brian showing the steps we had to take

That is quite a step

Nana making it to the top of the hill

What a beautiful view of White Point

Crazy Nini hiking in her shape-ups

My fellow hikers- the flag in the distant right is Trump's Golf Course

Love this sign-- Don't Even Think About It!

Here is that flag again... up close this time

Quick stop to take a picture

Nettie's detour allowed me to take this shot

Half way done... time to rest for a little bit & then turn around

The scenic route makes this hike enjoyable and go by faster

Time to make our way down the hill and back to White Point- & solid ground

This hill should have a name-- I vote "Hill to Buns of Steel"

This is our 13 mile walkers back in January 2011-- this one has all of us in it!

Lizards, Chameleons, & Snakes-- Oh My!

The McCarthy house was filled with family & friends to celebrate Christian's 8th Birthday this past Saturday. This year's theme-- REPTILES! We hired a little shop (REPTILES UNLIMITED) in Long Beach to come to our house and give about twenty kids a one hour reptile show. They brought some lizards, an itty-bitty chameleon, and SNAKES *shivering*. I stayed clear of the scary looking ones as did most of the adults that attended the party (lol) but the kids were right up in the mix. Christian amazed me. He held every reptile with NO FEAR. Ally was fine as well- casually strolling by to see what was being presented and then bounced right back over to the jumper- which she called HER jumper. It is funny how a few REPTILES and a jumper (it's NOT a party without the jumper) can put smiles on the kid's faces! All of the time spent preparing was worth every smile I saw this weekend :) Here are a few pictures of our day in Sunny California.

We are having a party over here!!!

Goodie Bags: Little Chameleons. They took awhile to make but QUALITY work- lol

The Army of Chameleons

Jumper Fun- Andrew sneaking in the shot of the girls 

Christian wants one- could you imagine this thing loose in the house?

All Smiles

Ally Kat showing NO FEAR

He is familiar with these little guys- Uncle Mikey has had a few chameleons over the past 10+ years

Happy :)

Showing off the turtle

Looking so grown up

Bonnie the VERY heavy snake

Birthday Buddies ❀

Fun Times

Ally Kat ☼

I like to... Move It Move It :)

The Snake Cake: Made by Mommy with LOVE ❤

Christian's snake cake filled with vanilla pudding & fresh bananas laying in a field of toasted coconut (thanks Daddy for toasting the coconut) - YUM

Birthday Boy & Mommy ❤

Happy 8th Birthday Christian

Mommy loves you :)


Thanks everyone that came to celebrate with us and Christian thanks you for the wonderful gifts :)

- Simply Me ♡

Hello Blogspot

So I finally did it. I finally started my blog- YAY!!! This one is going to be short since I have so much to do. Christian, my son, is turning the BIG 8 on the 10th and I need to get started on all of the fun stuff.

Christian: The Birthday Boy

Parties for the McCarthy family consists of a lot of homemade, crafty things and of course FOOD- go figure having 2 chefs in the house. I have been told that I do sometimes get carried away with the small things but I love to make little goodies for the kids and bake- ohhh how I love to BAKE. I can't help it if I like to get all "Martha Stewart". This weekend is going to consist of shopping, cleaning, cutting out little chameleons (it's a reptile party- what fun huh), some more shopping & a little football considering Sunday is Super Bowl. 

Wish me LUCK!

 -Simply ME ♡