thecopperavocado | musings of a california mama

alameda antiques fair fun.

Written by caroline on April 8, 2013 · 1 Comment

Since i grew up in Alameda, i am a fan of anything Alameda. Except a lot of things actually – but not as many as when i lived there. When you’re 16 nothing in your town is cool. People who live in the coolest places probably think their town sucks when they’re 16. So one of my favorite places to visit is the Alameda Antiques Fair at the old navy base. It is a HUGE flea market run by the same people who run the Rose Bowl Flea Market – so it is a hub of antique hunters, designers and regular old people like me. I managed to snap some pics of a few things that piqued my interest and wanted to do a flea market round up a la Emily Henderson (my new fave blog and designer). So here is some of what I saw:

comfy blue chair pair.

These guys were cute. They were a little big and I am not crazy about that color upholstery, but with some love they could be nice in a big living room in front of a fireplace. I love the lines and the cane back.

chinese wishbone chairs.

I learned that these have a great name. Wishbone chairs! Loved the washed wood and the upholstery was okay, but would pop even more with a fun and simple pattern. They were pretty pricey though.

kantha pillows.

I am a sucker for anything Kantha. Old Indian fabric, you have my heart. These pillows were amazing, and I wanted all of them. Unfortunately they were about 80 bucks per pillow cover, without the insert! Yikes. Either way I stayed and ogled them for several minutes. Gorgeous.

cheap and a pair!

A pair of chairs is a special thing. When there are two of something, the value increases – but these guys had seen better days. The fabric was sad, sure, but I think the seat cushions were holding up okay. Overall they weren’t in terrible shape. And look at those cute little legs! Nice gams, chairs. Love the wheels. And the guys was asking only 65 dollars for both. With a good upholsterer at my beck and call i would have swiped these up with a quickness. A beautiful indigo linen please, Mr. Upholsterer.

All in all it was a fun time, and I plan to go back again soon. Maybe even next month. But I may have to put the brakes on that one since I did go home a few hundred dollars less rich. I bought a couple pieces of art and a fantastic Persian rug in coral and blue tones. I am officially in love with it. Once we fix our hideous fireplace and hang some curtains I’ll post a living room shot. The rug is right at home, and luckily the hubs is a fan of coral. Yay for men who know good design! And double yay for the Alameda Antiques Fair. See you soon, sweet former airplane tarmac of goodies!

jalapeño martini love.

Written by caroline on April 2, 2013 · 2 Comments

An old favorite, rediscovered. This is perhaps one of the best cocktails my belly (and bloodstream) has ever known, and I feel as though I have to spread the love. I originally tasted it at The El Dorado Hotel in Sonoma, sitting in their beautiful bar garden with a group of girlfriends. Since then my girlfriend Tamara and I have been dreaming and talking about it constantly, until finally for her birthday I wrapped up all the ingredients in a scarf and presented it to her at her birthday dinner. She had to carry that awkward scarf wrap job all the way home, God bless her. So here is a photo of the yummy stuff, and the recipe to follow.

get in my belly, please.

INGREDIENTS:
Simple Syrup
Squeeze of lime
ABSOLUT APEACH vodka
White cranberry juice
Add a slice of fresh jalapeño at the end

As you can see, I have no exact measurements, but I’m assuming the vodka is one ounce and the rest is less? I don’t know I’m not a bartender. But my friend Tamara was, and she knew the bartender at the hotel – and he told her what was in it and she memorized it and kept it deep in her brain all this time. Important stuff like cocktail ingredients is never forgotten! And in the end it was deliciously amazing. So shake all ingredients, pour in chilled martini glass, add a slice of jalapeño and enjoy!

kids get it all.

Written by caroline on March 21, 2013 · 2 Comments

This post is brought to you by me feeling like the incredible volume of beautiful things on the internet can be overwhelming to the point where I want all the things and all the colors and all the consumption just ends up giving me a little bit of a headache. When Joaquin is napping and I should be doing laundry or making art or better yet…napping too, I find myself on tumblrs and color blogs and home decor websites, and worst of all on sites where things are so easy to buy that it literally takes two clicks. That’s not an exaggeration, it’s literally two clicks on Amazon. So today instead of buying this:

lilac beauty.

(I desperately want a lilac or purple duvet cover and have been lusting after this for months. MONTHS. And it’s on sale. How do I justify buying a hundred dollar duvet cover when I have like six duvet covers and you can only ever use one at a time so then like 5 duvet covers are spending most of the time in the closet which means that if you have hundred dollar duvet covers that’s 500 dollars sitting in the closet most days out of the year. Right? Yes this is where my mind goes).

Instead I bought this:

this better be awesome.

Notice how this photo is smaller? I did it on purpose, because it’s just not as beautiful as the purple bed. But Joaquin will love this little water table when it gets a little hotter here and Mama will love it too. I used to babysit for kids who had this water table and many an afternoon were spent watching them splashing around and trying to climb in. It should be a hit. And this of course brings to me to the conclusion that when you’re a mom and want to do things and buy things for yourself, sometimes the little one ends up getting something for themselves. This is all fine and good, as long as when he naps I can pretend I have a house that doesn’t need to be childproofed and a bank account that doesn’t have a limit. A girl can dream, right?

february fun!

Written by caroline on March 10, 2013 · 3 Comments

We made it! After a month traveling around Chile, visiting family and taking some seriously long plane flights, we’re home. It was so great seeing everyone, swimming in the lake, eating porotos and empanadas, and watching Joaquin enchanted with everything around him. He loved being around so many people all the time, cousins and aunties and uncles and everyone doting on him with constant attention. The kid loves people, and he is as social as they get. As much as his parents like to have a good time, I think he may be the party guy of the family. And this family is glad to be home! Chile 2013 was a success, and here are some photos to prove it:

baby boy in a bonnet on a lake.

asleep on a boat with Papa.

like a kid in a candy store. her name was La Niña.

topless lunches were a must in the warm summer weather.

with mama at the beach house.

with his cousin on a boat. baby life jackets are crazy cute.

restaurant limes are the best toys.

It feels good to be back at home, back into our routine of chasing the cat, playing with different bouncy balls (like all day seriously this kid is obsessed with balls), running errands with my sister, and playing in the grass. The simple days might be the ones I missed most. And in this month I see such a difference in how he is interacting with the world, it’s like this last month in Chile was one big developmental leap into toddler hood that changed my little baby. He is a total chatty charlie with tons of words and is expressing even stronger opinions than before. And his sense of humor! The kid is cracking jokes and we are cracking up. Fun is being had all around. And boy are we are all glad to be sleeping in our beds again. Until next time, Chile my Chile!

chile my chile.

Written by caroline on February 1, 2013 · 3 Comments

In just three days Joaquin, Papa and i will be heading off to Chile for a little vacation and family time. Many of my hubby’s relatives still live down there, so every February we spend their summer vacation with them at a lake house, at the beach, and around town. We love it, and have been doing it for seven years. So, back to the motherland once again, to make new memories with the baby boy. Here is a photo testament to how truly beautiful this place is:

zapallar.

my favorite beach.

villarica.

the lake.

valparaiso, an historical and beautiful harbor city.

the hubs and i the year we were engaged, on that same lake.

We are so excited to go back with our new traveling buddy and anxious about the flight all at the same time. I’m sure he’ll do fine, but his little body decided yesterday that it would start cutting a couple back teeth right before we go. Good timing, Joaquin! We’ll deal, we won’t be the first parents on a flight with a teething baby. Wish us luck! Oh and today we choose the color for our new front door, when we return I’ll post the finished product! Since where we will be in Chile does not have internet service, I won’t be able to write new posts – so please forgive me if the site is a little boring while we’re gone. I’ll try to update with a photo or two once we go to an internet cafe. So have a lovely February, hasta Marzo!

the painted door.

Written by caroline on January 24, 2013 · 6 Comments

Or the YET to be painted door. Our current door is falling apart at its seams, quite literally. The hardware has fallen off completely, leaving us to push or kick the door open and be sure not to close it all the way. Since our house is south facing, the porch gets a sun beating almost all day long. There are cracks, seams, and crooked slats everywhere, letting drafts in and looking like a tired old thing that needs a rest. So a new wood door is on its way, fresh and unfinished for us to paint. Since i had a bunch of leftover paint swatches from the kid’s birthday, i laid them all out on the counter and the hubs and i eliminated some and chose others. Turns out we want a door in the purple or blue family. Right now it’s red, but since our house is a light yellow there are so many colors that could work. I found some inspirational doors on the interweb and I’ve seen some blog posts on door colors – and while i would love to post photos of beautiful old cottages in England and beach house stucco doors in Greece, i wanted real inspiration that i could use, that look most like the house we live in. Here are some favorites:

royal blue.

light teal on brick.

or purple, the hubby’s favorite.

colonial teal.

That royal blue is speaking to me. There’s a color called Admiral Blue that Benjamin Moore makes that i fell in love with on a dresser a few months back, and it’s a lot like that first door color. I think that might be one of my spirit colors. For reals. And while the hubby loves purple, and i also love purple, I’m not so sure i want it on my front door. Hmm. I do love the teal in the last photo, and since our home is also somewhat colonial in style, it gives me a good idea of what it might look like. Decisions decisions. Purple or blue?