are snakes the silent power trend?

if you like snakes, but are not too keen on having them as a house pet, why not bring them into your home by including them in your decor.

as a girl who is terrified of these slithery things i am somehow drawn to them when i design.

quick snake side story:

my sister tory, who is highly aware of my "more than real" fear of these nasty creatures, use to threaten that she was gonna buy my son a snake until one day she quit threatening.

oh, you think the story is over? you think sweet auntie tory just leeeet it go? oh, well, than you would have the wrong idea of that evil evil sister. oh, she bought a snake alright and one day she sent it in the mail. in a sock! my son was elated. i was standing on the table screaming.

we kept the snake in a terrarium with a special bolt type lock that i required in order for that nasty thing to stay. it did stay until one day it just wasn't in the terrarium any longer. 
yep, that was a horrible horrible day for me. 
i still think about it every now and then and sure it doesn't help that the evil sister reminds me how snakes can live undetected in a house for years. shouldn't she quit terrorizing me now that we are adults???

back to design.

snakes have been associated with some of the oldest rituals known to mankind - they definitely make a strong statement in fashion and interior design.

speaking of fashion, that's where i always take my cues.

i have noticed some interesting trends taking place this year.

notice this jimmy choo snake wedge - and since "furniture follows fashion," i always watch for the trends in fashion. and regardless, when has mr. choo ever steered any of us wrong?  

i love orange!

if you want to do just "a little" - something not quite so "bold" you can easily add an interesting table top accessory, or try a subtle side table.

if you are someone who goes big and takes chances in your decor,

 i particularly like this piece for a front door.

 i am not a fan of snakes in the "skin" so to speak but for some reason i have become slightly obsessed with this snake chain fabric. i have recently used it in a clients home as pillows and he loved it. 

connect with kendra kay by following now!

the biggest little turns 17

tears on my keyboard. that's what's goin' down right now at my place.

man. hate to sound like a total mom here but where? huh? where the heck did the time go?

seventeen years ago at 3:11pm. shane and i did something pretty fantastic. we, along with a 3 nurses, a fabulous doctor- that i believe it's safe to say i fell in love with- and a male student nurse (that was on his first day and definitely turned green at one point throughout my labor) brought this little lovely into our world. 
i suppose one could argue that at 9 pounds she really wasn't that little but she felt tiny and fragile to me.

check out this bebe:

thankfully she wont wear this birthday suit to her party saturday night

even though at this point her diet consisted mostly of goldfish crackers, fruity snacks and glue she looks darn healthy huh?

aw look. she got all big girl beautiful on us-(don't worry we wax the moustache every few months)!

this is our girl. 
strong and sassy, funny and frank. tough and talkative (oh boy, talkative), smart, nosey, independent yet stuck to me like glue most days, beautiful and unique and surprisingly sensitive.

she is a challenge. that's a good thing. i would be worried about her if she was any other way.

seventeen years from now i hope i am holding one of her babies and loving them as fiercely as i love her. until then, keep goin' kid! 

happiest of birthdays to you lou!

glen ivy hot springs-its a yearly stop

a few weeks ago (mothers day week-end to be exact) julie, erin and i went to glen ivy spa in corona.

we try to get here every year when julie comes. its straight up the place to be. but im sure you know that.

i dont take as many photos as i actually want to coz it kills my spa buzz to hafta be makin sure i catch it all.

i have a great "jazzerhour at the pool" video that was really hilarious but as i played it back i was like, 'oh, wow, youre actually half in a bush taking this you creeper". so, i wont share but just know that it was fun-ny!!!

outside the spa-check out the zen circle (yep, that's my official name)

we came home to this. sweet family.

what my phone saw this week

only in l.a do the cowboys drive purple cars and hang disco balls from their rear view windows. this may be why i love l.a.

    exactly!

sometimes i just dont know what to say....

    a fish with 2 front toofs. i adored him!

if you have to name your salon 'trust' (with an exclamation point) i prolly ain't comin' in.

      found this on my walk-in my hood. 

i mean really-get a bush.

'citing stuff happenin around these parts.....

-working on a new project up in the hollywood hills. the views are ridic! i will share soon.

-gonna spend a week-end in palm springs with my girl erin and see the fabulous michael from west 3rd brand. oh, you dont know west 3rd? whaddya live in a box?? might wanna google it. its aloha friday worthy-thats fo' reals.

-the lunar eclipse was pretty cool. its amazing how often we are reminded of just how small we are in this world.

-i am basically at the 30 day countdown until we go on our mehican cruise. no kids. just us, good friends, some maracas and possibly a few "nah, i didn't do that...did i moments". just tryin to keep it real.

-apartment therapy is gonna shoot a few kids rooms and a baby nursery i just did. this nursery is so cute plus the mom is adorable and rocks a baby bump like no otha'! stay tuned.

-my lime tree is makin babies! they are tiny and probably are not gonna produce large enough limes to make me mojitos this summer but i got big hopes for next summer. mojitos at my house!!!!

-watched my maile learn to throw a spiral with her daddy. priceless..... 

happy aloha friday!!!

green bread....that's not moldy

after my friend suzie posted that she was making zucchini bread (with secret sneaky healthy ingredients) on facebook awhile back it sounded so good i had to make some. i had been craving my sister tory's acorn squash bread for quite some time so this felt like it might hit the spot.

because shane has been all up in my kool-aid about us all eating organic as much as possible i went and bought all organic ingredients so he would eat it and i wouldn't have to get the look  and the shrug that says, "well, it's your body"....hate that look.
can someone please come up with an organic donut? it'd be helpful for my conscience on saturday mornings.

so, i took the original recipe by paula dean (thanks suzie for posting and thanks paula for knowing good food) and adapted it to make it my own and to try to make it as healthy as possible but still edible.

3 1/4 cups flour ( i used 3 cups of whole wheat flour)

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. nutmeg (daughter hates nutmeg so for whatever reason i decided to use cloves-meh)

3 cups of sugar (i only used 2 cups because i added a mashed banana and remember the whole healthy thing)

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup water

2 cups grated zucchini

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans (i didn't use either)

secret ingredient:

purple puree

3 cups raw baby spinach leaves *don't use frozen (next time i will only use 2 cups)

1 1/2 cups blueberries

1/2 tsp. lemon juice

1-2 tbsp. water (i used 1)

put in food processor to get as smooth as possible. you only need 1 cup of this so if you have extra like i did you can freeze the remainder and use it in a smoothie later.

 oh, the puree looks like all kinds of gag but it tastes really good.

directions:

preheat oven to 350 degrees f. in large bowl combine dry ingredients.
mix all wet ingredients together- including puree (this is where i added a mashed banana) then slowly add dry ingredients.
fold in nuts. 

i baked 4 mini loaves for about 25 minutes each and 1 large loaf for about 35 minutes. this baked much faster than the original recipe stated-maybe it's my over acheiving oven??

my son thought it would be good on st. paddy's day-yep, it's definitely green.

results:

very good. kids wouldn't eat it coz it was green and brown. might as well feed them spinach by itself coz they will happily eat that. (throws hands up in the air)

shane and i loved it. it tasted like a morning type muffin but better.

my neighbors got 2 loaves coz it sure made lots.

tres tray chic

i love maps. not that i can read them. i use to dream of shane and i being on amazing race (because i love to travel and think it might be a fun gig to win a million dollars) but i can't be the map reader (fo' sho') and wouldn't be the be the best option as the driver. i can't (won't) do the bungee stuff and oh yeah, i can't (really i can't)eat strange foreign "cuisines" sooo basically shane would be running the race all by himself. oh, of course i would be there-like next to him-but i bet i wouldn't even be holding my own backpack. that shane. he's kind of a bro.

*poof* there goes my dream just like that. cruel cruel world....

back to maps. 

i wish i had the home that i could frame maps. old, new, large, small torn-whatever and hang them in my grand master hall. i would make it look fabulous-no doubt. somewhere in a home far far away there is a large open wall in a huge grand master hall waiting for me and my surely magnificant map gallery but until then....

can i truly even call this a craft project? project would probably imply that it takes time and is some sort of planned enterprise with design and layout. this isn't that. lets call this cut and paste 101. its easy and fast and you know what i always say....a trained monkey on pbs can do this. annnnd i believe i just referred to myself as a primate.

1. i picked up this tray for $6 and was drawn to the shape of it-wish it was larger but for 6 bucks its pretty great. 

2. take your map (i picked this one because its literally of my hood) lay it out and trace your shape out.

3. glue the map to the bottom, take a razor to trim any overlapping edges and mod podge the heck outta the top of it. 

check it out! sherman oaks-i can practically see my house! 

i think im gonna take some old trays i have that i dont love and do some more for summer.

palm to the springs

i love me some p.s.

i wont torture you with a complete play by play of julie and i but i will slam you in the face with all my photos-just know its more of a love tap really.

sorry in advance.

back at the condo

i do realize that the photos are never as good as when you see the actual place in person. i get that this is somewhat like watching someones vacation videos -

but the indian canyons were too cool not to make you go through the painful process.

we hiked in 99 degrees-in sub par shoes-we are woman-see us sweat

Downtown to lunch a little

we both decided our nails and toes had way too much canyon grubby on them so we decided to get a pedi/mani before hitting the road back to l.a.

lookit these 2 old girls nodding off in the pedi chair.....

we didn't stay here but it had me at aloha...naturally...

oh, and p.s. (no not p.s. as in palm springs but p.s. as in p.s.) i am going to p.s. again this week-end-hecks to the yeaaaaah!