love

happy tuesday! just a little post for today. the mister and i are featured on oh my darling's blog today, check it out. melissa is doing a really cute post every week where she features couples. she has a talented artist jaymie callaghan  it is just oh so cute and it was so fun to be a part of it! this is the picture we submitted for the illustration. it is one of our favorites together!

 enjoy your day <3

xo,
cb

double dose of spreading the love

this weekend was great! it was nice & long and i did everything i wanted to! was lazy, did some crafts, road my bike, hung out with friends and did some spreading of the love :D

first off was the misters date. we woke up some what early and were too lazy to cook breakfast so we went to our favorite breakfast spot in hayward called emil's villa. they are the only place i know of that serves grits and any place that serves grits for breakfast is SUPER AWESOME in my book! after our yummy breakfast we headed to walgreens to pick up some film for our ride. went home and packed. since we had a big breakfast my plans on having a picnic didn't go as planned so we brought along some beer and we tried out the new coconut m&m's which were actually pretty tasty!

the destination for our date was lake chabot located in castro valley which is the next town over. the bike ride isn't very far but a pretty good work out since there are some hills involved to get there.

there were tons of people out taking advantage of the great weather but we found a great spot under a tree. laid out our two mexican blankets and opened up some beer. one of the misters favorite things to do as is mine is lay in the sun on our mexican blankets and drink some beer so i new he would enjoy his date.

BUT to make it more special i had compiled a list of "why i love him". i didn't have time to do anything fancy because he was around most of the time so instead of presenting him with something i made i read him out load the reasons why i love him.  i can't tell you how good it felt to do that and how hard it was not to cry. we have been together for so long that we sometimes forget the special things about each other and what felt even better was that i didn't expect or want anything in return except for a kiss that is :0. it felt good to see the huge smile on his face after and i could tell he really appreciated the list of compliments. i typed a nice copy after so that i could put it in our scrap book to keep forever!

 then it was time for dominoes where sadly i kicked the misters BUTT! i tried not to but i really just couldn't help myself...go for the gold right?

our tummies started to rumble so we packed it in and headed home...to make dinner & CLEAN for our expected guests.....


 so for the spreading the love project i had sent our new neighbors a note asking if they wanted to come over. on friday before we went to go to the vet for miss rosalita (don't worry all is well with our little precious, just getting a free check up) our neighbor stopped us and asked if hanging out saturday night would be to short of notice. we had no plans that night so we decided around 9ish would be great.

 while we were at emil's villa getting breakfast we grabbed a mixed berry pie for desert. 9 o'clock rolled around and a knock was heard at our door. our neighbors brought over some super yummy banana & chocolate chip cookies along with some red wine. we had such a great time with them and plan on doing a video game night soon over at their place!it is always so nice to meet new people and make new friends!

how was your weekend?

xo,

cb

SURPRISE!!!!!

friday was great because i got off work early! the mister took a bike ride through sf and met me at work and then after went to get a slice of pizza for lunch. when we got home there was a little box waiting for ME at our door step!!!! boy was it a happy surprise! and to top it off it was from one of my favorite blogging buddies melissa from oh, my darling! as part of her spread the love project she was sending out little treats to a few of her blogging buddies. if you haven't checked out her blog you should! she is amazing both inside and out and she has been extremely supportive of both the citybirds nest blog & citybirds shop and i can't thank her enough for giving me such a warm welcome into the blogging world!

this cup is perfect! so me!!

the necklace is AMAZING!

this car is the cutest! i LOVE hedgehogs!

thanks again mellissa, you are such a sweet! don't be surprised to get a little love coming your way!






xo,
cb

spreading the love

hey everyone and happy friday!! so excited to get off work early AND have a 3 day weekend!! hooray!!

just a quick post today. here is the letter i am giving to my co-worker along with some organic plums that are super yummy! i always love getting food as a gift! anything yummy to my tummy is alright with me!! (wow, that was corny but i can't fight the urge to erase it)



can't wait for my date with the mister tomorrow! weather should be a bit cooler then it has been but it should be sunny!!! will share pictures when we get them developed!!

hope you all have a great labor day weekend!

xo,
cb

newly crafted

i wanted to share with you all my newest craft that i finished on sunday! i am so happy to have them finally finished! i bought the vintage fabric at the alameda flea market on 4th of july and new exactly what i wanted to do with it when i got it! i had some of the wooden beads laying around from something i don't even remember now because it has been so long and picked up the larger wooden beads at the local craft store. i love the color of the fabric mixed with the beads...gives that extra bit of hippiness i like :) i will be adding them to my shop along with a dress i found...one craft project done on my 4 simple goals list and about 10 or more projects left! i gotta keep truckin'

on a side note:  spread the love: i can't tell you how good this week has felt and all for just doing little simple things to others! thanks again melissa for creating such a wonderful project. check out lavender biscuit..she has a really great idea and has been doing a fantastic job!!

yesterday i called my grandparents and talked to both of them for a bit. they are soo cute! they both like to be on the phone when you call..it is really sweet. i wish i had a picture to share with you so you could see them!

also planing a special date for the mister that of course involves a nice bike ride and more! will share with you later!

xo,
cb

bike chick tip!

hello! happy bike chick tip day! i want to start something new but will post it next week. i love bikes so much and love sharing my knowledge with you all that i also want to share the outfits that i wear while riding my bikes in hopes to inspire more people to ride their bikes as it is a wonderful way of transportation as well as a great way to go on new adventures... and why not do them with style :) but for today's post i will nerd out...enjoy!

bike chick tip #6- shifters!

if you have a bike that has gears then you have shifters. shifters as the word implies shift the gears to either a hard/speed gear or easy/climbing aka granny gear :D  there are many different style and placement of shifters the main difference to look out for: friction shifters or index shifters.

basically the friction type shifters allow you to directly move the gears yourself, think of them more like a manual stick shift car. you are a bit more in tune with what is going on with your bike and you can hear if you are in gear or not. the index shifter has set dials for each time you want to change gears...i have used both kinds and my only problem with the friction shifter is that once in a while if i don't shift accurately and my gear is not fully in gear it will pop out which can be annoying at times but i get better all the time...with index, your bikes shifting system must be in perfect adjustment to operate properly. Index shifting bikes are good for three types of people 1) pro racers with a team of mechanics 2) people with disposable income 3) people who work on their own bikes

stem shifters/ friction

stem shifters and down tube shifters are my least favorite. they are placed on the stem of your bike right underneath your handle bars or even lower on the downtube (between the fork and the cranks). this requires you to take one hand off your handle bars to shift and if riding fast or on uneven pavement this can be a bit scary...at least it was for me so i switched. if you feel comfortable then i say by all means go with these.

 

bar-end shifters/ friction

3-speed thumb shifter/ index

the thumb shifters can either be on your handle bars which is what is on urusla or bar-end shifters which i have on mary. the one on urusla is an index shifter and the ones on mary are friction. i really like both shifters but this is where it comes down to style. as i feel mary is a bit more sporty looking i feel the bar-end shifters look appropriate on her where ursula is a bit more lady like so having the shifters on the handle bars next to my grips suit her.

so there you  have it..thanks for always letting me nerd out on all of you!!! :D



spread the love update: one of my favorite clients came in yesterday and she just hired a new assistant. i have worked with this assistant before and she is soo sweet and really on top of things...so i broke out of my comfort zone and complimented her on her new assistant and how i was so happy that we would be working together again! it felt really good to tell her boss what an amazing & hard worker she is...and then later that day her assistant came in and i told her about the conversation i had with her boss. she gave me the biggest smile that warmed my heart!

also called a couple of people today to just chit chat...people i don't normally call. it was a nice change one i think i will keep up :)

xo,
cb

a little update here and a little update there...

happy tuesday everyone! just wanted to do some updates on a couple of things....

first off is the #4 simple goal: waking up and thinking something positive: a little hard at first to start off the morning as i have been more tired because of the nightly pounces from the little rosalita but after a morning shower wake up it has proven to help! mostly the positive thoughts that have been floating through my mind each morning have been souly about the mister and how lucky i am to have him in my life. i get to watch him sleep while i get up and just the thought of him sleeping there and looking soo cute starts my day off with a great bang!  he is my best friend in the entire world and i just love the way he loves me!

spreading the love update: got two things checked off my list! I don't see my neighbors very often so i wrote them a litte note asking them when they were free for a get together and left it on their door step. also wrote my co-worker a thank you and once i get paid will get something cute to put in the card :)
hard to post on a blog but i have been smiling at everyone i come in contact with...i only hope they can pass it on or helps brighten their day!

oh my darling: penpal pal project: this is been sooo much fun! i can't tell you all how exciting it is to get a letter in the mail. Here are some of the ones i have gotten so far. i have been using my type writer which has been really fun but also hard because if you make a typo well there is no such thing as delete...but i like the nostalgic sounds of the keys when typing and i hope the others who have gotten my typed notes so far have enjoyed them.

i had a hard time picking out cute note cards that would work with the type writer so i opted for green paper and found this really cute rubber stamp of poppies that look similar to my tattoos, so i thought it was a perfect fit!

xo,
cb

spreading the love

i was so touched by melissa at oh, my darling post called spread the love. it is a wonderful idea and why not spread more love in world? with all the crazy things people do to each other it just makes sense! this also goes with my #4 simple goal to be more positive about my life so this will help continue that feeling onto others :) i have been in a situation before where i was sexually assaulted by someone for no reason, now it wasn't as bad as it sounds but i was still extremely horrified by what happened and it makes more sense to me rather then hate that person for the trauma they caused me why not share my love with others to counteract the bad deeds that others do. so here is a little list i will do this week and post and update as much as i can :)


1) call people i don't normally talk to very often.

2) make a point to smile at strangers. to me a smile can go a long way in my book :)

3) compliment people more! i love the feeling of being complimented. it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside and why not return the favor. i always mean to but for some reason it is the shyness in my that stops me from doing so.

4) write a a thank you card to one of my co-workers. she is always giving me little surprises and i want to return the favor...she is a wonderful person and i want her to know that :)

5) i feel like am a crappy neighbor so i am going to invite my neighbors over for a little after dinner drink to get to know them :)

6) call my grandparents just to say hi and that i love them :)

7) do something special for my mister...shhhh he reads every post so i can't spill the beans :)

would love it if you participated about it too and help spread the love <3<3<3<3<3