I spent the majority of my evenings this week working on a graduation cake for my sister-in-law, Cristina. She graduated from high school last month, and her party is tomorrow. Because of the number of people invited to the celebration, she needed a pretty gigantic cake–a full sheet cake. I had never made a cake that big, but happily accepted the challenge.
(Pardon the white square–behind it is Cristina’s school logo. For her privacy, I didn’t want to broadcast the name of her school. So you’ll just have to imagine what a kickass job I did recreating the logo. HA!)
The cake turned out well, but not without a few obstacles along the way. The biggest issue occurred on Wednesday night when I tried to transfer one of the cakes and the entire thing crumbled apart. I had to throw it out and start all over. NOT A GOOD NIGHT, I assure you.
Anyway, it all worked out in the end. I made the cake out of two 11 x 15″ cakes, one chocolate, one vanilla. I iced them together with vanilla buttercream. I decorated today, also with vanilla buttercream. I used my alphabet cookie cutters to outline the letters in the icing, then filled them in.
Look at my little cap and diploma! I was so proud. The bottom part of the cap was just black buttercream with black sugar crystals sprinkled on top. For the mortar board part of the cap, I traced the pattern on wax paper using melted chocolate, filled it in, sprinkled it liberally with black sugar crystals while it was still wet, then let it dry. Then I squeezed a blob of black icing on the cake and placed the chocolate mortar board on top of it to give it a 3-D look. I got this idea on Cake Central, and it turned out super cute!
The tassel, diploma, and ribbon were all made of marshmallow fondant. I had never worked with it before, so that required a bit of practice time, too.
Congratulations, Cristina!
I’ve finally hopped on the bandwagon.
That’s right, folks. I’m talking about the 30 Day Shred.
I intended to buy this DVD sometime back in June, but then all of a sudden, it was July. Whoops. And then July was half over, and I realized that I had been out of my twice-weekly aerobics classes for more than a month already. Um, whoops again.
I don’t want to have to start all over with my endurance when I get back into the aerobics classes in the fall, so I needed to do something. I just typically hate going to the gym on weekdays, and the weekends have been super busy, so I thought perhaps Jillian Michaels was the answer. I love her on The Biggest Loser (I would sooo pick her over Bob), so if anyone could kick my ass through my TV screen, I figured it’d be her.
I’ve never really been a “fitness DVD” type of person, so when I kept reading about how great a workout this is, I was skeptical. Only 25 minutes? And it’s a full workout? Really?
But then I saw another person singing its praises. And another. And another. And so on. You get the picture.
So I caved. I bought it.
I started it Monday, so as of now, I’ve successfully completed three days of the 30 Day Shred. I am on Day 4 (to be completed later today, even though I’m beyond exhausted and would like to just take a nap).
It’s working out pretty well so far. It’s short enough so that I can actually talk myself into doing it daily, yet it’s tough enough to make me feel like I’ve really done something. Couple the hard work with my 80-degree house and I’m sweating like crazy by the end of it.
Admittedly, I tend to breeze right through the cardio portions. And honestly, I’d be worried if I didn’t. I’m accustomed to having my ass kicked for a full hour by my aerobics instructor. You wouldn’t know it from looking at her, but my petite little Marcie packs a mean punch. (She even pulled “a Jillian” on us once and yelled, “You can faint, puke, or DIE–but you can’t QUIT!” Um, yeah. She’s scary.)
On the other hand, I find that most of the strength portions, even where I’m at–Level 1–are quite challenging. Some moves are easier than others. The forward lunges, coupled with bicep curls? Not bad. Again, I’m thanking Marcie and her 1,000 lunges and/or squats per class for that one. But the side lunges with the arm raises? Holy @*$%. Those hurt.
On Tuesday (the morning after Day 1), I was really feeling it in the crooks of my arms. On Wednesday, I still felt it in my arms, but felt a bit sore in my abs and legs, too. Today? I’m feeling pretty damn good, actually. Progress?
I think that for this first 30 days, I’m going to follow the “schedule,” and stick with Level 1 for 10 days, then move to Level 2 for 10 days before moving to Level 3 for the final 10 days.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Any fellow “shredders” among my readers? I know you’re out there; you can’t hide. After all, everyone’s doing it, right?
No, not Oprah’s. Mine.
In other words, I’ve been tagged by Gaynor at Our Day by Design.
The “rules” for this tag are:
1. Mention and link back to the person who tagged you.
2. List 6 little things that make you happy.
3. Tag 6 other bloggers and let them know they’re “it”.
The funny thing about this is that I actually have a long list of little things that make me happy. I’m pretty sure this list has more than 100 items. I jotted it down over the course of a few days back during my junior year of high school. It’s tucked into an old journal somewhere, and it’s fun to go back and look at it. I haven’t looked at it in years, though. Now I have to remember to find it. :)
Anyway, on to some of the “little things in life” that make me happy.
1. A comfy puppy.
Nothing will put a smile on my face faster than seeing Tessa all cuddled up and snoozing somewhere. Doesn’t matter if it’s curled up on the couch, inside of a blanket, on a pillow, nuzzled up next to me, or in between the two of us in bed. On her back, on her side, her little body rolled into a ball–whatever. It’s cute as hell, and I love it.
2. A full gas tank.
It’s just one of those things. I love getting into my car and seeing the gas meter read “full.” Don’t exactly know why, but it just makes me feel good. Perhaps it’s the idea of the possibilities–I could go so many places on that one tank of gas! This is one thing that I am absolutely certain was on my “things that make me happy” list from 10 years ago. I’ve always loved a full gas tank.
3. Dessert.
I have to have something sweet after every meal (except breakfast). It can be as little as a piece of candy, or obviously, something more substantial. But I have to have it. No meal is complete without it. I’m definitely my mother’s daughter, and I will be the first to admit that I have a wicked sweet tooth.
4. Depositing money into our savings account.
I love watching that balance rise. Love. it. In fact, I actually enjoy paying bills after every paycheck, because I like to get everything paid off, and then see how much we have left to “play” with. And by “play,” I mean “transfer into savings.” It just feels so good to save!
5. Sunny days.
My mood is automatically better if it’s sunny out. Weather plays a huge part in establishing how I feel every day. It could be colder than Antarctica outside, but if it’s sunny, the day is 100x better than if it’s cloudy. I just absolutely love the sunshine.
6. Flip flops.
My “shoe” of choice. If I didn’t live in the frozen tundra for six months out of the year, I’d be wearing flip flops all year long. I generally don’t even like to wear shoes, so a flip flop is a fantastic compromise between barefoot and shoes. And they won’t get me kicked out of places on the grounds of “no shoes, no shirt, no service.”
So there you have it. A little glimpse into my crazy mind and some of its simple pleasures.
To tag people, I’ve gone back through my last six posts and randomly picked a comment from each one. Whoever left the comment has been tagged (assuming they have a blog).
Therefore, I tag:
1. Katie at My Life or Something Like It
2. Dana at Sweeping Through Life
3. Heidi at Our NEWlywed LIFE!
4. Jen at Meet The Robinsons
5. Samantha at The Long Haul
6. Gia at A Life in Progress
Have fun, ladies!
If Heaven exists, I’d like to believe that a bowl of this stuff will be waiting for me when I get there.
I’m not even kidding.
About a week ago, I was driving around in my car in 80+ degree heat, and I was thinking about sorbets. (Yes, it’s a hard life I live, driving around thinking about sweet treats!) I was trying to decide what flavor I wanted to make next.
Suddenly, it hit me–peaches. And at that moment, I wanted peach sorbet so badly that I almost drove straight to the store to pick up some peaches. But I held off, and waited until I had some time to poke around on the internet to find a proven peach sorbet recipe.
Well, this is it. The peach sorbet recipe. Sure, I haven’t tried any others, but I’ll tell you what–I don’t want to. This is my most favorite frozen treat I have had in a loooong time. When I finished my bowl tonight, all I wanted was more.
Thankfully, I do have some willpower.
The thing is… technically, it’s not even peach season here yet. We’ll start to have nice local peaches at the end of August/early September. What does that mean? Well, it means that we’ll have many more opportunities to make peach sorbet.
Hallelujah.
Peach Sorbet
(Source: Annie’s Eats)
Ingredients:
– 4 cups chopped fresh peaches
– 1/2 cup sugar
– 1/2 cup light corn syrup
– 1/2 cup water
– 1 tbsp. lemon juice
Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Chill mixture in refrigerator for at least two hours.
2. Once chilled, freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Freeze for at least 4 hours before serving.
My cousin is expecting a baby girl in September. Today, her sisters and mom threw her a baby shower. A few weeks ago, my aunt called and asked if I could help her with the favors. We talked it through and agreed I would make something edible. And I had just the thing in mind.
I ended up making two different flavors of cupcake bites. I’ve made these before–you’ve even seen them on my blog. I made them around Thankgiving, and then again at Christmas.
Each favor consisted of two of the cupcake bites, arranged in a truffle box, and tied with two different ribbons. I wanted to use the sparkly “It’s a Girl” ribbon I found at Michael’s, but I also wanted to incorporate the style of the shower and of the baby’s nursery–pink and brown. So I found a way to use both.
I had to make up 50 of these boxes, so more than 100 cupcake bites! Needless to say, it was a bit time consuming. Totally worth it, though, as everyone enjoyed them and I received a ton of compliments.
Here are the two different flavors of cupcake bites, nestled in the box. (I just realized that I didn’t take any photos of them outside of the boxes, which is a shame since they are so damn cute on their own. Oh well.) The one on the left, with the dark pink M&M, was made of strawberry cake with vanilla frosting. The one on the right, with the light pink M&M and sprinkled with non pareils, was made of chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting.
Delicious.
And congratulations to my cousin. I can’t wait to meet her little girl.
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
