another shameless plug

I’m more and more over at the new cake site. Sorry gang. But there’s more pictures to check out!

Sweet Euphoria Desserts- Chevy Avalanche

Tags: sweet euphoria desserts

wherein i bake myself a mail order wedding cake

check out my spam today. is it just me or does this sound like they’re trying to get me to buy one? like supporting a kid in a 3rd world country…only a lot more shady. (also the FBI found me)

natch, i started a conversation with a nearby office mate. originally thinking it was a preposterous idea, we quickly came to realize that, in fact, every woman EVERYWHERE needs a mail order bride. not for her husband (well maybe for him too but i still really like mine so i’m not sharing. lets keep that one discretionary girls.)

but for HERSELF. because we can help each other. help ME help YOU… help ME…. help YOU Jerry McGuire.

think about it. if there was another woman in your house who would do any/all of the following instead of you:

- clean bathrooms
- laundry
- wash dishes
- change diapers
- pay bills
- other wifely duties

wouldn’t you enlist her IMMEDIATELY?? pretty sure this is a win-win. She can do some of that good old fashioned “earn your keep” sorta stuff. If she doesnt, you can threaten to send her packing back to the homelands. You are off the hook with eons of time to do whatever you want.

- eat bon bons
- catch up on soaps
- shopping
- hobbies
- invent something awesome
- stalk celebrities online

so, i know some of you are thinking “this is bogus! she would TOTALLY revolt with all those chores and probably also spit in my food and teach my kids cuss words in another language”.

make her the “couture assistant” (which is code for “still working for me, but it sounds cooler”. she doesnt speak english so she wont know the difference and people.com makes all that stuff look actually fun):

- chauffer
- personal shopper/stylist
- masseuse
- manicurist
- dog walker

OR BETTER YET- magically infuse her with powers to go to the gym for you. CLONE if you want her to go to your place of employment or visit obligatory people.

i feel like this is a fair trade off for free room and board. what say you?

i was not originally headed on this tangent today. i was going to talk about my most recent cake classes since i mentioned the new blog yesterday. but it was too funny not to share. and sharing is what we do here when i blog at you. although none of you share with me. what gives? i’ll keep calm and tarry on my own.

get ready, because these are very very hideous. much like my red red room from yesterday. only worse if you can imagine it.

OW! MY EYES!!! MY EYES!!!

before you get all judgey, these are practice cakes. although everyone in every class is really hoping that they’re gonna come out of there with something spectacular. its just not gonna happen cause you’re there to learn and make the mistakes on a cake thats going to no one but you. Needless to say, it has to look appetizing SOMEhow or you will be the one sitting and eating a whole cake.

practice your recipes and space out your classes before someone throws the 21834th cake you’ve brought to the office AT you.

i will not tell you about all the things we learned cause you can gather for yourself from that picture up there. but it was fun and educational as i would hope it would be for the amount of money its taking. of COURSE they show you all these cool things they use to make the job so much easier (yall have no idea. there’s a tool for everything. ev-ry-THING. its embarrassing cause it makes you wonder when the rest of the world is gonna catch on and be like THATS WHAT IVE PAID $1000 FOR??? yall i promise i will not charge you $1000. unless it is the cake for the universe. cause that’s sortof a big deal.)

this whole experience is like any other class you have in your life. There are the back row slackers, the 100-question askers, the awkward hermits, the knowitalls, the sorority girls, and of course ME the goody observer that doesnt ask questions but takes excellent notes and generally enjoys the class itself but not particularly anyone in it. Potential competition- i cannot afford to be making friends.

this one ended up being a big intro class to cake making in general. not bad but probably could have skipped it. the BONUS was the few recipes the teacher shared that are no doubt THE BOMB!!! otherwise it was about leveling and icing, etc. a bit of piping which clearly means practice! i tried to be more trendy with the red/teal combo that is so hot right now. but in this instance, i fear it ended up more like sesame street than glam.

eh.

thats it. its almost friday so get excited and order cakes! order me a bride, get a free cake!

Tags: cakes, mail order bride, sweet euphoria desserts

Little by little, the camel goes into the couscous.

remember yesterday where i could have given my left arm NOT to be uploading the pictures? today is a new day.

check out the new Sweet Euphoria cake blog with some fancy pictures. i’ve been playing around all day with my photos and watermarks and yadda yaddas. fancy right? not only does tumblr have some cute free designs, its a super easy interface. im trying it out to see what i think.

ALSO i forgot to tell you- J has launched a new blog as well. Stories of his family and their wacky ways.

So– on to our list of topics. I was looking and decided that I’m over the first few so we’ll have to circle back. They’re just enough out of my mind that I’m content to not think about them for a while but not so far gone that it makes me nostalgic.

There is this room in my house that is driving me crazy because it is unfinished and mis-matchy. Can i share my pithy wantings with you?

here is a shelf. i like this shelf for 2 reasons: #1-  i got to go to anthropologie and pick out $8 drawer knobs for it. #2- my FIL (father in law) constructed said shelf and J painted it for me. im not really one for knick-knacks (though you would not guess it with my house FULL of them) but here is my feeble attempt at putting useless things on display.

I’m better at artsier things, like this random yellow lunch bag arrangement stuck to the wall. one might argue that this is equally useless, but its ART, which is cultural and an experience and completely different!

following the trail of bag flowers around the corner, you see i have these funky lamps and oh look! more shelves! this i am still liking cause its feeling Moroccan and cohesive. this matches no other part of my house whatsoever but thats another day.

now beyond the mini shelves you just saw, the red paint stops. we were going for the whole ‘accent’ wall thing and its working up to a point. Im not LOVING the cat here, but i do love old art deco stuff and it matches so there you have it. also the curtain is more fun than a barrel of monkeys. i feel like this ties in, but in a LESS BOLD WAY THAN LOUD RED WALLS. would you agree?

here’s where it starts to get dicey. Mainly the furniture combination and random-item-ness of the other half of my walls are quite irksome. here is the desk and chair i had growing up that is now for a sewing machine that i use….occasionally. this pretty fabric was a gift from a college friend who brought it back from thailand. it sorta goes….. but…. not? the desk does NOT but i havent had the time to refinish, hence the awkward draping. i think i could turn the desk into something funky like they do on design sponge.

then there is this. random shelf in the middle of the wall by the lightswitch. nothing else on this wall!! it is a small wall. i carried over the yellow lunch bags but they are near  the ceiling. little mexican catholic altar here. arent i multicultural? and all in one room!

here is a far away shot. see how it is so lonely over there and out of place? also, i could not stand it to have this sewing machine wall so blank so this poster is holding the place of… something. dont worry its still in the plastic. there used to be a huge entertainment center here that did not fit this room at all. it held nothing but papers. we dismantled it a year later, after a huge grueling ordeal to just get it up the stairs.

and also- here are some hanging red circle lights. these sort of match too except how many lights do you really need in ONE room? 2 lamps plus an over head light. the rule of 3 does apply, but this room is like a cubicle. are you starting to see my dilemma?

here is the bed. im also irked that its a twin and not a full, but we will not address that now. this is not the right comforter– it has a real one with a nice WHITE slipcover but once upon a time the dog was in this room with my brother and she peed on the bed after we were all asleep and so he found this blanket and i havent put the cleaned comforter back on.

it bugs me because it exactly matches the carpet. boring! anyways, that is not an issue, and i would probably feel much better if i quit complaining and just changed the dang bed. my 31875 throw pillows look way better on white.

here is what you see immediately walking into the room…. festive!!

and then you turn the corner.

UGH!! what am i missing??

here is the truth: this will someday be a nursery and so we are half-hearted about anything in here, knowing it will change one day and probably never go back to this. until our kids leave home. and then i will be over the mexican/morocco/thai combo look, plus it will be SO out of style.

in the meantime, uggo.

help!

Tags: interior design

where i talk about nothing. but hey these are pretty pictures!

hi bloggy friends. i think i am coming up for air. lets not hold our breath!…..get it? oh i slay myself.

how is everyone? what have you been doing while i was away? was it fun? i hope so. i was having very little of that, but you know what they say about people who are busy at work…..they have jobs!

i have lots of items to share with you. i was originally writing ‘news’ but lets not kid ourselves, i am not CNN. The trouble is, i dont have a lick of energy to sit here and sift through photos to more aptly illustrate my stories. because there are many. and oh how i would love to share, but i feel like i am on the recovery week that is possibly endless. i think it is partially because of this 12387923 degree heat. it makes me very sleepy and a little cranky. but in technicality, i have been recovering from something or other all the time for the past month of weeks.

i’m sharing these funny cartoons i found cause they reside right here on my desktop and i do not have to hunt for them. they may not make any sense to you because they are about graphic designers and we are geeks. BUT if you are a graphic designer, you will relate 100%. (photo credits Core 77)

yesterday i woke up cranky for no good reason at all. other than i was hot. i think i was probably a pill all the live long day. hot hot hot! even though our pool is finally open, i really just want to sit on the couch and have a movie marathon under a big giant blanket and drink wine. which, yes i realize i could do at any point, but i feel like that’s a lousy weather activity, right? i feel compelled to be outside since everyone is “SUNSHINE!!!!!” …. “FRISBEEE!!!!!” ….. “GRILLLLL!!!”….. “BIKINIIIIIIIS!!!”

and normally i adore these things.

but mr. golden sun, please do not shine down on me any more than you really have to, which if i were to take a poll, i FEEL like most people would top out at around 85 degrees.

just sayin.

so, anyways. im sorry i am a louse today. but i did want to say hi. and i had really good intentions of giving you something to look at. i think i am exceedingly tired. i dont even care that my house is the pits right now. and it is REALLY disgusting. i cleaned it a week ago but then college boys came to stay and i dont really need to expound on this cause im pretty sure you can all just guess at what its looking like now. diz-aster!

because i am hip with the slang.

this last one is my favorite

here are some of the updates you need to know about so you can all stampede back here tomorrow!

1.  i thought i had pictures somewhere of the canning of cucumbers (now pickles) we have been done but now i cannot find a one. just as well. you should know that we are stocked for the winter. cause thats all we will be eating!

2. i have a trip to austin to fill you in on.

3. 2 cake classes have been completed and while i learned a lot, these finished products are just that– they are all about the learning so they arent…. pretty.

4. a room in my house has begun to irk me again.

5. my new arts and crafts project. (what she has more???)

6. mad men

can you even stand my exciting life?

If you’re married…

OOPS SORRY BAD LINK!

updated: watch this video. by andrew peterson.

Tags: andrew peterson