Chloe's 4th Birthday

My niece Chloe is all about Hello Kitty right now, so doing a Hello Kitty theme for her birthday party was an obvious choice. She also LOVES Pizza Hut, so that is where we had the party. I volunteered to make the cake and let her choose what she wanted, which meant I ended up buying the Wilton pan for Hello Kitty and using that.

It's not perfect, but I thought it turned out well. I frosted it last night and the black frosting bled onto the pink frosting a bit. That's frustrating but a learning moment.

The cake Chloe picked out was actually a two-tiered cake that used the Hello Kitty pan. I was going to do that but then remembered that in January I ordered personalized cupcake toppers from Etsy. Since I had bought them, I was going to use them. I ended up making 12 regular cupcakes to put the toppers in and 5 square cupcakes to frost and spell out Chloe's name. Chloe wanted her cake to be strawberry, so I just used a mix for the Hello Kitty part. For the cupcakes, I wanted to do something a little more special. I ended up making the Strawberry Cupcake recipe from Better Homes and Gardens which starts with a white cake mix and gets jazzed up from there. (Note: my grocery store did not have strawberries in syrup so I thawed a 16oz bag of whole strawberries, cut them in half, threw in several spoonfuls of sugar, then let it make its own syrup.) The cupcakes were yummy. Several people asked for the recipe. It is one that I would highly recommend.



Yes, there was a lot of cake at the party. Most of it was eaten though. Even if none of it had been, it would have been worth it to see how excited Chloe was.

Happy birthday, Chlo-Bear!

30 Before 30: #7 Take a Cake Decorating Class

I have been away for too long. In my absence, I completed the first course of the Wilton cake decorating method. My final cake for the course was this not-too-wonderful cake:

I started the temporary job I am working at the day of my last class so I was 45 minutes late. It meant that I was crunched for time. The design I had in my head did not make it onto the cake. I think it just reiterates what the teacher said in one class: you can fix almost any mistake if you give yourself enough time. The moral? A rush job does not a fantastic-looking cake make.

I have already shown the practice lion cake that I did. Here is the Hello Kitty cake that I did for the second class:

For some reason I only took a picture with my cell phone. Oh well. It's not perfect (the bow is messed up) but I thought it was pretty good.

For the third week of class, we made cupcakes and practiced various flowers. Here were my attempts:

In all honesty, I learned less than I thought I would in this course. One of my friends who has taken all four courses assures me that this is really just the basic course and you learn most of the really cool stuff in later courses. Of course, you can see from these pictures that I am still rockin' it like an amateur on all of these basic techniques, so I guess I shouldn't turn my nose up at what I learned. It just wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I am still excited about the second course, though. I begin next Monday learning beginning gum paste techniques. I will keep you posted. As for now, I am just excited that I get to check off something else from my list!





Go Lions! (My First Practice Cake)

Last Monday, I started a cake decorating class (which is on my 30 Before 30 list). We were given instructions to practice as much as we could making rosettes with the star tip. I was under the weather for most of the week and didn't feel like doing much of anything, so yesterday when I finally felt really well, I decided to make a practice cake and decorate it. I called my brother and asked him what image he thought I should use. He said a lion because the boys' team at my high school alma mater was playing for the state basketball championship (they lost but they were playing an Oklahoma City team...we are a tiny, rural place). I went for a very simple, very cartoon version of a lion since I had never decorated anything using a star tip. I thought it looked pretty decent considering it was my first time and all.

As for the cake decorating class, the first class was basically just getting organized, so I am waiting to see. I did learn one trick of the trade, though. To get a smooth icing surface, lay Viva paper towels (or parchment paper) on icing after icing has crusted (i.e., it's not sticky anymore) and smooth it down using your fingers or a flat surface. The teacher of my class used a fondant smoother and, since they were like 3 bucks at Wal-Mart, I followed suit. I am looking forward to getting good at this technique and having super-smooth icing surfaces.

That's all I got. Hope the time change wasn't too rough on you!

"All I Ever Wanted" by Airborne Toxic Event

I hate being sick. Let me just put that out there. Not that I really think people like being sick, mind you. But anyway, the point is that my brother sent me this link to "All I Ever Wanted" by Airborne Toxic Event a few days ago. I finally got around to watching it and, well, I am kind of in love with it. Even my feeling terrible couldn't lessen the awesomeness. Go check it out.

30 Before 30: #27 Complete My "Thanksgiving Project"



"Complete My 'Thanksgiving Project'" is one of those goals that I think needs a little explanation. I have wavered back and forth on this but have decided to transcribe the note that I include with all the letters so that you, dear reader, get the same explanation that a letter recipient does. Here goes:

          The day after my dad died unexpectedly last year, my brother and I were talking and he said that most people in our situation would probably be worried about what the last thing they said to him was and fretting that he didn't know what he meant to them. "I'm just not," Alan said. "As he was leaving to go to the hospital, I think I said bye. Some people that would bother, but Daddy knew what he meant to me and I knew what I meant to him."
          I realized that I agreed: Daddy did know what he meant to me and I knew how much he loved and cherished me. Later, when I got to thinking about it, I decided I couldn't say the same thing about all the people in my life who were important to me. I wanted to fix that because if Daddy's death reiterated anything to me, it's that sometimes there isn't another chance to tell someone what they mean to you.
          I considered what to do. Several years ago during one of the more tumultuous times in our family, I wrote Daddy a letter thanking him for being the kind of dad he was. He told me later how much it meant to him. I thought of that and determined I was going to write letters to the people closest to me as a project for Thanksgiving. Well, Thanksgiving came and went and no letters had been written. Back to the drawing board went I.
          It took a while. I was in a place in my life where I wasn't feeling particularly thankful, but then I really started thinking about all the many blessings in my life. As I thought about them, I knew I have a lot more to be grateful for than just the people closest to me. And so, "The Thanksgiving Project 2012" was born. I decided to spend a year being actively grateful--for the little things, the big ones, and everything in between. If you're receiving this letter, you've done something to impact my life and you're one of the things I'm grateful for.

So, that is the gist of the origins of what I'm calling "The Thanksgiving Project 2012." I realized earlier this week that since it was a project it perhaps needed somewhat more defined parameters. I decided to say that I will write no less than 100 letters as a part of this project. 100 letters!? 100 letters. Then I decided that since it was (at that time) almost March, I should probably start writing. So, I did. Which brings me to: I wrote the first letter for my "Thanksgiving Project" on Wednesday! As it is not a deeply personal one, I will include it below (pictures and text).

Dear Mr. Paisley,
     It was July 4. I listened to "One of Those Lives" on the way to my uncle's BBQ to remind myself that everything was going to be fine. My dad had gone earlier to the ER for tests because the doctors' offices were closed for the holidays. We were prepping shish kabobs when we got the call from my sister that everything wasn't okay. Daddy had had a pulmonary embolism while they were preparing to admit him to ICU. He was gone in an instant.
     I think you're right in This Is Country Music's liner notes when you say, "Country singers are present at weddings, funerals, graduations, and the most impactful moments in our fans' lives." I was still humming "One of Those Lives" when I got the worst news I've ever received, and a few days later, you were present for another momentous occasion: Daddy's funeral.
     Daddy loved music but he didn't buy a lot of CDs. He had all The Beatles' albums, a few others, and Time Well Wasted. He bought that specifically because he liked "When I Get Where I'm Going" so much. It was that song I heard as the doors swung open and I led my family into a room full of almost 900 people, all standing and staring at me. It was the largest funeral I've ever been to. My dad deserved it. More than a great man, he was a good man. Facing that crowd was one of the most difficult and humbling experiences I can ever imagine having. The walk to the front of the auditorium didn't seem long, but I knew as I made it that I was braver and stronger than I had thought and I had it in me to do anything. And your music was the soundtrack to it.
     So, I give thanks for your music and the joy it's brought to my life. I give thanks that it's been there to share in my life's moments--both big and small, happy and sad.
     Many Thanks,
     Bethany



There you have it. Letter number one. I don't know if you can tell, but the cards I had printed are TINY and I tend to get quite effusive when I write. In a way it's good because it makes me focus on what I really want to say. Well, that and write really small.

So, one down, ninety-nine to go. I will keep you updated.