Alcatraz!

Well, my lack of Internet access has certainly sent my posts to a screeching halt. BUT, I just found out that my local library has free wi-fi and is open until 7 pm. Can you say 'awesome?' Hopefully I will be back on a regular basis for the foreseeable future.

Now that I'm back, the question is: Where to begin? I think I'll begin with accomplishments. Back in July, I managed to cross not one but two things off my 30 Before 30 list. For this post, I will only talk about my visit to Alcatraz. I also made it to my third concert of the year, but as I am going to a fourth this Friday, I will wait and post about it after I get back from that.

(Right off the boat)

 

So, Alcatraz. A group of friends and I went to San Francisco in July for a week of fun, and our last tourist activity was a tour of Alcatraz on Friday afternoon. We originally had wanted to see it earlier in the week, but it didn't work out. It turned out better that we had to wait. After a week of being together, some on the trip were a little tired of, well, being together. Alcatraz afforded the perfect opportunity to break away from the group (which is what I did when I got tired of frayed tempers). There was a lot about Alcatraz that I didn't know. Did you know that there are beautiful gardens on the island? That it used to be a fort? That Native Americans staged a sit-in on it in the 60's? Well, now you do!

(Sigh. Why do I do that with my hands in pictures?)

 

The weather was beautiful on the day we went--sunny and cool. We couldn't have had better weather if we ordered it. My initial impression upon disembarking from the ferry was surprise; I didn't expect the island to be so...rundown. It was neat, don't get me wrong, but I was a little disappointed if I'm being honest. We started the trek up to the prison, and I couldn't help but be a little dismayed thinking I had built the place up to impossibly high expectations.

(Remnants of one of the buildings)

 

 

But, then we got to the jail, and the experience became everything I hoped it would be. If you ever find yourself on Alcatraz, I highly recommend that you take the audio tour of the prison. I had my doubts but found it to be engaging and interesting.

 

(An inmate had fashioned a bar spreader that led to an almost successful escape attempt)

Eventually, I split off from everyone in my group and headed for the gardens. I think I was the only one of us to traverse every single sidewalk visitors were allowed on. What can I say? I had anticipated Alcatraz for months and months, and I was going to take in as much of it as I could. Instead of backtracking when the sidewalk ran out, there was a set of steep stairs that led to the recreation yard. I took them and then wound back through the prison eventually making my way back to the dock. I parked myself and my bag of souvenirs on a bench and enjoyed the cool breeze. It took quite a while for the group to find their way down.

(My favorite plant in the gardens)

The families had joined up with the couple at some point, so I was the only one missing from the group by the time they made it to the dock. One of the little girls spotted me and came running over. “Where have you been?” she demanded. “I haven’t seen you in so long.” Then another of the girls came over, climbed in my lap, and eventually went to sleep. I wish I could capture in words that feeling of being together with people and simultaneously apart. In that moment, I felt content with myself and the world. It was a very good day.

(View of San Francisco from Alcatraz)

And now my favorite picture of the Alcatraz tour, taken on the ferry ride home. The flag lined up perfectly, and I was there to take the shot. Seeing it makes me wish I were still on that ferry enjoying the cool breeze in my face.

 

That's all, folks! Thanks for reading.

Walk a Mile In Her Shoes

I have been without Internet access for some time. Now that I have a few minutes, I thought I would share some pictures from the "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" event that I went to a few weeks ago. The organizers were retiring the pink pumps that my dad wore last year in the premiere walk, so several members of my family showed up for the ceremony. I am so glad I went to this event as it was a lot of fun and for a good cause. If you have one of these events in your area, I encourage you to go.

These are the pink pumps that Daddy wore last year.

My uncle (second from the right) did the walk this year.

My brother and my baby niece at the event.

Cambrie cheered on the walkers. She had a ball at this event.

Our town's new pavilion. As you can see, lots of people came out to show their support for the event.

I absolutely love this picture of my niece Kyleigh.

And Miss Cambrie cheesing it up.

This is a picture of my dad in the pink pumps from last year. What can I say? I miss him every day.

I hope that I soon get my Internet back up and will be able to post more frequently.

OKC Bombing Remembered

I don't know where you were on April 19, 1995, when the Oklahoma City Bombing happened. I was in class in my elementary school. I didn't know until later in the day what had happened, but I remember staying home from church that night (that's how I remember it was a Wednesday) and watching the footage on TV. It really affected me. I spent months after collecting every story I could find about it. I still have the book I made of all of the newspaper articles.

I had been in Oklahoma City the August before the bombing and walked right past the federal building without paying it any mind. My dad was on the school board at my school, and every August we went to Oklahoma City for the convention. That particular year, there was a Fun Walk/Run that went right past the Murrah Building. At the time, I had no way of knowing I would be back to that place many, many times in the coming years. Every year when we went to the convention, my dad made it a point to visit the bombing site. It was weird to be there the August after the bombing and realize that I had walked by that area and never paid it any attention. I have all of these memories of all of the different stages of the site and the construction of the memorial they built on the site. Since I usually only saw it once a year, the changes were always quite drastic and noticeable. I remember the rubble with the fence around it and all the messages and all the stages between then until it got to be as it is now.

I know many people who have never been to the memorial. I can't count the number of times I've gone. I don't go every time I am in Oklahoma City, but I go most times I am there overnight. I've gone in the morning, in the afternoon, at night, in the cold, in the blazing heat. I've never left it where I was anything other than glad that I went. One of the coolest memories I have of a trip to the bombing memorial was one of the last school board conventions I went to. I was already in college but I drove up from Dallas to meet my parents. It just so happened that it was the 100th anniversary of Harley Davidson motorcycles that year and we just so happened to be there when the big motorcycle tour they were doing was in town. They had an all-bike rally (or whatever it's called...I know there was a term) and there were thousands of motorcycles in Bricktown. One of the bikers that my dad talked to happened to mention that all the bikers were going to get on their bikes after the festivities were over and ride to the memorial. It was after dark before they started getting ready to ride. My dad, my mom, and I walked over to the memorial before the ride and watched as the plaza was surrounded by all the motorcycles. It was a sight to behold. And then all the bikers piled off of the bikes and we joined them in walking around the memorial. If you ever find yourself near Oklahoma City with a bit of time to spare, I recommend that you find your way to the memorial. Here are a few of the pictures I took the last time I visited the memorial when my brother and I were in town to clean out Daddy's office at the capitol last November.

Butterflies!!

For the last few days, butterflies have been fluttering around the flowering tree in my front yard. I have enjoyed them immensely, so I thought I would share.

Sandhill Peach Pound Cake

Recently I bought the magazine Southern Cakes that Taste of the South put out. After flipping through it, I wanted to make probably more than half of the cakes. I settled on a Sandhill Peach Pound Cake because my mom likes peaches, and I ended up being surprised by how much I liked it. The flavor of the cake was great. I highly recommend it.

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!