Giraffe.

I am officially crossing something else off the list – yeah! Yesterday I officially made my “fancy cake” (#2).  It was a chocolate cake and it was apparently very good.  I had a little sliver of it myself, but after making all of the icing and taste testing it I did not want any more sweets! I did learn a valuable lesson: Don’t use cake labeled “Super Moist.”  The cake was so soft I thought I was doomed as it fell apart.  Luckily The Hubby was around and he was able to help me with flipping it over and leveling it out.  Overall, I think it took me about 2.5 hours.  Sounds like a lot of time, but it was fun.  Another cake has already been requested for October and I have already been thinking of ideas. J

It is starting to look like Wilton has exploded in my kitchen at times.  I may be getting carried away with purchasing cake decorating items.  I ended up getting a “tool box” to hold all of the spatulas, icing colors, icing tips, etc.  I also have a turntable and most recently I purchased a stand that can hold the different icing bags while I am decorating.  I ended up having to clean out a cabinet in the kitchen – the liquor cabinet- in order to store all of the items.  No, I did not drink everything; I just moved it all down to the cabinet downstairs. The good news is that I have been getting tons of coupons so I have not paid full price for anything.  I did sign up to take the second class and that starts on Monday August 6^th, 2012.  I decided not to take a break in between the classes.  I find cake decorating to be fun and relaxing – a nice little “stress reliever.”  I am excited to learn how to make some different kinds of flowers and starting working with fondant. 

I decided to cross something else off the list as I feel as if I have “become a hugger.”  (#25) Last night I had to hug everyone in the group before I left for the night.  That would not have been something I did in the past.  I would accept the hug, but I did not initiate the hug.  I know that seems like an odd goal to have, but you don’t know the group I hang out with! Everyone hugs! J  I am glad that I have become more comfortable with accepting and receiving hugs.  I love that the group is so supportive of both The Hubby and I.  I feel like I have developed an amazing family here in the “Dirty South” and am grateful to have them as I am so far away from the rest of my family. 

Dollywood

I decorated a cake – a little 6 inch cake with a fish on it. Technically I could cross this off the list right now, but I am going to wait until next weekend when I decorate another cake for a baby shower.  A giraffe cake has been requested and yesterday I practiced making a giraffe.  Rocky seemed to really enjoy the first one as he stood up on the table and licked it clean as I was making another batch of frosting.  I also bought a couple of new cake pans, the icing tip, some new colors, and a frosting bag.  I might be slightly addicted. 

We made some cupcakes this past Thursday.  They were pretty good and I had fun making them - I got pretty good reviews on the frosting as well.

The last Intro class is this week and I may take the next group of classes as well, but not next month.  I think I need a little break.  I feel like I have been out “late” every night for the last few weeks with work, teaching, and the cake class.  I have tried to make up for that by not doing much of anything on the weekends.  This past weekend I cleaned the house all day on Saturday and went to see The Dark Knight Rises on Sunday – that was about it. 

We finally planned our trip to Pigeon Forge as well.  We booked a cabin – my rule was I wanted a Jacuzzi and The Hubby wanted a pool table.  I also wanted it to look like a cabin, inside and out.  Some of them looked more like a “house” on the inside and I wanted the wooden floors and walls – the whole nine yards.  My family is going to come and stay with us in September and I am excited to see them.  I especially want to see Payton who will probably be walking by then at the rate he is growing! We watched the travel channel last night and they were showing roller coasters and two came up from Dollywood.  The Hubby is excited for that.  I will be keeping my feet firmly planted on the ground holding on to everyone’s purse.  J

Lasagna

Last night I cooked lasagna for dinner.  The lasagna itself did not have 10 ingredients (#19), but I added a side of garlic bread and also a dessert and was able to knock something else off the list! I accomplished making a meal.  I realized yesterday why I don’t cook that often though. 1) We are going to have leftover lasagna for the rest of the week. 2) It was expensive to buy all the separate ingredients. 3) I am just too busy and don’t get home early enough during the week.  It was really good though – so good that we had it for lunch again today. J

I also decided to cross off (#28) as I have been attending church on a regular basis.  I don’t think that starting to attend church again has made me a better person.  I just needed a place to go, an “assigned place” where I felt a connection.  I have been struggling with some things emotionally over the last few months and having a comforting place to go has helped.  I plan to continue to stay involved in the church through volunteering and any other opportunities that come up. 

I bought some more items yesterday for my “fancy cake.”  I actually purchased a box for storing all of the decorating supplies.  I went in to get a smaller box for holding all of the decorating tips and ended up with a larger investment. I have a feeling that this might turn into an obsession.

Star Light, Star Bright

I am in love – with the idea of decorating cakes.  I had my first class last night and I watched her make icing, level a cake, and decorate.  I learned how to fill the icing bag and then proceeded to make about 100 stars on my cookies, the practice board, and the table since I was having so much fun.  I know that it sounds simple enough and probably boring to some, but I enjoyed myself and am very excited about all the ideas I have in my head.  As soon as class was out I purchased some 6 inch cake pans, icing colors, and some other ingredients to make my own icing at home – which by the way was WAY better than the store bought kind I purchased for class.  My wonderful friend Allison has “commissioned” me to make a cake for her baby shower at the end of the month.  A giraffe cake has been requested and I have been doing research – I am excited as this will knock something off my list as well when I decorate a fancy cake! 

In other exciting news, I finally own a pair of pink running shoes! Again, this may be trivial to the average reader but when you wear a size 11 or 12 it is hard to run across a cute pair of shoes when out shopping.  I have always had to plan way ahead when purchasing shoes for dances at school and I have always bought men’s running shoes – meaning blue.  Nothing is more embarrassing than having to wear the same tennis shoes as the boy at the next locker.  I also bought some cute blue/green shoes as they were both half off so I was able to justify it as a BOGO purchase.  Extra bonus is The Hubby bought some orange tennis shoes and as I can wear the same size as he I can now “borrow” his shoes as well. 

I have been slack at keeping up with this blog, but at the same time I have not had anything very important to say.  I have had a few moments of feeling overwhelmed by all of the things left to accomplish on my list.  I don’t know if I will be able to get it all done, but I do know that I have tried things and done things that I would not have done without the list in mind. I would not have attended the cake decorating class without the extra “push.”  I would not have volunteered for the High School Youth Group at church and would have missed out on meeting all of the amazing youth.  I am grateful for the progress I have made and I look forward to what I am able to accomplish from the rest of the list. 

So, it appears that despite my best efforts I am failing at one of the things on my list. I am not doing a very good job at keeping up with this blog (#29) and what I am writing is boring. In my self defense I do lead a fairly boring life though. I get up and go to work, come home and often continue to complete paperwork, go to sleep and the cycle repeats the next day – does not leave much time for excitement or anything good to write about. I do manage to socialize some on the weekends. Last weekend we had everyone over for a “Basement Reveal” party. It was a lot of fun and nice to have everyone at our place. We had a few drinks, ate a ton of food, and had a few dance offs with the Kinect. Overall, I think the basement looks great and I love that we worked on it together. It will be a nice place to hang out in the future – a cooler place to hang out during the summer months as well. We went to my first lacrosse game last night. Still not sure if I understand the rules, but I did like the view.

 The Hubby and I have been working on planning our trip to New York (#1) in the Fall. We are planning on going the second weekend in October and just need to get the rest of the details worked out. I have also made some progress on Decorating a Fancy Cake (#2) as I have signed up for a Basics in Cake Decorating class at Michael’s. The lady at the check out was very encouraging as she told me that there have been people to attend the classes having never decorated a cake and they know own businesses doing just that. I don’t have high hopes for my own skills, but I know that I will have fun and that is what is important to me. With all of these babies being born around here, maybe I will get a chance to make a cake for a shower to show off my mad skills. I don't forsee myself making anything like this, but wouldn't it be nice?!?!
 I plan to set up my scrapbook stuff and just leave it out so that I can get that caught up. I did make it to the gym once this week for a short run so I can get back on track with those fitness goals and hopefully losing a little weight along the way as well. I know that I owe a few pictures from our trip, so here goes...
 
Owen, the cutest godson ever. 

 
Two of my favorite men, The Hubby and Payton

 
 My sister and her little man.

Back on Track

Basically I have been terrible at writing lately. I wish I had a good excuse, but I got nothin’ other than I have been busy and I have not had the time/ambition to write. I have made some (minimal) progress on the list during my hiatus from writing. We recently traveled back to Illinois for a baptism, a graduation, and everything in between. We got to play with many babies and visit friends – check out the Hubby’s blog here http://spacecowboy11.blogspot.com/ for much better details and pictures of the trip. He is much better than I at adding pictures to his writing. We spent roughly 30 hours (if not more) in the car together over 11 days and for those of you that don’t know the Hubby he is not much of a talker. I spent much of my time reading (50 Shades of Grey – wow!) and also did some crochet (#18). I attempted to teach myself using the book on the way to Illinois. It was not pretty and I could not get the hang of going back on the row and ended up with a giant chain. My wonderful and beautiful grandmother was able to teach me better in 10 minutes than I managed to accomplish on my own in the car. The trip back to North Carolina was much more productive with crochet but I still do not have anything to show for it – except maybe an eighth of a potholder. Technically, I have learned to crochet I am just not very good at it nor have I actually made anything of substance. Overall I did find the act of crochet to be somewhat relaxing and plan to continue. Also in the car I managed to play a few games of Chess (#16) against the Nook. Surprise, Surprise – I did not win. I do now have a much better grasp of the game and the other night I played again and the game took about 20 minutes compared to the 3 minute games in the car so I am sensing some improvement. I plan to knock that one off the list this week after the Hubby and I sit down and play a game together. We are also very close to accomplishing #22 after taking some pictures in my hometown and are now only short an R and an L to complete our name. We also finally got the pictures printed before we left and they look fabulous hanging on the wall. As the Hubby pointed out tonight, we have been able to accomplish something for basically free that people pay big money for - a bonus as everything else on the list is costing money.

10,000 Easy Steps

I purchased a book tonight, “How to Crochet it 10,000 easy steps.” Well, I am exaggerating the title a little but that is what it feels like at this point. It appears that one of the first things you can learn to make is a koozie so that is my plan. I have a 12 hour car ride next week to accomplish this task and then I will be able to cross another item off my list (#18)! Yeah!

I have really been slacking in the list department. Things have been tremendously busy and overwhelming at work and it has pretty much consumed all of my time. I won’t bore you with the details, nor would you understand anyway. Just the usual feelings of being overworked and underappreciated – so a perfect time to find an outlet to release my frustrations and find something that makes me happy. I know for sure that I need to get back to the running. I have not ran for any length of time (other than twice) since the race at the end of March. It has been difficult to find the time as well as to muster up the motivation. In the meantime, I have started to feel like a giant blob and I am in need of the activity. I want more than anything to catch up at work so I feel like I can “spare” the time to run. I still need to work on the 10 minute mile (#7) and the push up goal (#11), so I have to get back to the gym!

The Hubby and I continue to play the world’s longest game of Chess in an effort for me to learn (#16). I think that we will need to play this game in one sitting so I can remember how each piece moves – ha ha. As of right now, I think it is my move and I think it has been my move for the last two weeks. I have been working on “becoming a hugger” (#25) and my friend attempted to help me with this one last week. They were teaching me how to hug and their preferred style of hug – you know what I mean, the two armed full body vs. the side ways one armed hug. I think I will be able to successfully complete this goal – especially if you give me a few more drinks.  At that point, I might also be willing to partake in the karaoke. I was excited to find out tonight that I can take cake decorating classes at my local Michaels store (#2). For a mere $45 for a four week course I can get the basics of cake decorating and then there are three other classes after that to help me to expand on my knowledge. They also have crochet classes, knitting, painting – it may have become my new favorite store! **Side note for those that are curious. The Hubby ended up getting me a Dyson vacuum for our anniversary and I love it! We ate our year old cake on Monday night after dinner and going to see The Avengers. My hope is that we always manage to maintain this level of comfort with each other.