Candy + Cake = YUM!

My friend Drew turns 30 this month and his lovely wife has planned a surprise dinner for him. At this age what do you get someone for their birthday? A card? A gift? I figured a good fall back plan for Drew would be beer. But being the DIY-obsessed person that I am I always want to MAKE something. So what do you make a 30 year old man? Certainly not any of my cutesy or random crafts. I decided food would be a good choice. And, being a birthday, why not a cake?!

At first I thought it would be funny to do some kind of boob cake (Drew hearts boobs) but then I decided to go PG rated. I somehow fell upon a blog that had a basic tutorial on barrel cakes. (Wouldn’t you know I cannot for the life of me find the link now!) I was immediately drawn to the fact that this blogger pointed out how easy it is to make a fantastic looking cake even if the cake has lots of flaws. Perfect.

I bought a regular Chocolate Devil’s Food Cake mix and tried to find peanut butter frosting to go with my Kit Kats and Reece’s Pieces I planned to use with the cake.

I couldn’t find PB frosting so I bought cream cheese frosting instead. But then, when I got home and started making the cake I thought, “What would Alton do?” And I made my own peanut butter icing – delicious!

1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter (I used Skippy Natural)
2 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 Stick Butter
3+ Tablespoons Milk as needed

Cream together the PB & butter. Gradually add the powdered sugar and milk as necessary to keep it thinned out, then beat the heck out of it for 3+ minutes. I kept adding milk (maybe up to 1/4 cup??) to make it really creamy so it wouldn’t tear the cake.

So, I baked my two round cakes (even though I think one is an 8″ pan and on is a 9″ pan – I figured this would be a flaw I could cover with frosting!). I hate letting cakes cool, but I suppose it’s pretty important when trying to layer cakes nicely, and, by the way, this is my first attempt at doing a layered cake.

Yes, my layers were slightly flawed because I didn’t let the cakes cool long enough. Oh well! If that happens simply place the chunk back on the cake if you can, or leave it off and fill the void with frosting. I frosted the cake with the (delicous) peanut butter frosting and you can’t even tell the layers are not exact!

Then I placed the Kit Kats around the edge. NOTE: Six Kit Kats is NOT enough for a 8-9″ round cake.

Off I ran to the grocery store to buy more candy. This particular cake took 9.5 Kit Kat bars. (Baby Kayden had the other .5 Kit Kat bar.) Then I tied a ribbon around the cake.

Finally, I dumped the bag of Reece’s Pieces over the top!

 To better transport the cake I got a plain cake box and dressed it up a bit with some scrapbooking paper. Voila!

Vinyl Decals for Makenna’s Room

Our good friends the Wilsons were expecting a new bundle of joy on December 18th.  For their gift I did some custom decals for the baby’s room, which coordinated with their gender-neutral bedding set. And because I love them so much, I even put the decals up for them too. Well, I should clarify…Daddy-to-be-Dave was a fabulous assistant while Handy Andy and soon-to-be Mommy Renee supervised.

Dave & Renee wanted something simple, that would grow with the room and the baby over the years. They settled for a a few geometric shapes on each side of the window and a cute quote above the changing table/dresser:

Renee also wanted the baby’s name above the crib but because they didn’t know if they were having a boy or girl we’d have to wait awhile. Renee had one request, she asked us nicely if as soon as we got the text message with the baby’s name, would we please put up the name before they came home. Sure, no problem we said.

The design for the name decal again was pretty simple for the most part but they wanted it in brick red letters outlined in brown. She kept telling me there was no rush on the name decal, we had plenty of time. But,  I was a little nervous wondering if the machine or materials would give me trouble the day I needed to get it done ASAP. So, I told her I would make a decal for each name they picked out, “CARTER” and “MAKENNA”, and we’d just use whichever one we needed. That way they would be there, ready to go and I wouldn’t have to worry about having issues and not getting it up in time.

We put the decals up just before her baby shower on November 7th so her family from out of town could see the almost finished room. Then I wrapped up the name decals and gave that to her at the shower and told her to be sure to put the decals in the closet so I’d know where to find it when the big day came.

So, keep in mind that was just over a week ago on the 7th and Baby Wilson was expected slightly over a month from now on December 18th.

Yesterday Renee e-mailed me around 8AM and asked if I’d send photos of the room as-is without the name decal so I did. I thought it was a little odd that she never replied but thought maybe she was in meetings all day. Then, a little after lunch I got a text that Dave & Renee  were blessed with a beautiful little daughter. Turns out that Renee noticed something didn’t feel quite right with the baby so they saw the doctor around 9:30 AM who promptly got them in for a c-section and at 11:31 little 5 lb 1 oz Makenna was here! I’m sure yesterday morning must’ve given them quite the scare but thankfully, I’m told both Mom & baby are doing very well.

Needless to say I was also surprised at Makenna’s early arrival, we certainly didn’t expect to finish her room for another month! Not a huge deal…Andy & I only had plans to go pick up our 13 FOOT CHRISTMAS TREE that he has not stopped asking for since we moved into our house (I’m sure we’ll be posting more on that later!), but we were already pretty tired from our early morning gym schedule. So, we followed our mantra of MSH (Make Sh- er,  I mean Make Stuff Happen)

On the drive over to the Wilsons we were discussing how Dave promised he would leave us a marker so we knew exactly where they wanted the decal placed but I assured Andy there was probably no time and that was likely the last thing on their mind yesterday; we’d just have to do the best we could and hope it was right.

I should know better…never underestimate the Wilsons. We walked into Makenna’s room to find this:

 

Look closer…

Correct name decal out, ready to go. But wait, look even closer…

A note telling us exactlywhere the decal should line up. And P.S., it was signed  :::heart::: Makenna.

Now, I’m going to apologize for my poor photography skills because I took the next shot at a bad angle.
Renee, if you’re reading this at the hospital I promise the decal is on straight, centered over the crib.

And here’s another shot from the door:

Welcome home Makenna and congratulations Dave & Renee, you done good! 

Oops!

I realized I missed Thankful Thursday last week. =( Time is flying by again and I’ve decided I need to start scheduling time for myself again (for blogging, reading, crafting, etc.) and not feel guilty about it. So, I guess I’m thankful I have a full life with more things to do than I have time. How about that?

Well, Kim is throwing a Blog Party so hopefully that will help motivate me to make time to do some crafting and blogging. I have a few ideas and even got started on a couple, but some weeks will be a challenge. If you’ve got any ideas I’d welcome them. =) I’m not super into holidays other than Halloween but I’m working on it. I do decorate for fall, but not Thanksgiving specifically. But Andy & I will be hosting Thanksgiving this year so that gives me a good reason to get a tablescape going, right? And holiday Traditions…we don’t really have traditions but I would certainly like to start some. I should look into that.

If you’re interested, she’s looking for more participants!

 

Here are the fabulous details:

Party Date: Monday, Nov. 16
Dare to… be thankful!
Take some time making your own DIY Thanksgiving project. It could be a fun Thanksgiving advent calendar, a banner or something completely unique. Post about what you made, how you made it and photos in its new home.

Party Date: Monday, Nov. 23
Dare to… entertain!
Show us your table! If you are not hosting Thanksgiving, take this opportunity to make your table look great. Bring out your dishes and napkins and set your table. I promise you that it will make you smile every time you walk by. Get creative and use new things. Or go true DIY and make something totally new.

Party Date: Monday, Nov. 30
Dare to… eat cookies!
As we begin to attend holiday parties, share your favorite cookie recipe for all to enjoy. It’s like a digital cookie swap. Share the recipe and a review of the cookie. If you can, add a picture. And don’t worry about the extra calories. At Christmas, cookies are calorie-free.

Party Date: Monday, Dec. 7
Dare to… give homemade gifts!
Nothing is more special than a gift made by you. Try out something new to give this year – ideas include bath and body items, kitchen gifts, hand-sewn clothing or home decor.

Party Date: Monday, Dec. 14
Dare to… deck the halls!
Make something new to deck your halls. Did you find something in a catalog that you wish you had? Wreaths, stockings, pillows or advent calendars? Make it! Inspire us all to do the same.

Party Date: Monday, Dec. 21
Dare to… have traditions!
Everyone has traditions for the Holidays. Tell us all about your favorites or start a new tradition to share.

Twilight Freak

Despite my original thought that I would NEVER get hooked on Twilight, I absolutely have. So when my friend Kim announced she was having a Twilight inspired party for the New Moon Premiere, of course I offered to make the invitations! I can’t wait for the party!

 

This started out as the back but we agreed that we loved it so much it should be the front. =)

 

I wanted to get all crazy and make the back a corset tie but I’m too impatient.

 Personal info naturally masked to avoid any unwanted vampires or werewolves.

UPDATE:

Kim is a much better photographer than I am so I MUST post her photos too!

 

 

 

What do you think? Are you as obsessed as we are? Share your New Moon party plans!

We Went Out Last Night

One thing led to another…and here’s all the juicy details I promised.

It just so happens my BFF Stephanie is a distant acquaintance of my most favorite country singer of all time. Oh yes ladies…I’m talkin’ about Kenny Chesney!!!  He was nice enough to provide us with complimentary tickets to the show as well as passes to the after party. We enjoyed the opening acts of the  Zac Brown Band & Miranda Lambert. I was really pumped to see Kenny because the last two times he was in town we had class and couldn’t go to the show. Plus. I hear he may be taking some time off from touring after his last show, which is tomorrow.

The show was amazing. We were in the pit so we were belly up to the stage! Too bad my camera wasn’t taking the best photos, but I did manage to get a few good ones. He played two of my favorites – “Me & You” which happens to be me & Andy’s first dance at the wedding and “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” which is the ringtone I used to have for Farmer Andy.

After the concert we tried to make our way down to the after party and Security kept telling us “There’s no party…that sticker doesn’t mean anything..yadda/yadda/yadda.” (Big Meanies!) So we kept walking around asking anyone who looked like they might have a clue and this is basically how it went most of the time:
 
Us: Excuse us, but can you tell us where the after party is? We got these stickers from Kenny Chesney but we don’t know where to go.
 
Them: Sure you did girls…why don’t you go right this way out the door. Show’s over.
 
FINALLY we found this guy who looked at the sticker, recognized it, and was like, “Oh, yeah, follow me.” And as we walked back in the arena another security lady was nipping at our heels barking into a radio saying “Security is leading people back in to the arena! Stop them immediately!” For awhile we didn’t know she was talking about us but when we realized it the guy we were following was like, “Don’t even trip, come on, it’s okay.” So, we did and he led us to the little make-shift tiki bar filled with lots of people. There were a couple band members from KC’s band and Miranda Lambert’s band. I think there were a lot of groupies b/c it seemed like several people knew each other.
 
When little Kenny arrived (oh yeah, he is little!) he walked around a bit then made a bee-line for Stephanie and gave her a big hug. Then she introduced us, he shook our hand and gave us a peck on the cheek (That pretty much made my night complete!) He grabbed a BBQ sandwich, chewed it up, said, “Hey Steph – seafood” and opened his mouth to show her. Weirdo!
 
He hung with us for a little while and this other girl kept grabbing at him and was like “hee, hee, are you Kenny Chesney? I know all about you…you’re a celebrity…come talk to me…etc.” He didn’t seem too thrilled and told her no, he was in the middle of something, motioning towards us. (Yay us!) Unfortunately he was tired and left shortly afterwards to go back to his bus; they were getting ready to head to Indianapolis so it was pretty much all over in like a blink of an eye. =( Plus, we weren’t allowed to take photos backstage and my goal was to get one of the three of us with him. But, I did get a good one of the three of us at least:

I also scored a Miranda Lambert guitar pick for Andy! What an amazing night…I’m sure we’ll never forget it! (Thanks again Steph!)

You can see a few more photos I got here.

I’m not really one to get crazy star-struck over anyone but I can’t really think of anyone else I would rather meet. And although we barely had much talk time with Kenny it was definitely pretty cool. He was funny and seems like a really nice guy. I’m pretty sure there were some professional groupies there…that was interesting. Not my kind of gig, no way!

What stories can you share with me? What celebrity have you met? How did it happen? What was it like? Spill it people!

Truly an Honor

Despite the random weather this weekend, we managed to have a successful outdoor wedding this weekend for my friends Wendy and Jason. And while I have always been deathly afraid of public speaking, I am happy to report that I was able to perform the wedding ceremony without any fear whatsoever. It was like I was a natural born minister. Weird, I know. =)

The whole day was a bit chaotic though, I was running around putting out fires the entire time. But it was great. I really am proud of myself for being able to think on my feet and help facilitate the event without having done more planning ahead of time. And I can’t believe I wasn’t scared a bit to be in front of so many people. I think because I knew it wasn’t about me…they weren’t there to watch and judge me, but to watch and support Wendy and Jason. And that’s why I was there; My job was to make sure they had the best day possible and I think they did.

Here are a few random things that happened:

• Poor Jessica had to spend 3.5 hours getting her hair, nails and eyebrows done that morning b/c she got stuck with a new girl! (Jess was NOT happy!)
• Stephanie’s dress was a couple inches too long so I took it up the morning of the wedding.
• All the girls needed their dresses steamed so thank goodness I got a Tobi steamer for my wedding last year!
• The girls were about to jump in the limo when I counted the bouquets and realized we were one short. Just call me Laura Martha “MacGyver” Stewart-Meckley  because I quickly looked around, grabbed some leftover flowers, a ponytail band, some floral tape & ribbon and whipped together a make-shift bouquet. It didn’t match the rest perfectly, but I honestly don’t think anyone noticed.
• LOL – Demitrios (a groomsman) came over to me to help put on his boutonniere and he said, “I told everyone to come see you because whatever we can do Laura can do better!” (Thanks for the vote of confidence D!)
• The stupid wind blew the aisle runner all over the place so we grabbed it and the guests put a foot on it while Wendy came down the aisle.
• The sand ceremony vase broke as the kids were pouring in their sand.
• The Best Man couldn’t get the ring off his finger!
• We had no electricity in the park so we had to use a little CD Player that skipped a bit with the crazy wind.
• I was able to contain myself during the ceremony, but did cry a bit during the sand ceremony while SarahJayne sang Ave Maria.
• I was so excited at the end of the ceremony I was nearly screaming “Ladies & Gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to give you MR. & MRS. JASON & WENDY FARNSWORTH!!”  (I almost busted out with spirit fingers and a Russian, but I did manage to contain myself to a point)
• When the wedding party arrived at the reception and sat at the head table, Jessica (one of the bridesmaids) came over and said “Help! Everyone is asking me what we’re supposed to do, I don’t know! What ARE we supposed to do?” So, I jumped into action, consulted my trusty itinerary I created and tried to wrangle them up to cut the cake and get photos. Afterwards I dismissed tables for dinner, got everyone ready for their speeches, prepped the DJ for their dances, and ran back to cut & serve the cake. Then I danced and drank heavily the rest of the night. I was told by a few that I’m “the coolest minister they had ever met!”
• When we realized the DJ was not truly prepared for the wedding (in his defense, he’s not really a DJ but a bandmember with some DJ equipment who was nice enough to fill in last minute since the original DJ backed out…I know, what’s with these people backing out?!) we sent Handy Andy home to get his hard drive of 50,000+ songs so we had a nice variety of music.

All in all, it was fine. Everyone had a good time and most importantly, the new Mr. & Mrs. enjoyed themselves. I had a few people half joking, half serious tell me “If I ever get married you are HIRED!” and I had one girl (sort of a friend of a friend) who is pretty serious ask me if I would consider doing her wedding. I told her I would think about it. I had a great time doing Wendy’s wedding but I never had plans of making this my new career.

Truth be told, I loved every minute of it. I loved the planning, the coordinating, the excitement, the smiles, the tears, just everything. My friends think I’m crazy, but I honestly had a great time. We laughed, we cried, we had a blast. It was an amazing day that I will remember for as long as I live. It truly was an honor.

Now, I will use my minister powers to pray that my group of friends will return from Mexico in good health.

God Bless Texas!

 

After a surprisingly smooth flight (seems I don’t have too many of those!) I made it to the lone star state last night to visit Veronica for her graduation tomorrow.

Thank goodness I went to the library the other day because I’ve decided Dallas Fort Worth does not have nearly enough easily accessible outlets for my laptop so I had to find something else to do between flights.  I read an entire book on the way here. It was an easy read though, I might talk about it later because it made me think. About what? You’ll have to come back later to find out!

Anyway, I’m here in this amazing King Suite in the new Holiday Inn Express. (I’m super glad Andy doesn’t travel as much for work anymore but I must admit I have often been the benefactor of his eleventy-billion points that he racked up when he did travel most of the year.) Giant king size bed (thinking we need one of these at home), marble bathroom counters and shower (another good idea for home) and fun southwestern colors. There is one framed print that I keep looking at. I want it. But it surely won’t fit in my carry on. It’s just a super close shot of the face of a clock. I’d take a photo and share IF I HADN’T LEFT MY CAMERA AT HOME!!! 

Oh yeah, totally walked off without my camera, which used to be more of an appendage to my body. I think I may go buy one today because I feel absolutely lost without it. Before you think “Oh, she’s one of THOSE girls” don’t,  I’m truly not…my camera has been on it’s last leg for about a year. It’s been held together with tape for some time, which was fine with me as long as it worked, but the screen has been going funny. It’s like 5 years old so yeah, it’s time for a new one.

Today’s plan is girl’s day with Veronica and her sisters. Probably going to get our toes done, run some errands (like get me a camera!), meet some of Veronica’s friends and co-workers, then probably visit with her adorable boys when they get home from school. I think we’re headed to Kabuki Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar (yum) sometime too!  Tomorrow is the graduation and reception, then back to Iowa on Sunday.

Graduation Announcements!!

My apologies for the delay in posting these photos…Renee nicely reminded me that I promised to post photos of Veronica’s graduation announcements once Veronica received them. (Which, she finally did, but we were nervous for a couple days!)

So, without further ado…here are the lovely announcements I made for my favorite friend in Texas.

Notice her two sons are the ones announcing her graduation – how cute!!

These were mailed in a contemporary clear envelope (terrible photo…I really need a new camera) sealed by a classic West Texas A&M University seal.

Now I need to start thinking about graduation announcements for Andy & myself. And…another fun upcoming invitation project is for my friend’s New Moon movie premier party – SUPER excited about that! So, stay tuned for more to come, especially now that I should have more free time as school winds down. (But, no promises until after May…that month is already overbooked with weddings, graduation parties, and more!)

Thumbs Up OnStar / Thumbs Down USPS

Good news first….

So I’m on my way to Kim’s Pampered Chef show and a somewhat familiar dog walks up to me in the driveway with no leash or owner in sight. Obviously, dog-lover that I am, I get out of the Yukon and call the dog over and check its collar. I call the owners but get a voicemail so I keep hold of the collar and head for the house to see if Andy can take care of things so I won’t be late to Kim’s. Two steps towards the house and I hear a honk. Uh oh. Did the Yukon just lock itself? Yep. It sure did.

Now, you might be thinking no big deal, right? Just grab Andy’s keys and unlock it. Sure…if he hadn’t LOST them last month!! Oh yeah. So I’m a bit annoyed, going to be late, and have a strange dog by the collar. Luckily I’ve got my cell phone handy so I call OnStar as I hand over the dog to Andy. Two minutes later they’ve got the door unlocked! Yay OnStar!! =) I may seriously consider subscribing to that service once our free year is up.

Okay, now for the bad news…

Remember I was all excited about Veronica’s graduation announcements but wouldn’t show you until she got to see them first? Yeah, well, long story short, I mailed them Monday via priority mail and she hasn’t seen them yet. =( I sent off the 6 lb priority mail INSURED.  The package contained announcements that took MANY MANY HOURS to create. (Can you tell I’m bitter yet?!) Since these were a gift I chose to insure them for barely my cost of materials (yes, probably my first mistake) instead of the regular retail value. Delivery confirmation says they were delivered on April 1st but Veronica hasn’t heard anything yet. She went to the post office today and they basically told her “maybe it blew away (6 lbs? Doubtful)…nothing we can do…try the other location…wait 30 days to see if it shows up…etc.” So, basically no help. We don’t have 30 days to wait, she graduates in early May.

All I can think to do is call in reinforcement (friends, family & co-workers) to help me redo the entire order ASAP at my expense and hope I can get my insured value back; although I just read online that “Insured mail must be accepted by a postal worker” or something, suggesting I should have taken it to a local PO. Instead, I had them pick it up. Not sure if I have the pick up confirmation letter or not (again, my mistake.)

I’ve posted on one of my online network groups and found about 5 other girls who have sadly had similar experiences with no positive results. Is the UPSP THAT UNRELIABLE? Apparently so. =(

Has this happened to anyone else? Any suggestions??? FedEx & UPS are so much more expensive, but I guess it may be worth it. I was offering free shipping on most of my items but now I may not be able to afford to offer that going forward.

GRRRRR!

Hangin’ Tough!

Last night I fulfilled one of my life long dreams. Well, I’d venture a guess it was potentially a life long dream when I was 10 years old. It took twenty years but I finally got to go to a New Kids on the Block concert!! =) I was probably 10 or 11 years old the last time they were in town and I wasn’t one of the lucky ones who got to go. So, when I first heard they were coming back in town I squealed like a 10 year old girl and immediately got tickets.

The best part was that I got to go with my BFFs (Best Friends Forever, for those of you not up on your 80s acronyms) from elementary school. Natalea drove down from Cedar Falls on a Thursday night to hang out with me and Stephanie. It was SO MUCH FUN!

I wanted to get some retro NKOTB t-shirts for us on ebay or something but never got around to it. I thought about getting a shirt at the show but even now as a working adult $45 is a little much to spend on a shirt I could make myself. (Thanks to my new handy dandy heat press.) Amongst the crowd I saw neon spandex and crimped hair. I’m guessing if I looked hard enough I’d find jellies and hot loop bracelets.

Oh what a night…yet I was in bed by 11:30; I am indeed getting old.

NKOTB tickets in the nosebleed section: $30
2 overpriced drinks at the concert: $12
Rocking out to the originators of the boy band phenomenon with some of your oldest friends: Priceless

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