Worst Blogger Ever!

Officially the world’s WORST blogger ever… I can’t believe that it has been since February that I have actually written for this thing. I had such high hopes and plans and now and in debt to all of the birthdays that I missed! I apologize- those of you who were expecting birthday surprises between February and now will be getting them (hopefully before the end of the summer- if I can ever stop traveling and stay home long enough to do more than pet the cat and eat dinner). A LOT has happened between February and now…here is a quick recap of the past 6 months or so if you are interested (if not, sorry J ).

• I  have been photography more weddings with Heather at Turkey Hill Photography. She is outstanding- check her out!
• I bought a donut pan- verdict is still out. They are a lot cuter but they are also a lot sweeter because of the sugar to donut ratio you get with all of that extra surface area. Side by side taste test coming up!

• I took a few cake decorating classes! Totally awesome. I am in love and they were definitely my saving grace for the last quarter of the school year. It was so nice to take a night and do something artsy-fartsy. I learned so much too. My mom taught me a lot as a kid so I have been cake decorating for a long time but there are so many things I did not know and so many tricks and tools that I had no idea existed! Things that have saved me immeasurable amounts of time. I am forever grateful to my Wilton instructor, Kathy, who was also an 8^th grade US history teacher in Springfield for most of her life! I feel like we might be soul sisters.

• I made this Bruno Mars themed birthday cake!

• I made this car themed birthday cake!

• I made this PINK birthday cake (no gluten, dairy, or soy)!I love frilly pink cakes, I don’t know why- but I just DO.

• I got fancy new stickers, and boxes, and started packing things up nicely! I started a cookie of the month club!

• I learned to make these flowers!

• I made these cherry pies (no gluten, dairy, or soy)

• I started to make smash cakes for one year olds to destroy on camera!

• I made this basket weave cake during my cake class and gave it to a friend for her wedding anniversary. I was totally proud of myself….

• …so I made another one for Mother’s Day (no gluten or dairy)

• I made these carrot cake cupcakes with salted caramel cream cheese frosting for my co-teacher’s birthday.

• I made this Star Wars themed birthday cake for a friend’s son’s birthday party! (no soy)

• I made these Frozen cupcakes for Harper’s classroom because Frozen is incredible! Harper helped.

• My nieces turned 4! Here is Harper’s Hawaiian girl birthday cake which goes very well with her unusual love for the John and Kate Plus 8 Hawaiian special.

• I quit my job! I decided to leave the small Charter where I have been teaching for the past two years in search of a position closer to friends and family. Goodbye 60 minute commute and extended day! Hello breakfast, dinner, and Phil who so graciously helped me through my first 2 years teaching. He survived and passed with flying colors!

• I made this graduation cake! (Cell phone picture…booo)

• We went to China! For those of you who don’t know, I have a pretty decent boyfriend named Phil who is really nice to me even when I am grouchy and also is a lot smarter than anyone would ever guess (hehehe)….He was accepted to a fancy pants computer science conference called ICML in Beijing. When he told me he was going to China I said “No kidding, so am I!” (Get it? Because I decided I was going with him?) SO we went to China and ate dumplings and went to street markets and I was talked into buying a lot of things that I didn’t need nor want by Chinese people who don’t speak any English. I will do a post with just pictures from China so that everyone can see. I didn’t take a million picture because I wanted to just look and be there but I took some! Bottom lines…dumplings are incredible, Phil is tall and scary.

• I booked 5 weddings for cakes and 3 for flowers so that’s cool!
• I made this pile of cookies for a doctor’s office.

• I went to Maine with all of the rugrats!
• I made this World Cup themed birthday cake for a friend’s son!

• I made these blueberry muffins and this zucchini bread because it’s summer and if I have to eat another zucchini I might throw up and so will Sam!

As I was working on this I was on a plane home from California where I was visiting Phil. I did not bake but to summarize California: lots of avocado, really nice weather, and people that are are so nice the New Englander in me is not sure how I feel about it. 

I hope you have enjoyed the catch up, hopefully this won't happen again! :-)