Valentines Fun!

I'm going to take a break from sharing recipes with you today and instead quickly share a little bit of fun that I've been having so far this month.  For some reason I really felt like getting into Valentine's Day this year, which is a little unusual for me, mostly because I've never been a huge fan.  So, for the 14 days leading up to the so called "holiday", I've been leaving my husband Jeff, little gifts around the house.  The gifts are nothing really elaborate, just small sentiments to show him that I care and am always thinking of him.

Being an ex language arts teacher I always appreciate a good pun.  Therefore, I went out and purchased, or thought up, little gifts that I could create cute romantic puns for.  Please keep in mind that there are so many different sayings and wonderful gift ideas that you could create on your own, I'm just sharing mine to help get you started.

Everyday, since February 1st, I've been leaving one of these small items around the house for Jeff to find.

Day 1:  You're such a "Catch"!
(I forgot to take pictures, but the saying was stuck on a package of goldfish crackers)

Day 2: I "chew"s you, Valentine!
(Once again, I forgot to take a picture, but it was stuck to Jeff's favorite flavor of gum)

Day 3: I'm "nuts" about you!

Day 4: Thanks for "stick"ing by my side!

Day 5: You have o"Fish"ally stolen my heart!

Day 6: You and I are the perfect "mix"!

Day 7: Life would be un"bear"able without you!

Day 8: You are one "Hot Tamale"!

Day 9: You were "mint" for me!

Day 10: "Honey", you are the sweetest!

Day 11: I love you to "Pieces"!

Obviously these are not all of the gifts because it only goes to day 11.  There are still a few more days to go, but I can't post what I plan to give him quite yet, because I know he'll read this blog entry, and I want the remainder of the days to be a surprise.  I promise to update after the 14th.  That way, if you want to do something like this in the future, for someone you know, then you'll have some ideas.  Most importantly though, feel free to be creative and please share some of your ideas.  Like I said, I always enjoy a good pun!

Project Time: Our Jigsaw Wall

Today's blog entry is going to be a little bit different than most of my other posts, because it's not about food.  Since I left my job teaching, I've been trying to fill my days with a combination of different activities.  Typically I'd spend most of my time exercising, but, as most of you know, that's still limited for me.  Update though:  Over the past couple of weeks I've noticed that I'm getting better and stronger.  Every day that passes, I'm able to increase my workout intensity a little bit more than what it was the day before.

So.....on to today's post!

Jeff and I have been living in our house for just about a year and half now, and one thing that's bothered me, is the fact that I have this amazing kitchen, with a great big island, but my purse and other items just seem to get tossed onto the counter.  I find this annoying because I'm all about keeping spaces clean and organized, yet I'm the one guilty of putting my purse and keys there.  This is why I finally decided that enough was enough and something had to be done. 

I've been looking at ideas for quite some time now, and thought that maybe we could build some type of locker looking shelves out in the garage.  The only problem with that is I know Jeff has some wonderful ideas for his garage space and I don't want my purse and keys to be kept in the garage overnight, or ever.  And for those of you who caught it, yes, I called the garage "his"; just like I call the kitchen "mine".  It's a mutual, unspoken understanding between the two of us.  Due to those facts, I decided to keep looking.

And sure enough, about two weeks ago, my friend Megan pinned this amazing looking wall off of shanty 2 chic's blog.  I immediately fell in love with it, and started walking around my house to see where I could build it.  When Jeff came home from work that day, I showed him the picture of what I wanted to do, and where I thought we could put it.  One great thing about my husband, other than the fact that he's absolutely amazing, is that he's crafty too and loves to build things.  Plus he loves to use his power tools, so he was definitely down for the challenge!

This past weekend we set to work.  In order to gather all the materials that we would need, to build the wall, we headed out to Home Depot and Lowe's.  Here's a list of what we purchased:

For the wall
Oak Plywood, comes in a 4' X 8' sheet (Cut into 8", 6", and 4" strips.  The man at Home Depot cut it for us)
4 different Stains (You can choose your colors.  We used dark walnut, cherry, red mahogany, and weathered grey)
For the Mantle
4" piece of oak board
8" piece of oak board
Crown Molding
Molding strip
Decorative molding block
Decorative Hooks
White paint

After we had all our materials unloaded, we got to work.

Here's what the wall looked like before:

After measuring the wall one last time, the first thing Jeff and I did was laid the wooden pieces onto the garage floor, in order to determine a width pattern.  Next, I drew lines on the wood to ensure that all the pieces were different lengths and wouldn't line up.  After that, Jeff cut the pieces, using his electric saw, and then we laid them back into place, eventually spacing them out with pennies.

Next, I used a pencil and wrote on the pieces of wood.  I labeled them with their row, placement, and stain color (row 1, #1, cherry, row 3, #2, weathered grey, etc.) This guaranteed that we wouldn't accidentally put colors together and that the pieces of wood wouldn't be placed onto the wall incorrectly.  Plus, the stain was going on the other side of the wood anyway, so the writing didn't make a difference, it was only there as a helpful tool for us.

After we had that done, I stained all the wooden pieces, let them dry, and then applied a second coat of stain. 

Once the wood was stained, and spent a night drying, it was finally time to assemble the wall.  Before we started assembling though, I sanded down the wooden pieces, in order to give them more of a worn appearance.  After that, it was amazing at how easy it was to piece together the wall.  All Jeff and I had to do was align and space out the boards and then use a nail gun (Jeff's favorite toy) to secure them into place. 

Once the wall was fully assembled, it was time to add the mantle.  We first assembled the mantle out in the garage and then brought it inside.   Next, we lined the mantle up, and just like before, we used the nail gun to secure it into place. 

Lastly, we added on the hooks, and this is the final result. 

I absolutely love it!  The plan for this weekend is to build a little bench that will go on the floor in front of the wall.  I'll keep you updated!

Inspired by Shanty 2 Chic

Juline's Wedding Cake

This post takes the cake....quite literally!

I know that I haven't posted anything new within the past few days, but like I warned you, I've been extremely busy in the kitchen.  I'm incredibly excited too, to share my most recent baking accomplishment!  Juline's wedding cake!  I keep telling myself that one of these days I'll take a cake decorating class or two, but as for now, I'll just keep it as a hobby/second job.

So let me take a moment or two now, to share my baking process with you, because a wedding cake, as you might have already guessed, can be pretty time consuming. However, I absolutely love every second of decorating a cake, except of course for the dishes.

The Cake:

The whole cake process really began on Wednesday evening.  That's when I originally started baking the first 4 cakes, and I didn't finish baking until Thursday night.  (Actually, I should say that the process really started last Saturday, when I cut the flowers out of gum paste, in order to make sure they had adequate time to dry out.)  When Friday rolled around, it was all about frosting, filling, and decorating the cakes, which was definitely the most time consuming, but fun part! 

I ended up using a new recipe too, for the buttercream frosting and will definitely stick to this one from now on.  Honestly, it was to die for (Yes, I had to cave and try a small sample, but only because it was the first time I made it this way).  It was definitely a hit too, because guests who attended the wedding came up to me to say that they loved the frosting, and that they're usually not frosting people.

Buttercream Frosting: (cut in half for smaller cakes)
4 sticks butter
2 tsp. vanilla extract
8 cups (maybe a little more) confectioner's sugar
2-3 Tbsp. French Vanilla Coffeemate Creamer (I use sugar-free, not that it matters)

After the cakes were decorated, I placed small dowel rods into each layer, for additional support, and also to ensure that the layers wouldn't cave down onto the one below it.  You should be able to see the rods in the photo below.

Once the cakes were set, Jeff helped me spend some time stringing together fake pearls, which ended up going around the cake layers.  Overall, I'd have to say that I'm very pleased with how the wedding cake turned out!  I was a little worried at first, when Juline informed me that she didn't want any color on the cake, but I definitely like it better this way.  I feel that it gives the cake a very elegant look.

Ok....I have to take a minute now, to give my husband Jeff a big, public thank you!  I couldn't have done it without him!  The reason I say this is because Jeff not only helped me daily with dishes, but he also sat and strung pearls with me for about one and a half hours Friday night, then helped me pack the cakes into his Jeep, and also drove me to the Country Club where I needed to set the cake up.  Jeff even helped me carry the cake inside, layer by layer.  I'm so lucky that he's such a good sport about things!

Cake Details:
Bottom layer (14") - Marble cake with a buttercream filling and fresh strawberries
2nd layer (12") - Yellow cake with a buttercream filling
3rd layer (10") - Yellow cake with a buttercream filling and fresh strawberries
Top layer (8") - Yellow cake with a buttercream filling

Juline's wedding cake topper was her grandparent's from their anniversary cake.  I loved it!

Got to love instagram!

Nothing beats the feeling of being a part of a friend's special day!  I wish Juline and Jesse a lifetime of happiness together!  Thanks for trusting me to be a part of your wedding.

Wedding Week/Weekend

What takes about 8-10 bags of confectioner's sugar, 36 sticks of butter, 2 large bags of granulated sugar, 2 containers of cocoa powder, a gallon or so of milk, around 4-5 bags of all-purpose flour (in addition to cake flour), 40 eggs, and TONS of vanilla extract, plus other ingredients?  This......

 
It all started a couple of months ago when my two friends, Beth and Mark, asked if I'd be interested in making their wedding cake.  I was definitely honored by the fact that they thought of me and immediately said yes! I knew that I could not pass up this opportunity, because I've been wanting to make a wedding cake for awhile now. 

So of course, the planning started........

When I first got out my "cake notebook" and sat down with Beth to create ideas, she informed me that she wanted to have mostly cupcakes, 200 to be precise.  In addition to the cupcakes Beth also wanted a two tier wedding cake.  One layer so that they'd have something to cut into at the reception, and the other layer for their anniversary.  *The final numbers may have changed slightly from our first meeting.  Beth ended up asking for 250 cupcakes*

In addition to the wedding cake/cupcakes, Beth also wanted to have me construct a surprise grooms cake for her husband-to-be, and my friend Mark!  He is a BIG Pittsburgh Steelers fan, so Beth thought that it would be a fun theme to apply to a cake!

The best part about this cake......Beth left the design totally up to me!

Finally, after all of the planning, the week of the wedding was here!  I knew I had LOTS to do, especially on top of teaching during the day, so I had to set up a day-by-day plan for myself.  Some of the tasks I knew I could accomplish ahead of time, like drying out the flowers to go on top of the cupcakes, coloring the fondant (not too far ahead of time though), and sifting the powdered sugar.  The rest of the items would have to be done periodically throughout the week, but if I paced it just right, I knew I wouldn't become overwhelmed. 

The first item on my to do list was to bake the groom's cake and cupcakes.  Beth needed to have these ready for the rehearsal dinner that was to be on Friday night.  I also knew that if I made this cake first, then while I was going through the process of decorating it, I could be baking cupcakes for the wedding at the same time.  My plan ended up working out perfectly.

Steelers Cupcakes

Steelers Groom Cake

Once the groom's cake was complete, I directed my full attention to getting the rest of the cupcakes made, along with the wedding cake.  At this point in time, I had already baked over 100 chocolate cupcakes, and around 75 red velvet cupcakes.  All I had left to do was frost and decorate them, and then bake the yellow cupcakes and the wedding cake. 

I was very, VERY glad that Friday was Veteran's Day and that I didn't have to teach.  Having the whole day to work on this project was such a huge stress reliever!  I ending up starting the day off by baking the wedding cakes, and continued by baking the remaining 100 cupcakes. 

It always amazes me that something can start off looking like this....

And end up looking like this......

With the wedding cake now finished, all I had left to do was frost and decorate the cupcakes.  I decided that I would frost the chocolate and vanilla cupcakes Friday night, but because the red velvet cupcakes needed a cream cheese frosting, I planned to get up early and frost those Saturday morning.  It's a good thing that I decided to do that too, because decorating the 200, or so, chocolate and yellow cupcakes took me well into the night.

Saturday morning I immediately set to work again on mixing up a couple batches of frosting, but this time they were for the red velvet cupcakes.  After the frosting was made and applied, I decorated the tops with little gumpaste flowers!

When I was finished, I packed up the remainder of the boxes with delicious cupcakes........

put them in the Jeep, and set off to deliver them to Charlotte Country Club.  When my husband and I arrived at the club, they showed me where I could display the cake, and even brought out some beautiful decorative silver platters.

 It may have taken a few tries.....

but I finally figured out how I wanted them displayed.

Later on that day, the florist came to add flowers around the cake and they also placed out a little bride a groom.

Even though I was very pleased with how my cake turned out, the best part of the day was getting to witness the marriage of two good friends!  Congratulations Mark and Beth!!