10 DAYS!!!!!

Well I was really hoping this photo mosaic would've turned out a little better but oh well! I wanted to share some of my good memories from our 2008 trip to Myrtle Beach. It definitely got me excited for our trip this year looking through the photos. Speaking of our trip this year it is only 10 days away!!! After all of the stress of yesterday I couldn't be more ready to get away.... I kind of waited til the last minute to book our condo and they were all full so... that started the scramble to find a new place to stay. It may not seem that bad but it took a lot of research to find a place that has the amenities we are looking for in the location we want. Long story short I found a condo that is just a few blocks away from where we stayed last year.

I couldn't be happier because its oceanfront, has a kitchen, a pool, and what looks like a comfy bed. Now I just need to get my butt in gear and start my various to do lists to get ready for vacation... I'm a bit OCD and need to have everything written down... packing? groceries? things that need to be done? what to do when we're there? I don't want to end up forgetting anything little.

I can't wait to be away from everyday life, enjoying a few good books. Anybody have any good book recommendations?? A good read for the beach??

I'm also very excited for Juls' "going away" dinner tonight. I can't wait to give her her presents that way I can post about them! Stay tuned!!

Enjoy, Amanda

Manic Monday

Well this is a late post... It's been a very busy day. I swear the weekends just aren't long enough. My weekend was pretty uneventful besides The Flaming Lips concert which I can't wait to post pictures of!! AMAZING SHOW!!! One of my friends described it best as a big kid's birthday party. Tons of confetti and balloons!!

This upcoming week is very busy for me. Lots of crafty things in the works. Today I started Elise Blaha's art journal class. I couldn't be more excited to get started on her projects. I came across her blog a few months ago and find myself a bit jealous every time she posts a new project she's completed.

Tonight I've kept myself busy putting some "goodbye" presents together for my friend, Juls, who is moving to Spain for 9ish months. I'm kind of on a time crunch to make sure I get it all done by Wednesday night for her "goodbye" dinner. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll have at least one tutorial to share.

Like I said it's a busy week. I start my bowling league Thursday night... Goodbye the next 36 Thursdays. It's a very long season but it's definitely a good time. Friday will be spent on a coworkers boat for our "department outing." I'm hoping the weather stays cool for the weekend so Jeremy and I can put our bikes to use!

Hope to have something a little more interesting to post about tomorrow! 12 days until vacation... that's an idea for tomorrow!

Enjoy, Amanda

Cupcake Friday

Happy Friday to everyone!! Today is the last day for cupcakes!! I wanted to end the week with the cupcakes I made this past May for the "End of the School Year" party held for the Bigs and Littles that participated in the Big Brother/Big Sister Program. To go off on a tangent I have to say that if anyone is interested in doing volunteer work I have to highly recommend this program. Not only do the kids get so much out of it but so do the adults. There's nothing like seeing the smile on your Little's face when they see you each week!! I can't wait for this school years program to begin!!! But back to the cupcakes... all of the littles were in 4-5th grade so I thought it would only be appropriate to incorporate both Sponge Bob and the beach!! There's nothing better than a cupcake that has "sand," "the ocean," a beach umbrella, and Sponge Bob or Patrick on top of it. These were a huge hit!!

I hope everyone enjoyed cupcake week!! I'm off to start my weekend right by going to The Flaming Lips concert. I can only hope that I can end up with some pics like this...

Enjoy, Amanda

Cupcake Thursday

As you may or may not have noticed I was absent from the blogging world yesterday. I'm not going to lie I've had my nose buried in Twilight and New Moon. I was able to finish Twilight within two nights... I think it may take me until the weekend to finish New Moon. I'm honestly surprised how enjoyable I've found them!! Anyone else out there infatuated with this series as I am??

Anywho on to what I wanted to post about... A fellow blogger and friend of mine, Kati, passed along this recipe to me... She found it on A Good Appetite. Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to try it out although it's on my "To Do List."

I don't know if anyone out there is like me but I love chocolate and I love bacon... Honestly, I've never thought to combine the two... but this recipe does!! After reading the ingredients and instructions I can't wait to bake these... Just click on the link to get the recipe!!

Dark Chocolate & Bacon Cupcakes

Has anyone had any cupcakes similar to these?? Or any other crazy concoctions??

Enjoy, Amanda

Cupcake Tuesday

I'm a bit sleepy today. I finally decided to jump on the Twilight bandwagon last night. Needless to say I stayed up way too late reading (and now I can't wait to get off work to continue reading... well take a nap then continue reading... I'm a total bookworm).

Yesterday evening we also had a visit from my mom and my niece. My niece is actually my inspiration for today's blog. I wanted to stay in the theme of cupcakes so I thought I'd share the cupcakes I made for her 5th birthday party. To preface she is a complete rock star!! I think the following picture demonstrates that pretty good.

Yes, she thinks she's playing Rock Band!! She was over visiting with Jeremy and I. I was making something on my sewing machine and begged me to make her a rock star dress. Yeah I know it looks like a sack but I had limited time and resources. All that matters is she LOVED it. The next day she wouldn't take it off and wanted to wear it to day care!! Of course she had to wear it last night while she was over; although, this time we had to make some modifications because she wanted to race Jeremy outside bc she said "he's the fastest person I know." She's too cute. Well we chopped it up to make it a knee length dress. And used the scraps as a headband. I promised I'd make her a new one for the next time she came over.

Anywho... for her 5th birthday this past June I offered to make cupcakes for her birthday party. We decided on ice cream cone cupcakes with BRIGHT PINK icing!! The picture isn't great (I used my phone to take it). These were so easy to make and all of the kids loved them, especially bc they have TONS of icing on them!!
Enjoy, Amanda

Mini Post- Giveaway

[Courtesy of Oops, I Craft My Pants]

I like to support my fellow bloggers and Oops, I Craft My Pants is having an awesome giveaway... Hurry it ends soon.

Cupcake Monday

[Beware this post includes a lot of pictures]

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. I know mine went by way too fast!! Friday and Saturday were spent getting our part of the surprise party ready, which meant a lot of running around, crafting, and cupcake making. It was definitely all worth it in the end!! Mrs. Sue's surprise party turned out great!!

Since so much of my weekend was consumed by cupcake making I thought it'd be fun to have a week dedicated to cupcakes because really who doesn't love cupcakes?! I want to share some of the cupcakes I've made, some that others have made, and some I can't wait to make.

The cupcakes for this weekend took me on a roller coaster ride... yeah I said it cupcakes took me on a roller coaster ride. It all started Thursday when I decided to spend some of my down time at work making a cupcake stand out of an old box in the mail room. Mind you I did all of this at work so I was limited on the supplies I had available to me. But hey I like to think this proves I'm an "outside the box" kind of thinker.

[I hope to have a tutorial of how I created the cupcake stand sometime in the near future.]

Friday the ride continued... I had my friend, Juls, over to enjoy a bottle of wine and to keep me company while I baked the cupcakes. We had a good time catching up and laughing. She was telling me a story about last time she baked cupcakes for the 4th of Jul and forgot to add the eggs so of course at the end of the story she asks if I remembered to add the eggs. While still laughing at her horror cupcake story I told her of course I did. So I put that batch in the oven and continue to mix the batter for the next batch only to go to add the eggs and realize there were no eggs missing out of the carton!! I have learned my lesson that it's not a good idea to drink wine while trying to make cupcakes!! But we did get A LOT of laughs out of it!!

Saturday I had to run out to the store again so I could remake them this time making sure that I added the eggs. I spent the majority of the night... who am I kidding I spent the entire night decorating the cupcakes to match the wrapping paper I chose to cover the cupcake stand in... BRIGHT PINK & ORANGE. The cupcakes looked awesome by the time they were done being decorated.

I could barely wait to add the cupcake toppers I made!!



My alarm went off bright and early for me Sunday morning at 9am. Jeremy and I ended up only being 15 minutes behind schedule by the time we got on the road... for us that is NOT bad at all!! We had to make a pit stop at Wegmen's to pick up the food for the party which was about 20 minutes away... This is where things really went downhill for me.... ALL of the icing had melted on my 45+ cupcakes!!! You could barely make out a single 50!! I literally was almost in tears bc I had spent so much time on everything. I tried to salvage what was left by stacking the containers on my lap in front of the AC for the rest of the ride... NO LUCK!!!

I had to make do with what I had and just imagine what the finished product could have looked like!!

Notice how horrible the bottom tier is. This reminds me of something that would show up on Cake Wrecks. Hopefully it doesn't... although it'd probably give me a good laugh. I don't know if the horribly, re-iced cake on the top or the melted icing cupcakes on the bottom are worse?

Maybe you can get an idea of what they could have looked like by this... these were the least melted of the bunch.


In the end, I did get a lot of compliments on them even if I thought they weren't appealing. It's a lesson learned... don't drink while baking and don't transport cupcakes in 90+ degree weather!!

I can't wait to share more with you throughout the week... which I promise won't be disasters!!

Enjoy, Amanda