weekend update: August 26-28

Friday my mom, sister, niece (the 18 month old), aunt and cousin celebrated my mom's birthday with dinner and dessert at the Olive Garden.

On Saturday I spent the day baking my mom's birthday cake and ruining frosting. Josh and I stopped off at the grocery store to pick up some whipping cream and my mom finished off her own cake because I just couldn't handle it anymore!

Almond-White Cake (recipe HERE - they call for 1 T almond extract,
I only used 1/2 T and it was perfect in my opinion)
with seedless raspberry jam, whipped cream, raspberries and almonds.

Saturday night I met Kristen and Staci at Molly Brannigan's for some appetizers and then we went over to Coconut Joe's/Boardwalk.

Sunday Josh and I went to church, took a trip to the library, got gelati's at Rita's, took naps, I read my books and we had a yummy dinner of chicken with homemade BBQ sauce.

Erie Blasco Library

Up the stairs to the fiction section

New books: Specials & Extras from The Uglies series
and The Oracle of Stamboul (it looked cool, so I grabbed it!)

Hope you all had great weekends. Yay for Labor Day 3-day weekend coming up!!

books galore

i'm extremely proud of myself, for i have finished three books in less than a month and a half. after horribly failing my "goal" from early last year to read six books throughout the year (i read a whopping ZERO), i am proud to say i'm on track this year to make up for it!

the first book i started/finished is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. this is the first in the SKANK book club that we just started. i finished a month ago...and we still have at least a month before meeting to discuss the book. i have a problem of reading a little too fast when i enjoy something, probably missing important parts, but just so anxious to find answers and the next exciting bit. needless to say, i really enjoyed this book, but i'm not going to elaborate more on this as i will probably post to our book club blog after we've discussed it.

the second two books i finished were in a series my sister gave to me many months ago, before the wedding. i finally got around to reading them, and finished both within about three weeks. i must say, i really enjoyed the books, specifically the second. the books are something borrowed and something blue. i loved the main character's transformation in the second book. ugh. gosh. i would definitely say these are chick books, but i still think they were great. i don't feel like giving a review of the books, but i'll just say they are above love and friendship and two girls' journey to find what each mean. okay, i know that sounds cheesy, but the books aren't! i swear. plus, it just so happens that the one of the main character's has the exact name i've wanted to give one of our children - a girl - if we have one. though, josh isn't too keen on the idea...Darcy Jane. love it. Darcy cause i love pride & prejudice, Jane after my gramma.

AND oh.my.gosh, i didn't know they were making a MOVIE out of it! something borrowed is coming to theaters May 6th of this year! yippee!

anyway, now that i'm done reading those books and still waiting to start the next in our book club, i need to find something new to read! i'm tempted to stop by the library as i can't afford to buy books all the time (i'd rather save it for clothes + shoes).

my aunt is cool

my aunt sent me an email with some awesome cuppie ideas...

first, this book, she found at Sur la Table.
[great gift idea....but there's no gift giving occasions coming up soon...shoot.]

second, Ace of Cakes is on FoodNetwork. these are "baby cupcakes" made for a...
you guessed it, baby SHOWER!
stace, i think this is a sign...that you are to make them.

lastly, super-cute cuppie holders. these are geared for wedding cuppiecakes.
found at estiloweddings.com. which, looks pretty awesome...kt, take note.

boooooooks

kt gave me this audio-book to listen to at work. i've started listening to it today, as i'm the only one here right now, but i definitely find it difficult to focus on it's words when i'm 1) typing this post, 2) ordering product, and 3) always leaving my desk...

anyway. one of the first things struck me as very funny:

"in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy, lies a small, unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly 92 million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet, whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive, that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea..."

i find this funny because josh pointed out that both my sister and i have an issue with reading his watch [or, i guess, anything not digital].

[book by Douglas Adams]


anyway, i believe that's all i have for today.


justtttt kidding.
one more thing:

i was very excited to see that i am not the only one [aside from my girlfriends] that uses the terms "cuppie's" or "cuppiecakes".



i was referred to Cakespy.com by Stacey in response to my April 3 post: "Cupcakes & Love Notes". this interview is with Leslie Fiet, who started "Mini's Cupcakes" in Salt Lake City, Utah. you can read the full interview here: Cakespy: Batter Chatter. i enjoy Cakespy for their pictures that make me drool...and i mean, it's all about cupcakes...sooo, who WOULDN'T enjoy that?