Ta Da!

Here is but a sample of my amazing skillz at cake decorating. I used cupcakes this week so it would be easier for Chris to give them away at work. I'm so thoughtful! Plus it is easier for me to keep a few for myself because they are delicious. Both Chris and Ikkin tried to hold conversations with me as they took huge bites, so the cupcakes must be good. Here are close ups of my two favorites. What can I say, I'm proud of myself for learning something new.



Next week I learn to make a rose! They will be the tastiest roses ever!

Updating

So I've been pretty busy. I had the Wisconsin wedding the last weekend of June, the DC wedding the first weekend of July and Chris's mom visited this past weekend. So I've spend the weeks doing laundry and cleaning in preparation for or following after each of these events. I have one more event coming up, Christmas in Toledo! My college friends and I get together for a Christmas party each year. Usually it is closer to Christmas (January, February or March) but we waited this year for one of my friends to get back from China!

I wanted to make scarves for my friends this year, since I learned how to knit them in February. However, I just could not seem to focus on the knitting. So I was hoping to get at least one done and was nearly there. However during the ruckus of family visits, someone pulled out the knitting needles from the nearly finished scarf. For those not in the know, the needles should stay in! I've tried putting them back in, but about halfway through the stitches start pulling and coming apart. *sigh* I guess I can give scarves next year.

In other news, in case you haven't checked Chris's blog, I have a new Mom-Mobile! It's an '05 Malibu Maxx in silver green metallic (I looked up that color name). There's little dings in the paint and the cashmere colored interior will show dirt pretty easy, but it was a good deal and I'm happy. I'm especially enjoying the V6 engine and the keyless entry and the power windows. I'm easy to please. Now I just need a good name for it.

And finally, I am taking a cake decorating class. Last night was the second class (of four) and we had to bring in our own cake, iced and ready to decorate. My cake didn't turn out great, I didn't level it correctly and it broke apart so that after I iced it, it looked like some giant person tried to take a bite out of it. But it turns out I'm not bad at the actual decorating. :) So once I get the cake part down, I'll be impressing everyone with my stars and lines.

Due to the fact that I would eat the whole thing in one day, Chris took it to work and sent the following statements home:

T: This is really good.

J *thumbs up*

H: People who can’t bake f**k up the icing. I can tell your wife can bake.

S: This is good. And this is coming from us in level 3. (note: I'm taking level 1 decorating, some of Chris's coworkers are in level 3).

Next time I'll remember to take a picture before I ship it off to be eaten.

Wisconsin, the Adventure

So a couple of weekends ago I drove to my cousin's wedding in northern Wisconsin. On Tuesday of that week Chris was told "Tough luck, schmuck, you have to work" so I took off Wednesday night and stayed with my parents.

So Thursday the clan was up bright and early and we set off. I was in a car with my brother Mark and sister Trisha, my youngest brother couldn't make it. We listened to Trisha's music for most of the way, which consists of hip-hop/rap/r&b. Since I don't listen to this type much, I was ok with it until day 3 when I was sick of hearing the same beats overandoverandOVER. But I managed not to hurt anyone.

That night we stopped at a hotel north of Madison, WI and went to eat at the restaurant next door. When we walked in the waitress was all "Do you have reservations?" Please note that we are all in comfy clothes (read: sweats and ratty jeans) and are tired and cranky. So no, we did not. There were plenty of seats open, but we had to wait. We thought "oh, there are a bunch of cross-state bikers, maybe the tables are for them" but 25 minutes later we were seated with plenty of seating still available. Service was slow and our food was cold, so that place will fold soon I'm sure. (I should totally be a restaurant critic)

Friday we reached our destination in the early afternoon and the rest of the family was already there. We stayed in a row motel with nine rooms and all of the rooms were booked by our side or the other side of the bride's family. So we sat outside and drank. And by drank I mean everyone else had beer and asked me if I needed to sit down. Friday night there was a pre-wedding party. We had Famous Dave's Barbecue catered in and it was awesome and delicious. Just thinking of the chicken and corn muffins are making me drool a little now. And looking it up now there are a lot of them, so I'll definitely take Chris there.

Saturday morning we went to Lumberjack Pancake House and had breakfast. You could view the stands and everything that are used during the World Lumberjack Championships from our patio seats. Mark convinced Trisha that the small tree behind her was poison ivy, which pretty much shows how they both behaved. Not that I took a picture of Trisha in the morning because her hair was sticking up. And not that Trisha immediately ran outside screaming to Mom about how she was going to kill me. We're mature adults, really!

So the wedding was Saturday afternoon and I'm telling you that someone sold their soul because the weather could not have been better for a boat wedding. All of the guests were assigned to a pontoon (Mom had to have me re-assigned since Chris wasn't there, she worried about me!) and the pontoons were named after country songs. Ours was "Amarillo By Morning" and we were special because our pontoon had a CD player and we got to listen to it during the ride.

The bride and groom rode in his fishing boat (when the groom pulled up, he was fishing) along with the minister and we were off cruising across the lake back to a secluded lagoon. I'm not sure how they arranged for it not to be used, but we lassoed together and had a short ceremony. Then it was back to the docks.

That night there was a regular reception. Mark, Trisha and I were relegated to a table of college friends and spent most of the night making fun of each other. It was open bar so they had fun and I got to try my first Shirley Temple, which was not bad.

Sunday was church, a little souvenir shopping, pie eating at Norkse Nook, taking naps and ending in the going to see the Lumberjack show. That was fun to see, they showed the skills lumberjacks have by having a two team competition and they mixed in humor and history to keep it entertaining. Mmmm, lumberjacks. Chris should take up log chopping (just kidding handsome!).

Then Monday it was up early and a full day of driving all the way back to Ohio. Longest. Ride. Ever. And it didn't help that Peanut was an active little bugger. But we finally switched the music, so I survived.

Wisconsin, the teaser trailer

How do you know you are in Wisconsin?

a) The restaurant has placemats that describe fish

b) The same restaurant has a shower in the women's restroom
c) Food is described with sounds (onomatopoeia).
d) The fish museum is actually made to look like a fish. If you look closely you can see people in it's mouth.
e) Lumberjacks!and f) Your cousin gets married on a fishing boat.
More to come later!