Spring has Sprung!

I'm so excited! The lilac bushes I planted when we moved in last summer, too late for them to bloom, have survived the winter! Not only that, but they already have green buds on them hinting at the lovely, fragrant lilacs I will get to enjoy this spring!

From Drop Box

Also, these I did not plant, but I guess because we missed seeing what was already at the house popping up in the spring we didn't know that these were around our path:

From Drop Box

Here's hoping I have simliar luck with the vegetable garden I have big plans for...

Anyone Out There??

Well, I'm not sure if I still have any followers out there in the blog world since it's been such a long time since I last posted, but seeing as how we start another deployment in a week, I figured it was time to get back in business. How else will I share with the world (or the 2 people that may read this blog) all the wonderful care packages I will once again be shipping overseas. Oh yeah, and I guess I'll keep you posted on how I'm doing on the home-front and how my betrothed is doing overseas.

I'm struggling a bit with how to make these care packages dinstinct from last time; I fear I may have used up all my creative juices then! Besides, they can't just be different, they have to to BETTER! :-) I will be sure to send Marcus's address to anyone who may want it once I have it. The more people sending him pieces of home, the better!

Oh, and for anyone out there wondering: I am doing as well as can be expected...just ready to start baking some cookies!!! :-)

Fall Fun Part 2: Apple Madness

I visited a wonderful farm as part of my day of fall fun and picked LOTS of GIANT apples. For instance, take a look at these:

From Fall Fun

With some of my awesome apples I decided to tackle homemade applesauce. In a few easy steps here it is:

Step 1:

Pick glorious, fresh, fall apples

From Fall Fun

Step 2:

Chop and peel 8-9 large apples and place in a pot with the peel and juice of 2 lemons, 2 cinnamon sticks, 2 tablespoons of white sugar, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, and 2 cups of water

From Fall Fun

Step 3:

Bring to a boil then simmer on low with cover on for 45 minutes then uncovered for another 15 minutes. Simply stir apples as they easily fall apart for you into perfect consistency, not overly sweet, applesauce goodness

From Fall Fun

Stay tuned for the next lesson, apple cake!

Fall Fun Part 1

As part of our Combined Federal Campaign at work we had a basket "contest." That's government speak for a raffle, but we're not allowed to say raffle. Even though I'm running the campaign, I was still able to win this:

I assure you it wasn't fixed...I wasn't even in the building when the winning tickets were pulled! It was filled with all sorts of Halloween fun. So, during my day of fall activities today I produced this:

Pretty impressive, right? There was another craft activity from my basket of goodies, but it didn't turn out quite as well. There will be a link to check that out in the Part 2 post!

New Hair!

I'm not sure anyone actually reads this blog anymore since I have a tendency to be so delinquent in my posting, but just in case some friends in Albany do stumble across it from time to time I thought I'd share the recent BIG change in my life...my hair! Those who know me, know I tend to be pretty conservative when it comes to my hair. I generally keep it pretty long, a few layers in the front, and absolutely no color. It is black, after all, what could color really do? I've been struck with a recent bought of boredom about myself, I guess that's what comes from being so complacent in your life. Anyway, after consulting with my wonderful hairdresser, last week I walked away with this:




I couldn't really get a great picture that truly does the color justice since it looks best in the sun, but for some more pics that may better show the cut and or color, check out the facebook album here. Don't forget to let me know what you think, if anyone's out there!

My Final Cake

Last week I finished my cake decorating class, at least the Wilton Level 1 class. I got a certificate and everything to prove I've mastered beginner's cake decorating. Anyway, I never did get a truly impressive rose; I'll have to keep trying. I thought the last class was going to be my day, but I was sick and just did not have the arm strength. Even without a rose, I think I finished the class with a bang with a pretty impressive cake. It was a good thing I stuck it out until the last class so I could learn sweet peas and leaves! I even did some Level 2 work and experimented with royal icing, making my star flowers ahead of time. So, I present to you my final project so to speak:



Just to make the mouths of those of you far away water, it was a french vanilla cake with orange creamsicle icing. Marcus wanted nothing to do with it, but I assure you my co-workers devoured it!

Cakes!!

Yeah yeah yeah, it's been months since I've posted anything; I know, I know; so sue me!

Anyway, a few weeks ago one of my girlfriends mentioned that she wanted to take a cake decorating class to learn how to do fondant. It turns out you can take classes on such things at JoAnns, but we had to start with the intro class. Before you get to the good stuff I would like to explain that I spend several hours mixing buttercream icing so sweet it will rot your teeth on contact. It apparently take practice to make edible buttercream icing in the proper consistencies for cake decorating. There was some good that came out of all the experimenting though, I developed a scrumptious chocolate buttercream icing. I will admit up front that I used a boxed cake mix for my first cake (it was more about the decorating than the cake itself). However, I'm pleased to say that after being tasted by Marcus and several co-workers I've been assured that my cake is not pretty but also tasty! The end result was a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling and vanilla and peppermint buttercream icing. One final note before ending the suspense and showing you the final product: I did not come up with the design, it was what the whole class did from the book. Now feast your eyes on this:


I will also say that I know it looks green in the photo, but it's actually a more seafoam/teal green/blue color. Plus, the picture came from my phone so it isn't the greatest. I may replace with a real picture later. It was supposed to be sky blue but the icing I wanted to frost with wasn't pure white so when I added blue food coloring to yellow-tinted icing I got a little, but very pretty, surprise!