National Chocolate Cupcake Day!

Happy National Chocolate Cupcake Day!

Well, it was officially yesterday but yesterday was just a bad day all around so I am celebrating it today! I also cheated on the "cupcake". It's actually a brownie with an extra egg added to make it more fluffy. YUM! Don't you just love these wrappers? The Hubster got them for me for Halloween time and I think they're just awesome!

Chocolate brownie, chocolate buttercream, & chocolate jimmies
This girl dreams with visions of cupcake swirls dancing in her head.

Oh happy day!

"Sissy?"

We love it when Rachael comes to visit. We rarely do anything special or have much planned.

We just love hanging out together. We bake cupcakes, watch movies, take walks, and just play.

The last time she visited us, it was chilly. Okay, COLD.

But we bundled up and headed out for a walk.

Me and my lovie
My family
We walked to a little green patch in our community.
It has a colorful stage and Griffin had a blast chasing Sissy!

No one can make Griffin laugh like Rachael. He laughs until he's out of breath!

It's been several weeks since we've seen our Sissy. Yesterday when Griffin woke up he knocked on his door. Matt went to the door, opened it and Griffin poked his head out and asked, "Sissy?". Matt said "No, no Sissy. Daddy."

Griffin shut the door in his face and ran back to bed. :)

Happy Friday!

You Baked WHAT in a Cupcake?

A pumpkin pie! That's right, folks!

I headed out into the blogosphere for baking inspiration and ran across www.bakeitinacake.com

A-Maz-Ing!

Wanting to bake a Fall treat for the Hubster, I chose the Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes since pumpkin pie is one of his favorites. Let me tell you, the recipe DID NOT disappoint! A super moist vanilla cream cheese cupcake with cinnamon buttercream and a mini pumpkin pie baked right in the middle.

Nom nom nom

They were a pain in the patoot to make but the Hubster really enjoyed them!

The only thing lacking was the lighting in my kitchen so I could get a decent shot.

Ah well.

Happy Fall!

Stompin' Grounds

With Griffin spending some quality time at my mother's house this evening, I grabbed some "me" time. I headed down to Main Street to seek out a few good locations as well as experiment with different settings on my camera. It was a beautiful evening. The weather was that PERFECT temperature and the sunshine was sooooo buttery smooth.

I was able to take a few deep breaths.

Something I don't do enough.

On Main Street there is this odd mix of fabulous antiques, old and broken down antiques, and kitschy, touristy stuff.
There are two train cars permanently on the rail road tracks along the Katy Trail.
Griffin loves to run along these old tracks.

The sun was setting and I wanted to try out some different camera settings.

This picture will always make me smile. Here I am at the base of the Walnut Tree that stands in the front yard of the building I once lived in. My mother planted a walnut. My sister and I used to leap frog over the tiny sapling. Now, it's this beast of a tall tree and I think it's fabulous.

My first self portrait! :)

Fishies and Lions and Fondant, Oh My!

I'm still here, faithful blog readers! Here are a few recent creations of mine that I'm particularly proud of. The first one is a fishy cake that I made for the son of my very first friend ever. We recently reconnected on Facebook and all she asked for was a fishy cake. Turns out, the colors that I used were the EXACT colors that she had for the party. It worked out perfectly! This was my first time trying out these fondant fish and I think they turned out pretty good! Looking back, I think I would've added a little more to the cake.

This was a 10" round cake

Yellow cake with vanilla buttercream and homemade marshmallow fondant "water" and fish

My next cake was a jungle themed cake.

I copied the lion face from a picture that was sent to me.

A simple 6" round cake with mini cuppies for a 1 year old boy.

Yellow cake with vanilla buttercream and homemade marshmallow fondant base and accents.

I had a lot of fun with these and I look forward to my next animal adventure! :)