Bugs

Recently I was able to capture some neat shots.

I really liked these Lazy Susans but when I bent down, I

saw this Praying Mantis just staring at me!
My mother actually pointed this out to me. I'm so glad she did!
I want to turn this into a "hang in there!!" poster. :)

Festival of the Little Hills

Every August brings the Festival of the Little Hills here in St. Charles.

It's a booth-style craft festival that is a crazy melting pot of higher-end crafting and touristy stuff. Somehow it always winds up being on the hottest weekend of the summer but this year it was downright pleasant!

After getting sticky while eating our annual homemade ice cream sandwiches from the Presbyterian Church, we rinsed off.

The smell of Kettle Corn was so inviting but I resisted!

You can find anything and everything at the Festival.

From lawn furniture to painted gourds to tie dyed Fruit of the Looms!

Kisses from Daddy

Me and the Hubster stopped for a quick snapshot.

Can't wait until next year!

zzzzzzzzzzz

"No day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap." - Carrie Snow

Griffin fell asleep on the couch today and I couldn't help but snap some pictures of his sweet face.

Sometimes this little guy simply takes my breath away.

I hope you all sleep as peacefully as this tonight!

YEYOW!

This weekend we learned the colors green (geen), pink (ink), purple (puple), and yellow (yeyow). We learned this by using bottles of royal icing that were in each of those colors.
There was a lot of screaming and clapping with each correct answer. Yellow is his favorite.

It sounds best when said at the top of your lungs.

YEYOW!

The world is opening up to me once again. Learning new things is not a chore, but a joy.

I think I'll try screaming and clapping at work the next time I learn something new. :)

To say that G is a happy boy is an understatement. He just bubbles, oozes, and explodes with laughter and smiles all the time. This is the perfect picture of him.
Crazy hair, dancing eyes, and a huge smile.

I love this picture.

A Birthday Greeting

Happy Birthday to the Hubster! I love him so very much!

Yes, I know. Another post where I'm just posting pictures...But I'm short on time here!

The day is full with all things Matt!

Getting To Know You

I don't tend to do a whole lot rambling on this blog. I seem to make the posts all about the pictures. Well, there are a few reasons for this:

1) I talk a lot. All day. Everyday. I manage an art production company, so there are a lot of artists doing corporate art and it tends to be a bit tricky in the communication department. So, I fill the gap. When I'm not working, I talk to my son. A lot. I didn't used to. Now, he talks all the time and I'm happy to have mini conversations with him.

2) I write a lot. All day. Everyday. To friends, mainly. I have several friends going through "life discoveries", as one tends to seem to do at the ripe old age of 30, and they like to write to me because they know I love to talk about myself and my own journeys. Not in an ego-centric way. I just am a very passionate person and I think people tend to gravitate towards that.

3) I have a lot of literary friends and I don't want to feel like I'm being judged. I have a degree in Creative Writing but there are so many that are more creative than me at wordsmithing.

4) I don't have a lot of personal time. I work full time, raise my son, am a homemaker (whether I work full time or not), and I'm trying to get 2 - because 1 isn't enough! - businesses off the ground.

But enough of the excuses. I love this blog. It's been with me since before Griffin was born. When I make a new sugary creation, I can't wait to get the pictures uploaded but there needs to be something more, yes?

I'm going to start writing more. I tend to stick with things that I'm super passionate about, so this might be boring and repetitive to some but hey, this is my little corner of the blogging world and I'm going to use it the way I want!

For today's blog: 10 things you might, or might not, know about me.

1) I can talk - at LENGTH - about my relationship with the Hubster. We have a great relationship and I love to talk to anyone who will listen as to why!

2) I can't stand negativity, nastiness, ignorance, racism, intolerance, flakiness, and lack of manners. I am faced with most of these things on a daily basis.

3) I can keep a lot of balls in the air and juggle a million things and unfortunately I don't have much patience for those who don't or can't. I'm working on that.

4) I wash my hands constantly.

5) If I am mad at someone, I cannot look them in the eye. That's how you know!

6) I love DIY and home improvement projects but since we don't plan on staying in this (shoe box - sized) house for too long, it's hard to justify doing anything big so I resort to crafts. That makes me mad. I'm ready to bust through a wall with a sledge hammer!!!!

7) I'm a huge blog stalker. I have my favorite blogs (see to the left there) and I read them everyday. They teach me, uplift me, & inspire me.

8) I think I'm the only person on the PLANET who doesn't understand 80s fashion nor do I want it to make a come back!

9) Living in a small space has turned me into a neat freak. When a room becomes cluttered, I can feel the walls closing in around me and I can't think straight. I HULK OUT. Quite unfortunately for the Hubster, I cannot control this.

10) I HATE my hair. It's thin and wispy and limp. For 13 years I have been at war with my hair. "Ahhh! I need my hair off my neck!" *chop chop* "I miss doing fun things with my hair!" *grow hair, grow!*

So there you have it, faithful readers.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by. Leave a comment so I know you are still out there!

Eeeeeeeeeeee!

That's the sound I made when I purchased my new, white, shiny, beautiful KitchenAid mixer today! There was fist pumping. There was giggling.

There was a happy dance when no one was looking.
Rachael is in town for the week and yesterday we made some cupcakes for my dear friend, Beth, for her birthday. While making them, my beater died. It made a horrible sound and the beaters stopped rotating. I had to mix the rest by hand.

Luckily, I was near the end of the mixing process!
Today, the question became: What does one do when one has oodles of extra frosting left over, a new mixer, and no cupcakes? Yes. That was rhetorical.
We tried out a new recipe for a white cake and added chocolate chips to the middle of them.

Nom nom nom
I love baking with Rachael and am so happy that she loves to bake with her wicked step-mother! :)

Yellow cake with vanilla buttercream and marshmallow fondant circles
Beth just loves all things french, so I hand painted little Eiffel Towers! I'm no painter but I think they turned out pretty cute!

White cake with chocolate chips added to the middle, Vanilla buttercream, and white dot sprinkles

Swirls of yumminess