On Freezing Cupcakes and Blueberry Frosting

This weekend, I put on a few hats. One of them was my handy, dandy bakers cap. And the other, and they were hand in hand, was my 'scientist' cap. The scientist cap is not as sexy though. In fact, it kind of looked like this.



I decided to freeze three cupcakes.

The first cupcake is just a regular cupcake. Nothing exciting.


Then the second one I used a Wilton tip and filled the cupcake with peanut butter.



And the third one I used a cookie cutter and pulled a chunk out so that it could be filled while still frozen. When I wrapped this one (I wrapped them all in glad wrap and aluminum foil), I made sure to stick the glad wrap in the hole so that there wasn't any air in there. I don't know if that made a difference though...



All together now!




I froze these cupcakes on Saturday and then we tried them on Sunday and...they all tasted about the same! The filling actually thawed out all right. It tasted exactly like the peanut butter filling I hoped it would be. At the same time, it looked like this on the inside.



This is not enough filling, in my opinion. Maybe I needed to push the bag harder, but it just wasn't working.

At the same time, I only froze these cupcakes for a little less then 24 hours. They were rock solid, but we're going to freeze ours between two and two and a half days before the wedding. Looks like I'll be experimenting again next weekend/week! But I may try it with the vanilla cupcake instead of the chocolate.

I also experimented with a new blueberry frosting.

I cooked fresh blueberries on the stove and I then squeezed the blueberries through a sieve and got rid of (aka: ate) the cooked fruits. Well, I should have kept them. The first frosting was good, but had way too much sugar in it and didn't taste much like blueberries.



Nice color, right?

But it was too stiff. So I actually went out and bought blueberry juice. Actually pretty good! And mixed the blueberry juice with the rest of the buttercream.



Much better. Softer and it actually tasted like blueberries!!! Looking at the picture, it's a little TOO soft, so hopefully I can figure out some middle ground. :) You can tell the difference in this one:



Last, but not least! I also frosted a small chocolate cake. I'm not sure how I feel about the little frosting balls. I need to find a better way to decorate the cake.




Any suggestions?

I Think You Should Watch This

But I'm a little biased, I think.



And then you should visit Project O or just visit Vashti's blog! She is a pretty funny lady!

What's He Saying To Me?

In the last half an hour, I've read two blogs (one I read often and one I've NEVER read before) and both blogs contain Psalm: 139

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

And now I'm trying to find out what He needs me to know...

It's Almost Time

It's almost the end of this month's Give A Blessing for Baby Be Blessed and little Malachi Stephen is at $600. We have two days left to get to the $1,000 goal.


How cute is that face?

I understand that everyone's been in your pockets (that's what my mom always says...especially around Christmas time). I don't mean to be in your pockets, but I know that this little boy deserves some love and his parents could use some help.

Here's what his parents have to say about his first few days of life:
Within the first couple days we learned that he had a tracehoesophageal fistula that needed repair; his heart defects consisted of aortic atresia, ASD/VSD, and he needed meds to keep his PDA open so blood would be sent from his heart to his body; and choanal atresia. He has reflux which will require a g-tube and problems handling thick secretions which will most likely need a tracheostomy so we can bypass his upper airway. A week or two after his admission to the children's hospital, he was given the clinical diagnosis of CHARGE. Since the initial diagnosis of CHARGE, we have also learned that he is most likely completely deaf, adequate vision is questionable as he has bilateral optic disk colobomas, and his MRI showed evidence that would suggest moderate to severe mental retardation. We definitely have our work cut out for us!

Malachi has since undergone his TEF repair, Norwood stage I modified repair with placement of a Sano shunt, choanal atresia repair, and a closed-heart surgery where they placed a secondary shunt to help with pulmonary blood flow of which he is now recovering. He has also had a brain MRI, head CT, numerous echocardiograms, and too many x-rays to count. He had been having trouble keeping his oxygen saturation levels above 60, but after this recent surgery, he seems to be doing better.

CHARGE, according to Wikipedia, is a syndrome caused by a genetic disorder. It was first described in 1979. In 1981, the term "CHARGE" came into use as an acronym for the set of unusual congenital features seen in a number of newborn children.[1] The letters stand for: Coloboma of the eye, Heart defects, Atresia of the nasal choanae, Retardation of growth and/or development, Genital and/or urinary abnormalities, and Ear abnormalities and deafness. These features are no longer used in making a diagnosis of CHARGE syndrome, but the name remains.

Maybe you can't afford to donate any money, could you please forward this along to someone who might? Or could you at least keep this little boy in your prayers? God is faithful and prayers are definitely a welcome currency.

Just know that Baby Be Blessed does offer a drawing for those who donate. (E-mail order.babybeblessed@gmail.com to send your ChipIn information. The money goes directly to the family)

This month, first place is their newest item:


A lion! Grrrrr.

Second prize gets a shirt from Wild Olive Tees. I'm kind of actually in love with these t-shirts. They're beautiful!


So if you could donate, that would be wonderful. If you know someone you think would be able to donate, that would be great too. And if you could please pray, I'm sure they would thank you a thousand times over.

I Feel Like A Scientist (And A Prayer Request)

If you couldn't tell, cupcakes are taking over my life.


I call it planning. My husband calls it my neurotic tendencies. My mother-in-law thinks I missed my calling. I can't help it. I want these cupcakes to look nice.

I've been searching online and I can't find anything about frozen, filled cupcakes. Can you freeze a cupcake with filling in it? Can you freeze a cupcake with a little piece taken out of it so that it can be filled while frozen? Do you want to fill it while frozen?

These are questions I am asking!! If you happen to know the answers to these questions, please let me know. If not, I will be freezing cupcakes this weekend and deciding the way to go for the wedding in March. Ooooo! Science experiments! Last time I did a science experiment with food, I threw some twinkies off of my roof.
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I've noticed that my blogging friends (and definitely The SITS ladies) are big-hearted people! I love it. And I wanted to ask you to read a post.



How beautiful is she?!

She has a really hard home life and could really use your prayers. You can visit Vashti to read the whole story.

What?! More Cupcakes?!

Chocolate Guinness cupcakes with peanut butter filling and chocolate buttercream frosting. One has a Reeses' Pieces on top and the other one a mini Reeses' cup. Steve thought the Reeses' Piece was better looking. I was wondering though if they should be plain.



Vanilla cupcakes with lemon curd filling and blueberry buttercream frosting. I LOVE the lemon curd.



How was your weekend? I love the weekends, but I always feel like there's never enough time!!

Hurting Your Parents

You never want to see your kids hurt, you know? I had surgery once and I mean, I was at least 20, but I could NOT handle the IDEA of an I.V., let alone putting one in my arm. Now that I've donated blood, you could stick a needle in and I wouldn't notice, but at that time, I was almost screaming in the hospital. My mother was with me before they took me and right when they were putting the needle in my arm. She's trying to hold me still so they can put it in and I'm having a nervous breakdown. I remember her tears too that day. I don't remember much after that because of the ridiculous amount of drugs, but she told me silly stories about myself. But she cried first.


Please ignore that ridiculous look on my face. That's my mom and me this past Christmas.

My husband's father had a heart attack and I was left alone in New York City while he flew back to Ohio. Not a big deal, right? I dropped my keys on the tracks and, as I was going to donate platelets (my favorite Sunday activity, after church, at that time), I passed out on the 6 train platform. A train attendant had to help me and call and ambulance. I called my mother in the emergency room waiting area and she got upset and said, 'What do you want me to do about it?'

My parents live in Hong Kong. That's 13 hours away and it takes me at least 15 numbers for me to dial their phone number. I didn't want her to do anything. I didn't want to come up later and she be like, what?!?! She told me later that she was upset because there was nothing she could do.

I'm old enough to make my own decisions now, of course, along with my husband. And I feel that I'm being called.

But how do you tell your parents that you're giving up a kidney? And I'm not just giving up my kidney...it's to a woman at church, not a family member.

I like my mom's approach that she's using with her parents. My mom, dad, and brother all live in Hong Kong (my brother is young enough to still be in school) and they were supposed to be moving back to the US this June. They've signed on to stay in Hong Kong for 3 more years so that my brother can graduate from high school. But...my mom doesn't want to tell my grandparents. Because they talk ALL the time about my parents moving back to the United States. She just wants them to find out when my parents don't move back in June.

I'm kind of feeling that approach.

When I was a teenager, I suffered from depression and self-harming. Long story short, I (kind of) told my parents. My mom didn't talk to me for weeks. She was upset; she thought she was a bad parent. That was a long time ago, but I still get nervous: what is she going to say when I tell them?

In the end, it doesn't matter. But I still get this pit in my stomach whenever I think about it.

My mother has told my brother that he can do MMA fighting and that he can play rugby. She will sit on the sidelines and she'll support him, but she may close her eyes and I know that she sits at his rugby games and cries. She doesn't get up to help him because she knows he can make it on his own.


This is my 14-year-old brother. Covered in mud and his own blood after being kicked in the head during a rugby game.

I'm kind of hoping that's how she'll feel with me.

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For those of you in the US (or even those outside), tonight is the Hope For Haiti Now Telethon. MTV is hosting it so that means I'm working! But I think you should watch it. WHAT?! YOU DON'T WATCH MTV!!?? (That's okay, neither do I) But that's okay! Because the Hope For Haiti Now telethon will be on ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, Facebook, Myspace, MTV.com, CBS.com, Palladia...you get the picture.

If you are outside of the United States, Hope For Haiti Now will be streaming on MTV International in 21 different languages. Just visit hope.mtv.com

And thanks for listening to me. :) I really appreciate it!

Project O

I told you that I was going to write about Project O today, so I'm going to!

I was on Facebook when a friend of mine (a former college roommate) was taking about this place called Rich Bride, Poor Bride and how she was donating her wedding dress. My wedding dress was in my grandparents house, but I had always wondered what I could do with it. I mean, I know this sounds bad, but my memories of my dress mean so much more to me then having the dress itself. So I asked my mom (you know, she paid for it) and she told me I could donate it.


My wedding dress was used for the first Rich Bride, Poor Bride wedding!

After that, I started reading Vashti's other blog, about her everyday life and that's how I got into Project O.

Vashti and her husband Martin are doing amazing work for God in South Africa and I get to be apart of it in May! I'm so freaking excited. It might even involve sky diving?! I don't know about that (though I did skydive once)



They've built the first sustainable orphans home in the world.



They feed hundreds of children.


IS HE NOT SO CUTE?! That's Ali, one of our sponsor children.

And they just getting started helping a school in their area.

Here's from one of Vashti's latest posts:

One of our volunteers, Tom, told his dad about this and he told Tom that he would like to donate the money for the children to be fed breakfast every morning. What a HUGE blessing!
We managed to get hold of a maize based cereal for the children, it has the RDA of vitamins and minerals that a child needs, it also has immunity boosting stuff for those children who are HIV+ or who have AIDS. We are now buying enough to feed up to 70 children a day.
What I would like to see is for ALL 389 children in the school fed on a daily basis. But of course that takes money! Money that at the moment we do not have. Please pray for this for us. The children learn so much better when they are full.

I have so much to share with you about this school. There are 389 children attending this school, they are between the ages of 5 and 12. The school has 15 teachers. Today there were 8 teachers for 389 children! And the vice principle told me that this was a good day! Some days she has as few as 5 teachers for all these children. There are no sports, art, science or music supplies. The windows are broken and the roof has holes. The grounds are dusty and messy. The class rooms need painting and they need new desks. The teachers need help and encouragement.
Can you help in any of these areas?





If you could please pray for them and their ministry, I would really appreciate that. Though I've never met her, Vashti has become one of my best friends. And what she's doing really is amazing. But if you feel moved to donate (whether it's money or blankets or dresses), I'm sure she'd love to hear from you.

If you want to come back tomorrow, I'd love that too. Especially because I think tomorrow's post is going to be about advice. YOUR advice. Especially if you have kids.

Give A Blessing: Malachi Stephen

If you would like to visit his family's blog, please visit here.

Baby Be Blessed is doing a Give A Blessing for Malachi Stephen, a little boy with a really big story. He's had heart surgeries and has been given a CHARGE diagnosis. To learn more about CHARGE, visit http://chargesyndrome.org.

Here's part of a post from Tina at Baby Be Blessed.

We are almost to the half way mark of our monthly goal to help raise $1000 for this sweet boy!




A BIG thank you to those who have donated!! I praise God for your giving heart!!


Well...we want to offer you all an extra goodie for giving this week!! Today through Sunday we will throw in a special Valentine scripture crown for every $20.00 that you donate!! PERFECT time for Valentines day and a great way to show the love of Christ to the Sharbaugh family by giving!!

ALSO...

Want to mention that the first prize in our Give a Blessing Giveaway this month will be...



So first off...PRAY!!

Then please DONATE and SPREAD THE WORD about Giving a Blessing to little Malachi!!

BLOG! TWITTER! FACEBOOK! EMAIL!

I thank you so much for it!! Please e-mail Laura (order.babybeblessed@gmail.com) your Chip-In information if you do donate so that you can be put in the drawing for the gifts or receive your Valentine's Day gift.

Remember KINDNESS: Seeing needs in the lives of others as opportunities to show my love for Christ!!

Please come back tomorrow because I would like to post about Project O. I was debating about it, but...you need to know! So please visit again :)

A Little Bit Sad

So I did all the voice-overs for MTV.com...and now I think I'm done. I'm a little sad about it because I love doing voice-overs and it was nice to get a small paycheck. But it'll be okay. Maybe they'll find something else to use my voice for!!

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But now for an invitation! Do any of you live in NYC?

On February 14th (yes, Valentine's Day), I'll be hosting a fundraiser for Project O at Advent Lutheran Church on 93rd and Broadway. We're hoping to raise money, but if people can't donate money, we'll be accepting art supplies, shoes, clothing, blankets, anything!!

Feel free to leave a comment if you want more information. If you would like to donate to Project O, visit their website or talk to their lovely founder on her blog, Grains of Sand.

I Might Just Be A Crazy Person

But at least I got some baking done tonight. So here are my cupcakes and the recipes for them!



Banana Cupcakes With Honey-Cinnamon Frosting
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/desserts_E0308WELD_T?lnc=4bc9cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD

Makes 12
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas), plus 1 whole banana, for garnish (optional)
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Honey-Cinnamon Frosting
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Make a well in center of flour mixture. In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Spread tops with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting. Just before serving, peel and slice banana into rounds, and place one on each cupcake, if desired.

Honey Cinnamon Frosting
Ingredients

1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat confectioners' sugar, unsalted butter, honey, and ground cinnamon until smooth, 4 to 5 minutes



Devil's Food Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients

3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 cup hot water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
Chocolate Ganache Frosting
Chocolate Curls, for decorating (optional)
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together cocoa and hot water until smooth. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Melt butter with sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from heat, and pour into a mixing bowl. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat until mixture is cooled, 4 to 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla, then cocoa mixture, and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, and beating until just combined after each.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three- quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 15 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
To finish, use a small offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting. Refrigerate up to 3 days in airtight containers; bring to room temperature and garnish with chocolate curls just before serving.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting
Ingredients

Makes 4 cups
1 pound good-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 1/3 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup corn syrup
Directions

Place chocolate in a large heatproof bowl. Bring cream and corn syrup just to a simmer over medium-high heat; pour mixture over chocolate. Let stand, without stirring, until chocolate begins to melt.
Beginning near the center and working outward, stir melted chocolate into cream until mixture is combined and smooth (do not overstir).
Refrigerate, stirring every 5 minutes, until frosting just barely begins to hold its shape and is slightly lighter in color. Use immediately (ganache will continue to thicken after you stop stirring).

Like Myself...But On Crack

Do you ever have a day where you just kick some a- and take some names with all the things that you SWORE you were going to do? Oh yeah. It's one of those days. Which is great because Friday kind of sucked. :) But God is good and he turns the tables and today was great!

Picked up a cupcake stand (though now I need to get new 6' cake pans because the stand is square), a 24-muffin tin, CUP-A-CAKES (tell me you don't want to say that 10 times fast), a crap ton of baking supplies and my shoes for the wedding. Right now, I'm making black bean soup, preparing mangos, and am about to bake a ham.

My husband is now the best man for his brother's wedding and we're trying to plan his Ohio bachelor party from NYC. Dave and Busters is good, but they need a 20 person party (at least that's what the website says), but we can't pay for that and I don't think he wants 20 people. So, we'll see.

I read a funny thing about Martin Luther in my devotional by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (getting the Lutherans together, most def). It's about people asking what God did before he created the Earth. Martin Luther's response was that God made switches for people that asked useless questions. HA! Oh, that Martin Luther. What a joker.

How's your day been? Are you feeling on fire or are you having a laid back day? Hope all is well! Baking cupcakes on Monday and I'll post the results. And I'll let you know about the black bean soup :)

Lots To Bake! And Cook

How are you guys doing? Man, I love Fridays. And I also love THREE DAY WEEKENDS!!! Sadly, my husband doesn't get time off on Monday, so I'm going to be home with my crazy cat...who decided to stand on my back this morning and whine? No reason. Just decided that's what she wanted at 6:30am. I think that's why, when we first got her, everyone asked if we were going to have kids soon. Having our cat is like having another small child!!

My plans this weekend and Monday while my husband is at work? BAKE!

Everyone said very nice things about the cupcakes. The groom said he wanted chocolate and vanilla. Which is fine. I still want to bake the banana ones, so I'm going to :-D

So I'm going to see how tasty my Devil's Food cupcakes turn out.


and then I'll try the banana.


THEN! I'm going to be hosting another luncheon for Project O at my church on Valentine's Day! I'm excited, but because of everything else, I've been lacking on the planning. I was thinking about doing a buffet of different types of macaroni and cheese.



Like macaroni and cheese with tomatoes and maybe some with ham (I have a TON of ham in my fridge right now). Then I could have salad and soup and cupcakes!!

What do you think? Would you give me money to eat my mac and cheese?! ;) Money that would go to help build a school for South Africa's AIDs orphans? Or would you prefer something more hearty?

Cupcakes, Cupcakes, Cupcakes (And I'm Feeling Thankful)

It's official!

My sister-in-law and I are making a cupcake cake of around 100 cupcakes for my brother-in-law's wedding. Leaving on a Wednesday night and hoping for the best. :) Trying to figure out that, if we start baking the cupcakes on Thursday, when should we frost them for the wedding?! All the logistics, but I'm excited because I'm a planner.

I was thinking about banana cupcakes with honey-cinnamon frosting because my brother-in-law loves to dress like a banana.



But I might get the kabosh on that one. :) If you were making wedding cupcakes, what cupcakes would you make?

And I haven't done Thankful Thursday in awhile so...



If you'd like to post what you're thankful about, I know that Sonya

1) I am thankful that each day is a new day. Sometimes, I struggle and sometimes I don't. Some days I glory in God and some days I feel that I'm not doing so hot in the Lord's book. But I'm thankful that He lifts me up each day and that He loves me.

2) That I have a very supportive and funny family. My mom called me last night because she was looking at purses and thinking of me. I'm not very girly and don't have a lot of purses (especially for occasions like weddings) but she was thinking of me because of the upcoming wedding.

3) That we have lots of airline miles!! Silly, maybe. But with this wedding, we could have either spent over $400 on airfare OR what we are actually spending...which is $10!!! We've purchased two airline tickets to Ohio for $10. Heck. Yes. It's really helpful because now we can spend that money on flour, butter, eggs, and cupcake liners. :-D

4) I am thankful for my husband. He really took care of me when I was feeling sick. I actually couldn't get out of bed and he helped me through it all with everything. I really appreciated that.

5) For my church. Though we haven't been there in a month due to holidays and illnesses, people at church have been asking how we are and saying that they miss us. It really means a lot to me and shows me how the hands and feet of Christ really work.

So what are you thankful for?!

How Do You Relieve Stress?

My husband has just come back from the allergist who says that most of the welts that my husband has believed were bug bites or cat allergies are actually from stress.



Steve is actually causing these things to appear on himself.

He's stressed about the bed bugs that we (I) THINK are out of our apartment, stressed about money (though he shouldn't be), stressed about work (it's tax season), and stressed about things that we haven't even begun to plan yet. He is from a family of worriers. And it's funny, because that used to be me...

I used to be the one who would freak out and stress and now I'm more (much more) laid back. Now he's worrying about everything, especially things that (I feel) he can't control.

I've been taking a lot of things to prayer lately and have been trying to have no fear because 'what can man do to me?' Not to say that I'm perfect, but I'm worrying less because of it. And I also bake and sing to help relieve stress and worry. I think Steve might need something else too.

How do you relieve stress when you feel like everything is crashing down on you?

Woohoo!

Back on my feet today! Hope everyone is well and had a great weekend!

I'm feeling strong today. Strong in my faith and everything.

Not strong in frosting a cake though. :) I tried and then I got sick. So maybe I'll try frosting it sometime this week.

I've been enjoying a book though. It's C.S. Lewis and it's called The Joyful Christian. I picked up some C.S. Lewis and Dietrich Bonhoeffer before our trip to Hong Kong and I'm still plowing through it.



Also, while I was sick, HBO was playing Death Becomes Her.



OH. MY. GOSH. My sister and I used to watch this movie all the time! And then, this morning, I woke up singing from Sister Act. This was yet another movie that my sister and I would watch all the time. I was thinking of Whoopie getting down to do the 'Hallelujah' in 'Ave Maria.' Do you know what I'm talking about?!



I'm so excited, I'm listening to it on YouTube at work.

Is there anything that makes you think of childhood like that? OOHH MMARRIIAA! Or are you reading any good books?

ALSO!!!

Baby Be Blessed has a new Give A Blessing this month: Malachi Stephen.

Please consider donating to this beautiful child who has suffered so much in his young life, but who is being sustained by God. Even $5 will help. BUT, if you can't offer money, please offer your prayers. The goal this month is $1,000 and Baby Be Blessed is at $390 so far.



They don't have the gift up yet for the first place winner (because when you donate, you get a chance to win a gift from Baby Be Blessed), but you COULD win an adorable doll like this one...



So if you can, please consider it! And visit Baby Be Blessed for more details!

Not Food Poisoning

Because I have it. :( Stomach virus: 5, Danae: 0

Hope you're having a good day!!

Your Favorite Cupcake

FOOD POISONING.

It was food poisoning. Boo. My brother had that on Christmas Eve morning too. But now my hubby is feeling much better. Thank you for your prayers and well-wishes. :)

OKAY! (I'm loving the caps today) So the wedding cake is still up in the air...but there is a distinct possibility that I COULD be making a cupcake wedding cake with my sister-in-law.


Look how cute that is!

So I have a question for you. Obviously the bride and groom (and the bride's mother) get the final say, but I want to know...

What's your favorite cupcake and/or cupcake filling?

Mmmm...cupcakes. :)

I also just want to thank God for today. I hope that you can have a great day too!

Sick

But it's not me. Steve woke up every few hours starting at 1am, throwing up and such. :( He's NEVER sick, so I think that maybe he has something like dengue fever or the plague. He's at the doctor right now and I hope that he knows what's going down. He was supposed to go to a CPA conference today, but he could barely stand up this morning.

Feel better, sunshine!!

My Sweet Spot

Look at all those cute little faces!!

Random side note: Our kitty is back! Steve's co-worker Trudy and her daughter have been watching Vindaloo for almost a month while we were running around. So Vindaloo is back home and sleeping on my pillow and chewing my hair at 3:30 in the morning (I'm still jet-lagged and I was up) and playing with the little thingy that keeps our milk fresh at 6:30am.

I was reading A.R.K. for God before I left for Hong Kong and I decided that, after reading an excerpt from Max Lucado's Cure For The Common Life, that I wanted to read the book.

The goal of the book is to find the gifts that God created you with, how to make a big deal of God with those gifts, and to take a leap of faith with those gifts.

I think I found the things that may help me find my 'Sweet Spot' as he calls it in the book:

-I love researching
-I love organizing (but, apparently, not my apartment...mainly events)
-I love children
-I love foreign cultures and foreign foods

It's interesting. I always said that I NEVER wanted kids, but I've always been good with kids and...don't let this sound weird, they've always been 'attracted' to me. Here's an example: I'm sitting on the train with my friend when I went to school in England (I was...probably 20 at the time.) and we're just talking. A little boy, maybe 2-years-old comes over and pulls himself up on the seat beside me. His mother is slightly freaking out. So I kind of talked to him and he kept calling me 'lady.' He started playing with my purse and I 'played' with him. (I didn't touch him. You don't touch a stranger's kid, but I just kind of opened pockets and stuff on it in a peek-a-boo type thing) And she put him in his stroller after 10 minutes WAY before we got in the station, but I think it freaked her out that her kid just came and plopped down by me. And I just thought it was a funny story, but I have a handful of stories like that...that I never really put together.

I'm trying to find out what I'm meant to do in my life with the gifts that God has given me. I think I'm using some of them, but maybe not to my full potential. I know that Steve worries a lot and he's afraid of things, but I know that when God needs us to move or to do something scary, that we'll be able to do it together, hand in hand (and obviously with a little help, you know. ;) The Big Guy.)

So what's your sweet spot? What were you made to do and do you think you've found it?

A Question For You

So it's not definite yet, but I might be making a wedding cake with my sister-in-law.

ACK! There is definitely a wedding on March 20th for my brother-in-law.

We're thinking of a cupcake cake...maybe like this?:

(But that's a professional cake, so it wouldn't look so spectacular!)

Or I might even...need to learn fondant!!! Which totally scares the crap out of me.

I was wondering...have you ever made a wedding cake? Or anything for someone's wedding? Have you ever used fondant and is it hard?!

And welcome back to the work week!

My Statistics

I was all sorts of excited for this post when I was on the plane! I know...because I'm a huge dork. So here are my statistics for this last trip.

Number of Countries Visited: 3
Number of Languages Spoken in These Countries: 100+
Number of People Who Asked Us About President Obama: 3


Their tag line was 'Want good food? YES WE CAN!' Oh, Philippines.

Number of new foods tried: 5
1. Longganisa (Philippine sausage)
2. Beef tapas
3. Pork tocino
4. Daing na bangus (salted and dried milkfish!)
5. Himalayan yak cheese (We went to a Nepalese restaurant)


Daing na bangus!

Number of arks built to biblical standards in the world: 1
Number of arks that I visited in Hong Kong: 1


The world's only biblically-sized ark! It is HUGE. I can totally see how Noah got all the animals in there.

Number of times I was patted down at an airport: 9

The Philippines are...some what dangerous? There were some kidnappings and...terrorist murders the week before we left. So before you could enter the airport, they patted you down. Then you went into security and they patted you down again. Then I was patted down in Vancouver before being allowed to get back on our plane to New York.

Number of movies watched on airplanes: 4
Number of TV shows watched on airplanes: 6
Number of hours it took to get to our resort in the Philippines: 12
Number of times I want to go back to Kalibo Airport: 0

Number of sea horses used in the medicine for my sister's boyfriend's father: 10+


Traditional Chinese medicine. There is a gecko on there, as well as shark's fins.

Woohoo!! Other side notes: my brother scuba dived in the path of a jellyfish and got a nasty rash all over his face, a woman we think was either mentally unstable or had Turrets (but there is reason to think that she didn't) swore at us in both English and Cantonese, I ate more food out of a toilet, we spent New Year's Eve in Macau at a Cirque de Soleil show, and realized how out of shape I'm getting.

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So how are you doing? I'm good, just tired. I've seen that everyone was posting, but I was unable to read them. I need to go back and do that.

Also, it appears that there is some MAJOR craziness going on in the life of my brother-in-law and he's taking it in stride, but he's SUPER stressed. Could you please pray for him? Also, if you could, visit Arise 2 Write, there's a prayer request there too.