My own little paradise

We've had a very warm winter this year- and while it is definitely welcome in my book- it is making me want spring or summer even more! Last year my parents bought a little vacation home on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and its waterfront! I think about it, and dream about it ALL THE TIME!

Here's the view from our pier- with my pup enjoying the sunrise.

K and I were going to go down there this weekend, but it's supposed to rain... so we are postponing our little getaway. And I don't think Harlie(pup), is happy. She loves the shore, and the first thing she does is run to the pier.

She's lovin life on the boat.

Which reminds me- I need to buy her a legit doggie life jacket before boating season rolls around again....

Cakes

Since I wrote last I've been busy trying different kinds of cakes. I made my own margarita cupcakes from a recipe I thought up of in my head- but they turned out like a limey cornbread! Although, not bad.

My baby belly cake turned out great, although I would do a couple different things next time. This time I bought the fondant- but it was very tough to roll it out. It was heavy and hard. I found a super easy recipe for homemade fondant that I used for my second cake. It ended up only being marshmellows, a little bit of water- put in the microwave until they get big and puffy, and add in confectioners sugar until its no longer sticky.

I would also color the fondant before I put it on the cake- which I tried the second time around and it is easy- but if you are using a lot of different colors it is pretty time consuming.

I've been in a whirlwind of cake making- and I am going to stop making cakes for now- until I have a reason to make one. The belly cake was a practice- and I can do it so that's enough of that for now. I did a firefighter helmet cake for K for Valentines Day- and it was a few days late, and turned out LESS than perfect- but I finished it, and it tasted good! Homemade icing, and fondant included. But wow, it took me forever to finish!!! Next time I try this, IF I try it again, I will change the brim and make it bigger and thicker- but I ran out of this yellow fondant, and did not feel like making more. Plus K was ready to eat it and had the knife out and ready while I was taking these pics.

My dad coaches rec basketball, and has been for a while, even though my brother is in college and definitely too old to play the 13-15 league! But, his team ended their season and I think only lost one game. They had their annual pizza party- so I decided to make a basketball cake and a few cupcakes. I had 6 cupcakes until Harlie decided she was going to grab one off the counter :( The cake and cupcakes were from one box of funfetti cake batter. This was fun because the cupcakes had some fondant, but the basketball cake was just buttercream icing. And it really had to perfect my icing technique- which I really hadn't done before.

Now just waiting for the next holiday when I can make another cake. Off to another 2 week hobby, I'm sure!

Cakes

Yesterday I got a brilliant idea to make a pregnant belly cake for my friend's baby shower. So, I went on to amazon.com, bought some cake pans after researching which pans I should buy and then trying to find the best price. I ended up getting the wilton soccer ball pan for the "belly", and the wilton mini cake ball pan for the "boobies".

While they were in route from Arizona, I went to my local Michael's and really wanted to get started on something. I realized the belly cake will only feed about 10-15 people, so I am going to make cupcakes as well. Now, mind you, I haven't told the Grandmother-to-be, and host of the shower that I am doing this, because there always is a chance it won't work out and then I won't be making a cake for the shower.

I hit up our local Shoprite to grab some cake mixes- and yes, I'd like to try to make my own cake from "scratch", but not right now. I am watching what I eat, so I am going to get rid of these cupcakes to whoever will take them. But, I do want to see if I can decorate them well. First things first!

I will post some pictures when I figure out how this works :)

Very First Post!

I've been wanting to blog for a while now, although I am not sure who will be reading this, if anyone!

My name is Stefanie, and I have two week hobbies.

Now that my little secret is out in the open, I will start to share with you some random(and not so random) hobbies of mine. I seem to get really involved in something, but in approximately 2 week I get bored with it, or more excited about a new project that I end up ditching the old one.

I am not sure if I should be telling you all of this, because you might think I will be ditching this blog in 2 weeks. And I might. I make no promises. But, here goes nuthin'!