Captain Jack

Maggie took this wonderful picture of our beloved kitty Captain Jack. It brings me back to when I used to watch Sesame Street and my favorite little song they used to play. I couldn't believe I looked for it it on Youtube and it was there!! Does this bring you back?

Day after election day!!

Senior!

Brandon is doing really well so far his Sr. year. I can't believe he's almost 17. He's been planning for his future after high school. After his trip to Korea he was definitely bit by the traveling bug. He wants to go back and visit Japan and other parts of Asia. I'm hope that he can do a ton of traveling, something I wish I would have done more of when I was his age. Keep up the good work Brandon, I'm very proud of you!

Defying Gravity

WICKED in San Francisco!! Maggie and I were able to go to a party in Union Square to welcome Wicked the musical back to the City. They gave away all kinds of Wicked swag.. cookies, lip gloss, GREEN sun screen, Wicked water, and a plethera of good stuff. They had a Wicked singing contest and MK was ready to sing "Popular". She was the first out of 20 other contestants of all ages. It felt like American Idol when they were going to announce the top 3! They called the other 2 girls first, then Maggie!! I of course knew she was totally awesome, but I was so glad to see the people at Wicked did too. She ended up being runner up and won a t shirt and CD. The girl that won got tickets to an upcoming show. She was SO CLOSE and I was so proud of her. She belted out that song in front of all those people in Union Square. I have it on video, so I'll get that up for you all to see soon.

After the competition we got to see the main actresses of Wicked sing and then we got to meet them and get autographs. Of course MK had to get her face painted green just like Elphba. We hope to go see Wicked again next spring and we highly reccomend you to go RUN and see it too!!

Humpty Dumpty COOKIES

Maggie had a wrap party for the Fairytale Town troopers and we made fun cookies for everyone! How do you think we did? I think it looks alot like Humpty!! It took FOREVER but it was fun and I have this big tub of different cookie cutter shapes that I can't wait to try. They were very tasty and a big hit at the party. The director gave all the kids little Humpty Dumpty bobble heads for participating.

My SUPERSTAR!

Maggie as Annie. I'm soooo proud of her, can you tell?

Cupcake Envy

It all started a few years ago. I was in Washington D.C. with Leo. He had a conference and I was exploring the city. One of my favorite places to go was the Smithsonian Museum of American History. After a wonderful day of exploring this amazing place I was going to meet Leo at the cafeteria in the basement at the Smithsonian. I wasn't hungry for dinner, but I thought something sweet would just perfect. Then I saw them. Beautiful fluffy baby blue cupcakes. Quite simple, just buttercream frosting and a vanilla cupcake but it was divine. The best cupcake I have ever had.

Since then I have been on the search for perfect cupcake and I have not found it yet. To my delight I have recently discovered some wonderful blogs dedicated just to cupcakes. One of my favorites is I Heart Cuppycakes. She has a wonderful variety of different flavors such as Creme Brulee and Midori Melon Mojito Cupcakes AND she shows you how to make them. She is also on a quest to figure out the best way to ship a cupcake and I'm thinking of trying that out to see if it works to send to some friends back East. Another fun site is Cupcakes take the Cake, showing wonderful tempting photos of cupcakes from bakeries and kitchens from all over. My favorite are the ABBA cupcakes in honor of Mama Mia! (which I am listening to this very moment. I LOVED the movie it was so much fun and makes me want to run away to Greece!) 52 Cupcakes has great decorating ideas, really clever!! And of course after all that you are going to need Cupcake Rehab..YES, YES, YES!!

While Leo and I were in San Francisco last weekend we came upon Kara's Cupcakes. We tasted the Sweet Vanilla, Java and Banana. They were very good, but not as good as my D.C. cupcakes. I thought they were rather small, especially for the price and I was a little dissapointed with the lack of variety. The fondant flower on the top of the cupcake tasted really weird. I have never tasted fondant before so maybe that is the way it's supposed to be.



So I thought maybe if I can't find the perfect cupcake maybe I'll have to bake them myself. I have always wanted to try a Red Velvet Cake. I think it might be more of a Southern thing because it is something I have never tried. I found this receipe Mom's Red Velvet Cake/Butter Cream Icing and I have to say it turned out pretty wonderful. Of course I made cupcakes instead of the cake. You actually need 2 oz of red food coloring and I only had one so next time I'll have to try 2. I subsituted 1 oz. of milk for the food coloring so it wouldn't be dry. Leo and I ate most of them. The kids didn't like them so much because they were "different" and not the traditional chocolate or vanilla. Next time I'll have to do Chocolate for them. So what do you think? Do you like my pretty cupcake? Still not the perfect cupcake, but I'll find it again if I have to hop on a plane to D.C. to find it!!