Play Doh for adults

Fondant = Play-Doh for adults. :)

Decorating cakes is so much fun. As I was putting together today's cake I was fantasizing about having my own bakery, and I decided that everyone that worked in my bakery should go to work in their pajamas. In fact, the uniform would be strictly Pajamas... and I would name the shop "Pajamas and Pastries"

anyways, here's Cake #3

Retreat!!

Being a military family is tough. It's especially tough on a marriage. The military always come first no matter what, and it effects almost every aspect of our lives. Last weekend we were invited by one of the Chaplains to go to an all expense paid marriage retreat at the Hale Koa resort in Waikiki for 3 days. They offered free child care so we gratefully accepted the offer. Matt was especially excited because this meant a few free days off from work.

We had a great time, it was better than I had expected. I knew going would mean we'd have to take a few marriage classes given by the chaplains (there's a catch for everything), and I assumed it would be death by power point, but really it wasn't that bad. The classes were straight to the point, helpful, and only used a few power-point slides. They gave us lots of goodies and drinks then the rest of the day was ours to spend as we please.

The restaurants at the resort were nice, the room was cute too. Everything was paid for by the Army so we definitely took advantage of the menu's and were not shy about trying anything we desired. One of the date nights we spent roaming around downtown Waikiki, ate ice cream and window shopped. The next outing we went to a military museum, and at one point we bailed Madison out of daycare and took a nice sunset stroll on the beach as a family. Though Madison seemed to have a tough time at daycare for the first time, I think overall she had a good time too.

I hadn't realized it until we were on the way home but this little mini getaway was much needed...even if it was only a getaway to the other side of the island. We came home feeling recharged, I hope we can go to another retreat again soon.

Cake Boss

I love watching cake making shows. My friend Taylor and her mom really got me into them. Back when I worked at Baskin Robins I was given the opportunity to decorate the ice cream cakes at one point, it was so much fun. After my best friend made a fondant cake for her daughter's birthday I decided that I really really really wanted to make Madison's first birthday cake, but I definitely wanted to get some practice first.

My two main concerns were taste and cuteness. So I watched a few videos on how to make a fondant cake, and read some pointers on foodnetwork.com. I also googled some ideas of some designs I wanted to try. Then I headed to Wal-mart and spent what I considered WAY too much on all the cake creating equipment. When my husband found out how much I spent he nearly went into cardiac arrest, but I assured him this was an investment because if I did a good job, then I'd make all the future birthday cakes for the family and it would save money in the long run. He did not seem as enthusiastic as I did, but that all changed when my first cake came

out.

Alright, so my first cake was a decorating disaster, but it tasted fantastic. I used a yellow cake recipe off the internet, whipped strawberry filling, crumb coated the cake with butter cream frosting and used a rolled butter cream fondant to cover it. The problem I had decorating was I was a little too timid with the fondant and ended up folding over one of the sides, plus my butter cream frosting was really liquidy and melted everywhere. I was sad it didn't turn out as I had imagined, but my husband was really sweet and encouraged me to give it another try. My first cake was supposed to go to my co-workers, but I was too embarrassed to bring it in as planned, so my husband brought it to his work.

His coworkers loved it, and they begged for another one. This was just the encouragement I needed, and I got started right away on another one. I decided to step it up by making it a two tiered cake, and got a different butter-cream frosting recipe. This time I had absolutely no problem. I had a routine down already to help the process go more smoothly.

After my 2nd cake came out amazing, I am confident that my daughter's cake will too. My co-workers asked me to make another one for a fellow co-workers baby shower, so wish me luck in that one coming out good too!

Bed, Bath, and BEYOND.

So on my little tropical island we don't have a lot of stores that we enjoyed back home..
just recently they opened their first Target and Victoria secret
then just last Friday came... BED BATH AND BEYOND.

I was so flippin' excited. I went to the grand opening (it was nuts) and walked around in amazement.I began to feel less homesick... Bed Bath and Beyond was one of the stores I truly missed and now theres one 15 minutes away from me.

I loved bed bath and beyond so much I even registered there for my wedding back in 2007. I actually had a few things that were sitting in my upstairs closet that I never got a chance to return. I had 4 sets of fine china that I didn't need, so I asked the manager if I could return it to the Pearl City store even though they were over 3 years old, I didn't have a receipt, and I got them from a store back in California, and he said yes!!

I had no idea how much the china was worth (they were a gift), it was only 4 settings, so I brought them to the store the next day.. and I ended up walking out with a $300 gift certificate, HOLY COW.

The next day I dragged my husband along to help me decide what to spend my gift certificate on.. man, we got A LOT of stuff. I went pretty crazy, I got a huge painting, new curtains, new rods, shelves, random things for the kitchen like measuring spoons and a dish drying mat... it was pretty sweet. Shopping sprees are fun when you don't have to spend your own money. :)

Walk it out

My daughter officially took her first steps at 10 months, 2 weeks, and 1 day old, and I couldn't be any prouder.

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