Wit, Wisdom & Wishes

A few weeks ago, my good friend Kailee had a wedding shower. I volunteered to be one of the hostesses, and my job was to put together a book so people could give marriage advice or words of encouragement to the future Mr. and Mrs.

Jason and I saw this as the perfect opportunity to use our letterpress again. So I created a design and Jason did all the letterpress work. We were really happy with the outcome. It was our first time to use colored ink and do two runs on a single project.

Sugar Rush

Devil's Food cake = rich
Peanut Butter = creamy
Dark Chocolate = sweet
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups = smooth

Mix all of these ingredients together into a cake, and you can go into a sugar coma.

But that's what Jason wanted. That is, a cake with all of these ingredients, not the sugar coma–although he got that too.

I made the Peanut Butter Cup Cake recipe from Bakerella.com:


The cake turned out really good, but it was so rich, I couldn't finish my piece!

I started with one Devil's Food cake mix.


Then I beat 3 eggs, 1 cup of buttermilk and 1/2 cup of vegetable oil into the cake mix.


Chop 2 cups of peanut butter cups and fold them into the batter.


Oops, someone didn't add peanut butter to this Reese's.


I used about 35 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in the batter.


Pour the batter into two 9-inch pans and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. I baked mine an extra two minutes because a toothpick didn't come out completely clean at 30 minutes.


Let the cakes cool completely.

Chop 8 ounces of dark chocolate. I used dark chocolate chips and semi-chopped them.


Bring 1 cup of heavy cream to a boil and then pour over the dark chocolate.


Whisk until the chocolate melts.


Add 1/2 cup of peanut butter...


...and whisk until smooth.


Place one of the cakes on a cake stand. Trim the top so that it is flat. Pour one cup of frosting on top and spread evenly.


Add the second cake layer.


Pour the remaining frosting on the top and sides, and smooth over the cake.


This is where it got tricky. The recipe said to let the frosting set for a minute and then gently press chopped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups all over the top and sides of the cake. When I did that, the frosting wasn't cool enough so it started to drip off due to the weight of the peanut butter cups. So I stuck the cake in the refrigerator for about 6-7 minutes. When I took the cake out, the frosting had cooled, so it was able to hold the peanut butter cups. Then I just kept adding more and more Reese's until the cake was completely covered.


Put the cake back in the refrigerator for about an hour so it can set.

I was so proud the cake looked good–and tasted good! Next time, I think I will pair it with vanilla ice cream since it was so thick and rich.


If this doesn't fix your chocolate craving, I don't think there's anything out there that will!

$1.08...

...is what I paid for this lovely Michael Kors dress.


A local consignment shop was going out of business last week and everything was $1.00. You can't get much better than that!

Celebrating

Yesterday was Jason's birthday...


We invited his family over for dinner to celebrate. Jason made a delicious brisket...


We also had beans, salad, baked potatoes and peach tea. I made a chocolate chip pie for dessert. Jason found the recipe a few weeks ago and said he wanted that instead of a traditional cake. The pie turned out to be very tasty! It tasted like a big chocolate chip cookie. Now, what you can't see is that before I baked the pie, I spelled out "Happy Birthday" on the top with mini chocolate chips. I didn't take into account that the pie would rise, or the chocolate chips would sink, or whatever happened, because it totally disappeared. Do you know how long it takes to spell something with mini chocolate chips? Take it from me, it takes awhile.


Jason opened his presents and blew out his candle...well, of course, after he finished texting...


We had a great time celebrating with Jason's family. I'd say he had a pretty good birthday with good food, good company and Best Buy gift cards!

S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G it out

Hilarious
Attractive
Provider
Playful
Yard master

Big-hearted
Irresistible
Ridiculously good cook
Tech-savvy
Honorable
Devoted
Always supportive
Yahoo! It's your birthday! (Cut me some slack, Y is hard!)

Happy Birthday to you, Jason! I love you so much!

Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend was crazy busy. My good friend and co-worker, Abie, had her wedding this weekend. She asked me about 16 months ago when she got engaged if I would help coordinate her wedding. So I coordinated her fiancé’s Tool Shower, Abie’s Kitchen Shower, General Shower, Lingerie Shower and Work Shower. I also helped her make the bridemaids’ bouquets. She wanted ribbon bouquets instead of live flowers. The bouquets turned out beautifully! (Sorry for all the bad pictures – they were taken from a phone)


I took a half-day off from work on Friday because Abie scheduled all of her bridesmaids, mom and me to get a pedicure. It was a lot of fun. It’s been so long since I’ve had a pedicure, so it was nice to get pampered! That night was Abie's rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

Bright and early Saturday morning, Jason and I met Abie and Lance, the wedding party and both families at the building where the wedding and reception was to be held. It started out as a completely empty room. We pulled out all the tables, organized them, put the chairs out, decorated the tables, put chair ties on the chairs, set up the sign-in table and picture table, put decals on the windows, etc. I even helped make the altar arrangements.


In the early afternoon, Jason and I ran home to change and clean up. When we came back, we helped with some of the final decorating touches.

Abie designated me as the coordinator for the whole wedding so I had to make sure all the family and groomsmen had their corsages and boutonnieres, I told everyone when to start walking down the aisle, I told the musicians when to start and stop playing, I gathered everyone for pictures, etc. It was crazy! I was really nervous, but had fun. Everything seemed to go smoothly, so I was really glad.


This picture was taken while I was passing out the boutonnieres. See the tray on the table next to me? By the way, boutonnieres are really hard to pin on people. I had such a hard time!

Sunday was Jessica's graduation breakfast at church. Last week, I had been making centerpieces and decorations for her table. Jason's mom and his brother's girlfriend set up the table on Saturday since I was helping with the wedding. When I got to the breakfast on Sunday, I made three small floral arrangements (for the vases below) for her table. The breakfast was nice. They had a picture slideshow of all the seniors growing up.

I spray painted the pot below, wrapped ribbon around the top and added buttons to accent. I cut out letters to spell out "Jessica" and "Frenship" – her high school. We put a tree branch inside (secured by river rocks) and hung pictures of Jessica and some of her awards from the limbs. Kathy added blue and yellow flowers at the bottom to hide the rocks. I also used cans as vases. I wrapped scrapbook paper and ribbons around them. At the breakfast, I put blue and yellow flowers in them.


And finally, on Sunday afternoon I went to my friend's baby shower. What a weekend! Next weekend: another wedding and Jessica's graduation!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday To You…


Today is my sister’s birthday.

Andrea always makes me laugh.


Happy Birthday To You…


She has great decorating taste.

She loves cupcakes, shopping, flirting, reading magazines, playing games and cooking.


Happy Birthday, Dear Andrea…


She is a great listener, baker, supporter, advice-giver and dancer.

She is beautiful inside and out.


Happy Birthday To You!


Have a wonderful birthday, Andrea! Love you lots!