What's up, Cupcake!

EXOTICALLY flavorful and exquisitely beautiful...Pineapple and Coconut Cupcakes. Two secrets: add a splash of pure almond extract to the frosting which helps stabilize the extreme sweetness with a bit of earthy flavor. Finally, put the pineapple chunks on the bottom of the paper casing and then fill with the cupcake mixture. It's like a secret surprise at the end that just makes these little clouds even more delicious!!! These precious works of art took hours to make, but every single second was worth it! I so wish for a smellablog!!!

Simplicity

A friend rescued me from a 48 hour crying session (a.k.a. our first makeover here on Gardenia Island) about a year ago with these beautiful white flowers. Facing the lack of proper flower holding space in the mess of a redo, she sat them upon this old and rickety ladder that was once my mother's. I thought they looked absolutely delicious in front of the new pale blue color of our living room walls. The old rickety ladder has its own story, which certainly deserves its own independent blog. Another time.

P.S. Thanks Alison for the pic!

Cheers ~ stef

Late

It's late and I am still awake. There's something about the house when it is sleeping that intrigues me. I'm not usually up at this hour, but when I am I find myself very interested in the nothingness of the night.

News: Schaeffer lost his first tooth on Wednesday and Madi is now an official driver! They grow up so so so fast!! My family set up Skype so that we can see Madi when she's in Spain. I can't believe she leaves Tuesday!!

This weekend is a no-kids weekend so Kelly and I will be working around the house on a few projects. In particular, I really need to finish recovering the dining room chairs.

This is a rather boring post, I know. Sometimes though, you just gotta blog.

Thoughts and Spain

It's late. Well, for me it is late. It is almost midnight and I just revised a previous blog which means that I should really pull it down in the morning and look at it again. Awake.

My oldest child (OC) and I spent the day preparing for her departure to Spain with things like vision and dental appointments and a meeting with the banker. It was a grande day and yes, I'm nervous that she is leaving the country in order to study abroad, which was my idea. REALLY???!!! STUPID MOTHER!!!!!!!!! STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!!! No...good mother...good, good, good for the OC. Bad for the mother's nerves, but that's our secret. You see, I must NEVER let on that I'm actually scared shitless about this adventure...NEVER!!! I cannot send her across the ocean worrying about mommy's feelings so I must be BS2. BS2 is our little secret, and NO...it is NOT about bullshit!!!

We'll finish shopping and the what-nots next week, and then she'll leave the week after. OH MY GOD!!!! WTF have I done!!!????!!!! Okay, it's okay, she's going to an established school with an established program and it's all very established. So was the Bush administration. NO...I will NOT think negatively. I will NOT!

Till tomorrow...stef