~77~ Two's Better Than One

Cakes that is!

On Wednesday, I finished up the Wilton Cake Decorating Class, Course 2.  And what perfect timing that was since my birthday is on Saturday :)  Throughout the course, we learned how to use royal icing to make beautiful flowers and accents, which we used at the last class to decorate a cake as our final project.  We also learned how do the basket weave design and a couple of new borders that I also incorporated in my cake.
Many remarked that it was a bummer I had to make my own birthday cake, but then I quipped that I honestly love doing it.  I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but I always thought that getting to my a cake on my birthday was a treat for me.  I have always loved decorating cakes - but now, it actually looks like I know what I'm doing…sort of.

Here's how my final project turned out:

In addition to making a cake for my family birthday celebration, I made another one to bring to work and share with my coworkers.  Friday (the day before my birthday) also coincided with Iowa State's basketball team playing in the Sweet 16, so I decided it would only be fitting to make an ISU (birthday) cake.

Not only was some delicious cake had, but I also got spoiled by those dearest to me. 

A few week prior, I went home to MN to visit family and friends and celebrate my birthday with them. In addition to getting some much appreciated spending money, I also got my favorite perfume from Thymes, which is only available in MN (as far as I know), an adorable teapot, and my brother's homemade amazing root beer.  *Cue shameless plug: Seriously, if you're looking to make some one-of-a-kind beer, check out Vine Park Brewing Company in St. Paul, MN.  Jake and his groomsmen went there the day of our rehearsal dinner to brew some beer together, as well as bottle up a 6-pack into their own custom made bottles.  They still talk about how much fun they had almost 3 years later).  

Back home in Grimes, I had a second celebration with Jake's side of the family at our house, where I got some very generous gifts of lunch, Amazon and Bed Bath and Beyond gift cards, we well as Catching Fire on blu-ray! 

Jake really spoiled me this year

He got me a checker board cake pan set, a new walking/jogging belt that holds all sorts of stuff in it securely, Saving Mr. Banks on blu-ray, and best of all, a new cake supply caddy that I've been bugging him about.  During my eight weeks of cake class, I was carrying around all of my tips, colors, spatulas, decorator bags, and class kit in this green bag.  For this OCD girl, it was certainly headache inducing. 

Now, it's all neatly organized in this beautiful tool caddy: 

I have a designated spot for all of tips, colors, and frequently-used decoration tools in the top 

and extra storage underneath for all of the less frequently used items like my fondant, roller, piping gel, gum paste, and molds. 

The actual day was spent in pampering with a massage in the afternoon, dinner, sushi, and drinks at my favorite thai restaurant with the bestest friends, and then bowling and more drinks at the local bowling alley.  I'd say it was the most perfect day :)

~71~Cutting the cake

Sorry for the delayed post! Things have been crazy busy between a math/literacy night at school, homework, getting ready for conferences, watching eating food at the Superbowl, and remodeling our guest bathroom and basement (I'll save that for another post).

Last Wednesday was my last cake decorating class.  We needed to bring a cake that was already baked, filled, and frosted, so I spent Monday night baking and Tuesday night doing the frosting.  I chose a marble cake and filled it with chocolate mousse.  I like to use the Dream Whip mix with instantly chocolate pudding.  It's super easy and tastes really good.

At class, we spent most of the time learning how to make ribbon roses.  Let me tell you, they are not easy!  It took a lot of work to consistently get them to come out nicely.  For myself, it was really squeezing the frosting with lots of pressure while turning the rose nail.  I probably did 479,084 of them before I got one that even resembled a rose.  But, by the time class ended, I had some presentable roses and a pretty nice looking cake.  After placing the roses, there were a lot of gaps, so I filled them with some pretty green leaves.

 I supposed I should give credit where credit is due.  The center rose was made by the course instructor.  She is not only a great cake decorator, but a fantastic teacher as well.

In addition to making my rose cake, I decided to show off practice some of my new skills on a Superbowl cake.  Using the gel transfer trick that I learned in week 2 of class, I put both team's logo in the center and used the team colors to create a pretty border.  The middle of each border was done using a #14 star tip. 

I enjoyed my time in class so much that I've already registered for the next level and will start again in March.

I also have some exciting things to share in the next couple weeks showcasing the changes we've made to our house.  

Until then, 

~40~ Where has the time gone??

 My dear blog followers, I hope that I haven't lost you over the past 2 months.  Honestly, where has the time gone?? It feels like just yesterday the bells were ringing on the last day of school and now here I am about finishing the 3rd week of the new school year.  Thank goodness for a long weekend to get caught up.  So much happened since my last post, and I will do my best to fill you in on all of the details.

*Our Anniversary*
When I left all of you, I was recapping our wedding in the week leading up to our anniversary, and then left you hanging.  For that, I apologize!  Jake and I had a wonderful and romantic first anniversary together-it will be hard to top.  We were still recovering from the expenses of a wedding, so we didn't plan anything extravagant like a trip, but I really couldn't have asked for anything better.  I had the day off and Jake took off work early.  I had planned our overnight accommodations with a suite at the Radisson (if you recall, that's also where we had our reception) and our next day activities, so I tasked Jake with making dinner arrangements.  After checking in and having a drink, we head off to dinner at a French restaurant downtown Des Moines that neither of us had been to, called Django.  I think I found my new favorite restaurant! We share a delicious fromage (cheese) and charcuterie (meat) platter with cheeses and meats from various countries.  Jake had a delicious pasta and I had beouf bourguignon along side a glass of pinot noir.  One of the cool things we learned about Django is that they let you BYOB without any corking fees.  We will definitely be taking advantage of that the next time we go.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel where we enjoyed some complimentary drinks in the bar, our cake topper (which to our dismay did NOT taste good), and champagne that was given to us by Jake's dad on our wedding day.  We also opened each other's gifts.  I got Jake a new laptop to replace the dying one he had (he had no idea!), and Jake being the extremely thoughtful person that he is followed tradition-both old and new-and got me a crystal time piece to put on my desk at work, and a sterling silver heart pendant necklace, along with the artist's other work (paper).  The only downside to the evening was the lack of air control in our room, which made it uncomfortable to sleep, but the Radisson made up for it by refunding half of our room rate! Talk about great customer service!
The next day, we headed out to explore the Iowa Science Center since I had never been there.  We watched an Imax movie about the Hubble telescope, had fun playing around in the gift shop, and learned all about Mars.  It was no comparison to the MN Science Museum, but it was a fun day none-the-less.  Afterwards, we grabbed Zombie Burger to go and headed home.  A very successful 1st anniversary celebration indeed!

If you look REALLY closely, you can see my face!

Who's Rocket do you think flew better?

*A Superhero Birthday*
My BIL's birthday was in July, and I had seen a cake on Pinterest that was beyond perfect for him, so I gave it a whirl.  It was a Captain American theme using his shield for the cake design with an action figure cake topper.  I also designed a card to match, using the tri-fold shutter card template.

*Weddings*
It wouldn't be summer without weddings and this year, we attended 2 in July.  One of them was for close friends and Jake was a groomsman in it.  It was a beautiful and very fun wedding.  It's the last for a while in our circle of friends, so we made sure to live it up.

*Grad School*
On the same day that we celebrated our 1 year anniversary, I also started my very first class in my Master's program, which ended in  the first week of August.  Not only did I get an A in the class, but I actually got 100%!! I was so relieved to know that I can be a teacher AND a student. This past Tuesday, I started my 2nd class in Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment design.  So far, I am enjoying the program and finding that it fits my busy schedule well.  I'm hoping that I will continue to do well amidst the demands of teaching, tutoring, and of course crafting, without too much difficulty.

Well, I know that was a lot, but that pretty much catches you up on what went on the past couple of months.  I hope to do better in the coming months, but I can't guarantee anything.

Until then,