dear universe.

you knew that mark and i were starting a certain-dvd-based-excercise-program-that-shall-remain-nameless-because-i-said-i-wouldnt-mention-it-for-a-while and its coordinating meal plan. some may even go so far as to call it a diet. you knew that this meant that i was swearing off the sweet stuff for a while. you knew that this would be hard for me, the girl who has been known to snack indiscriminately on anything from skittles to oreos to jellybeans to nutella-covered-marshmallows and anything inbetween.

i decided this would be good for me. i told myself i could do it.

but seriously universe?! what gives? i decide to stop eating sugar and sweets and treats, and you go and reward my health-conscious choices with not one, but FOUR parties in a week!??  thats just cruel. do you even know the pain it has caused me to turn down ice cream cake, toffee bars, bridal shower cake, chocolate chip cookies (twice!), brownie cookies, chocolate chunk brownies, pumpkin roll, AND ultimate chocolate birthday cake? all in the past 5 days!!?!

we are fighting. (but not really please dont strike me dead with lightning)

love always, Mando

secret's out!

want to see what i was up to while the hubs was dutifully painting the kitchen this weekend? of course you do. because i've been dying to tell you about it.

Saturday was finally the day of my sister-in-law's surprise bridal shower!

you guys. i've been keeping this a secret since Christmas. and its been killing me not to be able to ask for ideas, or share any progress pictures, or even sneak peeks for three whole months! Victoria is one of the smartest people i know and it is next to impossible to surprise her. even the slightest slip-up in a conversation, or posting a picture of the spraypainted spot in my backyard, or even mentioning that i had a secret project going on would have tipped her off that something was up. she's just good like that.

since we were expecting a pretty good-sized group of ladies, and in order to keep Victoria from getting suspicous of any extra cleaning going on at her house, (especially during tax season!) we used the church as our location. it worked out really well because we were able to use their tables and chairs, which saved us from having to rent anything.

i was mostly in charge of the decorations for the shower, so of course the first place i went for inspiration was pinterest. (ps. dear pinterest: please look into making an option for private pin boards for planning surprise-type things. pleaseandthankyou.) after looking around a bit, i found a few images that i really liked, and decided that the main colors for the shower would be pink and orange, with a 'theme' for the decorations of burlap and lace. the tables were each decked out with a white plastic tablecloth, a burlap runner, and centerpieces compiled of various glass containers.

each individual centerpiece was different, because i wound up with a wide variety of glass bottles and jars to decorate and use. some jars were wrapped in just burlap, others with burlap and lace, still others with ribbon, and the smallest ones were accented with twine. some bottles were spraypainted pink, others were cool enough on their own to not need any embellishment at all. the flowers were orange tiger lilies from a local florist, because those are Vic's favorites.

the circle backdrop that i made for behind the food table was another idea that i found on pinterest. i was lucky enough to find a pack of cardstock in (close-enough-to) the right colors to work. i used the bottom of a large paint can to trace the circles, and then spent a few evenings punching all the holes and tying them all together with light pink ribbon. we hung it on the wall using command hooks, because they would come off of the walls easily after the shower, and because i already owned them.

the amazing food was a group effort by Vic's mom, her future mother-in-law Stacy, and her aunt Denise. everything that could be made pink was made pink, and i think i may have developed a slight addiction to the cake batter fruit dip.

and then there was the cake, which was the handiwork of Victoria's aunt Gail and cousin Lauren. this thing practically stole the show, as it was by far the most impressive thing any of us had ever seen. it had three layers. each layer was a different flavor. (lemon, chocolate, and strawberry... mmmm) the icing was better than i have seen from some professional bakers. and those flowers? they are made out of icing and are completely edible. absolutely mind-blowing. and did i mention delicious? because yeah, that too.

on the overflowing gift table there were three baskets: one for cards, one for people to write their address on envelopes for thank yous, and one for the recipe cards that were sent out with the invitations. i found the particular ones on etsy, because it was nearly impossible to find any cute ones in real stores. the best part about these is that they were delivered as a pdf, so we could just print as many as we needed, and Victoria can print even more if she wants all of her recipe cards for all time to match without having to pay for them again.

we got Victoria to the church under the ruse that her fiance, Russell, had volunteered them and a few other friends to do the church's weekly cleaning before going to another function later that evening. it was hard to keep track of all the stories we had to spin, and lies we had to tell, and false rabbit trails we had to concoct to keep her thrown off, but it was worth it to get her the whole way through the door before she figured out what was going on. she was completely surprised, stunned even, and kind of speechless for a few minutes. 

the other bridesmaids, Marlene, Sarah, Melissa, Kelli, and Lauren, did a wonderful job with the games and prizes. by far my favorite game (and the only one i have pictures of) was the toilet paper wedding dresses. everyone got involved and had a lot of fun, and some of those dresses were extremely detailed for being made out of nothing more than TP and some tape!

 and then my camera died. because of course it did. so sorry for my utter lack of any pictures of Vic opening any of her zillion presents, or of her wearing her fabulous bow hat/bouquet, or of all of the bridesmaids together with her, (oh wait, thats because we never took that one. oops!) or the fantastic clean-up crew that showed up to help us get the church back in order for Sunday morning.

this shower was truly a group effort, and it took hard work and cunning and even a few lies from everybody involved to pull it off. i can't thank everyone enough for all the efforts that went into this from so many different fronts. it was a ton of fun to put together and attend, but i am kind of very much glad that it is over. keeping secrets is some serious bidness, y'all!

anyone else have any secrets to share? i think if nothing else this whole experience proves my ability as a good secret-keeper...

let's do the time warp again.

time warp - (n) a hypothetical eccentricity in the progress of time that would allow movement back and forth between eras or that would permit the passage of time to be suspended.

we spent last weekend in the most delightful time warp at my sister Stasi's house in WPA.

when we woke up on Saturday morning, it was Christmas all over again! there was a beautiful tree, an abundance of presents, and the best sisters, brothers-in-law, and niece and nephew who were all VERY excited to be all together in one place.

presents were opened in an unorganized flurry of wrapping paper and boxes and shouts of joy and excitement. the spoils included all sorts of happy things: tailgating stuff, bike stuff, sewing stuff, sleeping bags, a new camera, games,  toys, and enough chocolate to keep us all nice and hyper for at least a week.

and if that weren't awesome enough, we also got to celebrate New Years all on the same day! we spent the afternoon preparing for the big party full of family and friends and food and drink and games and even a fancy cake. because a party just isn't a fancy party without a cake. a fancy cake.

Claire designed it. Aunt Stasi baked it. Nick helped with the icing.

it was one of the fanciest cakes i've ever seen. just check out those delicate piping details and the way the flowers just pop right out at you. and it was delicious too. really, what more could you ask for in a cake?

it was a very great, very fancy party with fabulous people. we played fun games and ate good food and laughed til our stomachs hurt and almost lost track of time. but we managed to squeeze everyone into the same room just in time to watch the ball drop at midnight.

it was a fantastic way to end 2011. it was a fantastic way to kick off 2012. it was hard to come back home to my quiet house with its piles of laundry and dishes. it was sad to look at my Christmas decorations and know that i will have to take them down soon. i miss my sisters. i miss my BFITW.

let's do the time warp again. soon.

One, Part Two.

and/or How To Freeze Your Cake and Eat It Too. 

so i told you all yesterday about our super-special low-key anniversary plans. dinner at home, watch our wedding video, open our wedding jar, and eat the top tier of our cake. out of all these pretty standard anniversary events, one of the most anticipated was definately the cake. did it survive an entire year in the creepy downstairs freezer? would it be edible, or moldy, or frozen solid like a big cakey icecube? what did it taste like in the first place? (turns out neither of us ate any of the cake when it was fresh) did we ever actually take it out of the box and wrap it up? which one of us did that anyway?

only one way to find out. 

 we trekked downstairs to the far corner of the basement where the creepy old refridgerator resides. we opened the freezer door, and lo and behold - there was something wrapped in aluminum foil. a good sign.

we figured that whatever was in that package would thaw better if it were unwrapped, so thats what we did. after removing three pieces of clear packing tape (yeah i don't know why either) and the first layer of aluminum foil, we found ANOTHER layer of aluminum foil covering what we were assuming to be the top tier of our cake.

peeling back the second layer revealed a layer of plastic wrap...

...followed by a layer of wax paper. apparently whoever wrapped this thing up meant serious business.

and it turns out that inside all that wrapping was indeed the top tier of our wedding cake, just like we remembered it. and take a look at how good this thing looks after an entire year in that getup!

I transferred the cake from its plethora of protective layers onto a plate for mostly aesthetic purposes, and let it sit for a bit.

while we waited for dinner to finish, and the cake to thaw, we listened to our wedding music and opened our first wedding jar.

inside the jar was a plethora of good advice, a copy of the BFOTB's speech, a few reminders about the outcome of the football game that day, and not one but TWO warnings about the cake. specifically, not to even bother with it.

well that only made us more curious to see how ours survived its year in the freezer, so after dinner we decided to chance it and cut ourselves a piece. (and i would just like to say that i was pleasantly surprised to find that my cake-cutting skillz have greatly improved over the past year)

time for the moment of truth...

the verdict: it tasted like cake. not particularly good cake, but the kind of cake you would expect to get from a grocery store bakery. which incidentally is exactly where our cake was from. we each ate a whole piece, and since we're not puking our guts out today, i would have to call this adventure in cake-freezing a great success!

 additionally, i would like to take this opportunity to apologize to everyone who did eat cake at our wedding and then spent the rest of the evening with green teeth. my bad.

our only dilemma now that the cake turned out to be edible and reasonably tasty is that we're having a hard time justifying just throwing it out, which is what we were planning on doing. so you tell us: what should we do with the rest of our cake? feed it to my coworkers? have a second wedding reception? wrap it up and leave it on a strangers front porch? the possibilities are almost endless...

how to make the most amazing birthday cake ever.

a little while back, i mentioned my pinterest-inspired art project and how it turned out. this weekend, it was my sister's turn to attempt something that she had pinned for my niece's 4th birthday: the cake. it was quite an adventure, and we think it is only fair to everybody else who has pinned this cake that we share our experience of attempting it.   

8:00 pm - put the kids to bed. it's time to get your bake on! you have inspiration and a recipe and are ready to knock this thing out!

8:35 pm - realize that your organic from-scratch cake batter is looking more like cookie dough. this may not have been the best time to try a new recipe.

8:37 pm - consult with sister as to the best course of action.

8:38 pm - shrug, add some more milk, and carry on.

8:43 pm - gather every large vessel you own. split batter into 6 equal parts to dye all the colors of the rainbow with food coloring gel (except for indigo, because is that really even a color anymore?)

8:54 pm - abandon all now-dirtied large pots in favor of dirtying all the cereal bowls instead.

9:15 pm - put first four layers into parchment lined pans. cross your fingers and close the oven.

9:21 pm - ignore hubs inquiry as to whether or not he smells fire.

9:30 pm - confirm that something was indeed burning. but at least it wasn't the cake! make a mental note to trim the parchment paper to fit the pans next time... 

9:32 pm - express disbelief that this is really how your awesome cake is turning out. 

9:45 pm - try to determine how to proceed from this point. does a birthday party really NEED a cake?

10:05 pm - do not even bother to attempt to bake the final two layers. just trash it all. curse pinterest for putting this idea in your head.

10:14 pm - head to the grocery store.

10:22 pm - semi-seriously consider just buying a generic grocery store birthday cake.

10:23 pm - pick up boxed cake mixes and two cans of white buttercream icing. ready for round two.

10:45 pm - mix up cake batter in no time flat.

10:58 pm - use two cake mixes to make six layers of multi-colored cake. bake in oiled-and-floured pans in lieu of messing with parchment. they all turn out great.

11:45 pm - use both cans of icing to stack and dirty ice the cake. make a mental note to get more icing before the party.

12: 10 am - put cake in fridge for the night. vow to clean up the kitchen in the morning.

12:13 am - go to bed.

1:12 am - wake up, confused to hear a soothing woman's voice crooning something about BEEP BEEP BEEP CARBON MONOXIDE BEEP BEEP BEEP

1:13 am - turn off the detector. contemplate just going back to sleep.

1:14 am - figure it's probably in your best interest to call the fire department instead.

1:17 am - two firetrucks bearing some of New York's finest arrive. they inspect the house, and take readings to determine the source of the elevated CO levels.

1:23 am - the source is determined to be the oven. apparently extended baking with all the windows shut will elevate levels just enough to trip the alarm. stupid cake.

1:24 am - realize the disastrous state of your kitchen while the firemen wander about your house. kind of regret decision to clean up in the morning.

1:25 am - open all the windows and wait for CO levels to normalize. 

2:03 am - firefighters leave, looking a little disappointed that they didn't get to rip down any walls or anything.

2:05 am - go back to bed.

6:28 am - the kids wake up, because they somehow managed to sleep through all the midnight excitement.

11:45 am - husbands return from their morning excursions (on which they took the car with the carseats and ALL THE KEYS) with two more cans of icing, among other things.

12:03 pm - use another can and a half of icing to cover the cake. (that's three and a half total, if you're counting.) decorate with skittles, a detail you added yourself to give the cake more flair.

2:32 pm - light the candles. sing happy birthday. 

2:33 pm - the birthday girl makes a wish, and blows out the candles.

2:35 pm - cut the cake. jumping up and down while shrieking "ohmygosh it looks so great!" is entirely optional and might get you some wierd looks from other partygoers, but it's also completely appropriate behavior. honest.

2:37 pm - serve to the birthday girl with pride and ENJOY!

so the moral of this cake story is that it can be done, but you might want to have a backup plan. and plenty of icing. and a few hours to kill. and some firefighters on speed dial, just in case. 

so now that you know just how exciting a pinterest project can be, who's next?