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So I did make one kind of cupcakes this week...a lemon cake with fresh raspberry frosting. I loved how the cake turned out, but I didn't so much care for the frosting. I used a recipe that called for cream cheese, butter, sugar, and of course, raspberries. Instead of having a stiff frosting that I could pipe onto the cakes, this frosting was rather liquidy. I even put it in the fridge for a few hours to set and I still wasn't pleased. I think next time I am going to try to use a whipped cream frosting mixed with the berries...we'll see. I also kinda cheated with the cake...since I was in a rush, I used a box (gasp!) of white cake mix and added the juice of two lemons to the mix. The cake did have a lovely lemony flavor...I was thinking next time of maybe adding a bit of sprite to the mix to see how that changes it. Oh there are so many, many options.

On Saturday, we went to the first Paris Street Market of the summer. I love going to Paris Street because you can find so many interesting things. It makes me want to buy old tea cups and vintage quilts and giant metal flowers for my garden. We first discovered Paris Street about five years ago. It was in this little parking lot at the community college. Each time we would go, we would see the same vendors and started to build relationships with them. The market soon got too big for the little parking lot and it moved to a new shopping center a few miles away. I remember feeling so sad when it moved. I just wasn't the same. It had lost the feeling of the small community. It has now been at its new location for the third summer. Yesterday it was evident that the community feeling had been formed once again. Just like the Warren Miller ski films mark the beginning of the winter season, Paris Street Market is the first real signs of the summer season to come...however it was only 40 degrees when we left the house Saturday morning.

Saturday I also spent the day in the front lawn raking and pulling weeds and planting a few flowers. I am most excited about a Honeysuckle that I hope will twist its way around our picket fence. I was so thrilled with how our yard looked when it was finished and I was also rather sunburned...another sign summer is coming soon.

Tonight, we had some friends over and enjoyed doing a bit of slack lining (Andy lowered the line by a foot so it was much easier to do now) grilled some veggie burgs and made some jalapeno poppers. I am ready for the warmer months to come and this weekend was a reminder of time being spent outdoors with good friends enjoying the long days of summer.