Hello Again

Hello again dear blog...it has been quite a while. Thing have been so busy this May that it has passed me by with only one blog post. We have had Andy's mom and Grandmother staying with us for the last week and a half and I had a major work conference last week and was gone Monday through Thursday. The entire week before that was filled with trying to get the last details set for our conference. I had a lot of fun at the conference and worked my little tail off.
This weekend, I was supposed to run the Bolder Boulder, but while we were working in the yard on Sunday, Blakeley dropped a gigantic shovel on the top of my foot and that stopped any hopes of running the 6.2 miles. My friend Amanda ran that race with flying colors...woohoo!

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.

I want to make cupcakes. I was so inspired by Trophy Cupcakes that I now have this urge to bake all kinds of cupcakes. Have you ever done a Google search for cupcakes? It is amazing! Just look here at this amazing list of pure cupcake inspiration. I have been doing some major cupcake research lately and now I am just waiting for the few hours I need to start creating. Oh, I can't wait!
I have always thought that I would love to have a bakery. I love to make breads and cookies and pastries. I love baking because it feels like such an artful and love-filled process. When I bake it is almost always with someone in mind, normally Andy or Blake, but someone that I love who I want to enjoy something that is made from scratch. I have big plans and many cupcake recipes to try out...I think I want to try a red velvet and cream cheese frosting cupcake recipe first, or maybe a dark chocolate with raspberry frosting cupcake, or even a vanilla cupcake with butterscotch frosting, or how about a coffee cupcake with caramel frosting...so many recipes so little time.

Tree Stump Series

I am always taken by how lush and green everything is in Washington. I came across all these tree stumps and I had to capture their beauty. I love how they are dead and decaying, but there is so much life in them. The life of the moss and other foliage is just so amazing to me. I love how different each stump is and how they have character all their own.

Extended Weekend in Washington

A few times each year we are able to make to trip up to Washington to visit family. We love the time we get to spend there. Washington is such a beautiful state. We got there Thursday morning and went straight away to Trophy Cupcakes. The store is in this old building that was once a high school. I had the most amazing chocolate peanut butter cupcake. Andy a beautiful (yes, the cupcake was actually beautiful) Strawberry Lemon cupcake. Andrea, Andy's mom had a vanilla vanilla cupcake, and Roy had a red velvet cupcake. Blake even had a little mini cupcake. These cupcakes range from $2.50 to over $3.00. They sell around 1,000 cupcakes a day! Can you imagine selling that many cupcakes? They were oh-so-good...if you are in Seattle, you need to visit them and enjoy a cupcake.

On Friday, my hubby turned the big 2-6. His parents had a whole bunch of people over to celebrate. The Dunn's always cook the most amazing food. They made roast beef and had clams...oh the clams are always so goo. They also made the best margarita's ever...I will post the recipe below. Andy's mom made sure he had a margarita that was worthy of a 26th birthday, Andy's sister, Katie and Amber made sure his marg didn't go empty all evening...wasn't that nice of them? We were able to connect with friends we haven't seen in months and we were able to finally meet Sam. Sam was born in January and Blake would have held him all night if he would have let her. We finished off the night with DQ ice cream cake...is there anything better?

We also went to Northwest Trek...it is kinda like a zoo, but better because all the herbivores can roam freely. We saw elk, deer, moose, big horn sheep, and bison. In the predator section of the park, we were able to see bears, cats, otters, raccoons, eagles, and owls. This was so much fun and we had beautiful weather. Blake loved being able to run all over the place and watch all the animals.

On Monday we took the ferry back to Seattle. We went to the Seattle Aquarium. I loved how Blake was able to learn about how the ocean works and the tides move. It was so cool to watch the seals and the otters. We went to Pike Place Market. I love the market. Seeing all the colors of tulips and fruit and vegetables, it is just so much fun. I also love watching all the people. I also made sure we were able to go to the original Starbucks. I love going to this Starbucks and seeing where it all started.

We had such an amazing and much needed visit. Thank you Dunn's for everything, We love you!

The Best Margs's Ever:

1 cup each:

fresh lime juice

lemon juice

powder sugar

tequila - Milagro Anejo Tequila - this is a must!

zest of two limes

zest of one lemon

Mix all the ingredients and let sit in the fridge for 4 hours...be sure to drink all the mix the day you make it otherwise it goes bitter the next day.

Enjoy!