she will be loved

This weekend was a whirlwind of activities.  From a step show (life changing, btw), to an engagement party, to a baby shower, and finally fathers' day, it seemed that the only down time I had was the time to took to drive from location to location.  It's a good thing that I have all week off to recover from the weekends ;) 

The baby shower was for a friend's niece and she had asked if I would do some baking for the occasion.  She had a cute idea to make the cake a onesie and also requested  cake balls (side note: i'm working on a new name for those things.  Something that sounds a little more...appetizing--let me know if you have any suggestions kthanks!).  The cake was a white chocolate cake with a strawberry filling and strawberry frosting.  The cake balls were strawberry cake, and just to go with the pink and brown color scheme, I made devils food cupcakes with strawberry frosting.  The shower was beautiful and the mommy-to-be recieved lots of goodies for her little bundle of joy!

dixieland delight

because....

• it is summer

• I live in the south

• it was 92 degrees outside

• I hadn't used my ice cream maker yet this year

•  I had some very ripe bananas

• Joy the Baker planted this fabulous idea in my head

...and mostly because being a good southern girl means I never need an excuse to make a dessert (yes, that is a fact-you can check the handbook), I did just that.


It is with great pleasure I introduce to you:

Banana Pudding Frozen Yogurt

 

(I'll give you a moment to regain your composure...)


Joy actually made Banana Pudding Ice Cream, which lets be honest, is probably much more tasty.
But since I already had some yogurt on hand (and for the sake of not having to pay for it this week when I meet with my tyrannical zealous trainer), I went with frozen yogurt. 

It was fan-freakin-tastic! With chunks of banana and nilla wafers mixed in the batter, it was everything a girl could hope for.
(not to mention super easy--yogurt, banana instant pudding mix, a banana, crushed nilla wafers) Yum!

life is a highway

It's official.  I'm old.

Memorial Day weekend my little brother graduated from high school.  It was a wonderful, long weekend spent with family- my parents' home was nearly busting at the seams with guests.  I hope that John knows how proud we all are of him!

It was a night that he won't soon forget.  Storm clouds threatened rain all day, and after checking the weather roughly 482 times, we all loaded up and headed to the football field.  After an hour rain delay, the sky cleared and the ceremony began.  The stadium was brimming with spectators as the graduates filed onto the field.  The speakers gave their rousing accounts of past-present-future living, and then it was time.  Time to call the name of approximately 400 students.  Apparently, as we were listening to the speeches (feeling as if we had really dodged a bullet), the clouds had snuck up on us.  At the call of the first student's name it started raining-buckets!  Like a choreographed dance, umbrellas were raised and people huddled under whatever makeshift cover they could find.  We were the lucky ones though.  The graduates just had to sit there.  In their full-length polyester robes, and their cardboard caps, with their chairs sinking into the soggy ground, for the other 399 names to be called.

Oh well, it makes for a good story I guess.  Years from now it will be one of those days he will be able to laugh about when he runs into fellow classmates as they reminisce about "the good ol' days."

Because my brother is of the rare breed who don't like cake (...or brownies, or cookies-yeah i know, weird. I don't get it either, but those people actually exist!), I ventured from traditional cake.  With the help of my 9 year old cousin, Sam, I made dirt cake.  He was really a team player and took on the challenge of making sure that it was safe for everyone else to eat {read: licked the bowl} ;).  The cake was fun to make and everyone seemed to enjoy it--even John ate it (talk about a feat)!

 

 

Senior Day 2010