3 times in 3 weeks, I think! First was for a co-workers birthday (another story to go with that later on), second was a practice round with my mom for decorating her mom’s birthday cake, and I made them again last week for the potluck at work on Friday for the UL vs UK football game.

I have gotten it pretty down pat. I use a box mix for the cupcakes, but I have been making the icing from scratch. This time was cream cheese- just a block of cream cheese, a stick and a half of butter, 2 or 3 cups of powdered sugar, and a little bit of vanilla. The secret is in the mixing. I love my Kitchenaid mixer. It said to mix for several minutes. If I was doing it by hand, there’s no way I could do it that long and get it that smooth! It’s a little bit of a hassle to get it set up on the counter (my husband hates to have “rarely used appliances” sit on the counter), but it so so worth it! People always rave about them and it’s fun to have something that people request. It’s a 2 nights process though- first night is baking and cooling the cupcakes and the second night is mixing the icing and decorating.

I also made some chocolates! Using the Cardinal bird molds I got for Christmas. They are super easy!

Here are some of pictures:

And one of my favorites:

It stated at 8:29 at the corner of Bardstown Road and Eastern Parkway. They walked North, toward Downtown and stopped at Bearno’s. Last year (the summer that Michael Jackson died) had a focus/buzz around Thriller and a dance group did the Thriller dance. My mom is a big fan and watched it last year. This year, I didn’t hear anything about the Thriller performance, but once we got to Bearno’s, there was a small group of teenage girls crowded around. We waited what seemed like 30 minutes, but they finally did the Thriller dance. I got it recorded on my phone, but I still haven’t uploaded it yet- but hopefully this week!

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Wow, a busy day with family.

I spent most of the day craft shopping with Angela’s family, including lunch at a Japanese hibachi style restaurant. Angela got an iPod touch, so we spent time setting it up too!

We had our now traditional Friday night dinner with my brother and his wife and Angela.

Then Benjamin and I decided at the last minute to go to the free MC Hammer concert at the fair. We got there as he was finishing the 1st song. I took some videos and will upload them.

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Today, we went to the KY State Fair. It’s our family tradition. Ever since I graduated from high school, I have been able to go. Elementary and High School always started the same week and I wasn’t always able to go, but for about the last 10 years, I have been able to go. There’s normally about 10 to 12 of us.

We got there around 8:30 and I stayed until 5. It’s a long, but fun day. Here’s one of the group pictures.

All 6 of us that entered something, got a ribbon! I got a 2nd place on my bag.

Here is a better image of the cupcakes. I took a dozen to work today to celebrate a co-workers birthday and I brought the other dozen to a family gathering tonight.

My step mom came to town from Arizona and the whole family is going to the State Fair tomorrow!

I got home from work, the gym, and a local group meet-up around 8:45 tonight and I STILL had to make icing ad ice the cupcakes for work tomorrow.

Thank goodness I baked them last night. I made the icing from scratch (butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla) although I had a can on reserve in case something happened.

They turned out okay. I really need to practice icing them.

They are for a co-workers birthday!

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Here is the dough recipe.

Here is the end result. I took more pictures as I made it, but I am still uploading them.

It’s an iPhone picture  Sorry

I dropped off my things this morning.

Here is my Christmas Apron

The Christmas table runner and gathered pillow:

Baby Blanket that I made yesterday:

Patterned on one side and solid on the other:

Baby bib:

Diaper Bag:

Half Apron:

Full apron:

I read this book about a year or two ago and really liked it. She travels to Italy, India, and Bali- so I loved that aspect.

When I found out that they were making it into a movie AND that Julia Roberts was going to be in it- I decided that I wanted to go. So here we are! I hope it’s good!

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I made another item for the State Fair tonight- a baby bib. I’ve made it before and it only took 2 pieces of fabric, so it went pretty quickly.

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