Cake Class Final

I had my final cake decorating class last night.

This class was just making all the different flowers in class and then assembling them on a cake in the final class. We also learned different borders and the basketweave (which Josh stared at in amazement and still can't figure out how I did it!).

Wedding Shower Cake Bites

These are my very first order for Cake Bites. My very first order for someone besides family. Well, not quite, because the orderer was my cousin Sarah, but they were for her friend Sara's wedding shower March 27.

I was so nervous to make these because I am a perfectionist and wanted these to look just right! I think they came out perfectly!

The white is Red Velvet with Cream Cheese frosting and white chocolate coating.

The chocolate is Yellow Cake with Chocolate frosting and dark chocolate coating.

The stripes are the bride's colors - Navy Blue and Yellow.

The couple's monogram

The Cake Bites at the shower (*photo courtesy of Kelsey Bryant via Facebook*)


Sarah called me with rave reviews and hopefully some more orders!! I think for my first time, they turned out really, really well!

Spring has arrived!

Now, I am not talking about the obvious flowers, trees blooming, sunny days, and warm weather.

I am talking about my annual springtime bout of poison ivy. And this year, I have no earthly clue how I got it! I'm starting to think it might be running in my blood! This year is not too bad, just small spots on my inner arms, as well as my stomach. It has been bearable.

This is the 4th year in a row that I have had this crap! It all started in 2007, with the worst case I have ever had in my life.

Looking at this picture, it doesn't look all that bad, but oh my goodness, was it hell on earth! That spot on my left wrist is courtesy of my watch! Apparently in all my blondeness, I didn't think to thoroughly clean my watch after I got done playing in the bushes. Oh yeah, and I forgot to wash the dog's collars, so that was also a source. This picture, also doesn't show the very large spot on my shoulder and the back of my thigh.

This all occured after I went back to Lubbock from spring break at home. They don't have poison ivy in Lubbock. The doctor had never seen what poison ivy looks like! I asked for a prednisone shot to take care of it, but oh no, this guy wanted me to do a week long dose of oral steroids. Well, imagine my "surprise" when after the week, the poison ivy that was starting to look better starting getting worse. And when I went back to the doctor, he told me that he didn't want to give me anymore steroids! Seriously! I almost had a heart attack!

I have now become an expert of sorts on what over the counter poison ivy medicine works the best...I have tried them all! In my experience, Calagel is the best!! Very cooling and soothing. After last year's case, I now use Burt's Bees poison ivy soap. Absolutely a god-send!

And then there are the home remedies. In '07, since I couldn't get any medicine, I had to resort to the OTC stuff and home remedies. I did lots of googling, trying to find some relief. You will find all sorts of crazy stuff that people try! Someone even talked about pouring bleach on it! OMG! Seriously! The absolute best remedy is hot water, scalding hot water. Yes, I said it! When I read about it, I thought is was craziness! But one night in the shower, after almost completely scratching my skin off, I thought I would try it. Start with running warm water over the area, and slowly start turning the water hotter and hotter until you can't stand it. The area will start itching like crazy, but hold steady for awhile. After you get out, the itching will have magically stopped (at least for a few hours). The hot water gets the histamines out, and it feels so good!!

It's never been as bad as it was that year, but now I am armed with an arsenal of tricks to tame it before it gets too out of control!

Here's to spring!!

Alright

I am alright. I just really haven't felt like blogging. I've had plenty to say, but every time I sat down, I didn't feel like writing.

This unemployment thing is getting really old. These past two weeks have been incredibly depressing. I don't have much hope or positivity to keep me going. It really sucks to get an email saying that 'the position has been filled, but feel free to apply for another.' I don't know what else to do about finding a job! Luckily a family friend has a friend here in SA who works for a bank, and he is going to help me find a job! That's a very small bright spot! But that bright spot needs to get a lot brighter fast because I checked yesterday and my unemployment benefits are going to run out in 4 weeks and some change. Talk about depressing!

In the midst of all the "depressingness," I turned 28!! Oh my goodness, I seriously cannot believe I am 28! It just doesn't seem possible! I didn't do much for my birthday. We just hung out at the house and then went out to eat. And Josh got me some Vera Wang perfume, which is my favorite! I have been out for a long time (like 2 years long time), but I have kept the bottle so that I would remember to get some. Josh saw the empty bottle and surprised me! I love it! It makes me happy!

This weekend was Josh's birthday. He took Thursday and Friday off so that we could take care of some stuff around the house. We got most of it taken care of, in addition to some unforeseen problems like the kitchen sink backing up. I am so thankful that I married a man who is handy around the house and can fix things. He's probably saved us thousands of dollars on repairmen! We snaked the pipe a few times, and the sink works like new!

My last cake decorating class is tomorrow and I am so excited to see our finished product. We've just been making flowers in this class, and then we will put them on the cake. I think it is going to turn out very cute!

So, that's where we are. Life is still chugging along. Here's hoping I can catch a break soon!! :)

Gettin' older

Last night, I celebrated my last few hours of being 27 by getting an Orea Blast from Sonic.

I was trying to get down to my pre-wedding weight by my birthday, but last night, I said, 'Screw it! I'm celebrating!!'

This afternoon...

Bayla and I hung out in the hammock for a while. (Please excuse the horrible photo. It was taken with my phone.)

Today is absolutely gorgeous! I took my book outside and while I read, he took a nap.

It was just what I needed!!

Sepia Saturday

This is my great-great grandparents, Jan and Marie Caba. They were both born in Czechoslovakia. Jan in 1850, Marie in 1852. I'm not sure when they came to the US.




This is my grandpa Jim's grandparents on his mother's side. From his stories, Jan was a drifter. He was killed on Highway 290 near Hempstead in 1932. Grandpa also remembers when he was about 4 or 5 years old, Jan coming to the house and sleeping in the yard.

Another story Grandpa told us: The priest in Praha at the time would not let Jan and Marie be buried in the same plot in the cemetary because they did not live together. They were married, but did not live together, so they are buried in separate places.


I love family history and all the stories that you can find out!!

Family visits

This past weekend, I headed home to get in a visit with family. My uncle Ken (dad's brother) and his wife Dawn were in from Malibu, CA, formerly of Vegas. The live in the same oceanside community where Matthew McConaughey keeps his Airstream trailer. We don't get to see them very often, so it was good to catch up with them.

We also ALL got to meet Rach's man, Zack. Poor guy, having to meet the WHOLE family in one day.

The cupcakes with a hot dominoe game in the background

What else? Food. This was before dinner arrived!

I hope I can live to be 91 and still with it enough to play dominoes!

Grandma, my dominoe partner! We kicked Ross and Grandpa's butts!

Rossy-poo thinking very carefully about his next move.

The other photographer

After dinner, we all got together to take some pictures with the grandparents.

This is Nate, my cousin Joel's little one. So cute and chubby!

Fist bump!

My family

The siblings

And the end of the night.

Two of the great grandkids, Gavin & Nate. Gavin was so over it at this point! I think Grandpa was too!

Flowers

I went home this past weekend. As I got closer to the 'burg, I started noticing wildflowers in the median, most likely phlox. I got really excited that maybe there would be some in the pasture behind my parents house. I was very disappointed, but did catch a few.

Just a plain ol' dandelion, but the yellow was so pretty against the brown, wintery grass

The peach tree in my parent's backyard

This is actually an annual winter weed, but I loved these when I was little!

And then, the phlox. There were only a few out, but they are so cute and pretty!

Sepia Saturday

This is my great-grandparents, Frank and Mary Kalina. I believe the children are the oldest 3 of 10 children: Josephine, who as a teenager would become blind; Mattej (Matthew) who married and moved West Texas; and Mary who married and moved to Central Texas.

Spring Flowers

How cute are these?

I think these might be my favorite to date. Although the Valentine's cupcakes were cute too.

I am heading home this weekend to visit with my family and grandparents. My uncle and aunt from Vegas are in town and we are having a big family lunch on Saturday. And I am bringing the cupcakes.

These are vanilla cake with strawberry filling and lemon buttercream frosting. I made the little flowers earlier this week from the leftover icing from my decorating class. I left them out, so they dried out and were easy to work with.

Hello Spring!!!

Blooms on my neighbor's tree.

It's finally getting warm and sunny here and it couldn't come soon enough!