The First Cake is Here

I started out icing my cake, the lighting isn't great but it is a light green color.

And here is the finished decorated product.  My husband got a little excited about trying it and cut each of us a slice before I realized I hadn't taken a picture yet.  He claims he will remember for next time so I think I'm training him right! 

 In class tonight we learned how to make stars, hearts and rosettes (which I didn't try on my cake but I will next week).  We also learned piping edges with a shell design and a ball design- which is the pink on the bottom of the cake.  

On the top of the cake the yellow design was a sunburst style star and then I made a few green stars.  I put a few stars in yellow and green and some pink hearts around the rest of the cake.  I felt like this was a good start in my cake decorating process.  Bring on the Cake Boss, haha, no way!

Small but Still Cool

I'm using this terracotta pot for my next project. Stay tuned.

Halloween Fun

So I know Halloween was last week so I'm late in posting this but we had too much fun dressing up the animals to not share with everyone.  Hope you have a good laugh, don't worry K and I didn't dress up- we saved all that FUN for the animals......

Copper the dragon
Deja the ladybug
and..
Precious the ghost!
The best part is she wouldn't move at all for like ten minutes and then she tried to hobble around like she was injured.  It was too funny. (Don't worry we only left the cat in the costume for a few minutes, we started feeling a little bit bad after that)

Icing on the Cake

So my new hobby is.... taking a cake decorating class!
I've been waiting to do this for awhile now but I haven't so I decided now is the perfect time.  

My first class was last Thursday where we learned essentially how to put together a basic cake.  I had a list of supplies I would need which included some stuff I'm not so familiar with like Meringue Powder and high density shortening I bought food coloring gel and lots of boxes of cake mix.

So my assignment for the week is to cook 2- 8" cakes and stack them on top of each other, I can choose to put a filling in between the 2 layers or not.  I need to have it iced and ready to decorate for the next class.  We will be making a kids cake.  So I've been looking at cake ideas online and let me say they are either levels above my beginner abilities or they are just plain scary!
 We are just working with butter cream frosting so none of the fondant type stuff will work- just piping, which I have never done.
I need a theme but it has to be fairly simple, any ideas?? Really give me some ideas.

Dinosaurs? Obviously just designed on a round cake, I don't think I'm ready for shapes.  However my husband says he always wanted a dinosaur for his birthday cake, his birthday is in December... hmmm. He also read my blog so I have to make it a real surprise, but don't worry I have something cool planned.

Tropical ? The fish scales are made of fondant so I can't do it this time but I think but one day I will make this fish, I love the scales.

I'm excited to see how my first cake turns out.  And don't worry I will post it regardless of how awesome or how horrible it looks!

I'm pretty sure after this class I will be making cakes like this

and this.

I'll basically be the cake queen, haha, it's a joke. But I think I might be able to make something like this one

or this one

PS on a side note there are some cool people in my class so I'm learning a new hobby and making friends- bonus!

Keeping Busy and Making New Hobbies

So I've been married for 2 months! Wow, the time has gone fast.  Our house is looking good (I know I am working on getting pictures) and I'm getting use to living in San Diego and all the changes I have encountered.  One thing that has been rough lately is feeling like I have a purpose.  I stay busy with the house renovations and Kolbe and I have lot of fun hanging out.  We've been to a few concerts, Carrie Underwood (for me) and Taj Mahal (for him), we went to a Padres/Dodger's baseball game, my first pro baseball game, the beach and hiking and a few other things. But sometimes I feel like I just pass the day away waiting for K to come home.  I knew going into all of this there would be some rough times like getting a little homesick and trying to make new friends.
Some days I feel like I'm doing great and moving forward and making progress and other days I feel lonely and lazy.  I have been applying for jobs and it's frustrating when I don't even get any phone calls or interest in my resume.  Kolbe is great at helping me stay positive and my dogs are great to take hiking and for walks.  I've made a few friends but it isn't quite the same as my old friends.  I guess this is just normal when you relocate which I haven't had to do in 10 years or so and even then I was always within a few hours drive from my family.  But on a positive note it has been nice to have time to sit and read a book or sleeping in or taking my dogs to the dog park (which is cool because we didn't really have them in Utah).  I am loving being married and I learn more about Kolbe and myself all the time.  I love that he is the one person I love seeing anytime, that we can just hang out at night and make dinner (I love making dinner together), watch TV or I'll blog while he plays a video game (which is what is currently happening).  I love that we can have a lazy Saturday or bum around and run errands together and it's better because we do it together.  I love that when I'm grumpy or discouraged he knows just how to cheer me up and make me laugh (which will most often time include some form of tickling torture!)
This post is ending up into a novel, oops.  But through all of this I'm overall super happy and loving my life, it's still a little weird to think that a few months ago my life consisted of living in Utah, teaching interior design, being close to my family and having a house full of roommates and now my life is in San Diego, married and living with a guy (which is so much better then 3 girls!) being 800 miles from my family, no jobs and only a small handful of friends. Regardless of all the changes I wouldn't change it.  However finding a job is next on the list, but in the mean time I'm working on some hobbies and cultivating talents. One of these hobbies includes this blog! More info will come on that soon.  But for now I'm going to give you a hint on what my next hobby is going to be.... Thus the Kitchen Aid.

Remember when I blogged here about trying to be domestic so I bought a Kitchen Aid mixer?  Well I have found a purpose for the mixer, besides making chocolate chip cookies!  Stay tuned and see what I am up to..... any guess?

Neutral With a Punch

A neutral room can have lots of life by adding the right accents; take this room room for instance; it has a great neutral background with white trim, gray sofas and a light gray wallpaper. It is complemented by the bright accents of amethyst and chartreuse. Change is easy in this room, you can change some pillows and accessories and completely give the space a new look.  Change for seasons or mood are relatively easy and can refresh and give new life to a space and give your space a nice punch. 

Crazy Cool

This has absolutely nothing to do with interior design but I saw it on Dooce and that I would share with my blog.  There is some crazy col stuff people can do, it's amazing.