birthday

today is my birthday. and i've reached the last year of my 20's. AAAHH. where did the time go?? this morning my mom asked me if i felt older....and now that i've been thinking about it for a few hours, i do feel older. WAYYY OLDER. ancient, even. okay, maybe not.

here's a little story about cake by hyperbole and a half:

enjoy!

wedding cake &flower girls

i love cake. seriously, LOVE cake. and quite honestly, i'm not big on fancy shmancy cake flavors either. fruity cakes don't really do it for me, although i won't turn down a piece if offered :) i like vanilla or chocolate....or even better: CONFETTI cake!! you remember confetti cake right? the kind with the little rainbow dots in it? it's like a party in your mouth!

here's a sorta crappy pic of what we want:

(sorry i don't remember the link for this - found on a google search)

except with the colors reversed - red dots & aqua background. oh and no sticks.

which will match (by coincidence) the flower girl dresses:




awesome!!!!!!!!!

birthday

i had a good birthday this year. it was at the tail end of a long weekend. i turned the big two - eight...i feel like i've officially entered my late twenties. so that means i should be older, wiser, & confident, right?

this year was extra special because it was the first time bfff & i were able to spend my birthday together in alaska. (there was one other time but we were in seattle.) every other year he's been out of town due to work. bfff set up this big dinner at one of my favorite restaurants and ordered the most delicious cake. here are some pics from the evening:

bfff actually did not hit my eyeball, but it was close. sweet hat, no?

opening presents (3 generations of my family!)

my super special awesome birthday cake, thanks to bfff

tadgear softshell - gift from bfff. i have been eyeing this coat for months.

after dinner & getting ready to go home

i laugh out loud every time i see this. it's titled "picture face". ask my mom :)

i had such a fun evening with some of my favorite people! too bad puppy couldn't be there. but then we'd never be able to eat there again.

i wonder what 28 has in store for me this year....

no coconut birthday cake please

photo from wikipedia

i've never been a big fan of coconut. those white, chewy, dried pieces just don't do it for me. now, when i lived on guam, i remember seeing palm trees with bunches of coconuts for the first time and thought "holy crap! real coconuts!" but that didn't make me want to eat them. i did try some fresh coconut though, and it is a gigantic leap up from that dried stuff at the grocery store.

on to my story...when i was too young to remember, my mom made me a coconut cake for my birthday. i think she said it was pink too. after eating some cake, i apparently got really sick. thank goodness i can't remember that. maybe i just blocked it out of my memory. i'll spare you the gory details, but as you can imagine, it was pretty bad. and from that experience, i believe i gained an intense dislike for coconut, pink, and throwing up. i've grown out of my dislike for pink though, but the other two are still high on my list.

TMI? yes, definitely. but now you know why i'll politely decline that coconut birthday cake you're thinking about making :)

labor day weekend

i hope everyone had a great long weekend! i'm still getting caught up, as you can tell, since it's already wednesday and i haven't posted anything. bff & i helped out at a defensive pistol course all day saturday & sunday. it was a great class - everyone was tuned in, the weather was gorgeous, and it was a lot of fun! (doesn't hurt that i got to do some shooting too.) puppy met lots of people and was pretty good for the most part...except for the chewed seatbelt buckle. but it still works. we also had a chance to catch up with some friends sunday night. it seemed like its been forever since we've seen them!

monday was my day to get stuff done. did a bunch of laundry (although it is still waiting to be folded). finished some books for bella boutique and cut down a bunch of book board, paper, and ribbon for my next batch of books. also figured out my supply inventory. whew. bff came home from fishing and made the best spaghetti and meatballs EVER. and i made funfetti cake!

so i figured out what i would need to purchase and placed a couple of orders today with my suppliers. and i have to get on my soapbox for a couple of minutes: shipping costs up to alaska STINK! for goodness sake, we are NOT another country, we are part of the united states and should be included in the same shipping rates as everyone else in the contiguous 48 states! it's not the mail delivery people have that hard of a time delivering packages to us - its the same as everywhere else. and how about offering some other shipping options besides UPS? because they might as well ask for your first born child instead of the ridiculous shipping rates they require. *getting off soapbox now* does anyone else have this problem?

oh here are some pics of my favorite books i dropped off at bella (i seriously contemplated keeping them for myself):

this paper is PHENOMENAL in person. it is "Katazome-shi" or stencil dyed paper, printed based on traditional kimono printing techniques.

isn't this perfect for fall?

i hope the rest of the week flies by! i love short weeks :)

cake boss

so last night i'm working on my website and had the tv on...and this show called cake boss came on. since i've had a ridiculous craving for cake lately, i started watching it...and WOW those bakers can make some amazing stuff! i think the family that the show is based around is italian and it reminded me of how bfff is when he's cooking in the kitchen.

i still want cake.

i got another page on the website posted here and am working on the links for each of the separate card sets. hopefully those will be done today. oh and i also added a little visit counter on the site as well.