Just a normal Thanksgiving...nothing unusual here!

Happy Thanksgiving, all! I know it's been a while since my last post, but things have been rather crazy with me starting a new job and all. Anyway, this Thanksgiving, I wanted to share what I am most thankful for.

I'm grateful for wonderful friends and family, for my amazing Evan, Cali and Mercedes. I'm grateful for a roof over my head and good food to eat. I'm grateful for Pinterest. It has actually become something of an addiction for me and I'm not sure if it's a good thing. I'm also grateful for this:

Nothing unusual here. Just some Martha Stewart craft supplies, a boring Thursday afternoon, a little love sprinkled in there, and...oh SNAP, WHAT'S THAT?!

IT'S AN ENGAGEMENT RING! That's right! We're getting MARRIED!!

I hope you're all ready to be completely annoyed by all the fun things I'm doing for our wedding. I can't begin to tell you how excited we are! Stay tuned!!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Eat up!

I love the 80s...it's all in the details!

Where, oh, where do I begin to explain how much preparation went into Brett's birthday party? Wait...that's not what I meant to say...where do I begin to explain how much FUN I had helping plan Brett's birthday party?!

It was such a freaking blast! Gen made all of these amazing plans and I am so honored that I got to help her execute it all...that's why they call me "the executor." Not the most flattering nickname, but whatever. It works.

Anyway, we had so much fun! We made tablecloths and photo booth backdrops by spray painting "gnarly," "rad" 80s words on drop cloths and then splattering paint all over the place. At one point in time, it looked like I had been splatter painted myself.

Richard Simmons!

Look at these awesome costumes! :)
The photo booth was a hit!!

We also made "Brett Says Relax" floppy disc coasters by gluing cork board to the back of rainbow colored floppy discs. By the way, do you know how expensive floppy discs are these days? I think they might be more expensive than they were when they originally came out. Shocker! But we found them for a pretty good price!

Next we decided some beautiful signs were necessary. We made a whole bunch of them...my favorite is the cocktail sign. :)

Pretty sure that Evan and I were the only ones who played this game...
but with all the couples (and the few singles) it might have been awkward
if more people had played...

Throw in some antique store finds and some super creativity on Gen's part (she did the poster collages all by herself!) and you've got some fun!

Then we come to the chalkboard signs. I found a bunch of metal platters at Goodwill and we covered them in chalkboard paint. Gen found these awesome chalk paint markers. Doesn't it look AWESOME?!

Note that there is only one thing on the scavenger hunt list...

Yes...that's an original Hulk Hogan doll!

Now we come to the part you've all been waiting for: The inside of the cake...

It's NEON TIE-DYE! How oh how did I do that? Simple, I divided the batter up into 4 parts and used neon food coloring to make it super vibrant. Then I poured in about 3/4 of a cup in each pan of alternating colors. That's it. That's all there is to it. :) Here are some additional pics of the cake taken by Rachel and Lauren. Thanks for remembering your cameras, ladies! I can't believe I forgot mine!!

I love the 80s by Shelly Kapowski

Today marks a monumental day in my best friend's husband's (also known as my faux big brother) life...

Brett is 30! And how do we celebrate birthdays? WITH THEME PARTIES, of course!

Now, when someone was born in 1981, what is the most logical theme ever? 80s party!

As always, Gen comes up with the cutest ideas and I have to say that the party looked great! I can't believe how much work she did and how fantastic she made everything look!

I did the cake. :) I'm pretty proud of this one. I'm not gonna lie and say that I'm not feeling the effects of my one-too-many "MC Hammered" cocktails last night, so this post is going to be pretty short. I'll have more amazing pictures uploaded later, but for now, some simple cake images are going to have to suffice! Here ya go, 1981...a tribute to you and all of your neon-colored glory!

And yes, I did dress up as Kelly Kapowski. I would now like to be known as Shelly Kapowski. I think it's only fitting.

The Rainbow Cake-nection

One of my favorite movies growing up was "The Muppets Take Manhattan" and my favorite song was "The Rainbow Connection." I can't explain why, but during one of the craziest, suckiest weeks of my life, this song kept playing in my head. This hard week just so happened to coincide with my birthday and that of a very dear friend of mine. Before any of the negative stuff happened, we had all planned to go up to the lake for the weekend and I had planned to make a cake to celebrate our joint birthdays.

I went back to my childhood and decided to go with the rainbow theme. All it took was a quick glance at google to find this amazing website: Whisk Kid. Not only are her baking and photography skills exquisite, but her writing is phenomenal. I find myself in awe of her. She is years younger than me and has already achieved my life goal of meeting Martha Stewart. She truly is amazing and I can only hope that I did her justice in recreating her cake, kind of.

Anyway, I used her techniques, but skipped some of the hard work that she put into it. I cheated a bit by using a box mix for the actual cake, but I did follow her directions for the yummy buttercream frosting. Check it out here. Delicious! This cake was perfect because, like me, it looks pristine and calm and average on the outside, but on the inside, it's a rainbow of complex emotions, experiences and events. The end result is actually quite stunning and I'm so happy it turned out the way it did.

On this tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001, I find myself remembering the shock I felt that day. I remember feeling like I was so small and insignificant and that the world was crazy and falling apart in front of me. I felt that the world lost its innocence. Listening to this song, reading the lyrics...it brings me back to a time when I felt safe and secure and full of possibilities for the future. That's why I decided to publish this post today. The song speaks to the kid in me. The innocence. The hope. The tomorrows I can't wait to experience.

Rather than bore you with all of the details, I'm going to simply show you some pictures of my cake with the lyrics of "The Rainbow Connection." Enjoy!

Why are there so many songs about rainbows
And what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
And rainbows have nothing to hide.

So we've been told and some choose to believe it
I know they're wrong, wait and see.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers and me.

Who said that every wish would be heard and answered
when wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that
and someone believed it,
and look what it's done so far.

What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing?
And what do we think we might see?
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
the lovers, the dreamers and me.

All of us under its spell,
we know that it's probably magic....

Have you been half asleep
and have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name.
Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same.
I've heard it too many times to ignore it.It's something that I'm supposed to be.

Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
the lovers, the dreamers and me.
La, la la, La, la la la, La Laa, la la, La, La la laaaaaaa

Cupcake Wars Part 3: The Final Countdown

Dear Employees of my Awesome Boyfriend's Kick-Ass Company,

I have to say a huge thank you to all of your support and participation as test subjects for my many baking endeavors. I know it must be hard on all of you when Evan brings in boxes of cupcakes for your approval and commentary, but I appreciate you persevering for the benefit of my culinary skills. Today's feat was particularly challenging and I know that asking you to decide between the epic Cookie Dough Cupcake and the tasty Chocolate Guinness Extra Stout/Irish Cream Cupcake was not going to be a simple one, but I knew you were up for the challenge. You did not disappoint. For that, I applaud you! I will remember you for future baking challenges and hope that you will continue to entertain my need for approval by devouring my delightful treats and offering comments and suggestions.

You are truly heroic.

Thank you!

Sincerely,
Shelly

Ah, now that we've got that out of the way...

It is time for the results of the epic Cupcake War: Cookie Dough vs. Chocolate Stout/Irish Cream. Evan so kindly hauled 5 boxes of cupcakes into his company's kitchen today. I had them all laid out on plates and they looked so very pretty, but that just wasn't practical. I mean, there was no way that they would survive such a very dreary, drizzly day and a ride in Evan's car, so we packed them into their tupperware boxes and he delivered them in 36 beautiful pieces.

I had my thoughts about which cupcake would reign supreme, of course. I assumed that, since everyone loves cookie dough and not everyone is as wild about beer as my dear boyfriend, the Cookie Dough Cupcake would come out on top.

At first, the reviews were mixed.

I received word from my dear friend, Casey (who happens to work at Evan's company), that they were a big hit. In fact, her exact words were: Loved your cupcakes this am!! Guinness/Bailey's Cupcakes=Breakfast of champions!!!

One of the other employees said: The cookie dough was completely amazing! I didn't try the stout but the cookie dough rocked!

Once I talked to Evan, however, there was a clear favorite. The Chocolate Stout/Irish Cream cupcake flew out of the kitchen while the Cookie Dough cupcake was slow and steady throughout the morning. I hesitate to call either on the "winner" but, if we're going by initial interest alone, The Chocolate Stout came out on top. I think curiosity killed the cookie dough.

I tried to get "artsy" here and give you a shot
of the Chocolate Stout in front and the
Cookie Dough in back, but it didn't turn out like I expected.
But you get it, right?

I look forward to hosting more of these challenges in the future and hope to have more conclusive results for you all. I have to say that I feel like it was a win-win situation for both cupcakes though because they taught me something new and made me think out of my Betty Crocker box. Thanks, rainy days and boredom, for inspiring me to do something I've never done before.

Cupcake Wars Part 2

Ok, so...yesterday I made those delicious cookie dough cupcakes. My taste for experimentation was not quite satisfied yet, though. Evan and I went out to the store and got the supplies for some yummy chocolate stout cupcakes. I used a couple of different versions and combined them.

I had a lot of trouble with this one. I've never really made cupcakes 100% from scratch, but I felt it was necessary for this one. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail because it literally took me all day to make these and the mess in the kitchen is still waiting for me...

I had fun with this but I have to say I won't be making these again anytime soon. I used Guinness Extra Stout in the batter (8 oz only, not the whole bottle, which made Evan very happy since he got to drink the leftovers) along with some butter, cocoa powder, sour cream (I know...it didn't sound right to me but it was good, trust me!) and the usual suspects in the baking department.

This was a very dense batter and I was kinda worried about it not getting cooked all the way through so I'm afraid to say that I may have over-cooked them just enough to make the tops all crusty. :( Sad panda for sure.

However, Evan didn't seem to mind once they were all put together.

I used a glaze recipe from my new favorite site: The Cupcake Project

I didn't have a very good experience with this however. I really don't know what I did...things turned out to be much runnier than I wanted and they also didn't taste quite as much as like the stout as I wanted. However, I tried to doctor it a bit but I failed. I failed miserably and it made quite a mess. I made it work as well as I could, but they were not up to my standards.

After I exhausted myself to no end with that debacle, I chose to make an Chocolate Irish Cream Buttercream frosting for little blobs on top of the glaze. This stuff tasted amazing. All I did was take store bought buttercream and add a bit of Bailey's Original Irish Cream and cocoa powder in there.

Please, don't tell me that they look like poop blobs. I already know that...

I sprinkled a bit of cocoa powder on top of it to make it look a little more refined and I think I made them decent.

According to Evan, they were much better than I thought they were going to be. I'm not sure if he was just telling me that or he was being honest, but I really needed to hear that after about 5 hours of struggling in the kitchen.

I guess the only way to decide if they were really truly good or if Evan was just flattering my ego is to send them to his office and let them decide. While I'm at it, I might as well see what they thought of my cookie dough cupcakes, too! :) Looks like his office is becoming my test market for my baked goods.

Hopefully they don't mind. Tune in later for the results in Cupcake Wars Part 3!

Cupcake Wars Part 1

Picture it: Labor Day weekend, 2011...it's Sunday and it's drizzling and dreary outside. Evan and I were invited to a friend's house for a beer tasting (all of these homebrew guys getting together to geek out about some very special beers...oh joy!) and I felt it necessary to bring something. After all, every well-mannered Southern girl knows it's rude to show up to a party without something in hand.

Of course, I decided to make cupcakes. But not normal cupcakes...Oh no. I really wanted to make a beer-centered cupcake but Evan wasn't prepared to part with any of his precious beers and, seeing as how we live in Georgia, we couldn't go out and buy any. So, I set aside my dreams of chocolate stout cupcakes for another day and focused on something I could make with just a quick trip to the grocery store.

I stumbled upon this delightful website: http://www.cupcakeproject.com/

It's like something out of a dream! She's done all this work and come up with some fantastically creative cupcake ideas! :)

I searched through her files and found this delicious recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes.

I altered it a little bit because I was short on time. I used a plain yellow cake mix and prepared according to the directions. While they were cooking, I sat down and followed the recipe for this yummy raw cookie dough that's safe to eat. No eggs. Delicious and safe? Count me in!!!

All you have to do is mix everything together in a big bowl. No muss, no fuss.

• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t salt
• 3/4 C unsalted butter, melted
• 1 C packed brown sugar
• 1/2 C white sugar
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 4 T milk
  
• Mini chocolate chips (you can really use anything you want, but I chose this)

I actually doubled the recipe so that I could use some part of it to make the frosting for the cupcakes. I separated out 1 1/2 cups before I put the chocolate chips in it.

Anyway, once the cupcakes were cooled, I cut out a cone shaped portion so that I could then stuff some cookie dough balls in there.

Once that was finished, I mixed the separated portion of the cookie dough with a cup or so of heavy cream and spread it out on top of the cupcakes.

Cookie Dough Icing? Yes, please!

Finally, as they looked a tad plain, I topped them off with a tiny ball of cookie dough. They turned out so cute, didn't they?

I absolutely LOVE cookie dough, so these were superb in my mind. :) It was definitely a successful Sunday.

However...the Chocolate Stout cupcakes were still on my mind...stay tuned for Cupcake Wars Part 2 to see how that turns out.