Baking like a MAD WOMAN!

So I have decided that I want to make baking a talent of mine. I'm sure those who know me are scoffing at this. Especially Mikelle because in the seventh grade I made sugar cookies at her house...and forgot the sugar. I definitely don't have the best track record. However, over the past year I have really stepped my game up and worked hard and I am proud to say that I am turning this weakness into an actual talent! I am constantly searching the blogs and cooking websites for dessert ideas. I make desserts at least twice a week (another reason the jeans aren't fitting so great these days :)) Seriously it has become an obsession.

Danny would like me to mention that the 2 weeks I was gone, he lost five pounds because I wasn't surrounding him with sweets.

I'm of course documenting the recipes with pictures like crazy so here are some of the desserts and recipes I've used. If anyone makes any of these and wants tips to make them easier/better let me know!!

The cake that started it all...

Hermione's Cherry Almond Cake from the Harry Potter Cook Book

-sorry I don't have the recipe with me but if you want it let me know. I don't care if you don't like cherries...cake...or fruit desserts you will LOVE this cake. I haven't served it to one person who didn't like it. Honest. The almond cake is so moist and the whipped butter frosting is so light it feels like you could eat it for days.

I'll continue with the Harry Potter recipes...

Homemade eclairs. So this was my first pastry. The batter is so much more difficult. You have to start by boiling some of the ingredients and then you basically throw the dried ones in and it makes this very strange dough that you have to form in to a "ball". It was difficult and not totally worth it. They were good don't get me wrong. But I worked like 6 hours for 9 eclairs. Just go to dicks and buy them :)

Hagrid's chocolate birthday cake for Harry...
Dan was very specific that I had to get the spelling wrong because that is how Hagrid would have done it :) Love dan. This was the softest cake ever! No really it made it impossible to frost! To be fair the cookbook said it would fall apart and look like it was from Hagrid and they weren't lying! However with chocolate frosting and a chocolate glaze to put on top it was quite the delicious cake. Or so I heard...I don't eat chocolate very much but everyone else enjoyed it :)

The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook on amazon.com is amazing and has some seriously awesome recipes. I would highly recommend it and it's not very expensive either.

Next.

Piper (our niece) turned five in July and her mom Mandie wanted to give her a Tangled cake and we decided we'd try to make it all from scratch. It took forever but turned out so cute! And the best was when Pipes saw it she put her hands up to her face and whispered, "My tangled cake...it's perfect" That made it all worth it.

Seriously this turned out amazing. Mandie, Penny and I worked on it FOREVER! But like I said it was totally worth it.

Next.

My parents are avid gardeners. We have rhubarb in our garden and mine and my father in law Bob's favorite dessert is strawberry rhubarb pie. So again I searched and found a recipe for it and it was delicious!!!

Next.

My husband's favorite dessert (well one of them) is the red velvet cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory and I found a super easy recipe for it. However the red velvet wasn't chocolatey enough...so if anyone has an awesome one share it!!! This was such a beautiful cake and I am so proud of it.

Next.

We went to Idaho this summer for a concert and I had cinnamon roll pancakes and they were AMAZING. So I thought, "Guaranteed some awesome mom has an awesome blog where she's made these." and sure enough there was and it was delicious. They are super easy and the cream cheese icing is so tasty.

Next.

Alright! Everyone go to William Sonoma and buy the Marvel superhero cakelet pan! I saw it and knew that it was a great buy. The pan is so nice and these characters will be around forever. My grandkids will probably love spiderman. Seriously they are awesome.

The real challenge with these came with the decorating. I've been wanting to try something with fondant (even though I don't like the taste). So I did what everyone says to do and purchased Wilton Fondant but I also wanted to try to make my own. So I made my own marshmallow fondant...which tasted a little bit better but it was difficult to work with I thought. I think you just have to get used to it. But we made these for Kohen's third birthday and I used frosting for those ones and they turned out much tastier :)

And the most recent was the 14 12-layer cake. I was making it and forgot to throw the last to layers in the oven so it was 12 instead. You use Cafe Rio foil tins for each layer and then put a glaze between them all. They end up looking like a giant stack of pancakes. Then you put the glaze all around and I finished it off with my mother in law's amazing homemade chocolate frosting. I should have made more frosting though because I started to do the ruffle frosting on the sides but didn't have enough to finish.

So the cake turned out delicious! And so moist!

I am loving my new hobby!

Clearly

New York

So in August I was working and my boss Jason looked at me and said, "Would you like to go to New York."

I thought he was just asking a random question. But I found out that Walgreens just purchased New York pharmacy chain...Duane Reade. And the company was sending out pharmacists and technicians to train their employees on our software and workflow. He submitted me as an applicant to our district manager and within an hour I found out I as going to New York for 11 days!!!!!

I was ecstatic.

So Sept 3-14 I was in New York. I went with another technician from my store but we worked opposite hours so it felt like I was there essentially by myself. And those of you who know me know that I am VERY skiddish and nervous in big cities. Thankfully the first weekend my sister came up and met me and stayed with me for the first three days and helped me get more comfortable. But the coolest thing we did was the first day I got there...we went to the US Open of tennis!! It was so cool. Everyone there was so proper. It was like Ralph Lauren exploded. So we made it for a little of the womens match. But then we watch the number one player in the world. This little gem... Djokovic.

The open was so cool. Everyone was so quite while the game was going on and it was so intense. I loved it.

Carlie and I had a blast that weekend. NYC is so crowded it's overwhelming but then we went to Soho and Greenwich village and those were amazing. Seriously so many restaurants I couldn't even choose where to go!

One night we went out with some of her friends to a taco place called Tacombi. Amazing. The closest thing I've had to street tacos in Mexico since we were there. There was a VW bus in the middle of the restaurant where you picked up your order. I got a pork and pineapple taco. To die for.

Here is where you wash your hands.

OMG. I came across this little guy while wondering William Sonoma. And I am obsessed with it! I originally bought it with my nephew in mind. We had a superhero bday party for Kohen's third birthday when we got back and I knew these would be just right.

I was there when Fashion Week started. In NYC they kick it off with Fashion's Night Out. It was incredible! Basically what happens is every store in Manhattan has an event and the proceeds from purchasing certain products goes towards the NYC aids foundation. Basically anyone who is anyone in entertainment, fashion and music is there. I searched out all of the events and saw that Leighton Meester was performing at Tiffanys and I knew I wanted to go and see her. Walking down 5th ave. during FNO was surreal. Seriously the energy was insane. Everyone is dressed up and excited and dancing and shopping. It was so much fun! So I got to Tiffanys early because I wasn't sure about how all of this would work, but you don't have to pay you just have to get there before they quit letting people in. So I got to wonder that amazing store for two hours and I was on cloud nine. I could look at diamonds and jewelry all day long. It was a very dangerous place to be and want to shop...I did a little damage :) they had drinks and cute little disco ball cake pops and even glitter macaroons and they were delicious! Then Leighton came on and sang with Check in the Dark. Highly recommend. They were awesome. Most of the songs she has released are very teen bop dance songs. Not with these guys, it was a lot more folksy and toned down. They are coming out with a CD together and I'm very excited! FNO was awesome and I'm so glad I went. I can't believe I almost didn't go! I was nervous to go to something like that by myself but it was amazing!

So...I ate my way through NY. And I discovered the Black and White cookie. I had never heard of it before...no I don't watch Seinfeld...I guess there is an entire episode about it. I ate these little guys nearly everyday. (Jeans are a tight squeeze now :)) It was worth it. I ate giant pizza for a dollar a slice every night, fell in love with Shake Shack and still salivate when I think about their burgers and it was all delicious!

So then the second weekend I was there Carlie came back and my Mom came out! It was so fun to have her there and I was so happy. We shopped and hung out and played and...went to Wicked. Are you kidding me? Best thing ever. We had such a blast and I was so happy they came to visit me :)

It was so crazy being there on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. The city was so quiet. The security was wild. There were army men with huge guns at some of the subway entrances and they would personally check every single car going into the city. Even shuttles from the airport. Full on checks including kicking tires and opening the back to each car. It was surreal. So many police men and army around all of the time. It made me feel safe and happy that they were taking so many precautions.

This trip was so cool for me. I enjoyed it so much. Even though it sounds like I played a lot I worked way more. I worked everyday for 8 hours minus two days off but I made the most of the days and hours that I wasn't working and I'm so glad that I did. But I will say it was the longest I've ever been away from Dan and I got really sad. When I got home it was so great to see him...but he left 8 hours later to go to Florida for his interview...which went really well :) It was an amazing trip but I'm so glad to be home.

Life

I have so much to update on and I'm going to do them all on separate posts just to keep everything straight.

So last time was a little dramatic. To say the least. Danny took his DAT two days after that post and to say he did well is an understatement. This kid got in the 92nd percentile of anyone who takes the DAT. I could not be more proud of him. He worked so hard and it all payed off for him. When he called me after he left the test (results are immediate for the DAT) and he told me he got a 21 I had to stop myself from crying. It was the biggest relief I have ever heard because with that competitive of a score he will get in somewhere and I'm positive of that. So that was the best day to date...then it got even better a month later. Danny called me to say he got his first invite for an interview to not just any school but to University of Florida...our number one pick!! We were ecstatic. Danny is up to SIX interviews. We are so excited and I could not be more proud of him.

His interviews include...
1-Florida
2-Nova Southeastern (another Florida school)
3-Case Western (Ohio)
4-VCU (Virginia)
5-Marquette (Wisconsin)
6-UNLV (Las Vegas)

How awesome is that! I'm so proud of him.

So after Dan had gotten his third interview I was starting to get a little sad and I was convinced that I wasn't going to get one...then at 2 in the morning the emails came!! I have THREE interviews so far!

1-Midwestern (Chicago)
2-Midwestern (Arizona)
3-University of Colorado

Now you might be thinking those Midwesterns count as one interview. Not really. They interview, accept and reject completely separate. Even more of a difference is the AZ campus is only a three year program instead of the usual four year. So yes, you bet I am counting them as separate interviews. But I think they are trying to test my dedication because my Chicago interview is Sept. 28th and my Arizona interview is Sept. 30th. So I'm going to be a traveling fool! But I'm so excited!! I feel bad because I tell everyone and they probably think I'm being annoying and bragging but honestly I didn't think I would get even one interview so I'm just crazy thrilled! I'm a little nervous for the Midwesterns because they are group interviews and I haven't talked to one pharmacist who has had a group interview. And then Colorado is one on one---yikes. Stressful to say the least. To be honest I interview quite well usually so hopefully this won't be an exception. So if you'll notice we still don't have interviews that are in the same state-so hopefully there are more to come.

People keep asking me if I have a gut feeling on where we'll end up...and I do. If I was a betting girl (which those who went with us on the cruise know that I am :)) I would say we end up at Midwestern, AZ. I'd be surprised if Dan didn't get an interview there...or to ASU which is close by, so we'll see. It's still really early. For example, University of Washington doesn't even interview til February. So we are very grateful and feel very blessed to be getting interviews already.

Honestly. One person we owe a huge thanks to is Dan's brother Randy. He is at UF doing his residency in Oral Surgery and has been through this whole process and helped us so much with choosing where to apply to, personal statements and most importantly applying early. Next of course is all of our parents they have been so supportive and amazing with helping us out. We have lived at home with my parents so we could save up for this year...which ended up being even more expensive than planned. And thanks to our parents we can still have a savings because of all the help they have been...seriously forever indebted. Because everything is so expensive...applications, DAT/PCAT, supplemental applications, flights with only 2 weeks notice and the worst is yet to come....when schools accept you there is usually a small window (like a few weeks) where you have to accept or decline their offer. If you accept you have to pay them a retainer to hold your spot. These can cost upwards of $1000! Thank goodness those won't be for a while. This has been a stressful experience but I feel like we are finally getting to the fun part. And it finally feels real. A year from now we will be living somewhere else. On our own. Just the two of us.

I'm so excited!

Dan and I really are doing so great. I have an exceptional husband. He's the best man I know. We've been married a year and a half and I can honestly say we don't fight. And it's not because things get bottled up and we're going to explode one day because we definitely have discussions about things but it's never an argument. We've never had to apologize for mean words said. We are just really happy together. Something we have tried from day one to incorporate into our marriage is the Proclamation to the World. and specifically when it says...

"Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."

These nine things can guarantee a happy marriage. I think the main one I take from this list is respect. If you are in an argument with your spouse and your yelling...stop and think...one of you is probably not respecting the other if you are yelling. I don't think I've ever seen Danny yell. At anyone.

Lately I feel so blessed with my life and the decisions we've made together. I can't wait to see where we end up next year. All of the speculating about where we are going is so worthless when I think about it. We know that we'll go wherever is going to be best for us and that if we end up in Wisconsin (eek) there is going to be a bigger reason for it.