Cuppitycakes

Ahhhhh, Thursday evening. Settling in to watch the Braves usher in a new pitcher (very excited to see him play!), sort of thinking it might start storming any second now, and feeling EXHAUSTED. It's been a big week! Work has been busy, as usual, and I put a lot of energy and effort into getting ready for my little get-together last night.

About 8 of my coworkers came over last night- and it was a great time! It was the first time any of them had seen my apartment, so I put extra effort into making it sparkle (and yet, I STILL spied Yoshi fur floating around throughout the evening!)

It was a wine gathering, so everyone brought a bottle (we had a lot of wine!) and I sort of improvised a Sparkling Wine Sangria- and it was delicious! And so refreshing! Here is what I used:

1 cup Triple Sec
3 clementines, sectioned
2 limes, cut into wedges
Ginger Ale (about 3 cups)
1 bottle sweet Sparkling Wine (I used Cook's Spumanti- very inexpensive)

I put the fruit into the pitcher first, then poured in the Triple Sec, and about a cup of the Ginger Ale. I muddled the fruit (without destroying it) and placed the pitcher in the fridge for about an hour while I prepared the food.

Once a handful of folks had arrived, I pulled the pitcher out and poured in the sparkling wine (wait until just before serving so the bubbles don't flatten). Top off with additional Ginger Ale.

I served a pretty basic menu of snacks- a few dips and things- and of course- CUPCAKES. And oh man. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I started those cupcakes. Who on EARTH has the time to bake everything from scratch on a regular basis?!? I started the cupcakes around 9:30, and popped in Twilight to watch at the same time. By the time the movie ended, I still had plenty of baking and finishing left to do.

Let me take you through my process.

1. The materials
I made the chocolate-chip cupcakes from the February issue of Martha Stewart Living. Although, instead of the chocolate-chip frosting, I made the Basic Buttercream, and tinted it pink.

2. Mixing up the Batter

3. I guess these are Stiff Peaks??

4. Finished Batter
At this point, my brain kept telling me- this looks like MUFFIN batter, not cupcakes!- and I started to doubt myself- but the batter tasted much sweeter than muffins, so I tried to relax.

5. Cupcakes Cooling
Still looking a little muffin-y....
Now, let's get that frosting started....

6. HOW MUCH butter???
Three sticks, to be exact. Oh, and a POUND of confectioner's sugar. geeeeeeeez.......

7. Lots and lots of mixing later...
I'm really not a big "pink" girl- I'm not sure what inspired me to go pink with these- oh wait, yes I am.

8. FINISHED!!
These were the remains after the party last night. Can you believe after all that toil, I plumb forgot to take a photo of the finished, decorated cakes the night I made them? Thank God I remembered before I passed out last night- not the best beauty shot- but I have one more:

8. Cupcake!
And just so you know, they did NOT taste like chocolate chip muffins covered in frosting. PHEW!!

Springtime Crochet

I am making cupcakes for my get-together tomorrow night. It's my first EVER totally-from-scratch baking attempt. I am very nervous. Currently waiting for the butter to soften. It takes FOREVER!

I feel very behind getting ready for tomorrow. I have a LOT of cleaning yet to do, including freeing my home of all the fur tumbleweeds that Yoshi has blessed me with, just since Sunday (the last time I did a major fur removal). I lost my car key yesterday- the reason for my being behind. It just slap fell off my keychain. I realized it around 10:00 last night, and spent 30 minutes with a flashlight looking up and down my street searching for it. And thirty minutes this morning. AND thirty MORE minutes this evening when I got home from work (late). I felt SURE that I had given Glenn my spare- but he couldn't find. I had basically resigned myself to calling a locksmith and paying the $150 for a new key, when I thought I'd just check a couple of unpacked boxes I hadn't gotten around to to see if I could find the spare. And lo and behold, in a box full of stuff from my "Pens and Pencils and Other Spare Items" drawer- there was the spare!!! Miracle of miracles!! And as soon as I opened the car door and sat in the driver's seat- there was the original key, wedged between the seat and the console. I felt like celebrating by spending $150 on something frivolous. But instead, I will spend that money to FINALLY get the transmission fluid flushed. I guess. Grumble.

So, long story short, I am way behind. And butter taking forever to soften is not helping.

So in the meantime, let me share with you some springtime crochet!! I got on such a role with my crochet over the winter. Scarf after scarf after scarf- two winter hats, a set of gloves (none of which have I shared here, come to think of it), and I felt a little stuck once the weather started to warm up. What could I make now that I didn't need to keep any extremities warm??

Stitch n' Bitch The Happy Hooker came right to the rescue. A purse! So I grabbed some super green yarn (I am in a very green place right now-although, working in advertising, if I hear ONE MORE company use the word "green" in their campaign, I am going to lose it), some fabric, a few other notions, and whipped one right up. Here's the final product:

Glenn is going to help me build a light box for my photos. The green is so much greener in real life! Like, super healthy GRASS green. This was made using almost exclusively HDC- leaving an eyelet row in which to weave the ribbon. Here's the snap closure:


And as you can see, I used the same fabric for the lining that I did for the backdrop in the photo. Here's a better look at the inside of the purse:
And a navy ribbon detail:


One more look:

I like to think it's smiling at me. :)

Tomorrow I'll share some pictures of my cupcakes (hopefully NICE pictures and not pictures that indicate utter disaster...)

BTW- the Braves are up 6-1. Go Bravos!

A Nice Pair of Hooters

I'm such a blog slacker. I spend so much time reading my favorites- Apartment Therapy, Design Sponge, Bakerella, Posie Gets Cozy- if I took a tenth of the time I spent READING blogs to update my own, I'd have several posts per day. Now, I don't feel that that is necessary- but I am going to pledge to write one post per day for the foreseeable future, and see where it takes me.

I'm planning a little wine party at my house on Wednesday for a lot of friends from work, none of whom have seen my new place. I'm nervous, because I don't feel like the place is ready- but I have added three little design pieces to the mix that I am excited to share with you here.


I've sort of got a woodland theme going at my place. Well, I like to call it "Fantasy Woodland: Geek". By fantasy, I mean more gnomes than fairies. I decorated with fairies sophomore year of college- but I think I'm over that now.

Anyways! Back to the photo. I love owls. Besides being unbearably cute when represented as a softie or illustration, they are so MAJESTIC in real life. My mother always collected owls- I have been eyeing her collection for years, just waiting for her to get sick of them. She offered them to me recently, but I feel too guilty to just TAKE them from her. Anyways. The owl on the right is a candle I bought last weekend at Urban Outfitters. Love the way it appears to be an owl carved out of wood- but in reality is, obviously, made of wax.

The owl on the LEFT, I made myself- my second amigurumi, from Ana Paula Rimoli's fantastic book, Amigurumi World. Here's a close up:


Of course, true to form, Yoshi managed to grab him off the high counter-top within twelve hours of my finishing him- I came into the living room from taking a shower, and Yoshi just has that look in his eye- like, how long before she realizes what I've done, and can I make it under the bed before then?? And sure enough- there was the owl, covered in Yoshi fur (he has been shedding like a BEAST the past few weeks) and missing an eye. The eyes are the kind that you have to snap together BEFORE you stuff the thing, so, I did my best to secure it- but it's a little loose. :( Super cute though!! I'll just have to keep it away from babies. (And Shibas).

The third item I've acquired are my adorable mushroom salt and pepper shakers from Anthropologie. The most inexpensive things I think I've ever seen there, actually, haha!

So, we are just hanging out here in my apartment tonight, watching the Braves lose (but only by one run and there are still three innings to go!!) Trying to muster up the energy to clean in preparation for Wednesday night wine party......