Tag Archive | celebrations

The Days that Time Worked in my Favor

At the beginning of any extended vacation time from work, there is a spring in my step, an unrealistic to-do list of Pinterest projects to try, and a feeling that the world is at my feet because time is on my side. I can easily organize the responsibilities of laundry, cooking, and cleaning with a lighthearted attitude. I am so sorry for those that have not been able to feel that luxury of ‘time’ every once in a while because the opportunity to refresh is so important for one’s health. FullSizeRender (3)

This weekend, my husband surprised me with a road-trip for my birthday and our anniversary. Our definition of road-trip is: get in the car and drive to some undetermined destination.

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We spent two days driving to small towns, roaming around, talking, and laughing. Letting go is good and we both know that we have got to take these mini-vacations more often. We have decided however, that Siri will always travel with us in case we need assistance with gas station locations, hotel choices, and restaurant recommendations (that is a whole other story and one that we will laugh about together for years to come).

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With Love,

Penny

On the First Day of Vacation, My True Love Said to Me….

Jun14

“I really need you to come down and help me with a food drive that we are having at work from 10:00-2:00” Grrr! Those were the words that my husband said to me on the morning of my first official vacation day. He is such a romantic….literally, my heart just fluttered at his request. So…. in 97 degree heat, we trudged downtown, bagged canned goods, loaded them into vehicles, and delivered them to the local food pantry.

Honestly, it was a great experience, and I enjoyed working alongside with the people that he works with day in and day out. They all gave up their Saturday to participate in this gift of service, which says a lot about their sense of community and loyalty to their employer. I was especially impressed by two high school students that were working at the food pantry . They brought shopping carts out to us and helped us load and unload all of our bagged items. Both of them were so willing to help and truly shared their sense of service with us. In a world where the media portrays the negatives of our society as ‘the norm’, it was so refreshing to see ‘norm’al teenagers working for a cause.

With Love,

sunflower

Cropping…The Greatest Invention Since Sliced Bread

Jun5

Seriously, whenever I take a picture, I look at it afterwards and wonder how I could even hit ‘click’ (or push that little circular doodaddy when I am using my phone because I don’t even own a real camera anymore) without seeing all of the distractor factors that take away from the image that I want people to really focus on. I get so frustrated with myself for not being more observant beforehand. For example, yesterday I stepped outside to take a picture of our American flag hanging alongside my father-in-law’s flag (as he was a Vietnam Vet). Even though I see the front of my house at least four times a day, I guess that I have been oblivious to the few remaining Christmas light hooks on the gutters or the poison ivy vines struggling to stretch across to a high traffic area where they can wreak havoc on ‘people with sensitive skin’until I witnessed it through the eye of the camera lens.So, of course, I have to take my frustrations to a whole other level because I just can’t let sleeping dogs lie (or is it lay?).

My dog, Reeses enjoying a nap on my Bandana Wreath Project

Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could ‘crop’ out the the parts of our lives that have been awkward or embarrassing to us? We could just go home each day and view all of the events, then tweak them by cropping the visuals or clicking on delete for spoken words that spill out without careful thought! That’s right, just crop out those distractor factors or daily regrets. I know that I would certainly feel better if I didn’t have to spend time at the end of each day reflecting about its events.

2016 High School Graduation Cake – Sweet Girl is Baylor Bound in the fall

This morning, I delivered my final graduation cake for the spring of 2016. I can’t lie, it felt wonderful to wash the icing residue out of my hair and off my face before I drove off to deliver it. #2jobsrenoughjobs!

Graduation Celebration following Church Services

Now it is time to wrap up my last week at school for the summer. Phew! I have so many unfinished projects around the house that I know my next couple of weeks off will fly.

Cupcakes for a Cutie! Senior 2016

This responsible young lady ordered her own cake and was so appreciative when I delivered it to her. I love working with such gracious, thoughtful young adults.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to make any of my deliveries by boat this year. 2016 will go down in the books as the year of Flash Floods in Texas!

Whoo – hoo! It’s time to put my handy-dandy mixer away for a week, and celebrate a clean kitchen.

For the remainder of the afternoon, I will be kicking my feet up, relaxing with my slippers on (even in Texas during the month of June, my feet get cold), and watching the Hallmark Movie Channel!

With Love,

sunflower

We Don’t Know Them, Yet We Owe Them

May29

It is Memorial Day weekend, and many people are travelling to visit family or jump-starting summer by spending time at the lake or the beach. My husband and I weren’t able to get away because of our work schedules but we did decide to spend some time out on the deck do some grilling. I must admit, I do love the smell of the grill heating up. The smoky scent blends so well with the smell of freshly cut grass and citronella. Once the heat of the day has worn off, I really enjoy sitting outside watching the plumes of smoke from the grill curl around the shrubs that surround our deck before they finally ascend and fade into the sky. In central Texas, it is pretty customary to use the grill three to four times per week about ten months out of the year. However, this year has been a bit unusual for us because we have had record amounts of rainfall. I do have the grill strategically placed on the deck so I can use it without getting wet, I just haven’t been motivated to use it until now.

So this afternoon, I reluctantly left the comfort of my air conditioned house in order to do some grilling. After spraying myself with additional insect repellent, I decided to take some pictures in honor of Memorial Day.

‘Red’ is for valor and the blood that was shed for our freedom.

‘White’ is for purity – those that fight for our freedom struggle to keep our homeland pure Blue ‘Blue’ signifies vigilance, perseverance, and justice

Sitting out back on the deck, fighting off the mosquitoes and the humidity, I was once again reminded that I have nothing to complain about. I am so blessed to be free!

Bandana Flag Wreath

Happy Memorial Day 2016!

With Love,

sunflower

It’s Measurement and Celebration Time

May27

Ahhh, Fractional Parts and Conversions- a couple of important skills you really need to have a true understanding of when baking. I can’t say that math has always been a strength of mine – I can remember my dad working with me on my math homework in junior high and high school. I still struggle with really grasping the concept of when the denominator gets bigger, the amount is actually less. It just goes against all common sense for me. After all, when the number on my scale gets bigger, I am not getting skinnier! Aren’t the words ‘bigger’ and ‘larger’ synonyms? Okay…..back to why I am talking about this and my baking.

At the end of the school year, I am always extremely busy wrapping up things at work and I tend to get bombarded with cake orders for special events: graduations, bridal showers, baby showers, and retirement parties. For the sake of time, it is really important in May and June for me to stay organized. It is a bother to look up conversions when I am baking because I have reached the age where I can no longer store all of that information in my memory (Actually, I can’t even remember what day of the week it is anymore).

When I was painting my kitchen cabinets, I decided to make myself a cheat board on the inside of my spice and seasonings’ cabinet. It has really come in handy and it was extremely easy to do. A little chalkboard paint, a paint pen, and painter’s tape were all I needed for this DIY project! 011ec957fb293f80f436d459392e6c3bd8b3bb0a45_00001

These cupcakes were for a very special retirement celebration. It was a picnic theme and the hostesses did a beautiful job with the decorations! It was a special treat for me to make this soon-to-be-retired-lady’s cupcakes because she just happened to have both of my sons in kindergarten a few year back – they are now 23 and 25 years old!

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This shower was for a teacher who is a bride-to-be. Unfortunately, she won’t be teaching next year. I don’t know why when people get married they have to go off and live with their spouses. But, I guess these two were ‘Mint To Be Together’.

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Okay, this is not a cake – but another one of my dear friends had a retirement celebration this week after working for 31 years in education. Amazingly enough, I had to use a bit of math on this project too!

Happy Celebrations!

With Love,

sunflower

It’s All About That Cake (’bout that cake)

May18

If you were to look up the definition of ‘Nervous Wreck’ in the dictionary, I am quite certain that you would see my picture as a visual representation and it would probably even have an unflattering caption underneath about my physical responses to stress. I really can’t explain why – I grew up surrounded by a loving and supportive family. I did well in school and got along fine with my peers. But, in spite of it all, I can remember as far back as third grade and attempting to hide my anxiousness that was so extreme, it made me sick to my stomach. I have tried every remedy known to man to relieve my stress to no avail; so for me, it continues to be a daily struggle.

beck cake

Go figure – instead of avoiding situations that cause anxiety, I seem to select hobbies that have the word ‘stressful’ written all over them; for example, cake decorating. The challenge of taking on new cake designs is like an obsession for me. This past weekend, I had multiple cake orders and each one had a special meaning to me!

I managed to survive and get all of the cakes completed and delivered to their correct locations with time to spare, but going back to ‘work’ on Monday was a killer.

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I really did feel like I had just played in a ballgame that had gone into extra innings! Then Tuesday rolled around, my kitchen was clean, and I had already started thinking about the orders that I have for the upcoming weekend.

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Welcome back, stress! Good-bye clean kitchen!

With Love,

sunflower

Storms and Showers

May11

Creatively Blue

‘Tis the season for showers – showers other than rain showers. I am talking about baby and bridal showers. If you happen to decorate cakes as another source of income like me, shower season is a busy, busy time.

When there is busyness, no time can be wasted on the inconveniences of Mother Nature. So, what’s a gal living in central Texas to do when there are cakes in the oven baking and it is storming outside, but she desperately wants to re-paint some much neglected wooden frames? Just sitting around waiting for the oven timer to go off is not an efficient use of time; therefore, it makes perfect sense to set up a painting station right on the living room floor. It would be ridiculous to do it at the kitchen table because of all of the cake items in the way. Besides, it is easier to watch episodes of Fixer Upper in the living room.

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Life is about seizing the moments, not waiting for storms to subside and oven timers to ding!

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Graduations, and Showers, and Birthdays, OH MY!

May11

My memory just doesn’t serve me well from year to year as I always forget how stressful the month of May can be! I am starting to think that I am going to just have to pencil in the word ‘sleep’ on my calendar in order for me to even take a break.

What’s on the agenda for this upcoming weekend? My oldest son, Corey, will graduate from Texas A&M this Saturday. Whoop!!!!! All of you Aggies will know that expression! We are certainly proud of him, as he has finished up his degree in Construction Science – and – stay tuned for the really exciting part, HE ALREADY HAS A JOB!!!! I don’t know about you, but I have been alarmed to hear about the number of college graduates that can’t find employment. Yikes!

(These are our two boys with their great-grandmother.)

Along with graduation on Saturday, there is a memorial service for my father-in-law who passed away just two weeks ago. He was a Vietnam Veteran so we did have the military service earlier and I was able to attend that, but due to the conflict in scheduling, my husband will go to the memorial service and I will go to the graduation ceremony. By the way – if you have never attended a military internment, it is a very moving experience. It is a service filled with tradition, honor, and respect……absolutely perfect for those that have served in our armed forces!(Above is my father-in-law at our son’s wedding a year ago)

Next on the agenda……Sunday is Mother’s Day! Happy Mother’s Day to all of you. How many of you will attempt to go out to eat with your families after church? I have a feeling that this year, we will just celebrate with a nice, quiet meal at home. The crowds at restaurants on Mother’s Day are just too much for me to handle! Sadly, my poor mother has the misfortune of following up this busy, busy weekend with her birthday. It is like deja vu! Just last year, we did Graduation, Mother’s Day, and her birthday all in the same week, too!

(Happy Birthday, Mom!)

Next weekend, a friend and I are hosting a bridal shower for a very dear friend’s daughter! Currently, I am searching Pinterest for table decorating ideas, creative food recipes, and fun games to play. Below is a copy of the invitation I created using Smilebox.

Celebrations are certainly a lot of work, yet they are an essential part of our lives…….None are completely free of complications; sometimes, there may even be open awkwardness or discomfort. However, they are always a sign of moving forward and hope! That is what the human spirit is all about!

Happy Mother’s Day….Graduation Day….. Birthday…..Wedding Day…..Anniversary….or Celebration of a life that has passed!

With Love,

P.S. I began writing this post before graduation day so I am sharing a picture of what happens after sitting through at least four hours of commencement ceremonies!

(Corey and his room-mate Patrick……..photobomb by Sophie the dog, who has put up with a lot during her college years with these two as room-mates.)

Cakin’ It!

Apr28

Wow! It has been two weeks since I have posted. This is a crazy, crazy time of the year in the life of a Texas teacher because of state mandated testing. Lately, even on the weekends, I don’t get a break because it is ‘cake season’….

Ironically, I can go for weeks on end without having a single cake order; but for some reason, during the spring months, everyone seems to be in a celebratory mood! There are new mommas to shower, brides-to-be, weddings to celebrate, birthday parties revolving around themes, graduations, baptisms, and first communions. All of these joyful occasions must have a cake in order to make the festivities complete.

This past weekend, I was able to make a cake for a young boy’s First Communion. I was pleased with the way that it turned out. Hopefully, he was pleased with the way that it tasted because it was triple chocolate with white buttercream icing!

A couple of weeks ago, my cake partner in crime and I made a rather unusual wedding cake. How did it go? My lips are sealed – I will just let you judge for yourself!

Yes – those are little green army men all over the cake……like I said, “unusual”!

Have a great week and may your sweet tooth always be satisfied!

Sweet Reflections

Apr14

Today, I am not reflecting on how special my relationships are with my husband, children, family, and friends. As superficial as this may sound, I am reflecting on sweet treats to eat! Actually, I am not much of a sweet tooth – I’ll take chips and dips over cakes and candies any day. I do however, love to bake cakes and decorate them. About ten years ago, my dear friend, NiCole, talked me into participating in some cake decorating classes at Hobby Lobby. I was very reluctant to go along, but when she told me that it was ‘bring a friend for free’, I was all in! The next thing I knew, we were doing cakes for all occasions and we even had our own business cards!

Well, this past weekend was a particularly busy weekend for cake orders so I thought that I might just show off some of my personal favorites from over the years.

My partner in crime, NiCole, asked me to come over and help her with this adorable cake this weekend!

How cute is this cake? This was for a bachelorette party.

Yeah! These girls won the soccer championship for their division – and they celebrated with this huge cake!

Sometimes it is the simple, yet elegant ones that make me just say, “ahhhh”.

May the Force be With You!

With Love,

With Love,

Penny

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Happy Memorial Day 2016!

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Welcome back, stress! Good-bye clean kitchen!

With Love,

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