shameless plug

do yourselves a favor and head over to my baking blog to see what these cupcakes are all about. they are without a doubt the cutest and yummiest cupcakes i've ever made. 

more touching

last night some friends and i participated in the geeks who drink arrested development quiz. there were something like 100 teams there which is just insane. we studied hard but only for about 3 days so we obviously didn't win. it was mostly pretty fun but damn, some of the rounds were really tough. not that i think anyone who has yet to participate in this quiz in their hometown will actually find this blog and read it but if they do, i don't want to give anything away! just know your shit, that's all i can say.

i used my beautiful mixer (which needs a name) yesterday to make cookies. it was almost too easy! i have so many cupcake recipes that i want to try out soon. on deck i have pineapple upside down cupcakes, browned butter cupcakes with chocolate buttercream, mimosa cupcakes, and tie-dyed cupcakes. my sister gave me a gift certificate to the all in one bake shop for my birthday so i went yesterday to redeem at least some of it. i got some gel paste food coloring and some more cupcake liners. i officially have, um, too many cupcake liners. i just can't stop collecting them though! my rather large cupcake/decorating caddy is pretty much full at this point.

i have this cupcake carrier that i got a few months ago. it's gotten a lot of use and i'm really happy with it.

but yesterday i saw this one and, damnit, i realllly want it. it's so cute!

hospitals and appliances

i woke up at 1:00 this morning with a frighteningly horrible headache. it felt like a brain freeze on crack. i took maxalt and tried to go back to sleep but it was a pretty restless night from then on. when i got up for good this morning i took another maxalt and still nothing. so then i took my last vicodin and...nothing. i called in sick to work and called my mom to see if she could take me to urgent care or the emergency room. she left work immediately, came and got me, and took me to the hospital.

this trip to the emergency room was pretty much exactly like the time i had to go last april. blood work, an iv injection of dilaudid, compazine, a bag of fluids, and a cat scan. cat scan came back normal but the doc wanted to do a spinal tap. just like last year i told him i didn't think i could handle a spinal tap but if i don't start to feel better soon or start feeling worse then i will go back and have it done. last year they worried it was meningitis, this year they worry that it's an aneurysm. apparently the cat scan is only about 90% accurate in detecting small aneurysms.

after we left the hospital my mom took me to firebowl at my request. as we were eating lunch i thought about how lucky i am to have my parents around when i really, really need them. i don't know what i would have done if my mom hadn't taken me to the hospital. and then she bought me lunch after i made her sit around the smelly emergency room for a few hours? and if you think my mom is amazing for doing those things wait until you hear what she did next...

mom: how badly do you want a fancy mixer?
me: pretty badly.
mom: more than you want a new tv?
me: yes! (my tv is almost dead, btw)
mom: do you feel up to going to target now?
me: um, yeah.

say hello to my beautiful new friend

maybe in a couple of months i'll have to go to the hospital again and i can get that new tv i need. just kidding! sort of. 

building a kitchen

i recently re-discovered my childhood love for baking. my sister and i used to spend our summers in kansas with our grandparents and i used to bake up a storm with my grandma. cookies, cakes, pies, you name it. her house was awesome because she always had every ingredient/utensil needed to make just about anything you could find in her recipe box. lately i've been doing some of my baking/cooking at my sister's house because she has all the tools and most of the ingredients i need. good luck finding a sifter in my kitchen. or brown sugar. anyway, the other day i decided it's time for me to start building my own kitchen. first up was new mixing bowls. the mixing bowls i have are ugly, kind of small, and super old. say hello to my new beautiful set of mixing bowls! 

next on my list is a kitchenaid stand mixer. no, really. you're probably thinking, "homegirl just got bowls from this century and now she thinks she needs one of the most coveted kitchen appliances known to man?" i said it was next on my list, not that i was going to buy one. you see, my sister has one that she never uses. i mean, ever. so i am going to borrow her mixer indefinitely, kind of like how she's been borrowing my chi indefinitely for the past 2 or 3 years. sounds like a fare trade to me! 

other items on my wishlist include a sifter, a cake leveler, muffin tins for mini cupcakes, and canisters to keep dry goods in like flour and sugar. 

i recently stumbled upon this recipe for strawberry cupcakes with strawberry meringue buttercream and y'all can bet your asses that i'm going to try to make them ASAP. this is a fun hobby for me and i'm excited to challenge myself with new things, like making gluten free baked goods! my friend alicia is gluten intolerant so once i get comfortable enough with the recipes i'm going to make her be my taster. 

red velvet, if you please

i don't really give a rat's ass about valentine's day but i do love this picture of me and my best friend. it was taken on one of my favorite days 3 years ago, a few days before valentine's day. i don't exactly remember why but we were feeding each other red velvet cake.

speaking of red velvet cake, i made paula deen's red velvet cake recipe today. instead of cupcakes i made a 2 layer round 9" cake. a couple of things, after reading many of the comments i decided to cut 1/2 cup of vegetable oil and add 1/2 cup of buttermilk. also, the recipe for the frosting basically made twice the amount of frosting i needed for my cake. it was pretty delicious. i'm definitely adding the recipe to my recipe book to be used again in the future.