Happy Birthday to my Momma!

Yesterday was my mom's birthday, and while I won't spill her age I will dish about the cake I made her! I had been excited to try out a certain cake idea I'd seen recently on Whisk Kid's blog, so when my mom called and asked if I 'd make her birthday cake I knew just what I wanted to do! One problem...she wanted white cake, white icing, and pink and green decorations. Not exactly what I had in mind, but I pulled it off, creating an outer layer of her requested designs with a special surprise waiting on the inside!!!

Since mom's birthday is the 27th, we did 2 and 7 candles on the cake which she blew out in one easy breath! Thanks to Aunt Martha for those candles, I'd been waiting for just the right cake to put them on, and I think they were perfect for this occasion! Now for the cutting....

She was so surprised when I cut into it revealing 6 vibrant colors of the rainbow!!! Luckily it tasted as good as it looked, but we all joked we needed insulin shots after eating 6 layers of cake and 6 layers of icing! Glad you liked it mom, you deserve something special! Thanks for trusting me with your birthday cake!

If you want to make your own rainbow cake, check out this video when Whisk Kid blogger Kaitlin Flannery appeared on Martha Stewart's show to make the cake! The recipe is on the blog, and the video has some great tips on how to make it work! Happy baking!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Cards

One of my loves in life is paper crafting, specifically making cards for those I love! Since I get most of my inspiration from other people's work I figured I might share some of the thing I've made in hopes of inspiring my readers! I love using unique things that stand out- texturized stickers, ribbon, buttons, glitter, rhinestones, flowers and sometimes a needle and thread!! As I keep creating I'll try to update with my new designs.

26th Birthday!

Another year, another celebration! I love love loved turning 26! I feel like my life is so full of blessings, and although there may be challenges as well I have a wonderful circle of people to help me with both!
To kick off the celebrations I got some sweet smelling flowers from my bosses at work the week of my big day! It's so nice to have bosses that appreciate the work you do! What girl doesn't love flowers???

Once the weekend rolled around we hit the road and had a birthday celebration at my parents houseboat on Lake Travis. It's up for sale right now so I figured I better sneak in one more celebration there while we could! I invited some friends to come with me and just relax for the weekend, which is exactly what we did!
Gina & Ava came out for the day Saturday to celebrate and play on the lake, and OMG I died when I saw Ava Claire in her lifejacket! It's so cute!!! She had a great time with Willow Willow, they're in love! Thanks so much Gina & Ava for helping take care of Willow that afternoon, y'all are the best!!!

My parents came along for the weekend and spoiled us rotten! My mom cooked amazing food, my dad took us on a cruise around the lake, and even tied up the boat in a quaint little cove so we could swim and lounge for an afternoon! I love my parents! As if they hadn't done enough, they treated everyone to dinner at The Oasis on my birthday night!
The Oasis has the best sunset views on the lake, and we had a great view from our ballroom table on the top floor of the restaurant! We chowed down like there was no tomorrow on tasty appetizers, tacos, and got lots of plastic souvenier cups to take home!
To top it all off my friend Lisa made me the tastiest chocolate birthday cake ever!! It suffered a little during the long, hot drive to Austin, but it tasted so so good! Here's a pic of the chocolatey goodness, isn't it fun?!?!! It was so sweet, thanks Lisa!!!!

Thanks so much to everyone who made my birthday such a fun celebration!! I was spoiled with friend and family fun time, sweet gifts, and I can't wait to post soon about the gift I got that will no doubt provide fun all year round!!

Saddle Ridge Ranch

Last week I spent my mornings with 25 soon to be 6th graders at our church's Vacation Bible School- aka Saddle Ridge Ranch! Seems like everyone and their mom chose this curriculum for VBS this year so let me assure you you're not alone if you've been singing the Tumbleweed song for weeks now... Don't beeeeeee aaaaaa......

Our VBS verse was James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom he should ask God who gives to all generously & without criticizing and it will be given to him." We spent the week asking God questions, and learning his Word to find answers.

Our kids might have thought they were a little too cool for some of the things we had planned, but we figured they're just preparing for Jr. High. They're going to have a blast at Kamp next year!

We rocked out each morning in worship rally where there was music, dancing and skits to help us learn how to seek God with all we do!

Most mornings we had the help of some cute cow dogs who came to round up the kids for worship! We all know how lovable Labs can be, so of course we looked forward to seeing Bear & Bama each morning!

Later in the week a miniature horse even wandered through the ranch during one of the drama skits! As you can see the pony was super convincing in her role as 'buckin bronco!' Ha-ha!

The biggest surprise came at the end of the week when our 6th graders ended up winning the prize for giving the most to our missions offering! They were reminded all week to bring their nickels, dimes & dollars to help the church fund a boys home in India. Way to come through at the last minute kids! I can't remember the exact total, but on Thursday I think we were near $5,000!

I was exhausted at the end of the week, and sure the pre-teen attitude wore me down some days, but overall I had a blast and am so glad I chose to serve in this way! Now, to decide between VBS again next year, or saving vacation time to go to Kamp with the older kids....decisions, decisions!

Hipstamatic

I have a new favorite iPhone app! Anyone remember the Hipstamatic cameras from the 80's? Rumor is only 156 of these cameras were sold, but the idea has really caught on and is a hit with people getting into retro photography. I recently downloaded an app that makes my iPhone camera into a Hipstamatic, giving me several lenses, flashes, and film types to choose from when taking pictures. If you're like me and don't know much about photography, but want your pictures to look like you do....this is the app for you! Here are a few of my favorite shots so far...

Obviously they're not the clearest quality, but perfect isn't the idea with Hipstamatic. It's sort of a thrill, wondering what your photo is going to look like each time you hit the yellow button! I don't typically buy apps, but this one is well worth it in my opinion!! Happy Hipstamatic-ing!

Work Project Complete!

My design fun has carried over to work! I've been working on this specific project for 6 months and it was finally completed this past week! I was asked to create a kid friendly space in our ER waiting area that would help welcome the 800+ kids that come into our facility each month. After some sweat and (almost) tears I think I did alright, finding products that are bright, inviting, and able to withstand the traffic of the waiting area. So, drumroll please.....

We have:
Garden wall art/fixtures with movable beads/mazes
Buddy & Bonita characters with heat sensitive bodies- when a child touches their body the panel changes colors to reveal the body part being touched. Pretty fun!

I'm so glad it's done, and have been pleased to see kids playing with the wall each time I go through the ER! Success!