...Cake Adventures...

A friend of mine got married over the weekend and asked myself and another good friend, SandraJP, to make her wedding cake. This excited the two of us to no end after our 'baby shower' and 'surprise' cakes we created earlier this year.
Whereas the other two cakes were ours to design and do with as we please, we had to ensure the wedding cake was polished and beautiful. Now, this friend is not your typical bride, hell, she is so off the path that everyone around her loves her so! Thus SandraJP and I knew we would have fun with this. I decided to blog this adventure and took pictures along the way.

Here are the first two cakes we created:

We have a onesie for a new baby. I confess, we did not design this ourselves, but found a picture of it from a magazine and put our special touch to it.













We made a hot mama for our friend Leon and his surprise birthday party. We had a lot of fun with it and will surely create it again!















And now comes the wedding cake adventure! We had some parameters: it had to be carrot cake - SandraJP's carrot cake is so good you will want to be her best friend just to get a piece! And our wedding lady had a crest that a family member created that she wanted on the cake somewhere. Other than that, the design was all ours! Let the fun begin!!

SandraJP came over with the cakes the night before and we layered, crumb coated and froze them over night. The next morning, we were off to icing and decorating! This is the final product in all its glory.



The Bride and Groom loved it and, I must admit, I think SandraJP and I did a fabulous job. What do you think?

Rachel Vincent's Shifter Series

Rachel Vincent's Shifter Series caught my eye one evening while I was at work and peaked my interest so I did some research on it. I loved the summaries from Vincent's website and put all five on hold! I just finished the fifth, Shift, and am anticipating the release of the sixth, Alpha.


This series is your typical paranormal fantasy, with humans who shift into werecats! I like paranormal fiction, but I have never read about werecats and I must admit, I was hooked. For nearly two weeks my mind was full of this series and nothing else. My lack of sleep can confirm!
What made me live for these books, it was the storyline one hundred percent (okay, maybe the hot hot male characters who nearly always were without shirts helped!). The main character, Faythe, was your typical young woman besides the werecat thing, and just wanted to live her life her way. That is, unfortunately not what her father wanted ... and the fun begins.

If you like paranormal fan. fiction, you will like The Shifter Series as much as I did. Check out Vincent's Shifter website in anticipation for the release of the next book! http://rachelvincent.com/shifters.html

What are some of your favourite fan. fiction reads?

Horns - As twisted as it sounds!

Horns by Joe Hill is one awesome book! Firstly, Joe Hill is the son of Stephen King, so you automatically know its going to rock. Secondly, if you love a good horror story as I do, you need to go get this book now.

Okay, this has to be one of the best books I have read in the past six months. Not only are you getting great and eccentric writing, it is filled with grapic horror and topped off with a little black humour. Hello? How could I not love it!

I love the way Hill tells you the villin in the first portion of the book - pretty much less than 100 pages in. then you go into the past and find out the events leading up to the ultimate action. That just made me want to read at top speed to find out how it all transpiried. Hill's writing is very graphic and the images literary jump off the pages at you. I read this book with such force and as little pause as possible, that I felt I was in the story too.

My favourite quote that I keep telling my fellow readers comes from the very first page and goes like this, "...and saw he had grown horns while he slept. He lurched in surprise, and for the second time in twelve hours he pissed on his feet" (3) Every time I read this or even say it, I laugh out loud. It is just great humor, great writing, and a perfect image to start a great book.

Have you read Horns yet? No, then you should, and then let me know how you liked or disliked it.

Oh, Hill is also the New York Times Bestselling Author of Heart - Shaped Box, which I haven't read yet, have you?

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Just the very title of this book made me want to hold it and peek into the endless possiblities of what could make me happy!



I came across this book one day work while I was processing holds. I read the inside flap and thought, "I might like this". I put it on hold for myself (I was 150 or something on the wait list) and forgot about it. Later on, I came across it again when I was reading The Reader.

It finally came in for me and I was thrilled. I really needed to find out what could make me happy (it was a long week!) I dove into it with anticipation and even prepared myself with paper and pen for ample note taking. Rubin did stuff her happiness project with goals and changes that no normal person could achieve. She is a mother of two, married, and works as a writer from home - I figured I could achieve some of them too!

It was a great book all in all, I however, had some difficulity in the last few chapters. I struggled to finish it and I have no idea why. I think Rubin's writing style may have shifted a little more to the research she done to complete her happiness project, and less on her actual everyday life.

So, did I find out how to me more happy? Yes and no. Rubin's tactics to keep her more positive in her attitude and actions helped; as did her remedies to be more sentistive, healthly, and loving. However, if one was to do every little thing that Rubin did in a year....well, let me know!

Some of the things that I ended up jotting down about the book included:
The Four Stages of Happiness (108)
1. Anticipate it
2. Savor it
3. Express happiness
4. Recall a happy memory

Her take on 'blank books' (120) - your average blank journal
'Interest log' (128) - love this one, probably could fill out an entil blank book with all my interests!
'Happiness box'(132) - this one I love too. I am actually in the process of gathering a few things to make a happiness box for a friend.
And finally, Rubin is a BIG library supporter, and thus, wins in my eyes regardless of the struggles I had to finish her book.

So, have you read The Happiness Project, and if so, what were your thoughts on it? What are some of your techniques to keep happy?