Saturday, January 29, 2011

The Icing on the Cake

The Was:




















The Is:
















What Happened:

I put Obama on a cake!  This is actually going to be a birthday cake for Jonathan's brother, Christopher.  Christopher is a big-time Republican, and when we first met, I had just carved Obama's face on a pumpkin.  He gave me a hard time for liking Obama, and ever since then I have bought him greeting cards with Obama on them.  I don't know if you know this, but there are Obama cards for every occasion, and Christopher has received them all over the past couple of years.  This year, in addition to his Obama birthday card, he will be receiving an Obama cake.

One of my favorite things that I learned in my cake decorating class was how to trace the outline of a picture and then transfer it to your cake.  We practiced using the outline of a cupcake, and we had the option of using a stencil of a clown or something like that.  Pssshhh, amateurs.  I knew that I would be using this technique for something even better - Obama!  The outline helped me figure out where to fill in with icing, but it was still difficult.  It didn't help that my stencil got smudged and that my lighter color of icing ended up not being light enough at first, forcing me to add extra white icing to the mix.  If I had it to do over again (and let's face it, I'll probably do it again), I will save some white icing to fill in instead of just leaving that area bare and letting the white background show through.  I will also use less piping gel on my outline, so that it doesn't smear.  I will also check my colors side by side before I put them on the cake.

This cake was really fun to make...  I think it will be even more fun to see Christopher's reaction when I give it to him.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

The Was:





















The Is:





















What Happened:

Well, if it isn't obvious, I got a haircut.  I have this really bad habit of letting my hair grow out really long until I just can't stand it anymore before I will finally go and have it cut.  This time, I used the excuse that I didn't want to have to find a new hairdresser here in Raleigh, and I would just put it off until I could go have it done back home.  The truth is, I don't even have an official hairdresser back home, either, so there was really no excuse to let it get so bad before having it cut.  The Was picture is actually a little worse than I thought it looked...  and maybe I'll just tell myself that was taken on a bad hair day.  With wavy hair like mine, if it's warm outside, I usually don't dry it and I just let it do whatever it wants to.  In these colder months, I basically have to dry it straight unless I want to be miserable when I step outside.  It will never look as good as the Is picture, though, because that was taken right after I got back from having it cut and I don't own a flat iron.  Honestly, even if I did have one, I don't think I'd be able to successfully use it on myself.

My HLM has one of the best New Years Resolutions I've ever heard of:  Wear More Glitter.  The interpretation of this resolution is to take more time to primp yourself in the morning, whether it's just putting on a little more eye make up, or (in my case) taking the time to get your hair straight and not looking like a rat's next.  So, I've adopted her resolution as my own, and I've decided that I'm going to put a slight bit more effort into my appearance each day...  In actuality it will probably be so slight that it will probably not even be noticeable to those around me, but it's an important thing to just do for myself.  I'll know the difference.

Of course, we'll see how long it lasts once this semester gets under way - we're in the first week, and I'm starting to think taking 3 electives on top of the normal course load may have been a bad idea.  Eeek!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

What?! A New Post?!

Well, it's been a while...  I was challenged last night by my best friend to update my blog, and while I didn't get it in before the midnight deadline, I am posting now.  I hope that I'll be a little more responsible and start updating more often...  maybe that should be my New Year's Resolution.  I've been doing a lot of things that are blog-worthy, I just haven't taken any pictures.  I plan to change that, though.

The Was:


 
What Happened:

I had my first cake decorating class last night!  Jonathan signed me up and bought all the supplies for the Wilton's Beginner's Cake Decorating class at Michael's for one of my Christmas presents.  It was a total surprise, and one of the most thoughtful gifts I've ever gotten.  There are four classes (one every Tuesday from 6:30 to 8:30 for the next four weeks).  Last night, we were supposed to bring in our kits and some plain cookies to practice on.  I was so nervous about having the perfect cookies, so I baked them around lunchtime, just in case I needed to start over again.  I used the lid to one of my cookie cutter tins to create gigantic circle cookies, so I'd have lots of room to decorate.  I also made a few smaller ones for back ups.  Turns out the giant circles baked perfectly!  I was so excited and felt completely prepared.  

The class was taught by a little old lady who was sort of like Paula Deen but not quite as jovial.  She did call me 'shug' a lot, though.  She showed us how to make homemade icing, how to ice a cake, and how to make the little star details you see on some of the cookies above.  She also gave us tips for baking a cake, then leveling it off, and then icing it.  My favorite thing that she showed us was how to transfer a stencil to the top of a cake.  Also, did you know that you are supposed to always freeze cakes before you decorate them?  Not only does it make it easier to decorate but apparently it also makes it taste better.  Next week we are supposed to bring in a cake and some icing that we've made and then we are going to ice it and decorate it in class.  I can't wait!!!

Turns out I had too many cookies to really practice just that one little star.  But I practiced and then I brought it home and showed Jonathan what I had learned. Then he practiced (he's a natural!) and then I just started playing with the icing... It looked a lot better before I squirted icing all over ever cookie.  Hopefully next week I'll have something even better to show you guys!