.zebra birthday cakes.

I have this problem with over scheduling my life. Well, not over scheduling, just leaving no room wiggle room. Here is a glimpse at my planner from last week:

It looks chaotic, but it is how I get stuff done. And the front of it is covered in angry birds, because I use my phone for angry birds more than I use it to talk on the phone. 

My life is scheduled, my thoughts are not... which is why every day box is filled to the margins, and my hand writing is not nearly as messy as it appears in my planner. I digress.

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to make some zebra print birthday cakes for some girls roller skating birthday party. I searched pinterest to find ideas. [I love pinterest. I am new to it, but you can follow me here]. The party was the same day as the Luau, but I figured I could still swing it and get to bed at a reasonable hour. Work until 6:15? No problem. Make and decorate a couple of cakes? Sure. Make a majority of the food for the Luau? Easy. In theory. Until work went a little late, the house was 200 degrees (slight exaggeration) and I had to run to the store 4 times for ingredients that I kept forgetting. But every thing did get done, and I was in bed by 2am... When college classes are in session, that is technically considered a "reasonable hour". :) 

These cakes are marble. I made one chocolate cake and one vanilla cake, then I marbled them between four 9 inch cake pans. 

The cakes are covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. I personally had a love/hate relationship with store bought fondant. I love how it looks on cakes, I hate how it tastes. Some people really like it, but I was never a fan of the store bought sugar dough. Then I found a recipe for homemade marshmallow fondant, and it seemed too easy and too good to be true. A big huge pile of marshmallows and sugar? Don't mind if I do.  I can't remember where I first found it, I think it was in one of those Halloween special cookbooks that are put out every holiday by the check out lanes, but if you google "homemade marshmallow fondant" there are a ton of recipes that come up.

This one is mini marshmallows melted in the microwave and mixed with 2lbs of powdered sugar. It is colored with Wilton food coloring gels. 

                

 

I covered the cakes with a homemade butter cream icing [that is also what I used to pipe the birthday greeting], then covered them with fondant, and cut out zebra stripes and put them all over the cakes. I had never done anything with zebra print before, but the I thought they were cute. And so did the birthday girls... So that is what counts. :) 

.beginning of summer party.

When planning an outdoor party, I usually have a back up plan, such as a tent, or putting everyone in the garage or house. For this years beginning of summer bash, I did not have a back up plan. I had checked the ten day forecast as soon as I was able, and it showed nothing but clear skies. Mistake number 1. I woke up yesterday morning to find a little cloud showing on my daily forecast. Problem. I just told myself all day that it would go around us, until it did not. It down poured. It rained and rained. Until it stopped, suddenly, at 5:30. My party was scheduled for 6. With my families help, some towels, and the beautiful, beautiful (albeit warm and humid) sun, my backyard was able to be transformed in to "Hawaii", without a raindrop in sight as the first guests arrived.

{Another issue was the lack of batteries for my camera. So all the picture are from my iPhone.}

The Menu:

•  Sweet and Sour pulled pork sandwiches (and barbecue for the guests that do not like pineapple)
• Sweet and Sour Chicken Kabobs with fresh Pineapple chunks
• Hot Dogs and Buns
• Bacon Wrapped Pineapple
• Veggie Platter
• Fruit Salad and Grape kabobs 
• Chips, Pretzels, Munchies, and Puppy Chow
• Pineapple Coconut Cupcakes

The Beverages were served in Ice Tea Jugs. There was Iced Tea, Lemonade, Water, and Hawaiian Punch, mixed with Sprite. Although everyone was mixing the iced tea and lemonade, making their own Arnold Palmers. And To drink the beverages: Hula Girl Straws.

There was a S'more's Station with:

• Marshmallows: Regular, Chocolate, Strawberry, and Coconut
• Chocolate Bars
• Graham Crackers and Chocolate Graham Crackers
• Nutella and Peanut Butter

I believe this particular S'more was a Chocolate Graham Cracker, Nutella, Peanut Butter, Chocolate bars, and a Strawberry and Coconut marshmallow. The S'mores got very creative...

For Games there was a volleyball net set up, for some beach ball volleyball competitions, and the limbo which got pretty competitive. 

Overall, it was a really fun and (thankfully!) rain-free party. :)

.a little about andrea.

Hello, I'm Andrea.
I'm 23.
I like things that make me laugh.
I have a dog, his name is Maynard.

I try to be creative by baking, crafting, etc. My favorite creative outlet is cake making and cookie decorating.

I do all this on a college student budget, which brings me to my love of coupons. I love coupons. I hate paying full price. They go hand in hand.

I am obsessive compulsive about neatness and organization. I love to label everything. Does everything need to be labeled? Probably not. Example: does the cup holding the pens on my desk need to say "pens". No, but it does. This is my life.

I love to try new things. I am growing my first garden, and I have no idea what I am doing. No amount of googling "how to garden" can make me less apprehensive about it, so now I play the waiting game to see if anything grows.

So, thank you for reading this blog.
You are awesome.