things that make my day.

these things makes long days like today better:


-early morning talks with best friends.
-free starbucks drinks to start the day off.
-having my amazing student with downs learn to say the number 11.
(i literally teared up and we hugged about a hundred times).
-having a student read a passage: "jabbed him in the ribbons" that should have been "jabbed him in the ribs."
-students who bring their puppies to tutoring to bring me a little extra joy.
-seeing 6 and 7 year olds that i sincerely love even in the summer.
-a diet dr pepper when i get home.
-birthday cards in the mail. (it's true, i'm 24 tomorrow!)
-playing with my puggle.
-cleaning and it only taking 20 minutes.
-finally finishing papers that were threatening to kill me.
-watching friends while finishing those said terrible papers.
-getting to talk to matt and having interesting stories to share with each other.


so, though these past few days have been terribly long, thank the Lord for the good parts, eh?

cake pop attempt numero uno.

welp.
i decided to attempt cake pops.
difficult.


here's what you do, according to bakerella... the woman who sort of invented the cake pop!

step one: bake a cake. i just did a box cake mix because it was easy. strawberry kind.

step two: crumb the cake, mix with frosting, make cake balls.

hey, be mature. you can say cake balls and not giggle.

step 3: prepare the rest of the ingredients.

this is where things went downhill...

step 4: dip the end of the stick in chocolate and stick it in the cakeballs, then refrigerate for a while.

step 5: where it fell apart. you're supposed to do the double boil method, melt the chocolate, and dip the cake balls in the chocolate and then in the sprinkles.

but. they were too heavy. or maybe didn't have enough frosting in the cake ball. or maybe the stick wasn't far enough in.

(so many that's what she said jokes exist in here. it's okay. you can say it.)

nonetheless. 5 of them completely fell apart. and the ones that worked, i couldn't fully dip or they would have fallen apart. so, another try is in order. when i get time. i will conquer these!

i'll keep you updated. it is a battle.

i did it.

i did it.
i made an awesome cupcake.
totally from scratch.
i decided to do a more summer-y cupcake...


so i went with a vanilla cupcake with cherry filling and vanilla buttercream frosting.
here it is:

cooking the cherries--2 cups cherries, 1/2 cup water, 1.5 teaspoon vanilla... cook for like 10 minutes on med-high, then add 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons cornstarch until it thickens (it only took like 5 minutes for me).

then, cut out a cone shape from the cupcakes (i used martha stewart's "billys" cupcake recipe, using buttermilk instead of whole milk, a little less flour and a little more sugar) with a knife and fill in the opening with the cherry filling, once it cools.

 

then, use a vanilla buttercream (1 cup butter at room temp with 6-8 cups powdered sugar and about 1/4 cup milk and a teaspoon vanilla... or 2 :).  just add in powdered sugar and milk until the consistency is right and just. keep. mixing.) and pipe it on! i added edible pearls on top.

delicious, yes?

 mhmmm.

summer joys.

we are CRAMMING a summer into 2 weeks.
because matt starts surgery tomorrow.
therefore, his summer ends very soon.


to make up for it, a bunch of summer things...

 tigers game!

 duh. super ropes are a must.

 finally made sloppy joe for this guy.

 took bailey to pet smart... and then to partridge creek (the outdoor mall).

 couldn't eat in a restaurant since we had bailey, so CPK to go!

 andddd the crowning jewel in the day: a gourmet pupcake.

cupcake made out of dogfood for bailey.

 after all that, she was dead to the world for the drive home.

 then, an attempt at fireworks and the detroit symphony orchestra at greenfield village.

me with the baseball team.

 matt getting some lilli time.

 but then, the heavens broke loose and it downpoured. i mean DOWNPOURED. hailed on us. and then the fireworks got cancelled. but it was quite an adventure!

and then, birmingham fireworks. gorgeous. and on a huge golf course.

happy 4th of july!

flo-rida.

hallelujah for vaca.
matt took the boards.
i have been tutoring nonstop.
and doing grad school.
and attempting to complete all practical tasks while matt was on study duty.
(yeah, i said duty. and instantly thought of poop. it's okay if you did too).


so, yeah.
vaca.
you could say we needed it.


matt finished his test at 3:30 p.m.
we went home. packed. went to matt's parents' house.
dinner.
5:20 a.m.
leave to fly to flo-rida.

and then we left!

while in flo-rida, we did nothing.

except have an awesome hotel room.

and live next to the pool.

and go out to great dinners.

dream situation.

and now back to real life.

happy summer!

summer goal.

summer goal.
i'm publicly sharing this in the hopes that it happens.


create my own cupcake recipe.
or two.
or ten.


my first goal:
vanilla cupcake.
salted caramel filling.
vanilla buttercream frosting.
caramel and chocolate drizzle.


i'm thinking tomorrow's the day for this creation... i'll be sure and fill everyone in as to how it goes.


i'm so excited i could pee.
wish me luck!

turn away for one second...

i turn away for one second...

and this happens.
bailey got a lick of a plate of beautiful cupcakes.


to punish her,
i let her lick the rest of the frosting.
it's okay... she lost 6 pounds, so she's not fat anymore.
she's allowed.


(we went on a long run later to make up for it.)