         
Archive for the ‘Celebrations’ Category
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
Let me start off with a confession: As the kid who was always picked last for… well, everything, really… I’ve never won anything that involved a popular vote. EVER.
| As a kid, it was because I was “weird” (Aspergers). That was ok, they were all JUST as weird to me!
As an adult, it’s always been a mix of logistical concerns (Only taking on no more than 2 cakes per week puts one at a disadvantage against companies that churn out 60+ cakes per week!), and – again – being “weird”. I’m mouthy. I have turquoise hair. I *refuse* to “play the game”, and I don’t kiss anyone’s butt. When it comes to the wedding industry… yeah, no popular vote winning, for me! Usually, such popular votes are for totally meaningless awards, so I’ve never minded. |
 |
Here’s the thing though. I’ve entered the Food & Wine Show’s “Czar of Cakes” competition again this year. (Past year’s entries are here and here.) This year, things have changed… and I need your help. More on that in a bit, More on that in a bit, first let me ply you with cake photos!
(more…)
Posted in Cake Business, Cakes, Celebration Generation | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012
As you may know, my husband and I are not really Valentine’s Day people. We don’t really have any need for the traditional V Day gifts (and I am SO not a jewelry person!), it ends up feelings pretty contrived, so we usually just hang out and chill. Of course, external pressures usually have us checking in with each other every year, with “do you WANT to do anything…?
It always feels like we *should*. This year, we decided that we’ll be brewing a small batch of a red, “Valentine’s Day” wine or mead. I think we’re leaning towards a sweet raspberry mead. Anyway, I digress…
| Last night we were eating dinner and discussing the various funny stuff we’d seen on the net, when I mentioned a booze bouquet I’d seen on Pinterest. The person had affixed mini booze bottles onto sticks, and made a little bouquet of it.
As we’d recently been reminiscing on how much fun we’d had doing V-day ceramic mugs for each other a few years back, the idea of making booze bouquets for each other came up. Like many of our crazy ideas, it went from “wouldn’t it be fun…” to DONE in no time flat!
|
|
We headed to a craft supply store to pick up all kind of crazy Valentine’s Day craft stuff on clearance. Neither one of us really knew what we were planning to do as we poured over ever manner of red, pink, and sparkly V Day nonsense, discussing ideas, and ultimately purchasing our respective supplies. After that, we went to our favorite liquor store, and each bought a dozen mini bottles for each other, each not letting the other see the surprise selections.
The whole time – and on the way home – we excitedly talked about our ideas and plans, actually looking *forward* to our little V Day celebration. Neither of us could WAIT to get home and dig into the craft supplies, and seeing what we could come up with.
We had a blast. Weird crafty projects with my husband are always a ton of fun (Pi Day Pi-natas, Chocolate Zombie Easter Bunnies, and epic Pysanky using Crayons, for instance!).
Also? Men + Booze + Craft supplies are a pretty epic combination. Just WAIT til you see what he came up with!
(more…)
Posted in Celebrations, Crafts, DIY, Gift Ideas, Spirited Living, Valentine's Day | 1 Comment »
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
So, I know it’s not EXACTLY food related… but tiling an awesome back splash is KITCHEN related, and tutorials are *almost* recipes, right? I swear this is actually a food blog…!
Remember back when I debuted the photos of our finished bathroom renovation, with Fibonacci sequence tiled into the main wall, and a few digits of pi tiled behind the toilet? It was a last minute design idea, and it was to be a subtle, small nod to our nerdiness.
| Well, one thing led to another… and now we have 159 digits of pi tiled into our kitchen backsplash. If you follow me on Twitter, you’re probably sick of hearing about it by now… but I not only have the final photos, I have a tutorial on how to do it yourself!
Now, I know we went sort of nuts with the pi day celebrations last year… but this really takes it to a whole new level. We’re happy to have this in place in time for this year’s party, but… damn. No idea how we’ll top this for Pi day 2013. Or, you know, 2015, when we should really go all out! (3/14/15!)
|
 |
I guess the one good thing about getting your house destroyed by a tornado is that it forces you to get off your butt, make a bunch of design decisions and actually DO renovations on the house, rather than just talk about “someday, it would be cool if…”.
We still have quite a ways to go, but the house really is looking great. We won’t have cabinet faces and doors for a WHILE – still waiting for the lumber we had milled to be properly dried, so we can build all that. Oh well. I think the fact that the black walnut that destroyed our kitchen is being used to rebuild it is badass enough to be worth the wait! Anyway…
Now, I realize that the odds of anyone else tiling pi into their kitchen is fairly slim… but this tutorial is also good for anyone who wants to put in a new backsplash, but with a personal twist. The photos and specifics here are for pi, but the principles can apply to any design you can think up, with 2″ x 2″ tiles.
For instance..
- Using two favorite colors to create a custom checkerboard design, should you not be happy with the small amount of pre-fab options out there.
- If you look at the tiles as “pixels”, you can do pretty much anything you can come up with that is 9-10 squares tall, by however long you want.
- Tetris!
- Music fans or musicians could make an amazing “equalizer” type design!
I can’t tell you how rewarding it is to look at a finished, completely custom backsplash, and know that it is YOURS… and it wasn’t the difficult! On to the tutorial….
(more…)
Posted in Home Life, Pi Day, Renovations, The Geek Life, Tutorials | 24 Comments »
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012
Fell out of bed this morning, checked my email – and there was a brightly colored bit from an industry publication.
Now, I may not be directly in the wedding industry anymore, but I’m still on a lot of mailing lists – too lazy to get myself removed. Plus, sometimes there are nuggets of entertainment in there. The wedding industry, when watched as a former member, is probably something akin to the sleeziest reality show out there. You know it’s gross, lowest-common-denominator at times, and that a lot of the characters are just loathesome… but it appeals to some twisted voyeuristic (schadenfreude?) section of the brain. I do enjoy when friends behind those “enemy lines” keep me up to date on the current gossip in the local industry, LOL.
Anyway.
This particular publication was loudly declaring that “vintage big-top circus” is going to be HUGE as a wedding theme this year. I wish I could include the photo that’s attached to the article, but I’d rather not get DMCA’d over it. Let me describe: (more…)
Posted in Celebrations, Decor, Rants, Weddings | 1 Comment »
|
