Mad Hatters Tea Party

Oh the joys of baking and making cool things. Here are some pictures of how I made the tea pot cake. It turned out better than I had expected and it went over really well. Someone even asked me if I would do it for a second income, in which I replied, "No!" haha. I like making cakes and baking on my accord...if I had to take orders and actually fulfill someone else's vision I would feel too much pressure and the joy would disappear intothe stress of succeeding. Therefore it wouldn't be fun for me any more. This said, here's some pictures of a moment in time of last weekend.

A raspberry filled centre. Yum! I love chocolate and raspberry put together. Always a good idea!

The End

All cramed into a few days

Alright, so about that night mare that I said I would tell you about. First let me explain what happened...I had all intentions on coming back and doing an update on Wednesday, however I got got hooked into doing some baking for my future sister-in-laws wedding shower, and making a cake. Therefore forgetting all about my blog. But I'm back and I will now catch you up on a few things of this past week. First the nightmare. Now that I look back it doesn't seem that bad, but you know how when you're "in" it, it seems so much worse? Well anyways....it started in a different country...Rome, we (Brenton and I and some other adults I don't know) were on a tour bus supervising some kids. We were driving on this really scary road that resembled the sky train tracks, high above a large body of water. The bus took one really sharp corner a little too fast and we wobbled as though were going to go over. Than the bus driver recovered and we were all on edge and then it happened. We went over the edge. Brenton was a quick thinker and opened the fire exit before we hit the water. We all jumped out and then the supervisors met up on the shore and took off to go get help. However, before we came back to help the kids we went to the hotel and had a shower and got dressed in warm dry clothes and then headed back. I thought this was so terrible when I woke up because what kind of supervisors are we, just leaving the kids in the water...oh and the conversation we had on the way back to the water was so disturbing. We were preparing for not all the kids to have survived. I just thought it was a disturbing dream. Anyways, there's your update on that.

This past week has been exhausting. I don't think I would have felt it so much, but my body decided to allow the bug that entered it to have control and I've been sick since Thursday. Luckily I had taken Friday off so I didn't infect the kids that I work with. So Thursday night I was up until 3:30 in the morning. I had some last minute baking to do that I knew I wouldn't be able to do on Friday as well as some house cleaning

to do, my mom was coming the next day and I needed to get her room ready. Another thing I knew I wouldn't be able to do on Friday.

Friday came way too early and when I went to say good bye to Brenton for the day there was no voice that came out. I was like, oh no, where did my voice go? I sounded terrible..I could talk in a very low voice, and quietly, but no normal voice...it came out as more of a squeak and it broke a lot so you couldn't understand anything I was saying. Oh well...the day must go on. I went and picked up my mom from the airport and we headed straight to some shopping centres for the following day. That was fun. After shopping we stopped in and saw B at his work. We went out for a delicious lunch and it was amazing! Then

we headed home where my car decided to break down on the side of the highway for a short time (it needs more clutch fluid). Once my car decided that it could shift again I took it home and came in and did some prep for making the cake for the next day. Oh yeah, Saturday was Becky's wedding shower and I was in charge of making the cake. I invited my brother to come over to take a look at my car and when he arrived I told him I had a surprise for Becky and he should come and see. When he arrived I took him into the guest room where I showed him the flower girl outfit in which he was so excited and giving lots of compliments and half way through his talking my mom walked in behind him and he was so surprised to see her (her coming out was a surprise for the shower and we opted to surprise Cam with it too). It was so sweet to see his reaction. My car never did get looked at..haha. That night ended really late...I think 1:30ish. Than the next morning started really early..7. I got ready everything in the car, everything was looking good. I even had my hair done and it was sweet. Than my car wouldn't work again. So B called his parents and we went over there, picked up their van, came back and loaded all the stuff out of his car into the van, everything in my car into his car. I took his car and he took the van. So this put us about an hour behind....but we arrived at the one bridesmaids house and helped with prep. Than we headed over to Becky's parents house to start decorating. We were a little ahead so we decided that maybe we would head over to Cam's to see him...as I turned the corner I was shocked to see Becky standing in the driveway. (I had been told she and her mom were going out). So I quickly sped up so she couldn't make out who was in the passenger seat. haha. It was really funny. Luckily she didn't see who was in the car with me, just thought I was being weird not stopping to say hi. haha.

Once we got to Becky's parents house we started decorating and making the backyard appear as a tea party. It was so cute and I loved the theme! The MOH (maid of honour) did an amazing job organizing everything and we all seemed to know just what needed to be done and just did it. We finished decorating an hour before it was to begin which gave us a little mellow out time. The party went off without a hitch and Becky was a beautiful bride to be. We played 3 games, match the Hollywood couple, name that spice, and write down everything the bride was wearing. It went over really well. The food was amazing and people appreciated the cake. I had to do some last minute construction on it because one part broke, but luckily they had a freezer and that helped fix it for the amount of time it needed to be fixed for. Once it melted though, that was the end of it. haha. I can hardly wait until she's my sister for reals.

Here are some of the pictures of the baking from that day...including a picture of the cake. Remember it was a tea party themed party...than the cake makes sense :)

After the shower we all went out for dinner as the family and wedding party that was in town. It was fun. Very yummy! Then we headed home where I made another cake for the following day for a practice cake. Luckily I have the most amazing husband ever and he allowed me to go to bed and finish up taking the cake out of the oven, letting them cool and then putting them in the freezer for me. So kind of him and I crashed so hard. The next morning came way too early. 4:30 wake up call to be out the door by 5 to take mom back to the airport. Once we sent her off, we came home and went straight back to bed. We slept until 11:30. Got up and went to do some quick grocery shopping. Than I met up with Becky back at our place where we did the practice cake. As soon as that was complete I quickly did a clean up (B had already started) and got some prep done because we were hosting our Father's Day dinner at our place. That was really yummy too! We had sweet potatoes, potato salad, spinach salad(our sister in law made it), fresh veggies, (B's mom and dad brought), cooked veggies, and 3 types of bbq'd meat. It was a delicious meal. Than for dessert we had some squares, cookies and cake. It was an overall great evening, ending off with an episode of Home Improvement.

Today, Monday, has been a day of recouping. I had to drop B off at the airport for a business trip (he'll be back on Saturday) and I already miss him like crazy. This will be the longest we've been away from each other since we got married. Than I came home and I've been sleeping all day long. My head is still feeling heavy and I'm very zoned out. Hopefully I'll get a great sleep tonight and be able to focus at work with no trouble. Until next time.

Michelle.

Shhhh....

There will be an update tomorrow about the weird dream/nightmare I had last night. I have a wicked headache right now so the glare off the computer is too much to handle right now. This post is more just a reminder to myself of what the next update is going to be about. Until my eyes can handle your beauty,

Michelle-lee

Bakin' up a storm

Good day everyone. Bet you thought I fell off the face of the earth for a while? Maybe you didn't even notice. Maybe just maybe you're like, stop all your melodramaticness and get on with the post. Whatever you may be feeling, I welcome you with open arms. Well...maybe they're crossed a little...I do this, not because I'm mad, but because it's comfortable and it keeps me warm.

Only 27 days left until my brother's wedding!!! I'm so excited. I hung out with the bride to be today as she had a hair trial day! So much fun! She had also said she was going to stop by my place once she was done...so I took off a little early to go and hide the goodies I've been working on for her wedding shower this coming weekend. I've been baking up a storm...for the wedding shower and for our family Christmas in July. Why are we having Christmas in July you ask? Well because my sister and her family are actually in the country and it's been over 2 years since the last time they had a North American Turkey dinner we decided that it was time for our family to have Christmas together. So exciting. So of course comes on the baking!! Yum!

Just an update on my mental overallness, I'm content. I am so happy where I am at right now in life. It's a fun time. I'm enjoying my family (both sides), my job is incredible!, and B and I are enjoying each other. Someone asked me recently about how I felt about everyone around me being pregnant or just having a newborn and me not having one on the way yet? My response, and trust me it took me a few battles with the ugly Green Monster (Jealousy), and a whole lot of prayer to get me to where I am now, but my response is that I'm enjoying our journey. It's not going to be the same as someone else's. It's going to be ours, and for that I'm excited. I'm excited for all my family and friends who are starting their families. I'm thrilled for those who are waiting. And I feel incredibly blessed. Enjoying where we are at rather than wishing where we were is where I'm at.

Well, until next time

Mich-to-the-elle

P.S. I will post some pictures of the baking after Saturday...until then it shall remain a surprise. :)

Weekend Flop

This past weekend B and I headed down to the coast to welcome my sister and her family back to the country. We left on Saturday morning to spend some time with family and friends who live down there. When we arrived we were hit with the reality that people have lives outside of us. Everyone was out or busy or not even in the country. So what did we do? We booked ourselves into our hotel and then went for a swim. It was fun! We had a game where we would go jump in the freezing cold pool, then go and soak in the warm hot tub. Then we would repeat. It was so fun! Then we went and grabbed some dinner....Subway (which is lately my favorite place) and a slurpee...can't beat that combo! It was so delicious. We were able to grab a quick visit with some friends who were on their way out, but were able to squeeze us in just before they left. Than we went back to the hotel and called it a day.

The next day (Sunday) we were woken up by the phone telling us that my sister and her family weren't coming until the following day because they g

ot bumped. (Really an understandable situation). I also woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Just grumpy about anything and everything. We headed to church and then met up with some friends and went to their place for lunch. We ended up spending the whole day visiting, B beating their children with pillows with my friend K's husband. It was funny to watch, especially after the kids bumped heads and started crying. Watching B and T settle the kids was funny. Then we headed back to Abby to see my Uncle and Aunt and cousins. It was a funny visit like usual. (I just noticed I used the word "funny" in this update multiple times....weird).

The next day (Monday) we made a quick stop in to see my one friend who just had a baby. That whole situation was a little weird so we kept the visit

short. Then we headed into to Vancouver to pick up Sis and fam. After being stuck in traffic for (no exaggeration) 2 hours due to an accident our first stop was 7/11 for a slurpee, this was their number 1 priority of entering back onto Canadian soil. I am so happy to have them back in the country! I'm so excited for what this summer is going to bring and can't wait to see them soon!

Well until next time

Michelle.

(This picture is a blast from the past when I had blond hair - about 2 years ago)

Bye Bye Baby Nelly

The internet can be a useful tool or a total annoyance. I started writing a blog update...ok, I opened the page to start one, and the internet went down and then I felt uninspired. But then, my sister said, "You haven't updated your blog in a loooong time" and so now I am here writing an update.

Ok, so the Tracker sold. Hallelujah! It was sold to this cute little older man. He is 79 and he bought it with the sole purpose of using it for hunting. He told me he use to have a Tracker and it died out in the middle of nowhere and it took him, get this, 16 hours to walk out and get back to civilization. He told me that happened when he was a lot younger, 65! This guy has pep and I think it's great. We looked it over and I told him everything that was wrong with it, but these all seemed like easy fixes to him. As I was showing it to him I had three other people stop and ask questions about it, and as we were signing the transfer papers I had to tell a young girl that it had already been sold, in which she turned around, hung her head and walked away. Such a sad moment. The gentleman that bought it seemed really interesting to me. He had such a great story, he had brought his brother along with him and they were both really funny. They fed off each other and were just so much fun to be around.

It was weird though, I had the car listed on a few different popular web sites and the ads would get a lot of hits, but hardly any calls or emails. Then I put it on the side of the highway late Friday night and on Sunday had over 10 calls about it and sold on Monday. That just tells me that people are visual seekers. They have to see it to fall in love.

I'm just so happy that it's sold because now I'm allowed to drive my "new to me" car. It's a 2001 Volkswagen Jetta. It's smokin' hot! I love it! I will take a picture of it and post it at a later time. It has smoked out tail-lights, and a killer sound system (it's better than the Trackers = louder), a sunroof, all electrical things (locks, sunroof control, windows), a straight tailpipe, and it's diesel, so I get 900 clicks to a tank! Woot!!! I'm so happy with it. I got the windshield replaced yesterday because it looked like a spiderweb, but now that it's fixed it almost looked like there was nothing there. It wasn't until it started raining and I wasn't getting wet that I knew that there was glass there.

It's a little sad to see the Tracker go. I had it for exactly 10 years. ( I bought it May 2000). She was a good car to me. We had a lot of experiences together. Many road trips (she had 308 648 clicks on her). She was my car when I was still in Bible College, when I lived in Manitoba, when I was a photographer. We had a relationship, but it was time to say good bye to my 20's and hello to my 30's. Bye bye Baby Nelly.