12. Fondant cookie pops

I enjoy making cookie pops and kids love them! In the past I have always done them in royal icing or color flow. This was the first time I decorated them with fondant. I started by cutting the right size of black fondant then the wing colors cut and "glued". Next came the dots, eyes, antennas and putting the little black dots on the eyes. From start to finish it took me 4 hours to decorate the 20 cookie pops! I'm hoping that with practice it will get quicker but it was a good experiment to try them out. I hope to get to try out more fondant cookie pops soon!






To go along with the cookie pops I made a ladybug cake. The ladybug was yellow cake and the bottom part was a 3 layer chocolate cake with butter cream icing.



Thanks for reading!

Mix CD # 5 Mu's

As I expected this CD was most unlike what I listen to on a regular bases. I didn't know any of the songs on this CD. While a couple of the songs I didn't exactly like I was presently surprised on how many of the songs I really enjoyed. I was also surprised that I knew a couple of the artists. A good number of the songs were instrumental, which were specially nice to listen to while driving on a nice sunny day.

Here is the list of song's from the CD:
Intro- the xx
Deep Red Bells- Neko Case
Night Drive- Chromatics
Untitled- Interpol
He Turns Down- Cat Power
Nightlife- Amon Tobin
Tell you now- Le Tigre
Mal Poli- Yelle
When I Come Back Around- Jamie Lidell
Dust- Dorothy Ashby
First Sleep- Cliff Martinez
Hodie- Jocelyn Montgomery/David Lynch
Tannaim- John Zorn
Why I Stay- The Black Heart Procession
Solo su voz- Juana Molina
No One Knows My Name- Gillian Welch
The Man Who Told Everything- Doves
Blood Red River- Beth Orton
Strawberries- Mia Doi Todd
Stai Con Me- Etta Scollo
Spirit Fingers- Four Tet
In the Wire- Friends of Dean Martinez
Something Wicked This Way Comes- Barry Adamson
Babs- Robbie Basho
Close your eyes and you'll burst into flames- Kaki King

Next week's CD Scott's

Mix CD # 4 Justin's

So, Abby had the most random CD award till this week. Justin now has the most random award!
I knew all the songs on this CD as we have been together over 8 years and married over 3.5. For the most part I enjoy these songs or at least like to listen to them every once in a while

Here is the list:
Bus stop- The Hollies
Just Dance-Lady Gaga
Scar Tissue- Red Hot Chili Peppers
Take You There- Sean Kingston
Barbie Girl- Aqua
Butterfly- Crazy Town
I kissed a girl- Katy Perry
Jumper- Third eye blind
We have all time in the world- Louis Armstrong
Lightning strikes- Lou Christie
Young girl -Gerry Puckett
Don't let me be misunderstood- Santa Esmerealda
All along the watch tower- Jimi Hendrix
All for you- Sister Hazel
I'm gonna be (500 miles)- The proclaimers
Bonnie and Clyde- Beyonce and Jay-Z
Hooch- Everything
Africa- Toto

Next week's Cd will be my uncle's CD, I expect this will be the most unlike what I am used to listening to.

11. Cuscatleco

Like most of my new experiences this one involved our wiigue. We decided to try out a restaurant most of us hadn't been to. Katie suggested Cuscatleco, a near by Mexican restaurant.
I was really excited to see that they had fried yucca in their menu. It was an appetizer and it came with fried pork, which turned out to be really yummy, and cabbage. Katie enjoyed the cabbage and I am happy to say the yucca was good! It was much, much better than the last restaurant I tried fried yucca at.
Justin had nachos with steak, I had a chicken quesadilla, Katie had a vegetarian special and I can't remember what Angelique had. We were all happy with our food and we'll going there again! It was very reasonably priced and service was good.

Thanks for reading!

10. AIM-Train

I've been teaching Wilton classes for almost an year now and had been looking forward to the aim- train, annual instructor meeting and training. But, because of snow the training got postponed due to weather. The first weekend in March I finally got to go to Aim-train! The training was at the Marriott in Raleigh, only about 20 minutes away. It was really informational and entertaining.
I had taken the classes and watched all the DVDs which really helps but it was a lot of fun to go to training. The people leading the training were the people in the actual instructional DVDs which was really cool to get to meet them as they have been with Wilton for a long time.
It was great to meet other instructors and get to talk about the classes, what we enjoy, what students have trouble with etc.
The training was all day Saturday and Sunday and I learned tons of things! We also got to some information about new products Wilton will be releasing soon.
Another really cool thing as all the free products we got, I came home with a huge box of supplies, and if you know me you know I love free things and a great deal!
There were lots of fun things we learned about and got to keep!

That's all I can say about training for now...

Thanks for reading!

9. Apron

As you all know I love to bake and decorate cakes! Baking can get messy so I am always wearing aprons. I love aprons and admire beautiful aprons. I am always in the look out for beautiful aprons within my budget. Anthropology has some amazing aprons but at $30+ for aprons they are out of my budget. I did get my self one with some birthday money but it's so pretty I feel guilty getting it dirty. So, I decided to make myself a fun apron!
I have a sewing machine but I haven't really gotten to play around it much. A while ago Katie and I went to the fabric store to pick up some fun materials. We spent probably a good hour looking at all the different fabrics! I got several fun patterns that were sitting in a bag for weeks. I finally had some time and decided to try making an apron. I bake very often and easily go through 3-5 aprons a week as I usually do laundry once a week.
It took me forever to get all the pieces cut and sewn together but I am really happy with the results!


As I gave up shopping for Lent I can't go buy any more fabric but once Lent is over I plan on making more aprons. After Lent I am planning on an black and white apron and an wolfpack apron to start off with. I may also start to make them for gifts.

Here are some cute aprons under $30.

Thanks for reading!!

8. Matthews, NC

At the end of last year when I was looking at my Wilton schedule I realized that I would only have a couple weeks this year that I wouldn't be teaching. So, we decided we should try to take a trip at the end of February. After looking at possibly taking 2 vacations this summer we decided to make this trip a short one and stay close to home. Justin decided he would be the on plan the trip. So he decided we should go to Matthews.
As you all know I am from Brazil and have been here 13+ years now. I have not gone back but I still enjoy sodas and snacks from Brazil. Unfortunately, they are not easily available here. So, Justin did some research and found a Brazilian store in Matthews, NC. Matthews is right out side of Charlotte, so about 2.5 hours away from here.
There we found not one but 2 Brazilian stores! As I gave up shopping for Lent we only bought grocery items. Such as Guarana, biscuito de povilho, chocolate and cookies. Mom loves Bono chocolate cookies so she was super excited to find out they were less than half the price in Matthews than in NY which is where she usually gets them.
I could have easily spent tons of money, but now that we know we can get things near Charlotte I am sure we'll be able to go back. Tyler, Justin's brother, lives in Charlotte now so we should be able to go by Matthews whenever we get to visit him.

On the way to Matthews we stopped for lunch at South 21. We found out about South 21 watching Drive-ins, Diners and Dives, one of Justin's favorite shows on food network. They are known for their burgers and onion rings. We weren't too impressed by their burgers but Justin really liked the onion rings. It's always fun to try out places you see on TV so it was worth the trip.

We also found out there are 2 Brazilian steak houses. One had a lunch special so we decided to try it. It turns out it was a Brazilian/Indian restaurant and it's not run by Brazilians. They did have picanha but overall it wasn't that great. So, if you are in the Charlotte/Matthew area skip Brazas, there are much better Brazilian steakhouses out there. After lunch we started to head back home.
On our way back we decided to stop by IKEA, which we had never been too. People talk about how cool it's so much cooler than I imagined! There are soooooooo many things I would love to get from that store! But, as I gave up shopping for Lent we didn't buy anything. We did however come home with a bunch of ideas of things we want to save up for and would like to get once we have a house.

We had a great trip, minus me being sick and it taking us 4 hours to get back home! It's always nice to have a chance to go out of town and relax.

Thanks for reading!

7. Erin's Book Release Party

I meet Erin back in November when she started taking Wilton Classes. At that time she was working on her book : 1000 days of Celibacy . When it was time for her book release Party she asked me to help her with the cake!
The cake was a 4 tiered Coockatoo covered in red fondant feathers. It was designed after the book cover. Each layer was a different flavor cake all filled with butter cream icing.

The book release party took place at Rum Runners . Rum Runners is a dueling piano bar, if you have never been I highly recommend it (especially in the earlier part of the evening before the humor goes straight down the gutter). Angelique and Katie joined Justin and I for the fun. We had an awesome time!
Now to the book itself. In the book, which was first a blog,Erin talks about all the bad experiences she had with dating and why she decided to give up sex for a while. She was hoping to find Mr. Right by the end of her journey.Unfortunately, she hasn't found him yet but I think she learned a lot during her journey, she has now decided to take a break from dating again to focus on her self instead of guys.
To most people in our society 1000 days may seem like a long time to go with out sex but I have to say it's not that long, especially when you are saving sex for marriage. After all Justin and I were together almost 5 years (something like 1800 days) before we got married, and we know plenty of people who have done the same. I won't say that it's an easy thing to do, but it's definitely possible to go that long without sex, even when you are in a relationship!
While we were there it started to snow! Here are some pictures from that snow:


I'm very thankful and blesses to have found my partner for live so early on and wish everyone else the best of luck on their search!

Thanks for reading!

Mix CD # 3 Matthew's

I was planning on listening to Michelle's CD this week but when I put it in my CD player in the car it wouldn't play :(. I'll have to take the song list and download the songs before I can listen to her CD. So, I picked up the next CD which happened to be Matthew's.
Song list:
Last Goodbye- Jeff Buckley
Crazy- Ray LaMontagne
Djangology- Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli
So Long, Moses- Andrew Peterson
More- Andrew Peterson
Pyramid Song- Radiohead
Optimistic- Radiohead
And your bird can sing- The Beatles
For no one- The Beatles
Intro to "Nobody Loves Me" - Derek Webb
Nobody Loves Me- Derek Webb
I want a Broken heart- Derek Webb
I Repent- Derek Webb
A New Law- Derek Webb
A King and a Kingdom- Derek Webb
A love that's stronger than our fear- Derek Webb
A savior on Capitol Hill- Derek Webb
The Spirit vs. The kick Drum -Derek Webb
What Matters More- Derek Webb

I enjoyed listening to this CD. It's been a lot of fun getting to enjoy what my friends like to listen to. Several of the songs in this CD I already knew. But, I was looking forward to Derek Webb. I had heard some of his songs before and I know plenty of people that love his work. I enjoyed the songs but I am not sure how I feel about him overall yet. With that said, my favorite new song on this CD was What Matters more. Which, turns out it's not even on his CD but it's on his website.
Next week's CD- Justin's
(I'll listening to all the CDs that are done before I download the songs from the lists I have gotten as I have been to busy to get that done, I should be having a slow week soon to get all the other CD's made).