Cooking School and More Birthdays

I made the cupcake 1 for Seeley's birthday party. I made it to match the smash cake I made for him last week. 



 30th birthday cake for a friend who was hosting the party

 Today, I took another class at the Viking store up in Atlanta. This class was more hands on cooking than decorating. The name of the class was Baby Cakes, Apparently, the trend right now is toward mini desserts, and so everything we made could be eaten in just a couple of bites. I was really excited to bring the recipes home, and I can't wait to broaden my horizons a bit! Above is one of the petit fours I made. I was never sure how to get the glaze just right, and now I know!

 We made jam jar strawberry cakes. The recipe for the icing called for black pepper, which I thought was odd, but ti tasted really good. Another variation was to add balsamic vinegar, which I think would be very nice with the strawberry cake. Or maybe I think this because I like balsamic on strawberry salad...

 Lemon pudding cake.

And last chocolate bouchons. This was my favorite thing that we made all day. They are somewhere between a cake and a cookie, and would be even better with some raspberry sauce and some whipped cream.

Charleston Birthday Trip

On Saturday, my parents took me to Charleston, S.C. for my birthday (check out my family name on the street sign above). This was my first visit over there, and I was blown away; it is such a beautiful place. We walked around the market, looked at some other shops, and took a tour. We went with a company called About Charleston. The man who was our tour guide has a background in restoration architecture, and he knew so much all the houses and such. If you feel like being a tourist in Charleston, I would suggest going with them. Side note, the guy who owned the company look a lot like Jerry Garcia, so it was weird hearing someone who looked like that lecturing us on formal gardens and Tiffany glass. I picked up a few ideas while on the trip. The first is that I want to turn the patch in the back yard that has trouble holding onto grass into a more formal type garden. I will post pictures on my progress very soon. I also saw some cute things that I will put my twist on :)

I am thinking that creeping fig and jasmine might be a nice cover for my retaining wall

I was totally nosy when I snapped this pic over someones back fence, but I fell in love with this chandelier hanging outdoors.

This was on a bed and breakfast, the windows are hand blown, and the curve underneath was hand carved.

A curved balcony for your hoop skirt!

A replica of the Arc D' Triomph, same house as the hand blown windows.
I always thought that texas had the market cornered on stars, guess I was wrong.

savannah part two and callaway

Callaway Gardens is running a promotion where you can get in free through the end of the month. Brian and I went down on Friday. We were hoping to get there early enough to take our bikes, but it did not happen. I think we are going to try and get back next weekend and hit the bike paths. We went to the butterfly house and the Sibley Center. I was very disappointed in the butterfly house on this visit. I feel like the last few times I could have beat the butterflies off with a stick, but that was not the case this time. I guess that even though the temperature is 1000 degrees inside the center, they know it is subzero outside.





This was one of the beds in the Sibley Center. I would love for this to be in my front yard right now.



















I took this picture in Forsyth Square. I loved walking around looking at all the parks and squares in Savannah. It was so nice to see all the people out and about with their dogs and kids.

























When we were in the hotel, the local news covered the Valentines service at this cathedral. One of the couples in attendance had been married over 70 years. I hope I will be so lucky!























Someday, I want a front entry, like this one, into my house. At the rate the economy is going, I don't know if that will happen. What do you think this would look like as an entry to a split level?

Savannah, my new city crush

This year for Valentine's Day, Brian took me to Savannah for a night. Brian always goes out of his way to make February 14th special; which is especially nice of him considering I am not a huge fan of the holiday.
I think that I am the only person in the free world, or at least in the state of Georgia, who had not been to this town. So, I walked around like the biggest tourist ever with a map in one hand and a camera in the other. (If only I had a northern accent, I would have blended right in!) I think we just scratched the surface of things to see in the time that we were there. On Sunday night, we ate at Huey's on the River Walk, and then we had an icee at Wet Willies (which I might add is the ultimate icee experience, there is one opening in Atlanta soon!)

I loved looking at all the architecture, and now I want to design a house! Its probably a good thing that we are staying put for a few more years, because if I designed a house off of one trip to Savannah it would probably look ridiculous. But, none the less here are some of the pics from the trip.

I was very intrigued by this side porch. I would love to know the story behind it because it looks like more of a pool house than a porch. All it needs is an outdoor kitchen and a sitting area.

I saw this in the window of a shop that was closed. Which was a good thing because I would have tried to find a way to take it home with me. It would look perfect in my dining room. On a side note, I liked the way the building reflected in this shot.

The Mercer House, I have wanted to visit since I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. We didn't take the tour because they won't answer any questions about Jim Williams, otherwise they would have gotten my $13.

I was amazed at the number of historical markers in Savannah. Some of the squares had 3 or 4 markers in each one. This one was right by our hotel, and it caught my eye because I had always thought that Athens was the birthplace of UGA.

Flower Show 2010

This past weekend, Brian and I went to the Southeastern Horticulture Flower Show at the Cobb Galleria. There was so much to look at! We both found inspiration in different places. I thought that this fountain was really cool. I have no idea where I would put something like but maybe at the next house.
















Brian really liked this sitting area. He thought we could do something like this at the deep end of the pool (where the existing flower bed is), and do hinged covers on the benches (we need storage!) I like it because it great sun and would be perfect for laying out on. Then we would put the kitchen part on what is right now the wood decking. This is going to be a BIG project. We have wanted to do an outdoor kitchen/living area since we moved in the house, and now I think that we have a better idea of what we want to do. I also like the built in fire pit. When we run the gas lines for the kitchen part we are going to do a gas fire pit as well.















I love the leaf in the vase. I got this idea and the roses and orchids below from the Cut Flowers Wholesale booth. http://www.cutflower.com/
I guess all I need now is a business licence, and I can spend my paycheck on fresh flowers. (Brian will be thrilled)















Coffee Break roses, wouldn't these be great for a fall wedding?
















Vanda Orchids- we tried to get a better picture, but the actual color of these flowers would not come through on the camera. In real life, they had a bit more of a purple tinge to them. Gorgeous!




















Right now, we have some railroad ties that are acting as a retaining wall on my hill in the back yard. They are not very pretty, so I would like to replace them with something like this. I have been wanting a place to grow some veggies, but I have had a hard time finding a place to put them.




















I have some plastic urns I got at Big Lots (I painted them black so now you can't tell that they had humble beginnings!) I am wanting to use something like this to grow ivy on in the urns. I am hoping that Dad can fabricate something like this for me.















I thought this was a great centerpiece idea. There is a close up of the hanging vases, below.






























The Kermit and Peter Cottontail were two of the competition pieces. I just thought they were super cute.


































I have always loved Chinese lanterns. I thought this was a great gazebo idea.
















Here was my one purchase. They call these things Water Beads. The start like like grains of sand, and when you put them in water they grow up to look like marbles. They also have a ton of colors to choose from. According to the people at the booth, these little guys are supposed to hold their shape for about a month (and then you can recharge them with more water). They also said that my orchids will love being in them. So we will see if their claims hold any water, HA! I am testing one of my orchids out in them. I am a little skeptical because when I got up this morning I probably poured an inch of water out of the bottom of the vase. These are also great for making flower arrangements. I saw some centerpieces that used the water beads to anchor the flower arrangements.
















I think that the pothos might like the water beads better than the orchid.