A Little Love For Martha

I have a lot of respect for all of you Every Day Bloggers out there.  I don't usually have a problem finding something to blog about, it is making time for it every day.  This is why my posts usually sneak in just before midnight....This NaBloPoMo 2012 has been fun though!  I did look for my blog on their blog roll because I had signed up for this month's challenge, but I couldn't find it on there.  They weren't alphabetical and there were quite a few of them, so maybe I just missed it.  Who really cares, I am finishing up this month regardless & I plan on continuing to blog because I really enjoy it.

Anyway, someone posted this interview with Martha Stewart on NPR's "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!" on Facebook recently and it is hilarious.  I love Martha Stewart, even when she is going on about how eggs right out of the chicken's nests on her farm taste better than eggs you buy at the store (duh, of course they taste better, but I don't have a farm or chickens-yet!), but seriously, this lady is amazing and she has a great sense of humor.

This is my favorite Martha Stewart Moment.  Plus, you learn something here that really does make something nobody really knows how to do ridiculously easy.

{Martha Stewart: How To Fold a Fitted Sheet}

So there you have it.  Now you know how to really fold a fitted sheet. Thanks Martha!!

Update: My Not-So-Martha Martha Stewart moment

I was unable to upload pictures from my camera last night, but I was able to do it once I got to work this morning (shhh!)

So without further ado, I give to you in all of its glory....

The Cake:
{Made with love and frosted in a 100 degree kitchen}

This cake was meant to be. It will serve as a reminder to laugh when something doesn't quite turn out the way that you had thought. It is now forever a memory that will always make me smile & it is a lesson that taught me something. I learned to be confident in a situation that once would have left me feeling a little stupid. I learned to let it go and move on to the next thing even with a party taking place. It made me feel good to laugh and let it go.

The best part? I took Reese into our kitchen, opened the fridge and showed her the cake. She & I looked at each other and we both started laughing. I told her that I needed my baking assistant to help me next time! She said, "it's okay Momma. I like the lavender frosting!"

She just made my day.

Here is a picture of Reese on her birthday, eating at her favorite place, Noodles & Company. She always gets the Mac & Cheese. I'm still a bit hesitant about putting her picture on the Internet, which explains the side profile picture. She looks like she is sad, but she isn't.

{My Little Ray of Sunshine is Six Years Old}

I must say that I am enjoying the NaBloPoMo challenge. It is really fun to think about what I will write about next!

P.S. I have to confess that I actually bought FOOD COLORING to tint the frosting. I have a natural food coloring, but it was not turning out the way that I wanted. I guess if I had known what was in store, I wouldn't have worried about the color so much...

My Not-So-Martha Martha Stewart moment

{This was what I was imaging the cake would look like- no, not the whole thing, just one of the sections!}

So, in the spirit of letting go of perfectionism and in the tradition of making Reese her birthday cake, I embarked on the journey of making a 3 layer yellow cake with buttercream frosting, tinted with natural food dyes to achieve Reese's favorite color, Lavender. She also specified that she wanted "pink, green, yellow & blue polka dots." So, I bought all of the ingredients & set out to make The Cake.

I found this recipe on Bakerella.com and couldn't wait to use it. Here is what the cake was projected to look like:

I have made a layer cake once before & I have seen them being made (and frosted!) on TV, so I really thought that I could do it with this cake. I made the three layers last night, wrapped them up and planned on making the frosting this afternoon, before the little party we had for Reese.

I sort of forgot that frosting a cake in a kitchen in a house that lacks air conditioning when it is 97 degrees outside may lead to some serious cake issues.

it did.
As I watched the frosting stick to the cake & then pull parts of the cake up, I quickly realized that Reese's 6th Birthday cake wasn't going to be the 3 layers of lovely-lavender-polka-dotted-goodness that I had imagined.

Then something miraculous happened. I laughed my ass off. I finished it as best I could, put it on my cake stand from Crate & Barrel and put that baby in the fridge.

I let go of perfection.
You know what? It felt good to be able to laugh at myself & not beat myself up over it. Shit happens. I thought about how fitting it was, considering what I have been posting about lately. Embracing Good Enough. I knew that I had given the cake my best effort and isn't that really the point?

You know what else? The cake was damn good and the frosting was a lovely shade of lavender.


Plus, we ate it on the back patio and it was sort of dark out there.


P.S. And the icing on the cake (yes pun intended!) I can't upload my pictures from my camera for some reason. I will definitely post them tomorrow!