Weekend Scrapbook 3

Another weekend has rudely flown on by.  When will they ever learn to stick around a little longer, to move a little more slowly?

I spent some time on Saturday in the garden center at Lowe's.  Just being among the flowers and plants brings me peace.  It helps get me back to centered, in a way.  And it doesn't hurt that the Dahlias and Daisies were blooming so bright and cheery for me.

And of course, while I was there, I became enamored with a plant that just absolutely needed to go home with us.  This time it was a half-price Hibiscus, and the only one left with red blooms.

I've since named her, "Jane."

Jane has lots more buds, just ready to open up and say hello.

For scale:  Rory meet Jane.  She will block the path you've stubbornly been using, despite our having put up hazards and blocks.  She will force you to walk around so that the grass in that patch will finally have a chance to grow.  Make nice with Jane, you hear?

Jane might possibly have been my reward for accomplishing this: On Friday, I finished up an order of 216 cake pops for a local wedding and then delivered and set up on Saturday.  The groom made the stand, and I filled it up with 5 different designs and flavors of cake pops.  Hurrah for being finished! 

(For the curious, there are more photos over on the Sarandipity blog.)

Wordless Wednesday: Eggs-cellent!

More photos over at the Sarandipity blog!

Today is Brought to You by the Letter M

M.  As in Monday, MS, and money! 

You mayyyy remember a whopping month ago, I mentioned my new blog, Sarandipity, and helping my childhood friend, Jenny, fundraise for her Multiple Sclerosis walk.  I decided to make my donation this year with the help of Sarandipity Sweets, to see how much we could raise by making it a joint effort.  It was simple - for every cake pop sold in March, I'd donate fifty cents.  Want to know how we did? :D

I'm proud to announce that, with all your amazing support, Sarandipity Sweets donated $313 to MS research through Jenny's team.  Hurrah!  I'm seriously so amazed and thankful for everyone who teamed up to help make a huge donation. 

How's that for a happy Monday, eh? 

Spanking New Blog

I just wanted to drop you a quick note to chat about my new blog.  Yes.  Another blog I'll be writing for.  We're up to 3 now, folks.  This new blog is a companion to my Sarandipity website (that's coincidentally undergoing a major facelift with a sprinkling of Botox here and there).  I'll be using the Sarandipity blog to post photos that don't make it into my shop and to make announcements.  Oh, and to host giveaways, weeeee! 

Both the blog and the website are still getting updated and squished around and second coats of paint, but please swing by and let me know what you think!

Ze New Bloggity Blog: 
SarandipitySweets.blogspot.com

Birthday Photo Recap



Valentine's flowers and birthday cake, courtesy of Mr. Bo-tacular.





Note to Bo: When you swirl the frosting like that, it makes it super duper easy
for me to steal swipes of it when you're not looking :)



Happy Birthday, Dear Saraaaaaaa.  I totally turned 5 years old this year, guys!

Oh.  Hello.  No, you can't have any of my cake.



Post birthday dinner, posing in front of the Anthropologie store.
That store is my version of heaven.





That Anthro display dress is made out of paper!  It's seriously gorgeous.



 

Keyboard Cake Pops!

My newest shape is a simple square, but it lends itself to a gojillion customizations!

Y?  Because I like you! ;)

Potpourri No. 6 (Anticipation.)

Gosh, I'm just so delinquent with posting!  I've written 18 posts in my head already; have you read them?  No?  Maybe when you develop that super power, we can truly be friends.  Until then, you'll just have to content yourself with my disjointed scraps of thought. 

• After much squealing and jumping up and down, I finally got to see the Hood to Coast movie last night!  I ran that 197-mile, 12-person-per-team relay in Oregon in the summer of 2009, and I absolutely loved every dirty, chaotic, brutal minute of it.  Marnie and I flew up to Oregon to run it with a drama-drama-drama team, and it became one of the many running experiences that have bonded us.  (Ohhhhh, the stories she and I giggle over)  We both want to do the relay again (I'm insisting on being Captain next time!); anyone want to join us?  You think I'm kidding, but I'm so not...  The dvd for the film will be released in the next few months, and they're working on doing more showings in theaters.  I'll keep you posted - you definitely need to see it.  If for nothing else than to see how beautiful the state of Oregon is ♥

• Remember this girl?  Caley (aka Sidenote) is flying all the way here from Minnesota to vist me tomorrow!  Holy cow, I'm so excited!  Also?  How lucky am I to have two best friends flying to see me within in a 2 month time span?  Over the top, pot o'gold (and not the Alabama kind of gold, folks), pinch-me lucky.  While she's here in the ATL, we're planning to do girly nonsense like bake cakes, make crafts, thrift shop, and visit book museums.  Yes, indeedy, we're a couple of wild ones, watch out. 

• We've lived in our cute little condo for 11 months now, and I just finally broke down and bought an area rug on Monday.  There isn't a speck of carpet in our downstairs, and dangit, I'm tired of having cold toes.  Bo and I have completely different tastes in area rugs; he's more Modern, while I favor Traditional.  He thinks what I like is dusty and uptight; I think his choices are primary color havoc.  But the beauty of procrastinating a purchase like this is that it totally wore me down.  I found one for cheap, with free shipping, in the right colors, and hit Purchase.  I kinda really think that it looks like a 3 year old took crayons to it, but Bo assures me that it looks nice.  It's supposed to arrive tomorrow, so cross your fingers that it doesn't cause erratic behavior or seizures every time I stare at the swirly geometric shapes.
• Tomorrow is my day to post something for the food blog, and guess who hasn't even settled on a recipe choice yet?  Eek.  I have an idea in mind, but I'm completely worried that it'll flop and I'll be forced to post a whole writeup for something that's icky.  Related:  Anyone have a recipe for Apple Vinaigrette dressing?  One that tastes a whole lot like the one at Panera?
• I haven't posted photos of mockups for a long, long while, so I thought I'd end with something - literally - sweet:



Mockups for a baby girl's baptism ♥





Wordless Wednesday: Dino the Dinosaur

Wordless Wednesday: Fruity

Monday Show and Tell

Some of you have already seen all these photos, but I thought I'd post them anyway.  Sometimes, I need to look back and remind myself what I've accomplished over the past month or week or even day, so that I don't start feeling so overwhelmed with life.  It's like, "Oh yeah!  I forgot I did that!"  It also helps remove a tiny bit of the blur that seems to encompass my life. 

This past month has seen oodles of custom requests come through for Sarandipity Sweets, and I still have another list of shapes to mock up.  It's crazy how creative and imaginative you all are!  I love it!  It pushes me to try things I never thought I could, and it makes me feel artistic for the first time in my life.  Artistic.  To say it out loud even feels foreign :)

The month of September will hopefully yield some behind-the-scenes biggies for me too.  I'm in the process of finding a graphic artist to work with (hurrah for logos and website images!); I'm working with a supplier for preprinted bags (hurrah for my new logo on a printed bag, all fancy-like!); and I'm mulling over the idea of hiring an assistant.  Ack!  That part alone scares the heck out of me, and I don't even see how it's possible, but it's something I'm rolling around in my brain.  It's getting to that point where I'm seeing the value in having someone take over some things for me, even though the control freak in me doesn't want to let go of her white-knuckled grip on every aspect of the operation.  Ha!  We'll show her! :)

Wordless Wednesday: A Heckuva Lot