9.27.2010

Look what I got on ebay!!


I got the Harry Potter cake pan AND the Super man cake pan for... guess how much?

$1.04!!

Get out of freakin' town, right? lol!

I'm so excited! I'm thinking about making the HP cake for when the new movie comes out! I'm looking for a decently healthy recipe that I can smother with not at all healthy icing! haha!! It's all a balancing act, right?

Anyway, I'm also planning some cakes... I have 7 birthdays in January and February... i should probably start figuring out what I want to do, huh?

I know for Nikki's I'm doing a Jumbo Cupcake.

Only, Nik's is going to have a pink bottom, and white icing on the top with pink, white and light purple sprinkles... super easy, yeah?

That leaves, Cathy, Dad, Kandi, My mom, Kandi's mom, and Kayla...

Jeez... lol.

<3 Jess
Let's face it

After Monday and Tuesday...
even the calendar says - W T F.

Lol! I couldn't resist!

9.26.2010

Blogging from my phone?? Very cool!!

9.25.2010

Fun day!

Today has been such a fun day!

This morning, Tom and I headed out around 10:30 or so. We went to Sports Clips to get Tom's ears lowered. {hehe} His normal girl wasn't there, so he had another girl. She cut his hair a shade shorter than he normally gets. It still looks good, don't get me wrong! It's just shorter.

After Sports Clips, went headed into town and went to Michael's. I'm telling you, this is like the greatest store EVA! {lol!} We walked around randomly around the store for a few minutes. Then, we hit up their Clearance Section. {I mean, really, who doesn't hit the clearance area??} Anyway, nothing really reached out and said "Buy me! Take me home!" So, then we went to their Baking section. {Seriously, I could live in Michael's... You can live off of fondant, right?}

I am very, very interested in all things cake & cupcake decorating right now. So, I can drift for hours down the cake isle. Anyway, so I knew I wanted to get a couple more coupler sets. {For those who don't know, couplers are used in/with your icing bags and tips so that you can easily, quickly, and cleanly change your icing tips.} So I grabbed a package of 4. Then, this really nice lady leaned over and asked if we knew where the birthday candles were. She said she wouldn't have asked us, but we looked like we knew about cakes. {Awwww!!! How cute, right?}

Anyway, so we still spent another 20 minutes or so on the baking isle. I had my couplers, and I also grabbed a fondant smoother. I don't use a lot of fondant, but I found a super cool tip online to make your buttercream icing super smooth. {Want to know the tip? Yeah, I knew you would.}

After frosting your cake, let stand until frosting becomes "crusty". You know it's at the right stage when you can tap the frosting and it will move slightly, but not come off on your finger. Once at this stage, place a non patterned paper towel on your cake, and apply slight pressure in circular movements around your cake. You can use your hand, but a fondant smoother also works, and can apply pressure more evenly. Check your cake multiple times to make sure you haven't completely screwed up the icing. {hehe} You can apply this same technique on the sides of the cake as well!

Ok. So after Michael's, we hit up Hobby Lobby. We walked out empty handed, {which is always disappointing} but we did get some good research done. For instance, a lot of the stuff that Michael's has, Hobby Lobby has too. And, some of the stuff is cheaper at HL than Michael's. However, some of the stuff is cheaper at Michael's than HL. Good research!

Then, we hit up Whole Hog! {Nom, Nom!} I got the loaded baked potato, and Tom got the bar-b-q nachos. We got to catch a bit of the Tennessee vs. Alabama at Birmingham {I think that's the school anyway} game. Tennessee was woopin' butt. Grr... Not a big fan of TN.

Anyway, after lunch, we ran through Garden Ridge. I found some super cool stuff... but again, walked out empty handed. {I'm starting to think that "empty handed shopping" is Tom's favorite kind of shopping.} Then, we hit up Sam's Club. Fantastic time to go shopping. We didn't have to dodge 1,000 people! It was busy but not slammed like it usually is! They have this really neat 3 in 1 dish. {Sorry about not having a pic or link... Sam's doesn't sell it online. I wish I had taken a pic with my phone!} Anyway, It's a Cake Plate (with lid), or a veggie and dip platter, or a salad bowl. Still a little out of our price range, but AWESOME! We did pick up potty paper, string cheese, and some buffalo chicken.

We headed home to watch the Razorback/Alabama game. The first half of the game was REALLY good. Good as in, the Hogs scored a TD in the first 45 seconds of the game. The second half of the game was still good, but 'Bama won in the end... and by "end" I mean the last 6 or 7 minutes of the game! Darn it!! Well, once we hit about 10 minutes left in the game. Tom and I headed to dinner, because we knew people would be on the edge of their seats, and we'd have time to get to Chili's and possibly catch the last couple minutes of the game. And we did! Just like at Sam's, we hit Chili's at the PERFECT time! I got my Crispy Chicken Crispers, and Tom got his Buffalo Ranch Burger. yummy!

After dinner, we came back to the house, and started watching Killers, which we got from Netflix, but the disc messed up about half an hour in. So, we notified Netflix that the disc was bad, and put on Mythbusters! We've been watching Mythbusters for about 2 hours now! Yay!

Oh! I forgot to tell y'all! When we went to Michaels, we got a 40% off coupon! The only thing is, it's only good until next Saturday. Since we'll be doing the baby shower next Saturday, we're going to hit Michael's up again tomorrow! I'll be getting a new set of cookie cutters! Woot! I'm thinking about making some cookies tomorrow! Cookies... yummy! I can't wait!

Anyway, it's 11:30 now. I'm almost ready for bed!

I'll talk to you folks later!

<3 Jess

Linkies!!

Ok, so you all know I'm a dork about certain things:

  • Scrapbooking
  • Cake Making/Decorating
  • Digital Scrapbooking
  • Photo Editing
  • Crafts
  • Decorating

I wanted to share some of my favorite sites that support my "habits" lol!

Crafts/Decorating
Crap I've Made: "Sometimes it's amazing and sometimes it's just crap..." lol!
LollyChops: If you have an aversion to teal - do NOT go to this site! lol!
Mod Podge Rocks: This girl has GREAT ideas... some you wouldn't even think about! It's great!!
Make It and Love It: Such great ideas for home and daily living!
TidyMom: Tidy Mom is great! She has great ideas, great finds on the internet too!
Kreative Knack: Nikki so awesome!! She finds yard sale finds and fixes them up! She's really good!!
House of Hepworths "HoH": Allison is probably one of my top 3 blogs that I read. She's smart, funny, witty, and oh-so-talented!!
Cottage Instincts: Cindy at CI is so amazingly talented when it comes to decorating!! Everything is so elegant!
Skip to my Lou: This is a great site! Join their mailing list you get great ideas straight to your email through out the week!
Shanty2Chic: If you like to reburish stuff, this is a great site!
One Pretty Thing: Don't let the title fool you... This is a site that COLLECTS lots of links throughout the week - multi posts, great theme links. Another top 3 site for me!
Craftster: Another site that links lots of projects! Also has forums that walk you through projects, lets you ask questions, get reviews, etc.
I Am Momma - Hear Me Roar: Cheri has a great site, lots of crafts, definitely a great read!
Mini Mocha: Lots of great family stories, and kids crafts
Somewhat Simple: lots and lots of ideas, decor, and crafts!


Baking/Cake Decorating
I am Baker: TOP THREE Jessica SITE. Such great ideas for baking, recipes, party ideas, cookies, cakes, candies... omg... Also! Sign up to get the email updates!! She'll send you a link every time she updates!
If Life was like a Cupcake: Amanda is so cute and quirky!
Confessions of a Cookbook Queen: great recipes and cake decorating ideas
Cupcakes Take the Cake: Great cupcake ideas!!
Cupcake Project: An Experimental Cupcake Blog: What a great site! The cupcake project started off by the writer being asked to do a wedding with cupcakes, and she's done three weddings now! she's very talented and has great ideas!


Digital Scrapbooking/Photo Editing
Brusheezy!: free brush downloads for Adobe Photoshop
Jessica Sprague: omg - this is such a great site for learning! Some of the classes are free - most cost money, but are TOTALLY worth it!
DaFont: great free fonts to use!
The Blog Train Blog: A bi-monthly list of links for digital scrapbook kits! totally awesome!
Word Art World: cute word arts to use in digi-scrapping
Elegant WordArt 2: Bethany has a great site! Great word arts almost every day! Plus, she's so fun to read when she's blogging about her family!
Living Locurto: "free printables, recipes, fun party ideas and DIY crafts" I love this site for free printables for cards, projects, and like I already said "fun party ideas"!


Ok, so when I'm not on facebook, these are the sites I'm on lol!
If you have any sites that you like, link me, who knows - i may have to make a "Top 5 list"? lol!

<3 Jess

9.24.2010

Mr. Jacobs' Big 4 - 0 Party!

Our department at work is lucky enough to have one of the best bosses EVER!

Mr. Jacobs turned 40 on September 20, 2010. We knew he wasn't going to be in the office, so we threw him a party the Friday before!




We had fun... can you tell?

Maddy's Birthday Party

Happy Birthday Maddy!!




The Party Crowd (the "Cool" table)


The rest of the crowd (there's actually MORE people too... this is just part of them!)


Maddy's Monkey Cake!



Banana "Trees" (Vanilla Cupcakes with green banana flavored frosting with Runts banana candies on top!)


I think Maddy likes her Monkey cake!! I can't believe she's 5!!


Oh no!! Icing to the face!! Should have seen that coming! lol!



Time for presents!








It's my party I can stick my tongue out if I wanna!!

Maddy's birthday party was SUCH a success!! She's so darn cute!! I can't believe she's 5!!

9.23.2010

Totally spazzed y'all!!

I have completely forgotten to post about Maddy's birthday party!!

omg! What a horrible aunt am i?!?!

I promise to try to do it tomorrow night, it's after 11 and I'm WIPED!!

<3 Me!

PS. Did you see the new blog layout? No? You're reading this on facebook?!?!

Check it out: Hinz Home

9.19.2010

Another party to plan

lol!

I know, I'm getting caked out. lol! But, my best friend is going through a big change. Well, her family is. Here's the back story:

Kandi had two kids before she met Joey. Then, she and Joey had their youngest child and got married. They've been together for about four and a half years. After a couple of years of searching around they have found a great lawyer who is going to be handling the process of Joey adopting the older two kids.

It is such a great time in their lives. I can't wait for the adoption party! I cannot wait to design up invitations, and create a great cake with their names and new "birthdays"! I can't wait to decorate for it and to make games for it!

hehe!

<3 Jessica

9.17.2010

Just when I want to be a whiner...

ok. so today is not a great day... it's that lovely time of the month... yay... the first couple days are the hardest. I know, hormones, cramps, blech... But some of it has to do with "well, this is another month we didn't get pregnant." and I was feeling all bitchy and whiney... so before I posted my blog I wanted to check up on some of the blogs I follow, and I hit up Bethany's Elegant WordArt blog.

Bethany does some of the most beautiful word art I have ever seen. Also, her daily stories, wisdom and photos normally brighten my day. I'm a "stalker" I guess, because I really do enjoy reading about her and her family. I love how she describes herself on her blog:
"Hi all. My name is Bethany, and I'm a 34 yr old, happily married, stay-at-home mom, with 5 kids. Yes, they're all mine. And they have the same Dad. And we had them AFTER we got married."

Anyway, I really like her and her blog. Well, so I checked her latest update, and it was her husband writing, talking about Bethany being in a mental hospital... WHAT?! Yes, a mental hospital... so then I had to go back about 3 blogs to get the beginning. Let me give you the short version:

Bethany worked for a few years to lose 110 pounds, she's always writing about her meal plan, and her work outs. Well, she says at one point that she just quit eating. there were times she'd go a day or two without eating anything, but she'd drink diet pepsi like it was going out of style. Anyway, a little less than a week ago, she was very down, sleepy, tired, and just wanted to take a sleeping pill and go to bed. She was very depressed and made an offhanded comment to a friend about how she just wanted to hurt herself. The friend rushed over, got her out of the house. Hubby went to lunch with her, and realized things were bad. He took her to the ER at the local mental hospital, and they wound up admitting her. They think that the depression was brought on by her not eating (vitamin deficiency maybe).

She's been there for most of the week, and she seems like she's doing better. They put her on an antidepressant and she's eating better, still foods on her meal plan, but multiple meals a days. Her faith in God is getting stronger too. I think they are Mormon, and her faith was strong before, but she's strengthening it every day. She misses her kids, husband, and friends.

So yeah, I'm whining about having a bad day... I know I'm not depressed, just an off day. It's kind of hard to be depressed with a husband like mine, he's just so much fun... and my friends are wonderful and I have the most precious beautiful nieces and nephews a girl could ask for... I know I have a good life. I know I have faith that in the end, things will work out the way I want them to... it just takes time...

I shouldn't pray for patience, because patience only comes when it's tested, and I don't want it to get tested. So now, I pray for wisdom for my doctor, strength for my husband, and readiness for when it does happen to us...

I feel like I'm about to cry... time to quit blogging...

Sorry for the long post... just the hormones from Aunt Flow, huh?

<3 Jess

(Sorry for the TMI)