Happy 1st Birthday, Bizzy the Dog!

Happy Birthday to my sweet puppy girl.

I can't believe how much you've grown since we met last March.

Thanks for always making me laugh!

And for taking me on walks.

And for making life just seem happier.

I'm glad you're cool with dressing up.

And that you like to participate in my antics.

Looking forward to every day with you.

I love you alot.

And yes, you are a dog and cannot read.  But I'll say these things to you and you'll get it.

Dogs are amazing anyways, but Bizzy, you are one of a kind, boo.

The Big 3-0

It was my original plan to let my 30^th go unmentioned.  I decided I was just going to pretend it wasn’t happening.  Well, people kept reminding me, so I guess I’ll just embrace it.

I’m thirty now, folks (and I don’t want anyone to call it “dirty 30,” because that is really weird and sometimes creepy).

As I’m sure you know, I love to read blogs.  A lot of blogs have lists of 30 things they want to do before they are 30.  That’s pretty ambitious if you ask me.  I suppose I could come up with 30, but I don’t want to make a list I can’t finish.

So, of course, I started panicking, thinking I needed to accomplish at least one life goal in the last days of my 20’s. That’s just silly.  Even though I’m not where I thought I’d be at age 12, doesn’t mean that I haven’t accomplished a lot already: I got married, bought a house, started a blog, graduated college and perfected the art of iced coffee. 

There are some things I have learned in my 30 years on planet Earth that I wish I knew when I was younger, and I thought I’d share them with you:

Be yourself

It is totally okay if people don’t like you.  It has taken me all of my 30 years to get to that realization.  Do what you love to do, even if other people think it is weird or whatever.  Do not try and adapt your tastes to other people, adopting their interests as your own.  It’s cool to learn and try new things that friends like, but do not change yourself for them.  And seriously, do not dumb yourself down.  Be smart, speak eloquently and love who you are.

Empower yourself

Don’t wait around for someone to do it for you.  Yes, it is important to have a support system, but you have to believe in yourself.  This one is tough, but what I basically mean is set a goal and try to meet it.  If you want to be a trapeze artist, start making a plan.  Research trapeze artists, find out the necessary steps, start training, etc.  Don’t get discouraged when things go wrong.  Keep going.  You are stronger than you think you are, and you create your own destiny.

Take care of yourself (health wise)

Put good foods in your body and be as active as you can be.  Yes, cake is awesome and lounging on the couch rocks, but that stuff is fleeting.  This is the only body you get, so you better take care of it.  I wish I had realized this earlier in life, as I was kind of a lazy kid and teenager.  I was the kid who sat on the sidelines while other kids were active (Did anyone else bring notes to be excused from gym class or was that just me?).  So, even though working out sucks some days and salad is so not what you are in the mood for, remember it is all for the greater good.  And, of course, some days are made for cake, so don’t completely deprive yourself of indulgences (in moderation):

Sock Monkey Giant Cookie

Oh, Sock Monkey.  You are my greatest creation.  I love how this guy turned out.  He's just adorable.

A little background on my baking style:  I am terrible~no exaggeration, seriously~at decorating cakes, cupcakes, cookies, etc.  I think a blindfolded preschooler could do a better job than I do on this sort of thing than I could.

I don't know why.  I'm crafty and stuff.  It just does not translate to baking decorations.

So, knowing this, I made a plan to conquer this sock monkey cake (that turned out to be a cookie) that my nephew requested for his 6th birthday.

I kept is simple by using this Wilton gingerbread man pan  for the cookie base.

 

I had yet to use this for anything yet, so this was the perfect occasion to try it out.  If you live in the Memphis area and want to borrow it, I'd be happy to lend it to you so you don't have to buy one (email me if you are interested).

Here's some instruction if you would like to attempt this giant cookie.

Ingredients:

Pre-made chocolate chip cookie dough

Chocolate frosting

Buttercream (or white) frosting

Pull & peel Twizzlers

2 Whoppers

2 Chocolate chips

1. Spray the pan with non-stick spray.

2. Cut the cookie dough in slices and lay them all in the pan (I used about 1 1/2 tubes of cookie dough on this) then squish them all together.

3. Cut 3 extra cookie slices (to make the ears and snout).

4. Bake the cookie on 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Also, bake your 3 extra cookies for 8-10 minutes.

5.  Let the cookies cool and get ready to decorate.

Here's what the cookies look like before frosting:

Um, kind of scrumptious looking.

6. Anyways, cut two cookies in half and lay them on top of each other for ears.  Then position the other cookie as the snout.  "Glue" the ears to the side of the head using frosting.

7.  Frost the body and ears with brown frosting.  I mixed some white into mine, to make it less brown, but I don't think it made much of a difference.

By the way, I totally frosted this monkey with a butter knife.  No fancy equipment needed ;)

8.  Frost the snout, hat, hands & feet with white icing.

9.  Add Twizzlers for the hat fringe, stripes on hat, hands and feet and mouth.

10. Place Whopper eyes and chocolate chip nostrils & you are done.

Is it hard for anyone else to see your "creations" get eaten?

Poor sock monkey never stood a chance.

According to my Blogger dashboard, this is my 100th blog post!  I just thought that was pretty cool & worth mentioning :)

So to celebrate, I added some organizational tabs to the top of the blog.  Browse through the recipes & craft tutes if you have a chance.

Have a great Monday, everyone!!!