Update

I have some posts to come. Ones that include pictures of treats I baked this past week. Expect one with a peanut butter/chocolate cake and another with sugar cookies.

I fell in love with my cousin's baby girl (Cozi, short for Cozette) in Florida last month. 

I kind of really miss her cute, smiling face. I wish they lived a lot closer.

You like my farmer's tan?

I'm feeling super geeked out on The Hunger Games movie these days.

Two of my coworkers have read the books in the past few weeks 

and we end up having daily email chats about the casting. 

I even found myself perusing multiple entries of The Hob fansite before adding it to my reader.

Now I'm always up to date.

Oh, what USAID must think if our emails come up on the radar...

I bought a lovely new bathing suit this week, 

and it should be at my house waiting for me to open.

If it looks good, it will be my favorite suit for Duck Beach 2011.

(Single Mormon Weekend Extravaganza for those unfamiliar.)

Also, I'm wishing I was in Provo this weekend because 

sister Jess and brother-in-law Michael are graduating from college. 

They're having a big BBQ tonight and I'm jealous anyone could have fun without me.

I can't believe it was two years ago that I graduated 

and had my own party with my cousin Liv (mother of the precious baby pictured above).

We may have blown this picture up real big for our party... Also, I think I look so different with straight hair now. It's never straight. Too much work in the East Coast humidity.

Um, that's about it. 

More exciting posts to come.

Cami and Music

A few weeks ago I was facebook stalking and saw that my sister Cami posted some songs she wrote on a site called PureVolume. The songs she posted are some of my favorites. She did all the different instruments and harmonies. Though Cami's songs have a personal, sometimes spiritual aspect to them, they aren't overtly religious and have such pretty, acoustic, harmonies.

Track list (with my explanations):

Oranges in the Car--Cami spent a semester in Jerusalem a few years ago and she uses some of the experiences and things she saw to draw on and describe in the song. I really like the instrumental mix and the harmonies.

The Angel's Story--her most recently written song, she talks about what it might have been like to be an angel at the birth of Jesus. I loved this song so much when she sang it for me at Christmas. I may or my not have shed some tears...

Sheep-- this song is written in 5/4 time and she was so excited to have figured it out. Its played on her ukulele. She sings about a black sheep and how its still part of the herd even if it is different.

Finland-- before going on her mission to Finland I flew to Oregon to spend the weekend with them. On the way to the airport Cami pulls a cd out and says, "I just recorded this song! Want to hear it?" The song describes what she thinks Finland might be like and some of her concerns with moving there but also how she knows it will be "home away from home".

Go over to the site: Camille Richey on PureVolume. I'm so proud of her and wish I was as talented.

Registry

It's Spring and that means a large handful of my Facebook friends and Facebook acquaintances are getting themselves engaged. This became really irritating the other night while I was in Sur La Table looking for a spinning cake stand and again while I browsed Bed, Bath and Beyond for a new, nonstick, better pot. I found myself looking at the KitchenAid mixers and Food Processors and beautiful pot and pan sets and thought to myself, (in a whiny voice too), "If I was getting married, I could put this stuff on a registry and people might buy them for me! Poor me! I want them all and have to buy them myself!"

So, here we go, if I was getting married here are the top five things I'd put on my registry.

1. Food Processor, one that has the attachments for chopping carrots, lettuce, cheese etc.

2. KitchenAid mixer, preferably one with a lift, not the tilt. (But the pretty colors come in the tilt...)

3. Really awesome mixing bowls. Like these ones from Williams-Sonoma. They have rubber at the bottom so the bowl stays put. If I had these I could just use a great hand mixer instead of having a KitchenAid.

4. A great set of pots and pans. I'm not particularly picky here. I just don't want any that involve the nonstick coating coming off and getting in my food. That's the problem with the current pots at home...

5. In in a fit of impulse registering, I would register for an ice cream maker.* Because that would be really fun for summer. You'd all be invited too. Fresh ice cream is the best!

Other things that would be handy to register for if I was indeed registering for home goods:

• hand towels in my kitchen's colors
• spice rack
• matching cooking utensils, like spatulas, measuring spoons, whisks
• towels in colors to match the bathroom
• softer, better bedding
• a spinning cake stand
• a tent, you never know when you might want to go camping

Other practical things I should "register" for?

* During picture searching, I found that KitchenAid has an attachment for an ice cream maker! I should probably get the KitchenAid after all...

Salted Caramel

A few months ago Laney and I were in Bethesda and decided to stop into their branch of Georgetown Cupcake before dinner. (Great idea to have dessert first. Also, side note about the Bethesda branch of the cupcake store? Zero line. It was awesome. I will never wait in the Georgetown Cupcake line.* Its WAY too long.) Anyway, they had a Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcake and it was divine. We loved it.

So when I asked Laney what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday last month, she asked for a Salted Caramel Cake. And Martha Stewart helped me out when I googled for a recipe and I ended up making the Sweet and Salty Cake by Baked Bakery in New York City.

The real cake, the one make by Baked Bakery is SO much prettier than mine. Check it out HERE.

I also want one of those spinning cake stands, but isn't this blue one cute?

I think this is my favorite picture of the cake. It was so rich the pieces had to be really thin.

And now the cake was totally destroyed but the layers were thick and the frosting was delicious.

Things I want to get better at:

• making frosting. I don't know why but mine wasn't that smooth, and I had it mixing forEVER. Maybe my butter was too cold. But next time, I want it to look like professional frosting. 
• frosting cakes in general. I don't think I'm BAD at it, but I'm not good either. I need a spinning cake stand and a frosting spatula.
• making caramel. I may have burned it BAD and ruined a pot. It took me three tries to get it correct.

Would I do it again? Oh, you bet. It was really fun.

P.S. All pictures taken by the lovely Debbie.

*source

No Shutdown

Well, there was no Government Shutdown today and I'm at work. And I'm a little disappointed because I spent a good chunk of time Friday evening thinking about how I was going to spend my forced days off...

Saturday morning I had a book group meeting and Rebecca just sent me a few pictures she took of the breakfast table:

Menu:

Lemon Ricotta and Blackberry Muffins

Cream Scones with Whipped Cream and Lemon Curd

Yogurt and Granola

Fruit

Orange Juice

Book Discussed:

These is My Words by Nancy Turner

IF

If there is indeed a shutdown next week I have a couple things I'd like to do:

1. Cook a good and delicious meal that all my roommates can eat when they get off work. I'm thinking something that it somewhat difficult, but I'm having the entire house to myself so I'm looking forward to having the time to turn up some music, or listen to an audio book, or maybe even turn on a movie to watch while I cook. Cooking with people is more fun. But cooking by myself is therapeutic.

2. Hang the pictures up on my wall. Though this might be a little too difficult to do by myself.

3. Go shopping, because it's so much more fun to shop in the middle of a week day since there are less people. BUT since I will not spend money on anything but the essentials during the possible furlough, I will not do this one.

4. Take a nice run/walk along the Potomac. It's supposed to be 75+ on Monday and it would be so fun to get out and enjoy the day off.

5. Sleep.

If you had a possibility of an unknown amount of days off work what would you do?

Slacking

I've been a slacker when it comes to posting lately. I have three half finished posts and I'm not sure if I'll finish them. But in order to keep some kind of continuity on my blog, and to get rid of that awful picture as the first thing seen on the blog, I will give the 30 second low down.

1. I finished my latest book One Day last night. I really liked it, keep thinking about it this morning, and am slightly in mourning for it being over. It follows the lives of two friends on July 15th every year from 1988-2007. You get glimpses into what they've done the rest of the year but it's just a quick little snapshot. I couldn't put it down.
2. Saturday night we found ourselves watching the fireworks at the National Cherry Blossom Festival.
3. My sister Jess and her husband are moving to Virginia next month! She is coming out next week to try and get a place to live. I am so excited to have family close!
4. I have decided if there is a government shut down, I will take the forced days off to enjoy the beautiful weather, catch up on sleep, and finally pick up my learning to draw book.
5. This morning I got to the bus stop and realized I didn't have my Kindle, which meant I wouldn't have anything to do at the gym tonight, so after hesitating for a bit, I sprinted home, ran upstairs to my room (two stairs at a time), and back to the bus stop without missing the bus. I'm still a little worn out...