Awesome Foundation Birthday

Awesome Ottawa was having their third birthday and they were looking for someone to make some cake so I volunteered.

The Lego cake I envisioned was more like what would happen if Martha Stewart walked into my kitchen and took over, but the result was pretty good, for an amateur!

So, Martha can keep her skills - I have plenty!

I used Satin Ice fondant and it worked really well! Also, very delicious! (I got a few compliments about the fondant at the party) 

I learned from my past experience with using fondant for my wedding cake, that my counter needed to be generously coated with icing sugar! 

I bought a container of white fondant, and a container of pink fondant, and dyed some of the white fondant blue. 

Once all the cakes were leveled and covered in fondant, I cut pieces out of a smaller cake, to use as the top pieces of the Lego. I coated them, along with the rest of the cake, in butter cream icing, then fondant.

Yum.

It was actually a lot of fun to make! (Besides the first cake layer that had too much butter cream icing and cracked fondant. Eek!)
But yes, I would totally do it again!

 (the cake all ready to be enjoyed)

It should be noted that I don't normally do this, but it was just a fun way to try something new and promote myself at an event :)

Nostalgia Overcomes Me

Nostalgia: a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends.

Being an army brat meant many moves.

I was slightly more lucky than some, moving every few years or so, unlike my husband (who moved a few times in the same year). As I got older, the moves got fewer and farther in between. And yet, every house we never returned to, is a house I want to go back to. 

I managed to make friends everywhere we went because I'm pretty social, but I would say the hardest place to step into as "the new girl" was the one where I wasn't just "the new girl" anymore - I was the 16 year old Canadian, in an American high school, in grade 12. Awesome. 

I met Kris when I started working at Moto Photo the summer we moved to Virginia and it was the beginning of a few awesome American summers!

Thank goodness for the wonderful girl who took me under her wing! 

Since then, we have both gotten married (hers was a week ago), moved countless more times, and started our careers but we are still pretty close and that's the best part.

Having friends across North American sometimes annoys my husband, but each person has gotten to know me at a different part in my life, and that's pretty cool to me. 

Especially when I stay in contact with them and watch them all grow along side of me.

But what about the people you lose along the way? 

Even though I have left many people behind, I know this is not an uniquely an army brat phenomenon. What if you could see anyone you wanted again? 

What would you say?

Where were you when I needed you? Maybe.

I miss you? Probably.

Do you ever think of me? Most likely. 

So if you're reading this and we haven't spoken in a while, what are you waiting for? 

I miss your face. 

Nostalgia: a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time

{Daily Odd Compliment: Hanging out with you is more fun than playing with a coloring menu at a restaurant. And sometimes those menus have a maze.}