Austin Cupcakes

In April, Alex and I drove down to Austin for the weekend. Alison's bachelorette party was that Saturday night, and Alex came to hang out with Will (Alison's then fiance, now husband!). During the day on Saturday, Alex, Will and I went to Hey Cupcake! for some cupcake goodness.

Will outside of Hey Cupcake!


Me outside of Hey Cupcake!


Their incredibly yummy menu:


Me and Alison with our cupcakes:


Vanilla cake with pink buttercream frosting for me and Red velvet for Alison:


So sad that it was half gone...this was one seriously good cupcake. This is probably the best cupcake from a Cupcakery that I have ever had!

My Goodreads Review

Looking After Pigeon by Maud Carol Markson

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book was my first Goodreads First Reads book. I am so glad that I had the pleasure of reading this book. The characters are well developed and I felt a genuine sympathy for them throughout the book. Although the book isn't available until July, I would highly recommend checking it out when it becomes available. A quick read with lots to offer.


View all my reviews.

Easter Sugar Cookies

Alex and I spent Easter this year at his Mom and Stepdad's house. I decided to make cookies instead of cupcakes this time around. I am still working on my piping skills, but practice makes perfect, right? :)

All the pretty icing colors:


Alex taking over decorating duties:


Alex is quite the natural when it comes to decorating, whether it is cookies or cupcakes:


The finished products:





I think I spent about three hours from start to finish with these cookies, and that is just the decorating, not the baking time. I had to stop decorating and take a break from time to time. I think the cookies turned out great, and they tasted pretty good, too. :)

Easter Cupcakes

For Easter this year, I made my co-workers these Peeps cupcakes. My Mom had told me about some edible grass that she had found at Wal-Mart, so I thought I would give it a go on my cupcakes. I topped the cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting (dyed green), edible grass, a bunny peep, and Robin's Eggs.

Alison's Bridal Shower

On April 4th, I co-hosted my dear friend Alison's bridal shower at our house in Frisco. A family friend of Alison's was originally going to host the shower, but had some medical problems arise so Lauren and myself accepted the honors. We had about a month to put the whole shower together, so we quickly got to work during the first week of March. We put a lot of attention to detail, and the end result was something that we were both proud of. Here is the arrangement that we had made for the shower, made by Holly's Gardens and Florist in Denton. If you look closely on the table you can see the confetti that I made using a paper punch. Alison is incorporating fleur de lis into her wedding theme, so this punch was perfect.


The gifts....


As part of the shower festivities, we gave each guest a clothespin and told them that they couldn't say "wedding" or "Will" (Alison's fiance). If someone heard them say either one of these words, their clothespin could be taken away, or if they heard someone else say it, they could take it from someone else. I also made these favor boxes that housed the homemade chocolates I made as favors for the guests.


Alex was incredibly kind to be our "panini master" for the bridal shower. He set up his workstation on our kitchen island and went to work making paninis for all the ladies at the shower. They were incredibly yummy and he was the hit of the party!


Here are a couple of shots of the food we served.


I wanted to take a few more detailed shots before the guests arrived, but I ran out of time! We served red velvet cupcakes (Alison's favorite), deli spirals, fresh fruit and veggies, jelly bellies in Alison's colors, brie with garlic toast, and phyllo cups with different fillings.

My Mom and Alex were tremendously helpful throughout the whole process, and I couldn't have done it without their help. Here are the thank you flowers that Alison's Mom Beth bought for Lauren, myself, and my Mom as a thank you. They were so beautiful.


Here is Alison opening a few of her presents.


Lauren and I got so many compliments on the shower. She and I worked really hard to make the event memorable for Alison, and she had a great time. I think we did a great job since it was the first shower we had ever given!

Irish Cupcakes (sort-of)

Tonight my Scrapbooking group had a Friday night crop. On our Friday night get-togethers, we always do a pot luck dinner. Our organizer, Cheryl, picks a theme for the evening. This month is was "Luck o' the Irish" or anything green. So this is what I came up with. A white cake (dyed green) with chocolate buttercream frosting and various green sprinkles.





This just might be the best pictures I have ever taken of my cupcakes. I went outside because I had read somewhere online that natural light is best when photographing cupcakes.


A close-up...


The cupcakes were a huge success at the crop. For anybody who doesn't know what a scrapbooking crop is...it is basically a bunch of women getting together to sit around and scrapbook, chit-chat, and just generally have a good time. I have been going to these crops for about three and a half months now and I absolutely love it. The girls at the crops are hilarious and always keep me entertained...and I get some of my scrapbooking done. Tonight I got about five pages done. AND, the best part is one of my croppin' friends asked me to make cupcakes for a dinner party she is having in May....YAY!!!!

Margarita Cupcakes with Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

Alex's grandmother Carol's birthday was a few weeks ago. In fact, she has the same birthday as my sister-in-law, Shannon. Luckily this year, Carol's birthday fell on a Saturday. Alex's grandfather, Stan, arranged for an open house all day long so people could just drop by and say 'Happy Birthday!' whenever they could. Carol is a BIG fan of margaritas, so I figured Margarita cupcakes would be perfect for her big day.

This cupcake tree was a wedding present from my neighbors back in Denton, Ward and Patsy Merriman...I am definitely putting it to good use!


Alex did all the key lime accents on the cupcakes. He spend a lot of time meticulously putting these itty bitty key limes on the cupcakes. He did a fabulous job.


I found these cupcake liners at Target. Of course they are made by Wilton, they seem to have the best cupcake liners in terms of design and they are easy to find. I see cupcake liners all the time (mostly online or in books) that I think are beautiful, but can never find them!


Here is the birthday girl. It was great to see so many of Alex's family members all in one place. Birthdays and celebrations are always a good time with Alex's family!!