Summertime

More reading, less surfing and screening. 

I'll see you back here every few days -- 

the daily posts became more of a chore than a treat.

On my summer reading list:

[Thanks, Powell's!]

PNW

8 Years Together

Here's to even more adventures ahead.

The Book of Mormon: The Musical

Someone PLEASE fly me to New York so we can see this together.

It's supposed to be pee-your-pants hilarious.

Get a first listen to the music here on NPR.

Little Reminder

[A creative collection of quotes and designs by Chronicle Books]

Whirlwind Week

wake up. dc! run around at conference. sleep terribly. wake up. fourteen hour work day. goodnight with wine. next day, birthday! 25. ethnic catering staff sings happy birthday in broken english. awesome. in the car back to richmond before rush hour. cinco/birthday margaritas. tequila. tequila again. a few more drinks and we call it a night. sleep in. finally visit picasso exhibit. dinner at the museum. served an amuse bouche -- thanks for the lingo, top chef. drinks at balliceaux. saturday pancakes. sunshine and strawberry street festival. 90s house party. booty shakin' to spice girls. sunday sleep day. skype with mom-in-law. try to finish book before book club in two hours. amazing race finale. start full time at new job tomorrow. gear up for three days at home before seattle. must check seattle weather forecast. 
so. much. going. on.

Ciao for Now

I'm off to DC this week for work as I finish up one job and start the next. I promise to come back and post when I'm 25! (But hey, there are plenty o' blogs on the sidebar you can check out in the meantime...)

Final Countdown

[Print by Anthony Burrill]

This week I went part-time at my current job in the mornings and started training at BBBS in the afternoons. It's been a little hectic, hence my general lack of posting. I'll be in DC next week helping run a conference that will officially mark my departure from the first job (and also spending my birthday probably pulling my hair out at said conference -- boo) so I've pretty much put it in my mind that turning 25 next Thursday is going to liberate me from this insane month I've had. Not too much to ask of a birthday, right?

Either way, I think I'm going to buy a roll of happy tape.

Kitchen Fail

Remember that *hopefully successful* endeavor I mentioned a few days ago? The bunny cake? Total fail.

When I was growing up my mom would bake a bunny cake for Easter or birthday parties to add a little pizazz to a traditional double layer round cake. The idea is that you bake two 9" rounds and use one as the face of the bunny. The other round is cut like a baseball (two arc-like cuts starting near the outer edge, cutting in close to the middle, then arcing out again) to create the ears, leaving the leftover middle part for your bunny's respectable bow tie. Frost, decorate with jelly beans and licorice for the whiskers, and you've got yourself a festive little treat.

Well. I bought a cake mix at Trader Joe's and a mix-it-yourself frosting (something I thought I'd try), donned my Anthropologie apron and gave this whole thing a whirl. I was afraid that Chris and I would probably be responsible for consuming the entire cake, so I made the I-should-have-known-it-would-be-fatal decision to go with cupcakes. Baby bunnies. I'd follow the same directions but craft these Easter cottontails into manageable, sharable cupcakes. I greased my pans with butter, lightly floured them per the advice of the directions, mixed the mix and popped them in the oven.

The aroma of chocolate permeated the house. I watched the cupcakes rise (and continue to rise....rise right into chubby bunnies) until the timer went off. Everything was going so well until those buggers refused to come out of the pan. I tried right away, I tried after letting them cool a bit. After many creative attempts I just had to scrape them out with a spoon, all crumbled and bottomless since half of the cake decided to stay put.

I managed to get a few out of their molds and to make the cuts for the ears and bowtie. Chris said my cake creation looked like Stitch. I didn't even bother mixing the frosting. Poor little chubby bunnies.

Official post-Easter decision: I'm making brownies next year.

Easter on Parade

Hello. Hello. Do you like my hat?

The sun is up. The sun is yellow. The yellow sun is over the house. 

It is hot out here in the sun.

A big dog party! Big dogs, little dogs, red dogs, blue dogs, yellow dogs, green dogs, black dogs, and white dogs are all at a dog party. 

What a dog party! 

Hello. Hello again. Do you like my hat?

Hello again and now do you like my hat? I do! What a hat! I like it. 

I like that party hat. Goodbye. Goodbye.

[Excerpts from P.D. Eastman's Go, Dog. Go!]