Hello and goodbye....wedding cupcakes

Hello....if you don't know, I'm starting up my own business and my first huge adventure is this weekend, that being Paige's Wedding.

So that means I will be locked in a kitchen until Saturday afternoon and covered in powdered sugar and icing.  And Saturday night will be spent dancing with the new Mrs. Moreno and Sunday will be spent cleaning the kitchen and preparing for my next order...maybe resting at some point.  So no posting until next week.

So I leave you with a picture of one of Paige's cupcakes for the wedding

I'm just kidding.



Maybe not.

Bachelorette Party....oh. excuse me: partay ;)

They are epic within our culture.  It's the one night where you can get away with anything.

Anything.

You'll also end up with photos like this.  I have no idea what's happening.

As in at the end of the night a pair of boxers is found in your purse with someone's signature on them with no idea how they got there.

Anything can...and will...happen at a bachelorette party.  And it will never be discussed outside the circle.

I came across this blog, What White Chicks Cherish: Bachelorette Parties, and realized that my own recent bachelorette party excursion is not so different from the typical night of drinks, yelling, and dancing.

The words "She's getting married!!! It's a bachelorette party!"  will make every guy you run into blush and melt like candy in your hands.  I have no idea why, but you can easily get them to do anything.  Maybe it's the oh so alluring bride-to-be sash with all of our matching buttons or maybe they just want to be part of the night that will get talked about over cups of coffee for the rest of our lives--they want to be the guy who gave you his boxers or let you write on his chest.  A moment of immortality, forever remembered in the phrase "I went to a bachelorette party once where this crazy guy..."

 

Paige apparently believes I'm frisky according to the button she gave me.  But hey, like the TSA, I'm just concerned for our national security.  

For some reason this night becomes a night with no limits, an exception to the rule, a moment in history.  So I toast to one of my best friends, I girl I've known since kindergarten, a girl who gets married in a few days.

Our lovely bride to be

And Lent Continues.

Well, as you may have read earlier (Escaped Thoughts: Lent...Day One), for Lent I gave up cheese, TV, and meat of Fridays.

I'll be honest with you, I have not been perfect in this endeavor.

Meat on Fridays.
I completely forgot about this.  Every Sunday morning in church I would remember that I gave up meat on Fridays...and I of course would have consumed some form on meat that Friday.  Alas, it was done merely on traditional so I'm not beating myself up about it.

Cheese.
This I have followed so far.  I had an intense internal debate over whether or not cream cheese would fall into this category in the grocery store and after Ashley's wise advice to follow my gut...I slowly, and sadly, returned the cream cheese to the shelf.  My co-workers also seem intent on convincing me to eat fake cheese, but I feel like that's a huge loop hole. 
I did however dream about cheese pizza the other night...and it was delicious.

TV.
This has been a struggle.  For several reasons.  One day after Lent I had a family member pass away and had to return home for several days and I quickly learned that I could not control whether or not people had a TV on in their home.  Most of the days were spent at my Aunt's home and the TV remained on and I accepted that fact as it served as a source for comfort and bonding.  However, as the days passed our bonding time quickly moved to the outside deck for coffee and talking and then eventually to the basement for a traditional Carter pastime of Oyster shucking.  So the temptation of the TV faded into the background.  (I should also note that being part of a Southern family, we receive and give casseroles during times like these...and they all contain cheese. I ate a lot of hummus and veggies)
I made a small exception for TV during Lent pertaining to the ACC and the NCAA tournament.  If you really wantt my whole spill on why I did this and how it would be insane to judge me for it--please don't hesitate to message me :)  But in plain terms, I love basketball and March Madness is only once a year.
The real struggle abstaining from TV came when I arrived back in Raleigh after the funeral and time with my family.  I had not really been alone since Lent began and I found myself sitting in my apartment room alone staring at a black TV screen.  I began to quickly wonder what Conan was saying, who his guest was, was he wearing jeggings tonight?  Eventually I sighed and went to bed.  Wishing desperately to turn on the TV became a nightly routine for me until I focused my attention elsewhere: to friends, to my business endeavor, to blogging, to reading...to praying.  And soon I forgot the TV even existed.

It's only a few weeks into Lent I already wish it was over and I could devour brie cheese and feast on my lovely red headed Conan...and I understand that these things seem trivial but it isn't till you do it that you realize how attached you are to something so worldly.  Not everyone has the same addictions, but I promise you that if you choose to give up something you truly love, you'll feel the loss of it within a couple of days and you'll feel it hard too.  As Pastor Sam said though, this is a time to lose something, to suffer a loss in your life so that you may grow in Christ.

Thanks!!!

You guys rock.  I reached a major milestone in blog views this month. Thank you! Have a cupcake.

unrealistic love

Not only do I find this hilarious I also find it to be symbolic of people's expectations in love.  We tend to spend so much time dreaming up the perfect person to fall in love with that we often pass on great people just because one piece is slightly off.  We have no idea who the perfect person is, God knows.  Not us.  In our mind we have built up the perfect person who even if they did come along they may be totally wrong for us.  Like a tape dispenser.  Look at the person who is genuinely interested in you and give them a chance. 

Yes Please.

Found on ModCloth.com

Found on ModCloth.com

I Need A Doctor. Or a Home Slice.

I heard this song for the first time driving to kickboxing earlier this week.  If you know me at all you should already know that I'm in love with Eminem.  I have an unbelievable amount of respect and admiration for him.  So of course when I heard his voice on the radio I immediately rolled down my windows and turned the volume up.  Several seconds later I quickly rolled my windows back up when I realized that I had a tear in my eye.  (Well that's a lie. I'm just trying to sound tough.  There were at least three tears...)

As the song ended I found myself sitting in the Tae Kwon Do parking lot sobbing into my workout T-shirt.  (Well I guess there goes my street cred...I'll just throw a recyclable can away in the trash can instead of the recycle bin tomorrow.  That's right.  Don's mess with me.)

I often get emotional during songs that touch my heart (Not Ke$ha.  Please don't taunt me.)  And Eminem's recent album has had a hand on my heart strings from the moment I heard him break out these lyrics: 

And I just can't keep living this way
So starting today, I'm breaking out of this cage
I'm standing up, Imma face my demons
I'm manning up, Imma hold my ground
I've had enough, now I'm so fed up
Time to put my life back together right now

 But back to the subject matter.  My insane lapse of emotional control.  Dr. Dre's I Need A Doctor with Skylar Grey and Eminem is amazing.  The beat is phenomenal but the lyrics play to my heart strings something crazy.  Eminem's pleas to Dr. Dre, and Skylar's chorus, echo my own silent pleas to the Dr. Dre in my life.  But without anymore of my incessant rambling: 

*WARNING* Explicit Lyrics

To clear the record.  I quickly cleaned my face before I walked into kickboxing and kicked off my shoes and put my boxing gloves on.  No one ever knew.  

Well I guess until now. 

My Famous Spring Rolls

Not too long ago I switched gradually to a diet of mostly rice, fish and veggies in my strive to become healthier.  (Don't let my excessive baking fool you-I do not eat cake.)

And it was on one of those Saturday mornings that consist of Dunkin Donut's Coconut coffee and wearing slippers to the grocery store that I found rice paper on the bottom shelf--and thus my life was transformed.

I've had rice paper with spring rolls before at Thai restaurants (and most egg rolls are in deep fried rice paper) but I never realized how easy rice paper was to use and how versatile it was. (I've heard you can use it to decorate cakes!)

Jenna's Shrimp Spring Rolls:
1 piece of rice paper
Lettuce
Quarter of a carrot
4 pieces of shrimp
Basil
Spring Roll Sauce

Dry rice paper

Just run the rice paper under lukewarm water and set on a plate and it will quickly become soft, thin, and sticky.  Rice paper can be very delicate, so handle with care to avoid it tearing.  Also, once you move it to a plate, you don't want it to sitting in water, otherwise it won't be sticky enough.

Now add your ingredients.  The great thing about making these is that you can put whatever you want in them.  I usually stick with lettuce and carrots as a base and then add crab or shrimp and maybe red peppers.

Be sure to julienne your carrots and place them long ways so when you fold up the roll they don't stab through the rice paper 

Isn't that gorgeous?  The basil makes these spring rolls taste off the charts.

Ok, now for the fun part.

Just fold up the top and bottom...

as shown --->

  And then fold over one side and lightly gather the open side tight and roll.  It's just like rolling up a burrito.


Then take a knife and cut down the center.

And now you have a wonderful spring roll.  I use the Spring Roll Sauce found at Kroger (conveniently titled: Spring Roll Sauce)  but you can use a peanut based sauce, soy sauce, or really anything you want to.

Fun things my friends say...Installment One

I have fantastic friends.  So in honor of that, every once in awhile there will be a collection of unforgettable statements that need to be shared.

Sage and I were playing "I spy" at a bridal shower.  The clue she gave me was the color white.
Me: Umm...the paper towels.
Sage: No.
Me: The windowsill
Sage: No.  Think beyond.
Me:  Beyond?  Um...like outside beyond?
Sage: Beyond.
Me: whisper: the overall feel of this party?
Sage: No! hahahaha Beyond.
Me:  Can I see it?
Sage: No Jenna.  It's three miles away inside the Burger King.  It's the napkin on the table.  Of course you can see it.

***
Me:  Southern women can worry a wart away.
Ashley:  You worry a lot too.
Me:  I'm a Southern woman.

***
Ashley:  I have the will of the Ramen noodle. 

***
Kelley:  I didn't like that Vanessa Hudgens was so pretty the whole time.  That's ridiculous.

***
Brian was playing with the bee-bee gun (unloaded) and put it on Sage's arm to be funny
Sage: Man that would tear the flesh if you shot it.
Brian:  Probably, but it's unloaded.  Man if someone put a gun up to somebody like that I would get so mad at them and go off on them...(then he was quiet for a second)...I probably shouldn't have held that gun up to you...  ... ...I'm really sorry.

***
Kara:  Same mess.  Different Toilet.

***
Sea Lion from my Dream:  Remember Jenna, to you it may be just a closet...but to some people it's all they have.  Now go. Find the water buffalo.  (I should mention that I have vivid and unforgettable dreams)

Little Birdy Necklace

Found on Etsy

Ahh! Squeal!  My name means little bird...and I want this necklace something fierce.

NCAA...Go Duke!

Today is Saint Patrick's Day.  So I should write something about this day or post a cute picture to go along with it...

...like this

Found on http://stuff.icanhascheezburger.com/

That's cute right? It's a shamrock in the middle of the cake.  Or the black plague.  Take your pick :)

But the celebration of St. Patrick's Day is inconsequential at the moment.  Why?

Because today is the start of the NCAA Tournament!  (Technically it started earlier this week...but for my fellow people who are playing the bracket game-it started today.)

So far (6pm on 3/17) I've only lost one game out of six...but this has been a nail biter tournament.  Almost every game has been neck and neck and the lower rank teams have been giving everyone a run for their money.

Earlier Morehead St., ranked 13, beat Louisville, ranked 4, and as I write Richmond, ranked 12, and Vanderbilt, ranked 5, have only 3:32 left and the Spiders are beating Vandy by one point.

So instead of recognizing St. Patrick's Day, I'm toasting my green beer to everyone out there with their bracket folded in their back pocket while they check the scores every five seconds cursing under the breaths.  This tournament will be one for the books.

18 second left in the Vandy/Richmond game....and Richmond just sunk their game winner.  And my bracket took a serious hit.

Cynic

 "You're body language speaks volumes."


"What?" I asked


"I ask you a personal question and you back away and cross your arms."


Carefully examining this fact, I purposefully unfolded my arms and took a step back towards him.  "Better?" I asked. 


He smirked, "So, tell me.  Who burned you?  Who has you so up in arms towards to world?"  I sighed and walked past him pretending to be interested in a book about the Civil War.  "See? You walk away again.  It's like you're afraid of me."


"I'm not afraid of you.  I just don't care to discuss my personal life with people, especially those of the male persuasion."  His eyes shot up questioningly and I sighed again and turned away, to which he responded by immediately moving back in front of me.  He apparently would not give up.  "It's just...it's just that it's my experience that there is no point in telling a guy anything about me because he'll just use it against me as soon as he gets a chance."  


"So it was a break up?"  He asked.  I ignored the question and proceeded to grab another book of the shelf to examine it while he continued to stare at me.  "It's not a break up.  It's something bigger than that," he continued.  Placing the book back on the shelf I turned away and walked to another book stack.  

As soon as I rounded the corner, there he was again, his eyes seemingly penetrating me. "Fine,"I huffed.  "No it's not a break up.  I had someone that I trusted, a friend, and no matter how much of a jerk other guys were, my friend wasn't.  He gave me hope that there were guys out there that were honest and caring."

"And now?" He asked.


"And now...now...now I don't answer personal questions."  


Cynical.  This is a word I used to abhor.  Yes. Abhor.  Oh yea...I'm pulling out the big guns.


Cynical: Believing that people are motivated by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity.

I thought that people who were cynical were uncaring, and I could never understand how someone could be so shut off from human compassion.  I understand now that my view of cynicism was untrue.  Not all cynical people are heartless, uncaring people...they are most likely full of compassion, optimism, and the most trusting people you could meet but somewhere down they line they get hurt and they begin to doubt.  

Slowly, or perhaps quickly, I became a cynic.

The Engagement Cake

I bake.  For Paige and Brian's Engagement cake they requested Red Velvet and I used my creative license from there :)

Dirty Icing: Buttercream

Covered in my own fondant...tastes a lot better than traditional fondant

First layer of piping

Making sugar roses

Top of the finished cake

Finished cake

I do take cake orders by the way :)  We call ourselves the CupPub...short for The Cupcake Pub

Elephant Salt and Pepper Shakers

ba

Found on ModCloth

I just had to share these.  In two months I'll be able to buy cute apartment things again (I've put a personal block on buying apartment items due to...well...we won't discuss that).  Cute salt and pepper shakers are on the top of my list.

Lent...Day One

This is my first time participating in Lent and I’m very excited.  Growing up Baptist we typically did not recognize Lent, however, my current church, which has Presbyterian ties, not only acknowledges Lent but also has pledged to spend the time building a strong sense of community development.  So here is my unofficial official Lent commitment:

• Grow in community with my church as well as friends and family
• Limit TV intake drastically.  I mindlessly watch TV after work until bed way too often.  The only time the TV will be watched is in the morning for the news, Basketball games, and if invited to watch TV in company by anyone other than my roommate or immediate family.
• No cheese.  None at all.
• No meat on Fridays.

I’ve never been a big fan of Lent being practiced for personal gain so each of these promises have been made after much prayer and consideration of how each of them improves my walk with God.  TV does nothing but take time away from me that I should be spending in prayer and meditation.  You might ask though why cheese? Why meat?  I’m currently taking very mindful and watchful steps to improve my health and body (i.e. my new Asian diet and kickboxing) and cheese really is not the best thing for you (especially the amount I eat).  My motivation to improve my body is not for superficial gain; I love the way I look, curves and all, and I’ll be the first to tell you.  Of course it has taken years to come to the point of loving the way I look and I’d be lying if I said I reached the conclusion on my own.  The conclusion honestly arose from a memorable comment by my best friend.  He tends to be a bit picky when it comes to looks and for some reason his comment turned into my own personal breakthrough.  Anyways, my motivation is that my body is not what it could be and as my soul’s dwelling place—I need to keep it up to par.  The meat stems from the traditional practice of Lent and I’m choosing to follow it out of respect.

So today, I embark on my first Lent...TV and cheese, I already miss you.

And before I head out to the Ash Wednesday service here is a bit of Lent history:

Purpose of Lent—to prepare through prayer, repentance, almsgiving, and self-denial for the commemoration of the death and resurrection of Jesus

40 Days—derives from the 40 days of temptation that Jesus spent in the desert-although Lent is actually 46 days, some people exclude Sundays as a day to break fasting.  It begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes on the Saturday before Easter.

Notable Days—this varies quite a bit so I’m only going to mention personal notable days: Ash Wednesday, the day of repentance; Palm Sunday (Sunday before Easter), Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem; Good Friday, the day of the crucifixion; and Easter, the day of resurrection.   (Of course these dates are commemorative…just like Christmas)

Happy Ash Wednesday!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios

As many of you know,  I jumped on the Hogwarts Express with KF and CY and traveled to sunny Orlando get a taste of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts.  And I fell in love.

My deep love for Ron began with his awesome chess skills.  Oh Ron.

The decor, the atmosphere, the food, the shops, and the new ride all completely blew my expectations out of the water.  It even impressed my brother, which if you know him...impressing him can be difficult.

Biggest piece of advice to anyone going: GET THERE EARLY!  Get to the parks as soon as they open and make a beeline to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter....otherwise you'll be standing in line for hours just to get into to that section of the park.


Being a huge Harry Potter fan I decided that I did want to do some sort of review/description/mention of this wonderful, wonderful, wonderful trip: so here we go!!!

Rides:

Snow actually fell from the ceiling as
Harry, Ron, and Hermione talked to us

The Pensieve

 There's just one new ride for this section of the park and it's called Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.  It's utterly fantastic, Harry Potter fan or not-this ride is the shiznit.  In all honesty is the best ride at Islands of Adventure and a true original.  It's a mix between a roller coaster and visual effects ride; you are strapped into to a seat and tossed and turned while flying through air, interacting with characters, and fighting HUGE dementors (and the basilisk!) You will be waiting in line for quite some time for this ride though, but don't let that deter you.  Most of the wait is spent in the Herbology section outside the castle but once you enter the castle you are bombarded with numerous scenes and wonderful treasures from the movies and books and you just can't help but stop and look!

The other three rides are older ones that were renovated to fit the theme.  The flying Hippogriff is geared more towards younger kids (or people afraid of roller coasters) and the Dragon Challenge is the the old Dueling Dragon's ride-castle and all.  Of course, the two roller coasters on the Dragon Challenge are great as always :)

Food:

The food is not bad.  We ate at the Leaky Cauldron and I none of us were incredibly impressed with the food but eating in the Leaky Cauldron was fun :)

Plus they serve butterbeer

Of course you'll pay extra for the souvenir cup...
but it can be worth it depending
on if you'll use it again.  I personally drink chamomile tea
out of mine most nights

Now, something the must be mentioned is the Butterbeer.  Simply delicious.  It's served cold or frozen and it's a slice of heaven.  The frozen is said to be a bit too sweet but the cold is just right.  Of course butterbeer is supposed to be served warm but I'm going to let that slide in my criticism :)  The drink itself tastes of something similar to cream soda but not nearly as sweet and not bubbly like a soda.  It's a smooth taste that would take awhile to get sick of.  It's topped with a thick froth that is much sweeter than the drink and almost has a hint of marshmallow.  DO NOT leave the park without trying butterbeer.  Forget about the cost...just drink it.

They also serve pumpkin juice but I skipped out on this due to the price but the bottle was very cute :)

Shops and decor:

The Chimneys!

Wow. Just Wow.  Details, details, details.  Everything is so detailed down to the fact that every surface looked old and laden with years of history.  There were so many small details from the books and the movies everywhere that you completely forget that you aren't actually on the streets of Hogsmeade.  But what better way to tell you about than to show you pictures:

There were so many fun surprises around every corner.  Like the snowman dressed like a Hogwarts student with Hedwig on his arm, the butterbeer carts, the floating items in the shop windows, and even screeching mandrakes.

They also had every employee dressed the part...British accent and all.  Several of the shops were decoration only.  And the shops weren't just at street level, looking upwards you could see the second stories complete with the most detailed and fun window displays.  Each roof was covered with snow as well with made you feel even more immersed.

The clothes in these windows floated around :)

Now let's not forget the shops you can actually go in.  I kid you not when I say that I wanted to buy everything I saw.

Including this Voldemort doll.  Esp. for HM since I thought he would love it 

Every shop had different items to buy: Flich's Emporium (the largest selection of souvenirs-where you will find the Voldy doll), Dervish and Banges (mostly clothes and of course the Monster Book of Monsters) Ollivanders (wands of course), Owl Post (stuffed owls and letter writing supplies), Zonkos (Pygmy Puffs!), and Honeydukes (candy, candy, candy!)

Now I of course must give you a picture of the castle, which was by far the most stunning thing there...so here are some great shots of it:

 

There are so many more pictures I want to share but I will refrain (check my facebook for the rest).  

However I must mention the new roller coaster and Universal Studios:

 The Rockin Roller Coaster (or something like that), it has the biggest drop I've ever expereinced (and the steepest drop is actually the second one out of the five on the coaster).  This coaster lets you choose a song to listen to while your riding and it has some of the biggest thrills I've encountered.  And dare I say it? It. is. the. best. roller. roller. coaster. I've ever been on...and the scariest.

My "OMG I'm sill alive" face

Goodnight :)