Vampires

It all started when my friend suggested I read a book her middle school students were immersed in, "Twilight." She said it was awesome, and, being a teacher, I was interested. This was before the hype had really hit. Twilight Moms and Team Jacob/Edward weren't phrases many people knew. I finally got around to reading the book when I had the summer off, and I was happy to have a new book to take to the pool. At first, I remember thinking it was cheesy, but then, I was, well, obsessed. I grabbed a copy of the second book and didn't stop reading. I'm proud to say I attended the book release party at Barnes and Noble for the fourth book. Since then, I've lent the books to many friends and co-workers. So, when the movies came out, of course I was excited. I didn't have high expectations, which turned out to be a good thing. It was still fun to participate in the hype that surrounded them. So, for "New Moon" my friends and I had a vampire themed party. Of course I had to put some of the skills from my new hobby to use. Below you will see the Team Jacob and Team Edward cupcakes I made. It was no competition-Team Jacob, for sure.

Hobbies

I've had many hobbies over the years. When I was young I was mainly just into sports, and I spent most of my time being active. In high school I got interested in scrapbooking, and since then I've been through LOTS of hobbies. The problem is, I get into something, and I feel the need to buy every item associated with that hobby. It gets expensive, but even more, it takes up a lot of space. I currently have an entire linen closet that holds no linens, just crafts. I have all the supplies one needs for scrapbooking, card-making, sewing, knitting, and more. I realize that I rarely open that closet, except when I'm off work in the summer. My most recent hobby involves taking up space in an entirely different area of my condo-the kitchen. I now find myself engrossed in baking and cupcake decorating. It's a lot like scrapbooking; you create a background (the cupcake) and you embellish (the sprinkles). O.K., that sounds simple, but these cupcakes can be very time consuming. I now have kitchen cabinets full of sprinkles, candies, icing, muffin pans, cupcake tupperware, and most importantly, cupcake books. I am the type of creator who needs design templates for scrapbooking and cupcakes alike. My first purchase was "Hello, Cupcake" by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson. It's a great book for ideas and simple directions to make awesome cupcakes.

Birthday Cupcakes (my first decorated cupcakes from last year)

Hello 2010!

Another year passes, and we all prepare for the new year ahead. Some are happy to put the past behind them and have a hopeful outlook. Others are thankful for many blessings from the past year and reminisce with gladness. Many are making New Year's resolutions, and some of the more popular include: improving health, saving money, improving self and well being, learning something new, and being more charitable. Most people have made resolutions one year or another and some have been achieved. More likely, they are pushed to the back of the mind by March. This tends to leave people less likely to make resolutions, because they set themselves up for failure or because a new year isn't necessarily a reason to make a change. Any time of the year is a good time to make a change for the better. I, for instance, have wanted to start a blog for a while now. So the New Year was a kick start for me-a reason to get going with it. It's a way for me to keep track of a little piece of my life. So my blog begins in 2010; a new decade-the "twenty-tens."