Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

St. Patrick's Day is fast approaching, and I can't help but be happy on the day when my last name is honored. I have several shirts to wear on the special day, including shirts with phrases like: Little Miss Green, Being Green is Hot, Go Green, It's Not Easy Being Green and Green is the New Black. Today I pulled on my green and white striped knee socks and participated in a St. Patrick's Day 5K race. I managed to run it in just a few seconds over 24 minutes (official times aren't posted yet). It wasn't a pr (personal record) for me, but I was pleased with the time I shaved off since my last 5K in December. I've been hitting the gym regularly, and it paid off. In my last post I mentioned how I had survived the brutal end to winter without getting sick. But, of course, soon after I finished typing those words, I got a cold. It was a fairly fast recovery, though. So far, 2010 has been a healthy and productive year! To celebrate my run and the upcoming holiday, I baked my latest creation (seen above and below). The Irish flag cupcakes reveal surprise stripes of green, white and orange baked into the batter.

Goodbye February

Today is the first day of March, and I am thankful. February was a short month, and although less days made for a sooner monthly paycheck, the month was a whirlwind of busyness. First of all, it was a cold month with temperatures routinely below average. It seemed like snow was on the ground for most of the month. This weekend was the first time I'd seen the sun peek out from behind it's permanent gloomy cloud in the sky. The beach cupcakes pictured below are to give us all hope for warmer weather. I made them as part of our New Year's trip to Florida. O.K., maybe this month wasn't that bad. The good news is that I haven't been sick since before the new year. This is a big deal for a teacher who just made it through the stress of grade cards and parent/teacher conferences. I sent many kids home for sore throats, earaches, stomachaches, and other aliments while I doused my hands in "Germ-X" hand sanitizer. Maybe it was due to the increase in vegetables and fruits I've been taking in, but I'm hoping to keep the healthy streak going. While staying healthy this month I realized the multitude of events that occur in February. Being a teacher, I relish in opportunities to celebrate holidays and special events. The month started with Groundhog’s Day (he saw his shadow, of course), Valentine’s Day, and President’s Day. We honored Black History Month and stuffed ourselves with food at Superbowl parties. The Grammy's and Golden Globes were awarded and Oscar buzz began. Then, the event that left me slightly sleep deprived for two weeks began-the Olympics (see previous post). Somewhere in there my students and I celebrated the hundredth day of school and slept with our lucky pajamas on backwards which payed off with 2.5 snow days. Somewhere in the middle of all that we layered on the Mardi Gras beads and cheered on college basketball teams. The month was sealed with Columbia's "True/False" film festival. Thank goodness this year wasn't a leap year, since that would be just one more thing to document for the month of February. For goodness sake, please tell me St. Patrick's Day the only event in March.

Olympic Spirit

USA! USA! USA! I find myself cheering, chanting, and on the edge of my seat every two years during the Olympics. It doesn't matter whether it's the summer or winter Olympics; I love them all. I don't need HDTV (or cable for that matter) to enjoy the spirit of the Olympic games. I'm just happy our country broadcasts so much coverage on a free station. It's something about the entire world coming together to compete in so many sports; it just gets me revved up and excited. Those feature stories that give us an exclusive inside view of the athletes' lives pull at my heartstrings and convince me to cheer for athletes from places all over the world. The journalists have a knack for highlighting the struggles and failures in the athletes' lives that give you hope and inspiration. So, needless to say, I have been operating on less sleep this week from staying up late each night to see every last medal ceremony. In 2008, during the Beijing summer Olympics, I couldn't keep my eyes off Michael Phelps as he broke the record for the most gold medals won in a single Olympics (8). But, for me, this year Phelps is out and Lysacek is in. He took the gold Thursday evening in my favorite sport, while several friends came over for a small Olympic party. Last night Apolo Anton Ohno earned his 7th medal to become the most decorated U.S. winter Olympian. And he still has more events to go. A picture of some Olympic themed desserts I made are above and below. Team USA!

Hello Valentine!

This was a great Valentine's weekend, and I was given 2 snow days early in the week to prepare. I was able to make and mail Valentine's cards, and I even had time to bake. Below is a photo of my Valentine's day mini cupcakes. The best part was that we got to snack on the chocolates that came in the heart shape box to make room for the cupcakes. They are decorated with various candies and are made to look like a special handmade box of chocolates.

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."