“Peace, prosperity, liberty and morals
have an intimate connection.”

- Thomas Jefferson

Three is the number that thou shalt count,
and the number of the counting shall be three.
Do not count to two, excepting that thou proceedest to three.
Five is right out!

Scroll over each photo to reveal the hidden caption.

Has Hell frozen over?

No!!!

I have something important to tell you! Last November Princess Flickerfeather and her brother Prince Donny went down to Oklahoma to help Tracy Trost, a friend of ours, work on an original film. They had a blast, and PFF even blogged all about it here!

Anyhoo, now the trailer is up, and I have a request to make of you:
Would you please join facebook (if you're not on it already), watch the trailer and become a fan of the movie? It would mean ever so much to us, it's quite an exciting event!! Thanks!

Last year at the beauty shop we had a friendly little competition in which the goal was to acquire points by selling retail and getting our clients to refer their friends, among other things. The prize would be that my boss, Jackie, would take the winner to Florida. (She goes there quite often because her brothers own condos there in Destin.) This was a big deal, and we started collecting points as fast as we could. It was kind of silly, though, because we didn't really establish a good way of keeping track of all the points; plus Amy (who owns the bakery about three doors down fom us, and does not work in our shop)would send me all the girls she coaches in softball (which I'm not complaining about), but then she would claim the points. Hello! That's bogus!!

Anyway, I think it was pretty clear that I won, but Jackie is nice, so she decided that she would take my co-worker, Candace, Amy, and me. We left January 9th at about 5 p.m., and partied until the day we returned home, the 14th. Yep, partied real hard, which for me included dancing, being the designated driver, and singing in a bar called Rum Runners. No, it was not karaoke, and yes, I am expecting my pay check to come soon.

Oh, yeah! The weather was kind of rainy and icky for a couple of days, but then it cleared up and was sunny. We walked on the beach a lot, and even swam! (Not in the ocean, silly, in a heated pool!) On our last day there we were walking on the beach, and my boss was wearing her swimsuit. A lady came up to us and said to her, "Wow, you're pretty brave." (I guess it felt a little cool out to the native Floridians, but to us from the frozen tundra it was definitely bikini weather.) Jackie said "Well I have to be out here like this, I have to go home today!!" "I hope you're not from Minnesota." "Yeah, we are." "You guys just made national news!"

I was all for staying til April, after hearing that.

(Just kidding, Benny!)

I have lots of pictures, I'll try to do another post just for them tomorrow.

Good morning.

I want you to know that I finished today's NYT crossword puzzle in about 50 minutes; although I didn't use a pen. But my pencil was mechanical!

That is all.

This is Ben and Faith. Hi! Earlier today the Night Writer directed our attention to an article about a couple who had waited until their wedding to kiss (hubba hubba! btw). They are both abstinence instructors in the Chicago area schools and they decided together to match their words and their actions. It sounded great to us.

Then we dipped our toesies into the Comment section. There were some supportive and congratulatory comments left by folks. And there were all manner of derogatory comments. Huh? Now just what would the fine readers of the Chicago Tribune have against a couple who waited until marriage to do... um, marriagey things? NW is going to get into some particulars about the logical fallacies, ad stupidem attacks and just plain silliness that some peeps took the time to type. For our part, we just wanted to write this post to chuckle.

Chuckle? Yes, you heard what we said. You see, we haven't kissed yet and we are having a great time! How is this possible? Can future husband and wife have a good time without, uh, "having a good time"? You'd better believe it! But you'd never know it from most of those comments! If we trusted all of those comments to reflect reality then we'd both be weird perverts who are mentally disturbed or gay or, (wait for it)... just like Hitler! I kid you not. There was this one dude who busted out the Nazi argument to try to dis abstinence! Ich bin ein Berliner! Ja!!!

Now that's all pretty silly, right? Of course it is. For our part, for the time being, we are getting to know each other better and better. We are learning to laugh, to pray, to talk, to worship, to compromise, to collaborate and to complement each other. In short, we are spending time learning how to be best friends. Fear not! The loverly stuff will take care of itself when it's time.

Update:

Night Writer here. As Faith and Ben said, I have some commentary on the, um, commentary that accompanied the original newspaper article. It seems some people have had some very strong, very negative reactions about two people with an alternative lifestyle getting married according to the dictates of their conscience. As I write this there are currently 290 comments on the original three or four paragraph article. Many are positive but most aren't, and the negative ones seemed to fall into a few common buckets. You can read them individually for yourself, but in the name of tolerance and diversity, allow me to address these comments here by theme or by representative quotes.

How can you really know a person without physical intimacy? (Related: what if they're a bad lover, or hiding something, what if your sex drives aren't compatible?)
This is the obvious response, and one raised in the article as well — shouldn't you try something out before you "buy" it? Of course, if you buy the logic that not having sex before you're married is a sure recipe for marital trouble you'd naturally have to believe that having sex before marriage is a major factor in today's record-low divorce rate. My experience is that sex may make you physical, but it hardly makes you intimate. In fact, once sex enters the relationship it clouds your ability (or even your desire) to properly evaluate your partner's character, personality and long-term goals if doing so could interfere with getting sex. Rather than taking the time to talk out important issues, or raise questions about troubling actions or statements by the other person, you keep quiet so as not to cause a fight that might mean "no sex tonight." At the very least, you take up time that could be invested in finding out what the other person is really like.

The physical passion will eventually wane to some extent but the person's character and personality will stay the same. A person's inherent witchiness or sloth, ambition (or lack thereof), the number of kids s/he wants, the way s/he treats others — all can be missed during the "interview" process while you're focusing on immediate gratification.

The question, at heart, is a good one but it is missing the crucial point. It is important to find out in advance "who" your partner is, how s/he performs under pressure and if you're "compatible"; these are all things, however, that are better revealed before physical intimacy takes place. Sexual compatibility ultimately comes from knowing you have a partner you trust and understand, and who trusts and understands you. And let's not forget that the most important sex organ is the brain. Good sex — no, great sex — begins long before you ever get into bed.

Why don't they allow themselves to be alone or to kiss — don't they have any self-control? Does abstinence mean 'no kissing'?
Wise people know that good intentions are often overcome by passion and "weak moments" are often the result of negligence or poor planning. The solution is simply to not put yourself in situations where temptation can easily have it's way; not out of fear of the act, but out of wisdom and a firm and common understanding of what is really important to each of you. Kissing doesn't necessarily have to be a part of abstinence, but it does tend to inflame the passions and natural desire you have for one another. Making a habit of it continually raises the stakes and lowers resistance, making it more agonizing to back away.

I'm reminded of the scene in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou:

Delmar: Gopher, Everett?
Everett: No thank you, Delmar. I'm afraid one-third of a gopher would only arouse my appetite without beddin' her back down.

How many times can you go into Old Country Buffet and confine yourself to the appetizer table before you can't help but rush over to the main courses and desserts? And the best way to avoid speeding tickets isn't to buy a radar detector, but to not speed in the first place.

Why deny our human desires just because of some invisible guy up in the sky / religion teaches us to fear and deny the physical / God made us to enjoy sex!
Setting God aside (for the moment), there are very good natural as well as supernatural reasons to be careful about sex, such as unintended pregnancy, sexually-transmitted diseases, abortion, child support and invitations to appear on the Jerry Springer Show. Then there're all the "exes": ex-wife, ex-gf, ex-bf and extraordinarily complicated holiday schedules. Have you ever noticed that "ex" is two-thirds of the word "sex"?

Perhaps a loving God, not an angry one, really wants the best for us and would like to see us avoid all these ugly complications so he offered some rules on how to use the free will and other gifts he gave us in ways that enhance our life and our ability and capacity to help others.

"Why do we reward this kind of behavior by making celebrities of these fanatics? These freaks have no business anywhere near our youth!" Yeah, don't they know that we're supposed to be making celebrities of all those bed-hopping actors, actresses, heiresses and rock stars! The nerve of some people!

"Let's be honest he's gay or he's lying. She's definitely a flake, so good luck with that. They both need to grow up!"
I'm continually amazed at the number of psychics, mind-readers and psychiatrists trolling the comment sections of newspapers and blogs; nearly as many as those with the special ability to make up statistics on the spot.

"It scares me that these people are teaching our children about important issues of sexual health." It scares me that there are people out there who can't abide someone daring to tell their children, "No."

Okay, first of all I need to direct your attention to kool108.com, where I ask that you kindly click on their karaoke contest link, and vote for Princess Flickerfeather. I know, I should have done this earlier, because the last day to vote is Saturday. I'm sorry. Anyway, all of the karaoke contestants are listed in 2 columns, and you will find Casii Stephan about halfway down the right-hand column. She performed the song "Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder. You can even watch the video of her performance here.

Please, please, PLEASE go and vote for her. And tell your friends.

Second of all, as many of you may know, I'm getting married next May.

Woohoo!!! Yeah, I know, it's pretty exciting.

So my bridesmaids and my mother and I went bridesmaid- and mother-of-the-bride- dress shopping. (Btw, isn't it awesome that "mother-of-the-bride" and "Minnesota organization of blogs" have the same acronym? My mom is the MOB in the MOB!) My cousin (the former queen of IGH who is now running for Winter Carnival) Lindsay works in a bridal salon, and decided to make the arrangements for our shopping event. She helped me decide which places to go, and made appointments for us to go there. I was very happy to let her take that over. My bridal peeps and I went to Bella Bridal, which is in the Woodbury Lakes mall, and David's Bridal, which is not far from it.
We had the most wonderful time...so enjoyable in fact, that for the most part we could not contain our laughter.



See? We acted normal like anyone else who was in that shop! Then maybe we got a little silly...

Last Friday Tiger Lilly, Benny and I went to where Minnesota gathers to spend its money and gorge on "food" that one generally wouldn't eat except for at fair time. It was hot. It was crowded. We had a blast!

First we went to seedy art. I mean see the seedy art. That's some amazing stuff, let me tell you.



Then we had honey ice cream. Yummy!!



We also ate cheese curds, a deep fried 3 Musketeers bar, and lamb kabobs. Also yummy! We got the kabobs while meandering through the international market, which is way cool. Ben and I bought Tiger Lilly an early Christmas present at one of the stands there. Behold:



She had a great time carrying the katana around the Fair, getting envious glances from young boys. It was pretty funny. Then Ben said to her,

"You know you can't have that until Christmas, right?"

"But- but Faith said I could!"

Then I got the look. I started laughing. Tiger Lilly mentioned how funny it would be when we have kids. "We'll be on the same page by that time," Ben said.



While we were there we went to the AM 1280- The Patriot booth and saw Buddha Patriot and his wife. Nothing was going on there right then, though. We also saw Strom!



Of course we had to go through the animal barns. Ben especially wanted to look at the cows. He was like a broken record while we were in there:

"Look, they're so cute! I love cows! That's a lot of steak!"



We visited the sheep in leotards, too. The one in purple looked like he was dancing, and would occasionally head-butt the other one, who was remarkably patient.



Yes, it was an enjoyable day.

Here's a p.s.~ Our tomatoes are ripening, along with our cayennes and jalapenos. It's so fun to pick them, but we're almost over-run!



I think we've made 4 batches of salsa so far. It's delicious!

Last Sunday, we made fried green tomatoes for the first time!!! We planted some veggies and herbs over Memorial Day weekend, and our tomato plants look like they'd attack you if you look at them funny. I felt so proud, getting tomatoes from my own garden...mostly because I made it back into the house alive.

I also made chocolate cupcakes, and used my new super awesome icing-piping tips that my cousin gave me to frost them with. They were adorable!

Now, as exciting as those things are, they're not nearly as exciting as what happened last Tuesday, which you all know about by now. But I have to say it again- I got engaged! It was the sweetest and most wonderful day of my life...so far, at least.

We're no longer just "courtship buddies" as my dear friend Princess Flickerfeather so eloquently put it; but, as Ben said yesterday morning as we announced our engagement at church, "we're on double public probation". That made me laugh. It's true, and though it might not sound all that great, it totally is! From the beginning of our relationship we've been blessed with the involvement of people that care about us. It started with family and some MOBsters while we were acquaintances and friends. As friendship grew to be courtship, and as soon as people knew about it, they wanted to be in on it. This really is a community project, with our best interest at heart, and that is what I am most thankful for. Last night I went with Ben to hear him preach to elderly people in an independent living center. He knew a bunch of the ladies there because he has Bible studies with them during the week as part of his internship. He took me around to meet some of his "lady friends", and a few of them got very excited as they realized who I was. There was one who told me that she's spent hours talking to Ben, and that she's been praying for me for a while. How cool is that???

Another lady told me that she was so excited to hear that we're engaged. She had had a good marriage, and wanted the same for us and was quite sure we would have one. That's something that I'm pretty sure of myself, not because we used a courtship method as opposed to dating, or because we are surrounded by support from the people we know and love, who know and love us back. Those things would mean absolutely nothing if they werent in place by God's own hand. They are not a formula for success; but they are blessings and helpful to us because God gave them to us and said "Do it this way". Ever heard the hymn "He Leadeth Me"? Yep, I'm thinking that applies here. I'm also not saying that its not going to be hard work, or that there won't be tough times, but we're not relying on ourselves to get through them. We're relying on the God who gave us this awesome support group! See? It comes full circle. This is the example that we want to set, that obedience brings the blessing, and testimonies like this are just waiting to be lived out!

Hey, what up, peeps?

I have been doing a lot of baking, even though I haven't done a lot of posting. Sorry! I'll give you the rundown (and no, Jifufu, not the version with The Rock).

Let's see, 2 weeks ago, I made these totally awesome cookies that were posted by a fellow baking blogger. Thanks, Gino!

Along with that, I made Mint Chocolate Chip cupcakes from How to Eat a Cupcake. I had made these two recipes because we were having a barbeque with a bunch of friends. The cupcakes were pretty good, but the kids at our house informed me incessantly that the frosting tasted like toothpaste. I kind of agreed with them, even though I used less peppermint extract than the recipe called for. Maybe next time I'll use even less; or none at all, and just have chocolate buttercream. Mmmmmmm...

Then this past week was poppyseed week! Orange Poppyseed cookies came first. They were completely awesome!! They are the perfect summer cookie.

The second recipe of last week presented itself to me via fanmail. (That's right, I get fanmail*.) It came from the July issue of Family Circle, and was, in fact, on the cover- Giant Lemon Poppyseed cupcakes!
I love pretty much anything lemon poppyseed, and so away I went. I did not make giant cupcakes, because I'm too cheap to order the giant cupcake pan from the magazine, but they were absolutely delicious normally sized. While I was frosting the cuppycakes, Benny was taking pictures, and kind of irking me at the same time. I chased him with my frosting knife. I would post the pics, but I don't know where the little USB thingy is, and I'm too busylazy to find out.





*Thanks, Grandma!

... AND LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED that all fathers who blog within the MOB will have their children type a blog message on Sunday, June 15 titled "Why We Love the MOB and its Great Mayor" (with spellchecking turned OFF);

This is the Mall Diva and Tiger Lilly.

We love the MOB!! Seriously, it rocks.

We love our Mayor!! Long live King Banaian and his decrees (scroll down the first link above).

We love our daddy!!! He's the best daddy ever and the super-coolest blogger ever.

We also did our duty by grilling and eating a member of that sly and evil species: the ninja cow. Mmm-mmmmm!

So it was written, so it was done. Selah.

...And not just my own. I like them because I can make cupcakes with impunity.

Now, I love to make cupcakes and try out new and different things, but the problem with making them (almost) weekly, is having a whole batch of them in my house. They stare at me, calling out my name and reminding me that if I don't do my part to get them eaten within a couple of days, they'll go bad, and that's a shameful waste! So I'll eat one every day, and maybe that's okay for one week, but after a few weeks I start looking a little too good in my fat jeans.

This week was my little cousin Weston's 17th birthday, and today is Princess Flickerfeather's 19th birthday. Yay! Happy birthday!! So I made a batch of lemon curd filled vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting to send to our youth group on Wednesday night, because I knew they would be celebrating. Unfortunately, I couldn't go. I think they were well received; the birthday boy said "they were way good". Yay, me!!!

This recipe was my best effort yet! The cupcakes did what they were supposed to, and were aesthetically pleasing.

To fill these cupcakes, I cut a cone out of their center after they were cool, filled them, cut the top off the little cone, and put the top back on the cupcake.





I didn't actually have one of these cupcakes. Instead I ate cupcake guts drizzled with lemon curd and topped with frosting. Mmmmmm!!!!!

I'm sorry I missed last week. There were too many other things going on, and cupcakes were not high on the list of priorities.

The Queen joined me again this week for the baking of cupcakes, and there was a certain recipe I wanted to try. This one, in fact, so I went to the store for my ingredients. I found out a couple things: #1- You shouldn't go to the store to buy pears the same day you need to use them, if ripe-ness is important to you; and #2- One vanilla bean costs $10. Yep. "So did you buy it", you might ask?

Heck no! I'm no snob, I'll even substitute imitation vanilla! And as for the pear, I bought a can of sliced pears in syrup, then drained the syrup and followed the recipe the same way. I know, I'm a genius!



Do you see how cute the frosting on that cupcake is? That's because my own dear mother bought me an icing piper! It is so awesome! Using it makes me feel like a real cake decorator!!!

They were pretty yummy, but super crumbly. That just means I get to practice more! But the problem with practicing more is that I end up with a bunch of cupcakes that I really shouldn't be eating. The way I solved that problem this week was by bringing a bunch to work with me. The ladies there mostly know about my new hobby, and for the most part are willing to support me by eating the results.



And now I'm sad to say that Chockylit, founder of the Cupcake Bakeshop is closing up shop. I'll be waiting for your next site, and thanks for the recipes!

It is a cheesecake post. Thank you, Gigi!


Yes, this is a slice of the first cheesecake I have ever made; and it won't be the last!!! It was covered with blackberry topping, and was heavenly.

So it seems that when my friends get involved with photographing my food creations, they go a little insane. First example: Princess Flickerfeather getting all touchy with how the craisins should be sprinkled on the plate, and growling fiercely if anyone got too close.
(Heehee! Just kidding. She didn't really growl, she just glared.)

Next example: Benny is on a quest for "natural light" in which to photogragh his beloved cheesecake, as seen in the picture below.


I humored him for a little while, but when it started raining I grabbed the cheesecake and ran.

What became of this now-famous little slice of cheesecake?

I'm sorry!! I didn't post cupcakes last Friday because it was much too busy a day, plus I didn't have the camera.

It was last Monday that my cousin Lindsay (that's right, the Queen), came over to bake cupcakes with me. We chose Raspberry Cupcakes with Lemon Marshmallow Frosting from The Clean Plate Club blog. I am quite proud to say that none of them sank. Yay, me and Lindsay!! We had a wonderful time making these cupcakes, and we brought them to our church league softball games, where they were very appreciated.

Unfortunately, there are comlpications with the pictures that were taken, so I will leave with this one until a future date, it's frosting!!!


You will also soon be getting pictures of a wonderfully gorgeous cheesecake that I made for Benny's birthday. My first one ever!!!! It was delicious.

Cupcakes!



I was volunteered by our very own Princess Flickerfeather to make cupcakes for a special, if sad, occasion. I'm in the praise and worship band at church, and we practice every other Tuesday night. This past Tuesday we had practice, but it was also a going away party for one of our band members...*sniff*. We'll miss you, Mel!

Of course, if there's a party, there has to be food! I decided to make a cupcake that the name of which I'm sure is 50 calories by itself: "Chocolate Cupcakes stuffed with Strawberry Chocolate Ganache and frosted with Chocolate Glaze and Buttercream".

Now that's a mouthful, in more ways than one! From the site that is turning out to be one of my very VERY favorites~ Cupcake Bakeshop! Give Chockylit a hand!



You may be wondering why the hack my cupcakes aren't as pretty as Chickylit's. That's because I'm a novice, and actually, I only made 4 cupcake prototypes. They came out of the oven a little sunken and crumbly and not wanting to be filled. I was distraught until my mother came in and saved the day.

"Why don't you just crumble them in to a cake pan and layer it with all the ganache and frosting?" So I did. I called it "Not quite a cupcake", and it was a huge hit. Yay! What would I do without you, Mom? Well, I'd probably serve cupcakes that were messy and not aesthetically pleasing.

Hey there, this is Uncle Ben. Diva is off in the kitchen right now, about to put the frosting on some cupcakes because it is, after all, Cupcake Friday. No word on what kind they are, but I heard some monkey shrieking so I think it might be something like banana or coconut. I'll go check!

Oh for the love of Pete. There are three women in the kitchen doing a photo shoot with cupcakes. "You've got to add some craisins to the plate for color!" "Don't you dare touch that plate or I'll smack you upside the head with this spatula!!!" "Can't we all just get along?"

Hmm, it's a pretty open question as to whether they'll ever get a photo out of this. It might just devolve into a cupcake flinging fight. Hey, now that would be cool! I'll be right back!

Rats.

...

You naughty Ben! Get off my blog! Anyway, these are Coconut Kiss Cupcakes (no, no kissing was actually involved). The recipe is from Couture Cupcakes. Enjoy!

Yay! Who's excited for today's cupcake post? I am! But, as the title states, I am on a cake tangent. So while I will be linking to a cupcake blog, the focus will be on cake in non-cupcake form. Got it?

I was browsing through Gigi Cakes, and saw her recipe for Banana Dulce de Leche Cake. I became quite excited because I remembered seeing a can of Dulce de Leche in the cupboard, and had wondered if there was anything I could use it for. This was my big chance!!!

It was pretty easy to make, and even the batter was super yummy! I have decided, though, that I'm not that into mascarpone icing, and if I make it again I might try cream cheese icing, or even no icing! The cake itself is that fabulous!

Hmmm...Am I forgetting something? Oh yeah, the story that inspired part of the title of this post, which most of you will probably find more interesting than the cake portion of this blog. Spit-swapping!

So, Benny and I were with a bunch of our peeps at the movie theatre, waiting for Expelled to start. I had bought a giant pretzel, and he was helping me eat it. You know how they come in paper envelopes? Well, I had taken out my gum and stuck it in the corner of the paper. So there we were, happily munching away, when I look down and notice that my gum was no longer in its little corner. Oh no!

I made it known that I couldn't find my gum, and proceeded to search for it, first on myself, then I got up and searched my chair...it was nowhere to be found. I sat back down.

"I found it", said Benny. He sounded a little grossed out.

My gum had fallen out of its corner and onto the pretzel, and it was Benny who got a surprise with his next bite. It was so funny! Well, at least Dave and Julie (who were sitting next to us) and I thought it was funny. Benny, not so much.

Whoops! I almost forgot to post about cupcakes!

First of all, what is a cupcake?

The all-knowing Wikipedia says:

A cupcake (the common US term) or fairy cake (the common British term), is a small cake designed to serve one person, usually made in a small paper cup container. As with larger cakes, frosting and other cake decorations, such as sprinkles, are defining characteristics of modern cupcakes.

Cupcakes are often served during a celebration, such as children's classroom birthday parties. Additionally they can be served as an accompaniment to afternoon tea. They are a more convenient alternative to cake because they don't require utensils or dividing into pieces because they are smaller.

A simple cupcake uses the same fundamental ingredients as most other standard cakes: butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. Nearly any layer cake or loaf cake recipe can be used to make cupcakes.

Yep, I think that's a pretty straightforward explanation of what cupcakes are. Fairy cake? heehee!

Let's see if Noah Webster's 1828 has anything to say on the subject...Nope. Nothing on cupcakes. Maybe fairy cakes? Nothing there either. Darn.

Well, in honor of British terms, I shall link to Airy Fairy Cupcakes.

And now, story time! Late in the afternoon on Wednesday I was at work rolling a perm for like the second hour in a row. It's not because I'm slow, it's because the lady was Chinese, and so, of course, was her hair. Meaning it was really super thick (it was also shoulder-length, but that's not because she was Chinese). We were all talking about politics or some such thing that was doing a good job of putting us in a crabby mood. We unanimously decided that we needed to change the subject. Here was my chance...

"We could talk about cupcakes!", I offered in my excited-to-talk-about-cupcakes way.

"I don't like cupcakes", said Carole, my boss's client.

"*GASP*! Carole! What is wrong with you?", I exclaimed. (Carole is a lovely lady who has been coming to the shop longer than I have, and knows I was joking.)

"Well," she said, "I just think they're too dry."

"That is terrible. I am telling your mother." (Carole's mother is one of those wonderful little old ladies that comes to the shop every Thursday to get her hair set for the week.)

The next day when Virginia came to the shop (yes, I was done with the perm by that time, thank you), I asked what was wrong with her daughter. She laughed and said "How much time have you got?"

So as of late I've acquired a new addiction. Cupcake blogs*.

It all started quite a while ago when I was on Surly Dave's site, looking through his blogroll of cooks. I found one that I absolutely love! Its Simply Recipes Food and Cooking Blog, run by a lady named Elise who posts wonderful, user-friendly recipes. If I'm feeling down, instead of turning to food consumption for comfort, I turn to food blogs, complete with pictures! Yay! I even got a notebook and started putting together my own little cookbook with the recipes I find there, and so far all of them have been delicious.

From that site I found another, of course. These things just tend to escalate, don't they? Anyway, the second site is Vanilla Garlic, run by one Garrett McCord, who has a thing for putting together interesting ingredient combinations and creating original cupcake recipes. So of course in his blogroll he has a category just for cupcake blogs, which of the eight listed I favorited, um.....seven. Actually, I would have favorited all of them, but one isn't running anymore.

Perusing these cupcake blogs has been so inspiring, but it took me a little while to try my first batch of cupcakes. I finally did on Monday, and the results were so wonderful!! I was so impressed with myself! The recipe comes from How To Eat a Cupcake, which is a super-fun site. Go check it out! I ended up buying a second notebook just for cupcakes. I think I shall post a new cupcake blog site every week! Bwa-ha-ha-haaaaa!

...Sorry.

So! Now you have something exciting to look forward to! Yay for you!

*Yes, there was reason behind the madness that was Benny's blog background yesterday.

You Are a Super Diva

Some may complain about your diva ways, but you brush them off. You simply demand the best - and there's nothing wrong with that. Don't stomp on the little people too much though! You still need them to get to the top.

Note: Questions may or may not have been answered in order to fit characterization.

Ok, so I tagged Princess FlickerFeather with this meme, and she e-mailed her response to me forever ago, and I'm just posting it now. I'm sorry! I know that you were all waiting very anxiously; but it's okay now, here it is in her very own words! Enjoy!

7 Things people don't know about me:
1) I couldn't sing you a Beatles song to save my life.

2) Still a teenager and already a great-aunt

3) I'm a ninja - Seriously, I can disappear for an hour or so and not have people notice I'm gone.

4) My brother talks more than me.

5) Always wished I could be a tomboy.

6) I've only been to 4 concerts in my life.

7) Wanted to be married at 18... yeah, not going to happen. ^_^

...was the scariest day of my life. So far.

It wasn't scary in the way that being on stage is scary or being attacked by sharks is scary. (Well, actually, I only have experience in one of those areas. Sharks. Totally.)

It was scary because I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but there was something that I wanted and I needed to find out if it was what God had in mind for me...and if my parents approved. I guess that was the scary part.

So, we all sat down in the living room that day - my mom, dad, me and Ben (aka "MG"). We had convened there to talk about "intentions and mushy stuff". Oh, and earlier when I said that I had no idea what I was getting myself into? Seriously, I was clueless as to what to expect, so when my father asked Benny what his intentions were and he said "...well, one day I'd like to marry your daughter...", I was a little shocked. I know. Looking back it seems pretty darn silly, like what else would we be talking about? But I had never done that before!

Well, "the talk" did go well. Benny has been spending lots of time with our family, because it is, after all, a family affair. And there is a reason for that. Joshua Harris' books I Kissed Dating Goodbye and Boy Meets Girl really helped to keep things in perspective for me, along with people around me giving me really good examples of how to behave, and really good examples of how not to behave.

My dad was right, life is highway. Or at least an old interstate in the boonies. I can't believe a year has gone by already, though its been suggested that I have a lead foot. So, we'll keep driving down this road, kind of knowing one of the stops on the way, but not sure how we'll arrive there or what comes after.

So here we are! We've come to this point in our journey, and we want you in on it.

Oh, and sorry guys. I'm taken.

Update:

If you want to know more, go here.

I've been tagged by Amanda at Within the Discord (an awesome new blog, btw. I'm so happy to have another girl on board!) with this meme: 7 things that most people don't know about me.

I think I'll change it up a little, though: 7 things that may or may not be true that most people don't know about me. Heehee! Have fun guessing what's what!

1. I used to have two black kittens. Their names were Glory and Hallelujah.

2. I talk in my sleep. One incident involved me telling my mother that I needed nine thousand dollars. I was probably five.

3. This past year I got a tattoo of a scripture from the Bible. On the bottom of my right foot it says "Whither thou goest,", and on the bottom of my left foot it says "I will go". It's super cool. It hurt like crazy, though.

4. I love football.

5. Clowns scare me.

6. Right now I'm taking a break from writing a script to do this meme. Betcha didn't know that I'm a scriptwriter, did you? Come to our Christmas program!

7. I'm a musical prodigy.


Let's see; I tag Kevi-Wevi, Princess FlickerFeather, and Tiger Lilly.

I know I've been quite absent from the 'sphere as of late, but I have a good reason!! Here it is:

So Princess FlickerFeather had this idea at the end of the summer for a Christmas program, and asked me if I would help make it happen. Of course I agreed, her being my dear friend and all. How hard could it be?

We had our first meeting toward the end of September. We had a hard time even knowing where to start, so I finaly said "OK! What is the one thing that we know for sure?" That one thing happened to be the date we were told the performance was to be. Alright! A lot to do, and enough time to do it if we are diligent.

The creative juices started flowing. We went through the ideas that she had, and have since been working endlessly to get everything together, and practicing two, even three times a week! If one of my parents asks "What are you doing tonight?" or "Hey! Where are you going?", the answer is always "Practice! What do you think?"

We've worked hard, the cast has worked hard, and everyone else involved has worked hard to bring this thing to fruition. Now its pay-off time!!! And we want you to come and enjoy the results of our toil. There will be singing, dancing, lots of laughs, and even cookies!!! Here's the D.L. :

What: Eclectica: A Christmas Program
(Directed and emceed by the Princess and yours truly)

Where: The Miracle Centre Church
125 21st Ave. S., S. St. Paul, MN 55075

When: December 16th at 6 p.m.
Cookies and other yummy desserty things to follow!!

This is your official invitation. Be there or be a shape with four corners!! Any questions, leave them in the comments section or shoot me an email. Look! We even have a logo that kicks butt! Thanks Mr. Tommy!