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Monday, May 31, 2010

~ Margarita Cupcakes ~



I've been repeatedly asked by friends, family members and acquaintences if I had added anything new and exciting to my Etsy Shop recently.

My answer the last couple of months have simply been: "NOPE"

What? With a Destination Wedding, (a cruise nonetheless) with 33 cruising guests, and two At Home Receptions to prepare for, who has time?!?

I've been taking orders from clients for Chocolate Starfish, SeaShells and Sand Dollars the last couple of weeks, and I do have a couple of Wedding Cakes and Event Cakes on the books, so in between all of our remaining Wedding Related Events, I will be steadily working diligently!!

Recently, a friend shared a recipe with me for "Margarita" Cupcakes. Unfortunately, I didn't save the link she so kindly shared with me, so I did a little research on the 'ole Information Superhighway!

I found a variety of receipes out there for "Margarita" Cupcakes, and with some tweaking and combining of various receipes, I have come up with one that seems to me will be
very yummy!

So.....Today, I experimented!

While the presentation is not 100% perfected at this very moment, can I just tell you that the combination of the hint of lime in the cupcake portion itself is simply AMAZING!

Not to mention the slight hint of Lime and Tequilla in the Buttercream Frosting is to die for!!!

Here's a photo (or two) of what I ended up with...remember, this is just the very first round of experimenting!
(I'm trying to find some Lime Wedge Candies to top these puppies with!! Not having any luck!!)





I'm still working on this particular recipe, but just thought I'd give you all a "heads up" as to what will be up and coming at Clever Confections!!!


Be sure to visit my Etsy Shop!

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Our not so FUN 4 day Memorial Day Camping Trip!

Well, since Brian had Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday scheduled off this wonderful Memorial Day holiday, I convinced Brian that we should take a camping trip!
Despite the fact that I'm still trying to recover from my illness, he agreed!
At the very last minute, (Thursday morning) we decided we'll head to Sequoia National Park since the internet says that the weather will be in the 70's..... Our original place to go was Yosemite, but their weather forecast predicted rain and snow.
So, we packed up enough gear for 4 people...made a pit stop to the SuperTarget on our way to Sequoia (yes, Brian's place of employment) and bought a few more necessities.
Then drove our way into the park.
It took us a while to find a spot and set up camp. Mind you, we got a very late start and by the time we actually found a decent spot that we liked, it was closer to 5:30. Not too much time to go looking all over for prime real estate before darkness set in!!!
It was cold, but not too cold. Between Brian and I we got the tent up right before it got dark, but then we had to haul everything into our campsite in the dark. We only had one flash light to work with because NOBODY sells the 9 watt, flurocent, U Shaped Bulb that we need for our brand new Coleman Lantern.
This is what we woke up to early Friday Morning!
(Enjoy the photos and please keep your laughing to a minimum)
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Here's more photos for your viewing pleasure!















I have more photos to share, but I thought I'd give you guys a little chuckle with what prompted us to pack up after breakfast Friday morning and head back home.
Hope you guys are enjoying your three day Holiday!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Happy Sunday!!

It's Sunday and althought it's rather windy outside, the sun is shining and I woke up feeling better than I have the last three weeks!! Not 100% better, but on the road to recovery!! My allergies are coming back big time, and I would have thought that these 'strong' antibiotics would have killed even those allergy bugs in my system...... but I suppose not!

Okay...let's discuss our AHR coming up here in a month. June 19th to be exact. We are having our 2nd AHR in Minnesota ~ Brian's home town!! I'm so very excited to be going back to Minnesota again!

Originally, we were going to do the same Boarding Pass Invites as we did for our California AHR, but it's too much work and with me being sick for as long as I was/am, I kinda ran out of time!! So, I elected to go the cheap, easy route and just bought some invites at Michaels and be done with it.

Here's the final product:








Not the Boarding Pass Invites, but so much more less time consuming! Considering I need to get these out in the mail tomorrow!!


Yes, I'm so looking forward to our trip to Minnesota! I wish we could take in a Twins game at the new Target Field, but I don't think the Twins are going to have any home games while we're there. Boo!!!


That's okay though... Brian has our agenda full with appointments!! Dentist appointments for the both of us, as well as a Doctor's appointment for himself! He also has scheduled an appointment with his Financial Advisor and also his Accountant. :) Nice huh? Yep... he squeezes in as much as he can while we're there!
Not to mention we'll be having a surprise 50th Birthday part for him while we're there as well! He doesn't even know about that! He thinks we're celebrating it at the AHR, but we're not! His best friend wants to do something totally separate from the AHR so we'll be celebrating it on his actual birthday!
Oh, and did I mention that Father's Day is the day after our AHR?!?
Needless to say, we're in for quite a 'vacation'!!!
Hope everyone is having an AWESOME Sunday!!

Friday, May 21, 2010

Among the Living Again!!

Yay!! I woke up this morning feeling MUCH, MUCH better than I have the last week or two!!

Last night I started on my "For Sale" page in my planning bio. I posted a few things and got an overwhelming response! Wow! I added a few more things to it today and will get to add more once our AHR in Minnesota is over with in June!

If you want to take a look at what I have, please feel free to do so! Here's the link:

http://catalinaislandbound.weebly.com/for-sale.html

I also put up a few of our wedding photos here in the blog! Just click on the "photo" tab in the menu bar. :)

I'm off to go conquer the world this fine Friday afternoon!!! I haven't been out of the house in a couple of days, so I'm itching to get out!! I'm definitely going to hit STARBUCKS!!! :)

Have a great Friday!!!!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

I dislike being sick!!

Can I just tell you guys that having this Upper Respiratory Infection is kicking my behind!!! I've had this for close to a week now and it's a doozy!!! I've been on the antibiotics for 4 days now, and I should be feeling better right?!? But nooooooo, it's not any worse, but by no means is it any better.

Today is "Date Day Thursday" and its been a tradition for Brian and I to spend the day together starting off with brunch at Panera. Needless to say, we skipped that today. And we're also skipping our $1.50 Margarita Night tonight. So sad!!

With him home today, its like I'm on lock down! He's banned me to the couch or bed. Ugh... not fun, but I suppose the rest is much needed!

I'm hoping to feeling good enough to post some photos of our amazing wedding tomorrow!!

Happy Thursday!!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Ah....Married life!! :)

I'm back and I'm MARRIED!!! But, I'm also under the weather! It seems that I've been diagnosed with an Upper Respiratory Infection, borderline Pnemonia. Boo!! I feel like death warmed over big time!

I have tons and tons of pictures to share with everyone here, but I think I'll take it easy for the rest of the week.

Hope everyone is having a great week!!!