Learning to decorate cupcakes!

I'm just dabbling into the fun world of cupcake decorations. Hoping to someday be very skilled. Scheduled to take cake decorating classes next week!

Owl cupcake. Oreo cookies for eyes, and m&m's for eyes and nose.




I loved making these color swirled cupcakes. Both the cake (which I regret not getting a picture of) and the icing were swirled with pretty rainbow colors.







Watermelon and Strawberry Cupcakes. Both made with vanilla frosting (dyed) and strawberry boxed cake with mini chocolate chips baked in.








Inspired by my school mascot.




Butterfly cupcakes with chocolate butterfly wings.

Most of the important girls in my life all gathered for one beautiful afternoon. Even Anna, our newest VIP made a cameo and she was such a doll that day. We passed her around the table and she let everyone hold her with only a few protests.


Erik jumped off the roof into the pool. This was his second and final jump. He cut his foot on the roof top and bled all over the place. It was a pretty deep cut and he was out of commission for a few days after the injury.


These are the treats I made for the get-together. My second batch of cupcakes ever. The brownie, strawberry, green grape kabob was an idea I tested from the back of the brownie box. I thought they were cute, but nobody touched them.

Two Whitneys

At the end of this school year, I packed up everything in my classroom, and with a heavy heart, left the job that I love with all my heart. The school district that I work for, like other districts in the state, had to lay off 88 of its least senior employees, and I was one of them. I spent three years working on that campus, and it was devastating to lock my classroom door for the final time, knowing that I won't be coming back next year.

As I looked at my empty classroom for the last time, I thought about everything I lost this school year. Besides my job (truly one of the hardest things I have ever gone through), my grandfather died in November, and my loving cat of 18 years (my only sister--since I'm an only child) died during my Spring Break vacation. My cat's name was Whitney.

Spring forward to June 2nd: my best friend, Kim, loyal and thoughtful and everything you need or want in a best friend, sent me a link on edjoin to apply for an open English position at ABC Unified. Had she not sent the link, I may have never even applied. Once I applied, I imagined that many qualified candidates applied and that I might not get a call back for an interview (but fingers were crossed). But I got one today.

The name of the school that called, Whitney High School. It's a grade 7-12 magnet school, and one of the top 100 in the country. When I was a little girl, I had always heard of the school and I tried to picture what kinds of kids could be smart enough to go there, and now that I'm a teacher, I find myself admiring their annual APY scores in the newspaper. Smart kids. Great teachers. I have an interview Monday and my heart is racing and my knees will be sore from praying. I know I'm meant to teach. Hopefully Whitney is the home away from home that I never imagined.

I've got the earrings... not the job.

Inspired by Kim's blog, "Kreative Kompilations," especially by the large-head puppy (lol), I decided to get crafty myself. I looked up Tornado jewelry and found something online that looked similar to this. So I made my own. It was my first attempt. I'm planning to try again... just maybe not today.