Enjoy! Love, your neighborhood... Cupcake Lady!?!

Last year I decided I wanted to bake more. And why not? It’s the ultimate “mommy label.” (Of course we can never forget all the other random acts of kindness that make us awesome mommies, ie: scooping their favorite hair tie out of the toilet {eww, I know}, surprise mini vacations, tracking down all the books in the Junie B series, playing yet another round of Guess Who?, harassing the entire online shopping community for Beanie Buddies to find yet another Suzie Bear, etc., etc., etc.) But yes, I wanted to be a baker and bring yummy goodies to all my friends and family. And not just baking from the Betty Crocker cake mix either! So I started baking and making random desserts – cookies, cakes, pies, cupcakes, cornbread, truffles… I tried a little bit of everything. (Okay, okay, maybe SOME of those desserts Betty helped with – I’m a busy woman!) BUT I must admit I became a little majorly obsessed with cupcakes. Martha Stewart gets a MAJOR shout out here because all my lip-smacking, well received cupcakes came from her recipes. My favorites would be the carrot cake cupcakes and the s’more cupcakes.

You would think I’d be super happy to hear that people LOVE my cupcakes. But it turns out I’m officially committed to every major holiday, event and gathering for the rest of my life to bake RED VELVET CUPCAKES!! This week alone I’m baking them for two different events. (I will be attempting this while juggling a corporate finance textbook and Aimee talking my ear off like the mini me she is. *sigh*) Even my own family almost ushered me out the door this past Easter when I showed up with apple pie and not those dang red cakes. I sincerely believe if I show up to the next thing we have without it, I may just be banned forever.

ANYWAY, imagine my surprise the other day when a counselor at my daughter’s school asked me if I’d like to contribute something to their “Lights out something or other, whatever Dinner.” So the scenario went a little something like this. And yes, this is MY version of the truth, so of course I’m paraphrasing, but it pretty much went down like this:

Counselor: Would you like to sign up to bring something?
Me: Sure!
Aimee: My mom makes THE BEST cupcakes!
Counselor: Great! The kids love cupcakes.
Aimee: Yea, mommy brought red velvet the last time!
Counselor: YOU made the red velvet cupcakes? *grabs the signup sheet*
Me: Well, I can make something else this time. How about cooki-
Counselor: Red velvet sounds great!
Me: Or maybe some brown-
Counselor: Red velvet cupcakes!
Me: Red velvet cupcakes?
Counselor: Well, if that’s what you want to make

I then reach for the signup sheet and *GASP*, no need to write anything because magically there I am with red velvet cupcakes.
So to everyone who gets to eat one of those cupcakes this week: Enjoy! Love, your neighborhood cupcake lady!

A "near death" experience?? Or just another Mei Mei moment?

So the other night I caught on fire. But we'll get to that later...

My "near brush with death" (yes, I'm THAT dramatic) has made me ponder where I'm currently at in my life. You all know what I'm talking about - the point when you sit in a room by yourself and a glass bottle of wine and have a woe-is-me kind of moment. You think of the good ol' days when you didn't have a care in the world and the hardest part of your day was deciding what outfit to wear. Yea, one of those moments.

So anyway, I'm 28 years old and have yet to accomplish half the things I wanted to at this point. This is not to say I'm not happy, I mean my life IS pretty awesome after all. ; ) But this is not what I envisioned for myself. Do we ever end up where we thought we would? Hardly ever. But most of us ignore the ride along the way because we're too damned concerned about where we're going. I decided to STOP having a nervous breakdown every time I get another statement about my student loans or see an episode of Bridezillas. What did I decide to do instead you ask? Why, write a blog of course! I mean, why not? My best friend always says my life is like a novella anyway. (When she makes millions off of my life story, I'll be living in the west wing.)

Oh... you want to hear about the fire story then? Well, first I'd like to point out: who the hell uses real candles in a bar anyway? I mean REALLY - you know there's nothing but drunk silly people walking around. AKA May Ling! Simply put, while trying to whisper seductively into the bartenders ear order my vanilla vodka and diet coke, my super long hair swept over an open flame. But ahhh, like a good friend, my drinking buddy came to my rescue... and slapped me on the side of my head. I survived obviously and the only damage done was to my poor ends and my ego as a group of guys watched and did nothing. So the end result was nothing more than my current vendetta with candles and a new purpose in life.

So I'm writing down all my randomness while I continue on a journey to some unknown place. Not original, I know. But this is still me. = ) And you're invited along for the ride and to experience some more Mei Mei moments.