BETTER BAKERS

At work there are some great bakers. I fail to be one of them. My mom has this amazing chocolate sour cream cake she makes with boiled fudge frosting. So yummy. I told Andrea and Kristina I would make it for their birthdays.

It starts our looking good...

And ends up looking pretty bad...

Apparently I need more instructions than "heat to just below soft ball" on the candy thermometer. It turned into none spreadable fudge right when I place it on the cake. But I thought, I'm going to spread this, damn it, even if it kills me. Well, it didn't kill me, but I think it killed the cake.

I went to bed laughing, because I'm still taking it to work and it's going to be so sad. There are lots of great cooks at work and they are just going to look at poor sad Patti's cake.

It still tastes good. I had a bite just to make sure. Happy Birthday Andrea and Kristina!


In other news, I cut some lilacs for Charlotte. She gave me a bunch of dirt a few weeks ago and I'm finally getting around to thanking her. I want to post the flowers here just in case they get decimated in the car on my way to work this morning. I'm thinking chances are good this might happen. Thanks Charlotte.

WHO DOESN'T NEED ONE OF THESE

Holy cow, I need one of these for work.

COOL JEANS

Seriously, I need to get some current post ideas . . . but moving on.

These are jeans I painted for my very cute niece Jackie over Christmas. It was her mom's idea and they took an incredible amount of time to finish. It stretched into the wee hours of Christmas morning. But totally worth it. On the back of her leg it says Britain, for Great Britain.

MADE IN TAIWAN

I came across this video I made last summer of my childhood friend while visiting her in Taiwan. She is teaching English there and these kids were crazy adorable.

There is this cool, inspiring website, I love Typography with a game for all of my designer friends. Good luck, your reputation may be left hanging by a thread.

MAY DAY BIRTHDAY

Today is my birthday, and it is also a communist holiday. Who knew. Well actually I did because I worked for some Russian Scientists years ago and they informed me. Unite my Commy brothers and celebrate the 8 hour work day and me.


This piece of gorgeousness is my birthday card created by the incomparable Kristina. To celebrate my birthday I decided not to work tonight and instead I hung out with my coworkers. I believe in bringing some kind of work home with me artwork, people, whatever it takes.


These blurry girls are some of the 17 people who showed up for a card club/birthday event tonight. Look at that FOOD. Yum. I ate till I was sick. Lasagna, homemade salsa, salad, dips, breads and chips, Italian sodas, all topped off with chocolate bar cakes cooked for 1 minute in the microwave. Don't knock it till you try it. Awesome! (I think it is funny that Annie is blurry in all the pictures I have of her. She's a woman on a mission.)

I think everyone should have card club on their birthday. It's an instant party and these girls are really fun. These are the cards we made. I requested gift card holders and Kristina came up with some gorgeous designs.



It was a good day. Thanks girls.