Baking My First Wedding Cake.

Hello friends! Guess what? I baked my first wedding cake! OK, I'm sort of lying. Technically, this isn't my first wedding cake, per say. I have done one once before but that was alongside a friend (a.k.a I had someone to share all the stress and balance out the crazy emotions with).

Whereas this time around, it was all me, 100% me. (Note: I did have some help at the very end, but I'll get to that later!)
Plus, the first wedding cake I did was completely different from this one! It was an 8" round cake with fondant, sugar flowers, and cupcakes on the side. The wedding cake I did this time around was made up of TIERS, frosted with buttercream, and decorated with real greenery.

I wrote this blog entry so that I could share with you what this wedding cake journey was like for me, and perhaps encourage a fellow baker or two that you don't have to be a "professional cake designer" to execute a beautiful wedding cake. If I can do it, so can you!! So, let's start from the beginning, shall we?

Back in the Fall after our good friends got engaged, I received a pretty little card in the mail from the future-bride-to-be that said: will you do us the honour of baking our wedding cake for our wedding on April 1st, 2017?

Giving Up.

Hello friends!

This blog post is dedicated to the fact that I can't get the new Unicorn Frappuccino from Starbucks to save my life--SOLD OUT. I'm officially giving up. OK, I'm totally kidding. I've only attempted trying to order that drink once in my life, which was 10 minutes ago, and I'm never going to give up trying to get a taste of that pink and blue beauty. There are other Starbucks in the area I can try...and once I get my hands on one, you'll know!

ANYWAY, what has my life come to, where I only write a minimum of one blog post a month? Or worse than that, NONE at all?! As I took a quick peek at my archives I found this to be such a sad realization, mostly because I love writing and blogging. I feel like blogging is my one chance to share my true self with the world without losing my train of thought, not quite saying what I meant to say, being constantly interrupted, or stumbling over my words.
I feel like every conversation with an acquaintance or even a friend is a rough draft of what I'm trying to say, and my writing/blogging done in solitude is my final draft. It's my final flawless piece, my perfectly executed chapter of this dramatic and extra-lengthy non-fiction novel that I like to call my life.

I Have This Hope.

As I walk this great unknown

Questions come and questions go

Was there purpose for the pain?

Did I cry these tears in vain?

I don't want to live in fear

I want to trust that You are near

Trust Your grace can be seen

In both triumph and tragedy

I have this hope

In the depth of my soul

In the flood or the fire

You're with me and You won't let go

But sometimes my faith feels thin

Like the night will never end

Will You catch every tear

Or will You just leave me here?

But I have this hope

In the depth of my soul

In the flood or the fire

You're with me and You won't let go

So, whatever happens I will not be afraid

Cause You are closer than this breath that I take

You calm the storm when I hear You call my name

I still believe that one day I'll see Your face

And I have this hope

In the depth of my soul

In the flood or the fire

You're with me

I have this hope

In the depth of my soul

In the flood or the fire

You're with me and You won't let go

-Tenth Avenue North

Come To Jesus.

Weak and wounded sinner, 
Lost and left to die, 
O, raise your head for Love is passing by

Come to Jesus,
Come to Jesus,
Come to Jesus and live

Now your burden's lifted,
And carried far away, 
And precious blood has washed away the stain... so

Sing to Jesus,
Sing to Jesus,
Sing to Jesus and live

And like a newborn baby,
Don't be afraid to crawl,
And remember when you walk sometimes we fall... so

Fall on Jesus,
Fall on Jesus, 
Fall on Jesus and live

Sometimes the way is lonely,
And steep and filled with pain,
So if your sky is dark and pours the rain... then

Cry to Jesus,
Cry to Jesus,
Cry to Jesus and live

O, and when the love spills over,
And music fills the night,
And when you can't contain you joy inside... then

Dance for Jesus,
Dance for Jesus,
Dance for Jesus and live

And with your final heartbeat,
Kiss the world goodbye,
Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory's side... and

Fly to Jesus,
Fly to Jesus,
Fly to Jesus and live

Fun Facts About Me!

Hey!! It's that time again, the time when I share with you some random, weird, funny, absurd, and quirky facts about me that make me who I am. I've done this a couple times before, so forgive me if I have shared the same facts twice over the years.

1. This isn't a very fun fact actually, but I'm gonna share it anyway. At my last trip to the eye doctor, I found out I had: Pinguecula. (A fun word to say, right?!) It's a raised yellow bump(s) on the whites of my eyes. They're caused from too much sun exposure--so apparently I went on one too many cruises and Florida vacations without wearing any sunglasses. It's super annoying because it actually stings and then the rest of my eye-whites get inflamed and therefore turn red. Yes, my eyes are always red and I hate it. Of course, I should count my blessings because there are worse health-issues that I could be stuck with, but it doesn't change the fact that this stinks. My eyes always feel so dry, as if my eyes haven't "slept" in days. So those of you who have beautiful white eye-whites, FEEL SPECIAL and know that I am jealous of you.

2. One of my greatest pet peeves is when people use the same word in a sentence twice. For example, "I'm feeling so many feelings". Gahhh. I'm cringing just typing that. Or "this stressful situation is causing me so much stress". Just please stop. 😫

3. High-strung, intense, fast-paced people bother me. Why are you expending SO much energy on such minuscule tasks?! Just take a breath and slow down before your inevitable-future-heart-attack catches up to you.

Heart-Shaped Strawberry Hand Pies.

Hello, friends!! I feel like it's been forever since I've done a lengthy and detailed blog post dedicated to all things buttery, sweet, and delicious. With Valentines Day just around the corner (this upcoming Tuesday!) I thought it'd be best to do some heart-themed baking BEFORE the big day rather than after. I remember last year I did my big foodie-blogger debut of beautiful chocolate-covered strawberries almost a week AFTER Valentines Day had already passed. Oops. And despite it being about the time when everyone's already soooo over the heart's and XO's, that blog post received fabulous feedback among friends and family and encouraged me to keep pursuing my love for baking. So here I am, one year later with strawberry heart-shaped hand pies busting my belt under my belt.

Truthfully I wanted to get started on Valentines themed baking in mid January, but with that month being so...difficult, the heart-shaped-everythings had to wait. To explain, I was sick and feeling under the weather for about 3 weeks, and then Jarryd's grandmother passed away at the end of January. It was a month of sickness, hospital visits, tears, and grief. So, baking didn't even stand a chance. Although I did bake two different large batches of cookies for the funeral so that was good for my baking-spirits. In conclusion it was a very hard month, but also good at the same time. All I can say is that you don't grow through the easy times, it's the rough gut-wrenching seasons that make you stronger. 💕

Cookies and Cream Layer Cake {My Birthday Weekend}

I'm 26! I'm Twenty-six years old, and so far it feels better than twenty-five did! It's crazy to believe that I'm now on the climb to thirty, or would it be better phrased as falling down an inevitable steep downward slope? I vaguely remember back in the day teasing my 9-years-older-than-me-brother about how he was turning 30 and calling him SO OLD and such. And now, I'm officially on my way to that same "old". (Well, in four years at least!)

Now, onto my birthday weekend. But first, let's rewind a bit here. Three years ago Jarryd and I were invited to a lunch/watch football/play games day at our friend's Jon and Michele's house, where our friend Cameron met Jon and Michele's niece (A.K.A his FUTURE WIFE) for the first time on sort of a "blind dinner party date". We were all having so much fun that we ended up staying not just for lunch but DINNER TOO. (That's how you know it's good!) The two singleton's hit it off and three years later they're happily married! And not only did they hit it off, but the six of us as a "couples" group did too! So, the following year we decided to keep up the tradition and do it again! And now, for the third year in a row we had the same plans set--Sunday lunch immediately following church, games and football in the afternoon, and pizza for dinner. And this time I brought a cake with me!! 😃

Lemon Raspberry Muffins With Streusel Topping

We are now six days into the exciting and hopeful year of 2017 and I can confidently say that it already has not gone according to plan. Truthfully I didn't have much of a plan, but I at least envisioned myself being a healthy person full of energy and productivity.

It all started with New Years Eve weekend, where I was sick as a dog...with a COLD. It was honestly the worst and weirdest cold I have ever had. I say worst because it actually had me bed/couch-ridden, a cold has never done that to me before. I even had to call in sick to work (after a three day weekend yet!) it was so bad; and I say weirdest because I woke up Saturday morning feeling completely deaf. Both of my ears were plugged and my nose too; not to mention my head was aching like crazy. This is Maryland climate I tell you! When I lived in Canada my colds consisted of a dry hacking cough that's constantly itching. In Maryland my colds are all in my nose and ears. This type of cold has definitely been a first for me.

My 2016.

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE! What a crazy, exciting time of year and I can't even believe the beginning of January is about to hit us!

For someone in my shoes, the months of October to December are nuts. I say "in my shoes" because I'm a Canadian who married an American and is living in America. Therefore, in October Jarryd and I celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving, in November we celebrate American Thanksgiving, in December we celebrate Christmas, and now we celebrate New Years Eve/Day! There are four major holidays all within the span of three months for us! (Thank goodness Christmas is the only holiday where gift-giving is expected, or else we'd be sooo broke!)

Last night in the car, Jarryd and I were just talking about how great of a year 2016 was for us. Thankfully, and I say this with a truly grateful heart, nothing drastic or tragic occurred in our lives. (Thank you, God!) We both conquered some things we wanted to conquer, and accomplished things we never even dreamed we'd accomplish. But, there's also things we wish we would have done more of, or wish we would have done less of. Obviously our lives aren't perfect and therefore our year wasn't perfect. But overall, despite how exhausting and busy the year may have been for us, 2016 really was a good year.

Our Third Christmas.

So, Christmas has come and gone. There's no more cars driving around dressed with an antler on each side and a big red nose in the grill, and Christmas music on the radio is nowhere to be found! 😢 I very much believe that Christmas music should be played until New Years Eve; half of us still have Christmas family gatherings and get-togethers after the 25th of December, so what gives? (Perhaps it would confuse the little ones if they heard on the radio that Santa Claus still has plans to come down the chimney at 12 that night...AGAIN?)

Christmas of 2016 was definitely one of a kind! I feel like Christmas for me isn't centered around the actual day of Christmas--I think it's the days and weeks leading up to it. I believe I really started getting into the whole "Christmas spirit" thing at the very beginning of December when I was flipping through radio stations on my commute home from work and came across a station playing ONLY Christmas music, and I was instantly hooked. For some reason hearing those first Christmas songs instantly cheered me up and enveloped me in a warm hug of nostalgia. 😇

The following blog post is dedicated to our favourite memories of our third Christmas together: Christmas of 2016. 💗

Firstly, one of my biggest dreams came true when I got to see New York City at Christmastime! This was my first trip to New York City where we actually stayed the night, which was also a dream of mine (because I've had one too many "day trips" there).

 You know those decked-out "shop windows" they all sing about in Christmas songs?! I got to see them and it was amazing! One of them even featured Canadian geese so that was a lovely surprise.

And see that giant green thing surrounded by scaffolding? Yep, that's the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree being set up! I looked up the details of this tree, and it's a Norway Spruce from New York, and this year it was 94 feet tall! WOW. (Tallest on record was 100 ft!)

There was this one weekend near the beginning of December when I was feeling exceptionally cranky--probably because I spent my Saturday morning cleaning the entire bathroom and doing laundry all on an empty stomach and before coffee! (Bad move...) And I don't know if this is a human thing, a woman thing, or simply just a Jenny thing, but when I'm upset about one thing, it somehow connects to something else and something else again and again, therefore making me upset about EVERYTHING and henceforth coming to the conclusion that my whole life is falling apart. (Am I crazy?!)

So, me being upset about one thing lead me to believe that we probably won't even celebrate Christmas this year in the form of finding a Christmas tree and decorating our apartment and what not. No Christmas for me this year. I thought as I poured my tears detergent into the laundry machine. Now here's the amazing part! A few days before we'd looked everywhere for our Christmas tree stand! We couldn't find it and therefore thought we left it at our old apartment to be garbage-ridden. I don't know about Jarryd, but I certainly didn't feel like spending the money on a new tree stand, something we'd only use one month out of the year, so I thought for sure we wouldn't be getting a tree. But in the midst of my tears, Jarryd comes up and gives me a long hug--all the sudden he says "HEY! There's our tree stand"! It was hidden behind the laundry machine between the broom and vacuum. "Let's go pick out our tree now, ok?"
Me: "OK!!" 😅 💕

Off to pick our Christmas tree! (See! You can't even tell I was crying! 😆 ) Also, let's talk about how glad we are braids are back in style.

This is the breed of tree we picked out, "White Pine". (Is "breed" the correct term here?) I LOVE it so much, and I think it may be the only breed of tree I'll ever want for the rest of my life! Our tree only cost us $35--apparently because White Pines don't hold heavy ornaments very well, they're not in demand, which explains the uber low cost. And since I'm not the kind of person to put alot of ornaments on a Christmas tree, it totally works out for me. (But who knows, I'm sure my tree style will change over the years, you know?)

Bringing our tree home was a bit of an adventure--we borrowed my father-in-laws red truck and loaded it up in the box of the truck. That part was easy, it was the getting-it-set-up-in-our-apartment part that was rough--you see, we thought for sure we had 9 foot ceilings! So our 8+ foot tree absolutely did not fit vertically. Jarryd ended up cutting a few inches off the top of the tree with my serrated KITCHEN knife. (I was cringing the entire time because that knife came in my knife-kit from culinary school and it's made of high carbon German steel! 🙈 ) It was quite the adventure getting this big fat tree set up, and despite how stressful it got at times we couldn't help but laugh at ourselves.

Moving the hutch out of the way to make room for the Christmas tree called for serious hutch-trinket rearrangement. 

I had some serious goals for this tree and pink Christmas balls were on the list! (Shoutout to Jarryd for being the best husband ever and letting me put pink decor up in our apartment!!)

I bought the pink Christmas balls at Target, the gold balls at Big Lots, and the poinsettia flowers from Dollar Tree! I'm absolutely in love with the color scheme of pink, gold, and white.

Our Christmas card photo this year! We were literally in our PJs right before this, hopped into some nice clothes, set up the camera on self-timer, took like 10 photos, and then hopped back into our PJ's again. I promise one day we'll get professional photos taken!

Yes! We rearranged our living room in honour of our Christmas tree, which was a funny story actually. Jarryd wanted more seating in our living room, and that grey L-shaped couch was always kept in our office/second bedroom as more of a futon. So I told Jarryd, "trust me babe, I've rearranged this living room in every way possible trying to get those grey couches to fit in beside the beige couches and it's utterly impossible". Well, he's a persistent guy and really wasn't having any of that, LOL. I then told him "fine, go for it; I just don't want anything to do with it...you're on your own." (What a nice wife I am...). And low and behold he created this super cozy u-shaped living room situation which I absolutely LOVE! The beige couch acts as a room divider which is fantastic. So I ended up apologizing to Jarryd for not having faith in his interior decorating skills, because boy was I ever wrong!

I think we'll keep it like this forever (arrangement wise, not cleanliness wise--you should see the coffee table right now...).

Christmas chocolates are always a big deal. These Guylian seashells are amaaaaaziiing, and Ferrero Rochers of course, and Ghirardelli sea salt chocolates are a MUST.

Christmas card photos were sent out to our immediate family along with gift packages for our nieces and nephew! I'm seriously praying that one day we'll live close enough to our nieces and nephew that we can buy them gifts and give it to them in person without having to worry about how much the shipping will cost! Maybe one day. 💖

This was our one and only snowfall, On December 17th. It was rain, then snow, then ice, and then melted away with the rain a few hours later. So far, there isn't any call for snow in the upcoming forecasts which is just fine with me! I live for the warm weather!

Yes, I wore my Home Alone sweater on Christmas Day. Speaking of Home Alone, that movie is a HUGE Christmas tradition for me--my family and I would watch it every year! This year, Jarryd and I watched a ton of movies leading up to Christmas. We randomly watched The Santa Clause (LOL), Four Christmases (which is hilarious!), and every year we have to watch The Family Stone. If you haven't yet seen that, I highly recommend it--you'll laugh, you'll cry, and all the actors are amazing and very well-known.

Both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were spent at the in-laws, where succotash is always a staple dish (cooked corn and lima beans). In the photo above, this was one of my favourite moments; when we looked through old photo albums of Jarryd's growing up years. What a cutie. There's something about watching old home videos and old childhood photos that give me the warm and fuzzies.

BAKING. On Christmas Eve I did so much baking! Firstly, I made these sweet dinner rolls.

Secondly, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookies. (Which I'd say were the biggest hit at the family gatherings!)

And thirdly, I made this Peanut Butter Crisp Triple Chocolate Pretzel Bark. Very rich, but very good. And bark isn't really my ideal dessert, but it was fun to try something new and expand my skill set!

Earlier in December I made these Unbaked Chocolate Cookies--these are definitely my ideal dessert, as I could probably eat a thousand of them in one sitting!

OH and the "Layered Cookbook: Baking, Building, and Styling Spectacular Cakes" by Tessa Huff was my early Christmas present from Jarryd. The only way I had even heard of Tessa was when I stumbled upon her Instagram page and totally fell in love with her baking style. To give you an idea of her amazingness, in the Good Reads Choice Awards, her book was #5, and she was the only one not associated/made famous through a TV show. She's just pure baking talent!

One of our Christmas traditions is to pick a movie saga to rewatch. Last year's was Star Wars (in honour of the Force Awakens) and this year's is Harry Potter!! Next year will probably be LOTR/The Hobbit, but we'll just have to wait and see! (And hopefully next year's Christmas will be in Canada!)

In full disclosure, Christmas this year turned out better than I expected it to because being so far away from friends and family over the holidays is tough. And despite Jarryd being horribly sick the entire weekend, and us being so busy having hardly any time to breathe, it was a great Christmas! God has been so good to us and we have much to be thankful for!

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over His kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time for ever." Isaiah 9:6-7