Maria's Summer Shower

So, one of my best friends is getting married in December. It's crazy because I've known her since elementary school and it's unbelievable that we are at the age where people start getting married. It's honestly surreal, but I'm so happy for her and I'm glad she has found someone that makes her so happy. I was obviously thrilled when she asked me to be one of her bridesmaids when the two of us went to dinner at a cheap Chinese restaurant in January. She has already had one shower in Jackson, Mississippi, where she went to school and where her fiance is from, and this past Saturday, we had a shower for her here in our lovely little hometown. Her sister, who is the maid of honor, coordinated the whole thing and it was a really fun shower! All the hometown and family bridesmaids helped host it, and I did some baking! So in addition to having "Baby Bites" (little cake bites) from a local bakery, I made some cheesecake cupcakes. They aren't really cupcakes, you just bake them in cupcake liners. I made Oreo cheesecake (with a whole Oreo on the bottom to serve as the crust) and strawberry cheesecake (with a Nilla wafer at the bottom). I also said I would practice my photography skills. So, without further ado, here they are!

Dixie

Well, I haven't taken many new pictures lately, but I'm going to be snapping some photos of my friend Maria's bridal shower today. In the meantime, I leave you with some pictures of my cat, Dixie. She follows me around and seems to like to have her picture taken and as a result, I have many photos of her.

Pinterest

I interrupt my steady stream of photos to share with you a newfound obsession: Pinterest. As if I needed another thing from the internet to distract me. Pinterest is almost like Twitter, but with photos. You have an account and you create "boards" like bulletin boards where you pin pictures of things that you like. You label each board according to what you like, so you can have "Dream Home," "Places I Want to Travel," "Do It Yourself," or whatever else you can think of! You can pin photos to your boards from the discussions on the website or you can pin any picture you find from the internet! It's addicting stuff. I found the bed I've wanted my entire life on Pinterest. Here it is.

Cupcakes

I love to bake. I admit that I think my favorite baked treats are cookies, but I also love cupcakes and I find that cupcakes allow more room for creativity than cookies.

Tiramisu Cupcakes

Old Glory Cupcakes

Anyone who knows me (or talked to me for more than five minutes) knows that I have a borderline unhealthy obsession with Harry Potter. So, for the premiere of the very last movie, I made "Sorting Hat" cupcakes. I had four different types of frosting, but I never got a picture of the strawberry frosting for Gryffindor.

 

San Juan Island

While we were in Washington, we also went to San Juan Island for a few days. It was so beautiful! We had a nice cabin that looked out onto the water and we saw some huge otters swimming out there. We also went sea kayaking and saw about 50 orca whales, which was really amazing.