Money Cupcakes

When my co-worker asked her son what type of theme he wanted for his birthday party at school, he said one word, "money". I had to ponder this theme for a while and think about what type of money theme would appeal to a 10 year old. After all, I have never had a request to do any type of edible money treat. But after searching my favorite cake supply store, I found the cutest little dollar sign and money bag candy molds. The molds worked perfectly and here are my first money cupcakes!

Happy Birthday Lou!

A pause, and then an, “Oh…”, greeted me when I answered the phone last night. It was my sister, Laura (a.k.a. Lou). That “Oh…” made my heart sink because I knew exactly why she was calling. With high hopes, Lou had called my house hoping that I would not answer…hoping that I was on a flight up to Buffalo, NY…and hoping that I would surprise her for her birthday. As much as I wanted to visit her for her birthday, no matter how hard I tried, I could not make it work out…many forces were against me. I won’t bore you with the details!!

Living in another state makes me cherish every minute I get with my sister, and although I am not in Buffalo to help her celebrate, I’m there in spirit doling out hugs and kisses and wishing Laura a very Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday Lou! I love you!

A French Chateau in Georgia

I recently discovered Chateau Elan when my mom and sister came to visit Atlanta for the third time. Desperate to find something different to entertain them with, I thought, "Why not a winery?!". Chateau Elan is so cute, and although I am not a fan of wine (I’m trying to like it, I really am!!!), the tasting and tour are so much fun! The port wine they make is delicious and I think it’s one of the better ports I have had.

Chateau Elan is located about an hour and a half north of downtown Atlanta, and the time to visit is in the fall when the grape harvest takes place. You can actually watch the wine being made. Although there isn’t a whole lot to actually do on the property, it makes a fun day trip! I think this picture makes Chateau Elan look like a beautiful get-away in France!

Shower Cake in a Flood

The weather situation in Atlanta this past week has been a little scary. After over a week straight of rain, flash floods wreaked havoc on a number of people's homes and made driving anywhere not only dangerous, but time-consuming.

On Saturday, as I waded through ankle-deep water, holding a cake in one hand, and an umbrella in the other, I thought to myself, "This can't be good". Transporting multiple tiered cakes is never an easy task and is always guaranteed to be stressful, however, the torrential downpour and flash-flooding that has been occurring in Atlanta the past week definitely didn't help the situation! After squinting through a rain covered windshield and avoiding a wreck on the side of the interstate, I finally made it to my destination, cake in tact! Miracle of miracles! I was so thankful that the cake made it safely because not only was this cake meant for a bridal shower, but the shower host was my boss!

Foxes with Big Butts

The title of the blog post is what this dog breed should officially be named. Welsh Corgis look exactly like little short foxes with big butts! These two Corgis are so sweet and full of energy, and I love that they have authentic Welsh names! Gruffyd, the little black and tan boy, is a doll and loves attention. He’s pretty happy-go-lucky and goes with the flow. Gwynned is the tan and white little girl. She's very loyal, but gets so jealous if anyone loves on Gruffyd! She wants all of the attention for herself and even gets upset when people leave the house. She barks like crazy as soon as anyone starts heading for the door. True to the breed, these babies love to herd! If there is a group of people in their home, the Corgis will herd them into whatever room they want them in! Too cute!

Cake Weekend

It rained both days this weekend, which in my opinion, is the perfect weather to make cakes. There's just something about hearing the rain, baking, and decorating that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy! Here are two cakes I worked on this weekend.

The first cake is key lime. Just a note to anyone that likes experimenting with ingredients. DO NOT use frozen juice concentrate to flavor your cakes! I don't know exactly what the culprit was, but I think that the corn syrup in the frozen lime concentrate made the cake have a raw texture. No matter how long I baked the cake, that texture just never went away! I didn't think it was possible to burn a raw cake, but I managed to do so. I ended up tossing the first cake and re-baking it with actual lime juice...WAY BETTER!

The second cake is a coconut cake (my favorite!) with rolled fondant. I used a tool to make the football texture and used white fondant for the rest of the details. Although I am not a football watcher, Douglas had football playing in the background to give me inspiration for this cake! Hehe!

New Blog Design!

So, being the nerd that I am, I spent the entire weekend toiling over the computer and getting html tutoring from my husband, Douglas. I am now happy to say that my blog design is new and improved! Images and slideshows are a lot bigger and the overall look is much more streamlined and organized. No more getting a magnifying glass out to view blog images! I am also using a new slideshow hosting site, so if anyone has problems playing it, please let me know so that I can work out any glitches! Poke around...I've posted a lot of new pictures in old posts. I hope you like it!

Meghan & Joe: Wedding Slideshow

As I've mentioned in a previous post, in August I had the pleasure of photographing Meghan & Joe Spann's wedding. When they said they were up for a session the night before the wedding I couldn't have been happier! It gave me a few hours of shooting without the distractions of the wedding day and we had gorgeous light!

This picture was taken at the park Meghan & Joe got engaged at. It was such a romantic spot and the sunset made it even more beautiful! I wish I had a backyard that looked like this park!

And here is a slideshow of some of my favorites from the evening shoot.

Meghan & Joe had a very small, intimate wedding ceremony and reception. Here are a few photos from the big day.

The Dynamic Duo

Every Labor Day, Douglas and I drive to our hometown, Nashville, TN to visit our family and friends. Going home is always a treat and some of my happiest times are spent there. Although there are many reasons that I love going back home, there are two very special individuals that make my time there even better. These are my little (well, actually big...try 50-60 pounds) babies and I get my fill of cuddle time when I'm with them.

The first picture is of the big bear, Humphrey. Humphrey was a rescue and he has found his forever home with my in-laws. He's such a lover and definitely uses his brute strength to his advantage. He will follow you around the house and just give you this look shown in the below picture. If he could talk, he would repeatedly say, "I looove youuu." in a deep, slow, Southern voice.

And this little girl is Clementine. She is definitely the princess of the house and she can never have enough spoiling! Clementine is extremely curious and adventurous and loves to get in high places. Her favorite place to lay is on the backrest of the couch, just like a cat! If she could talk, she would scream in a high pitch, girlie, but demanding voice, "Love on me!!!".

I love these pups, and I'm counting down the days until we see them this weekend! I will definitely be posting more pictures of them after Labor Day!

Fun At The Park

So, as I have blogged before, I absolutely LOVE shooting pictures of my god-daughter, Chloe. She is so cute and has a perfect little face that the camera just adores! Here are a few pictures of this sweet little girl that I took back in the spring.

Meghan & Joe: Wedding Sneak Peek

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of shooting my good friend's wedding in my hometown, Nashville, TN. Joe and Meghan were absolutely wonderful to shoot! They looked great in every shot and they made my job easy! Here's a sneak peak of a few photos from their day. I'll post a slide show with the rest of the photos within the next month.

Cake Storm

As cliche as the phrase is, it's funny how sometimes when it rains, it absolutely pours! In my case, it was a torrential flood of cake-making! In addition to working at SCAD and teaching my cake class, I made 4 cakes in the past 6 days! Although tiring, they were all so much fun and I was so happy to do them. So here we go....

Cake 1: I made a fun poker cake for my co-worker (and the SCAD mother hen), Theo. I posted that cake in my last blog.

Cake 2: Our friend, Jackie Lewis, had a birthday party over the weekend, and of course, I had to bring a cake! What's a birthday without a birthday cake??? I made her a little personal-sized 4" round cake with roses....simple and sweet!

Cake 3: To help my co-worker, Raymetta, celebrate her one year wedding anniversary, I made her and her husband a two tiered "wedding" cake. It was a white cake with hand-made light blue lilies and pearls. I loved that it was reminiscent of a little baby wedding cake!

Cake 4: I'm not sure how I have spent so many years living in the south and I have never come across "7 Minute Icing". Somehow, this delicious treat has slipped through my hands and only presented itself to me this past week. My supervisor wanted a 7 Minute Icing cake for her mother's birthday. Having never heard of this type of frosting, I was a little nervous to make it, to say the least. After all, the perfectionist in me wanted it to be flawless! I had no idea what it was supposed to look or taste like, but I forged ahead with my mixer in hand. I have to say, this frosting is absolutely delicious. I think it's best described as a mix between meringue and marshmallow fluff...how could you not love it? I decided to not be too ambitious with my first go around with this shiny icing, but I think overall it came out ok! I just decorated it with my left-over lilies and pearls, and voila!

Poker Cake

This week, one of my favorite co-workers, Theo, asked me to make a cake for her son's birthday. She was so sweet and let me do whatever cake my heart desired! Knowing that her son likes card games, I thought I would do a poker themed cake. Everything on the cake is edible and handmade. No cardboard playing cards or plastic poker chips for me!!!

Historic Roswell

One of my favorite places to go at night in Atlanta is historic Roswell. It's an adorable little quaint part of town with a lot of restaurants and boutiques. Here is a shot from my latest visit. This dog was so sweet and acted like he knew I wanted him to pose for the camera. I had to go and love on him for a minute after I took his picture...I'm sure the owners just loved being interrupted while eating!

Joe & Meghan's Wedding Cake

My good friend, Joe Spann, and his wife, Meghan, got married this weekend. I was able to give my favorite wedding gift to the couple...a wedding cake! 2 tiers were white and 2 were coconut, and by the time I left the reception, the cake was gone!!! Yum! I also had the pleasure of being their wedding photographer, so stay tuned for pictures!

Chloe at the Water Park

I absolutely LOVE photographing children. There is just something about capturing their joy and innocence that gets me every time! My god-daughter, Chloe, is the perfect subject and I constantly beg her parents to let me shoot photos of her. Here are some of my favorite pictures from last weekend. We went to a great water park right on the Chattahoochee River. Chloe loved it so much that she cried when we left...poor thing!

First Blog Post!

Although I resisted for some time now, I figure it's time to start a blog! Living away from family and friends makes it hard to keep in touch and even harder to show people what I have been up to lately. I hope you enjoy the blog!!!

So I thought I would start with the most recent news. Last quarter I taught a cake design class at SCAD-Atlanta. Although I love both making cakes and photography, the two passions have never really crossed paths. So I thought, "Why not combine my two loves?!?". So I ended up creating an "art gallery" cake which features photos that I took in my cake class. My students were SO talented and I jumped at the opportunity to show off their work!

The cake was photographed for the SCAD archives and I thought the image would be stored and never be seen again. I had forgotten about the cake until this past Monday. When you go to the SCAD-Atlanta website, my cake image is the second slide that pops up! How fun! And today, I got a call from the SCAD printing department stating that SCAD wanted to use my image on their yearly issue of birthday cards! I thought that once my cake was eaten, it would never be seen again...guess I was wrong!