Archive for September 22nd, 2009

posted by erin on Sep 22

If you know me at all, you know I LOVE my birthday.  I mean I <3 HEART <3 my birthday!!!!

It’s not that it’s about “ooh look at me, it’s all about me” as much as it’s about a really, really good reason to be with my peeps!  And who doesn’t like a good party?!  Last year was awesomely fun and I heard some calling for a repeat with the costume idea.  Let’s just call me a party planner/event coordinator that happens to have a birthday really close to a holiday where people dress up and like to party and so I can combine the two.

(And maybe there’s a little bit of hope that I’ll get a gift or two in the process, let’s be honest) ;)

But this year I’m at a loss for a few reasons.  My birthday happens to fall on Thanksgiving weekend (if you’re in Canada) and it always happens to be a busy time for people.  I’d really, really like to do another costume party since my birthday is in October, but that takes a bit of planning.  Somehow time slipped away on me this year and it’s only 2 1/2 weeks till my birthday.

So do I wait a couple of weekends and have my party closer to the end of the month, which means closer to Halloween, as well?  Does it matter that it’s not my actual birthday (or even the week of)?  We could call it a Halloween/Erin’s birthday party.

And there’s the issue of space.  I had thought about just having it at home again, but we were pretty much maxed out last year and I can’t see it being smaller than it was, so perhaps renting a nicely equipped space in our town.  This costs about $150 and it has a kitchen and plenty of space for mingling.

Here comes the real underlying dilemma…it’s not a milestone birthday this year (that’s next year), so is it weird to have a big birthday event when it’s just my 29th?

(What will people think?!)

Who am I kidding?  I don’t care a whole lot what people think and next year will be huger than this year and planning for that event will commence shortly after this year’s bash is concluded.  And so it probably doesn’t matter, but I just want to know if it’s worth it and if it’s too geeky.  My guest list is fairly lengthy and I want people to be comfortable, but does it look a bit over the top to rent a place, even if it’s not a large establishment?

I need to hash this out before the weekend so I can send out invites before I leave and give people time to get their costumes together.

Give me your thoughts about this…

posted by erin on Sep 22

I’ve been making my daughters’ cakes since their first birthdays.  I’ve discovered over the years that I LOVE making cakes.  Sorry, I LOVE decorating them.

This year I decided to make the jump into fondant icing.  I’ve always wanted to create designer cakes and I realized that fondant is the way to go.  I was going to buy the Wilton premade fondant, but after reading a few different opinions about the ickiness of premade fondant I decided to try to make it myself.

Thank the Lord for YouTube!!!  Hehe.

It turned out wonderfully and I will now use fondant to ice my cakes.  It’s just so easy and beautiful!

But before I discovered fondant I made a cake for Ella’s 6th birthday that I have always wanted to make for one of my girls.  It was a big hit!

cake2 cake1

Then I did the fondant for Aidan’s “Littlest Pet Shop” cake.  I had so much fun making this one!

cake4 cake3

And my final cake…the woodland cake I made this past week for my friend Sarah’s 30th birthday was my favorite to date.

cake5 cake6 cake7

I spent many hours making the green ferns out of fondant.

I’m excited to try more fun cakes in the future.  I have about 30 designs saved on my computer to try one day :)