PC: Day 19

Favorite beverage

A piping hot cup of tea.

Any time of day.

In any weather.

With or without sugar.

Or milk.

It's good for headaches, heartaches, sore stomachs, bad days, happy days, blue days, yellow days

and all the other days in between.

It's good shared with a friend

or just a good book.

Join me for a cuppa?

PC: Day 18 (and also I talk about cake)

Someone I love

This is Hannah. She's my cousin, roommate, coworker, and best friend. We would have to literally be attached at the hip to spend any more time together.  I love her because she's hilarious and sweet and enormously kindhearted. I also love her because she's the world's best masseuse, an excellent chauffer, and a superhero in times of crisis.

But most importantly, she laughs at all my jokes. It's fantastic. :)

Anyway, it's not quite yet her birthday but because I won't be with her on the actual day, I made a celebration cake for us this afternoon.

I used the chocolate cake from the recipe for Sweet & Salty Cake from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking (also found online here) and the frosting recipe from Magnolia Bakery, found here.

It is one of the best cakes I have ever made. The buttercream is a perfect fluffy vanilla to balance the chocolate cake, which is moist and rich (the secret is sour cream!). Obviously my icing technique needs work but have a taste and you'll stop complaining.

Oh and I may have put mini chocolate chips in the icing between the two cake layers. Nope, I definitely did.  Don't roll your eyes at me, you think I'm going to serve it with a side of asparagus just because it's already laden with calories?
Think again, cowboy.

You just don't want to know how many sticks of butter sacrificed their lives for this dessert. 

You really don't.

PC: Day 17

Relaxation

Yes, I post photos from Rocky Woods like three times a month but if I find relaxation anywhere, it's definitely there, particularly at Echo Pond. And today was the perfect day to head out there after work: clear blue skies and a pleasant 45 degrees. 

My body is tired and my mind is clear--ultimate relaxation. 

Ohhhmmm...

PC: Day 16

Weather

Late again, late again! Last evening I laid down after taking my photos outside, just for a minute and didn't get up again til 5 am this morning. Such an excessive amount of sleep led to some weird dreams, let me tell you. I dreamed I was sent to juvenile detention and the weird part was not that I am clearly too old for juvie but that in my dream I had been there before. Sadly, I have no idea what crime I committed to put me there. When I got out, my Nana disowned me and I became inconsolable, lots of crying and flailing about. I must have thrashed a good deal in real life too, because my blankets were rather complicated to get out of this morning.

Anyway, yesterday was cold and damp. It tried to snow the night before but nothing stuck so it gave up and turned to rain. I tried to go for a photo of a single raindrop but I was having some trouble with my manual focus. The resulting images were a little noisy but I think it accurately captures the mood.

PC: Day 15

Purchased

Shocking, I know, but these Lego sets aren't for me.

Fortunately my youngest brother is much too busy being 8 years old to bother with reading my blog, or else this post would take away any surprise on his upcoming birthday.

Thank goodness for little boys and their uncomplicated taste in gifts. Makes shopping so much easier.

But just to keep him guessing, I sent my mom this picture from my phone while I was at the store tonight. I told her to tell Spencer that this is what I got him. 

His reply: "Seriously? That's just mean!"