Autumn!

Well it's officially Fall now and I love it! This day has been amazing outside and I wish I could spend so much more time outdoors. Even here in Texas, I love it. Why do I love the Fall? Well let me count thy ways...
I love the fall because
it's starting to get cool enough to wear sweatshirts and jeans, but you don't have to wear a coat or shiver when you go outside.
great smelling candles like cinnamon vanilla and sweet apple filled tarts (I have these!)
the warm foods like apple crisp and chili
going to pumpkin patches and on hayrack rides
driving with the windows down
chilly mornings and warm afternoons
starting up another new school year and seeing old friends
you can turn off the air conditioner in the apartment!
making warm drinks like chai tea and hot chocolate
raking up leaves and jumping in the piles (I wish I could do this still, maybe in a few years...)
caramel apples
fall festivals and fairs
football season
all the pretty leaves on the trees

I love that God created all the seasons-- what a wonderful and amazing thing to do! Every day that I can spend outside, I thank Him for His creation and let Him know how very much I appreciate all He has blessed me with. Happy Autumn everyone!

The word of the week is...

BAMBLUSTERCATE! There were so many to choose from, but I thought this one was the most fun to say of the three pages I looked through. For today, we will learn about bamblustercate: to embarass or confuse. The clown decided to bamblustercate the young woman sitting in the front row by bringing her up front to help with the next act. Now you try to use it in a sentence sometime this week and see how many people are bamblustercated (don't know if that's proper usage, but thought I'd try it). Ok, that's enough of that word. There are also many phobias I find in this book, but I will choose one of those at a later time. I find them to be very interesting.
Tomorrow is Zumba again, so I'm looking forward to that a lot. Not much left to recap for this week, I hope you all have a great week! I'm headed outside to do some tanning and reading-- what a great day!

Ghosting

Jay Leno has started up a new primetime show on NBC this week. Hubby and I have been watching it just because we've had the time and so far it has been pretty great. He's had great guests such as Robin Williams and Jerry Seinfeld and Jay's done his classic Headlines--which is the main reason I've watched his show. Well last night he introduced a couple of guys from Australia who have come up with a new sport--ghosting. You may have already seen this by now, but if not, check this out. I thought it was pretty funny!



Did that work? I'm not sure so I'm going to add the link too (I'm trying to learn. Can anyone teach me how to put a video directly into my blog?). Anyway here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8On7yoWKOFk

I watched this last night and today at work there was someone walking down the hall and I had the greatest urge to try out my ghosting skills, but I refrained... for today. Maybe soon I will share my own ghosting story and you can tell me yours. Enjoy!

It's time to Zumba!

Earlier this summer, one of my best friends and I decided we wanted to take a dance class this fall. We've both had some dance lessons growing up and thought it would be a more enjoyable way to exercise instead of the treadmill or the elliptical or lifting weights day after day after day. So we searched for dance studios with good classes, nearby locations, and also checked into the safety of the neighborhood. We even visted one of the studios and asked lots of questions about the fall semester. But when the time came, none of the classes we were interested in were offered the nights we were both free. We were TOTALLY bummed. But then she saw something called Zumba on the internet--youtube (gotta love it!)-- to be exact. She shared the clip with me and we both thought--how awesome! So we looked around for places the class was offered and found one downtown. We drove by it a couple of weeks ago to make sure we felt safe and it was ok. So last night was the first night of class. We were a little nervous because we weren't sure how fun it'd be or how old the other members and teacher would be or if we'd like it at all, but we made a deal to try it out for at least a month. We entered the studio and spoke with our teacher and made our way to the dancing area. From there, I can't even really describe it except to say: Zumba is the most awesome dance & exercise class EVER!!!! We both loved it! The teacher was so much fun and high energy. The other ladies there were having fun and just enjoyed dancing. You could tell some of the ladies had more experience than others, but it didn't matter because everyone was just having a blast! We finished the first 10 minutes and the teacher said, "Ok, the low impact stuff is over, now on to high impact" and we just looked at each other like, "WHAT?? This isn't already high impact?" Needless to say, it was a great workout and so much fun and we are both definitely excited to go back next week. Now, you should check it out. I'm going to attempt to insert a youtube video here so you can see it, but the best you might get is a link. Anyway, try to check it out and then you can visualize all the fun I'm going to be having on Mondays for the next month! Go get your groove on!

Yep, can't figure it out yet and don't have much time to try today. Here's the link. I'd actually never seen this particular video until this morning, but lots of the steps are actually like the ones we learned last night! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6SN3I8kTn0 ZUMBA!

Abacinate

Know what that means? I didn't either until today. Abacinate ( a-bac-i-nat--> would be easier to depict with the little symbol things above the syllables) means to blind by putting a red-hot copper basin near the eyes. Interesting? I think so. Not only do I enjoy baking and cooking, I enjoy learning new words. I like to try to fit in new and smart-sounding words in both my writing and every day conversation, if possible. It makes me think what I'm really writing and talking and the point I'm trying to convey. I am hoping to put up a new word to learn each week. I will most likely do this on Sundays because Hubby usually has to work and I'm left here to clean the house and try to pass the time until I head to the church nursery, so I'll probably always try to make some type of entry on Sundays. I am taking these words from the "Word Lover's Dictionary" --insert nerdy comment here-- yes, I do own a word lover's dictionary and I am not ashamed. I enjoy learning about these "unusual, obscure, and preposterous words" as the book describes them. And I will share them with you, whomever you may be, readers of my blog. The only frustrating part for me is that these words that I attempt to learn and understand usually don't stick around in my memory for long, so I'm going to try to post words on here that could perhaps actually be used in conversation from time to time or help out with the winning of board games such as Balderdash. So have fun with abacinate this week-- try to use it in a conversation or just tell someone else what it means! I'll try to do the same. One last thing to mention on my second blog, I am more of a stream of consciousness type writer. So if we ever start the entry on one subject and by the end you wonder, how in the world did we end up here-- that's why. I will attempt to make as much sense on here as possible and have fun while doing it. Have a good start of the week!

So it begins...

I've been doing a lot of blog hopping the past few months and had been waiting for a good time to enter the world of blogging myself. Cue last night tragedy-- my first cake catastrophe. I have always enjoyed baking, but in March this year I took the Wilton Course I cake decorating class and thought, "Maybe I could do something I enjoy and make some extra money doing it!" So I've been baking cakes and cupcakes and cookies and bars and have loved it. My friends have been great and supportive and have given me opportunities to provide them with my baked goods. Up to this point, most of my creations have turned out pretty good in my opinion; cookies haven't burned, cupcakes have risen, and cakes haven't split-- until this one. I was making a monkey cake for a baby shower and after I had added the first layer of icing and his cute little monkey fur on his face, I noticed a little crack begin to form. Oh, I thought to myself, I can probably just fill that in with some icing and it will be fine. So I did that and got back to my work. Next thing I know there's another little crack beginning to form, so I crinkle my forehead and begin to fret a bit... maybe this is not an easy fix. But I begin to fill that in and go on my way frosting around the outside of the cake, doing quite well I must say to make it look like fur. I walked into the kitchen for a bit and came back out and another crack--more like an earthquake's fault line-- had formed and I knew no amount of frosting would patch it. So frustrated and unwillingly I put on the lid and sat down to take a break from my work. I called in support and had my hubby pick up another cake mix to start all over again. When he got home from work, I lifted off the lid and this is what we found... Yikes!
Glad I decided to start over... so I began again and I was able to present something I was proud of, something that didn't fall apart and crumble. Here was the finished work...

I know it happens to nearly everyone and I guess it was my turn to have to learn to deal with a mishap, but it was not fun and I was not thrilled at the time. But the good news? The fault-line cake is one of the best I've ever made! The white cake is moist and crumbly, the strawberry filling is soft and sweet, and the chocolate buttercream frosting (first time I'd made it) pulls it all together into a sweet messy taste of bliss! So here's to my first blog. I'm excited to actually be able to be fans of other people's pages and make comments and be a part of the blogging world. Hope you enjoy my first entry and I look forward to writing more :-)