cutest cookies EVER

wow, easter really snuck up on me this year.  maybe it was because the teen had spring break so stinking early, but i was so thrown off schedule that i never even got around to buying easter-shaped cookie cutters.

and so the day before the bean's easter party at school, i found myself wandering the aisles of michael's and joann's looking for something suitable.  i'd signed up to bring cookies and juice boxes, which i figured would be fun practice for me.  i really wanted an egg-shaped cutter, but ended up settling for a bunny instead.  my goal was to make cute little chick cookies like the ones i found on another blog, but i decided that i could still get the same result even if i used a circle instead.

mixing up the dough and rolling it out is pretty much second nature by now.  and i was pretty stoked to finally use up the last of this giant bottle of vanilla extract.  i've had it for ages (i'm talking YEARS here. thank goodness it's alcohol-based and never expires) and have packed and unpacked it during about half a dozen different moves.  heh.

and i managed to score these bakery emulsions at ross, of all places - for a fraction of the cost i've seen them online for.  these are super duper concentrated flavors, even more so than regular extracts you find at the grocery store.

i was kind of bitter when i started moving the baked bunny cookies from the silpat to my cooling rack, because i didn't wait long enough (such an impatient mofo, i am) and ended up snapping off an ear.

although it ended up okay, because i used it for test purposes - trying out the face and outlining the ear to see if i liked how it looked.

aren't they cute?

my little chicks turned out really well, too.

since the bunnies were rather big - like almost 6" tall! - i decided to wrap them up and give them to the kids in the bean's class as a take-home.  maybe they could share it with a sibling or their parents or something.

i'll have to remember to hit up the craft stores for cutters waaaaay in advance from now on.  lesson learned.

i'm kind of a creep

do you remember my post about local (and now a new york times bestselling) author, matt logelin (although i learned that the term "creep" is kind of reserved for a group of ladies who have been matt's support group for the last few years)?  i was able to attend the book signing at my friend's shop, and i dragged the bean and the teen with me with the promise of heading to the grove/farmers market afterwards.

warning:  this is a rather lengthy post (even for me), but trust me - it'll be worth it to read all the way through.  really!

when we arrived, i was stoked to find a sweet parking spot right in front.  and even better?  the meter was broken, and i didn't have to drop any coinage into it!

we were a little early, but as we walked in i spotted matt right away.  and because i've been reading his blog and am a total fangirl, i was feeling really shy about approaching him.

i know, lame, right? 

but i managed to suck it up and go over to say hello.  he was super laid-back and casual - "hi, i'm matt, thanks for coming out!" and just a really nice, friendly guy.  he was also chatting with a couple of other earlybirds, and i went back to the girls to get them settled at a table near the front.  there was a nice, big promotional poster near the door and some light refreshments set up on the counter.

i rejoined the group to listen to the chatter, managed to introduce myself to the others, and watched as matt did his very first book signing. 

he was nice enough to pose for a couple of pictures with us, too.  the first one is with my new friend (an aspiring actress and a co-creator of an upcoming documentary about twitter), jen levin.

there were special tickets for those who'd bought the book during the shop's presale, in case there was a long line to meet matt.

 

in no time, the floor was full to overflowing with lots of folks who'd come for the signing.

i dig the special cameo appearance by the bean in this shot.

we hung out for a while, and i got a few shots of the bean as she wandered around the shop.  there'd been an in-store event featuring the easter bunny a couple of weeks ago, and she liked the decorations that remained.

before we left we stopped to say goodbye to matt, who gave us a hug and even invited us to his daughter maddy's birthday party the following day.  i'd mentioned that we had a mutual friend in nanette, so that must've proven our non-stalkerness.  heh.  although i'd already promised the teen i'd take her to meet up with friends at the beach, and so he suggested a playdate with all the kids after he returns home from his whirlwind month of book touring.  maddy and the bean are only a few months apart and would probably have a great time together, along with nanette's em and other friends too.

a week after this signing, matt had another local appearance - one much closer to home for me and that i ended up attending with my friends kelley and dailygluttony.  i totally felt like a stalker, but it was fun to hang out with the girls and have dinner together afterwards.  we met here (forgive me for the awful photos, but i used my camera because my DSLR would've just proven my creepiness):

found our way to the signing upstairs:

listened (and teared up) to matt read from the book he'd written, which had just hit the new york times bestsellers' list - yay! 

we were sitting in the first row (because no one else seemed to want to, and i have no shame), so we managed to get to the very front of the line, which seemed to grow before our very eyes.

it was nice to finally meet matt's girlfriend, brooke (i'd seen her at the first signing, but felt so stalkerish approaching her) and sweet little maddy.  she is adorable, and looks so much like her mother.  brooke was super nice too, and i really liked her.

by the way, now i know what it feels like to be on the other end of "i don't want to sound like a stalker, but..."  ha!  and i also told her how much i liked her interview that had just been published online.  matt's blog doesn't really go into detail about her, and it was nice to hear a bit from her perspective. 

ooh!  during this signing, i also managed to de-creepify myself with another blogger i've admired for a long time (and wrote about once, after a tragic loss she and her husband suffered).  and again, nanette was the key. 

while we were hanging out at the signing, we spied an adorable baby girl with brown curly hair pulled up into pigtails that we squealed over.  she was being held by her dad, who looked really familiar to me - except that i couldn't remember why.  and when they walked away, i mentioned it to the girls and kelley stage-whispered "they're the spohrs."

duh.  i felt so dumb for not realizing it right away.  and i totally debated for a little while whether or not to approach them and introduce myself.  kelley and DG egged me on, and after thinking that nanette would totally make fun of me for not doing so, i walked up and stammered out an introduction.  i dropped nanette's name, which was magical once again, and heather smiled and gave me a hug.  she and her husband mike were so nice, and although i was all sweaty and nervous, i was glad i hadn't passed up the chance to meet them.

i know.  i'm a royal dork.  you already knew that.

so anyway, i finished reading the book last week.  it's a fantastic book that tells a heartbreaking, tearjerker of a story - but i can't recommend it highly enough.  yeah, it's super sad and it will make you cry.  at least, if you have a heart.  and in fact, i'm volunteering to host the next book club so that i can make the girls read it, although i think a lot of them already have or are planning to.  the awesome twist is that matt and i are working on coordinating our calendars so that he can come, too.  it will be an epic book club gathering.

oh, and since i attended two signings, i've got an extra signed copy of two kisses for maddy - and because i'm cool like that, i'm gonna give it to one of YOU.  as with past giveaways, i'll be choosing a winner with my buddy random.org - which means all you have to do to enter is to leave me some comment love.  plus, i'll give you another entry if you tweet a link to this post and mention me (@luvbabyb) in the tweet.  i'll do the drawing on friday - so make sure you enter by 8PM PST, and i'll post the winner next monday.

what can i say?  i like comments.  and it seems to me that a signed copy of a current bestseller is the least i can do since you just spent a few minutes of your life that you'll never get back reading this post.

showerin'

i was still pretty exhausted from the events of the previous few days, but i was excited to get up early sunday before last to get the house ready for my cousin r's bridal shower.

first up - get the cake pops done.  one of the bride's favorite cake flavors is the classic red velvet, and with this batch i took no chances.  i used a tried-and-true box of duncan hines mix and frosting, and was so excited to have an excuse to try one of my favorite bakerella blog posts.  i'd had just enough time the day before to get the first couple of steps done and have them ready for dipping - of course, i didn't have the right sizes of cookie cutters to form the layers, so i had to do them by hand.

i'd bought two bags of yellow candy melts, since that's one of the wedding colors, but in my exhausted stupor managed to burn the hell out of the first pound.  damn.  not to mention, i was extra clumsy and knocked over a whole container of heart-shaped sprinkles.

but i rallied, carefully melted the second bag, busted out more sprinkles, and got 'er done.

slightly misshapen, but i think you can tell that they're supposed to be mini wedding cakes.  speaking of which, here's what kept me up two nights prior until 2am:

the wedding cake-shaped cookies were meant to be favors, so i sat down to wrap them individually and tie them with bright yellow ribbon.  i somehow forgot to take a picture, but you can imagine what it looked like.

next up - mini carrot cake cupcakes.  i was using ina garten's recipe, which looked easy and yummy.  and i was stoked to cut down my prep time considerably since i've conquered that fear of my food processor.  amazing.

it made an enormous amount of batter, which ended up being a good thing since there was a major hot spot in my oven, resulting in this:

oh, i was so bitter.  but i was happy to find that i still had enough to serve, and a quick taste test proved that the recipe was definitely a keeper.

all of my trips to target and ross (ugh) were totally worth it as i put the sweets bar together.

the teen and i were scrambling like mad to get the tables done in the back yard, where the hub had already put up the awning we'd used for the bean's birthday party last year.  she got to work on doing the floral centerpieces using the blooms i'd bought at the flower mart the morning before, and got the tables all put together with the white table covers and the runners i'd hastily sewn in the shower colors.

i'd just barely gotten out of the shower, thrown my dress on (i got to wear the one dress i've successfully made for myself, since it was the right color), done my face, and pulled out the hair dryer before the first guests started to arrive.  crap.

and the bean, who was feeling under the weather, was keeping the hub completely tied up.  she was totally grumpy and clingy, and i was just grateful they'd done the costco run to scoop up the rest of the stuff i needed for the food table.

with help from the teen and my cousins, we were finally ready for the guests to start eating.  thank goodness for the extra stuff the hub picked up.

everyone seemed to have a great time, and we managed to get some great group pictures.  gatherings with my cousins are pretty few and far-between, so we had to commemorate it somehow.

because r lives out of state, i probably broke a zillion etiquette rules when i asked guests to ship their gifts straight to her home and bring a card or something with a picture of the gift inside.  r certainly appreciated it, and she had fun opening the stack of envelopes.

such fun!  and when all the food had been devoured, the guests gone home, and the dishes washed and put away, this was all we had left to show for it:

i wish i'd taken more pictures, but when you're hosting, well - i'm just glad i got what i have.  i was amused when r told me that her friends asked her "does your cousin do this for a living or something?"  haha!

nope.  i'm just a complete partyzilla who reads way too many party blogs.  it pays off sometimes, right?