san fran, take 2!

so a few weeks ago, nathan and i got the chance to go back to san fran for a salesforce training. we went a couple days early and enjoyed seeing the city. let me just say- san fran is incredible. i mean,  great vacation spot. there was so much to do and see, so much to eat, and the weather and atmosphere was just spectacular. we got there early saturday morning, picked up our rental car, and headed into town. traffic was crazy, so we parked and started to walk and then, among the masses of people, realized it was fleet week, which is this awesome expo of the navy, marines, and coast guard. there were men (and women) in uniform everywhere, and the harbor was full of all sorts of ships. plus, there were constant airshows going on, including the blue angels. it was pretty cool. so we took that in a while, ate some in-n-out, and enjoyed the city. we added it up and walk at least 9 miles that day, and it was great!

sunday, we did more of the same- although we did drive across the golden gate bridge to explore muir woods, where the red woods are. they were HUGE, and quite beautiful.  they were ancient (many of them older than our country!) and quite tall. it was such a refreshing morning, soaking in God's incredible creation. 

the rest of our trip was just as fun- we ate at some incredible places, tasted many yummy cupcakes, plus i learned quite a bit at my salesforce training. nathan had to go home on tuesday so mom flew out at the same time and she spent the rest of the week with me. we did more of the same- good food, cupcakes, and sight seeing.  it was such a great trip- time with two of my favorite people doing some of my favorite things!

mom and i went to see the sea lions, we shopped, saw the "painted ladies" and the place where full house was set, shopped, ate more cupcakes, and probably my fav, took tea at this awesome tea house. it was fantastic- just all of it. i love my mom and this trip was quite special.

if you're heading to san fran, let me know- i'll tag along :)

britt's shower

last sunday, we had brittany's baby shower! it was such a sweet celebration of anticipation for little ella. we can't wait to meet her. 

we had the shower at ashley's house, and enjoyed an array of appetizer type foods and our cupcakes- which were quite a hit!

chillin' in the fridge

ash and i team-efforted the corsage- ash made the roses out of baby washcloths, then i arranged them together in this. and we taped it, yes, like scotch tape, together. ha!

ash and jamie made these awesome cookies, which we topped with our leftover candy ellas. beautiful!

the awesome cupcakes!!

our little girl punch- complete with teething rings :)

our food table- yummy, huh?

little lincoln- he was the last one we celebrated!!

the glowing mom and i- congrates britt!

me and ash with our creation

yes, we matched :)

it was a great shower and we can't wait to meet little ella!

strawberry cupcakes

so this weekend, in the midst of packing for my trip and watching my awesome husband play baseball, we helped host a baby shower! and what a cute one it was! while i plan on blogging on all the little details tomorrow, i thought i should start with the cupcakes ash and i made. they were pretty much awesome, i’m not going to lie!! while we are all about cake pops, based on the logisitics of the weekend we recognized that we wouldn’t have time to assemble something to our level of perfection. plus, with all the showers we do for our lifegroup, we like to mix it up- the first shower we did a three-tiered cake, then the cake pops, so we opted for cupcakes. inspired by none other than pinterest, we went for some fun cupcakes with a sugar cookie on top. we divided to conquer and ash made the cookies and i made the cupcakes, then we helped each other assemble.

so saturday night, after a long day at the baseball field, i got to work. and i lost the site i got the recipe from, but if you want it, i have it saved.  i liked this recipe because it had 1 1/3 cup of fresh strawberries- yum! and an interesting addition- strawberry milk! of course, most nesquick and what not versions of strawberry milk have HCFS in it, so i found the cute little horizon milks that are all organic!

the strawberry milk

yum fresh strawberries going in the food processor to make puree!

so sometimes my baking is all about improvising. while i went to the store the day before to get everything i needed, somehow i forgot that i needed more sugar?! so, i combined what i had- i'm sure this is a baking nono, but i mixed some organic cane sugar, some demerera sugar, and some brown sugar. it works, right?

the color was almost perfect, but i added a few drops of red food coloring because i wanted to ensure that the cupcakes turned out bright pink.

i tried out a new buttercream recipe, and we loved it!

this turned out awesome- and super fluffy!

my perfectly pink strawberry cupcakes.

i colored my frosting gray by using black coloring, but just a bit. then, using a star tip, i piped on the swirl.

then, sunday morning, once i got to ash's, i melted down some white candy melts and put them in a zip loc bag with a small tip and piped "ella" the sweet baby girl's name. now even though i only made 30 cupcakes, i made about 60 ellas, because, since they were made of chocolate, they were super fragile. i wanted to make sure i had enough in case some broke, and i thought we could definitely use some elsewhere.

the finished product!

look forward to tomorrow's post on the shower!