I bring you COLORBURST CUPCAKES!I'd seen these here, but forgot about them till I saw them again on a friend's blog. Sophie and I have started doing our own little Mommy-Sophie preschool and these cupcakes were the perfect project for yesterday when "C" was the letter of the day.
It was really fun to do and the kids thought they were the coolest things ever. Crazy-colored cupcakes were a GREAT reason to eat all their dinner. :)
My little helper
ps - these two pictures are to show Marci that I round-brushed Sophie's hair yesterday. It looked SOOOO cute. And it lasted... for all of about 14 minutes. Please advise!!!
So, as most of you know by now, we have moved to the great big glorious state of Texas! Now I am not a world traveler by any stretch of the imagination, but I do feel like I've seen a good part of our fair country and I must say that Texas is unlike any place I have been before. It's unlike the west, it's unlike the east, it's unlike the north and it's unlike the southern states I've been to... it has a feel to it that is entirely its own. It is simply Texas. I get the feeling all y'all Texans really like that, too. So, for those of you who haven't spent much time in this enormous place, I've compiled some observations that we've made so far. Having been here a whopping total of thirteen days, it's definitely not complete, but it's what I've noticed so far... So here we go!
Driving People here drive the speed limit! Bryce made sure he told me that. And that may or may not be indicative of my driving style. It is rather amazing, though. When the speed limit sign says 65, people drive anywhere between 60 and 67 miles an hour. I'd never heard of such a thing.
There are these things called access roads here. They are one-way, run parallel to the freeway and, as far as I can tell, they never stop - just go and go and go. It's handy when there is traffic on the freeway and you can just hop off onto the nearest access road. It is not handy when you want to go in the opposite direction of the access road, but instead have to drive and drive on the access road until you can flip around (usually at the next freeway off-ramp) and retrace your steps back to where you were...then continue on to your appointed destination.
Did you know there was more than one way to hang a stop light? Here in Texas, they hang them sideways! So instead of the red light being on top and the green on bottom, the red light is on the far left and the green light is on the far right. Who knew? When I asked about it the conversation went something like this: Lisa: Why do they hang the stoplights sideways here? Texan: The question is not why do we hang them sideways, but rather, why doesn't the rest of the country hang them sideways, too? Lisa: (at a loss for words)Which brings me to my next bullet on the list - Texas Pride In college we always kind-of joked about the students from Texas. They were always very friendly and you could see them a mile away... and not b/c their hair/belt buckle was big, but b/c they typically had a Texas flag the size of the state hanging from their apartment/dorm window. I never knew anyone from another state who hung their home state's flag in their apartment, but those Texans... it was surprising if you met one who didn't! These people take their state seriously. However things are done in Texas is clearly (according to a Texan) how things should be done everywhere! Texas is the best place on earth, they say! The stop light conversation is a classic example.
Another classic example is the local grocery store -- HEB. That's not Heb, mind you, it is H-E-B. For the life of me I could not figure out what HEB stood for and a few days ago, a friend enlightened me... HEB stands for "Here Everything's Better." I cracked up when I found out. It is so consistent with this Texas love I'm surrounded with that suddenly I'm no longer surprised there aren't more grocery store chains. I mean, if Texas has found its store, who would shop anywhere else?? And then there are the stars. Oh, the stars!! Not famous people, just those geometric shapes like the sparkly ones in the sky. The Texas star is EVERYWHERE here! I do kinda like this one - it gives the decor of otherwise typically bland things (ie. freeways, sidewalks, curbs, etc.) a little punch of pizazz. It is amazing where you will find stars - from front doors and address number tiles to kitchen and dining room floors and bumper stickers and fences and billboards and and... you name it. My favorite is the stars in the freeway decor. The stars are all colors, but mostly they are ORANGE. Orange, orange orange. I've never seen a place so bathed in orange. People wear orange clothes, they buy orange cars, they have their sidewalk curbs painted orange, they put on orange accessories, their pets wear orange... it's remarkable. And this orange outfitting is not limited to casual, mundane tasks. They wear it to sporting events (of course), they wear it to travel (half of the people on my last flight from TX were wearing orange), they wear it shopping, they wear it out on the town. Any occasion you can think of is a good reason to wear orange. And all because they love Texas so much - particularly UT. That's University of Texas, not Utah. Talk about school/state spirit. Weather I have discovered why girls from Texas have big hair. It isn't b/c they want big hair, necessarily, but b/c they have no choice. With humidity like this in October, I can only imagine what it is like in July. And combine that humidity with any kind of slight wave or curl and you get... BIG HAIR. Real big. Like, I'm still trying to figure out how to keep mine within 12 inches of my head. So there you go. Mystery solved.And that's about all I have time for, folks. I keep thinking I'll come back to this and finish it later, but I'm facing the fact that if I don't just publish it now... I may never do it. In summary, we are learning to navigate this new place and everyone is doing jest fine.
Ok, one last thing about Texas speak... I have no idea where Sophie picked it up, but she has started saying "sir" and "ma'am." It is hilarious! She started this I think the day after we arrived and just started saying "Yes sir!" in response to questions of all kinds.
Sophie, it's time for dinner! Yes sir!
Sophie, can you get your pajamas, please? Yes sir!
Sophie, it's time for a bath! Yes, sir!
Hilarious. It sounds so southern that it makes me laugh. We talked about saying sir when talking to a boy and ma'am when talking to a girl, so she added ma'am to her repertoire, but sir is still her favorite by far. It made me wonder if maybe the Texas speech just happens involuntarily upon arrival. And so, all y'all, have a great day! audios.
ps - in general cost of living here is pretty inexpensive. But, can someone please tell me why milk here costs DOUBLE what it cost in Utah?? I mean, there are cows everywhere I look out here... I understand Texans are serious about their meat, but can't we set aside a few of them cows for milking to bring the cost of milk down??? Pretty please? Graham crackers here are also really expensive. Random, but true. And sad for the good ole graham crackers and milk snack.
ps - I have been mentally working on a really REALLY good post all about this crazy place we just moved to. It's gonna be good, people, so don't give up on me yet. :)
We are officially going south! Bryce accepted a job with Dell this week and, y'all, we are moving to Texas! Though it will be quite far from all our family, we're very excited about this and hoping for lots of visitors! Congrats, Bryce!!
So, Mike and Melissa are officially an old married couple -- hooray! Some pics of the highlights (or, at least the moments when we remembered to take pictures)
The night before the wedding.... doing what all good American families do the night before a wedding... watching So You Think You Can Dance! Bryce will appreciate me pointing out that this was protested by the males in the group.
M&M during their bridals and groomals shoot.
Just married!
A sweet pic of Sophie before things turned ugly (for my children, at least)...Sweet Travis all dolled up in his suit - SO CUTE!!! (too bad I didn't know this pic was being taken!)Sophie LOVED Melissa's dress......but did NOT love getting her picture taken. Check out her face and have yourself a little chuckle. :)fam minus Nathan (who is in Philly on a mission)a classic Sophie scowl.and a classic ecstatic face by Jake
at the reception
who's this good lookin' couple???
Ma & Pa and possibly the BEST pic of the night... M&M didn't officially have dancing at their reception, but that didn't stop Sophie and Sam from cutting a rug. These two were rocking out -- this pic makes me roll laughing every time I look at it. Sam makes this face when he is doing SERIOUS dancing. That's all for now folks! Check ya later!
Many of you know that in this household we continue a tradition started in Bryce's family and eat Boston Baked Beans every Sunday. It's a terrific tradition -- I recommend it to all! But one of the most important parts of getting the beans juuuuust right is using THE right type of beans. And there is only one: Yellow Eye Beans. And since they pretty much only sell them in the east, we import ours, oh yes, we do! Yellow Eyes make the perfectbaked beans.
Well.
I now have an additional meaning to Yellow-eyes. And that would be my own.
Voila, here I am:
This is what happens when you are wearing sunglasses and then make forceful contact with the dashboard in a car accident. Good times! Ok, not really. The accident wasn't a very good time, at all and put an abrupt END to what was a very good time. My sisters, Melissa & Marci, and I were in the middle of our Last Hurrah Girls Weekend (before Melissa gets married in a couple weeks!) and were on our way up to the outlets for some deal-seeking. Before we even pulled into the parking lot, however, a truck slammed into my brother-in-law's car and ended our little girls party. Luckily, no one was majorly hurt -- I am the worst of it. Somehow I managed to smack the dashboard with my face and came away with 6 stitches across my nose and a very sore and bruised face & neck. I looked pretty awesome, though, just after it happened with blood dripping down my face, on my white shirt, hands, etc. That's stuff they make movies out of, eh? Har har. Actually, the moment I wish I had on film was when the back windshield exploded all over Melissa (who climbed out of the car without a scratch) -- doesn't that sound so Mission Impossible?? Anyway, a trip to Instacare later I'm sewed up all right and looking forward to kissing goodbye the bruised sore pains from my eyebrows to my shoulders. Everytime I look in a mirror my eyes and nose area seem to have changed. The swelling has gone down a LOT (I won't frighten you with the pics from Sunday) and the purple color has now turned yellow. We'll see what happens next -- just in time for a family picture!
Pre-Accident
Post-Accident Moral of the story: Avoid car accidents at all costs. And never drive a vehicle with faulty breaks. Especially if you're going to rear-end a car I'm inside. Thank you.
I'd seen these here, but forgot about them till I saw them again on a friend's blog. Sophie and I have started doing our own little Mommy-Sophie preschool and these cupcakes were the perfect project for yesterday when "C" was the letter of the day.
ps - these two pictures are to show Marci that I round-brushed Sophie's hair yesterday. It looked SOOOO cute. And it lasted... for all of about 14 minutes. Please advise!!!
