The Haircut

So, you know by now: I cut my hair...

It used to be long and illustrious, see Exhibits A and B. (I'm digging this exhibit thing lately.)

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Then I cut it.

Now it's short. 

Any questions?

Of things October

This morning was on the dark and grey side, as so many of these days in October have been recently. I was settled on the couch, nursing and cuddling my adorable baby (see exhibit A). I helped myself to some chai and cornbread muffins smeared with homemade apple butter. The day seemed predictable, rain, cold and indoor chores.

Exhibit A

Then.

This happened:

Which drew us out of doors post-haste.

Like being pregnant again, but this time, with a second head

We enjoyed beautiful sights and colours and breathed deeply the crisp air with scents of spices and woodfires on the breeze.

 Constance soon fell asleep, the lull of being walked up and down the street and the warmth of being wrapped close to her mama was an undeniable sleep inducer.

The beautiful day reminded me of just such beautiful, clear, cold days from the year past. And as in years past, at this time, when the world is cooling down and people are bundling up....

 This time when apples and pumpkins are ubiquitous and holidays celebrating such things draw near and people get friendly...and throw parties...

Well, this time of year is also the time of year where certain people.... the insane and masochistic type, like to write...and not just write, but I mean write.  As in writing 50,000 words in one month, kind of write.

Yes.

 It is that time of year again. And it got me thinking....

Exhibit B

I should do it. Again. If you do not know what I am talking about, I will tell you:

Exhibit C

November = National Novel Writing Month. Nanowrimo for short. (See Nanowrimo.com). Which means October is crunch month. "Crunch month" = run around like a madman figuring out what story you want to write and wondering what you'll do with your life for the next couple weeks while you wait for 12:00am 11/1/2012. Well, maybe some people do. But I'm going to wing it this year....

See, I had originally thought I'd skip this year, because I have this great excuse. (See exhibit B and C) but that walk today, and the cool weather and the inspirational smells and sights...well I just can't! I can't bear to let November go by without joining the ranks of insane and attempting to write a novel in a month. It's just too much fun! Even when it's stressful and crazy, because it's awesome too. And so, I'm dedicated. I'm going to go sign into Nanowrimo RIGHT NOW... Done. Check me out if you want, my Nano ID is EkkThe5ifth.

So besides that, there's a lot of other exciting things. Things like beautiful babies and pumpkins....

...and apples...

And apples.

And apples.

And apples....

oh, did I mention apples? John has been picking up all the dropped apples he's been finding on his rounds at work. He drives around a lot and this IS apple season. So, since we've had quite the abundance I got busy and made:

 Apple butter! NOMS.
 Which brings us back to the beginning where I was lounging around snuggling with my little button. And considering indoor chores. Of which I have many still to do.

Sporting mama-made autumnal headgear

the end

Constance Fern

My baby is a little over five weeks old, now. She was born August 8, 2012 at 6:41 am. She weighed 6lb 4oz and was 18 inches long. Here's some long expected photos!

Of the day she was born:

 And the day after:

And some memorable moments since:

 Her baptism at 4 days old. My dad, an OPC pastor did it while he was visiting.

Her papa reading her first novel, Watership Down by Richard Adams, aloud to her:

"Papa! what's going to happen to Hazel, Bigwig, Fiver and 3 or 4 of the others?"

First day at the beach! On her papa's birthday. He was out surfing...

She can't wait to learn to surf, too

And her first visit to The Lake house, where she went on a hike and had a dip in the lake!

Labor Day weekend

We also went to King Richard's Faire where she posed as a faery babe and I showed off my new short haircut!

Matchin' outfits, yo

The changeling

The faery family

More on the hair cut next time! I also want to write out my birth story on here. And maybe post a few more of the Medieval Fest pictures, because she was especially adorable in that outfit...

Meantime, this baby needs some sweet cuddles and maybe a walk on this fine day. Hope you enjoy the photos!

A wedding cake!

It's been, like, forever.... *ashamed-toe-in-dirt-expression* I know. *cough*

Anyway!

Remember that wedding cake I made in May? Here's a photo

I made that. Magical, yes?

Here's another:

I made two ten inch cakes besides the actual wedding cake so that at the party, people could enjoy cake and look at it too. Plus there were a lot of peeps at that party. It was a lot of cake. So, clearly, it was a very successful party. :)

Here's me.

Tada! A cake.

It took me like, a week! And a few weeks of planning and prep before that. Here's a few photos of production, if you're interested. (I know you are.)

Mix the flour and baking powders, salt, etc. Mix butter and sugar and eggs. Mix them together and add some buttermilk. Repeat like 12 times. Phew.

For the 32 cups of buttercream, I did this step a lot:

Eggwhites to fluffy clouds. I then stabilized them with sugar-water boiled to the hard candy stage.
 But before I could whip egg whites, I had to separate them from their yolky side-kicks...

yigh....It took like 4 dozen eggs!


 And then- I added butter.

LOTS OF BUTTER

Like, a gajillion pounds of butter.

And homemade vanilla extract, measured in a heart tablespoon, for extra love:

The process made like, a gajillion cakes...

But it also made about the same number of dishes...

That's like, hardly a fraction of the dishes I ended up doing. Thankfully I baked the whole thing at my church's kitchen and had these ENORMOUS sinks to use. I could have bathed while I did the dishes, if I was so inclined....(I wasn't)

Then I crumb coated each and every layer.

Imagine this, times 10.

And then filling and stacking:

2 ten inch cakes 2 layers each, and then the wedding cake, each with two layers, a 12 inch tier, an 8 inch tier, a 6 inch tier....Do the math. That's a lot of cake.

And a lot of frosting and filling....

But it was made with love, and I had a helpful sister along!

She read to me and kept the tea coming. So I was able to pull through.

See that stove clock? It says 9:34. That's pm. We pulled some late nights on this project....

The final step was assemblation. That's a real word you know...

Dowels keep it from collapsing into itself. Very important, despite not being edible...

And then, I frosted it!

And decorated it!

Have another look at that beauty. Really, just look and be inspired by awe and majesty.

And have some cake, it's on me.

No really, I had a lot of cake on me by the end of the whole thing.

It was really good. I ate a lot of it. And received lots of compliments. And ate lots of cake.
The end

P.s I'm 40 weeks pregnant and 2 days, now, and the contractions this morning amounted to nothing special. Just thought you might like to know. I'd post a picture, but my new camera is still being figured out...

p.p.s Georgia also took quite a few of these photos, but I'm not sure which ones. Give her credit, though.

p.p.p.s I'm now realizing how many times I used the word "like" in this post. Forgive me, but I kind of think it sounds good, so I'm not editing it.