Happy Birthday to ME! :)

KitKats and Jelly Beans Birthday Cake

Today is my birthday!  It is also my sister's birthday and she is five years older than me!  Crazy, right?  :)  Her name is Kat and my nickname by some friends when I was much younger was "jelly bean", so this cake is perfect for us!  :)  Happy Birthday, Kat!

I am taking the day off to hang out with my boys!  I'll be back tomorrow where I will revisit this post and tell about our new family tradition.

Have a great day!!

Crushed dreams!! (not really....well kind of...)

(image source)

For the past five or so years, I have joked to my husband that I wanted to open a shop and call it, "Cupcake Monkey."  It wouldn't necessarily just have cupcakes, but they would definitely be there!  I have always had a cupcake obsession and he has called me "monkey" for as long as I can remember.  The name for my blog kind of came from that, but wouldn't really make sense to anyone but me, so that's from where my "definition" for cupcake monkey came:

cupcake monkey: /ˈkʌpˌkeɪk/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kuhp-keyk] /ˈmʌŋki/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[muhng-kee]
-noun
a sweet, mischievous one in search of pleasure for all senses

Soooo...(gulp)...then I came across this fantastic place and my dreams were smashed into a million pieces.  :(  I cannot possibly dream of my own place with a name so similar.  Blah.  :(  At first I was mad...not because they read my mind and stole my dream (ha!...totally kidding), but because I feel like lately I am a day late and a dollar short on so many things.  I will stumble upon something really great or do something I think is really cool...only to do a quick search and find that it was found or done by many and possibly years ago!  Ugh!!!

Ok...but then, I looked through their site and there was no way I could stay mad!!  First off, it's not a little boutique with a case of cupcakes, like I want to have.  Currently, they deliver their amazing treats in the LA area, can be found at various LA places, and they ship nationwide!!  Annnnd...everything is gorgeous!!!...and I mean everything.  Then after reading their reviews, apparently everything tastes great too, so I cannot be mad at a place that has never even heard of cupcake monkey!  And I certainly cannot really say they stole my dream...but it still stings a little!  I realize how silly that sounds, I do.  97% of this blog is silly, though, so I guess it fits.

Anyway, seriously their stuff looks and sounds amazing:

1.  pink peppermint cake
2.  yo-hos
3.  must love chocolate
4.  cake monkey crunch cake
5.  pink peppermint cakewich
6.  chocolate caramel cake

These treats and more can be found here on the Cake Monkey Bakery menu!

Upon further research, they started in 2008.  Since cupcake monkey was started in 2007, they totally copied me, right?  ;)  Ha ha.

Technical difficulties...

Grrr...my laptop is about to be thrown through a window.  Hopefully things will be back to normal, later.  :)

Four Things Currently Rockin' My World!

This is somewhat random and these four things really have nothing to do with each other, but nevertheless, they are currently four of my favorite things right now:

1.  the present: clear make up by philosophy.  When I actually remember to use this primer before putting on my make up, I am in love with it! I have been using it for years...but for some reason I usually forget to put it on until it is too late...I need to work on that.

2.  The snuggle time with my son when he wakes from his naps.  He is always sweet and loves giving hugs, but the 10 or so minutes when he first wakes up after his naps are our special cuddle time and moments I will cherish forever.

3.  Briannas Classic Buttermilk Ranch Dressing.  This is the best ranch dressing I have ever had...in my whole life.  :)  I could bathe in this dressing.

4.  This is the awesome son of a really amazing woman...the kind of mother I strive to be.  I questioned whether I should post this at all...first because it is someone else's child, second because I didn't want putting it alongside salad dressing to devalue her message in any way and because you have likely already seen this all over Facebook and/or Twitter....BUT the message is so important that I am throwing all of those reasons out the window and decided to blur his face.  This post brought tears to my eyes and hopefully opened a few others' eyes, as well.  Please take a moment to read, "My son is gay" if you haven't already.

Have a great weekend!!

[Cupcake Friday may or may not return next Friday...I think I need a break from the sweets.  :)]