The Jersey weather seems to have reverted back to the way it was when I was just a little tiny girl. For a long time now we New Jerseyans could only talk about snow in the historical sense: "Remember when it used to snow so much that school would close for three straight days?...Remember when we used to get three feet of snow in 24 hours?"
Snow...and I mean real snow...has been virtually absent from our winters for many years. But that's all changed now. We can't talk like old folks anymore about those magical golden years of bi-weekly blizzards. Those times are back. And we're beginning to realize that all those snow-free winters have spoiled us. Because that magical white fluffy stuff can so quickly turn into a royal pain in the neck! We're just about at that point now. The weatherman comes on and says that we're in for another 8-12 inches and we're moaning and groaning. Carlos, our beloved Chihuahua is totally getting tired of it. His long walks have turned into tiny little ones in a very small shoveled area in the backyard. He's just not tall enough or beefy enough to make it through the thick stuff. And then it even affects your mojo time-wise. You have to build in extra time to get your car shoveled out...and then you have to consider that the traffic will be much slower moving. Yeah, we're quite sick of it. I mean, just last night Aaron slipped on some ice in the driveway and went down hard. He came back in the house pretty much on hands and knees and says he heard many painful cracks and crunches in his ribs and back. He wasn't doing anything ambitious either...just crossing the driveway over to my sister Missy's to borrow something. So...for the sake of our dog, our schedule, and our bones...PLEASE! no more snow!
Lets see...now that I got my complaining out of the way...where did I leave off last time? Ok, I mentioned that it was Aaron's birthday. Right here Aaron made sure that I inserted his great thanks for all the birthday well wishes from you guys...So Thank You, from Aaron! For birthdays we usually like to get together...me, Aar and all my siblings, and we make a day of it. But we haven't found the time for that yet. We spent that day at home and Missy was nice enough to leave Aar a birthday treat on our doorstep...some cupcakes from our local favorite, Ocean Grove Bake Shoppe. They were gone in a flash! So that was it on his b-day but a couple days later we did do a great dinner and a movie night with Aaron's Mom & Dad. We went to see Avatar, which was absolutely amazing. First off, I was expecting those old cheapo 3-D glasses from the past...the cardboard ones with cellophane lenses...one blue, one red. But those are long gone. Now they hook you up with some slick Risky Business shades that are just way too nice to throw in the garbage. Well, after being blown away by the best piece of film any of us has ever seen we then went back to Aar's parent's house for dinner and Barb made a super heavy duty delicious strawberry cake. The recipe came from Paula Deen and here it is...I highly recommend it!
Snow...and I mean real snow...has been virtually absent from our winters for many years. But that's all changed now. We can't talk like old folks anymore about those magical golden years of bi-weekly blizzards. Those times are back. And we're beginning to realize that all those snow-free winters have spoiled us. Because that magical white fluffy stuff can so quickly turn into a royal pain in the neck! We're just about at that point now. The weatherman comes on and says that we're in for another 8-12 inches and we're moaning and groaning. Carlos, our beloved Chihuahua is totally getting tired of it. His long walks have turned into tiny little ones in a very small shoveled area in the backyard. He's just not tall enough or beefy enough to make it through the thick stuff. And then it even affects your mojo time-wise. You have to build in extra time to get your car shoveled out...and then you have to consider that the traffic will be much slower moving. Yeah, we're quite sick of it. I mean, just last night Aaron slipped on some ice in the driveway and went down hard. He came back in the house pretty much on hands and knees and says he heard many painful cracks and crunches in his ribs and back. He wasn't doing anything ambitious either...just crossing the driveway over to my sister Missy's to borrow something. So...for the sake of our dog, our schedule, and our bones...PLEASE! no more snow!
Lets see...now that I got my complaining out of the way...where did I leave off last time? Ok, I mentioned that it was Aaron's birthday. Right here Aaron made sure that I inserted his great thanks for all the birthday well wishes from you guys...So Thank You, from Aaron! For birthdays we usually like to get together...me, Aar and all my siblings, and we make a day of it. But we haven't found the time for that yet. We spent that day at home and Missy was nice enough to leave Aar a birthday treat on our doorstep...some cupcakes from our local favorite, Ocean Grove Bake Shoppe. They were gone in a flash! So that was it on his b-day but a couple days later we did do a great dinner and a movie night with Aaron's Mom & Dad. We went to see Avatar, which was absolutely amazing. First off, I was expecting those old cheapo 3-D glasses from the past...the cardboard ones with cellophane lenses...one blue, one red. But those are long gone. Now they hook you up with some slick Risky Business shades that are just way too nice to throw in the garbage. Well, after being blown away by the best piece of film any of us has ever seen we then went back to Aar's parent's house for dinner and Barb made a super heavy duty delicious strawberry cake. The recipe came from Paula Deen and here it is...I highly recommend it!
Just the other day...right in the middle of a killer blizzard...the mailman, or maybe the ups man was not deterred from his duties and he dropped on our doorstep a whole load of boxes that we've been eagerly awaiting. We finally got our delivery of Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake Journals, Gift Bags, and Desk Notes...and the adorable beaded bookmarks are on back order so those will be coming soon. We've been getting a ton of emails from old and new friends who purchased some journals and/or gift bags at their local Barnes & Noble or Chapters (Canada) and we appreciate all the congrats so much! Well now we have these fantastic items for sale in our Etsy shop and I have to say, we only have a small quantity right now so if you've got your eye on something...grab it! We partnered up with Peter Pauper Press and we just love the quality of their products and from day one, it's just been an absolute pleasure to deal with them. They made the whole process so easy and pressure free. Right now the line is all pink but it will most likely expand to our other color ways in the future...we'll see. But for now, classic pink is perfect. All of these fun items are now available in our shop!
We've got a few more new necklaces and the addition of heart shapes wasn't planned for Valentines day...just pretty much a coincidence. We're now not only doing cupcakes but cake slices as well. The jewelry has been really fun to make and I hope to keep adding more and more pieces. We've got some more Jumbo pendants too...one with leopard print. If you know me, you'd know I'm a huge fan of leopard print. My closet is full of it...purses, coats, cardigans, you name it. I've been wanting to tie leopard into to our artwork again for a long time. We've always felt that cupcakes and leopard print are a perfect fit.
We also have some brand new blocks with some leopard print. Our Fashion blocks...our Chic blocks. Leopard and black...leopard and pink. We love these! Plus we have an all new red one and by popular demand we finally did a chocolate brown version. Again, all these are in our shop ...and we're doing them in batches.
Lastly, I wanted to bring up this fantastic swap that I was lucky enough to take part in. Heather of Speckled Egg hosted this "Petite Inspiration Box Swap" with participants such as Melfie, Melissa, Beth, etc... Here are my boxes:
And here are the Super Funnnn boxes that I received:
From Melfie:
ooooohhhhhhh!!!!
ooooohhhhhhh!!!!
From Melissa:Ahhhhhhh!!!
From Beth:
ooooohhhh!!
How lucky am I?? geez!!! Sooo much GOOD STUFF!!!! I LOOOVE everything so much!! So different yet SO Perfect in their own way!!! If you want to see more of the boxes that were swapped pop over to the flickr group! so much eye candy!Tomorrow is Valentine's Day! What do you all have planned? Like I explained last year...we have our tradition of staying in and cooking a deeelish meal and dessert together. Hopefully me and Aar are gonna bake up something good! We have a yummy dessert recipe in mind...maybe I'll be sharing that with you all too!
Well, that's all for now! Be back soon! Thanks so much again for reading! xoxo, Jenny
