8 miles

So I think I'm a 6 mile kind of girl.  For some reason I have no problem running 6.  It's the subsequent miles that kick my ass.  

Today I ran 8.  And the last 1.5 were rough.  But I finished.  13.1 may suck.

On a lighter note, I really wish I was still in Seattle.  Because I could have participated in the Beat It Flash Mob.  You know, all of a sudden people start dancing and then it's over before you know it.  So fun!!!

Weekend Haps

Nick's in Argentina.  He was able to fly in business class from Atlanta to Buenos Aires.  

Stacey got "stuck" in Jamaica and it sounds like her return, tomorrow night, will be in first class.  

Lucky ducks.

I spent my weekend making tulle flowers, beaded necklaces and decorating.

When will Nick learn, I get into trouble when he leaves.  I got Mochi on one of his trips :-)

The wedding 9.5 years in the making.

I met Katie my freshman year of college.  I lived 2 doors down from Erik, her boyfriend and now husband.  Katie spent a lot of her time over in Terry Hall, and we were the only talkative girls on the floor, so we quickly became friends.  My first memory of Katie was showing up at our door dressed in a chicken suit.....but that's beside the point.  We were RAs together and I eventually lived with Katie and Erik for a year during grad school.

It was good to see these kids get hitched and I wish them nothing but the best.  I also wont comment on the length of their relationship prior to marriage.  To each his/her own, that's what I say :-)

The wedding was held at one of the most beautiful community centers ever.  Brand new with views of Lake Washington.  Those crazy Mercer Islanders really have it made!

And you can understand my excitement - my first cupcake wedding!!!!  Chocolate and red velvet (needless to say, I tried them both - but don't worry, I waited a sufficient amount of time before diving in for #2).

The perfect centerpieces built by Erik!

The nacho cheese fountain, tended by Minh.  Wait, did I just say nacho cheese fountain?

First dance.  So cute.

Erik's mom is my new hero.  She gets her cupcake and says, "This is the Salisbury way to eat a cupcake."  She proceeds to break off the bottom (so you have the bottom in one hand and the muffin top + frosting in the other) and then puts the bottom on the frosting, essentially creating a cupcake sandwich.  Genius!  No frosting on your mouth!'

Katie teaches elementary school and her students made her a book of advice.   You can't make this stuff up.

We thought back to college and realized we'd shared quite a few memories with these 2 and we were so happy to get to share another.  Congratulations you two!

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Maybe I get the baking gene from my Mom.  I was home this weekend for the Handy/Salisbury nuptials and Mom decided she would bake cupcakes to celebrate my birthday.

She grabbed this recipe from the Martha Stewart Cupcake book.  She made the cupcakes and we jointly tackled the meringue frosting.

And of course she had what everyone needs - a mini torch to brown the meringue.  These were delicious!!!! Probably better than any cupcake I've ever made.....and she doesn't even have a kitchen aid.

Math

A week or 2 ago, Nick blogged about the "Cash for clunkers" program. His general takeaway was that it's an ok program - it probably wont do a ton for the environment, but it doesn't cost a ton and it's helping out the ailing car industry. He did some "math" to determine the potential savings for a person participating in the program.

He used the gain in MPG to determine the total savings. However, this was incorrect. There is actually a difference between going from 18MPG to 23MPG and 25MPG to 30MPG. And to prove my point, I derived the formula.....while at dinner.....at a Thai restaurant. Nerdy, I know.

Update: for y and y+z, I am referring to MPGs....

As you can see, the money saved is dependent upon the # of miles driven per year, original MPG, new MPG and the cost of gas.

6 years of higher education put to great use.

Camping with Macgyver

We went camping on Saturday night with Caresse and Tyler.  It was sort of impromptu....we were only 30 minutes from home.  As a result, there was a slight lack of planning.  Now, don't get me wrong, Caresse and I are planning machines.  But when you plan quickly, sometimes you forget things.  

We decided we were going to make burgers over the flame.  Unfortunately, the only spatula we had was plastic.  Nuts - plastic melts!  But never fear!  I'm an engineer!  

I made a flipper using 2 metal forks, some sticks, and a little duct tape. 

People were impressed.  And it lasted for all 4 burgers!  It must have been all those episodes of Macgyver I watched as a child.

Baking!

I bought a kitchen aid mixer 2 years ago and it has sparked my inner baking goddess.  I continue to fight with my oven - can't seem to hold a temperature - so in the meantime, I try and make my baking adventures as pretty as possible.  Hopefully I can trick people into thinking they are good, just because they look good.

Here are some cupcakes I made for Zach and Dave's birthday!  I thought they turned out pretty darn cute!

I recently read Judy's blog where she chronicles her adventures in cooking and baking.  One of her blog posts focused on fondant.  I've used store bought fondant before, but Judy made hers from scratch!  I was willing to give it a go.  After all, it's just marshmallows and powdered sugar!

I made a cake and proceeded to lightly frost it - cream cheese frosting - Nick's favorite!

I then laboriously kneaded the fondant and rolled it out into a circle.  It was a little but difficult to work with and I worked up a decent sweat rolling it out.  But all in all, it wasn't too difficult.  When I made it, I used a bowl and spatula.  Next time I'm going to try it with the dough hook on my kitchen aid.

Here you can see the results of my fondant-ized cake.

And then some pretty decorations!