Woo Hoo!! Wednesday Party Submission

Cupcakes and Tea Bridal Shower bought to us by 

Cupcake Crusaders 

I came up with the idea for a cupcakes and tea party for Stacy's bridal shower in September 2010. We were both really into cupcakes at the time, even though the Cupcake Crusaders still hadn't been "born" yet, and she and I have always been tea drinkers (our grandmother used to have tea parties with us). Prior to Stacy's bridal shower, she and I had helped with some showers for our older sister. While they were fun, and we'd done some custom things, they weren't anything like what you see now. Stacy was really getting really into parties, since she was doing much of her wedding decor herself. Some of the party ideas I'd seen made me feel like a huge beginner!

I wanted to make everything look consistent and customized. I designed the invitation, with a custom illustration, and all the food, cake, and cupcake flags. The color scheme was borrowed from her wedding colors, but with a different pattern. 

My big sister helped, and we thought a cupcake decorating station would be a great shower activity, in lieu of traditional bridal games. We had some pre-decorated samples on cupcake pedestals (not photographed individually, unfortunately) and also around the cake, all up for grabs. We had traditional tea treats (scones, biscotti, biscuits, cookies, clotting cream and jams, etc.), a tea "bar," and incorporated tea pots into centerpiece decorations. For the centerpieces, we made chocolate covered marshmallows, which were meant to look like mini cupcakes. There was one table item that maybe didn't fit into the classy party theme, but added humor. That was the "cupcake poop!" I saw something online for it, thought it was funny, and it went with the cupcake theme. My big sis agreed, so we went for it! 

I used my Nana's china for the tea bar, which added a really nice personal touch. She couldn't be there, but it helped make it feel like she was. We also had our family's "punch." I think it's pretty well know, but it always surprises me how many people have never had it before. It's simply ginger ale, with rainbow sherbert scoops dropped in. So good! 

We also provided cupcake to-go boxes as favors, for guests to take their decorated cupcakes with them. It encouraged them to make more than one, which was great! Stacy was blown away, especially since our exposure to professional parties was limited at the time. She still talks about how wowed she was (so I felt pretty darn good about it!). This party was the start for more great ones to come. I feel like I have to up the ante each time!

Red Velvet Taste Test Drive

Taking a page from Cupcake Crusaders  I'm bringing you a cupcake taste test.  I, like the Cupcake Crusaders have wondered how cupcakes in a grocery store would compare to cupcake shops. 

I've seen  Kimberley's Cupcakes  in Fred Meyer every time we shop there and have been tempted.  Would they taste good? Fresh? Stale? I just couldn't make up my mind. My husband made up my mind for me.  "Just get them, they're only $5" he said, as he put them in the basket.  

The package says, Cupcake lovers can't get enough of Kimberley's Bakeshoppe creations. Intensely moist red velvet is generously filled and topped with fluffy whipped cream cheese.  

The cupcakes are certainly topped with fluffy whipped cream cheese and pretty red velvet cake sprinkles. But how do they taste?

I was expecting the cake to be dry but it was actually pretty moist. I found the cake to have a very mild red velvet taste and the whipped cream topping didn't burst with that fabulous whipped cream richness. In fact, the topping was rather bland. 

The package said it was generously filled and this picture may be a little out of scale but mine was not generously filled. In fact I had to cut mine in half to find the filling. I cut the cupcake exactly in half but the small amount of filling was all on one side. 

Over all I was disappointed with this cupcake. The Cupcake Crusaders have tried Kimberley's Bakeshoppe's other flavors and found them to be tastier.  Read their post here for reviews on the lemon ice, triple chocolate and vanilla bean. 

Woo Hoo Wednesday! I won I WON

I won the Beautiful Blog Award !!!!!  Thank you Cupcake Crusaders  for nominating me for the Beautiful Blogger award and the fabulous things you said about my little blog. 

This is one of the things I love about the blogging community.. All the fabulous support we give each other.  

Lets get the legal stuff out of the way first, shall we?  
1. Thank the person/people who nominated you and link back to them in your post {check}
2. Share seven things about yourself. {check, see below}
3. Nominate bloggers you feel deserve this award {check, check and check}
4. Contact the chosen bloggers to let them know and link back to them {checkity check check}


Seven things about moi 

Ichi  I took 2 years of Japanese and did really well.  I tried to take Spanish and just couldn't get it. My friends all said Japanese seemed WAY harder than Spanish, but not for me.  When I was taking Japanese I could understand way more than I could speak.  Sadly  I haven't kept up with it so have forgotten pretty much all of it.  I can still read some, remember how to write in Hiragana and can count up to 100. I'm teaching you a little Japanese too. My numbers for all seven items are in Japanese. Ichi means one.  I'm thinking I need to start learning again.  Work out my brain, grow some more cells. 

Ni  Speaking of working out my brain, I love to lift weights too.  Any one who lifts weights knows that sore feeling you get two days later after a good work out.  I love that feeling. Where you start walking up the stairs and your legs are so sore from that hard work out you did but it feels SO good. Squats are one of my favorites.  The strength you feel in your legs. I use an Olympic barbell that weighs about 45 lbs by itself and I usually add on plates to bump the weight up.  I lift to fight osteoporosis, I want to be able to fall at 70 and just get a bad bruise, not break my hip. And I LOVE the feeling you get when you start out for example doing 3 sets of 15 reps of triceps kick backs with 15 lbs and graduating up to 3 sets of 15 reps with 25 lbs. There is no feeling like it. 

San  I'm a black cat girl.   Something about those bad luck little fur balls.  I've read they're less adoptable than any other color of cat. Good thing there's me to rescue them :)  Here's my little baby. He was 9 when we adopted him and to me he's the cutest thing ever! He's a Bombay and I love this breed. 

 Shi  I day dream about vacations all the time. I blame my love of travel on my parents.  We went some where ever year for vacation.  Montana, Florida, California, Washington, rented a motor-home and went to Utah, Arizona, Yellowstone etc.  Not just the same camp ground every summer like some of my friends did.  If you're going to blame your parents for something, I'm thinking this is a good thing to be blamed for.  In fact right now I'm already planning a trip to North Dakota.  My friend is, as I type this on her way to her new home in Montana.  She's not even in her new house yet and I'm already planning to stop at her place in Montana to pick her up and head to North and South Dakota.  She's totally game for this. 

Go  I use to beat the pants off my brother at Clue every time we played.  I don't know that he ever won :)  Although, he cleaned my clock at Monopoly.  I never could beat him at that game.  Do kids even play board games anymore?  Sad if they don't. They really should. 

Roku  One of the reasons I got into blogging was to interact with other like minded party peeps.  The community is wonderful and I've gotten to know some people who I would absolutely pop by and say Hey, wanna go get a cupcake?  if I was ever in their state.  The bonus of blogging is that I get to meet really great people who don't have blogs too.  I really enjoy chatting with you on Facebook, Twitter or here. So keep it up!

Nana  I haven't ran all summer {gasp}. Last year I ran in a lot of races and just about every day. This summer, meh. Just haven't.  I seriously need to get back to pounding the pavement though.  Such great cardio and I can keep eating cupcakes without any one being able to tell how many I eat ;)  HA HA

And the nominees are [drum roll, sound of envelope being opened]

The French Whisk  I found this girl on Facebook and enjoyed her site so much I had to check out her blog. It's full of great food and fun photo's.

Bakingdom Hilarious!  Her posts make me smile every time, she's a hoot! and I hope to capture some of her spirit as I write my posts too.  AND she lives one town over from me.  How cool is that. I'm trying to arrange a meeting but I think she's one busy lady.  Help me out little fizzy's, put in a good word for me.

The Partiologist  If I am ever in this girls state I am knocking on her door for sure and hoping she has a party going on.  Her blog is a joy to read and she is one creative party diva.  And have you seen her cookies? A-mazing. 

Which blogs would you nominate?

Always love when you leave some blogging love in the form of comments on here or Facebook.