Element of Surprise!!

Ahhhh, don't you just love that moment -- the ELEMENT of SURPRISE?!? Well, I definitely enjoyed surprising my very best friend, Jodi, for her 40th birthday (belated) by planning a surprise 40th birthday scrapbooking day at my house with our friends. She was TOTALLY blown away -- and couldn't figure out why her hubby was in such a hurry to get her out of their house (okay, albeit she was LATE...but that's okay...LOL).

I had been planning this for MONTHS (in cohorts w/her hubby, too, since he was planning something else as well); but I elected to postpone mine a month. You see, Jodi's b-day was on June 12th. Her mom passed away on June 7th. I didn't feel right having it that weekend. Well, things fell into place and we decided on July 25th. We had so much fun catching up with each other, having good food and finishing off with AWESOME CUPCAKES!!!!

Jodi -- if you're reading this, I truly hope you enjoyed it and had a great time. We all love ya! Happy Birthday!!!

Happy 4th of July!!

I hope everyone is having a safe and Happy 4th of July; but, most importantly, I hope you-all are staying cool! Is it hot out there or what?!?! I saw where June was the hottest month on record for Houston area (maybe even Texas....can't remember). I hate to even begin to imagine what July & August hold for us!

If anyone follows me on Twitter, you know that I baked & "attempted" to decorate cupcakes today to take to a 4th of July party. Well, this has given me a new respect for my FAVORITE cupcake place -- Sugarbaby's. While I had fun decorating them, I kept thinking -- and I'm sure -- there is a better/easier/cleaner way to frost cupcakes.

Below are a couple of pics. Zach wanted to put all the pinwheels in as he was so pleased to be helping. So, I let him. The cupcakes are vanilla and I filled them with sugar free vanilla pudding after they were baked. Not sure how much actually got in each cupcake...any cupcake bakers/decorators want to share tips on that aspect??