A Few Ways to be an Awesome Sister (PART 1)

Stay with me, there is a lot of ground to cover!

If you keep up with me here on The Baking Bride, you will remember that I told you I was going to be giving my sister a baby shower. Well, it happened this past Saturday.  I have been planning this thing since April. "Why?", you ask, would I plan one little shower for 6 months?? "I mean, let's be real Sierra, we know people who have planned a wedding in less time."


I say: 'Tis true... I take forever to plan things and like to put lots of thought into things. AND, I really owed my sister who did tons for me when I got married last year. So, I started in April. Don't hate."


In May, I got a fantastic idea! Our other sister lives in a far away land called Illinois, therefore we rearely see her. In fact, we had not seen each other since my wedding on June 5, 2010. The shower was held on September 24, 2011... You do the math.. We were long over due for some sister hugs. Anyway... my idea. So I called B (sister in IL) and asked her: "If I buy you a plane ticket, will you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE fly to Mississippi to surprise D (sister who is prego) for her shower??? But you have to keep it a secret!!!  You'll be the biggest gift, along with the shower I'm throwing. All you have to do is show up!!"  She accepted, thus commencing my 4-month quest to keep this plan hidden in the bushes of life so she wouldn't suspect. This was no easy feat.


I've never lied to so many people for so long in my life! I kept having to come up with excuses as to why the date of the shower was set in stone even though I didn't have invitations yet etc... Afterall, the plane ticket was non-refundable and purchases in early June. There was no backing out. So I kept on planning and kept on, coming across only a few hiccups in the road.


Finally, September arrived!! Only 22 more days until B arrives! I have soooo much to do! Then September 22 came and then the crazy exhausting weekend started. I'll take you from the beginning!


I took a half day off of work on Thursday to drive to Jackson to pick B up from the airport. (I had to leave no evidence behind, so I couldn't even leave an auto-reply on my work email for the fear of D emailing me and realizing that I was not at work when I should be.) I had to think of everything...

I was SOOOO excited B was coming! I only had to wait in the airport for a few minutes. I really hope the person on the other side of the camera behind me didn't think I was a creeper...

She's here!!

We only have a day and a half to get everything ready! we spent the next 48 hours or so collecting items and shopping. B got to come to Starkville and finally see where I live and see campus of MSU (HAIL STATE!) Sorry, i just had to throw it in there.

Here we are at my house (in Starkville) sneakily planning and posing :)

 

On Friday night, we all met for family dinner. This was the big debut! Remember, D has NO IDEA B is in town.  :)

Here's Dad. he's so in on this from the beginning.

THE PLAN:  Go to the restaurant and wait for D and Mom to arrive.  Hide B.  When they arrive, order drinks. (all things normal)  THEN, when the drinks come out, who's carrying them?? Well, it's not William the Waiter! No sir'ee!  It's B!!!

Shock. Utter shock. SUCCESS!

D, you're gonna hate me for this....

Straight to ugly-cry once she realizes what's going on. The face ain't pretty, but the emotion is beautiful.

Totally worth all the secrecy..

Then we calmed down and had dinner like normal folks. The restaurant ceased to be a place of my amusement and the steaks were abounding. After dinner, B and I still had a ton of work to do in preparation for the next morning.  Though I felt terrible, we had to pretty much leave D at her house all alone so we could get everything done.

But not before taking advantage of a photo-op!

Now, stay tuned... Part 2 is on the way. Like I said so much ground to cover!!

A little one is on Her way!

I know what you're thinking.....


Don't get your hopes up... I am NOT with child. I am writing you today because I realized over the weekend that I have't told you all about my sisters exciting news!! Yes, I'm going to be an aunt for the... ah hem.... 4th time now. I LOVE being an aunt. I'm convinced that it's one of the greatest familiar roles.

Here are my reasons:
1. I do not have to be pregnant
2. I do not have to birth a child
3. I do not have to wake up 19 times during the night 
4. I get to hold and love on and give gifts to the baby.... Then give it back to mom and dad.
5. I do not have to birth a child. Did I already say that??
6. I can spank the child and it won't magically hate me when it turns 13..
7. Basically, I get all the fun and no work (WHILE I'm STILL YOUNG)= Better than a grandparent role.  

I can't even stress how excited we are for Baby Alice Katherine! This weekend I got to go down to Laurel and help DeeAnn (sister/mommy-to-be) with the nursery. This is a sneak peak.

 Below, please notice my crazy talent/ability to tie a bow with tulle making a plain window treatment even awesomer. Yes, I said awesomer.

Here are a few views of the crib. There is also a diaper bag with "Alice" on it.

Birds and trees are so "in" right now with baby gear. So cute.

Here's the whole crib. Just precious. !Que linda!

Baby wardrobe is off to a good start considering she's only had one shower and this photo is dated.
Here's the other window with opposite treatment and changing table. We (they) still have a ways to go before November when baby finally comes!!

So that is your official sneak peak. Why do I call it a sneak peak?? Well, it just so happens that next weekend I am throwing my sister and future neice the most happenin' party that fetus has ever seen!

I've been planning this shower for months. yes, months. I owe my sister after all she did for me when I got married! Unfortunately for her, I was but a teenager when she tied the knot, so I was hardly as helpful as I am now with parties, planning events, and making a big to-do about things. So, you can just stay tuned for my post after this coming up weekend about that!

It's gonna be crazy good.

Hail State! At least the tailgate was fun..

I love Football. (see how I capitalize it as an honorific...)  Anyway, I don't believe in being a "Fair Weather Fan" in the sense of only being a fan when the team has an extraordinary winning record. I DO believe in being loyal to your own School and not routing against them just because you happen to have been a fan of another school that you just happened NOT to go to.  I married one of these people. Though Ben loves the Bulldogs... they are not his first love.  But, it sure is easier to route for a team with 13 National Championships under their belt. That's quite a soap box of mine, but since my entire In-Law Family are UA fans, I guess I will get over it.  But I'll be true to myself and just stick with MSU and be loyal no matter what.

THIS IS OUR STATE

We didn't get tickets to this game so we set up shop in view of the Jumbo Tron screen. The view was actually much closer and clearer than this photo eludes..

I have to give mad props to our friends Josh and Kathleen who were the heroes of the tent location stake-out.  I managed to not get a decent photo of them, but I'll snag one eventually. Until then, !Gracias Guys!

Here is MoW from the Wave Ride. You can't really tell from this shot but we are litterally on the edge of a wall watching the game.  You can see the guy in the back standing next to a similar wall.

Here's our favorite little Bulldawg fan, T.  He was all about them Bulldogs and got very excited with each score (taking cues from the adults as we yelled and cheered)  According to his mom, he apparently fits right in high-fiving all the other grown up fans who may or may not have had a little too much to drink pre-game, saying: "Go Booldawgs!"

Ring it proud!!

T is a magnet towards any sort of technology... Namely, iPhones...

Here is part of our little food table, Heather (T's mom) and MoW again. We had bountiful amounts of dips and chips... And chips dipped in chocolate... Good times.

Also, please note the absense of Husband. He was off surveying Gopher Tortoise habitat in the bayou. Cool right???

This, boys and girls, is my football glamour shot lookin' like the Greek Goddess of Snuggies ringing my bell!

My dear friend Missie stopped by to say "Hello!" and have a cupcake during the game. I look so giant next to so many of my less lengthier friends... Lengthier (is that a word???) Either way, I still love all of my short(-er-than-me) friends.

^Also another shot of all of our dips and cupcakes..^

 This was the White Out game. A little shot I snagged over a building...

If I had a better camera, you could see Will Farrel on the screen asking for MORE COWBELL!!

In the end we lost the game,(at least we're not TSUN) BUT we had a great time in the atmosphere created by SEC Football in September!  AND we didn't have to sit in the stadium for 2 hours before the game to get the seats we wanted. We will relish the ability to watch the game like this because after they Horseshoe the stadium in, you won't be able to see the screen anymore. And then we'll be the old people who talk about the "good ole days" when you could sit outside to watch the game...

Until the next game....

HAIL STATE!!!

Summertime Baking- No-Bake Cheesecake



If you know me, you know I like rich, heavy, decadent, chocolatey desserts.  The problem with that is, in the summertime, your belly can't always handle all that goodness when you live in sub-tropic heat indices like I do.  This summer I've ventured out of my chocolate bubble and have made some much lighter and fruitier sweets.  This one was a Lemon-Rasberry No-Bake Cheesecake.  You don't even have to turn the oven on, it's perfect!  So, read on and experience it with me!

I didn't take a picture of all the ingredients, but here's what you'll need..

For filling:

1. 3 Bricks cream cheese at room temperature

2. 1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar

3. 3 whole lemons

4. 1 1/3 cup fresh rasberries (more or less to your liking)

5. 1 full Tbsp vanilla extract

6. 12-16 oz. Whipped Topping (fresh whipped cream if you're cooler than me and make your own.)

For Crust:

1. 1 pack graham crackers

2. 2 heaping Tbsp brown sugar

3. 2/3 stick melted butter

The directions:

Put all sugar in your mixing bowl. I used Norma Jean, of course, but a regular bowl and good spoon will work too.

Go to Zesting Town with your 3 lemons. This will make your kitchen smell like a lemony happy place. But better than like a citrus glade plug in. This smell is ACTUAL lemon and not the fake nasty smell.

Once you have 3 lemons worth of zest, dump in in the pool with the sugar and mix it until the sugar is nice and moist and fragrant. DON'T TRHOW AWAY THE LEMON. We'll need them later.

If you have poor lighting in your kitchen as I do, it will like sort of like ground up corn at this point.

It gets better. Promise.

Next, add in the cream cheese. Make sure it's room temp.

Next add in your vanilla extract and 4 tsp. of fresh lemon juice.  Just cut your naked lemons and sqeeze keeping out the seeds. No one wants that in there bite...

One that is all mixed up, pile on the cool whip! "Fold" it in. All that means is: Try not to let all the air out of it, making a goupy mess.  

Once that is mixed, take your fresh rasberries and crush them slightly with a fork.

Notice, please, my very cute and summery bowl. It looks like an ice cream cone with chocolate drizzle.

Throw the berries in the pool and stir some more. The filling is complete!

Not make your crust.  Pulvarize the graham crackers while you ignore leftover noodles from dinner that are steadily hardening on the counter....

I forgot to photograph this part so here's how it went.

Ground crackers into a bowl, brown sugar in, melted butter in.

Stir with fork.

Press into bottom of pan.

EASY!

Then spread the filling on top and it's ready!

It's better if you let it set up in the fridge overnight or at least a couple hours.

I'm happy to report only one casualty from this recipe.  The delightful, summery bowl I showed you sadly died as it broke in two as I hand-dried it just minutes after finishing the dessert. RIP.

The best thing about this recipe is that it can be adapted into just about any flavor. I made the same thing with peanut butter and a layer of ganache the other night for my friends, and it was a big hit! 

Enjoy the last days of the dwindling summer!

Let's Catch Up

Hey Y'all! It seems like no matter what stage of life you are in, the summertime is always the busiest!  I keep having the best intentions to blog and then life happens and I have zero time to make it happen.  However, this time I'll blame it on  the fact that my pictures were taken on my hub's phone and he just handed it over for me to get the pictures off of it...  So, I'll just talk about life the past few weeks.


First thing, our cousins are going to have a sweet little baby boy in just a couple of weeks!  I attended a shower for the mom-to-be and here are some snapshots

Here we are guessing (without measuring) how rotund Rachel's belly is

Aunt Pam was way off... Offensively way off! You know what they say, when life gives you a large waistline...

 Tie a bow around it????

 She got some precious gifts

But you can't see any of those gifts because I only thought to snap pictures while she reached into the bag. Photography is not my thing....

 Here I am with mommy Rachel, she is radiant.

There is a baby in there.. Particularly one name Jax, which is just precious.

Funny story:  A few nights back I had a dream that little Jax had been born and when I met him he had a crazy amount of hair.. Like legit Elvis type hair. I doubt that becomes a reality... but I'm just guessing.

After that weekend, was our sister's boyfriend's birthday.  I've tried to come up with a good title for him, BUT Boyfriend-in-Law just sounds weird.     I digress..... 

Meet Rob:
He's a Leo & UA fan... which is something I just have to live with given the family I married into. He's just like the rest of them..

Katie made Rob a cake. Katie is neither chef nor baker. She's only sustained one major injury while cooking and I only say this to give her major kudos for turning out such a delightful cake with writing and all. It was yummy! Good job, Katie! I expect a cake for my birthday...

See Rob hold his cake.

This is me being slightly frustrated but unable to stop my laughter at my husband's inability to make a "funny face"

Katie and Rob. Yes, he is giant.

Since then, we've also been through a terribly slow moving tropical storm who was a punk compared to Katrina, so it was no biggie... Except for the fact that it ruined all chances of laying by the pool all 3 days of the wet Labor Day weekend. Boo.

I've got some exciting things coming up, so I'll do better at keeping you informed. Also, my latest baking trend is coming your way. Lastly, notice the carousel widget located at the top of my page. I'll be rolling out a new feature on my blog soon to review books I'm reading. It'll be fun, promise.