The Wreckiest Night Ever

I got to meet Jen Yates on Monday night!

What? You don't know who she is?

Oh.

Well, I suppose I need to tell you about her.

Jen Yates is the Mastermind behind the funniest 'food' blog I've ever read. It's called Cake Wrecks and you should be ashamed of yourself if you've never read it. But, your personal mistakes aside, her blog makes my day. I literally "LOL" at each post.

When she mentioned she was writing a book, I knew it would be something I'd enjoy. To add icing to the, erm, cake, she announced a book tour with a stop in Atlanta.

And she mentioned there would be cake.

(A fra-reaking awesome cake!)

Um, Sign. Me. Up!

Now, as part of the book tour, each stop has a contest. Anyone attending is welcome to submit a cupcake replica of one of the cake disasters on her website.

I opted for 'I want sprinkles' cake. Here is the original cake posted on her blog.

Here's my cupcake replica. Mine actually had sprinkles. (I didn't win.)

It was to be me and Julia-Gulia. We invited Mama Mia to join us but, unfortunately, she had previous obligations and told us to have fun. We couldn't just leave her out of the evening though. What could we do to help Mama Mia experience the full wreckiness of our evening?

We made a cake.

The ugliest cake we could create.

(Julia-Gulia and I are torn: is it the back of Oscar the Grouch's head or a moldy football? We can't decide.)

And we had Jen autograph it.

She admitted this was the first time she'd ever been asked to autograph a cake.

I'm glad we could make her first experience so ...wrecky.

And The Award Goes To...

Kirie, a friend and former coworker from my Utah days, gifted my blog with an academy award. Thank you Kirie!

Receiving awards is always fun. The hardest part for me is selecting which blog(s) to pass the award to. I thought of all the blogs I read and finally decided to honor my friend Rexbasior.

Rexbasior is a friend I met several years ago. He had a blog before blogging was cool. In fact, he had a blog before ‘blog’ was a word. I always enjoyed reading the website he updated. He always said he would help me code a website but the idea didn’t interest me. I wanted to read what he had to say but doubted anyone would enjoy my silly stories.

When I moved to Georgia, I needed a way to keep in touch with my former coworkers and friends. I opted to send out mass emails periodically that focused on new southern cultures and experiences. One email in particular (later adapted for my blog) received several responses suggesting I submit my writing to a local newspaper. Although I was flattered, I never took any action.

Until the evening of October 31, 2006. I’d gone downtown to enjoy the Halloween costumes. In a college town, Halloween is the best night to people watch. The costumes are brilliant. I arrived downtown but was unable to find a parking spot. I called some friends hoping to meet up with them but they were at a different party. I cruised through the streets for awhile then left for home. Still wide awake with plenty of energy, I turned on the computer.

I checked my email.

I played a card game.

I was still bored. What to do? What to do? Then the words of Rexbasior came to my mind: you could start a blog.

So I did. Blogging has become a highlight in my life. I never thought a simple entry about a dead fish named Elvis could change my life but that decision is one of the best I’ve ever made. Thank you, Rexbasior, for encouraging me to write. This post’s for you.

Celebrate Good Times, Come On

Today is a day to celebrate. Sure it's Friday but it's also my 200th post which means I accomplished one of my New Year Resolutions!

Truth be told, this post almost didn't happen. Shortly after my 1 year blogiversary I got bored with my blog. Writing wasn't fun and I felt no motivation to keep it going. I decided I would continue posting until the new year then call it quits. It was during this period that you, that's right, you made a difference. I saw that people were actually interesting in my random thoughts; more readers started commenting; the blog became a hobby again.

Thank you to each reader!

And now to celebrate...Although this blog is a collection of my random thoughts, I want to know more about you. I want to know where you would spend a $20.00 gift card. Oh, did I mention I was giving away 200 dimes to help celebrate? Well, I am ~ in the form of a gift card. Twenty dollars. It's like a stimulus check except it's not $300, I don't care if you filed your taxes last year, and you don't have to be a US citizen. Twenty dollars. That's almost 3 gallons of gas. That's a night at the movies for two. That's 20 items from McDonald's $1 menu. It's a pair of socks on clearance at Abercrombie.

Okay, so $20 isn't much anymore but I'm still curious where you would spend it. Leave your store of choice in the comments. (One entry per person). Next Friday I'll pick a winner using random.org. Lurkers, now is the time to shine...that means you Mama Mia.

My Cuban Blog Friend

I get a fairly standard response when I tell certain friends that I blog.

"Why do you blog? You don't even get to know who reads your blog."
"I know a little about them. I read who they are on their blog."
"Still sounds silly. Blogging doesn't provide any type of personal interaction."

Well guess what doubting friends...I met someone. That right. All due to this blog.

Remember the hula hoop in the tree? Well, while I was documenting that picture, I noticed several beautiful flowers next to a mailbox. The purple-pink buds were small and simple yet lovely. I took a few shots...but I wanted even closer. I looked around, saw I was alone, and knelt down to zoom in.



That's when the car backed out of the driveway.
She saw me kneeling at her mailbox and rolled down the window. "What are you doing?"
"I'm out taking pictures of spring flowers and I love these next to your mailbox."
"Oh! Those are wonderful!"

Nancy introduced herself and her daughter in the back seat. We talked for several minutes. Nancy was headed out to run some errands but would be back soon. She invited me to stay and take pictures of her backyard. During this time, a small, hunched woman shuffled to join the conversation. Olga was Nancy's mother.

I was over there for nearly two hours. Olga told me story after story. She told me about her childhood in Cuba; how she immigrated to America to earn money to send to her family; how she met her husband; the struggles of the depression; why she never returned to Cuba. I learned Nancy had other siblings - one of which lived next door in the house with the hula hoop tree. I was given a tour of the backyard and invited to come back when more flowers would bloom. Olga even offered to teach me Spanish. What a wonderful old woman.

Olga and I said goodbye and I promised to return. On my walk back home, I realized I'd met a woman full of stories and experiences simply because I wanted a picture for a blog post.

And people say blogging doesn't provide personal interaction. Ha!

Let's Chat

Blogger Friend! I have good news and bad news.
Good news first.
I received my letter of acceptance to the University of Georgia!
That is wonderful! Is this for your undergrad or masters degree?
Masters. My undergrad was in Recreation Management.
What will be your program of study?
Kinesiology.
Bless you.
No, that is the major. My emphasis will be on physical and health education.
Wait, I thought you already were taking classes.
I took the first half of Anatomy last quarter. It fulfills some general classes needed for my Masters. The second half of the class starts tomorrow.
On April 1st?
I know. Lame April Fool’s joke if you ask me.
Weren’t you supposed to get married?
Oh. Right. That will have to wait.
Well, what’s the bad news?
I’m going to take a blogging break this week.
Just this week?
Well, until I get some new To-Do items off my list. I need to get an academic advisor and discuss possibilities of an assistanceship. Unless you want to fund my graduate school…
Um, I’ll get back to you on that.

The break shouldn’t be too long. I'll miss you guys...I’ll be back soon!

You Know You're a Blogger if...

10. You google your blog to see how well it rates.
9. Conversations start with, "You can't blog this."
8. You spend at least an hour everyday catching up with friends.
7. You end a phone conversation because, "you have to go write your blog."

6. You find random pieces of paper in your purse, in the car, at work, in your pillowcase, in the fridge, on your hand with ideas for a future post.
5. You can type the first letter of your domain name and your blog immediately pops up on the drop-down menu.
4. A friend says, "How are you doing? I haven't been to your blog recently."
3. Conversations end with, "Charlottalove, did you hear that story? This would be a great post."
2. You talk about your friends even though you have never actually met.
1. You meet someone at an activity and know each other by their profile name.