Finally: Herb Garden

(originally recorded in ghetto Word version on Sunday afternoon)

Well, we had to stop at three different places, but I finally obtained all of the herbs that I wanted to plant on Saturday. I also got some seriously cute little pots to plant them in. How fabulous is my mini-balcony-garden? Also, our winter pansies still look awesome…and we refuse to buy summer flowers until they die because it would be a tragedy to dispose of such pretty little flowers. And the weather’s been so nice lately, that we might even have dinner at on the balcony this evening. Yay!

pound cake

(originally recorded in ghetto Word version Friday night)

I made a chocolate espresso pound cake from my Mastering Cakes book Thursday night because my sister was coming into town for the night on her way to Myrtle Beach and I figured she's be hungry when she arrived. I'm not a huge pound cake fan (it seems too dense for me), but I bet it would be good to dunk in coffee (if I drank coffee). The next cake in the book is Angel food, but it might be a few weeks before I experiment with it since I'll be out of town for the next couple of weeks and then I have weekend visitors for several weekends in a row.

Here's the finished product. There was a glaze on top of it that was pretty good.

weekend posts - wait for it..

I'm at a client's office right now in Houston, and this is the first internet access I've had since Thursday...I'm a huge dork, so I have a word file that I've updated throughout the weekend to paste in here later tonight, so updates will be plentiful when I get back to the hotel. Also, don't think I'm some psycho who writes up 4 separate updates and posts them at once...know that all of this evening's posts were writted out at separate points throughout the weekend :)

Weekend goals: The Early Edition

Tomorrow I won't be in the office because I'm headed to Wake for some recruiting action. Since Blake and I are cheap and don't feel like paying for internet access in our house, I figured I'd bang out my weekend goals a bit early this week. I have to leave for Houston on Sunday night, so the weekend will be a bit short but warm (finally). And I'm going to see Carrie Underwood in concert tomorrow night. Yay! Here's what I also want to do:

• Hit the gym twice, and also lift tomorrow morning at home
• FINALLY plant my herb garden
• FINALLY get up to the lake for boat maintenance
• pack (boo)
• cooking: two dinners and a tasty pound cake
• maybe head back to Borders, as I just received a 20% off coupon
• read a bit; maybe go to the 'brary and see what they've got goin on

It's going to be a pretty boring weekend because I'm attempting to not shop. I just spent a small fortune on a birthday gift for Blake. I will however shop next weekend when my 15% off BR coupon goes into effect. There is (at a minimum) a belt there that I have been eyeing up while waiting for a little sale or coupon action. Yay.

And I once again forgot to sign up for Humane Society volunteering...I should probably go ahead and sign up for next weekend immediately. I should consider making a haircut appointment for an upcoming weekend as well. I've been digging my long hair, and I usually like it long for the summer, but I saw a super cute shorter cut picture in a magazine last week, so who knows.

Happy April 16th?

So apparently if you are a CPA, it is unnecessary to come to work on April 16th. Now, we are deterred from taking any unnecessary vacation time between mid-January and April 15th, but are people really so desperate to sit on their asses (which is exactly what they'd be doing in the office, mind you) that they're taking PTO the first day that they can? There are no partners or senior managers or HR personnel anywhere near this place today. And I don't remember seeing anyone super drunk at the After Tax Season party yesterday, so hangovers should be at an all time low.

I bring this up because those of us that actually showed up today are going to wind up doing pretty well for ourselves. Basically, I'm going to leave between 2:30 and 3 and no one will be the wiser. Except for the several managers with whom I've discussed this plan and who are in on it as well. Sweet. And bonus: I actually got a lot done around here today. More than I would have if I was here for 8 full hours with the entire office being here. This has worked out wonderfully.

Isn't it nice that when you really hate your job you can become extraordinarily excited about really lame stuff? Silver lining, people. Silver lining.

Cat pictures

Most of you probably have very little interest in my cats, but I do not care because they are like children to me. Except less annoying. Here are some silly pictures from the last several months.

Norman: he's naughty but he's cute.

Wylie: I don't have as many pictures of him because he hates me and he usually doesn't do anything interesting.

And this is what happens in my house when Blake and I try to flip the mattress over.

And this is my idiot boyfriend. The Flyers made the playoffs. Fantastic.

mini bundt cakes

And now the post we've all been waiting for. I had this bundt cake recipe from cooking light, my new mini bundt cake pans, and a dream. And for the most part it worked out pretty well. They are absolutely mother-effing delicious. If you ever consider making a bundt cake, make this one. Seriously. Here is the finished product:

Now, this experiment was not without some chaos. I will warn you to NEVER fill up the bundt pans more than halfway. The bottom of the pan is actually the top of the cake, so you want the cake to rise while baking just enough that it creates an even bottom for the cake to stand on. I filled up the pans about 3/4 of the way and what came out of my oven looked like cupcakes. Not good for bundts. So, I used a serrated knife and cut off the muffin tops before applying the glaze. The good thing: Now I have muffin tops to eat. Tasty.

I think the glaze is the best part. It makes the whole cake really moist. And the recipe was surprisingly easy. I think my first bundt adventure was a success!