Family Time

Family time is very rarely overrated. This weekend was no exception. On Friday morning Special ManFriend (SMF) and I dropped the four legged baby off at a friend's and headed to The Hood Canal to celebrate my dad's (Tommy Boy) 60th birthday.  We had a great time cooking, laughing and playing games with Momma Bear, Tommy Boy, my sister Lacy and her hubby Toby.

The journey started at the ferry dock near our house. We live in Seattle, of course it was raining.

SMF watching the rain and the waves on the ferry. 

Yours truly watching the same rain and wind from the warm cabin. 

Once we arrived at the beach house, the games began almost immediately. The girls (blue) kicked the boys' (yellow) booties in an intense round of Pictionary. 

A not-pretty, but oh-so-good German Chocolate Cake. I will share the recipe some day.

Early the next morning, SMF and bro-in-law, Toby decided to do some hunting and gathering on the beach. They came home with a bucket full of clams (yum) and oysters (not-so-yum) for dinner.

A semi-cute photo of the newlyweds (us). 

SMF showing Momma Bear how to pick out the best oysters

Toby stood victorious

After a quick cat nap, the fam decided to hit the road and see what we could find. We ended up in a small town called Port Orchard where we found an antique mall. Lacy and Toby found some fun  treasures for their little chicken nugget arriving in March, and Momma Bear and I were thrilled to find an old fashioned candy store. 

Momma Bear showed off her candy cigarettes back at the house. Her favorite throwback candy.

More games...

And finally time to snap some potential Christmas card material and head back to the big city. Here we are, the expectant parents, Momma Bear and Tommy/Birthday Boy, Myself and SMF.

There was another version of the photo above, but I will keep it clean for the children in the audience. :)

When you were little, did your mom make you take a birthday pic? This was Tommy Boy's. 

One last fun shot from the ferry ride home.

Hope you all had a great weekend! We will catch up a little later in the week, lots going on with The SweetSide this week!

Weeknight Date

Last month if you would have asked me how life would be after the corporate world, I would have told you about all the projects I would get done, the nice dinners that I would make before SMF comes home from work, etc. But somehow, life is still very crazy and those ideas have not come to fruition.

SMF and I had plans to go to a concert last night for our friend's band, and I had plans to make a nice, healthy dinner for us before we went out. Here is what we ate instead...  (please excuse the fuzzy phone photos)

Zippy's!!!   Ok, so it is not the dinner I had planned, but it is OH SO GOOD!! If you live in the Seattle area and have not been there, you are missing out. One of the best burgers in town (I am not the only one that says this..).

The handsome SMF eating his 'Number 11' burger complete with lots of spicy goodness.

Chocolate Malt, you have my heart.

After out gourmet dinner, we were off to the show to see the band "Julien". We have been friends with the bad members for a couple years, but this was the first time I have seen them live. Pretty awesome show! They have an electronica/rock feel; not your average sound, very unique. 

This was not the most exciting post I have ever written, mostly I just wanted to give a shout out to Zippy's and Julien for the great night (and SMF of course!). 

Engagement Shoot

As part of catching up, today I want to share our engagement photos with you. SMF and I had these done a few months ago by the AMAZING Two Bird Studio. Honestly, Jason and EB are a ridiculously cool and talented husband wife photography team that we are so blessed to have worked with and to now call our friends.  Next summer we will get to spend a week together as they shoot my best friends wedding one weekend in Lake Chelan, WA and Mark's sister the following weekend in Minneapolis and I couldnt be happier about it!

The shoot took place on an Bainbridge Island where Mark and I have spent many dates walking around town and exploring; much like we did this day. The weather was not beautiful, making for a not so great hair day, but we had a great time.

Here are some of SMF and my favorites....

The Life-Changing Cupcake

See this cupcake??

It changed my life. I kid you not.

In April of 2010 I found this recipe on a baking blog and decided to make it for a close friend’s birthday. It was a bog group of girls going to a cute restaurant for lunch and I wanted to make something special. I got such a reaction from the girls  that it got me thinking....If they thought it was fabulous, then why wouldn’t other people?

At that point, I had taken a few night decorating classes at the local community college, but cakes and baking were just an escape from the daily grind of my public relations job. 

I loved baking, so why couldn’t I make it into something more than a hobby??

There are a million reasons why not actually—To start, I have never been to pastry school, didn’t  know a ton about the materials used, the industry or how in the world I would get started. And then there is my full time job that I worked hard for. Blood sweat and tears for years to get to a position that I was proud of and then there is that degree I have in communications that would go to waste, etc, etc

So I continued baking for fun and eventually one of those girls from that birthday lunch called me and asked me to make some cupcakes for a baby shower she was hosting. Honestly, from there it is a blur. I got my business license, set up a website, researched recipes,  started a facebook page and watched TONS of YouTube videos on cake decorating (tons). 

Before I knew it I was BUSY! What?! But I am in public relations and advertising, I am not a cake designer….Well, times have changed and now so has my profession…

Ladies and Gentleman, I would like to officially update my 30 Before 30 list and tell you that I have started business. The SweetSide is open and ready for business. We have a kitchen space at the amazing A la Mode Pies shop on Phinney Ridge and couldn’t be happier about it.

We have big plans for the future… a booth at The Seattle Wedding Show,  a six week course at  The Bonnie Gordon College of Confectionary Arts in Toronto (I will share LOTS of photos, don’t worry) and the promise to create the best product that we can to our clients.

Please join me in my crazy adventure and let us know if you want a cake, cake pops, cookie pops,  cake push pops,  etc.

OUR WEBSITE  www.ilovethesweetside.com

OUR BLOG  www.thesweetsideshop.blogspot.com

OUR FACEBOOK PAGE (updated often) https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-SweetSide/114953428569124

Vancouver, BC Half

I just realized that I started this post and it never actually left the 'drafts' folder. This past May my good friend Melissa and I decided to run the Vancouver, BC half marathon. Now, I am not sure why I decided that I could run with this girl, I guess I had a momentary lapse in judgement. See, here is the thing... she has never run a half marathon that took her longer that 2 hours, in fact, I am pretty sure she has never run slower than 1:45....I, on the other hand had never ran one faster than 2:49...small difference. But as I mentioned above Melissa is a good friend, and this was  a 'warmup' run for her race season... so she stayed with me every step of the way and I ran a personal best of 2:39....I am pretty proud of that one and would really love to break 2:30 next time.

We had a great weekend exploring a city that is only 3 hours from Seattle, but neither of us had ever really visited. Here are some shots of our weekend.

Cute little ferry ride to Granville Island

Walking to the start line, I should have saved some of that energy

Our new (bright) headbands, we got so many compliments! Mostly because they are fun, not super fashionable

First hill of the course; sucking air already!

Melissa posing with one of the course cheer squads 

 This little saying always keeps me going

With the Chinese Dragon mid-course 

 Obviously with all the posing we were not super worried about our time

Finished!! What a weekend!