Two Cakes in Two Days

It's been quite an intense week of baking! I made two cakes in the last two days, one for a friend's bridal shower and the other for a different friend's birthday. They're somewhat similar because flowers are just about the only real decorations I can do! Next week I start my last cake decorating class, Gum Paste & Fondant, so hopefully I'll learn new techniques. I've added pictures of the latest cakes. The first one, the white one, is my friend's bridal shower cake. The second one is my friend's birthday cake, in case you couldn't tell by the bright "Happy Birthday" across it. (Both were given a lomo effect.)

Hot Pockets

So I was playing Rock Band at a friend's house and we watched the "Can I have your numba?" video. Apparently there are still people left that haven't seen it and I thought I would enlighten them by posting it. But "embedding is disabled by request" so no luck, kids. However, a friend sent me a video of this routine by Jim Gaffigan and it was awesome so instead I'm enlightening you to the humor of Hot Pockets. Enjoy :)

The God Who Only Knows Four Words

Today I thought about a poem that I read awhile ago and thought I'd share it with you. It's interesting and I think it speaks on the simplicity of God's love. As if to emphasize that point, it's a very simple poem. Any thoughts on it?

The God Who Only Knows Four Words

by Hafiz

Every
Child
Has known God,
Not the God of names,
Not the God of don'ts,
Not the God who ever does
Anything weird.
But the God who only knows four words
and keeps repeating them, saying:
"Come Dance with Me."
Come
Dance.

Back on Track

I've noticed that keeping up a blog has been good for me. It forces me to think about what's going on in my life and what I want to share with other people. I realized that I haven't posted anything in a while and as I sat down to write about something I realized...I have nothing to write about. I've been stagnant, content, fine. Don't get me wrong, it's good to sometimes be content, otherwise you're always anxious to move on and never enjoy anything. But I think we blur the line between content and complacent. Here's what Webster says:

Content -adjective, noun, verb -satisfied with what one is or has
Complacent -adjective -pleased, especially with oneself or one's merits, advantages, situation, etc., often without awareness of some potential danger or defect

In other words, the two are very similar. The main difference is that ending: "often without awareness of some potential danger or defect." Complacent means that we are content in the face of danger. We sit down and pick flowers in the middle of the battle field. I realize that I've been doing just that and it's time to get up, get back on track. Last week, I watched a Rob Bell video (hold the comments) about anger and he said that some people are just looking for a fight because they're not in one. Wow. This is a great point and I think that same problem can be what leads to complacency. "I'm fine. Things aren't great but they're not bad, either. I don't really have anything to get worked up over."

Now is the time to get worked up! This doesn't mean pick a fight with your neighbor; it means pick a fight with the devil. I'm done waiting for something to happen when I could be doing something now. What is that something? What really ticks you off? What injustice just drives you up the wall whenever you see it? Find it and then find ways, little ways, to eradicate it around you.Here's my example: I hate hearing girls nonchalantly insult themselves, as if it's simply a matter of fact. I hate how much the enemy robs them of their worth. How will I fix it? I'll make a point of complementing the girls around me, make them feel good, show them that someone sees them. This is my baby step. What will yours be? I'd love to hear from you :)

You're Beautiful

I love being a girl so much. One of the things I love about being a girl is that it's perfectly acceptable (and normal, really) to comment on how good other girls look. Do guys do anything like that? Just a side thought. Anywho...

Today I was leaving the supermarket and as I was walking across the parking lot, I saw a woman walking across the lot the other way. I noticed that I really liked her dress and that it looked great on her. Then I was struck by a simple thought, "She's really beautiful." I wanted to tell her how nice her dress looked but she was too far away by then. But I was a bit ashamed that I didn't say anything because it made me wonder if anyone else did or would tell her. How many girls spend their whole days looking and being lovely without being told so? Honestly, most of us probably do unless we have gentlemen to tell us so (and if those gentlemen ever come across this post, know that we appreciate you immensely). So I'm just giving you a friendly reminder that you are beautiful and captivating and if he hasn't already found you, there's a perfect man looking for you. In the meantime, remember that God is telling you that every single day! After all, He made you in His image so you look perfect! Think about that for a second. This isn't just a great guy telling you this. This is the creator of the world, the lord of lords, the king of kings, who can do absolutely anything He wants. And what did he do? He created YOU so that He could hang out with you and tell you how much He adores you. Wow. Think about that when you wake up tomorrow and see how you spend your day then. And tell another girl! No matter who it comes from, being reminded that we're beautiful makes our day. Hope this helps :)

Okay, one more side note: Now you may tell yourself how much your jiggly thighs bother you and that's fine; so do I! There's nothing wrong with wanting to take care of your body. The important part is not to forget that you're already beautiful. A little maintenance is perfectly okay :)

First cake adventure!

This last Saturday I finished my basic cake decorating class! We were told to bring a frosted cake to class and we could spend the whole class decorating it. Since my friend was having her birthday party the next day, I made the cake for her. It was a funfetti cake with a strawberry jam filling and cream cheese frosting. Her favorite color is yellow so I put yellow roses (that eventually turned gold) on it and a beaded border. It turned out great and my friend loved it :)

I learned two lessons: 1) Always level your cakes. This is something I don't normally do because I don't know how and I'm afraid to waste cake. It's worth it. Putting two cakes together that have domed in the oven is a recipe for disaster. 2) Paste dyes are great because they're concentrated and don't thin the frosting. However, the color matures! I would mix it and get a nice color but every time I looked at it, it would get darker and darker and I'm pretty sure at one point I yelled at the frosting, "Stop doing that!" So...yeah, be careful with your coloring.

Cupcakes!

So I've been taking a cake decorating class at Michael's, the local craft store. Tomorrow is my last class and then I will have completed the decorating basics class :) For a basics class, I sure feel like I learned a lot! I can make stars, shell borders, rosettes, basketweaves, roses, and a bunch of other techniques. I can't get a job until summer because I don't have time for it now so I'm hoping to sell some nice cupcakes for a bit of money. Does $10/dozen sound reasonable for customizable cupcakes?

By the way, my final project is to decorate a full cake. Pictures coming soon :)

photo a day

I always like black and white. Always. So here we have a nice b&w Holga version of the flowers photo I uploaded a few days ago. Enjoy :)

Facebook Fast

I've never done Lent before. However, this year I decided it would be a great opportunity to stretch my faith a bit by denying myself a guilty pleasure: Facebook. I know Lent is normally a season when people go without certain food or drink, but I also know that Facebook is my real addiction that I need to break. So I went cold turkey and have been without it for about a couple weeks now, and I've learned that Lent is not fun at all. Like I said, I've never done it but I bet this is about the time participants start thinking, "Oh man, maybe this wasn't such a good idea." I've wanted to check up on people, see their pictures, ask questions to my general Facebook audience, but can't do any of it!

However, I'm not going to sit here and type away all my complaints for you to read. As difficult as it is to break a habit, I know it's really good for me. It's been forcing me to make direct contact with people and has left me blissfully ignorant of the online drama. I'm not even halfway through the Lent fast, which I've learned ends on Easter. Part of me wants to groan and give up, but the other part of me (thankfully, the part that's in control) sees that as a good thing. I still have lots to learn about face time and it's going to be great.

I'm determined to make this a season to learn a new lifestyle, not just go on a reverse binge. I feel like a lot of people participate in Lent but go back full-force to their old habit. But God said He asks for obedience, not sacrifice. If you sacrifice something just once and then go right back to it, it's like it never happened so what good does that do? Make a change and obediently stick to it. God also said, "Because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out." And that's really unpleasant, so let's make a lasting change. I'll update you a bit later on my Facebook fast :)

Invest in love

Today I went to the Christian Club meeting and they had a guest speaker. He spoke about loving one another and said, "God doesn't just talk about love, love, love, love because it sounds nice; he's trying to make a point."
Loving one another is the most basic command and it's one we take for granted, but how often do we really grasp it? Jesus said to love each other as he has love us. Well, he love us enough to die for us! So how well are we really following that command? Do you know how your friends are really doing? What they're struggling with? What they're really passionate about? Do you know how to make them happy or do you just pat their back and say it'll be okay? Today, love your friends by investing in them. Knowing God and His love gives us the ability to love people like nobody else can; we know Love himself! For God said, "I am love."
So what does it look like to invest in your relationships? Every person gives and receives love differently so you need to know them to know how to love them. A good place to start learning is through the five love languages: touch, words, service, gifts, and quality time. I have a friend that would be thrilled by just being given her favorite soda, while others are almost offended by being given gifts. One of my closest friends rubs my shoulder when she talks to me; yet another insists on complementing everyone. Every person is different. Typically, girls love words and guys love touch, but this is not a concrete rule! Get into someone's life today beyond talks of the weather and he-said-she-said; let's be the friends Jesus called us to be :)

Happy Pi Day

Today is Pi Day (3/14)
It's a delicious mathematical day! Apparently there is a National Pie Day sometime in January, but why it doesn't fall on the brilliantly ironic March 14th is beyond me. To celebrate, I'm sending some fun pi facts, some pie facts, and a pi pie :) Is that enough pi for you?

-The Guinness-recognized record for remembered digits of pi is 67, 890 digits, held by Lu Chao, a 24-year-old graduate student from China. It took him 24 hours and 4 minutes to recite to the 67, 890th decimal place of pi without an error.

-Piphilology is the humorous yet serious study that involves the use of mnemonic techniques to remember the digits of pi.

"Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye,
four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing,
oh wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?"
Where does this strange nursery rhyme come from? Putting live birds inside a huge pastry crust was indeed a common Medieval joke. It was played by the cooks of wealthy knights, who would present the pie to the knight with a real pie waiting in the kitchen. However, cooked birds were frequently placed by European royal cooks on top of a large pie to identify its contents. The use of more, um, "exotic" birds began with the coronation of eight-year-old English King Henry VI, who apparently enjoyed a nice adorned peacock pie.

-Throwing pies has been a comedy staple since Ben Turpin received one in Mr. Flip in 1909.

On this day in history...

I'm a bit of a history nerd, so I was looking around the History Channel website and they have a "this day in history" feature. Today's events were pretty cool, so I'm bringing the feature to you, my few but faithful viewers :)

On this day in 1942, the Quartermaster Corps (QMC) of the United States Army begins training dogs for the newly established War Dog Program, or "K-9 Corps."

Well over a million dogs served on both sides during World War I, carrying messages along the complex network of trenches and providing some measure of psychological comfort to the soldiers. In the United States, the practice of training dogs for military purposes was largely abandoned after World War I. When the country entered World War II in December 1941, the American Kennel Association and a group called Dogs for Defense began a movement to mobilize dog owners to donate healthy and capable animals to the Quartermaster Corps of the U.S. Army. Training began in March 1942, and that fall the QMC was given the task of training dogs for the U.S. Navy, Marines and Coast Guard.

The top canine hero of World War II was Chips, a German Shepherd who served with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division. Trained as a sentry dog, Chips broke away from his handlers and attacked an enemy machine gun nest in Italy, forcing the entire crew to surrender. The wounded Chips was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star and the Purple Heart--all of which were later revoked due to an Army policy preventing official commendation of animals.

elementary school

A couple weeks ago, I went to Pacheco Elementary School, my old elementary school! My Spanish class went for Read Across America Day, a day to celebrate literacy and a love of reading in kids. We went to all the classrooms and read to the kids in English and Spanish (because Pacheco is a bilingual school) and it was so fun! I read to kindergarteners, who were absolutely adorable. They insisted that we sing a song about barnyard animals with them and gave me a purple bracelet to remember reading to them. I also read to my friend's third grade class and they were wonderful. The kids were young enough to be fun and silly and sweet, but old enough to have real attention spans and be able to hold deeper conversations. It was such a fun day :) I'm hoping to go back soon!
Did you have a favorite grade in elementary school? What do you remember about it?

photo a day

This is one of my favorite photos that I've taken so far as part of my photography challenge. I took it with my phone on the way to 7/11 with a friend. As a disclaimer, I later enhanced the colors but not that drastically.

photo a day

This is one of the photos I took as part of my photography challenge. Hopefully there will be many more to come :)

Adam Pasion Band

At long last, the interview with Adam Pasion is complete. Currently, they are working on writing and recording, so I'll be sure to let you all know when they have shows coming up :)

For my first local artist interview, I spoke with Adam Pasion, leader of the Adam Pasion band, a bluegrass group, and Briertone, a Southern rock band.

What does each of you play?

Adam Pasion: lead vocals, guitar

Emily Wilson: vocals

Brandon Gatlin: pedal steel, guitar, piano

Elijah Merritt: BGVs, banjo, guitar

Mark Folkrod: Drums, percussion

Kirk MacLane: upright bass

How long have you been playing?

I started playing music when I was nine or ten. I started Adam Pasion music in 2008 when I released my first alt-country & folk record. It was a transition from a heavier southern rock band called Briertone that I started in 2002. This Adam Pasion Band lineup has been performing together for about two years.

What are your most popular songs?

The most popular songs are ones we usually like to play the least! They get tiresome. People often want to hear “Gypsy Girl.” "May it be a Sweet Sound" and "Run by Faith" are usually second to that.

Why did you choose to play music? Can you describe your style?

I was so young that I cannot tell you I made a conscious decision to play music. Why does somebody joke around or work harder than others? It is simply who they are. I just wouldn't be me if I didn't write songs. Whether I'm performing alt-country under Adam Pasion Music or heavier southern rock under Briertone, the style is always rooted in old country. I lean toward rustic sounds like bluegrass.

Who would you consider your musical influences?

Alison Krauss, Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Nicklecreek, 16 Horsepower

What inspires your music? Any stories behind specific songs?

As a country artist, I certainly draw inspiration from life experience. My songs are generally very straight forward, storytelling songs. I'm a guy of faith so it will always ring through pretty heavily in most songs that I write. I try to express God's heart for His children, though it often comes out very dark. There’s a song called "Naked We Come" on my album "O Hear the Rattling" about how I almost died when I was born and had to be revived. Bringing things into perspective, life is a breath. Our time is short, yet we work tirelessly at things that may not have significance. The chorus states that we come into the world with nothing and will take nothing. What we do (or don't do) in between matters greatly. Did we make it count?

Is there something the audience wouldn’t know about the band?

Our album was made on the stage of an old antique theater. It took us over a year to make, with some songs rolling 70 tracks at one time. Or a ridiculous fact: We love to shoot guns and play cards.

a perfect distraction

This week is finals week which means I find every way possible to distract myself from studying :) And NEEDTOBREATHE's video blog #5 is just in time!

goodbye holey shoes

This weekend I'm FINALLY going to get a new pair of shoes. I've had a pair of knock-off purple converse for about two years. They're now very filthy and very holey, bad shoes for wet weather. I'm finally going to get a pair of shoes with arch support! I'm hoping to get a pair of TOMS cordones because they're cute, comfortable, and support a great cause (observe lovely picture above.) They're about $70 but I consider it a worthy investment when you only buy shoes once every year or two. Any other shoe suggestions before I begin the begging for TOMS? Also hoping to get heels soon because I'm a big girl now :) Any heel suggestions?

post updates

So there's a couple things I've mentioned but haven't given up an update for. So here we go:
1. Photography Challenge
This challenge is proving to be really...challenging. Bad pun, I know. But seriously, it's really difficult to take a decent picture every day. I must admit that I haven't stayed on top of it, but I have made an effort. Time to step up my efforts! All my photography is viewable on my Facebook page under the photo album named "Amateur Shots."

2. Band Interview(s)
I mentioned that I would be getting an interview with Adam Pasion of the Adam Pasion Band/Briertone. I'm pleased to announce that I finally did get the interview and it's in the editing process, which will be finished by the end of next week. I'm also in the midst of setting up an interview with the Honey Trees and PK so stay tuned! There may also be a surprise announcement...

Gleek conversion

Last weekend, I went to a friend's house for an all-girls party. All of them love Glee so we ended up watching it almost the whole time. I must confess that I've become a fan of Glee. I'm still rational enough to acknowledge that all of the characters are outrageously stereotypical and the plot can be somewhat ridiculous. But it's immensely entertaining and the music is really fun. So, here is a video of my favorite Glee song so far. It's a mash-up of "Umbrella" and "Singing in the Rain." Enjoy :)

Who was St. Valentine?

On this overly commercialized day of celebrating romantic love, the original meaning is almost completely lost. Just who was St. Valentine and why do we celebrate him? There have been multiple stories of saints named Valentine, but two possible stories have stood out. Both portray the man as a martyr in a story worth celebrating.
Story #1: Around 270 A.D., Emperor Claudius II was struggling to grow his army. He felt that married men made poorer soldiers because they didn't want to leave their wives and families behind. Therefore, he declared a law making marriage illegal so that men would stay single and be more willing to go to war, thereby making better soldiers. A priest named Valentine decided he wouldn't have it and married couples in secret. The emperor found out and had him arrested. Upon meeting him, the emperor actually liked Valentine and offered him his freedom if Valentine would only convert to paganism. Valentine, being a faithful priest, turned the tables and asked if the emperor would become a Christian. This didn't work out because it infuriated the emperor, who had him beheaded soon after on February 14.
Story #2: Around the same time, Christians were heavily persecuted, being sent to prisons where they were often beaten and killed. They were often stoned in the Coliseum, in fact. A priest named Valentine would help them escape their possibly grim fates. Unfortunately, he met an equally grim fate of beheading for his actions.
Side note: Some stories blend the two, saying that Valentine secretly married Christian couples that were escaping persecution. A romantic, although unlikely, twist to the story says that while Valentine was in jail awaiting execution he met and fell in love with a girl, possibly the jailer's daughter. Before his death, he supposedly wrote her a letter signed "from your Valentine," the first Valentine card.

food for...well, food thoughts

We have now reached the point where you are going to learn another one of the things I love, besides Jesus and media and history and mysteries. That is food, mostly desserts. I'm an avid baker and want to own a bakery and cafe one day. I'm also thinking of working in a food ministry. So I'm going to start posting food-related stuff, as well as posts about my baking adventures. So here's the first one.
There was this crazy dessert marathon on the Food Network today. In the course of watching it, and drooling, my mom and I made some discoveries.
1. Making those designs in the foam of coffee is a lot harder than it looks. Even a simple heart. I appreciate baristas a lot more.
2. Savory cupcakes. Say whaaat? Yes, a woman is making savory cupcakes. She makes one out of a little meatloaf cake topped with angel hair pasta and marinara sauce. Another is a salmon cake with wasabi mashed potatoes on top. They're brilliant.
3. Dessert spaghetti and meatballs. I know, everything is going in reverse! They're little balls made out of vanilla and chocolate cakes, put on top of buttercream noodles and topped with raspberry sauce. Again, a brilliant idea.

P.S. I just got a new cake pan yesterday for making checkerboard cakes and I can't wait to try it out! I'll make sure to take pictures. Stay tuned.

food for career thoughts

I've been rethinking some careers ideas since my dad decided he wanted me to put my culinary business on the back burner. So, for my two current followers, I have a question for you. Is there a career in which you can combine history and investigation? Like investigating historical events, places, etc? Or investigating the authenticity of historic documents? If you've heard of the show "Decoded" that's kind of my dream job. If you haven't heard of it, check it out. It's bomb. But anywho, I want to know what's out there. Food for thought.

warm and fuzzy

Just in case, like me, you had kind of a poopy day, here's a story that will warm your heart and make you believe there is hope for humanity.

photography challenge

I realized that I miss photography a lot. Mostly, I miss being a photographer. So to get myself back into the swing of it, I'm giving myself a challenge. How long will it last? Who knows. I think a deadline is really beside the point. But here it is: I am challenging myself to take a picture every single day. Can I do it? Let's find out!
Anyone care to join my challenge? If anyone does, send me your daily pictures! This'll be fun :)

Learning to be faithful

Everyone talks about being faithful in a romantic relationship, but recently I've been learning what it means to be faithful in every relationship. I've learned that being faithful to my friends means treating all of them the same. I can't treat one of them worse than another just because they're not as nice or they don't smell as good or whatever. Every one of them deserves the same opportunity at an equal treatment from me. I've been so frustrated with one of my friends because I feel like she's a total two-face, but I realized that so am I! I have to give every person the same attention because they each deserve it. I can't change just because the people around me change.
Then came an even more intense realization. Being faithful also means being gracious. Being faithful means faithfully giving everyone the same grace. It builds on my first lesson. I can't forgive one person easily because I like her better and hold a grudge against other simply because she has more problems than the other.
It blows my mind that Jesus didn't treat Judas any differently than the rest of the disciples! He even knew that he was going to betray him and he still poured out the same amount of time and wisdom and love into him. Jesus didn't let the brokenness of others break him. Wow, talk about commitment.
To break it down to an even simpler example, here you go: My friend is a teacher and was teaching her kids about consistency. She stood in the front of the class and held up a pencil sharpener and asked her kids what it was. "A pencil sharpener!" She walked to one corner of the room and asked again. "It's still a pencil sharpener!" She walked to the back of the room and asked again. "It's still a pencil sharpener!" It didn't change its identity just because it changed locations, so why should we?

Humans can't walk straight

Another video with awesome animation. But this one is really interesting! Unless given a fixed reference point, humans can't seem to be able to walk in a straight line. Check it out.

upcoming DTB concert

Okay, so this is my second post today about music. I'm on a bit of a kick. There's a concert at Downtown Brew this Friday, all ages, only $8 in advance at Boo Boo's, and it's going to be awesome. The Ragged Jubilee, Adam Pasion Band, and Honey Trees are playing. I've never heard the Ragged Jubilee so I'm excited to hear some new music along with groups I know I like. You should definitely be there! Even if you don't make it, there's still something in it for you. On a soon to be determined date, I'm going to be interviewing Adam Pasion about his music, band, wherever the conversation goes! So be checking in during the next couple weeks to see that interview! For a nice preview, check out his music here.

Awesome animation

In my broadcasting class today, I was talking to some friends about animation ideas. A couple of us are thinking of doing a drawless animation and another guy wants to do a claymation. The talk made me remember a video I just had to share. It's a stop motion video of cooking spaghetti using everyday objects. Watch it and you'll understand.

New music

Recently, I've been really in love with acoustic music. So I got really excited when I found a couple new bands while looking around other band pages. Here's how it went...
It all started when I was looking at a page for Lakes, a local band I heard a few weeks ago. They're a rock group, but more of a softer folksy kind of rock (according to me). Check them out here.

I discovered that one of their members is in another band called Honey Trees, a local group that classify themselves as "dream pop." I think they may have created their own new genre. It's lovely. Listen to the Honey Trees here.

This discovery subsequently led me to my final, and favorite, discovery. I saw the name Civil Wars and decided to give them a try. Oh, my goodness. They're awesome. The Civil Wars, an Americana band, consists of Joy Williams, her piano, John Paul White (a perfect Johnny Depp doppelganger) and John Paul's guitar. And a little foot stomping. Two people, two instruments, one huge sound. Can't get enough of their song, "Barton Hollow." Check it out.

Third time's a charm...

Okay, so I've tried to do a blog a couple times before; my last one actually disappeared into cyberspace when I left it alone for a long time. So I'm going to do everything better this time! Lots of pictures, lots of posts, some interactive stuff...It's going to be great. So thanks for reading :)

To kick things off, I thought I'd put up a couple of my photos showing why winter in California is so pleasant :D Above is a rose from my front yard. Below is a view of Piedras Blancas. Enjoy.