if you like reading my blog....

My secretary, Emmalee, has just informed me that she has started a blog! If you would like to follow her (and some of my) adventures, you should check it out here. ENJOY!!!

Castle Cake

Just before summer ended, a good friend of mine had a birthday and I told her I'd make her a cake, as I do for some of my really good friends. She LOVES pink, and castles and is a school teacher and I laugh with her a lot, so we decided to go with a pink castle cake for her birthday. I had just made one of these for my niece's birthday and had a few ideas of how I wanted to change it, so here is the finished product:

As you can see, there is grass and a moat and a bridge....this is not all frosting, because that would be a LOT of frosting, I used 2 cake mixes and filled the castle cake pan that I borrowed from my Sister-in-law (who is AWESOME! Thanks for letting me use it!) and then I took what was left and poured it into a 9x13 pan and baked that as well. When everything was cooled, I got to work frosting it. The windows are made of pink starburst candies as well as the flags. The candles had different colored flames, though I am not terribly impressed with them...I liked the star topped candles best, and they fit in best with the scene any way.

My friend LOVED her cake, and I had so much fun making it! I also made these cute little cupcakes for another friends birthday and had sooo much fun figuring out how best to make the design and the everything for it to work out so well!

And as I am posting this on the first weekend in September, I thought I'd add this to Beck's LOOK WHAT I MADE!!! Share the love link party!!!! Enjoy!!!

New Adventures!

Sorry I haven't written in forever! Emmalee read me what she had posted, and I think she summed up my life at the moment quite well. She's a great secretary, I think everyone should have an Emmalee.
    So, I told a friend of mine I'd make his birthday cake in September. I don't think I've talked about him before, so we're just going to call him Ty. Any way, I told Ty I'd make his cake and yesterday I was hanging out with him and a few other people at Coldstone and he said "Hey Sooz, I want that kind of cake" pointing at an ice cream cake. "Okay" I said and he was like "Really? Aren't those kind of hard to make?" and I gave him that look like 'are you doubting my domestic skills?' and then I responded with, "I love a challenge" SO, I am going to do a trial run this weekend I think...who wants ice cream cake???? Let me know if you live in the general vicinity of my house :)
    On an entirely random note, sort of entirely random because I had Emma make mention of it last post, but I saw the new Jane Eyre movie and I LOVE it. Even though its REALLY sad...until the end. It does end well, that made me happy. After watching the movie I read the book, and I liked them both really well!
However, I feel that the girl that plays Jane in the movie is an awkward kisser. I know this is random, and I refuse to admit how many times I have watched this movie since I first saw it...but its a lot, and at first I was trying to figure out why its awkward when they kiss...and its totally because she's AWKWARD. SUPER AWKWARD. Go watch the movie and you'll totally see what I mean!
BUT, in watching this movie, I thought the guy that plays Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender is his name), looked kind of familiar...like I'd seen him in something else recently. He kind of looks a little like Hugh Jackman at first, and then it hit me...He's MAGNETO in X-Men: First Class!!!!!!!! Another of my recent favorite movies! Only he's more attractive in that one because he has short hair and no facial hair.AND, because in Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester is like 40 or something and they totally made him look older than he actually is (he's actually 34...in case you were wondering...).
  
     Um...I'm in school this semester. Yay for Soozee! I'm going back full time...lets pray I don't die, or fail. Both would be equally horrible. I am taking 2 English classes (Critical Intro. to Literature, as well as Post 1800 British Literature) a health class, and an Ethics and Values class that I am no very excited for, however, after this semester I only have math to get through and I'm completely DONE with generals!!! HOORAY!!! Be excited/happy for/with me!!!!
     Many of my brothers will die after I confess this next random thought of the week...I kind of like country music lately. There is a song by Blake Shelton (not even like pop country...we're talking COUNTRY country.....CRAZY!) called God Gave Me You....oh my gosh, I love that song. Its already made it on the top 25 in my itunes...in fact it is currently #3 after All We Are by Matt Nathanson (which will remain #1 for forever if I have any say in it!) and There There Katie by Jack's Mannequin. OH, PS: I am going to see Jack's Mannequin LIVE in October! I'm SUPER DUPER excited for that one! Me, Fort, and my brother are all going. Its going to be sooo much fun! But yeah, Soozee and country music, who knew?!?!?! Right!?!?!?!
    I'm just going to apologize now and let you all know that if I don't blog very much in the next little while it is only because I'll be a hermit in school. But, I love you all and will update, or have Emmalee update as often as possible, k!?!?!?!

NOTE: Please read in a British accent

Hello!
     This is Soozee's secretary Emmalee, yes I am in fact British, so its best if you read everything I write today in my native accent. Soozee has been far too busy lately to write and has requested I write you very quickly in her stead. She has been incredibly busy working both jobs as well as making a few cakes, attending a few weddings, and writing...she is always writing!
     In other random news, she also wanted to fill you in a little bit on the whole Digger situation, he did move about an hour away, and about 2 blocks from Soozee's best friend Fort. Ironic, I know! And she also said to mention that she has talked to Digger more now than when he lived here, so we are looking at this as good news.
     Soozee's best friend Tex got married over the weekend and Soozee said it was a beautiful occasion that she was very grateful she was able to attend. Tex has been like family to her for years and I have had the opportunity to meet both him and his wife on a few occasions and join with Soozee in wishing them the best in their new life together.
     Soozee also requested I inform you of a few movies she will be mentioning next time she posts. She has seen the new Capt. America: The First Avenger movie and absolutely loved it! So much in fact, it inspired a Chris Evans movie week, so I'm sure she'll have pictures to post as well. Also, she just watched this years version of Jane Eyre, which I was very interested in seeing as well. There were actually quite a few more well known actors in this version, including the guy that played Magneto in X-Men: First Class as Rodchester. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing my native countryside and also the story unfold. But, I will let Soozee talk more about that later.
    Over all, she is still alive and I hope this will suffice for those of you that have missed Soozee's random ramblings as she calls them. If you have any questions or concerns for her well being, feel free to comment or e-mail me at ninjasecretary@gmail.com and I will be sure and pass along a post-it note with your request.

Best Wishes,
Emmalee Fairfax

Jake's New Name

So, I took into consideration all of your ideas and talked to a few friends and decided to change Jake's name back to Nick. So, his name is now Nicholas Andrew Sorensen. I think this will clear up all the confusion the two JA names created. I was talking to Digger about this change and he thought it was brilliant. Oh, and he moved an hour away. Yeah, that kind of sucks a little bit...but at least he moved to the same area as all of my best friends (Fort, Tex, my brother, etc) so, its not an entirely sucky thing.

New Name For Jake

Jake has had many names. After talking to Digger about my book, it was quite obvious that having both a Jake and a Jason gets WAY too confusing. SO, I need to change Jake's name. He's had several names through out the drafts. Some previous names are:
Nathan
Tyler
Jake
Adam
Nick
Matt
or Andrew
what do you guys think? Do you like any of those names, or do you have a different one not starting with J that you think would be AMAZING to see in a book?

Its Fancy, Its Nancy, IT'S FANCY NANCY!!!!

For her birthday last year, a good friend of mine requested a Hello Kitty cake. It turned out fabulous and I was soooo freaking proud of that cake! Man, it was beautiful. So, this year when I asked her what she wanted, she had to think about it. How do you top THAT cake? I mean really. It was a work of art. And then, she said two words that first sent me scrambling, but I recovered and came up with something BRILLIANT! Those two words were: FANCY NANCY. I had heard of the books, though never read through any of them. Sad, I know, but I have since remedied that. My friend said that the first one was her favorite, so I took that as my main inspiration and then went from there. Here is the end result:

Beautiful, no? I think so! I am so proud of how this cake turned out! Its a 6" cake of funfetti goodness that I decorated entirely in pink. I googled Fancy Nancy pictures, printed them out, lamenated them and then put them on toothpicks so they would stand up on the cake. GENIUS! Thank you to my sister and sister in law for their help! I don't know what I would do without my good friends that are constantly inspiring me!



And, since it is the first Friday of July, I am linking this post in with Becky's link party!!! Heck yes, so much fun!!