The Dawgs and Shattered Dreams

Saturdays in Athens have given me some of my best memories. Whether I was a student at the time or simply a visiting fan, the Classic City has never disappointed. Tailgating on Myer's Quad, taking a walk across North Campus, and pointing South at the trumpet soloist as the Battle Hymn plays in Sanford Stadium. These are a few of my favorite things. There is something magical about being in Athens on Saturdays in the fall. It is an experience like no other.

If you know me at all, you know I am a diehard Georgia fan. I've always loved sports in general, but Georgia football is one of my absolute favorite things in this world. And that's a scary thought. It's not easy being a Dawg.

The loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship last year made my heart hurt. It really did. I know that sounds ridiculous, and some of you still won't understand, but we were four yards shy of something I have waited my whole life to see. Much more, something Aaron Murray has played his whole life to achieve. And after the loss to Mizzou, that won't happen now.

This article is so beautifully written. It conveys my thoughts exactly on the loss last December, the loss last Saturday, and the rest of the season to come. In the words of the author, "We have the chance to enjoy the artistry of Aaron Murray for half a season before we all get a little dusty-eyed on Senior Day in Sanford Stadium, and cheer him on at a bowl game during a warm-weathered, post-Christmas vacation." I can't wait to be there that day to see Murray's final game in Sanford Stadium and cheer the Dawgs on to a victory over Kentucky.

So in honor of my Bulldog pride and passion for all things UGA, here are some decorated sugar cookies and cupcakes to express my love for this school in food form. Go Dawgs.

While we're on the topic of college football, I made this Arkansas Groom's Cake for a wedding a few weeks ago. The wedding was at a gorgeous outdoor venue in Rome, GA. The story of the wedding day is actually an incredibly perfect picture of God's faithfulness and ability to answer prayers. It had been beautiful all week before the wedding, but it rained ALL day long on this Saturday. Not only was the ceremony was supposed to take place outside at 6 that night, but the rain was just ruining lots of other plans. Miraculously, the sky completely cleared up a couple of hours before the ceremony began, and there could not have been a more perfect night for this precious couple.

And, though most of these are older and have already been featured on my blog, here are some other sports related desserts I've made...for your viewing pleasure :)

Sweet eats,
Kristen

New Seasons

School has been out for me for a little less than a month, and I have had one heck of a month. I've spent LOTS of time with friends who are home from various colleges, baked numerous graduation cakes, and simply rested as much as possible. One of my favorite parts of the month of May was the camping trip I took to Cloudland Canyon with some of my absolute FAVORITE people.

However, seasons come and seasons go, and my season of rest and relaxation has unfortunately had to come to an end for a while.

I started my summer job as a camp counselor at Camp All American last week, and what an experience it has been so far. If you've never heard of CAA, I highly recommend looking into it! It is an outreach of Perimeter Church in Johns Creek, GA. The heartbeat of the camp is 100% Jesus. It's unreal how much The Lord has already been moving in the lives of the kids, parents, and even staff over the past two weeks. In my opinion, children's ministry is one of the most important areas a church can focus on. These kids just soak in almost everything you tell them- especially when it's paired with summer, friends, and lots of fun in the sun. Camp is the perfect environment for introducing children, many of whom don't attend church anywhere, to the love of Jesus, and I LOVE being a part of it!

For those of you who have asked, here's what a typical day looks like for me: I have a group of eight 3rd-5th grade girls that I am in charge of for the week. Camp takes place at the church. My group and I travel around the church campus to different activities including assembly, pool, tennis, human foosball, capture the flag, Bible time, etc. during the day. My goal each day is to love on the girls and show them Jesus with my words and actions. 

SO, because camp is so time consuming, the amount of orders I'm able to take this summer is pretty limited. I do have a few weeks off here and there, so if you want to place an order, feel free to shoot me a message or give me a call and I will let you know if I'm free or not! Here's a recap of what the month of May has looked like for me in terms of cakes.

Playing Catch-Up

I'm sitting at my kitchen table right now waiting on a cake to come out of the oven, so I figured, what better time than now to update the blog I rarely keep up with?

I have had the BUSIEST week in terms of orders. I won't go into detail on each and every one of them, but let's talk numbers. By this coming Monday, I will have made, decorated, and delivered 451 cupcakes, 2 cakes, and 40 cupcakes in a jar in the preceding week. In one week! Not to mention I took two finals this morning and I have another one coming up on Tuesday.

Now, I don't say all of this to complain or brag about all of my orders. I say it because I'm explaining (or making an excuse for) how behind I am on my blog posts. But let's be honest, I'm always behind. Moving on.

Here are some of the projects I've been working on.

Peace sign and heart cookies as a party favor 

Lingerie cake and cupcakes for a bachelorette party 

Art themed cake for a birthday party

Nautical themed cupcakes for a birthday party

Gender reveal cupcakes for (you guessed it) a gender reveal party

It's a BOY! 

Easter Sweets

Happy day after Easter!

I'm sitting outside on this BEAUTIFUL day as I write this post. Spring is actually starting to make its appearance, and I couldn't be more thankful. If I have to endure another day of 35 degrees and rain (like last Monday), I might go crazy. Literally. And moving to Florida will be the only logical solution.

It would have been fortunate if we had this beautiful day yesterday, but we weren't so lucky here in the Atlanta area. It was pretty gloomy, but the rain only lasted a few minutes, and we got to get a couple of pictures on the deck in front of the pretty cherry trees!

Our Easter was wonderful! We had a delicious breakfast of Nutella Cinnamon Rolls (recipe coming soon), followed by church, a steak lunch, and an afternoon of games and an Easter egg hunt. Which brings me to my question...how old is too old to hunt Easter eggs? Answer: you're NEVER too old! I even got to finish off my Easter Sunday with a game of tennis with some of absolute FAVORITE people. I am so thankful for friends and fellowship.

Now onto the sweets. I have multiple recipes to post soon. I know it's been a while since I've done that. But in the mean time, here are some of the Easter treats I made this weekend!

And non-Easter related, here are some Minnie Mouse cookies.

I hope you all had a great weekend celebrating the death and resurrection of our Savior!

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed." 

Isaiah 53:5

L-O-V-E

Now that Valentines Day is behind us, I am officially ready for spring and all that comes with it. Warm weather, sunshine, flowers, colorful clothes, sundresses. It all sounds so perfect (yet so far away) as I'm sitting in my accounting class on this rainy Tuesday morning. Though the heart of spring is quite a few weeks away, my spring will begin during the first week of March when I start my Spring Break. I'm heading to Florida and praying for warm, beautiful weather. The beach, Aunt Catfish's, and Harry Potter world are calling my name. Just 10 short days. 10. Days. I can do it!

Before I get ahead of myself, let me show you a photo summary of my Valentine's Day.

And now for a little encouragement. Tuesday is definitely my least favorite day of the week. It just seems so blah. It's not Monday (which, might I say, is one of my favorite days of the week because of the time I spend with some of my favorite people watching The Bachelor), but it's not Hump Day, either. It's just uneventful and boring. Especially when it's raining. BUT, that being said, we have a reason to smile! Let this be your driving force today--

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."
Psalm 37:4

This is one of my favorite verses. It's also one of my most common prayers. However, it is so often misinterpreted. Many people take this verse to say "if I 'delight myself' in the Lord, he will give me everything my heart desires and my life will be perfect." This is far from the truth...kind of. No, God will not give us one million dollars just because we want it. God will not grant us every wish we have just because we read our Bible. He is not our Genie or Fairy Godmother. Instead, I believe God will begin to change our desires to align with His desires for us as we delight ourselves in Him. The more time we spend in His word, in prayer, and simply kneeling in His presence, the more we will want for us what God wants for us. Once this happens, the Lord WILL give us the desires of our heart because our desires will be for God's will to be done in our lives. This is a somewhat complicated concept to explain in writing, and I can only hope I'm getting my point across. The point is not that The Lord gives us anything and everything that we want. The point is that the more time we spend with Him, the more we love Him. The more we love Him, the more we obey Him. 1 John 5:3 says, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments." The more we obey Him, the more we will see God work and move in our lives, and the more we will delight ourselves in His presence.

So this is my prayer for myself and for each of you today- delight yourselves in The Lord. Pray that He will change your desires to align with His. What better way could we live our lives than to desire what The Lord desires? Imagine what we could accomplish for the Kingdom!

Just a thought. Just a long, rambling, random thought. I hope that gave you something to think about today, and I hope it was an encouragement to you.

Have a wonderful day!

New Year Catch-Up

Happy New Year (5 days late)!

So far in 2013, I have rung in the new year with some of my favorite people, spent 4 days worshipping my sweet Jesus with 60,000 other college students at Passion, and rested. Though spending those 4 days at Passion was WONDERFUL for numerous reasons, it was far from relaxing. I think I got a total of 15 hours of sleep during the 3 nights I spent in Atlanta, so being able to sleep in this morning was a glorious feeling. Anyway, all that is to say that between Christmas festivities, post Christmas cleaning, and Passion, I haven't had much time to bake and/or update my blog. Don't get me wrong, there was lots and LOTS of Christmas baking involved in the week before Christmas, but there wasn't much time for fun new recipes or experimental decorating...hence the dry spell on the blog.

So here we go with the pictures. Here's a glimpse at what I've been up to over the past month-

Stay tuned for an announcement about a chance to win FREE desserts! 

And, as always, don't forget to take a look at my website,

www.kristens-cupcakery.com

for prices, pictures, flavors, and more!