Mittens, Bikers and Cupcake Cake

What a title, huh? A few things have happened over the past few days so I figured i'd lump them all into one post as they are non stamping related.

Mom and I try to take a walk every morning after the kids leave for school. You never know what will come up in our conversations or what ideas the walk may inspire. (Like the time mom found a dead toad and had to make a card with it!) Sometimes we even find money... those are the good walks!! lol

This time though was a little different. We were crossing the street and saw a couple parking their tandom bicycle at our local coffee shop, Braden's Cafe & Sweets.

If you are ever in the area, You have to stop at Braden's, they are located right on State Route 36 (or Main Street). They have the best frozen lattes, cappuccinos, hot lattes and smoothies. My favorite this summer was the Chocolate Peanut Butter frozen latte. And now the hot Pumpkin Pie latte! Their Chai Latte is good too! And their Real Cream and Butter Fudge is to die for.. they sell it all year round. And did I mention their Gelato and Sorbettos (Italian Ice Cream)? (yes, sometimes we'll get a coffee on our walk but not usually... now my night walks with my girlfriends is a different story!!) Now you know why we really walk!! lol

Anyways I digress, back to the bikers...... Walking past them a passerby asked where they were from and they mentioned they had started in Minneapolis! We are in West Central Ohio.

Mom and I were both like "man, we need to carry our cameras with us" when mom remembered she had her camera in the van! So after our walk she went back down to the coffee shop (yes, without me!) to see if they were still there and they were! So as she puts it, she asked a zillion questions but I don't think she asked their names! lol

They are from Eastern Washington, not far from Walla Walla. They'd flown to Minneapolis with their bike in 2 suitcases and were on their way to a wedding in Louisville. They've ridden from Disneyland (California) to Disneyworld (Flordia), the Louis and Clark trail, toured Europe!

Mittens/Hat/Scarf

Most of you know that my mom, Dawn, owns llamas. Those of you that don't, you do now! lol She spins their fiber and knits hats, scarves, mittens, socks, etc. Did you know you dye fiber with Kool-Aid? Yup, you can, check out this blog post to see what the fiber looked like before my mom dyed it. So anyways she made a set of mittens/hat/"Tucked" scarf for my 3 yr old niece. Well Leah wasn't in the mood to model them so that mom could post them on her blog so she came back to my place (after talking to the bikers) to see if Jorden would model them. It took a few tries before Jorden turned on the charm. She had no problem giving them back either as she knows she'll get her own pair in Pinks!



Cupcakes, anyone?

This year the school had Harvest parties instead of Halloween parties and for some reason they had the Harvest party today! (seemed a little early in the month to me but okay) Now I am known through the school for my cupcake cakes. Infact the teachers call them "Famous Cupcake Cake" So of course I have to point this out to the head room mothers and try to get my cupcake cakes in whenever I can. This year I made one for my son's Kindergarten class. He picked the coloring page he wanted and colored it the colors he wanted me to use. (I always do this with my kids, let them have input on the cake I am taking to their class) So here is my "Famous Cupcake Cake":
30 cupcakes are underneath and I came home with none and possibly birthday orders! (sorry for the brightness in the middle, darn flash) I even had a 4th grader upset that I wasn't their head room mom as they wanted a cupcake cake for their party! (I'm in the process of doing a slide show of all my cakes I have done, be watching for that on the side.)