Baking up a storm

Today is baking day!
I'm doing the desserts for a wedding this week. Perhaps you remember the tasting back in July? Well, I just finished all 16 batches of cupcakes and 4 layers of the mini-wedding cake. I mean, I don't want to brag, but I rocked these babies out in no time and didn't even burn any. So I celebrated with a lunch break of homemade bread, freshly made hummus, and coleslaw with a side of Giada de Larentiis.

It's a little weird to take a vacation day from my usual job to do a different job. I'll end up making about the same amount of money as I would if I was at work, so it doesn't seem like it makes sense...but since it's paid vacation I really get paid twice over to bake while watching daytime TV. Woohoo!

I hope to finish everything today so that I can deliver tomorrow afternoon on a mid-day break. Our co-op's awesome flower supplier, Artemisia Flower Studio, really came through for me with some rockin' organic flowers for the cake. I've got to pick those up along with more Earth Balance shortening before I get started with frosting everything.

We're doing a co-op garden tour this weekend, so my garden needs some sprucing up in the next few days before it'll be presentable. Last night I finally pruned back the CRAZY huge blackberry branches that took over the berry patch and the kids helped feed them into a great bonfire. We've had some salvaged bricks sitting in our garage for about 3 years and I decided to use them to make a fire ring in the backyard. It's really nice to be able to have a fire- especially on a chilly night like last night! (Jealous, TX family?) The cool front couldn't have come at a better time- my oven was on for a good 6 hours today!