Spooky Halloween Cupcakes!

How do you like my Mummies?

Take it easy on a first-timer?

I guess it's about time I (Dan) found out what all this blog hoo-hah is about eh? Ironic that I haven't been the major contributor, considering I'm the one with the most time on my hands!

Anyway, just thought folks might like to see what I've been occupying that time with (a little of it), rather than watching too many political attack ads and tearing my hair out because Mark Udall is apparently the anti-Christ. This is based on the number and ferocity of the attack ads of which he is a target; I think they account for better than half of all political ads here this season. Hitting the off button, like the guy recommended in Broadcast News, really is the only defense.

So you will see some pictures of the terraced beds I've been working on at the end of the landing strip (the long, two-car wide driveway that ends conspicuously at the yard without a garage). The backfill sloped down from the concrete into the yard, and I decided that I would plant some tomato plants there this year. When I watered them, it ran off really fast, so I had to water them very slowly and deliberately, which was also a giant pain in the @$$. So I considered terracing almost immediately, but it wasn't until I was over at cousin-in-law Dave's house that it finally all came together. He had removed a bunch of 4x6's of varying lengths from his own yard, and had thrown them over in a pile. I asked if he had any plans for them, and he said I could have 'em, and now they're the walls of my terraced beds!

I worked with the varied levels of the existing hill, and made the beds two different levels. The one on the right (if I've used the right pix!) is only 6 inches above the main yard level, while the bed on the left is about 12 inches higher than the yard. Since the lower one is also a little hemmed in from above, I'm thinking that it'll make a good herb garden, while the larger bed is going to be pepper or tomato or something a bit bigger--I'm open to suggestions, but I'm boycotting vining plants like cukes and squash just because they're such bedhogs. Not to mention very very THIRSTY plants! All that's left now is to add in some compost and fertilizer (cousin-in-law Sara, Dave's wife, has an in with a llama poop source...it worked for her this year!), and turn it all back over.

Friday, October 31

At my company Halloween is a BIG deal every year and even better that it falls on a Friday this year. In the morning there’s a costume contest (individual and group categories) and costume parade, at lunch most departments host a potluck and in the afternoon the company hosts trick or treating for the children and grandchildren of employees. I used to be in the Marketing department and we usually came up with a group costume – often travel destination related. Now I’m not in Marketing and I’m in a department that is very busy in the fall. So busy in fact that one third to one half of the team is on the road during October and we have a “skeleton” crew (Ba dum bum, kssshh) left to brainstorm and create our costume. This year I think our idea is rather clever and that’s mostly because we have someone in our department, Beth, who is obsessed by Halloween. I suspect she feels like she’s dragging the rest of us along, kicking and screaming.

The costume contest is very competitive – here’s an illustrative example. Two years ago Marketing decided to dress up as the members of “Guns N Roses” and their management team and roadies. It wasn’t good enough for them just to dress up – they created Ticketmaster tickets and gave a concert (lip synched) with instruments etc on the loading dock. They even convinced our COO to be their “manager” -- so he was dressed in a blazer and sunglasses with his backstage pass around his neck and a fake barbed wire tattoo on his neck. I realize you don’t know him but, trust me, he’s the LAST person you would expect to get into the spirit. OK, maybe the second to last person at GVI…Marketing had won the group costume contest for several years in a row so Product Development finally decided to give them a run for their money. The folks in Product Development decided to dress up as the characters from the Michael Jackson video “Thriller.” So we had a whole bunch of zombies with torn clothes, wild hair, zombie make up AND Michael Jackson. They somehow convinced the manager of their department to dress as Michael Jackson – face mask, red leather jacket, etc. AND they taught him the dance moves and recreated the music video. It was UNBELIEVABLE and they finally beat Marketing. Paul really was the LAST person you would expect to show up in costume demonstrating Michael Jackson’s dance moves. (I'm still sort of stunned when I think about it now.)

My department is having a potluck on Friday and I’m making some cute Halloween cupcakes (of course!). If they look as cute as I imagine they will, I will post some photos.

Happy Aniversary to us!

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 Wow! Time flies! Today is Dan's and my 5th wedding anniversary. We're celebrating by digging in the yard. How romantic! (And we're going out to dinner tonight.) I'm planting peony tulips in the front yard along the sidewalk and Dan is making some terraced beds off the "landing strip." If you have seen the driveway on the east side of our house, you would understand why we refer to it as the landing strip. See the illustrative photo above. We used it as a party pad/driveway during the luau this summer.

I've included a photo of how my tulips will look next spring - courtesy of the website where I bought the bulbs.

Photo Credit: Michigan Bulb Co.

Frosting Shots -- that's what I'm talking about!

One of my favorite blogs to read is Cupcakes Take the Cake -it is written by three lovely ladies who report on all things cupcake (news, photos, crafts, events, recipes, etc). Before I noticed a new trend in cupcake bakeries here in town I read about it on their blog - Frosting Shots! Can you believe it? I am one of those people who prefers a high frosting to cake ratio (hence my recent rejoining of the gym :-) ) and the frosting shots are the perfect solution to that problem. See the original news story here on their blog. Lovely Confections here in town sells them as does Happy Cakes. I haven't tried them yet but it brings back memories of licking the beaters or bowls of mom's homemade goodies when I was growing up.

The first guests to stay in our guest room...

Cheryl (a former coworker of Dan's), her husband, Mike, and their daughter, Munchie (OK, her real name is Lauren) stayed with us a week ago. They live in Portland, OR and came out to Colorado for a wedding up in the mountains.

Here's Lauren playing with our neighborhood stray kitty - she loves kitty cats.

Congratulations Marcia and Kathryn!

I flew out to California this weekend for the wedding of my best friend, Marcia. She married her partner, Kathryn, whom she has known since 1988. Dan and I still have them beat - we met in 1986.

Here are their flowers - their colors were pink, black and white.

They met at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota and were married by another Mac alum. Hmmm...also similar to Dan and I, except we met at Grinnell and were married by a Grinnellian on campus.

Here's me, signing their marriage license. Below are their wedding cupcakes. :-)