Resourcefulness

Apologies for the lack of posting last week, but we were away for our annual long weekend to Cape Cod.

We had a fabulous time and had beautiful weather for most of it.  You should know, that is highly unusual for us!  The previous trips have included gale-force winds knocking out power to our home for several days, historical ice storms, again knocking out power for days, etc.  We had come to believe that there was some kind of curse on our annual adventure, but this year we lucked out!  

The boys had a blast and exhausted themselves every day.  We ate too much and my smoothies and salads just aren't leaving me satisfied this week!  Pay back my friend!

So, this week we threw a big surprise bridal shower at work for our boss, who is getting married in 14 days.  By the time she reads this, no doubt it will be about 10 days to go and she will want to vomit!  But, it's all good!  We managed to keep the shindig hidden from her, even setting up the room, right under her nose.  We had many good excuses for why there were TONS of food in our work fridge, non of which was in our normal lunch bags, and why there were multiple crock pots of yummy smelling things on the counter.  For some reason she never questioned it.  I'm guessing she has a few other things on her mind!  While I was away, I got the txt, "can we put you down for cake?"  Of course!  Then I panicked, what to do?  I've known my boss for about 13 years now so I wanted to something special.  Thank goodness for Pinterest and all my psychotic pinning!  I decided to do a cupcake wedding gown from Lemon Velvet Cake.

The arranging of the cupcakes was the hardest part.  You have to play with them quite a bit to get the arrangement you like.  There's a bunch of ideas on Pinterest for gowns and tuxedos if it's a Jack and Jill shower.

The final result was stunning, if I do say so!  The belt is a silly Mardi-gras-type necklace from the party store for a huge $0.29 and the flower was on the clearance rack at the craft store for a mere $0.75.  It was a huge hit and I think I got a few more cake jobs because of it!  

Oh, you're waiting for the connection to my resourcefulness title?  Well, the cupcake dress sounds great as long as you don't have to transport the thing.  It filled a full sheet pan and I had nothing to carry it in.  My husband nicely suggested bringing all the parts to work and putting it together there.  Seriously????  I do actually have to work all day and don't have time to do this, especially trying to hide it from my boss!  I grabbed a piece of foam board at the craft store, figuring I'd fashion some sort of box, but I was worried about it not being covered in the fridge.  Thankfully, I happened to be standing in the grocery store when the light bulb went off...the bakery section!  Not sure why I even thought of it, but the bakery sells full sheet cakes, they must have a box to put them in, right?  Sure enough!  And the clerk didn't even look at me like I had 12 heads.  She said, "of course we do, they're $5."  Perfect!  And, it's such a heavy duty box that I just unfolded it and tucked it away for my next venture.  Moral of the story, make use of your bakery!  They sell all sorts of things that aren't cake!  Boxes, single color sprinkles, etc.  Just ask!