Silver Saturday...

July 9, 1986... Girl's Night Out (OK, admittedly pretty much every night was GNO in 1986) at a club that shall remain nameless a very cute boy asked me to dance.  

After gettin' our groove on to Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" (romantic, no doubt... it was the EIGHTIES y'all), cute boy and I spent pretty much every single day together for... well, the next 25 years.  

Do It Like Duff...

Some of you may remember from this post that Dear Daughter has been on a mission to work with fondant for awhile now.  We had this flipping AMAZING cake made for the Sunday Sundae Social she and three of her friend's threw recently...

Well, this just about did her in... see the invitation behind the cake?  On the way to the party she was describing to me the cake of her "dreams" for this party, we had simply emailed the cake designer a copy of the invitation and let her create it on her own.  I kid you not, when we walked in and saw the cake she nearly fell over.  THIS IS THE CAKE OF HER DREAMS ... pretty much exactly what she described to me on the way to the party. We have been haunted by fondant dreams ever since and she is determined to master some form of this crazy cake art for two of her cousin's upcoming birthdays.

THIS IS EASIER SAID THAN DONE...

One of her BFF's attempted fondant from scratch (those words make me shiver) for her mom's birthday last week.  Keep in mind she is ten years old and I'm thinking fondant from scratch is intended to be mastered by adults who get paid big money to put themselves through that torture...

Maybe not quite what she had envisioned, but certainly made with love and you bet your sweet buttercream it was eaten with gusto by her brave fabulous family!

Here's the good news for any of you Cake Boss inspired amateur chefs out there... our friend the Ace of Cakes himself has come out with a fun and easy pre-mixed fondant in some groovy fun colors that is perfect to help you unleash your inner Martha Stewart without wanting to impale yourself on your pastry knife.

Aunt Kim purchased this pack of Duff Multi-Pack Fondant at Michael's, it comes in a variety of colors, but they chose the BRIGHTS for their first attempt. With a 40% off coupon, it ran around 10 bucks... well worth it to avoid that FROM SCRATCH stress.

Getting started was the hardest part... Aunt Kim threw in some muscle (Boot Camp has served her well) and helped get it softened up. Then the cousins went crazy... cookie cutter, rolling pin, spreaders... whatever they could find, they worked with this stuff for what seemed like HOURS and finally produced this...

Not too shabby for their first try... 

I'm seeing many fondant filled afternoons in our future. 

Good ol' Fashioned 4th Fun...

Due to this crazy Texas drought, fireworks here were cancelled... but that didn't stop us from enjoying the 4th with some Mayberry style mayhem.  First stop, the community pool... 

My water babies... 

and Aunt Kim in

her happy place!

After a few hours of pool playtime, we headed over to the 

community Fourth of July Fair... 

Dear Daughter is in that ginormous ball... 

And here is the Cousin Crew with the Assistant Fire Chief... who just happens to be one of their favorite uncles.  

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  Nothing beats a good, cheap carni ride...

(Semi) Wordless Wednesday...

Sunrise over central Texas...
(taken driving 75 mph down the highway through the car window with my iphone.  really.)

Bear Sighting...

Day Two of Camp Kim and we had a very scary incident...

Who know there were bears at Camp Kim?

Greetings From Camp Kim... Day One

Note the camp chaos going on behind me... do I look concerned?

Our week at Camp Kim started out with a rousing celebration of many family birthdays... big family = boatloads of birthdays.  So, off we went to commune with nature at The Oasis, an Austin landmark built into the hills overlooking Lake Travis.  Drought conditions in Texas (rain dance anyone? ANYONE?) have caused the lake to drop low, low, low... 

But it's still a great spot for hanging out and enjoying the sunset with our junior campers...

Cousin J lookin' a little crabby there... but aren't they cute?

Dear Daughter took the whole communing with nature thing a little too literally... ummm... someone tell me whose kid this is, because on NO PLANET did I give birth to a child that 
would gleefully entertain
a live tarantula.  
ON NO PLANET.

We ended the day by enjoying a little Beatles cover band... 
YOU SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!  NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA!

Dear Daughter and Cousin Z did a little dancin'...

And Cousin J got his happy face back.
Until next time, Campers...

Happy Camper

Vintage Photo

I'm going to camp y'all!!!  No, I'm not just a little excited, and no, I'm not going to be sweatin' in a cabin in the woods with outdoor plumbing and powdered eggs for breakfast... I'm going to Camp Kim where I have my very own beautiful (airconditioned) room waiting.  

Let me explain... some of us get luckier than others in the in-law department, and while I've had a few in-laws that I wanted to throw back in the river (who shall remain nameless but thank you God they decided to throw themselves back), I have been ridiculously fortunate in the sister-in-law department.  Every year we go to Austin for a family reunion of sorts with Handsome Hubby's ginormous family for July 4th... this year Dear Daughter and I are staying  on for a week of Aunt Kim planned fun and frivolity.  Poor boys have to come back home to work (just another reason to be glad we're not stinky boys)...

I told my flipping adorable, amazing, smart, beautiful sister-in-law that I didn't care what we did as long as I don't have to make any decisions or be in charge of anything, and let me tell you my friends she has come through in spades!  I received the most beautiful agenda of activities we will be enjoying with my nieces and other sister-in-laws.  

Among a variety of camp activities, we will be communing with nature (did someone say pool?), enjoying the arts (3D movie at the Alamo Drafthouse and big girl night out dancing to an 80's cover band... yes, please), creating arts and crafts (painting and wine tasting at Pinot's Palette... yes, YES, please), and learning valuable life lessons in how to manage our money (HELLO outlet mall!).

I will send you all some virtual postcards this week of our adventures...

Kum Ba Yah, peeps!

Happy Camper Postcards