no dress rehearsal

dear elizabeth

Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for your sweet and thoughtful gift. You cannot imagine my excitement when I opened the carefully wrapped package delivered by my friendly post man today and it contained...

...PEANUT BUTTER & CO CINNAMON RAISIN SWIRL PEANUT BUTTER! No truly, you cannot imagine my excitement (I am the first to admit the amount of excitement I display for this much loved peanut butter, which is impossible to obtain in Newfoundland, may be considered excessive for a grown woman). Sheer joy, indeed. It's the little things that make life enjoyable, such as a favorite peanut butter on warm toast, with the pb melting into the bread just right. Pure comfort.

Your gift arrived at the perfect time, in the middle of a week filled with the struggles of recovering from pneumonia, fertility treatment disappointments, a work week of paperwork woes and building anxiety of a major life change to come. All that took a back burner when I sat with my peanut butter this evening (with a cut up apple and a cup of hot tea, one of my favorite ways to enjoy my treat) and nibbled away. When you haven't had a favorite in a while, there's always a risk it's not what you've built it up to be in its absence. But not this time - it's as good as I remember it.
 
Your gift provided the perfect reminder that geography doesn't dictate friendship, and even though friends and family may be far away in the physical sense, they can always be kept close in the heart. And on the cusp of another pending move, with lives soon to be disrupted and roots pulled and replanted, it's the very reminder that I needed. I hope that you and your family know the same in your hearts, and that the soil of Wyoming proves fertile and nourishing as you replant the Dillow roots.

first wedding cake

We're continuing to be busy bees in the Moakler household. Dean has been working long hours and, though I continue to get a bit quicker with my paperwork, I've been working more than I expected at the clinic. My mom's side of the family had relatives in town last week, and now my dad's whole family has come home from far and away for my Nan tracey's 80th birthday celebration. Her cake is in the oven as we speak, and I'm thinking I'll decorate it in a knitting theme, as it's one of nan's passions.

Dean and I were out to supper last night with an old friend from New Orleans, who is here on business. How nice it was to see Schroeder again and catch up. A friend of mine from occupational therapy school, Brenda, was in town last weekend. Many of the old OT girls got together for a mini reunion. Speaking of OT girls, one of my classmates, now my co-worker, got married last Friday. The wedding was beautiful. Jen was a gorgeous bride and had Murray's Pond Country Club, where both the ceremony and reception were held, decorated in such a simple, elegant way.

I did the cake, and was so nervous about it. Jen is very crafty, a "Martha Stewart" type, and quite a perfectionist too. Plus, I was going to actually be at the event. I like to drop a cake off and leave. Being there, I tend to look at it all night, and worry about it. "Oh, I think it's drooping a bit there" or "Oh my, it doesn't look very straight at this angle". 

Overall, the cake held up pretty well, especially considering how hot it was that day (and combine that with the fact there was no A/C at Murray's Pond). Jen wanted something simple, yet elegant, and with fresh flowers on the top. I had never put real flowers on a cake before, but when I arrived at the florist that morning to pick them up, she gave me a few pointers. Here's a picture of it, after set up that day:

Feels good to have my first wedding cake under my belt, and one that everyone seemed to enjoy.

the beginning...

Now that the house is moving along swimmingly, and I'm hearing the happy and comforting sounds of Liam installing our kitchen sub-floor (who knew I'd grow to love the sounds of power tools so completely?), I began reflecting on what I'll do when the house is all finished. You know, something to occupy my mind while I'm waiting for that first coat of touch up plaster to dry downstairs.

There has been two main options all along - go back to work as an occupational therapist, or start myself a new business: tanya moakler cakes. There are benefits to each, that's for sure. Going back to therapy has a level of familiarity to it, and I know I'll be getting a paycheck and contributing to the financial part of our household once again. I'll never be rich as an OT, but it's a good living. Yet the cake decorating appeals to me in so many ways: it's a creative outlet and I feel a passion for it I don't think I've ever felt at work doing anything else. I've always been a crafty type, even as a little girl. Owning my own business has never really been something I aimed for, or something that ever appealed to me. But that chance seems to bring with it a certain amount of flexibility and a feeling of autonomy over work life, though it comes hand in hand with a lot of responsibility and hard work. Some days I feel certain that I'll go back to the world of a therapist, but others I'm sure I'll take the path of a cake designer.

I owe the privilege of having this option to my very dear friend Nikki.  She lives in New Orleans, and is a wonderful stay-at-home momma to her 3 darling kiddos, who Dean and I love dearly. We passed many an evening at their place, being fed and entertained by Nik, her husband Scott and the kids. Nikki is always feeding whoever drops by, always seems excited for company, and is always full of hospitality.

A year or more passed from the time we met to when I discovered she had her own little business baking and decorating cakes out of her home. She was just beginning to experiment with fondant icing right around that time and knew I was interested. When I had admired her cake skills and began asking questions, she invited me to come over to her house one Friday evening while she was decorating. We really didn't know each other all that well at the time, her brother worked with Dean and so we'd cross paths at an odd social function, but that was about it.

Well, after that one night, I was hooked. Countless Friday evenings over the next year, I arrived at Nikki's door to learn, and she patiently taught. Since she was new to fondant work, there were lots of things we ended up learning together, though she always did all the baking, buttercream, piping, and cake covering. I grew to be her trusty assistant, helping sculpt fondant figures and objects, cutting and shaping fondant flowers, clean up duty - whatever needed to be done.

And it was during those evenings, sitting across from one another at her kitchen bar, that we became such close friends. A special bond quickly formed between us as we'd chat away as we worked. Any and every topic came up: our pasts and futures, hopes and fears, failures and triumphs, problems and possible solutions. I could always be honest with her and trusted that she was with me too.

During that year, Nikki's skills sky rocketed, as did her number of orders. She was busier than ever, with groups of loyal clients booking her up weeks in advance. My skills began to improve too, and I finally got to a stage where I could actually be helpful. How many nights did we stay up until the rise of Saturday morning's sun, finishing countless orders? It wasn't a late night for us unless we were caking past those 4 am infomercials playing the greatest hits of one decade or another. I can't count the number of times we laughed and cried, how many problems we solved, how many cake near-disasters were averted.  How much fun we had.

Here's us, after an all-nighter of caking. We're looking rough indeed. But hey, it's at least 4 or 5 am by this point.

Yes, we have matching aprons. They say "cake girls are always sweet". I just couldn't resist when I saw them online, I had to get them for us. Here we are working on hand-painting a prada purse cake, she worked on one side and me on the other, at the same time. That's a testament of how well we could work as a team.

And here 's one of the finished cakes from that evening, the prada purse we were painting above. I enjoy stepping back and looking at a cake I've completed. It's especially helpful to walk away from it, and return a half hour later. It really helps you to see your product with fresh eyes, and adjust as needed. But it was so much fun to go back to cakes together. We'd each get so excited at some of our favorites. It's not quite the same now, without Nikki to get excited with.

So thank-you Nikki. You'll never know how grateful I am to you for sharing your dream with me, and how much I miss our Friday night cake marathons.   

a welcome to baby lily and a little reminiscing

My dear friend Erin and her husband Mark are the proud parents of a little baby girl, named Lily Erin. Erin and baby are both looking lovely and, from all reports, doing well. Congratulations!

I had a bit of a perturbing experience the other day. I was booking a hotel in Las Vegas for our trip in late May. Now, I've never really had a desire to visit Vegas. As a vacation spot, it just seems too flashy for me, and not all that relaxing. But we're going, and have decided to stay at the Rio. I call the reservation line to see what kind of rates we can get. The Rio is actually a Harrah's owned property and, luckily for us, Dean has a player's reward card from when he would play poker at Harrah's New Orleans, so we are eligible for special rates and promotions.

After some looking, the nice gal on the phone quotes me $937.00 for 11 nights. Not bad, but I want to confirm the dates with Dean first, so I tell her I'll call right back. I check the dates and call right back. Of course I get a different person, and my new quote is...$2400.00. What?? Not three minutes later, promotions have changed and ended, and this is the best new rate? I hang up, not booking at such a price, and call back again immediately. This time, I get it for a little under $1190, but for 10 nights, because the first night is no longer available. I book it, but they'll honor any new promotions and lower the price if I find a better one. Are you kidding me - 3 different prices in 10 minutes. I know promotions change, but give me a break here.

Anyhow, the reason that we're heading to Vegas to begin with is that our dear friend Matt is getting married there. His wedding is at the Rio and his plans are for an elegant, formal affair. My vision of a Vegas wedding equaled Elvis at a drive-thru chapel, but this sounds like it will be more traditional. Dean is his best man.

We met Matt when we first moved to New Orleans back in 2001. Dean and I were 25 year-old newlyweds and the vast majority of his new co-workers were single guys, some on the dating scene and a few with steady girlfriends, but all out to have fun. We got a little apartment at a gorgeous building in the warehouse district, walking distance to downtown, with a great pool area. Dean and I made fast friends with some of the work guys , namely Matt, Rich, Batzer and Joey. Some combination of us, along with Joey's girlfriend Bonnie, were always out together, at live shows at Tipitina's or the Maple Leaf, down in the Quarter, out to restaurants. It was a great, carefree time for us, still young enough that thoughts of mortgages and babies were far enough in the future to not be of immediate concern, just enjoying one another, our friends and the city.

Of course, we got older. Batzer was transferred to Brazil, Rich to Malaysia, we bought a house in the suburbs and eventually transferred to Newfoundland, Matt bought a house and was eventually transferred to Alaska, Joey and Bonnie got married and now have two darling children. Our entire time in New Orleans overflows with great times and memories. But memories of this particular time, the stage before our turn into the official "adult world" with all it's corresponding responsibilities, are fond ones for me.

When Dean and I bought a house in the suburbs in New Orleans, Matt did too, three doors down from us. I loved having such a good friend so close to us. When Dean was offshore, Matt was great company for me,
and I spent many evenings watching tv at his house in my pj's, just not wanting to hang out by myself at home.  Matthew is from Michigan, so we were all far from home, no family nearby. He is a few years younger than Dean, who thinks of Matt almost as a younger brother. I was so sad when he was transferred to Alaska. Here's us from a few years ago:

Matt is marrying a someone he met when he, Dean and a few other guys went to Vegas last year for Batzer's bachelor party.  She was a stripper who he began dating that very weekend, and they've been together ever since. I've never met her. In fact, I have a hard time remembering her name, but I must learn it asap, as I can't be calling her "the stripper" on her wedding day. Though I'm feeling a little scandalized about the whole thing, I do hope that she becomes a wonderful wife to Matthew, because he most certainly deserves it.

Still, I must confess, I have unusual visuals in my mind of what this wedding will look like. Even as an elegant affair, I'm picturing all the guests attending in skimpy, glittery formal dresses with plenty of cleavage and three inch spike heels. It's hard enough for my 5'1", could stand to lose about 50lb frame to find flattering formal wear, and now this?  Oh, dear.

welcome baby katie!

Hooray, my friend Ashley and her husband Rod are the proud parents of a new little baby girl. They have named her Katie and she looks as cute as can be in her pictures. I'm hoping to get over for a visit and meet her soon. Congratulations guys! I'm sure you'll be fabulous parents. xo

Speaking of new parents, my friend and college roommate is expecting her first child within the next couple of weeks. Erin lives in Corner Brook, which is a 7-8 hour drive from St. John's, so I don't get to see her very often. She is having a baby shower this weekend and, upon discussion with her mom (who lives in St. Johns but was heading out for the shower), it was decided I would do a cake. Sharon graciously agreed to bring it out with her. She was flying and took it as her carry-on luggage, which made me so nervous. It's tricky enough to transport a cake in a car, I just wasn't sure it would handle take-off and landing in a plane.

Well, she sent me a message today saying that both she and the cake made it intact. Hooray! I'm so glad Erin will get her gift from me. She has a farm themed nursery similar to Ashley's, though her bedding set is not the same. Still, a farm is a farm and has similarities , so I tried to make her cake different from Ash's barn yard shower cake I did a couple of weeks ago.

Here is the front of the cake. I made it two layers instead of three because I thought it would be easier to transport.

 

Here is the back side of the cake. There were so many cute little flowers and animals in blocks on the bedding, I had to go all the way around to fit them in:

Finally, here is a close up of Mr. Piggy, one of the little fondant animals I made. Mom ended up really loving him, so I made her another out of some extra fondant to place on her desk. She says this is her favorite of the cakes I've made so far.

Other than that, it's been more painting for me and putting up cove molding for Dean and Billy, which has been a difficult task indeed. With no walls straight and no 90 degree angles in this old house, it's not just cutting two ends at 45 and having them meet in the middle at 90. It's OK, nothing a little caulk won't fix : )

I know I've been saying I was going to take pictures of the walls to show the paint colors and progress, but I was wanting to take them on a nice, sunny day, when the rooms look bright and the colors look best. Alas, no sun here the last few days. So I'm hoping for sunshine and the completion of painting duties tomorrow!

happy birthday cathy!

I hope you have a most wonderful year ahead of you, full of many joys!

A cake in your honor. I'd ship you a cake in the mail if I thought that it would get there in anything other than a squished, stale mess!

Enjoy your day! xo

baby walsh, arriving soon...

Yesterday I went to a baby shower for a dear college friend of mine, hosted by her sweet mom and her aunt. Getting pregnant was a long journey for Ashley, and everyone is so excited, eagerly awaiting the little one's arrival. Ash is looking fabulous and, at 36 weeks, the baby could certainly come at any time now.

Ash and her husband Rod have opted not to find out the sex of the baby. Seems to be a trend among all of my pregnant friends, just a small few are wanting to know if they are having a boy or a girl before baby's arrival. Not me. If I indeed ever get pregnant I'd be so on top of knowing as soon as I could. Especially if I was having a girl, you can bet it would be reflected in the nursery decor. Not necessarily all frills and poofs, but something with more of a feminine flair to it, to be sure.

The baby's room decor is the "My Little Farm" set, which is really sweet. I offered to do a cake for the shower, and based it off the bedding.

It was my very first three tiered cake, and I was happy with how it came out. The top layer is just a wee three inch round, so it took a bit to get used to icing and covering something so small, but any flaws I disguised by placing clouds around the sky.

Can't wait to meet you little one!