Purple Velvet

It has been a long time since I've made cupcakes and was so excited for a reason to make them this weekend. In honor of a friends upcoming wedding, I made purple velvet cupcakes. Well, red velvet is my favorite, but purple was one of the colors in her wedding so I decided to switch it up a bit. Now, I'm not one to make cupcake batter so I always use a box mix because decorating is more fun. I started with a red velvet mix and figured I would add blue food coloring to it. FAIL. The batter turned out maroonish. So I moved on to Plan B. I used a white cake mix, dyed it purple and added about 1.5 tbsps of unsweetened cocoa. I could have added more but the batter was starting to turn brownish. I used these white damask baking cups that I found at Michaels and they actually made about 18 cupcakes instead of 24. I topped the cupcakes with Paula Dean's cream cheese frosting and edible purple glitter. They came out great. I only wish I had made more.

Before the frosting. The batter kind of looked like poi, but tasted way better.

The finished product.

Gospel Community

Our first year in Miami was tough. Ministry was hard, we didn't feel connected to anyone outside of work, and we were ready to leave. But God told us to stay and every Sunday I see why. He has blessed us with an amazing church. Once we started going to Crossbridge we felt connected to people right away. We got plugged into a crazy but awesome community group and made some great friends. Ever since we left for college we never felt like we had a church home until now. Felipe and Marcus welcomed us in, sought to use and shape our gifts, reinforced the gospel, and came alongside us in our ministry at UM.

And this past Sunday as we dedicated Liam, I was reminded of what an amazing community we have here and how sad I am to have to leave it. This is the hardest part about leaving Miami. They (and Tim Keller) have taught us so much about the gospel and about loving and redeeming culture. So this was just a quick shout out to probably my favorite thing about Miami. I'll leave you with a link to all the sermons, the latest I would recommend is One Peace - stellar.

http://www.crossbridgemiami.com/category/teachings/

I hope you are as thankful for your church as we are.


And here's a video of Liam's Baptism

Today Show Finds

I watch the Today show everyday and love it because I always find something new whether it's websites, food, music, etc. Here are some of the great finds of today.

1. Wine Coasters (www.dimmalimm.us)

These are a great alternative to wine glass charms and are a coaster within themselves so you don't have to worry about water rings on your tables. They come in a set of six different colors: light pink, mint, yellow, orange, moss, strawberry.








2. City Pass (www.citypass.com)

If you're a person who loves attractions and museums, this is the thing for you. You can save up to 50% off ticket prices of attractions in 11 cities. Unfortunately Orlando isn't one of the cities, but maybe one day it will be.






3. Sideshow Press (www.sideshowpress.com)

Just 3 ladies and a letterpress in Charleston, SC. You do wholesale orders, custom designs, and even have some products available on Etsy.com

Latest Project

As if I needed something else to do, I decided I was going to learn how to sew. This weekend Dylan's mom brought all her stuff and little did know what I was getting myself into. As you can see my dinner table has know turned into my sewing station. I haven't sewed anything else except some sample pieces. Hopefully I'll have something to show for this soon.

Needy Baby

Well my day turned out to be nothing that I hoped. My biggest accomplishment? I packed one box. Why? Because I have the neediest baby around. Liam would not let me put him down or be out of his sight. I guess I should have seen it coming. The morning began with him falling asleep after his feeding and crying everytime I tried to set him down. So this ended up with me holding him in my lap in the bed as I tried to lean back and go back to sleep. I was telling Dylan that his neediest is both endearing and restricting all at the same time. It's weird.
So today I'm hoping for many things 1. To brush my teeth 2. Take a shower 3. Put real clothes on 4. Step outside the apartment and maybe 5. Pack a few boxes. We'll see how this goes.
If all else fails at least I have SYTYCD tonight!

I LOVE this show

When summer time rolls along there is one show that claims my heart, So You Think You Can Dance. I didn't really catch onto the show until the third season, but don't worry a little MTV marathon caught me up on seasons 1 and 2. I get goosebumps when I see and awesome dance, the same way I get goosebumps when I hear beautiful song arrangements on GLEE.

Last night was an amazing show. The highlight by far was Alex's hip-hop routine with Twitch. The past couple of weeks I've been asking myself "why is Alex on this show? He doesn't need this show, he's already a member of a major ballet company". I thought maybe he was like one of those kids whose parents forced him to study ballet and now he's making up for it. But after last night I've come to realize that Alex is on this show to prove how awesome he is. A ballet dancer shouldn't be able to do this:



So this inspired me to share some of my favorites from the last couple of years. There are so many that I like, but I can't share them all :)


Obviously - Bleeding Love




This is why Allison is an All Star (sorry for the crappy quality) - Why



Just Hot - Hip Hip Chin Chin



Sexy Back



Dreaming with a Broken Heart



Ruby Blue



Gravity



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