I (finally) explain myself. Or something like that.

    

You may find yourself making a trip to the grocery store for butter and sour cream.

And you may find yourself purchasing pickles as well.

And you may find yourself also buying chocolate chip cookies.

You may find yourself in the candy aisle, with a bag of Starbursts in your hand.

You may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"*

And your answer to the above question will probably be one of the following:

1. "I'm stoned, again."
2. "I'm shopping while hungry, again."
3. "I'm shopping while pregnant, again." -or-
4. "I'm shopping while frustrated with work, again."

If you're like me though, your answer to the above question will be

5. All of the above except for #1 (that sort of thing is generally frowned upon while being #3).

Yup, that's right folks, you read that correctly. I... am... (drum-roll please) HUNGRY! Oh, and I'm pregnant too. Thought I should just throw that out there. It's already "Facebook official," so might as well tell the rest of the world. Here, I'll even share my "making it Facebook official" photo with you:

(Well, technically I am, but by default the G-man is too. Or something like that.)

So, that's been my deal for the past so-and-so many weeks/months. Which is another way of saying I totally blame the person growing inside of me for why I haven't blogged in forever. This being pregnant shit can be rough. But I survived the milestones of the first trimester and am now honeymooning in the second. I didn't realize how bad I was feeling during the first three months until I started feeling good again. Like my stepfather always says, "The best part about pain is when it's over." Amen.

In case you're wondering, "Oh hey, OBG, if you're feeling so great now, how come you're still not back to blogging regularly?" Well, now it seems, despite my return of energy and easing up of nausea, I'm suffering from frequent migraines, and if you know anything about migraines, they make looking at a computer screen feel like there are shards of broken glass being driven through your eyeballs.

(You aren't really affected by this, but I had to share that I needed to take two days off from this post in order to nurse a migraine. I'm back now. Again, I doubt you even noticed.)

You're probably wondering,  "What does this all mean", right? Well, it means my life is in the process of changing significantly, and therefore so will my blog. In fact, I think I touched upon that once or twice before. Don't panic yet though. I have no intention of becoming a "Mommy blogger," not that there's anything wrong with that. There are plenty of Mommy and Daddy bloggers out there that I enjoy and who do a pretty damn good job of writing some pretty gosh darn entertaining shit. I would be lying though if I didn't admit that being a brand new shiny mommy (or mommy-to-be) won't seep it's way into this blog. I'm sure it will. I'll try to keep it to a minimum though.

In the meantime, while I'm still trying (and can find the time) to sort out the direction of this blog, let me answer some FAQs before you ask them. When I'm finished, if you still have questions, you may find the comment section to be a suitable place to ask (that's the teacher in me speaking right there).

OBG Prego FAQs (in no particular order)

When are you due?
In August. About mid-August. August 19th, to be more specific. If you're not any good at pregnancy math (and who is?), that puts me at 15 weeks.

What are you having?
Um, I'm not well learned in the matters of biology, but I'm pretty sure we'll be having a baby. Oh, you meant what is the sex of the baby? Don't know yet. Ask me again in about a month, and if I'm in a good mood, I might decide to tell you. Or not.

Will you and the G-Man be getting married?
Geez folks! We've only been together for 10 years. We should probably give it some time to see if we even like each other before we rush into any hasty decisions like marriage.

How are you feeling?
Like there's a human being growing inside of me, and I no longer have control of my body.
Like there's a massive water balloon that has taken up residency in my gut.
But otherwise, not bad. My back's starting to hurt, and I get horrendous headaches, and I have horrible... Oh. You were just asking to be polite? You didn't really want a list of my woes? No problem. I feel great! Thanks for asking!

Do you have any cravings?
Fruit and candy. And pickles, but that's nothing new.

Will you be returning to work after wards?
Uh, yeah! Did you not read this post? Although, I'll admit, I have fantasized about being a SAHM (look! I know the lingo already!) for at least the first six months, while embarking on some creative endeavor that would allow me to do so and still bring in some dough. But I'm realistic. I'll have to go back to work.

Can we see pictures?
Um... if you're family and/or close friends you can. I'm not sure how I feel yet about posting prego pics of me on the internet yet.

But what if we promise not to laugh?
Fine. I'll give you one picture:

(The dreaded "pregnancy mask")**

Alright, well that's enough with FAQs. And that's enough from me. I've got big important stuff to do. Or something like that. 

Wait! One more thing. If you're so inclined, pop back and reread my New Year's Resolutions. I promise you you'll see them in a whole new light.

* Swiped from Talking Heads.

** FYI this was at 13 weeks. There's a bump there, but mostly this will serve as a basis for comparison for all the future bump pictures I'll be taking for close friends and family.

Got Me Some Tickets to That There Gun Show

Since you've all Steve G.'s been dying to hear about the gun show I attended on Saturday, here ya go. (FYI- I didn't take any of these pictures. I had my camera with me but I was too afraid to take it out. Some pics were taken from the gun show's website. Others were swiped from Google images.)

Last Saturday I attended The Nation's Gun Show in Chantilly, VA with the G-Man. I knew that there wasn't even a tiny fraction of me that wanted to go to the gun show. I knew that it would be painful and torturous and would come quite close to being as horrific as that awful time I was dragged to InfoComm in Orlando last year. Boy was I ever wrong. The Nation's Gun Show was a hundred times worse than InfoComm where at least they had flashy lights to distract me, TVs to entertain me, and AV geeks to ogle after me. And there was free booze and food and an entirely free, catered party at the Hard Rock Cafe to get smashed at. And when I had had enough of the actual InfoComm event (and I was only there for an hour) I was able to sit by the pool for the rest of the week. Heck. I even got to go to Sea World. The Nation's Gun Show? Not so much fun.

The gun show was loaded.

First of all, I was told that we wouldn't be at the show for long, which in my mind, meant no more than an hour. In reality it meant that we were there for an hour and a half, made it through only half of the show, took a break for a late lunch, and then returned for another hour and a half for the rest of the show. To say that it was the worst experience of my life might be stretching it a bit, but not by much. For the ease of reading, I've broken down the highlights and lowlights of the gun show into some handy dandy lists.

 If only it were this empty when we were there. Whatever. It still would have sucked.

Things That Shocked Me About the Gun Show

1. It cost $12 per adult to get in (I did not pay for my ticket).
2. People were walking around with guns slung over their shoulders.
3. People were walking around with descriptions of said guns taped to their bodies in case anyone was interested in buying them.
4. There was a lot of Nazi paraphernalia. I mean, a lot.
5. I didn't get hit on at all. Not once. (This is a good thing. Usually at events where there are a lot of a particular kind of man in attendance all women get hit on).
6. There were very few women in attendance.
7. Most of the women in attendance were pregnant.
8. There was very little camo.
9. There were a lot of American Eagle polo shirts.

 Apparently there's a large market for Nazi souvenirs.

 

Things That I Hated About the Gun Show

1. My claustrophobia kicked into high gear.
2. As a result of my claustrophobia, my anxiety level was through the roof.
3. It was impossible to walk around with out bumping into at least three other people while doing so.
4. There were a lot of overweight men there.
5. There was a lot of body odor.
6. There was a lot of man cleavage.
7. There was a lot of butt cleavage.
8. I'm pretty sure there were Klan members in attendance.
9. I'm pretty sure everyone there were McCain and Palin supporters (well, maybe not Palin, she is a woman after all, and the only place a woman should be is in the kitchen).
10. I'm pretty sure there were many wife beaters in attendance.
11. We were told that New York was a communist state (actually, I wasn't told this, the G-Man was, as no one at the show spoke to or looked directly at me. Good times).

 This guy probably wasn't there, but if he had been, I'm sure he would have fit right in.

Things That Entertained Me About the Gun Show

1. People watching.
2. Identifying the serial killers.
3. Being ignored by every single vendor there.
4. Not having to feign interest in anything people were selling.

DUE TO PUBLIC SAFETY ISSUES AND INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS, THERE WILL BE NO LOADED GUNS, OR MAGAZINES, ALLOWED ON THE SHOW FLOOR. THIS APPLIES TO VENDORS AS WELL AS THE GENERAL PUBLIC. SORRY, BUT WITHOUT MEETING THE INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS THE SHOW CANNOT GO ON, AND AS MUCH AS WE MIGHT AGREE ( or disagree ) WITH YOUR OBJECTIONS, WE MUCH PREFER TO CONTINUE THE SHOW IN SPITE OF THIS SMALL INCONVENIENCE. THIS MATTER IS NOT OUR POLICY OR DECISION, BUT WE CANNOT AND WILL NOT CHANGE IT OR MAKE EXCEPTIONS.     

The gun show Word of Caution

  

The place was packed, folks. I mean, wall-to-wall rednecks/meat heads/douchebags. I spent most of the time trying to find quiet little corners of empty space among the vendors' booths to hide in. In fact, the entire time we were there, I touched a total of two things (three if you count madly clutching my purse. Four if you count madly gripping the back of the G-Man's shirt lest I be sucked into a sea of overweight, stinky, Republicans)- 1) a collection of wartime advertisements and 2) a beautiful dragonfly fabric some gun vendor was using as a table cloth.

The only thing I was interested in at the gun show. The vendor probably thought I was a weirdo.

It would probably come as no surprise to you all that I insisted we get out of there ASAP. If I never attend another gun show in my life, it will be too soon.

I may be blonde, but you're a wannabe, which is so much worse.

Okay, I know I already posted today but I'm going to remove it and save it for another day. Sorry, but I have to take a moment to vent because this has never happened to me before, and I could really use some moral support right now.

SOMEBODY BASHED ME IN THE COMMENTS SECTION OF ANOTHER BLOG!!!

This wouldn't hurt so bad if it weren't for the fact that she told me that I am, "so blonde." This hurts. It really does. Obviously she doesn't know that I am an extremely intelligent person who graduated at the top of my class in grad school, and who spent many years in high school loathing the fact that I'm blonde because people were relentless with the dumb blond jokes and crushed my self-esteem making me believe that I was stupid just because of the color of my hair. *sob*

Here's her comment, because I have to share, and because I believe in full disclosure (most of the time) I'm including my comment too because, well, I don't quite understand. But that's probably the blond in me speaking:

"Like, I don't get it."

Now please excuse me for a moment, I'm typing angry  and that means a lot of typos, so you can only imagine the amount of whiteout I have all over my screen that I now need to figure out how to remove.

After spending a few seconds reading this person's blog, I have come to the conclusion that I just joined the ranks of The Writing Womb and got attacked by someone who is overly sensitive. I am no longer offended, because obviously she has no sense of humor and her blog is kind of lame.

And now I have to go convince myself that I am a good person and that I'm not anti-gay and that I'm a better person than her and I will not stoop to her level and sling mud at her on a blog that belongs to someone else. I will not. I will not. I will not. 

Maybe I should cancel my plans to get together with my good friend, Pooh, before I leave town, because, well, he's gay. Or maybe I should cancel my plans to visit a family member later in the year because, well, she's bi-sexual. Or maybe I shouldn't keep in touch with one of my favorite grad school professors because, well, she's a lesbian.

Maybe I should hang a sign around my neck that says, "Caution, I use the word gay in slang ways sometimes because I'm only human." Then again, Pooh uses it too, but I guess it's okay for him because, well, he's gay.

Okay. I'm over it now. Kind of. Sort of. I will be. Let me sleep on it. Ugh! Stupid people. Shit. Now I just insulted stupid people. I hate myself.

(For the record, I am well aware of the fact that I have some, well, how should I put this? Blonde qualities. I've accepted this, and I'm able to make fun of myself about them as well. Which, in my opinion, makes me a great person. Okay, now I really am over it.)

My Brain's on Vay-Cay

Right now my mind is pretty much preoccupied with packing and other life shit. Coming up with clever things to write about is pretty much out of the question (Shut up! I do to write clever and funny things!). So, here is some random stuff to tide you over (I know, and it's not even RST).

First off, is a faux-Snuggie considered clothing? I happen to have one in my possession that I would like to get rid of. Can I drop it off in a clothing drive drop-off box, or is it technically considered a blanket, and therefore not suitable for the drop-off box?

Second of all, I just caught the weirdest, most-fascinating train wreck of a show on VH1, You're Cut Off! Normally, I don't write about the TV that I watch, but for fun, here's some quotes from the show:

"I didn't hire her as a life coach. I already have an astrologer."
"I am not doing laundry."
"We're taking a van? Seriously? We're not getting a limo?"
"I'm a fly princess."
"My housekeeper doesn't even live in houses like this."
"What about our diamonds?"
"I have to go tanning."

I can't say that I'll ever watch it again, mainly because I can never remember when shows are on (seriously, my sister had to remind me EVERY Tuesday via Facebook that LOST was on, and we're talking LOST here, folks!).

Thirdly, I'm watching repeats of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and I love the fact that the big sisters are giving the younger sisters a talk about puberty and starting their first period. Seriously, I wish my big sister had done that for me. Instead, I had to make do with the book my mom bought for my twin and I to read. I remember this topic was discussed by the lovely Hipstercrite awhile back. Real quick, go read this post, A Brutally Embarrassing Coming-of-Age Story, and then come back (please?). Alright, now tell me, what was your experience with this time of your life like?

Finally, go check out the giveaway. Seriously. Do it. Otherwise McGriddle pants is going to walk away with the prize, and how is that any fun? Competition is good for the soul.

And since I hate posting without pictures, check out these two pics that I found while packing. My mom sent these to me at some point in time, and I forgot that I had them. Aren't they great?

The little boy is my grandfather, and the baby is my great-aunt. My grandfather passed away when I was really young, so I barely knew him. My great-aunt passed away last year, unfortunately I barely knew her as well because... well, I'm not really sure why. We just never saw her. It's good to have these pics though.

Anywho... enjoy your Thursday. Can you believe it's almost Friday already? Where the hell does the time go?

Zzzzz

      

Dear peeps,

    

I plan to fill you in on my weekend adventures tomorrow. I'm just too beat right now. In the meantime, here's a little fun tid-bit...

I got a kick-ass award from McGriddle Pants over at Serenity Now!! Insanity Later...

(See?)

It's my first one. I'm super-psyched. However, now comes the pressure of giving some sort of acceptance speech, or something like that. Right? Is that something I have to do? I'm not really good at making speeches... Did I tell you about the time I purposefully made a point of not doing too super great in high school because I didn't want my grades to be so good that I became valedictorian or salutatorian because if you were either one you had to give a speech at graduation? No? Well, there you go. I just told it. 

Okay, now for my acceptance speech, here goes...

Thank you.

Phew! I hope that was okay. I tend to ramble when I'm nervous. I hope I didn't stutter. I tend to do that when I'm nervous too. Okay, well, before I run off to reapply my deodorant (I sweat when I'm nervous, and man, if giving that speech didn't make me super-d-duper-sweaty nervous...) I have to pass this baby on. This is going to be difficult, but here goes...

Here are five fantastically awesome blogs that I love more than the genius peanut butter and chocolate combination of a NutRageous. Okay, maybe not, but you get the idea:

1. The Naked Writer over there at The Writing Womb. Really, great stuff. I stumbled upon this blog recently and cannot stop laughing at the Naked Writer's complete and utter disregard for couthness*. (WARNING: Not for the faint of heart)
2. Lauren at Hipstercrite. This was one of the first blogs I began stalking following. She's clever, insightful, poetic, intelligent, uber-cool and, of course, downright narcissistic** (really, aren't we all?).
3. LiLu at Livit, Luvit. Why? Because she is just too dang funny. And she seems like she would be totally fun to hang with.
4. Erin, the Queen bee of Blogging is for Dorks. Erin's stories about spiders and shopping trips to Walmart are just too much. Make sure you check her out.
5. (and last, but certainly not least) Amber at Airing My Dirty Laundry. The tales she tells of her poor kids and husband are awesome. 

And there we have it. That took a little bit longer than I had expected. Now I should probably let these good ladies know, huh? (If you happen to make it there before I do, can you pass along the good news? Really, I am just too dang tired.)

Be on the lookout tomorrow for my weekend report. Here's a teaser...

There was drinking. And eating out (No! Not that kind, you dirty, dirty people). And a bloody appendage. Intrigued, aren't you? You should be. See you then!

* One of these days I'm going to come out with my own dictionary.

** A word she used to describe herself. I would never throw that word at people willy-nilly.

I don't care if you're on your deathbed... IT'S LOST!

                                  

SPOILER ALERT!!! DON'T READ THIS POST UNTIL YOU HAVE WATCHED THE LATEST EPISODE OF LOST!!!

Normally, I don't blog about TV recaps. However, last night's episode was fan-freakin'-tastic! Of course, I felt like I needed to share with someone how awesome and amazing the episode was. Normally, I share with my sister. During commercial breaks. And afterward too. For like, an hour. I couldn't do that last night. Here's why:

(this conversation took place via the technological wonders of texting)

Me: why was Desmond on their plane?

Sister: Not watching. Very sick.

Me: what? are you full of shit? i don't care if youre on your deathbed... ITS LOST! and it has DESMOND in it.

Me: AND CHARLIE

       AND CLAIRE

Sister: No tv in bathroom. Will watch online later.

Me: SHUT UP!!! well, I hope you are feeling better soon...

Sister: Thanks.

Me: are you pukey?

Sister: Yes.

Me: OMG!!! Best episode ALL season!!!

Sister: Bitch.

Okay, now that you're all caught up, let me explain why this was the Best episode ALL season!!!:

1. Desmond is featured in this episode. Desmond is one of my Top Ten favorite Lost characters. (I haven't actually made this list, but I'm thinking I might have to now)

2. Charlie is in this episode. Charlie. As in, CHARLIE!!! I ♥ Charlie.

3. Flashback to the saddest moment in the history of Lost. When Charlie died. And Desmond couldn't help him. I cried. I cried again tonight. Here, I know you want to cry too, so watch this:

4. Claire is in this episode. As in pre-crazy Claire. As in sweet, naive, pregnant Claire. I miss that Claire.

5. No Locke. Thank god, 'cause I was getting tired of him. And Jack. We only had a brief sighting of Jack, which irked me, but I guess it could have been worse. (I'm beginning to think it's written into Matthew Fox's contract that he must appear in every episode. He's such an episode-whore)

6. Lost's lovable losers were looking for love. Everyone together now, awwww.... How sweet was it that all the men who actually deserve to be loved and happy (Read: Not Jack) are realizing that somewhere, out there, is a woman for them? And not only that, but THEY'VE ALREADY MET! Talk about soul mates. (if only I believed...)

7. Upham Daniel returns. It took me a very, very long time to get over the appearance of Jeremy Davies after what he did in Saving Private Ryan, but I learned to love the guy, and it was good to see him back again. It means we're about to get all quantum physics-ie again soon. I missed that. I don't understand it, but I missed it.

8. The mystery is back. I feel like this episode was a throw-back to the good ole days of last season when Lost still had you sitting on the edge of your seat. You know, when you would yell at the TV and couldn't contain the physical anxiety all the drama was creating and would bounce around the room like a four year old cracked out on sugar? When you would actually converse with the characters on screen as if they could hear you? Remember those days? No? Just me? Okay then...

9. No Ben. My sister will disagree with me on this one, but Ben is one whiny little bitch. He irritates me. 

And there you have it. My reasons for last night's episode of Lost being the best one all season. And just for fun, here's the conclusion to the conversation with my sister:

Me: i can't believe i can't discuss this with you! im fracking [sic] out all by myself!

Sister: Text [person]. He watched.

Me: yeah, but he doesnt care and he just wont get it! its not the same. im pouting, btw.

Sister: Sorry to ruin your night. Mine is worse right now.

Me: you're not preggars again, are you?

Sister: Hell no! I dont get sick then. More than puking but will spare u the details.

Me: sounds like fun!

(In hindsight, I think I may have been a little insensitive to my sister's plight, but, hello! It's Lost! And she wasn't watching it! And it was the best episode ALL SEASON! Now I'm going to have to wait until she watches it before I can discuss it with her and then I'm going to forget all my current excitement and it just won't be the same.)

I can't believe I forgot about this!

    

A couple weeks ago I won my first giveaway, yay! I had recently started following the blog Along the Ausable. I used to live in Jay, NY so I enjoy popping over to Along to take a trip down memory lane. One evening I wandered over and discovered that she was having a giveaway! Along had recently made a discovery while visiting Devin's Garage and Deli*... jewelry! She was so excited that she decided to giveaway a pair of earrings to the first person to comment on her post. Of course, yours truly was the first person. Yay for me! (see, sometimes it pays to stalk people) Pop on over there, and read about it yourself. It's a cute story that reminds me of the small things I miss about living in small towns.

Anyway, I had completely forgotten that I had won, what with all the chaos currently occurring in my life. So, I took my (bi) weekly trip to the post office today (I always forget to check the mail), and look what I found in my mailbox!

Earrings! And a postcard of the Jay Covered Bridge! I was so excited. I rarely ever get real mail, and I rarely, rarely ever get packages in the mail! I'm thrilled about these earrings. They're so cute and they're green too! One of my favorite colors. I can't wait to wear them (I promise to post pictures when I do, of course). And check out the note on the back:

Awe, thanks! This has made me feel nostalgic, and I feel like reminiscing about the things I miss about living in Jay:

•  I NEVER forgot to go to the post office; it was right across the street! And I could walk there!
• sitting on our roof on the 4th of July, watching the three, yes three, different fireworks displays over the river. And they lasted forever!
• hanging my laundry out to dry.
• the neighbor's HUMONGOUS cat. That thing was seriously huge. In fact, it woke us up one night when it was fighting an owl over a rabbit. The cat won.
• walking down the hill in our backyard to go tubing in the river.
• the sense of community.
• music in the village green. We never actually went, but we could hear the music from our house.
• the weather. It was so weird, but living in Jay was like living in a weird weather bubble. If it was snowing everywhere else, the sun was shining in Jay!
• the scenery. I can't find most of my pictures, I think they're on my computer packed away in storage, however, I was able to scrounge a few up on this computer. It wasn't the most beautiful day, but I'm sure you'll get the idea. This was our backyard. Please disregard the date stamp. These obviously weren't taken in January. Or in 2070. If you want to see some prettier pictures, check out this gallery. Enjoy!

* Devin's Garage and Deli is a great place. They used to change the oil in my car. And I could walk there!

The Most Expensive Cupcake EVER!!

...but also the yummiest! After a really rough weekend and a bout of some really bad winter weather blues, I needed a pick-me up. I had seen this post about some St. Patrick's Day inspired goodness. It's been awhile since I've baked, which always makes me happy, but the kitchen where I'm living right now is less than motivating and I just haven't had the ambition to bake. I'm one of those obnoxious people who insists on baking entirely from scratch, so whipping up a batch of cupcakes isn't a quick little task.

At any rate, I thought this week would be perfect for trying to bake something egg-less (my first time) and bake something in honor of St. P's Day. As you can imagine, Sprinkle Bakes' Guinness Chocolate Pudding is certainly not something that would be easy to make egg-less, so I thought I'd aim a little lower. I knew Guiness Chocolate cupcakes exist because of a post I did over on The Bitter Blonde about them, so I was motivated to dig-up a recipe for something similar. After a quick Google search, I came across a recipe for Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey's Frosting at the blog Chew On That. Yum! Apparently this recipe originated with the Smitten Kitten, which Chew On That so kindly provided a link to, which I so kindly checked out. Now, I'm a visual learner, so while I started with Chew On That, I ultimately chose to use the post at the Smitten Kitten. Alright, now that we have the proper references and citations taken care of, let's get on to the good stuff! Oh, whoops, I forgot one. Since I can't do eggs, I decided to be adventurous (one of my New Year's "Resolutions") and attempt to doctor the Guinness recipe and make it egg-less. I used this recipe as a reference.

First off, I need to note that these cupcakes took FOREVER to make (like 3-4 hours). Of course, this included cool time and busted pastry bag emergency repair time and so on and so on. Now, the reason I deemed this the most expensive cupcake EVER is because it cost me nearly $100 before I even started. Before you panic, let me note that I am working without any of my bake ware so I had to pick up some necessary items (like cupcake tins and decorator's tips and bags...). I also needed to purchase the necessary Jameson, Bailey's and Guinness for this recipe, since these aren't things I normally have on hand (You're surprised by this, aren't you? Yeah, me too.) Of course, I could have opted for cheaper brands, but when it comes to baking, I believe in quality ingredients and splurged for the brand name liquors. You may not be aware, but liquor stores carry smaller, cheaper bottles of liquor, but I'm a comparision shopper, and the bigger bottles turned out to be more bang for my buck. I'm sure nothing will be wasted.

In my typical How-To style, I'm providing you with a visual step-by-step of the process. You can look up the instructions on your own, right? I will, however, provide the ingredients list at the end since I altered it a bit from the original recipe.

(prepped and ready to start, apron and everything. My roommate told me that I looked like I knew what I was doing because I had an apron on. This apron was custom made for me by my sis. Maybe she'll make you one too. She doesn't offer them on her Etsy shop, but ask, you never know. Tell her I sent you. Did I mention it's reversible? No? It is. Oh! The earrings were made by her too.)

(I know I said I believe in quality ingredients, and I do, but I also believe in free ingredients, and some of these were already available in my pantry.)

 (my new love. This beauty belongs to my landlord. It's definitely going to be on my Christmas list this year! I love it in Green Apple, of course, this could just be the Irish overload talking.)

(butter, beer and cocoa powder! This is the most heavenly smell ever!)

 (You're probably shocked by the sparkling clean surface, right? One of the key habits of a successful baker is keeping a clean work space!)

(Check out this cute cupcake liners! Apparently, if you get on your hands and knees and look at the back of the bottom shelf in the baking section, you can find little treasures like these! On a personal note, I'm partial to the foil cups. They're sturdier and they tend to bake up better. Don't worry, you'll see what I mean later on. I mixed and matched my cups.)

 (In the oven! A gas oven, no less. I haven't used one of these babies since my Mom's house. Yes, I purchased disposable trays. I have learned in the past that good bake ware and cook ware doesn't mix well with multiple housemates.)

(See what I mean? The foil liners hold their shape so much better. In case you're wondering, I doubled the paper liners because I didn't want to lose the cool plaid design, which frequently happens with chocolate batters.)

(This just felt SO wrong to me when I was doing it. I mean, I was removing the BEST part of the cupcake! In case you're wondering, I didn't have a fancy tool to do this. I used a grapefruit knife and a teaspoon measuring spoon. Hey, it did the trick!)

(I know what you're thinking, Damn! That's a big knife! Yeah, well, with everything else in life, I believe bigger is better.)

(This was a new process for me, and I was surprised at how well it worked! A side-note, if you accidentally picked up unsweetened bakers chocolate like I did, you might need to add some confectioner's sugar at this point. If you add some sugar, that'll thicken your ganache, meaning you'll need to add some more liquid, i.e. Jameson! A win-win.)

(The picture quality sucks, but you get the idea. The ganache will set up, but you might need to smooth it out before it does.)

(Starting the frosting. This is the BEST frosting I've ever had! Of course, by this point, I had probably already consumed half a Guinness and a shot of Jameson, so...)

(The color of this frosting was beautiful. This pic sort of represents it, but not quite.)

(Alright, at this point, I was SUPER discouraged. My pastry bag kept busting and I had to repair it with masking tape. I was also highly disappointed to discover that the kit I bought didn't have the tip I wanted. Plus, I didn't have orange food coloring, so I had to make it, and I wasn't able to "paint" the color on the inside of the bag like I usually do because the interior of my decorator's bag was apparently coated with Teflon or something equally non-stick so my stripes, which are usually super cool, were pretty blah. Definitely not my best decorating job, but hey, it's not like your stomach cares what they look like, right?)

So, as promised, here's the ingredients for the recipe, as altered by me. Here's the original, just in case you forgot it was posted above.

For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes:
1 cup Guinness
1 cup butter (the original calls for unsalted, but I used salted and omitted the salt step. While some people, for health reasons, like to omit the salt altogether, I have found that the addition of salt really makes a difference)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (the recipe recommends Dutch-process, but I couldn't find any)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2/3 cup sour cream
4 teaspoons vinegar (in lieu of the eggs. I added it at the same point as the recipe calls for the mixing in of the eggs)

For the Jameson Ganache:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (my only options were unsweetened and sweetened, I used unsweetened, so if you use sweetened, you don't need to add the sugar)
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 to 3 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 shots Jameson

For the Bailey's Frosting:
3 to 4 cups confectioner's sugar (I used all 4 because I upped the amount of Bailey's)
1 stick butter, at room temperature
3 to 4 tablespoons butter

If you make these, let me know how they turn out! I happen to really enjoy them. I tried a "damaged" cupcake straight out of the oven and it tasted just like a brownie! Score! By the way, my Pandora radio station was set to The Kinks and I rocked out to some great British tunes during baking (probably not appropriate for an Irish baking session, but...). 

Golden Girl*

 

As a sort of homage to the Oscars(sort of) on Sunday night, I experimented with gold leafing. There were a few things I learned while experimenting with the joys of gold leafing:

1. Safety first (technically, I learned this while glass etching)
2. Gold leafing involves a huge time commitment as you need to wait an hour between each step (which made it the perfect project to work on during the Oscars. That show is long!)
3. This shit is addicting!!
4. If you have any perfectionist in you (and God help me, I do!), this might not be the project for you, but if you can get past the fact that your results won't be perfect (and this is where my stubbornness really helped), you can gold leaf ANYTHING!!
5. You should not gold leaf while in bed (just one more thing to add to my long list of things that should not happen while in bed)
6. Did I mention this shit is addicting? Yeah, it is.

Please enjoy this visual step-by-step of my Sunday evening. Enjoy!

(safety first! gold leafing is stinky!)

(the supplies. I used Rex Art Gold Leafing Kit. This is a six step process, but I skipped the antiquing step)

(the gold leaf. this isn't the gold leaf that came with the kit. I can't remember what kind this is and I can't find it. it's possible it's no longer available)

(the first step. these are my 3-D glasses I swiped from the theater after watching Avatar. I think you were technically suppose to return/recycle them, but the movie was LONG and I wanted a souvenir.)

(prepping my otter. remember? I bought him at Michaels)

(gold leaf applied. this is like, step three)

(drying after applying step 4, the sealer)

(modeling my new glasses! I intend on adding some more decorations to these, so stay tuned! after all, if you're forced to sit through long, sci-fi, 3-D movies, shouldn't you be rockin' some cool shades? I think so)

(my Cabbage Patch was jealous and wanted to try them on too)

(they look SO much better on her!)

Hope you enjoyed this! After gold leafing on Sunday, I was motivated to do some more later on. I'll definitely show you pics of those later!

* How perfect! I just noticed that this is my 50th post! Hurray for the golden one!

Well, color my face red.

 

You know how you spend a good hour writing a new post and you put a lot of time into it and then you go to post it and realize you posted it to the wrong blog? No? Well, that's what happened to me tonight. Whoops! You can find my recent post here, at The Bitter Blonde. Pop on over there and check it out, and then let's pretend we never had this conversation. Thank you.

I'm crafty! -or- Michaels is crack and I'm a crack-whore

   

Okay, normally I don't blog about (insert random topic here) craft projects. Mainly because I don't have time to do them and haven't, in fact, done anything crafty since Christmas of 2008. Sad, I know. However, all that changed today because of some sunshine, a tapestry and two bottles of beer! (For an explanation on how those otherwise seemingly random items relate to each other, click here)

I started this morning out by experimenting with some glass etching. I was lacking some crucial materials, but managed to find some suitable replacements in my closet (it's like a gold mine in there!). I'm going to save that whole process and what not for a later post, but here is a teaser pic to get you excited...

After my glass etching experimentation, I became inspired to take a trip to Michaels, one of the best and worst stores to waste an hour or two or three in. I went there for letter stencils and left with about $20 worth of goodies (which is really GOOD for me. I can drop $60 in that place in 30 minutes. My current financial situation, however, forced me to restrain myself.) Without giving too much away about my future craft endeavors, I purchased...

a pack of these  

(or, something similar to these)

 

two of these 

(or, close enough)
 

a "toob" of these 

(which I have plans for inspired by these gilded goodies- alright, well, I can't find them, but I promise when I post about this crafty project, I will have a link)

I also purchased some little blue birds, but I can't find them online anywhere, so, that's that. After my trip to the crack house Michaels, I was super psyched to get back home a create some more! Here's a peak...

Alright, that's all for now. I'm distracted by the Oscars right now and have totally lost my focus of this post. (Ryan Seacrest is an idiot, and I can't figure out why E! is having Jay Manuel and Giuli-whoseherface critique people's outfits like they're doing a play-by-play for the Super Bowl, AND I'm really enjoying following Una LaMarche's live Oscar blog). I will catch you all up tomorrow... I think... wait, what? Sorry, I just saw Jake Gyllenhaal. Gotta go!