5:45am

I'm on vacation.

You know what you do when you're on vacation?
1. Eat food on the "restricted list" at home.
2. Watch hours of TV.
3. Sit around and read an entire novel in one afternoon.
4. Hang out in a coffee shop and post a facebook status update that says where you are and let the people come to you.
5. Go to the city pool and ask the life guards [who are all at least 10 years younger than you] random questions. Also, float on the lazy river for a minimum of 10 laps.
6. Visit the grandparents.
7. Happy hour at Sonic? Daily. Especially if it's 100+ degrees. It is.
8. Discover the new Sno Shack. See the last part of #7.
9. Let your parents purchase all food and groceries. Holla!
10. Stay up late and sleep in. Basically sleep whenever you want.

Except, I woke up at 5:45am yesterday. Why?

Light.

And senior pictures need good light, am I right?

corn out the wazoo

My parents have a small field, about half an acre, that they've planted with corn for years. My brothers and I used to ride the planter and push the kernels down when my dad was ready to plant in the spring, so we could enjoy sweet corn later in the summer.

This year has been...odd. The corn is ready and it's only June 26. Actually the corn was ready June 22 and today we had round four from the field. You know the phrase "knee high by the 4th of July?' Exactly. 

Round one: mom put up about 26 dozen ears. Then 57 Hoffmans descended on the farm for our annual family reunion.
Round two: we fed the 57 Hoffmans corn with dinner.
Round three: see below.
Round four: another 12 dozen ears.

IT'S NOT OVER YET.
This is what we call CORN OUT THE WAZOO.

In previous years we've had several dozen ears of corn, enough to put up and get us through the winter with a few extra bags. Other years it's been too dry OR the corn just didn't mature OR the cows got in the field and ate everything [that was a happy year] OR the corn planted was bad.

Round three this year: This is a year of plenty. I would like to take a moment to point out the husks that are in knee-high piles.

See that big clear tub? Six of those. Over-flowing.

BOOM.

The family stuck around and helped [HALLELUJAH!] and worked for approximately 5 1/2 hours. After the morning husking session for a couple of hours in the morning.

The way we [my mother, her mother, my great-grandmother] put up corn: pick it, shuck it, clean it, boil it [about 8 minutes, my mom goes until the water begins boiling again], cool it, take it off the cob, put it in quart sized freezer bags [squeeze the air out], lay flat to freeze. DONE.

It's a lot of corn, but we love it.

What to make with all this corn if you don't want to freeze it? How about some Corn Salad? 

this week's mani

I'm in Kansas! I headed out for a week on minimal luggage, that means I packed zero colored nail polishes.

ZERO.

So I did my nails ahead of time.

This week was chevron's! Chevron's take forever. Even zig-zags are hard. The cute ones you see online? Too professional for me.

I left the bottom and top nude, so they'd grow out well. I'm not sure how cute I actually think these are, but maybe I'll try again in the future.

Cake Decorating

I can't believe I forgot to tell you about this! 

-------------------------------

When I finally get my chance to be on some sort of Food Network baking show, I'm going to place my claim to fame in my Wilton Decorating Basics Level 1 class.

In January Kate decided she wanted to take on a new hobby: learn to crochet, learn to sew, or cake decorating. That woman spends too much time on pinterest. [hahaha, someone got her hooked...] I said I'd do cake decorating with her. [When it comes to crocheting or sewing, I don't want to do it properly, I want to do it my way! Of course.]

So, for four weeks on Monday evenings for two hours we went to Michaels for our Wilton Basics classes. IT WAS AWESOME!

Week 1: We brought sugar cookies and learned about icing consistency. The 29 is because I'm 29 and no one ever makes cookies that say 29, they usually say the numbers between 1-5. I don't know why either.

Week 2: We brought a plain, iced layer cake and decorated it following the example in the book.

Week 3: We decorated cupcakes and learned some flower techniques.

Week 4: FREE-FOR-ALL on a layer cake. We also learned how to write with icing.

I only took my big girl camera on the last day.

The only thing I went in to the class with a strong desire to learn was how to make a seashell border. This one is not so good. But this one is not so bad.

I don't know when I'll ever use roses on a cake [it's not really my thing], but they sure are fun to make!

Messy business.

Have you ever taken a cake decorating class? A craft class? Anything like that? Would you?

this week's mani

This week, I used these four colors:

I'm experiencing a slight obsession with Flashbulb Fuchsia. IT'S SO PRETTY!

I wear my nails super-duper short because as a massage therapist, I have to. My nails are clipped all the way down and then filed back. If you've had a massage and felt a nail digging into your muscles, you know how much it helps to have trimmed and filed nails.

SHORT NAILS DO NOT MEAN THEY CAN'T BE FUN AND FUNKY TOO!

Short nails DO mean that you will paint on your skin--at least for me--it's impossible to not get polish at the tips of my fingers. The side polish is just me being sloppy.

The thing is, when you shower the next morning all that polish comes off with a quick rub with a washcloth.

[I just touched up my the fuchsia in all the "after" photos, hence the polish residue.]

The other thing you need to invest in is a good topcoat. It makes all the difference in the world.

This is what I use: Seche Vite. It makes my polish that used to last a few days last at least a week or longer. And if you like to do decorative layers of polish, it makes it look smooth and professional[ish].

I claim no professionalism. Please see messy picture above. (-:

This week's nails inspired by these art deco nails from The Beauty Department. If you like all things makeup, hair and nails [I do!] check out their blog/website.

Have a great week!

graduation!

Last week my cousin, Janiece, graduated from high school!

Whoo-hoo!!

I made cakes! This winter I took a cake decorating class [which I will tell you about ASAP] and I attempted to put my new Wilton Decorating Basics Level 1 skills to test.

I told everyone the whole time I was working on these babies that I was a graduate of Wilton Decorating Basics. It's true. I am. For each cake I used my jelly roll pan, so I baked the cake and then cut it in half to make my rectangular cakes. Number one thing I learned: CORNERS ARE HARD!

Boom.

First, red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. I love all things cream cheese. Yes, I do. The words, stamped in food coloring by my mother, are descriptors Janiece's family gave me. All of them except "doer." Someone did say "mover & shaker" so that's kind of the same thing and we needed a short word so we could have something over on the left side of the cake. [This is me justifying in case that wasn't clear...]

Yum.

This is a vanilla buttermilk cake with a layer of whipped ganache [heated cream plus chocolate, stir, cool to room temperature, then whip until the color changes] and heath bar bits in the middle. The frosting is a white buttercream. The images are edible printed at our local bakery supply store, Country Kitchen [also where I got transportation boxes and the cardboard bases].

Last but not least, the gluten-free cake. It's a box mix [I have no shame about this since it is gluten-free] and it's topped with salted caramel buttercream. Run to your kitchen and make this buttercream now. Hello, lover. Unless you're on a diet or something then don't go near this because you will not be able to control yourself. Freals. The cake itself? Well it tasted good, but when I baked it in the large pan it came out about...1/4 inch thick. Soooo, I had to be resourceful and I made a 4-layer cake. Needless to say, it was mostly frosting. The pretzels on the side are GF, but they were a tragic mistake that became soggy. No bueno.

Happy graduation, Janiece!

[We took some senior pictures in the winter and some in the spring--snow and flowers! And, yes, I think it's ridiculous that I'm talking about baking cakes and taking pictures all at the same time. I HAVE TOO MANY INTERESTS!]
[eh. Maybe not.]