Hoarder-iffic

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate my current apartment?  Well, I do.  Picture “the old lady who lived in a shoe”, except I have a lot of stuff instead of children, and am living in considerably more confined conditions.  I’m not kidding.  This apartment is so incredibly cramped that I have absolutely nowhere to put anything.  It just piles up everywhere.  As each day goes by, I’m beginning to feel more and more like one of those sad, sad people featured on one of those many horrifically addictive “hoarders” shows.  I cringe whenever I see their living conditions, but their insane clutter is beginning to strike a cord.  I'm seriously afraid I’m headed in the same tragic direction.  (OK – maybe it's not quite so bad, but this place is seriously stuffed to the gills.)  And the sad thing is that we really don’t have that much stuff; we’re just stuck in an incredibly small one-bedroom apartment.  It was fun and kitschy to live in a cramped one-bedroom when we were living in Australia (plus we only had a couple of suitcases worth of belongings), but now it’s just frustrating.  I swear I nearly have an anxiety attack every time I walk in the door.  My heart races and my stomach tightens as I kick aside shoes, bags, and whatever else is in my way, as I make myself to the other side of the room. (I guess you could call it our living room, but that conjurs up an image of space that just doesn't exist.)  Yes – picking up might be an option.  The only problem is, I have nowhere to put my things once I’ve picked them up.  I’ve just plain run out of space.  So, I’m left to stuffing things in corners and turning a blind eye to the chaos that abounds.  I keep reminding myself that it’s only for another month.  After that, our lease will be up, and we’ll be free to move into a nicer, more spacious place.  Now we just have to find said place…

The Wedding Cake Project: Part 3

So… when I said I would post my cake recipe tomorrow, I guess I really meant in a couple of days.  Sorry about that.  The weekend just got away from me and I couldn’t find a moment to sit down and type up the recipe.  (In my defense, this was a fairly long and complicated recipe to type up.)  Anyway, I finally squeezed in some quality computer time last night before bed and was able to churn this recipe out.

As I mentioned in my previous entry, this lemon cake with lemon curd turned out to be absolutely delicious.  It is definitely making it to my wedding cake menu.  But, I do want to warn you, contrary to its name, this cake is not light at all.  In fact, it may be one of the densest cakes I have ever eaten.  Nonetheless, it is still fantastic and incredibly flavorful.  But, if you have your heart set on a light and fluffy cake, this is not the cake for you.  That being said, I highly recommend it and hope you take the time to make it.  It will be well worth your effort.

The Consequences of a Good Cake

Oh my goodness – my kitchen is atrocious!  I know I should clean it, but I’m not even sure where to begin.  It’s a disaster area of monumental proportions, and the thought of even entering that war zone is intimidating.  It’s not usually like this – I swear!  But yesterday was Miss Mary’s baby shower and I had offered to make a couple of cakes in her honor.  I knew it was a lot to take on with my current work schedule, but I figured this would give me an opportunity to play around with a couple of cake ideas I have been brainstorming for the wedding.

As per usual, I totally underestimated the level of complication and the amount of time I would need to put said cakes together.  I also overestimated my energy level after working three nights in a row, and overslept just a tad.  So, the hour before her shower became a mad rush to assemble the cakes, leaving little time to even run a brush through my hair, let alone clean up after myself.  So, now I’m left to face a kitchen overrun with pots, pans, and various decorating utensils, and sticky with renegade buttercream.  This is ridiculous!

Apart from the mess, the project turned out well.  I’ve nailed down another cake for my upcoming nuptials, and have come away with some solid ideas for my current obsession of creating the perfect blood orange cake.  The winning cake is a Lemon Cake with Italian Meringue Buttercream and Lemon Curd.  I wish I had taken a photo because it looked awesome!  Even better – it tasted amazing!  The cake was moist and super-lemony and the light and creamy buttercream provided a perfect contrast to the tartness of the curd.  This might end up being my favorite cake of all.  I don’t have time to type up the recipe now, as it’s closing in on my nap time, but I will be sure to post the recipe tomorrow.  Until then, I wish you sweet and lemony dreams!

Back Together, Yet Still Apart

Mouse is out of town, again, and I’m left to mope around the apartment without him.  I know it cannot be helped; in his line of work, travel is inevitable.   He has to go to the auctions, because they certainly cannot come to him.  (And, in all fairness, I was the one out of town last week.)  Still, it doesn’t make me miss him any less.  Since I’ve been back, it feels as though work has taken over our lives.  We’ve both thrown ourselves back into our respective careers, and have seemingly become slaves to our jobs. 

It had to happen, I guess.  Even though I had a full-time job in Australia, we spent the better part of last year traveling.  That kind of lifestyle isn’t really sustainable, and we knew it couldn’t last forever.  So, now that we’re both stateside, life has become much less adventurous and much more practical.  And, for the most part, neither of us object.  Our careers are important, and we and recognize the necessity of putting in the time to succeed.  It’s just a little frustrating when our schedules require us to spend more time apart than together. 

More often than not, we feel like ships passing in the night.  Even if we both are in town, we count ourselves lucky to steal a few minutes together as my day is ending and his is beginning. Between my night shifts and his demanding schedule, it’s nearly impossible to spend much time together.  It can be a frustratingly lonely existence.  The irony of the whole situations is that I left Australia largely because I missed him.  But now that we’re living together again, I’m still missing him.  What a ridiculous situation.  It just doesn’t seem fair.

Friends Like That

Ok, ok – so I ended up having a great weekend, after all.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised; I was in Denver, and I never fail to have fun in Denver.  The thing is, I wasn’t there for one of my usual visits.  Instead, this was probably the first time I ever needed to be coerced into making the trek to Denver.  It’s not that I wasn’t excited to go back; I love my Mile-High City, even under the worst of circumstances.  It’s just that this trip involved a certain cringe-worthy pre-wedding tradition I was none too excited about… my bridal shower.

I don’t know why I was so opposed to a shower.  I knew it wasn’t going to involve nonsensical games or any of the other trite shower clichés I hate.  (I was promised.)  I guess part of me simply doesn’t like being the center of attention, so the thought of a group oohing and aahing, as I opened gifts, made me slightly panicky.  Besides, I’ve always viewed this particular tradition as being a little silly and prissy for my liking.  I’m much more of a rough-and-tumble girl than a lady-who-lunches, so I couldn’t picturing myself sitting around, discussing my wedding colors and what-not.  It just isn’t my style.  I would much rather be doing some crazy outdoor activities, or running a race, anything really.  But my Newport bestie was determined I have a bridal shower, no matter how vehemently I protested, so we packed our bags and headed off to Denver for a girls-only weekend.

Now that it’s all said and done, I will admit the shower wasn’t nearly as painful or cheesy as I thought it would be.  In retrospect, I’m not even sure what I was so scared of.  I like mimosas.  I like a good brunch.  I like hanging out with my girlfriends.  And that’s exactly what my shower was about – good drinks, good food, and an abundance of chit-chat.  And, much to my relief, the gift-opening awkwardness only lasted a few minutes.  So, I guess it’s good thing I have a friend in my life who knows what I need, even when I don’t.  It’s even better that she can ignore my unfounded protests and shove me in the right direction.  Because, if weren’t for friends like her, I would have missed out on a great weekend.