Princess Cakes are not RED, they are PINK of course!

What a week!! It was a triple holiday for me. I got to celebrate Abi's 6 month birthday, H's #4 birthday, and Thanksgiving with the extended W family. Really we had some absolutely incredible food. Sherry made this garnish thing with cranberries, golden raisins, apricots... it was to die for on top of the Peruvian turkey. I also quite enjoyed the broccoli cheese casserole, the green beans (with bacon...), and the beef that B cooked (he's a magician with meat on the grill, seriously). The stuffing at all three of my thanksgivings has never been compared to my mama's but what can ya do? I really need to learn how to make that...

On top of all the fabulous Thanksgiving food was the two story princess castle cake for H's birthday. The pillars were provided, but we frosted them, rolled them in the sugar, did the windows, etc. We also made the 4 cakes that make up the castle itself and frosted those. Its a Stage THREE cake. This may be the reason Blu and I dubbed ourselves "Stage Negative."

We will let you know when we open the bakery (ha!).

I got to spend a good bit of time at the coffee shop or with coffee shop people. L and Abi (in the first picture), Kels, Rob, George and Car, Lan, and then all the people working at the store whenever I visited. So, everyone else. Haha. They were all surprised I wasn't a partner anymore but were happy to make my crazy drinks. I had all of them, too. I started off with my favorite Caramel Soy Latte and then experimented with the Pumpkin Bomb and the Dirty Vanilla Cheg. I had some of my tea even though Rob didn't make it. And then I finished the week off with my classic winter drink, the Peppermint White Mocha. Mm... so delicious. Oh, I also found a water bottle! My fabulous Nalgene bottle was just too big to carry around and my water occasionally tasted like plastic (which is never a good thing). So, I got a beautiful aluminum one from the coffee shop. I also picked up a new travel mug that won't leak like my last one did. It is true they only last for about a year. Hey, at least my new one is 28% recycled. Boo ya!

So basically the week was amazing. It was strange, though, that it felt like a dream half the time. Or maybe it was the Chicago part that felt like a dream. An odd mix of "home" and some imaginary place I thought up. I get that feeling when I go back to Clarksville, too. Some odd mixture of wondering if I ever lived there and having these memories that collide with the present picture. New construction. A coat of paint. Name changes. Things are there, just a little off. Anyway, it was a great visit. It is always nice going home.

Now if only I could get back into the routine here for one more week....