I Have a Blog?!?

It's been a while. A long while since I have blogged.  To the point that people are actually asking me about what happened to my blog.  The fact that people are noticing that I haven't blogged is pretty cool, if you ask me, but at the same point in time, it points out just how long it has been.

How long has it been? Since July 13. Two months! Oops!

So what have I been doing these past two months? A lot of domestic things! I've canned, I've decorated cakes (and cookies!) and we've traveled.  There were weddings, family gatherings, and lots of birthdays.  It's been an eventful two months.  Here are the highlights :)

Sarah Baking

In August, I took my second cake decorating class.  I learned how to make a ton of flowers and do appliques, which are beautiful but a pain in the butt to do.  This class was supposed to be four classes long, but we ended up doing everything in three classes because another girl and I were going to miss the last two classes.  If you live in the Raleigh/Cary area and ever want to take cake decorating classes, I highly recommend doing them with Maria at Michaels in Cary.  She changed her schedule and combined the last two classes into one on a Friday night so that we could "graduate".

Final cake for my cake decorating class

The final cake I made for my class was a pain.  Strawberry cake is not easy to ice for some reason.  I also had to use what I made ahead of time to decorate the cake, so to me it wasn't that great.  It tasted awesome though!

Also, I came to a few conclusions during these cake decorating classes.

1. I was a terrible grandchild! I ate all the roses off my Grandma Ollie's wedding cakes all the time. I got beat with a spatula a lot and I completely understand why now! Sorry Grandma.   
2. I'm actually pretty decent at this stuff. I'm terrible at drawing and painting, but I'm pretty good at putting stuff together and using techniques and tips.  Thankfully, that's mostly what cake decorating is.    
3. It's fun, but a TON of work! When we did the combined class, I had to make a cake, two recipes of butter cream and two recipes of royal icing for a class on Friday night.  It took hours broken up over multiple days. When I made cupcakes and cookies for my friend Sarah's 30th birthday, I did everything in batches over multiple days because we were going to be out of town that weekend and I only had 3 hours to ice everything.  But I love it. I love making things that taste good and that people enjoy.  
4. I am Ollie's grandkid. I like to cook and bake for people, but it also has to be pretty. It can't just taste good, it has to look good too. And sometimes that makes me crazy.

Chevron sugar cookies with royal icing for my friend's 30th birthday

Black and white swirl cookies with candy 30s for my friend's birthday

Sarah Cooking

We have cable! What does having cable have to do with me cooking? Two words: Food. Network.

I didn't watch TV for years, so I didn't miss it when we didn't have cable.  And really, cable isn't the most amazing thing ever to me now, even with getting rid of Time Warner and having Showtime and Starz. But it does have Bob van Dillon and the Pioneer Woman and Trisha Yearwood. The first one has nothing to do with cooking, he's just a hot meteorologist.

My best friend Katie has been gushing about the Pioneer Woman (or rather, PDubs) for a while as has my friend Sarah.  So when I found it while channel surfing one day, I watched it. And then I watched Trisha Yearwood because I love her. And what happened?

I wanted to make all the things! No recipes, just come up with crazy stuff! So I made chicken, rice and zucchini sauteed with a random sauce (that was actually really good).  Then I experimented making mini peach pies using homemade whipped cream and my homemade peach preserves in vanilla syrup (which are ah-mazing). I destroyed the kitchen. I have a real talent for that. Aaron didn't really appreciate the destroyed kitchen as he is the one that does dishes after my masterpieces.  After that experience, I realized it was probably best to limit my Pioneer Woman and Trisha time. For everyone's sake.

Mini peach pies with homemade whipped cream and my canned peaches.

Sarah and Aaron Travel

We had a lot of things going on the past two months including a bunch of travel.  We went to the annual family pig roast, my friend Lauren's wedding and we enjoyed the Eno River Quarry in Orange County for my friend Crystal's birthday.

Beach day before my friend's wedding

In Swansboro at my friend's gorgeous wedding! We clean up nicely.

Coming up!
Next week we are traveling to Charleston for our one-year anniversary.  That still seems kind of crazy to me.  So, in honor of our anniversary, I'll be doing some sort of blog next week. Who knows what it will be about, but something will be posted! And then after that will be a post about my most favorite thing EVER: PUMPKINS!! I know. You are super excited. As you should be.

Also, you can follow our crazy adventures on my instagram @sdavies85 and #domesticatesarah.  I really am going to do better with this whole blogging thing!

Until next week folks :)