Our life, our way

Tradition is to save your wedding top and freeze it. Just so you can eat it on your one year anniversary. Many have said it will just taste nasty. So we decided, we don’t need that tradition.

Instead, we opted to use our new found skills to attempt to replicate our wedding top. Our instructor taught us why the cake tastes bad after being frozen a year. Plain cake would be fine frozen. Frosting is fine frozen. But once the two touch, its not so great frozen for that long.

Here are a few issues we had to deal with:

• We did not have a 6 inch cake pan
• Red frosting is really, really hard to make

So what do you think? Not bad for not looking at a picture while we put it all together, huh?

These are our final projects from our Cake Decorating class.

I had to buy a new IPad case and camera kit so all things being equal between the product at the apple store and Best Buy, I decided to give my support to Best Buy for supporting local boy scouts.  I had recently bought a Camp Card from a co-worker that has a son in the boy scouts.  With my purchase, I will make back $7 of the $10 from my purchase. So I  swing by Best Buy on my way home from work.

Upon arrival, I was greeted at the front. I am off to the IPad Accessory section. While there, several associates came to ask me if I needed help. I smile each time and say, “No,I’m am fine. thank you.” They kept hovering. As far as I remember, employees don’t get commission so that was weird to me. I hate hovering when I don’t need help (big reason why some stores are on my “do not shop” list).

It didn’t take too long and I settled on my two items. As I walk to the front register, I had a moment of hesitation because I wasn’t sure if the cashier would know how to honor the discount. So often if the discount can not be scanned and is not widely distributed, cashiers fail to be able to handle it. Fortunately the cashier went to customer service to ask about the card and came back promptly to finish up my order. He wasn’t going to give me back my card but at least he didn’t put up a fight when I asked for it back. I thought all was good.

Walking out to my car, I look at my receipt and notice that the cashier took 5% off of each item for a total of 3.50 off of my original $70 purchase. I turn around and walk back in. I stop at the greeter and explain my issue. He looks at my receipt and tells me that I did get 10% off. 5% plus 5% is 10%. I try to explain how that does not add up and he continues to disagree. He tells me to go to Customer Service and they will explain to me how it works. *sigh*

Arriving at the customer service counter I stand and wait as the employees talk amongst themselves. After they finish the young lady comes to ask how she can help. I explain to her my situation and she says, “You did get 10%, 5% plus 5%.” I proceed to explain that none of that adds up. Frustrated, she asked me to wait and goes to ask someone else that appears to be the manager at the time or at least senior to her. I can hear him explaining to her that 5% plus 5% was not 10% off an order. She comes back and says “since he didn’t know and started, we will give you the rest of the discount.” Confused, I watched to see if she would elaborate. Since she didn’t I proceed to ask, if there was an issue with the card. She then proceeds to tell me that the card should not apply to anything that is “price protected.” I wanted to ask for clarification so that I can pass the message along to the folks that sold me the card. That way other shoppers can be aware. She proceeds, “Good thing you didn’t buy an IPad. Since it was just an accessory, we can do it but just this time because you had already paid.”

The issue was fixed but the disappointment is that

1) Three employees (two of which handle money) can’t do basic math. 5% off of two items each is not 10% off total. I guess if I walked up with 10 items, they would have taken 1% off of each??
2) Whoever did the arrangement with the Camp Card should have specified that exclusions apply. Other business did and they were printed on card.  A communication failure has occurred. It  could have been as simple as, “exclusions apply, see store.” I completely understand that certain items will be excluded. Most discounts have that clause.

For our class before Easter we made cupcakes. We tried to keep it colorful. I think Brian succeeded with his vibrant colors on every cupcake.

Last night we had our second class of cake decorating . See our creations below!

Not to downplay the wonderful creations of professionals but we have definitely found that this is not as hard as we were expecting.  We were slightly unprepared for class. It would have gone smoother if we had our icing already colored and bagged. We ended up only using 3 colors that we could share to speed up the process. Not too bad if I say so myself. Technique for week 2 was called deminsional decorating. Next week will be flowers. I can’t wait!!!!

So last week, Brian and I went to class at our local JoAnn Fabrics store for “Sewing Basics.”

I was a little nervous. I had not used a machine in so long. Same thing for Brian. We thought it would be a good idea since we would like to make costumes for the Georgia Renaissance Festival. Renting is too expensive and buying is even worst (if you go authentic).

We have one sewing machine Brian bought mom the other year. She doesn’t really use it since her eye sight isn’t very good anymore. I took the home machine in and Brian used a machine at JoAnn.

Shopping List: 1 yard of cotton fabric, 1 yard of iron on interfacing, a box of pins, spool of thread, and some pins.

We were quite disappointed in the class itself. The 2.5 hour course ending up being only 2 hours. A good big of the time was spent waiting as the instructor helped each student and there were only two others aside from us! What did we learn? We learned to thread a machine, sewing a straight line (semi-straight…LOL), edging a stitch and adding interface. The part of class that was described as “learn how to read a pattern” was a joke! *sigh*

One big thing I did learn from the class is that Brian is much better at this sewing thing than me. All his lines were perfecting straight. Instructor even showed off his fabric to the other students to show how its “supposed” to be done.

We probably won’t be taking any additional sewing classes immediately. We bought a whole bunch of patterns during a mega sale so we’ll see how well we do.

Kim’s first project: a purse

Brian’s first project: a kilt

Wish us luck!

So Brian and I have started our spring cleaning. I am ridding myself of all the the clothes in my closets that

1) don’t fit, or

2) I haven’t worn in a year or more.

You’d think this wouldn’t be much, right? WRONG!!! I filled 4 larges bags, about equal to the 13 gallon kitchen bags and one box with about 20 pairs of shoes. We also tossed out an old mattress hiding in the guest bedroom closet. All in all, using the Salvation Army’s valuation guide, we have a receipt for $300. Yay tax write off. It probably should ave been more. I estimated on the low for all the clothes and there were some that still had tags. I purged like 5 winter coast that haven’t been touched in 3 years. I finally said good bye to all my evening/formal gowns from high school/college.

My bedroom closet is still pretty full, but I think I will try to do another run in the next couple of weeks.  I did not however get rid of any eeyores, in case you were wondering. I also still have the tan bear that Lauren gave me way back when during Freshman year. I wonder if she still has her grey bear with a crooked head……

Seriously? What is it? I thought I knew but after seeing that most people don’t RSVP, I’m starting to think either I have my definition wrong or RSVP is for old people.

Perhaps we should all “tweet” invitations….

Returning from our second cruise, I felt I should write a little something about our experience.   We again chose Carnival because we had such an amazing experience last March to the Carribean. This time is was on an older ship, the Carnival Fascination, headed to the Bahamas. Half Moon Cay is a Private Island owned by Carnival’s sister line, Holland America. We also stopped at Nassau, Bahamas.  Motivation for this particular ship and itinerary was

1. It was in Jacksonville, FL and thus within driving distance. No flights needed. Yay!
2. You can’t beat the price. We originally were going to go in Jan which would have only been $600 for the both of us. But due to work schedules we ended up with a Feb cruise for $750 for both of us for 5 nights.

Embarkation/Debarkation:

We arrived at port around 10:30am instead of the 12pm listed in the Carnival paperwork. It was a good thing we did too because the place was starting to fill up. Overall, getting on board was quick and easy. I was worried about debarkation since we bought more liquor than the allowed duty free amount. The morning of debarkation, we had to go meet a customs agent and declare our items. I told him I had 8 liters, he initialed it and I was off. I didn’t have to pay any duty on it. After that, we basically walked off the ship and through customs with a 2 second delay just to had them the customs form. Much easier than we expected.

Half Moon Cay:

We seriously thought about getting an excursion, but after reading all the reviews we decided to just enjoy a beach day per everyone’s recommendation. I really wanted to do the horseback riding on the beach. It just sounds romantic but I guess reality might have been different. We had to tender in and since we got up late, we had a little trouble finding an “ideal” location to settle in at. But as we kept walking further from the tender, we were able to find some lounge chairs. The water was absolutely beautiful! It was shallow enough that I was comfortable hanging out in the water with Brian for quite a while. Staff from the ship brought food ashore to cook lunch for us. BBQ, burgers, hot dogs, etc. Not excellent but not bad either.

Nassau:

We were planning on getting up early and taking a bus over to Adastra but since we were on vacation that didn’t happen. LOL. We got up in time for lunch on board and then headed to the Gangway to get off and wait for our bus to go “Discover Atlantis.” I have to say the place was beautiful. The dig and Aquariam was really nice. We wish we could have seen more of Nassau itself but that can be for another trip.

On Board:

As always, we drank our fair share of alcohol. From the wonderful forums, we did find out that we can order liquor from Bon Voyage to have waiting in our stateroom. We opted for a bottle of Absolute Vodka. Speaking of stateroom, we had an ocean view. We really just wanted an interior. This is just suppose to be a cheap get away after all. But the upgrade fairy called and tried to get me to move up to a balcony for a fee. I opted to take a free upgrade to ocean view instead. I guess they needed the interior rooms to sell. The ship was full.

We opted for “Your Time Dining” so we can just eat whenever. The first two nights were loved the food but were disappointed in the wait staff. They weren’t very interactive. On our third night, we were seated with a wonderful head waitress named Nanka. We had such a good time we requested her every time afterwards. The beauty of your time dining allows us to sit by ourselves when we want or choose to share a table when we feel like being social. We sat with others one night and they were all very nice.

Carnival has changed a little since we last cruised. They have implemented a comedy club on all ships. There were two comedians on board and a show or two every night. That’s where we spent a good bit of our evening. Tommy Drake was amazing! Scotty K was pretty awesome too. Most nights we arrived early to get good seats but Brian didn’t want to sit in the front row for fear that we would be a target of a joke. By the last night, Brian decided it wouldn’t be bad and opted to sit in the front. Well……that would be the night the front row was targeted just a little more. Brian got called a red neck. After picking on Brian for a while, Scotty K pulled me in. I can’t remember the joke but it had to do with Philipinos and Vietnamese. It would have to be that moment I had to go to the restroom. As I got up he asked if I was offended.

Scotty K: “She must be Philopino.”
Brian: “No, she’s Vietnamese” (the entire room laughs as I quickly walk out)
Scotty K: “oh!!!! Me Love you long time!” (yes, of course….right?)

It was a great time!

Overall:

There were several things that could be approved and it was definitely not as awesome as our first cruise. We will eventually try other lines but will to Carnival again. AND we would even go on the same ship and same or similar itinerary again.