Cassie & Mario's candy-themed wedding

Remember that wedding I was planning...and designing...and crafting...and coordinating...and baking cupcakes for...and making floral bouquets for...and decorating...and standing up as a bridesmaid for...and (you get the idea)

Well it happened.  And it was awesome :)

Here are the photos from the Wedding that was held at the Byron Colby Barn in Grayslake, IL

My beautiful family <3

We collected jars from friends and family for 4 months prior to the wedding.  Some jars were decorated with lace, or burlap and twine.  All 250 jars were filled with candles or flowers and they were clustered on the tables as the center pieces.

Once the sun set, the entire barn glowed so beautifully, from all of the candles

Every Guest received an empty Ball jar to fill with candy from the candy table.  The tags read "Love is Sweet, fill your jar and Enjoy a Treat"

Here are some other detail shots of the other projects I worked on for the wedding

And here's the best photo from the entire event:

It was a lot of work, and there were nights that I stressed so much about it that I lost sleep -- but it was extremely rewarding and I gained a ton of experience from it.

And after all was said and done, I connected with the lady that runs the Barn, and she is recommending me to her Bride's as a wedding consultant / coordinator!  Super exciting opportunity :)

I miss, I miss, I miss...

I've been away from 'home' for 3 months now and I think it's about time I blog about the things I really, really miss about Winnipeg.

Aside from the obvious 'friends and family', here's a list of the things that I've quickly come to realize I took for granted, having lived in Canada my entire life:

1) President's Choice.. particularly their Blue Menu.
In the 8 years that I lived in Royalwood, Extra Foods was my go-to grocery store.  I'm super sad that I don't have access to the Loblaw's brands.  The one product I miss the most is the instant packaged steel cut oats (I've searched high and low with no success). Anything that I can get in a 'healthier' variety, is good enough for me, and that's what the Blue Menu was good for.

2) Old Dutch potato chips
This is a common one among people that move away, I think.  I miss Ketchup chips and Dutch Crunch Kettle Cooked Jalepeño & Cheese, and Mesquite BBQ. *drooling just thinking about them*

3) Stella's

I have yet to find anything remotely close in comparison to Stella's.  Nothing beats the combination of Stella's atmosphere and menu.  Nothing.

   

4) Poutine

Yes, America has it's share of heart attacks served on a platter (Buffalo Wild Wings, I'm looking at you), but the fact that I can't grab a poutine at the closest New York Fries (or even Burger King if I'm desperate) kills me a little inside.

5) A&W Mozza Burger and Onion Rings

Come on. This one is a no-brainer.  A mozza burger served with hot onion rings with ketchup for dipping?  Pretty close to heaven, in my opinion.  America has A&W... but I have yet to come across one.

So those are just some of the obvious foods that my inner foodie misses the most.  There are a few more places that I miss because of the familiarity, but I know that I can eventually find places similar down here, it might just take a little time (and an open mind):

- Noodle Express for Dim Sum

- Ken's and North Garden for Chinese food

- New Hong Kong for Peking perogies

- Cora's for breakfast

- Unburger & Kawaii Crepe for Village food

- Parlour for coffee

Businesses that I miss:

6) BULK BARN!  Canadians, count your blessings that you have Bulk Barn because this type of business is unheard of down here. There's ONE bulk food place down here and it's a 30 minute drive from my place -- plus it's not even good.  I miss everything about Bulk Barn -- the variety of snacks, candies, spices, etc. The buttercream frosting, honey and molasses.  The organic food and quirky products. I miss, I miss, I miss it soooo..

photo cred: bargainmoose.ca

7) Gale's Wholesale

Oh what I'd do to walk the long, dark and dusty aisles of my favourite wholesaler in Winnipeg.  It was always nice to go there just for something to do on a day off or to kill some time.  I'd always find something to spend my money on whether it was for my business or for personal use.  I mean, who doesn't need a 5 lb. bag of Jelly Belly jellybeans?! 

8) Vantage Lounge 

Even though I had my share of ups and downs with my print jobs, I still miss having a business that I could trust to get the job done.  Business relationships take time to develop and I felt like I had finally gotten to the point that I was comfortable working with them.  I have yet to source out a printer down here -- I'm kind of dreading the process of looking for one :S

That's a pretty long list... I guess I'm missing home more than I thought.  I recognize that I just need a little bit of time to become familiar with my surroundings and get used to what's available to me.  I'll be sure to update my blog as I come across any gems.

In the meantime, feel free to send me any of the products mentioned above ;)

Playing catch-up

Wow, what a crazy month it's been.  I've been on blogging-hiatus for the past month -- I went back to work after a year long maternity leave, and have come to realize that there isn't a whole lot of time to do much of anything anymore.  The transition back to work was fairly smooth.  Everyone was so welcoming and patient with me, and now that I've been back for a little less than a month, I feel like I never left.  


So much has happened since my last post -- visits from out-of-towners, my dad celebrated his 65th birthday and retirement, we celebrated Brian's 2nd official father's day, Xierra finished up her year at H.S. Paul school, Xander started daycare full time, and I started back at work.  Oh and of course, summer is in full swing and the weather is nothing short of gorgeous.


I'll try to follow this post with some detailed posts, but for now, here are some photos and short blurbs on what the last month of my life has looked like:




It's always tough when Grandma Jan and Grandpa Larry leave Winnipeg to go back home to Wheeling, IL -- their visit was short but sweet but they got to spend some quality time with the kids and were able to celebrate Xander's first birthday -- best present this little guy could ask for!

l-r: Brian, Xander and Grandpa Larry

l-r: Grandma Jan, Xierra, Me



We had the pleasure of visiting the newly renovated Manitoba Children's Museum before G'ma and G'pa headed back home.  What a great time!

How lucky am I to have a dad with an awesome sense of humour!  I made these centre pieces for his 65th birthday party that me and my siblings held for him at Marigold restaurant.  He was so amused by them and was letting everyone take pics of him posing with them.  Happy 65th dad!

It's rare to have all of us siblings together, considering one sister lives out in Mississauga and another sister lives out in Vancouver.  It was great to hang out with them and with the rest of the Cuevas family. 

Here's a pic of the little ones:

I love that Xierra's probably the only one that's going to remember taking this pic.  The rest of them are gonna see it 10 years from now and be like "who ARE these people?!"

This was breakfast for Brian on Father's Day.  I'll post more about this delicious recipe later:

Xierra had her last day at her school.  To ensure that she can keep in touch with all of her awesome friends, I sent her to school with these little 'cards'.  They were supposed to mimic little books:

"Xierra's New Chapter"

Library cards on the inside, with hand written notes by Xierra

As a little 'good-bye' and 'thank you' gift, I made this Candy Cake for her class on the last day of school:

Packaged and ready to go!

This was just a random day that we decided to take Xander to the nature park at Assiniboine Park.  Happened to be the same day as the 'paws in motion' walk -- bonus!  We got to play AND see doggies!

This was the day that Xander's fever started....it would be one week later that we would discover that he had a case of BABY MEASLES! :(

Our Canada Day weekend was pretty awesome.  We watched the Forks fireworks from Brian's office building with the kids.  That weekend, we made our first trip out to Grand Beach with my cousin and her family.  What a beautiful day to spend bumming around on the sand!

The next day, we enjoyed lunch at Kum Koon with the family for my little cousin's 7th birthday. 

 

Here's a photo of daddy and baby Beckam...I mean, Xander.

Well that was just a quick rundown of what's been going on around here in the last month.

I'll be sure to add details on some of the projects above, for anyone that might be interested.

Have a great weekend!

Cheeseburger Cake!

A few weeks ago, my daughter came home with a newsletter regarding their school BBQ.  It was going to be filled with activities, such as a petting zoo, carnival games, a giant bouncer aaaand a 'spin to win cake walk'.  I had no clue what the cake walk was all about, but when the form came home asking parents if they would be willing to donate a cake, guess who signed up?

I had a few weeks to think about what I was going to do, but of course, I left it till the night before to actually come up with an idea.  At first I thought about doing a hot dog -- since it was a bbq after all.

But then I remembered how it has been a mission of mine to make a HAMBURGER CAKE, and this was finally my opportunity to do it!

And before I get into how I made it, I'm going mention that I did NOT make cake batter from scratch for this project (boxed caked mix).  Nor did I make buttercream icing from scratch (thank you Bulk Barn!).  This cake was being DONATED...not SOLD.  And so I wasn't necessarily concerned about taste, or quality for that matter... for me, this was all about being creative.  

What I used:

1 box of white cake (plus eggs and oil)

1 box of chocolate cake (plus eggs and oil)

1 large container of white buttercream frosting (from Bulk Barn)

1 medium container of chocolate buttercream frosting (from Bulk Barn)

40-50 mini white chocolate chips

rolled fondant (approximately 1/4 cup)

food colour gels: green, red, yellow, orange, brown

various piping tips / bag

misc: cardboard cake base and box if transporting

How it was made:

I'll start with the cheese, as this is what I got the most questions about...

I used fondant.  I had received a 'skin tone' variety pack of fondant as a gift.  I rummaged through to find the most neutral color -- 'pink flesh tone' I think it was called.  I added bits of sunshine yellow and orange colour gel to the fondant until I reached the hue closest to a Kraft cheese slice:

I then rolled out the fondant onto wax paper, as large as I could go with the amount of fondant I had: 

I cut it into four triangles, and set it aside

I prepared the cake mix and split the mixture into two 8" round pans.  While they baked, I started tinting the buttercream for my BUNS:

 I started with a skin-toned colour and continued to add brown, orange and yellow colouring gels until I reached my desired bun colour.

 When the cakes were done baking, I cooled them completely (put them in the fridge to speed up the process).  When cool, I used a serrated knife to cut the bulgy top off of ONE of the 8" cakes:

This was going to be my bottom bun

 I frosted the bottom bun and placed it on the cardboard cake base and put it in the fridge

 I did the same thing to the top bun

 I placed mini white chocolate chips on the top bun, to mimic sesame seeds and placed it in the fridge as well

 I mixed the chocolate cake mix and baked two 8" rounds.  Apparently I buttered the pan too much, which made the edges come out all wonky.  It's alright though because I used a knife to trim the edges anyway, to round each 'patty' out to look more like...well...a PATTY!

 Then the fun began!  It was time to layer everything together - starting with the bun base, and then one chocolate patty.  I slathered on some chocolate buttercream:

 ...and how about those fondant cheese slices:

 Next patty and another layer of chocolate buttercream:

 And finally, the top bun!...whoa, that's BIG! (approximately 10" high)

Using the left over buttercream, I tinted batches of green, red and yellow.  

 Using varying piping tips, I randomly added lettuce, ketchup and mustard to the burger cake: 

 AND THERE YOU HAVE IT!  

A 4-layered cheeseburger cake!

Too tall for the box!...Oh well.  We managed.