My Cupcake Challenge

Alright. So here is the deal. Before my bestie left for Africa she made me promise her that I would bake a new cupcake every month that she is away. And blog about it. Which means, 10 new cupcakes and a guaranteed blog post every month for the next 10 months!! Crazy right? I can't let her down. Plus, I am thinking, maybe in return I will get a beautiful picture of some elephants or giraffes straight from Africa!? yes? maybe ha ha. Anywho...
I have already knocked out Augusts cupcake!

As part of Amys going away gift she requested Blueberry Cupcakes. And that is exactly what I gave her. Without further ado:  

Amy's African Blueberry Bliss Cupcakes

Tedious Blueberry Placements 

Finished Product, Sloppy Frosting

All Boxed Up, Ready to Go

These were Buttermilk Blueberry Cupcakes with Blueberry frosting topped with a fresh Blueberry. Amy was in heaven. She asked for blueberry and she got it ha ha. Why the buttermilk and not just a plane cake? well, her favorite pancakes are blueberry so I kind of just went off of that. I was not too happy with the way my piping turned out. see, I put in lemon zest with my frosting and it wasn't getting along with my tip and kept getting caught, thus making my piping come out all retarded. But it was okay.

Unfortunately, I underestimated my amount of blueberries that I placed in each cake. But, I heard they were still delicious. I made another batch of these cupcakes, a week after, for my church youth group. And I made sure there were plenty of blueberries in the cake ha ha. It took FOREVERRRR, but I did it. And I eighty-sixed the lemon zest, which made no difference in the taste, and my piping came out so much better!

Second Attempt!

I have no idea what my cupcake for September will be. I might ask my sister Katherine if she has any requests for her birthday. It's the 9th of September, and she is the one who usually gets me baking crazy cupcakes I think I could never do. She is the one who told me to make the Tres Leches Cupcakes...which in my opinion are my best so far. ugh, so delicious its not okay. As soon as I figure out what Septembers cupcake will be I will be sure to post about it. 

♥L

It Goes Like This

June and July were good to me. 

     In June I went back to Bolivia for a mission trip and that was amazingly beautiful. I might write a post just on my experience.

     July I had an awesome chance to work with one of my best friends, Amy. 

She worked for a church in Pasadena and was the head coordinator for their sports program, Upward. Upward has a summer sports camp and Amy hired me to be the "team mom" or the "mom tent" I basically was mom away from mom. Made sure they were drinking water, gave them a band aide if they needed one, pep talks, encouragement or someone they can sit next to if they didn't want to play anymore. 

Not only were those three weeks so awesome because of the kids, but I was able to see Amy almost every day. Now this may not seem like a big deal, but it is. 

Our friendship is awesome but growing up we hardly saw each other. we went to different schools and only saw one another on Sundays and if it were a good week maybe for youth group on a Wednesday night. Those three weeks, not only did she make me fall more in love with country music, it reminded me of how blessed I am to have a girl like her a part of my life and to truly call her my best friend. I might have mentioned in a previous post that Amy was considering going on a mission trip of some sort. (And if I didn't, sorry. ha ha I probably had good intentions to but forgot.) Well, God made that happen. He opened doors like crazy and provided a way and a place to get her there. I am super excited for her new chapter. She will be in Malawi, Africa for 10 months. 

Loving God and Serving God.

Now, because I spent almost every day with Amy most of our talks in the car involved the future. Amy did not let the idea of me becoming this great and fabulous baker pass by. She challenged me and made me promise her that every month she is away that I bake a new "fancy" cupcake. She also told me I had to blog about it. I already completed my cupcake for this month, and I will post about that a little later. 

To end this post I just want to share some stuff with y'all.

These past three days have been extra difficult for me but weirdly special. 

I was asked to bake 84 cupcakes for my church's youth group.

I love baking and everything about it. But at some point it becomes very emotional for me, especially when I get frustrated with something or wonder if there would be a better way in doing something. Times like those I just want to talk to my Abuelito. (I wrote a post on that)

Tuesday night I baked and Wednesday afternoon I frosted.

Yesterday, August 8th was the 5th anniversary of my aunt Candy's passing. If I had to pick any of the deaths I have had in my life to be the hardest and one that I haven't found complete closure in, it would be hers. I do a very good job at covering it and pretending that I dealt with it in a healthy way but I don't think I ever let myself fully talk to God about how I felt about it. Just the surface stuff. Anywho, I woke up feeling a little off. A little sad. But still, the day felt like it was going to be special. And it was. In the morning I was able to bless my mentor with God planned babysitting. That was pretty awesome how it all turned out. Then the rest of the day I just couldn't figure out why I felt so weird. Then, I was reminded  that it was August 8th when my mom text me that she was going to the cemetery. Then it all made sense. Soon after that my friend Marissa called me and asked what I was doing and wanted to pick me up so we could hang out with a high school friend we both hadn't seen or hung out with in a long time. A part of me didn't want to go but I knew if my aunt was still here, she would have told me to go have fun. So I went. And it was awesome. 

I thought I would share this with you. Even though I felt like I wanted to cry or just do nothing because I missed my loved ones so much, those memories and love I have for them is what keeps me moving forward and to do the things that I know they would have enjoyed seeing me do. And this goes for both sets of my grandparents, and my aunt. All who are not with us anymore but give me that driving force to live my life as if they were here.

♥L

Abuelita and Abuelito

Aunt Candy, holding me on the right.

  

Grandpa

*not pictured, my Grandma, Nelle. She didn't like taking pictures and the few I have I don't have on me to show you.