Sunday, December 5, 2010

It's the most wonderful time of the year??

Thanksgiving is over and there isn't much to say about it except that I'm GLAD it's over. So now it's on to my least favorite holiday...Christmas. Feel free to enjoy my Thanksgiving desserts.

Mmmm...pie filling!!

I made this apple pie with love <3

Hypnocake pre icing. Not a very impressive cake just wait until you cut it.


My best friend suggested this color and it totally worked.
Hypno-licious!!


Not only was it pretty, but it tasted yummy.




Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Reeed Velvet

My mother and sister are coming to see me for Thanksgiving. That should be interesting to say the very least. I decided that I was going to make my sister a cake because I hardly ever see her. Plus it's an excuse to bake. When I talked to my mother yesterday afternoon I told her about the cake and she said, "Why are you making her a cake? It was my birthday." My mothers birthday was on the 22nd and she'll be getting here today. I hadn't really thought about it making her a cake, but I wasn't surprised she was acting like a 12 year old. She started to tell me how I should make her a small red velvet cake - "just a tiny one". I have never made a red velvet cake and I told her so. She sighed loudly and clearly had an attitude. Sooo, being the wonderful daughter I am, I went to the store and picked up the few ingredients I needed to make the cake and did my best. If she isn't super grateful I just might have to poison her slice of pie tomorrow.




Wednesday, November 17, 2010

One more day up in the canyons

This weekend I went on a field trip. I drove hours and hours to see a National Historic Landmark. I heard about the Natural Bridge and decided a drive through the Virginia mountains in the fall seemed like a wonderful idea. An added bonus was the deepest caverns on the east coast and a the wax museum. 

The scenes on the drive there did not disappoint.


Not the best picture I have ever taken, but I had my eyes on the road as I pointed my camera out the window. The drive was peaceful, vibrant and I was in Natural Bridge before I knew it.

When I got to the town I thought I might have been in the wrong place because it looked almost desolate. After a few miles I saw a huge billboard pointing the way to the caverns. I drove up a steep driveway to find an unpaved parking lot and maybe five cars. I went in the gift shop and got my tickets and when on the tour with a decent group of people. While in the caverns we passed another tour and I couldn't help but wonder how all these people got to this place, because their cars sure as hell weren't outside. The tour wasn't long, but it was interesting. My first time going into caverns and I really enjoyed the experience.

After that I drove less than a mile down the road to the Natural Bridge gift shop and right next door was the wax museum. This place was no Madame Tussauds to say the very least. There was an odd religious theme to the whole thing. The first display as soon as you walked in was this:

Lions in the Garden of Eden. I bet that was interesting.
A man selling his wife for whiskey
Men making moonshine

The further along I went in this place the funnier it got. After all of that there were a ton of displays about the Civil War and then a room dedicated just to presidents. As I was heading toward the exit I saw a door with a sign above it stating that I had to go in before the "Last Supper Presentation" began. I walked in to see five rows of seats in a dark room with a stage. Once my eyes got used to the dark I noticed a wax man in the corner. On the stage was a wax Last Supper.

The man in the corner, Leonard da Vinci.
The Last Supper

The stage eventually lit up and there was this whole show describing how the positions of each apostles means something. They then spoke about the crucifixion and who Jesus was as a person. A back light came on and stage right I saw Jesus again looking down at a man under a tree. Center stage was Jesus on the cross. It was all so very odd. Mostly because I couldn't leave the wax museum without seeing this presentation. Thanks for forcing religion on me, Virginia!

After the wax museum I took the trail down to the Natural Bridge. It started with a long staircase beside an adorable creek that leads to a small cafe.




I walked down the stairs and around a corner and almost didn't even realize that the Bridge was right in front of me. I think I expected some sort of notice before reaching it, but there it was. It was stunning and I don't think my pictures show that at all:




Possibly George Washington's initials.

I continued on the Cedar Creek Trail to see the Lace Waterfalls. It was mile each way, yet it didn't feel like it. I definitely think I'm going to take another trip there in the spring. The creek and the falls were lacking water and I would love to see them when they're overflowing.


Cedar Creek
Monacan Indian Village I passed along the way.

The Lost River
The Lace Waterfalls

The trip was worth the long drive, especially since I took a very long detour on the Blue Ridge Parkway at sunset. At one point A Long December by Counting Crows came on the radio and it was kinda perfect.







As far as I'm concerned, there are few things better than fall colors at sunset.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!!

And to celebrate enjoy this gif from the first horror movie I ever saw. I was 4 years old and it scared me to death. It also began my life long love of horror movies.



Friday, October 29, 2010

I said it once before but it bears repeating now

I wrote this almost two years ago and figured I'd post it here:


In my twenty-five years on this planet I have had my fair share of crushes. Okay, I've had more than my fair share. There have been a few crushes that were more intense than others and I've found that they had one thing in common - mystery.

Every girl I know has had a thing for a guy like this at least once in her life. These guys were distant, quiet, and brooding. Every girl thought he was cute and he didn't seem to notice. He was artsy and beautiful. He was the cool guy, but not the obnoxious kind. His friends just seemed too infantile for him and you were certain that if you just got the chance to talk to him he would fall head over heels for you. Alas, you never got the guy and eventually you moved on.

Years later I have found that I still hold a special place in my heart for these mystery guys. You will see these guys and feel like a child again. Sometimes they're still mysterious but, more often than not they have completely burst the enigmatic bubble you've put them in for years. Instead of dating the artsy, free-spirited chick you knew he would be with, he is with a girl that is "so oatmeal" (thank you Lauren) you almost can't stand it. At this moment all you can think is, I thought you were different Mystery Guy. He is now hanging out with this girl and her vanilla friends and you wonder if he really is happy or if he is just conforming because it seemed like the right thing to do.

The truth is, what if that was the mystery all along? What if he was just like everyone else? He played the brooding teenager and has grown up to be just as oatmeal as his girlfriend. I guess that's part of growing up, realizing the truth about people. So for now the mystery is gone and he shall proceed to get married, have 2.5 kids, a picket fence, and a dog.

But he is still really cute.

Monday, October 25, 2010

The only good bug is a dead bug

Ever since I've had cable television I have had what I like to call my "Movie of the Moment". When there is nothing on TV that has tickled my fancy it becomes my go-to movie. It's always some movie that's on rotation on cable and I watch it pretty much every day. After about a month and a half I'm usually done with it and it's on to the next flick.


A few weeks ago the Starz family of channels have started showing Starship Troopers. I have watched it every single day for the past two and a half weeks and show no signs of stopping. This is, by far, Casper Van Dien's best movie. And personally I prefer Denise Richards as a brunette.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

This is what I have to look forward to

Grandma: Whatcha doin'?
Bunnu: Watchin' Pirate Radio.
Grandma: Pirate Radio?
Bunnu: Yes.
Grandma: Pirate like Johnny Depp?


At 76 years of age, one would think my grandmother would say, "Pirate like Blackbeard?" or "Pirate like the Jolly Roger?" or even "Pirate like Pirates of the Caribbean?" Not my grandmother. My grandmother is apparently a 13 year old girl.

I suppose her hysterical word association doesn't really beat the question her twin sister asked me later. I was about 90 minutes into the movie with my great-aunt sitting nearby the entire time when she says, "So this is just a movie about World War II?"



Yes...yes it is.