Not that anyone cares, but I think this is the end of my blog here. As much as I love to bake and craft, there are much better and much more entertaining blogs out there than mine. I’ll leave the baking blogs to the professionals.

I did start a new blog somewhere else that truly encompasses who I am and what I love…music. If you care to check it out, go here:
http://hellonhighheels.blogspot.com/

Maybe I’ll see you there.

Vegetables Rights & Peace.
I’m out.

Yes, I saw Skid Row this weekend. And yes, I got to meet them and hang out with them. This may not be very exciting news to you, but it is VERY fucking exciting news to me.

I’ve been working on about 5hrs sleep for the whole weekend because I’ve been partying like a rock star with a bunch of rock stars.

I’ll write more about it when I can actually think straight.

A nice girl at work was having a birthday, so my friend Megan and I decided to surprise her with sweet treats. Megan was going to make brownies, and I was going to make cupcakes, of course. I decided on the Billy’s Vanilla Vanilla Cupcake recipe that I found on Bake  & Destroy. If you haven’t noticed, I kinda default to her recipes just because she gives great reviews. This recipes has had many great reviews, so I figured I couldn’t go wrong. Boy was I wrong.

They turned out too fluffy and super crumbly. I filled them too high so they overflowed. Instead of being round on top, they were flat. And they didn’t even taste that great. Unfortunately, I don’t know where I went wrong. Maybe it was the fact that I only have a hand held mixer, so I have no paddle attachment. Maybe I over mixed. Who knows. But I had to throw every last one of them in the trash. Boohoo.

I had to get up early the next morning to run to the grocery store to buy some already made cupcakes. My friend at work was excited about all her sweet treats, even if mine weren’t homemade, but I was so disappointed.

On a lighter note, I’m selling the shit out of some t-shirts on ebay. Who knew Straight Edge t-shirts and hardcore t-shirts would be in such great demand? I thought my BMX shirts would sell before those, but I was wrong. I sold an Earth Crisis t-shirt for $13 and a “Smoking Stinks” t-shirt for $12. I listed all my t-shirts for $3.99, so I’m pretty happy with the results. Yesterday, my Strife t-shirt sold for $27 to some guy in Argentina. My Morning Again t-shirt is already up to $26 and some guy in Australia already offered me $30. And I had another guy offer to buy my Culture shirts on the side. I didn’t even know people still listened to these bands. I’m just stunned and happy. Woohoo for ebay!

For the first time ever, I have listed stuff on Ebay! I’m just trying to get a few extra duckets so my man and I can go on a cruise…a Lynyrd Skynyrd cruise. You heard me right. I’ll be stuck in the middle of the ocean with Lynyrd Skynyrd for 4 days.

 So if anyone actually reads this damn blog, help a girl out will ya? I’ve only listed T-shirts so far.

If you’re interested in: Straight Edge, DK Bicycles (BMX), Fox Racing, or Face to Face, then check out my auctions. I also have a random, autographed Neil McCoy CD (he’s country and don’t ask me how I got the CD and no, I don’t like him). I hope to list more stuff as soon as I get time.

My username on Ebay is vespababy. Check me out. If you go to the Advance Search and click on Search by Seller, you’ll find me.

 THANKS!!!!

But unfortunately…I have no one else to tag, so I will just list 8 random facts about myself. Here it goes:

1. My grandmother’s maiden name was Miyagi. That’s no bullshit.  I couldn’t make something up that good. My whole Japanese family is originally from Okinawa, Japan and I spent the first 7 years of my life there. It’s the most beautiful place on earth. And no, it looks nothing like it does in the Karate Kid because they filmed that movie in Hawaii and we’re not a bunch of poor people living in a village in grass huts.

2. I have one hell of a sweet tooth. I MUST give into my sweet tooth craving at least once a day, preferably with chocolate, or else I will go insane.

3. I was named after Marie Osmond…not by choice. My parents decided to let my brother give me my middle name. It was ’76 and he was 6yrs old and madly in love with Marie Osmond, so I got stuck with the middle name Marie. My parents were going to name me Lisa and I would’ve ended up Lisa Marie, but luckily they changed their minds and named me Christine. So Christine Marie it is, just like it’s tattooed on Mike Ness’ neck.

4. Music is a passion of mine, but I have a deep dark secret…my guilty pleasure is bad, radio friendly pop. I love Jessica Simpson, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, Kelly Clarkson, and most of that other shit. I do still hate Britney Spears and Avril Lavigne though. I have limits, you know.

5. Speaking of music, I’m a classicaly trained violinist. I don’t play as much as I used to (or as much as I should). In middle school & high school, I played in orchestras non-stop. Then college came and so did adulthood with all of its responsibilities, and I didn’t have (or make) enough time to devote to it. It may be my only regret in life. I still pick it up and play occassionally, and I really want to learn how to play the fiddle.

6. The dentist scares the buh-jeezus out of me. I don’t even know where this fear comes from, but I hate the dentist.

7. I love to write. I suppose that’s obvious since I write in this blog and all, but writing is something very theraputic for me. My goal in college was to get my English degree with an emphasis in journalism, but my stupid college never offered the classes I needed. So, I ended up with an English degree with an emphasis in technical writing (aka: I can write one hell of an instruction manual). I have had my writing published in Ride BMX Magazine, BMX Business News, and International Tattoo Art.

8. Rob Dyrdek has partied at my house. Yup, it’s true. He’s originally from Centerville, OH which is a suburb of Dayton. I hung out with a lot of skaters, who were all really good friends with Rob. The first time I moved out of my parents’ house, I moved in with my friend Scott who went to school with Rob. So when Rob was in town, he’d stop by and party at our house. Since Rob has a sponsorship with DC Shoes, he’d get TONS of free shoes. After he wore them once, he’d give the shoes to Scott because they wore the same size. Then after Scott wore them once or twice, he’d give the shoes to me because I wore the same size. So I have 2 or 3 pairs of Rob Dyrdek’s shoes in my closet right now.

OK, so that’s it. Eight fun filled facts about little ol’ me. I’m going to Dayton now to rock out to some of the most amazing southern rock I’ve ever heard (www.blackberrysmoke.com) and to hang out with some of my most amazing friends.

Finally! After what feels like weeks, I’m able to update this blog. It’s been a very hectic month with lots of stuff going on every weekend.

This past weekend we went camping, but I’m sure you don’t want to hear about that. On to the cupcakes…

The director of my department at work was having an “Appreciation Lunch” for all of us. She was buying sandwiches, and we were to supply the dessert. I, of course, was determined to whoop some Corporate American ass with my cupcake stylings.

After much research for the oh-so-perfect cupcake, I decided on Mrs. Bake & Destroy’s Cookies & Cream cupcakes. The recipe was easy and it sounded delightful.

I was unsure about what kind of frosting to use, but Mrs. Bake & Destroy came through for this amateur baker once again! I swear, I’m not sure what I’d do without her sometimes…and I barely even know her. She supplied me with a quick and tastey cookies & cream frosting:

1 1/3 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
pinch salt
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
4 Oreos broken into pieces
In a small bowl, using and electric mixer on low, beat together sugar,butter and salt until well combined. Increase speed to high, beating
until light and fluffy. Add cream and vanilla, beating until smooth.
Add broken cookies, beating until mixed.

See…easy enough.

Needless to say, my cupcakes were the hit of the dessert potluck and they were gone in an instant! I think I may have cooked the first batch a wee bit too long, so they were a little dry, but they still tasted incredible. My boyfriend couldn’t stop eating them. He had the worst day at work the other day. All he could think about was coming home to eat a cupcake, and the second he did…he felt a million times better.

So thank you Mrs. Bake & Destroy! I appreciate all of your help!!!!

Whew! I finally finished it! The dress for my friend’s little girl, Avery.

I’m pretty excited about it. My friend loves it. I tried to make it for a 3 month old, but it’s enormous, so Avery should be able to wear it next summer. Patterns are so hard to read and figure out. I don’t think I should have cut so much extra fabric for the seams. Oh well. I learned A LOT when I was making this with my Momma, so hopefully things will go a little smoother now.

So, no baking for me this weekend. Yesterday, I cleaned my house like a maniac and pulled weeds in my back yard. A couple of those weeds were as tall as me! I hate yard work. Then we went to my friend Susan’s house last night. She lives with her boyfriend David in his 10,000sq. ft. mansion in the ghetto that is super duper haunted…that’s a story for another day.

Today, I finished my second sewing project. It was my first attempt at sewing something all by myself. What is it you ask? Why, it’s an apron of course! I get filthy when I’m baking or cooking, so I decided that an apron would be a good, easy starter project. And here it is…

And when I get it really messy, I can just turn it over and use the other side!

Isn’t that nifty???

Not sure if I’ll be able to bake next weekend, but at least my clothes won’t get dirty if I do.

A couple hours later…

I lied. I just couldn’t resist the urge to bake. Spice Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting.

I’ve been planning on making these for a week. If there are two flavors that were meant to be together, it’s chocolate and peanut butter. I love it!

I found a recipe online from the Barefoot Contessa that I was going to use, but after reading the recipe, I changed my mind. It called for 12Tbs. of butter. That just sounds like a lot to me. So instead, I decided to go with Mrs. Bake & Destroy’s recipe. Plus, I was going to add chocolate chips to the Barefoot Contessa’s recipe, and the Bake & Destroy recipe already had chocolate chips included. Perfect!

The recipe was super easy and the cupcakes turned out perfectly. The peanut butter buttercream on the other hand…

I don’t know what it is with me and buttercream icing. We just don’t get along. Don’t get me wrong, the icing tasted so fucking delicious that I wanted to roll around in it and bathe myself in it. However, the consistency was still a little runny. I even added a tablespoon of shortening like she suggested and then I refridgerated it. But alas…still runny. There were also little, itsy bitsy, teeny weeny, chunks of the shortening that you could see in the icing. Someone please tell me what I’m doing wrong.

Regardless, after I iced the cupcakes, they still looked beautiful and tasted even better than I could have imagined. I will definitely use this recipe again.

There are very few people in life who get me fired up. As I was sitting on my bed eating my breakfast this morning, someone who does irritate the hell out of me popped up on my television: Avril Lavigne. I admit it; I watch MTV and VH1 on occasion to try to keep up with what’s popular in today’s music scene; well, there’s that and I have guilty pleasures like Justin Timberlake. So as I switched the channel from my morning news to MTV, there was the new Avril Lavigne video, “Girlfriend” in all its horrible glory.From day one of her superfluous career, I have had a problem with her. She was packaged to sell as a “punk rocker.” Now, I don’t claim to be the resident expert on punk rock, but I have and still do listen to what actually is punk rock (and I don’t mean Good Charlotte). Punk rock she is not my friends. No matter how well you market it, a teenage girl in a wife beater, baggy shorts, and a tie singing pop is not punk. I don’t care how many times she throws metal horns, sticks out her tongue, gives the bird, or spits at the paparazzi, it will never legitimize her reputation in the real punk rock scene.It really was clever marketing that catapulted her career. I don’t believe her voice is anything to write home about; it definitely doesn’t stand out from any of the other young, female artists out there. Her only saving grace is that she actually does write some of her own music. But through media magic, punk rock Avril was created with her studded belts, her anti-cutesy persona, and her bubble gum pop songs. All the gimmicks worked and the little, impressionable tween girls ate it up like candy.  She was selling tons of albums and her face was plastered everywhere. There was no escape from her. How was I to convince the world that she wasn’t who she really claimed to be?  No need to figure out a plan. Ms. Lavigne did it all by herself.  In a June 2002 Seventeen Magazine article she said, “I created punk for this day and age. Do you see Britney walking around wearing ties and singing punk? Hell no. That’s what I do. I’m like a Sid Vicious for a new generation.” How dare she even use his name in vain when, we will later find out, she apparently has no idea who he is. She should not compare herself to an icon when her career has only just begun. And as far as singing punk goes, none of her music is punk rock. It’s pop. That’s all there is to it. Then in the November 2002 issue of Entertainment Weekly, Avril Lavigne was quoted as saying, “People are like, ‘Well, she doesn’t know the Sex Pistols.’ Why would I know that stuff? Look how young I am. That stuff’s old, right?” I’m sorry to say Ms. Lavigne, if you are going to carry the punk rock torch for the new generation, you’d damn well better know who the Sex Pistols are. They were only one of the most influential English punk bands to ever exist. Furthermore, if it wasn’t for the old stuff, a majority of today’s musical artists wouldn’t even have a career. You can’t just bear the title and not know who the fore fathers are. It’s like saying you’re Southern Rock and not knowing who Lynyrd Skynyrd is.  To take my irritation for her to the next level, she had the audacity to mispronounce David Bowie’s name incorrectly when announcing the 2003 Grammy nominations, in which Mr. Bowie was nominated for Best Male Rock Performance.  Really? David Bowie? Are you kidding me? It’s not like she was announcing the name of a nobody or a newbie. It’s David Bowie. And even if you weren’t sure how to pronounce it, wouldn’t you at least ask someone first before you stood in front of millions to say his name?  Metallica is probably one of my favorite bands. So when I heard that MTV was doing a Metallica Icon show, I was pretty excited…until I heard the line up of bands they had in store for the evening. Included in this line up was Avril Lavigne. As she was doing her pre-show interviews on the red carpet, she actually mentioned that she had to go to a store to buy a Metallica patch to wear for the night because she didn’t own anything Metallica. Nice. Real nice. I’m glad MTV found such a huge Metallica fan to help commemorate their career.  Thankfully, Avril was given one of Metallica’s worst songs to perform, “Fuel.” And as I had anticipated, she was terrible. I have never in my life seen such a lifeless performance. It didn’t even look like she was excited to be there. So my question is this: If she’s not a fan of the band, then why would she agree to perform one of their songs in front of them? Did she even know who they were or how to pronounce their name?  Now this brings us to current day Avril. She is a little more grown up. She’s married. She’s a little more girly. She’s still just as annoying. Her new song is as vacuous as her old ones. It really doesn’t show any growth from her as an artist or a person. And it’s even less punk and more pop than her first try (I didn’t even know that was possible). Rumor has it that these days, Avril is finding her feminine side; she likes to shop and buy shoes and purses. That’s great and all, but I still think she’s trying to pull off being punk in her expensive, designer clothing and her $500 high heels. And it’s still not working for me.  Being punk is not about what kind of clothes you wear or having the hots for a “boi” who rides a skateboard or stealing the popular girl’s boyfriend. It’s about going against the grain, being an individual, and standing up for what you believe in. It’s just sad that she’s been trying to pull the wool over our eyes for years just to make a buck. I’d have a lot more respect for her if she would just come clean and admit what she really is: a pop princess.Don’t pretend to be something you’re not. I know the record company stuffs it down your throat, but at some point, you have to puke it back up on them and tell them no. Look what happened to Vanilla Ice; he totally regrets letting the record company control his image and his life. I just wish Avril would use some of that teenage angst to stand up in this industry and try to be an individual. That would be really punk of her.