Birthday Recap and a New Cake!

I had a wonderful birthday weekend and am so thankful for the family and friends that made it so. Here's a recap of what happened:

Dinner was delicious, just as expected. And yes, I did get my margarita. Tom surprised me with a sheet of cardstock that had possible logo designs for Dani Cakes, designed by our friend Torrey at New Duds. The hard part now is deciding which one to go with because I'm in love with all of them!

I finally updated my running wardrobe and treated myself to a flashy red, reflective, and rainproof running jacket. I no longer look like I'm stuck in the 90s with my old school white and green UVM warm up jacket. I tested it out on a 20 miler on Saturday and it made me feel like a real runner again!

Speaking of 20 miler - do you know how insanely difficult (and frustrating) it is to run 20 miles in slush and puddles?! I had to keep reminding myself that these puddles will ultimately mean clean sidewalks and faster runs.

Continuing on with the recap....

Saturday night we went out to dinner with Tom's parents and brother. I had a good time and great dinner at Positive Pie 2. They also gave me a new flash for my Nikon. I'll have some fancier photos soon!

And ....drum roll please.........

With the help of Tom and some discounts at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I finally purchased a KitchenAid Stand Mixer.  I'm actually quite shocked at myself for dishing over the money. I had never used one until I started at my little cupcake but I would hate to go back to a hand-held mixer at this point.

I got to test out the mixer Sunday night when I baked a cake for a friend at work. Yes, I realize I wrote that I wasn't making cakes until after April 18th, however, this was a unique occasion where I had been promising this person a cake for months and she was finally in the area on Monday.

I saw this a little while ago on i am baker and fell in love with it. The inside is a chocolate cake and the frosting is vanilla buttercream sprinkled with white dusting powder to give the roses a shimmery effect. It was the easiest cake that I've made in a long time as it only requires tip 1M and lots of swirls. Oh, and it was pretty delicious too!