Hold Me Accountable

I spent a whole evening cruising through this blog. I love the quilts - got me all excited about making quilts. But I came away with more than that. I realized that this woman is so passionate about quilting and does it all the time. I mean All. The. Time. She makes upwards of 30 or so a year (I think I have that right). She chronicles her failures and challenges, but she has gotten better because she practices. Constantly. And fabric is expensive. Well, more expensive than cake ingredients.

So I officially have no more excuses. I WILL make this cake this week. I have everything I need to make it. There's nothing stopping me (well, four kids, but they won't exactly stop me from making a cake). Aaron takes the LSAT on Saturday morning, so that's reason enough to celebrate.

Miette is my inspiration. Love this cake. Tartine makes one just like it, but without the ribbon. Now, the ribbon is just me. This will be a devil's food cake with chocolate ganache. It might not be perfect, but I'm practicing again. It will still taste awesome.

I *Heart* Halloween

Fall is here - okay, not officially, but as far as I'm concerned, once we switch to September, fall is here. There have already been football games (so glad my Huskies finally won something!), I've heard the marching band rehearsing, school has started for the kids, I've bought pencils and now I'm getting excited for Halloween.

We've got the costumes figured out - we still have to make them, but they are at least figured out. We're going to do these goody bags for Laurel's school party, but we'll fill them with fun little toys from Oriental Trading Co. instead of candy.
And then there are all the decorating ideas from Martha Stewart:

And the Halloween treats, most from Country Living - I can't decide which one I like the best!

We'll be super busy this year - we're doing Henry's blessing on November 1st, so Aaron's parents will be in town as well as mine. We'll also be celebrating "the birthdays" as they are coming to be known - Laurel, Will and James. And Mark, Aaron's stepfather too! This will be one crazy weekend come the end of October! Which is why I've got Halloween and birthdays on the brain already. Never too early to start thinking about.