Custom order

I got my very first custom order this week. It was inspired by my owl cookies I made for the Animal Shelter. She asked me to make lions and cookies that said "Phi Mu <3". They are going to a very lucky sorority girl! In order to make the lion cookies I had to mix up orange, yellow, and pink. So I figured... I might as well finish the Sugar Skull cookies I had intended on making over a week ago. There are just so many colors to make with it! I also decided to go ahead and make cupcake cookies since I had so many colors at my disposal! I found the cupcake cookie cutter at Walmart this week. Pretty darn cute if you ask me. I spent literally then entire day decorating sugar cookies... so my consequence is spending literally the entire day today studying for my Insurance License. Boo... at first I didn't mind going back to my college days, but now I am reminded what it's like to just sit and read... and read... and read. On the upside... at least I can have the tv on (muted of course) and I can get up and go whenever I please. And believe me... I find many excuses to get up and go. I can list off several right now...

"The dog needs a walk"
"The dog wants attention"
"I should get a drink"
"My stomach sort of rumbled... better eat"
"I'm cold"
"I'm hot"
"I'm going to look on Etsy"
"I'm going to check facebook"
"I'm going to post a blog"
"Better take pictures of my new sugar cookies"
..... The possiblities of procrastination are endless...... and I have a creative mind. :)

Cupcake cookies!

Sugar Skulls

Lion Cookies

 

 

My FIRST Custom Order!

Animal Print Cookies

It was Joe's mom's birthday today (Happy Birthday, Deb!) and so of course, I made cookies for her! Joe suggested doing something I really wanted to try, and I thought what could be girlier than pink animal print?!

Brady and Alex Letters

Brady and Alex... just want you both to know I got your letters and my letters to you will be in the mail tomorrow! I was so happy to hear from both of you! I miss you guys and your other classmates very much. You'll have to tell them that I said "hi" tomorrow when you go to school!

Other students.... do not forget... if you would like my new address email me at

misswheeler1986@gmail.com

I hope to hear from you soon!!

How Joe and I Met

So... I know a lot of people do know this story, but more people do not. It's kinda fun so let's get started. When I was a freshman in college it was my last day living in the dorms and I was getting all packed up to go home for the summer.  In order to get to my car which was parked in a lot very far away, I had to take the cambus to get there. I remember walking up to the bus stop with my suitcase in hand and ipod in my ears and while I was there I was scoping out the other people who were also waiting for the bus. Then I saw Joe. He caught my eye because he was wearing a black shirt, black dress pants, a Hurley belt, and Converse shoes. I thought the combination was pretty unique. When I got on the bus he was sitting pretty much across from me. I caught him looking in my direction a couple of times, but thought nothing of it. I reached my stop and went on my merry little way. I drove back home to Des Moines, got settled in, and popped on the computer to check my facebook. (Facebook was new the year I went to college and it was still a novelty to me, but 7 years later I'm still just as addicted to it as I was then.) I had a message waiting for me when I got on. A message... from the boy I saw at the bus stop. WHAT THE HECK?! HOW DID HE KNOW WHO I WAS?! well .. the message is long since gone but I do remember the gist of what it said...

"Hi, my name is Joe. I've been seeing you around campus and I think you're really cute. I hope you don't think I'm a stalker or weird. I just wanted to say hi and I was wondering if I could take you out on a date sometime."

Now... as I look back on it I should have been more like "Um, that doesn't explain how you know my name. You are weird. Thanks but no thanks."

But there was just something about him. After doing some picture stalking of my own, I decided "why not?!" and I told him yes, I would go out with him. Well he lived in Iowa City still so he drove ALL the way to Des Moines to meet me one afternoon. It didn't last long. I met him in a parking lot. We drove around... went to Sonic. That was it. Nothing special. No sparks. Haha. I tried it out a couple more times but I was just young and didn't know what a good guy was. So eventually Joe and I just became friends. Sort of. We didn't really talk much. Soon after he died his hair black, pierced his lip, wore Blink182 shirts, and dated my roommate. So... no, we weren't friends at all.

(4 years later)

Joe and I hadn't talked or even seen eachother for a really long time. For some reason, one day he passed through my mind. I decided to hop back on facebook (afterall, isn't that how you keep in touch these days?) and see what he was up to. I saw someone I didn't recognize. Someone with a military hair cut, muscles, and fatigues for the US Air Force. He was practically unrecognizable. Now, Joe has always been good looking, but the past 4 years had been good to him!

So I re-added him, and literally minutes later he messaged me. Now the story gets EVEN BETTER from there. After about a week or two of talking every day... he told me that he was going to be home for a week before he got deployed in a month. He asked me to go on a date. This time I drove to Iowa City and met up with him. This time we met in the Ped Mall... had sushi.. and stayed out having drinks and talking nonstop. Now here is the REALLY amazing part. Joe was wearing both a necklace and a watch that I really didn't like. (I'm not particular on guys clothing but I'm not fond of their jewelry usually) Well while we were sitting and talking... his necklace just broke and fell to the floor. A little while later, the button on his watch popped off. Then I realized. THIS IS A SIGN. I joke and say that God was really working in Joe's favor trying to get me to like him. Haha. Well all that didn't need to happen for me to take a liking to him. He looked different, but he was the same nice, funny guy I remembered.

Before he left for Georgia he invited me to come to a wedding with him so we could spend a little more time together. I did and it was so much fun. We danced and had such a great time. Such a great time, in fact, that when he asked me to come visit him in Georgia literally days before he deployed to Bahrain, I did. That is totally not like me. I would never fly all the way to Georgia to spend a weekend with someone who a) I only went on 2 dates with in the past 4 years and b) was being deployed for 6 months.

To my parent's surprise, and my own, I flew down. Had a great weekend, and from there we have been together. Although we had really only been talking for about 6 weeks before he was deployed, we stuck together the 6 months he was gone. I have a box FULL of letters and cards. We skyped frequently and he called me when he could. That is how we truly got to know eachother. And this time, I knew he was a keeper.

So here we are, 2 years later and I'm living in Albuquerque with him. Every day he makes me laugh and I couldn't be more thankful. I know that was a long story, but wasn't it a good one?!

(ps... I later found out that he knew my name because he lived in the same dorm as me and he found out which floor I was on. I was on 12 and he was on 11... and he knew where I was because when we would happen to be in the elevator together I would stay on when he got off. He "searched" 12th floor Slater" on FB.. saw a picture with me tagged in it and VOILA.. found out my name. Very interesting and kind of creepy how the internet works. I then asked him why he never said anything to me on the bus.. his perfect opportunity. His response? "You were listening to your ipod! I wasn't about to interrupt you!")

THROWBACK! This picture was taken a couple months after we met (2006)

 

 A picture I took from Skype when he was in Bahrain (2010)

 

In January when he came back (2011)

Fall of 2011.. our first Iowa game

 

 



Us now! 2012

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you like chocolate chip cookies that have a crunch on the outside and are gooey and soft on the inside... these are the cookies for you.

yummy!

They stay soft... NEVER get hard, even when you accidentally over bake them slightly. Joe almost never requests me to make junk food... but these puppies get requested on a regular basis. The secret ingredient you ask? ... PUDDING! If you wanna give these a try... here's the recipe.

1 cup butter, softened (sometimes I melt it too)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 (3.5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add pudding mix, eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, salt and baking soda; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop by Tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 to minutes or until lightly browned.

 

The best part of this recipe? The combinations are endless! I have also used white chocolate chips and cheesecake pudding and those are very good as well!

 

 

"owl" miss you!

The kind people at the animal shelter over at the Animal Humane NM were so kind and informative. I could also tell that they really cared about Harrison and they were so thrilled that he was going into a home that he deserved. Because of this I wanted to do something special for them to show that we really appreciate what they do. This is technically a gift from Harrison.

Joe and I thought the shelter was so great... we are going to sign up for volunteering!

Picante, Caliente, Fuego....

It's been interesting around here with the new addition to our "family". Harrison has been great with a few exceptions... he does NOT like to be left alone and he also does NOT like his kennel. Something we're working on. But other than that... he listens, he knows the rules and for the most part follows them, and he continues to leave the cat alone! Dierks gets plenty of hisses out throughout the day... but each day there are fewer. I see that as a good sign.

Yesterday we ventured out to "Old Town" again to go to the annual Albuquerque Salsa Fiesta, $5 gets you free samples and voting rights to decide which salsa was the best. Now.. here is where things got a little confusing. There were three large tents set up named "picante", "caliente", and "fuego". I put my high school Spanish and reasoning to good use and figured that "fuego" (meaning fire) must have been the salsas that were the most spicy, "caliente" (meaning hot) must have been the mildly hot, and that left "picante" which MUST have been the mild. So we started with the picante tent. I do not tolerate spice in any form or fashion. The second I feel a burning or even TINGLING sensation in my mouth, I'm done. The salsas in the picante tent were H-O-T. My mouth was burning but I refused to give up. I thought to myself "if I can't even get through the mild salsas then I must really be a wimp!"

Joe and his friend, Jett, dared to go into the "fuego" and "caliente" tents and I followed with Harrison in tow, hoping that I would get some amusement out of them setting their mouths on fire. HOWEVER, as we went through the tents and they sampled salsa after salsa... we discovered that the titles of the tents were not indicative of the spice level of the salsas. Caliente was.. kind of hot and most of the salsas in the fuego tent weren't spicy at all! Which means... I SAMPLED ALL OF THE HOTTEST SALSAS! I was so proud of myself after finding that out. Go me, maybe next time I'll try the spicy ones on purpose..... probably not though.  ;)

Cat meets Dog.... Dun Dun Dun

So... cat and dog met. Completely on accident. Scared the daylights out of me. The animal clinic AND the helpline I called about the situation both said it needs to be VERY gradual and done with caution. HOWEVER, Dierks.. the sneaky little devil he is... managed to get out of the spare bedroom. How did he do it? Who knows, Houdini probably couldn't even figure that one out. All I know is that when I cam inside from taking a walk with Harrison I shut the door behind me and heard a "HIISSSSSSS" coming from the coffe table a mere 4 ft away from where the dog and I stood. I acted more surprised than the dog did. Apparently Harrison is used to cats... cause he didn't care at all. His ears perked up and he just stood there. Not a peep, not a movement. AND THANK GOODNESS FOR THAT. If that dog had lunged at that cat.. I'm fairly certain the world would have ended and we would have never seen Dierks again. After some coaxing and treats on my part, the next thing I knew the dog and the cat were together. In the same room. Eating. Dierks got close enough to touch noses with Harrison but apparently Harrison just smells terrible because he then proceeded to hiss in his face. Reaction from Harrison? Nothing. So now both animals are in the same room and both are sleeping. How did this miracle happen? No clue. But I can tell you one thing... I will be tip toeing around the situation hoping that the dog doesn't get excited and the cat doesn't explode from panic. Wish us all luck. These next 24 hours could be interesting!

Harrison not caring about Dierks

 

Dierks not caring about Harrison

Harrison

So here's the story. While talking with my wonderful, beautiful, and extremely intelligent friend, Lauren, I realized "OH MY GOSH! Now is the perfect time for Joe and I to get a dog!" So I did what any normal girl would do, I went ahead and started looking up dogs online. Yup. And by the time Joe came home I was practically crying thinking "These poooor animals! We need to adopt one!" So pretty much the second he walked through the door I jumped up and said "Joe... we really, really, really, really, really, REALLY, need a puppy." His response you ask? "Ok, let me change and I'll look with you."

I.could.not.believe.it.

So we started our hunt. We saw so many cute puppies. Adorable, really. But then Joe came across a dog's picture at one of the shelter's who's name was "Gabe". Gabe was a very handsome looking dog but he was 7 years old and we (or I) had our heart(s) set on a puppy. Joe pretty much fell in love with Gabe from the moment he laid eyes on him. We made a list of dogs we wanted to see and the next day when he got off work we went to the Animal Shelter to look. Gabe was the second dog we saw and we didn't bother looking at the third on the list. He was quiet, sweet, and I thought that out of all the dogs we could get that Dierks would probably tolerate him best. (BTW we have yet to find out if they get along. We are supposed to keep them apart without seeing eachother for at least a week. That will be a whole other post entirely I'm sure)

So this morning I got the "ok" from the landlord and we picked up Gabe... who is NOW known as... HARRISON!

 

 First things first... he got a bath

 

 

And he did great.... what a patient boy. We're excited to see what the coming years bring!

 

(Poor Dierks, he's locked up in the spare bedroom. I'll have to give him plenty of some quality

cuddle-time later)

 

 

 

Sketching Out Designs... Star Wars Cookies!

I am on a ROLL tonight! My third post in one sitting. I just don't want to be completely overwhelming by cramming all this information into one post! As previously mentioned I try to utilize the same colors into more than one cookie set. I also mentioned that I like to sketch out my cookies before I actually start decorating them with icing. I have found that the process in which I draw them is very close to the order in which I need to use my icing.

My initial drawings for my Star Wars characters. I always trace the outline of the cutter so I can get an accurate idea of how big all of my details need to be. As you can see... the Stormtrooper didn't make the cut. I just wasn't happy with how he was turning out.

I don't try to draw everything out perfectly, just accurately enough to get a good idea of how I'm going to decorate with icing!

 

The end result! Chewbacca, R2D2, Yoda, Boba Fett, and Darth Vader!
 

Getting Creative with Cookie Cutters

As I said in my previous post, one thing that I have learned is to try to see a cookie cutter as more than one shape. In my head I turn it, flip it, stretch it, and try my best to find some other use for it. In order to save myself time, I also try to think of designs/characters/themes that are different but would use similar colors so I don't have to remake colors again and again. Well today I made pirates and Star Wars characters! But I stray... the full Star Wars cast I created will have to be my next post. This one is SOLELY focusing on using cookie cutters in unexpected ways.

 These cutters were originally intended to be a witch's cauldron (sorry it's upside down), a skull, and a spider (which I stretched to fit today's purposes).

 

The cauldron was turned into a treasure map (compliments of Joe!), the skull was turned into a pirate and a cow, and the spider is now Yoda! What other ideas can you come up with?!

Arrrrgh!

While grocery shopping with Joe at Smith's, I found a GREAT cookie cutter. On the package it showed a skull, a shrunken head, and another green skull with a bandana. But I saw so much more! If there is anything that I have learned from my cookie idol Sugarbelle , it's that a cookie cutter shape can literally be turned in to ANYTHING. Today I put my creativity to the test and tried to think of what else this cookie cutter could be. Now I will admit that I was inspired by the bandana on the skull and then I sketched out a pirate. I have found that I MUST sketch out my designs before going to town on a cookie. It not only helps me to figure out exactly how I want it to look, but it also helps me to figure out which steps need to come first  since frosting has to dry before you can add more details.

 These pirates mimmicked my drawing almost exactly. As I saw them come to life I literally squealed with excitement, Joe can attest to that!

 

 

Not always, but every now and then, when Joe sees me working on cookies he asks to decorate his own and I always oblige him. How could I not?! Look at his two pirate cookies on the bottom!

 

 

 

Superhero Cookies!

Yesterday I was inspired by my newly opened Etsy account to make some more cookies. As I was thinking of ideas I realized that superheros use a lot of the same colors in their designs! So I really did my homework and google imaged pictures of them ;) and I thought "Hey.. there's no reason that Marvel and DC superheros have to be separated". So I got out my notebook, traced my gingerbread men, and sketched designs. Joe can attest to the fact that I spent at least 3 hours decorating these cookies (that does not include baking time). But I LOVE the results! Batman is my personal favorite superhero.. but as far as these cookies are concerned, I feel that Spiderman is where its at... or maybe Captain America... or maybe.... oh heck, I love them all!

 

 I would have made the Bat Symbol but I ran out of frosting!!!!

 

Wonder Woman was the next on my list, but I ran out of icing.... and time

Etsy Account

I am so excited to announce that I just opened up my own Etsy shop!!! I've decided to take my sugar cookie love the the next level. My shop name is called "thecreativecookie". I only have 3 designs that I felt were worthy of the shop so that's all I have for now. I'm looking forward to adding more up and actually taking some orders (which will probably take a lot of time). But I am thrilled anyway!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheCreativeCookie?ref=seller_info_count

Apartment

 Master Bedroom Closet

 

 Master Sink/Vanity

 

 Master Bath

 

 Master Bedroom

 

 Guest Bath

 

The View!

Kitchen

Hawkeye Cookies

As promised, here are the Hawkeye cookies fully decorated! I wish I had a KopyKake to help me decorate the Tiger Hawks... but I think I did a decent job free handing!

 

 

Great Albuquerque Weekend

Joe's mom came to visit this weeked and so we took advantage of the tourist attractions that Albuquerque has to offer. Today we went to a GREAT part of Albuquerque called "Old Town." It is the original area where Albuquerque was founded and where settlers first started building. Today we ate lunch that is historically a home that was built in the late 1700s! People have turned the area into specialty stores where you can find souvenirs, artwork, jewelry, and tasty treats. I'm not a fan of spicy food, but when I saw a "New Mexico Snapping Turtle" treat, I had to try it. It was a turtle cluster made out of peanuts, milk chocolate, and caramel, only there was chili powder in the caramel! Debra (Joe's mom) turned around and after seeing the huge bite I took out of mine said, "Oh my goodness! You took a big bite! Just wait!" and seconds later... my throat was burning and I was trying to muffle my coughs. It was tasty enough before the burn, but I think next time I will pass up on chocolate with red chiles in it.

 

 Joe and his mom

 

 

Just a small part of Old Town. The buildings were so cool!

Altitude

It's amazing what a change in altitude can do to not only your body... but your cookies! In the past week I have learned that in high altitude, even walking up the flight of steps to your 2nd floor apartment can run you out of breath. It will make you tired enough to just want to crawl into bed (literally) at 8:30 at night. I'm trying to figure out if it's the altitude or just Dierks swallowing his food whole that makes him throw up twice a morning. It will also SERIOUSLY mess with your baking. It's safe to admit this since my dad probably never checks my blog, but his birthday is this Saturday and I wanted to ship him some cookies. I heard that high altitude could change the way your baked goods turned out, but I guess I just had to learn first hand. I just spend the past 2 hours baking two complete batches of cookies and praying that the second one would turn out... luckily it did!

 Of course these are going to be Iowa Hawkeye helmets... you kew I had to get my dedication to the Hawks from someone! I will post pictures of them once they are frosted.

Joe's Birthday

August 30th was Joe's birthday... I surprised him that morning when he came home from the gym with some balloons and a birthday cake. Of course when I saw the Batman "Happy Birthday" balloon, I knew that was the one. He was pleasantly surprised.

 

Thank goodness he didn't actually count the candles on his personal sized birthday cake... I only put on 26 and he is now 27!

 

 

Joe chose to go to a fun Mexican restaraunt for his birthday. It was delicious and we had a really great time!