Yay! I was hoping to see this after reading about it in the Daily Mail.

The world needs more spontaneous dance scenes. We should all learn a few dance moves so that when the occasion arises, we can pull this off for real.

Random observations from today:

My cake decorating class cost $25. Score! Today I found out it's probably because of all the equipment you have to buy, even with the 10% student discount. I'm going to make do with other things, like my glass pans rather than the professional baking pans, and a big knife instead of a leveler. But some of it is nice, like the gel color kit. I know I'll love that.

This great little tip tumbled in to my reader today: click here to opt-out of getting phone books. I hate getting phone books, because we use the internet or google text (46645) or GPS (great gift by the way) to find things. And then I feel bad that someone went through the trouble of printing and delivering them ... just for me to throw out.

I have an alternative work schedule. One Friday off every other week is amazing, and really helping me with the wedding, but dang nine hour workdays are rough.

Glad Slumdog Millionaire is getting nominated for awards. Will not be watching the show. Will be loving the "worst dressed" (why is it so wrong to wear a beautiful ball gown now?) and hating the "best dressed" (designer =/= nice looking).

Tonight for dinner I made Martha's Mediterranean Stew.


I only kind of made it though, because I don't know what escarole is so I used spinach. And I didn't have an onion but I had some chopped green onion and used that.

It's actually really easy to make ... and TASTY. Oh yes, I will be making this again.

Last night I went to the first class for cake decorating!

For the first night, we met the two instructors - a mother-in-law, daughter-in-law team that own the store (see, you can have a good relationship with your in-laws!). They went through the syllabus and explained baking and icing techniques and the tools we'd need for class.

The three of us (myself and two friends) sat there and watched the whole thing with giant eyes. There are, apparently, many things I did not know about baking and icing.

Lessons learned last night:

• For a 9"x12" pan, you need one and a half cake mixes. Not one. This makes it thick enough to level and split, meaning you don't have to bake two and stack them.
• If your cake turns in to a mountain in the middle (mine always do), your oven is too hot. Unfortunately the small print on this tip is my oven also sucks.
  
• The icing that bakeries use is like the icing I make, only ... made with special stuff.
  
• Bakers have amazing toys. I mean, tools.
  

Next week we're to make a cake based on their instructions, and we're going to learn how to make different kinds of borders and accents. This means a trip to the store for special, top secret baker's ingredients, and probably a trip to Wal-Mart or Bed Bath and Beyond (with those handy 20% coupons) for my first batch of toys.

Oh noes! Digital TV!

I just read an article about the digital television conversion. As someone who knows nothing about TV, it was pretty eye opening. I mean, the whole thing is going to be a disaster on a smaller scale than the media will have you believe (but a disaster nonetheless), but all of the ins and outs of the conversion.

This is, of course, from someone who has a TV, but only watches DVDs (on a free $20 player), Wii, and hulu.

I am sure I will get a call from home that someone's TV isn't working, so I should study up. But it sounds like there's way more to it than just plugging in a thing the size of a cable box (didn't we finally get past those?). Even though I'm all for switching to digital signals, and forward progress and all that, I'm suspicious most people aren't very interested in doing a lot of internet research on making sure their TV works.

Guess we'll find out in a month ...

Now that school and the holidays are over, it's all wedding all the time. Each weekend we've been busy with plans and organizing. Before it seemed like the wedding was a long way off, and I felt totally unorganized. Now, it's around the corner! Luckily I feel a little more prepared.

Otherwise we've been:

• Watching Firefly
• Playing some Wii Ski
• Checking in on the Wii Fit every day
• Working 9 hours for that awesome every-other-Friday-off
• Doing yoga during the week, and running on weekends

Coming up:

• Wine tasting & lunch
• A going away party
• Cake decorating classes
  
• OK ... and the rest is wedding related. So much to do!
  

Dear Cake Mate,

Since I've started really baking a lot, you have become a pretty familiar staple. Especially over the holidays.

However this holiday I was horrified to find that the tubes of decorating icing I have come to love are no longer sold in my local grocery.


I was busy with the holidays before, but this is totally unacceptable. These bags are neither easy nor squeezable (unless microwaved every 10 minutes for 10 seconds - that really ruins the gingerbread-decorating mojo).

On top of it all, it's expensive. Please stop selling this crap and go back to the tube. Or I will start making my own.

no love, emily