Everyone likes new car smell. Everyone who's seen my car has commented on loving that new car smell.

I think it alternates between smelling like cigarettes and rotting trash.

That said I have had zero buyer's remorse or even the slightest bit of guilt (aside from seeing my sad little Civic parked on the street, neglected. OK a little guilt). I finally made it past 300 miles and drove on the highway. It accelerates so smoothly and quickly, I don't feel like I'm going to die in a pile of broken metal so much any more.

I missed cake decorating class last week due to my nasty head cold. I was really bummed about it, because we were making a doll cake (which then appeared on cake wrecks this week ... but, mine would have been cute and not wreck-y).

But that same week I would have had to make two cakes, if I had not been sick. My coworker got married just before Christmas last year, and my group wanted to throw a little surprise post-wedding party. Of course, I was to bring the cake! But, because I was sick, I wasn't about to bring in a germ-bomb, so it was postponed to this week.

Missing class meant I had oodles of frosting left over, and since I didn't know this week was frosting-only, I ended up with some extra cake mixes. Specifically, a random half milk chocolate mix. The party planner didn't know if chocolate or vanilla would be better, so marble it was!

The thing about the Betty Crocker milk chocolate mix is that it's ... well, it's just plain not that good. It's thick and heavy until you bake it, and then it tends to dry out. But the half mix was perfect to blend with the full white mix, because it made a nice color balance. And it came out tasty too!

I cheated and used pre-made chocolate frosting. No one seemed to mind. I also bought some bavarian cream filling rather than make it myself, and as you can see, the design was basically the same as the first cake from class:

I wasn't feeling particularly creative. Plus, it's such a nice design. I obviously need to work on my writing, but isn't Joelle a pretty name?

The cake was a big hit. So was the card that blared "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAt Laaaaaaaaaaaaast ...." when you open it ...

OK so here is what happened last week:

I got sick. There was a head cold going around and with all of the things going on and all the stress (good and bad) I got it with a vengeance. I hate being sick. I like to think myself a fairly active person, and this really puts the brakes on the operation. Plus it made me miss cake decorating class. Luckily I was sick enough not to care too much about doing anything but sitting very, very still.

We went to pick up my car expecting the scratch to be repaired but found a crappy paint job, new 2" scratch on the bumper, and a fast talking salesman. Lesson: saying something very quickly does not make it true or reveal your time traveling abilities. Case in point: saying the car was ready last Friday when we didn't drop it off until last Saturday. It was fixed & pristine this past weekend.

Which is good, because the Civic (I have to differentiate now between my stable of cars LOL) has developed the nasty habit of not starting. With all of the rain, it is probably getting too wet and to be fair, it is quite the old lady. We meant to keep it because it's cheap and convenient, and kept me from needing a rental car for the week it took the dealership to get their act together, but this new habit in combination with street sweeping 7 am Tuesdays is not going to play.

I like my new phone. I'm torn between having a smart phone with all possible features and just having a basic phone. Since I don't like being available at all times, the basic phone is really the way to go. The built in bluetooth is so much better than carrying one separate, the menus and navigation are so much better than my old phone, and it actually has good free ringtones. Now I just need that free text package since no one I know makes phone calls any more. And for Verizon to not screw me out of the $50 rebate because their paperwork is wrong. I hate them.

My diploma came in the mail and we picked it up Saturday. Oh yes, did you forget I just graduated with an MBA? It's OK. I knew it would kind of get overshadowed. Everyone seems happy that I'm not in school anymore but now expect me to be all wedding, all the time. Damn, people, I am tired. I need some fart-around-in-the-house time.

I don't like to talk about work, but I had a really big project fail over the weekend that had very little to do with me, and mostly to do with no one bothering to tell me very important information. Which then created a massive amount of rework despite my careful work in the first place. Which makes me wonder: I will have a new rotation in just two months - what will they do?

Anyway, on I go ...

Today in the mail (in addition to my daily little white envelopes) I got two interesting items to remind me of the other big things going on in my life:

Item #1

A delivery slip. Filled out with my full (I mean full, and if you know me you know how often I use that) name in capital letters. With extra time taken to fill out the sender's name as "USC/Degree Progress." And the article number?

DIPLOMA!

Lesson learned: take the extra two seconds to make someone's day special.

Item #2

A catalog of USC graduation crap I can buy. I feel a little too old for a class ring - although it's apparently "the ultimate symbol of your Trojan achievement." (Isn't that the degree itself? How silly of me. $85k degree versus a $300 ring.) Although now I'm feeling a little sentimental and want graduation announcements. Wait, $60 for 25? Nevermind.

Oh, and my first car payment. Doh.

Here we are at week #3 of cake decorating!

I made a plain white cake without filling this week. With all the other things going on, splitting and filling a cake seemed like an extra unnecessary step. Especially after making four different frosting colors. It came out really well, although next time I should read the directions, pay attention, and use egg whites. It was a little creamy colored rather than super white.

This week's theme was a baby sweater. Not very exciting, but if you had a baby shower to go to, it would be pretty cute. Maybe it would be neater as a sports jersey.

We cut out wax paper templates and laid them over our crumb-iced cakes. Really, it was just a matter of cutting out little triangles on each side and a small semicircle from the top. Then it was on to decorating! I really like decorating with the tips and bags. I'm not an artist, but drawing with the right tip really makes a world of difference.

And there it is! You can see that we even decorated the sides, but not the bottom or arm holes. They were very particular about us not icing where the baby would be sticking out.

On the left side of the sweater is a rattle, and on the right is a little flower pattern of my own creation.

They all came out so well! My coworkers are really starting to appreciate weekly cake. Next week's cake is a doll's dress.

Wh-y-y-y is $33 too much for an apron?

In case you're wondering why I am not squee-ing with delight over my fancy new car, it's because there is so much going on. I can't drive it because when I call the insurance company, I get this crazy lady that yells at me; when Andy calls, we get discounts. OK, that might not be entirely true. I do have temporary magic coverage until our insurance is settled, and when Andy calls he just gets to talk to our agent. But the crazy lady does yell at me.

Plus I have to take it to the dealership to have them repaint the mirror. And I can't drive on the highway until it has 300 miles. If you are not from southern California, this probably doesn't sound bad. If you are, you know this is completely ridiculous and insane.

Here is the to do list for today:

• Copy and mail the DJ contract. I forgot a stamp and someone broke the copier (again). The envelope was pre-stamped. Der.
  
• Make an appointment to get previously mentioned mirror painted (further keeping me from achieving 300 miles)
  
• Go bridezilla on Alfred Angelo re: a bridesmaid dress. They screwed me up.
  
• Call the restaurant with the menu choices.
  
• Order my headpiece. OK, I chickened out. I'd rather go to a local store (I have connections, potentially) than order online. I ordered bridesmaid gifts instead, so I'm calling this a win.
  
• Email pictures of our defective unity ... candle ... thingy to the knot. Don't order from the knot.
  
• Call the pharmacy for a refill. Seriously. What is so confusing about automatic refills and emailing me when it is ready???
  
• Start the laundry when I get home. Yuck.
  
• Obsessively check FedEx for my phone. Tracking numbers are evil. It's here!
  
• Make potato chips and acorn squash. I think the potato I saw in there is still good. The chips got made, the squash did not.

Whew! Not bad for an overloaded day. Plus there's always tomorrow...