Martha comes through!!

Yup, I am still here! been busy with my job (like crazy busy!!), went to Hawaii for two weeks and took thousands of photos, you know... stuff like that! 

Anyway-- I haven't had much time to craft or scrap, but I do still take tons of photos, and I would like to do something with them-- hopefully I can make some time for that soon. 

Yesterday we were out and about... we drove to Cave Creek, AZ to (have lunch and) get new chili ristras to hang outside the patio. On the way back, I wanted to stop at Sprinkles to get a cupcake, but we got caught in the torrential downpours of the storm that moved through the entire Phoenix area, and there was no stopping anywhere after it started to pour. But, I still wanted a cupcake! So, Martha came to my rescue: 

Martha Stewart's vanilla cupcake recipe

frosted and sprinkled with coconut

So, not quite the same as the ones from Sprinkles-- mine are smaller (I really don't need a huge cupcake anyway), and I must confess, I did use store-bought frosting, but they are yummy! (and way cheaper!! I made a dozen cupcakes for pretty much the price the one Sprinkles cupcake would have been.) Would you believe I think this is the first time I've baked a cake  from scratch in my adult life?? (well, cupcakes, but still...) I guess I figured mixes were always so much simpler... for the difference in taste, I don't think I'll buy a cake mix ever again!

Like I said, my job is crazy-busy right now (my supervisor left on maternity leave and starting last week, I'm her stand-in... yikes!!) but I have tons of photos to post-- from our trip to Hawaii, other places around AZ, last year's trip to New Mexico for the balloon fiesta, etc. So, it might be somewhat random (like usual), but I will post some of them soon! And hopefully scrap some of them, too!!