Because you are on the edge of your seats…

photo lovingly borrowed from Deb

The Cheesecake Marbled Brownies I made for the bake sale this past weekend were a hit. Thank you to the lovely Holly, who not only also shares an intense addiction to white noise machines (we realized this while rooming together at the Broad Summit), but gives fantastic bake sale advice.

(Currently enjoying the Quiet Noise iPhone app, by the way. I highly recommend the air conditioner sound.)

Did I mention that when it comes to bake sale recipes, I’m set for the next 60 years? Thanks to you and you and you, the next time I need to bake something, I am going to use random.org to pick a recipe from your comments.

However, my baking did not end at the marbled brownies. No sirree. When I popped those babies in the oven, I realized I had 80% of the chocolate chips remaining, so I made these chocolate chip cookies. (All before 7:30 am on a Saturday. I am baker, hear me ROAR.)

So good, so good, so good. In fact, there are crumbs all over my laptop as I type this. You might want to make some this very minute.

The Perfume Diaries

Listen up, ladies and gents!

I’m super excited to be working with Leslie Blodgett of Bare Escentuals and Sephora (OMG, pinch me) on a contest that starts today and goes through October 23, 2009. Many many MANY of you all need to enter immediately. Why?

#1 – (1) grand prize winner and a guest will receive a luxurious vacation to Honolulu, Hawaii for 5 nights/6 days and a gift basket of Leslie’s Bare Skin collection (approx. $2000 value).

#2 – (3) second place winners will receive a gift basket of Leslie’s Bare Skin Collection (over $100 value/each).

#3 – The contest involves writing about a personal travel experience, and considering so many of you are TALENTED BLOGGERS, you could totally win this thing. For reals. I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT.

#4 – Because I said so.

Leslie’s brand new perfume line, The Perfume Diaries, is a series of fragrances inspired by Leslie’s travels around the world, and now she wants to hear about the scent memories you’ve created while on your own travels. The official rules and entry requirements are over here. I can’t tell you how incredibly stoked I would be if someone I knew won this contest.

(Even though I’m not eligible for the contest, I wrote about my own scent memories revolving around my wedding in Hawaii.)

Picturing Plumeria

Planning my wedding was a little stressful.

Wait, I know what you are thinking. What wedding planning process ISN’T a little stressful? It’s the nature of the beast! I’m sure most brides-to-be have experienced that familiar bottom lip quiver at some point during the process. (Or full-out bridezilla rage…you know who you are.)

My wedding, which was supposed to be a very intimate affair in another country, blew up in my face about 5 months before it was supposed to happen. Chicka chicka BOOM. Suddenly I had no calendar date, no venue, no caterers, and wasn’t even sure if our amazing photographer would still be available.

Like I said, planning my wedding was a little stressful.

I had to start at square one. D and I still wanted a destination wedding, but how were we going to make that happen in such a short time? We dreamed of eloping to Europe, but ultimately couldn’t stand the thought of our immediate family not being there to celebrate with us. And then it hit me like a gigantic coconut in the face. Hawaii.

Several holed up days of internet research, phone calls and faxes later, I booked a lovely hotel on the Big Island.

Those five months flew by, and before I knew it, I was on a plane across the Pacific. Upon arriving on the Big Island, I marveled at the landscape filled with huge lava rocks, but was surprised to see such a difference once I reached the hotel’s grounds. It was absolutely lush. Bright green grass, intensely-colored flowers, the lava rocks mingling with the deep blue ocean. I was in heaven.

I’m pretty sure I was doing pirouettes around the lobby when I got my first whiff of plumeria. To say that it was completely intoxicating would be an understatement, and I couldn’t get enough. Luckily, the lei I received upon arrival at the hotel was made entirely from the flowers. For the rest of the trip, I filled our room with the scent of plumeria leis, and that scent now embodies one of the most wonderful weeks of my life.

There are only a few scents that immediately trigger a walk down memory lane – Opium (the fragrance my mother wore during my childhood), my great-grandmother’s Thanksgiving dressing cooking in the oven, and the smell of a middle school friend’s older sister’s car (a strangely heady mixture of Jasmine stick incense and cigarette smoke). After our wedding trip to Hawaii, plumeria became one of my elite.

From our intimate ceremony,

To the toasts made afterward.

The sweet scent of plumeria lets me hop in my time travel machine and subtract 5 years.

To one of the happiest moments in my life.

Bake sales, rainy days and beautiful broads

My bake sale is this Saturday, and I still haven’t decided what to make. Good God, the PRESSURE. I want to make every single item you’ve sent me. The Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies? A sure winner! Cheesecake-Marbled Brownies? Delish! Cookies and Cream Rice Krispie Treats? INTRIGUING. I…I just don’t know right now. Must get back to you.

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Rain is in the forecast for the next couple of days in Southern California. Like actual wet drops falling from the sky with intensity. In all honesty, the last time I remember heavy rain in my area was in the spring of 2004. I will celebrate this incredible feat of nature with a list of my favorite songs with “rain” in the title. (I’m obviously dealing with some premium-grade procrastination issues right now.)

1. Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain – Willie Nelson
2. Come Rain or Come Shine – Etta James
3. Fool in the Rain – Led Zeppelin
4. Here Comes The Rain Again – Eurythmics
5. Rain (Falling from the Sky) – Frank Sinatra
6. Mandolin Rain – Bruce Hornsby
7. Purple Rain – Prince
8. Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head – Burt Bacharach
9. Blame it on the Rain – Milli Vanilli (What? It’s a JAM.)

Feel free to add your own. (You know, if you are also trying desperately to not do what you are supposed to be doing right now.)

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(borrowed from Jenny)

Ohhhh, the Broad Summit. What an inspiring retreat. Although the internet brought these women together, computers and internet-ready devices were definitely not in attendance this weekend. Just engaging conversations and lovely experiences across the board. Thank you so much to Maggie, Helen Jane, Laura and Aubrey for such a memorable time.

I think I took a whopping 3 photographs this weekend, but tons of fantastic shots can be found here.

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