Strawberry Banana Cupcakes

This week I made Strawberry Banana Cupcakes from Cupcake Project. They are topped with Greek Yogurt Frosting.


N00bie Status Tips: Look up how to macerate strawberries. There are like a billion different ways to do it....basically you're just making strawberries sweeter. Personally, I just added sugar. Also Greek yogurt smells weird....

For my serial readers: Breezing through the second half of The Dark Tower. I'm kind of slowing my pace down though after my favorite character just got killed. I cried my eyes out; no joke. :'(

Leftovers Question: What do you do with leftover Greek yogurt when you're not really a yogurt person to begin with?

Halfway: The Dark Tower

First off, mind=blown. WOW!
Brief Summary: Roland and the gang have found Susannah and are so close to reaching the dark tower! Susannah's "baby" Mordred can morph into a disgusting spider and has ran off and hidden from everyone. While hiding Mordred kills Walter, the man in black, which takes a slight load off of Roland's back. Pere Callahan kills himself during a battle so Jake may sneak past the vampires. Roland and the gang find the Breakers and decide to free them while killing all of the guards and people in charge. During this epic battle though, Eddie is shot and killed. Now Oy, Jake, and Roland have returned to America-side to try to save Stephen King from being hit and killed by a car.

My Views So Far: I can't really put to words how amazing this book is. Any questions I had from the previous books are being answered in this one. I was sobbing during the entire chapter when Eddie is dying. The battle scene was hard for me to read because you know someone of the ka-tet is going to die, but you don't know who. I hate that it was Eddie, I wish it could have been Susannah because I don't like her very much.

What I'm hoping for/expecting: I'm really hoping that Jake doesn't die. However, based on the first half I'm kind of expecting everyone except Roland to die. I hope Roland can find the dark tower and save it. I'm expecting Stephen King to get hit by the car because that happened in real life. I'm also expecting Stephen King not to die from the car accident because he didn't actually die. I'm also expecting a lot more badass-ness from Roland and the remainders of the gang.

I love how the rose is so dominant on the cover :)

Peach Cobbler Cupcakes

I hadn't made cupcakes in a while and since it's peach season I went for peaches! I made Peach Cobbler Cupcakes from Cupcake Project.

N00bie Status Tips: These were very very easy to make. Watch them though because mine were done after only 20 minutes. Also instead of making a frosting I just heat up my cupcake and top it with whipped cream.

For my serial readers: I feel like I'm breezing through The Dark Tower, but at the same time I feel like I'm not. I'm almost halfway though!

Leftovers Question: I didn't have any leftovers. But! How do you eat peaches in the summer?

Finished: The Stolen One

Very glad to be rid of this book…

Second Half: A lot of people died which I wasn’t expecting at all. We found out who Kat’s mother was, and it was my first guess. Kat also ended up marrying Christian the Sheppard as expected. We never find out what Rafael’s story is and what his plans were. We also never find out much more about Anna.

Book as a Whole: I didn’t like this book at all. There is one chapter devoted to describing the Queen’s wardrobe. And since Crowley is terrible at imagery, this chapter was painful to plow through. I don’t want to say much else about this book because I have nothing nice to say.

My sentiments exactly...

Next Book: The Dark Tower by Stephen King

Halfway: The Stolen One

Halfway through The Stolen One by Suzanne Crowley and I sure can't wait to be finished with it.
Brief Summary: Country girl, Kat, doesn't know who her parents are and is desperate to find out. After her best friend proposes and her adoptive mother dies, she decides to flee to London with her adoptive sister. Now in London, Kat uses her big mouth to land her a place in court. Now she is to be Queen Elizabeth's embroiderer.

My Views So Far: This book is pure and utter crap. There are so many random tangents that lead to no where and aren't completed. For most of the first half the author makes it seem like Katherine Parr is Kat's mother. Although now the author makes it seem like Queen Elizabeth is Kat's mother. Also, I don't know much about the history of this era....but this doesn't seem historically accurate at all. Crowley has no idea how to write imagery either. Anytime she tries to describe a scene I just want to shoot myself. Also, after chapter 10 Crowley throws in a random excerpt from the dead woman's diary between each chapters. This makes no sense at all and is completely unrelated. Confusing and sloppy, this book should have gone through a few more drafts before getting published.

What I'm Hoping For/Expecting: I'm really hoping this book magically becomes good, but I doubt that'll happen. I'm expecting to find out the secret of Kat's parents and who her mother is. I'm hoping Kat ends up with Nicholas Pigeon (really Crowley? you couldn't come up with something better than "Pigeon"???) or with Rafael. However, I'm expecting Kat to end up with Christian, her best friend. Other than that I'm not hoping for anything else from this book.
The cover however gives a very good picture of what Kat is suppose to look like. I want her hair...

Finished: Song of Susannah

Once again, if you haven't read books 1-5 of the Dark Tower Series by Stephen King...don't read this blog post!
The Second Half: The second half went right along with what I was expecting..sort of. There were some intense plot twists within the last chapter which through me off. They didn't save Susannah so I guess we'll find out what happens to her in Book 7. Also the chap wasn't killed, but I was expecting that. Stephen King played as an important character in his own book. Which I think is both genius and completely conceited of him at the same time. Finally, Jake didn't whip out any badass moves :(

Book as a Whole: This wasn't my favorite Dark Tower Book. I doubt any of them will top Wizard and Glass, I just loved that book so much. I was sad King didn't go into more detail about humans really just being characters in someone else's fictional story. Basically I felt that this book was just one chapter dragged out into 400 pages. I don't like Susannah at all so that's definitely a factor as to why I didn't like it. I also severely disliked that Jake and Callahan only made an appearance in 1 of the 13 stanzas. Looking forward to the last book, but also not. Been a little disappointed in these last two Dark Tower books so I'm not too hopeful for Book 7.

What I think "the chap" looks like....
Next Book: The Stolen One by Suzanne Crowley

Halfway: Song of Susannah

I am halfway done with Song of Susannah by Stephen King. This is the sixth book in the Dark Tower series. If you haven't read books 1-5 yet....I don't recommend reading this post lol.

Brief Summary: In the fifth book we learn that Susannah is pregnant with a demon's baby. This book starts off with Mia overpowering Susannah and fleeing to New York City of 1999. The chap, as Mia calls the baby, is ready to come out but before it can they need to reach a certain group of people. By a sick twist of fate the father of the baby is actually Roland the gunslinger himself, and the baby is to grow up to kill Roland. Roland and Eddie go to Maine to seek out Calvin Tower so they may gain ownership of the precious rose in New York. They succeed! Yay! Callahan and Jake (and I think Oy snuck in there too) go to New York City of 1999 to try to save Susannah. So far we haven't heard from them at all.

My Views So Far: Susannah is my least favorite character of everyone in this series. So, naturally, I'm not too thrilled to be reading a book mainly about her. Being a psychology major you'd think she'd be my favorite character because she has 4 personalities, but no. So far I am like this much better than Wolves of the Calla though. There are so many crazy twists and turns taking place; I am on the edge of my....page. Haha. I love King's idea that we are just characters in a writer's book. We are transparent and our lives are fiction. Tell me more Mr. King, tell me more! I think it's a little bit conceited though that King is a character in his own book...but I guess it goes with the theme that we're all just characters.

What I'm Hoping For/Expecting: I hope and expect them to find Susannah and save her. There is afterall a seventh book and I'm pretty sure she's in it....I hope they can kill the chap, but I'm also expecting it to live to be an obstacle dealt with in book seven. I expect the characters to meet Stephen King officially and get some awesome insight from him. I'm also hoping King goes into more detail about multiple worlds and people being fictional characters. Like I said, I am loooooving that idea; not really sure why. And, finally, I'm hoping for Jake to whip out some badass moves and mind tricks.

My book has no cover...its just a black hardcover :( But this one is pretty!

Finished: Once Dead, Twice Shy

Didn't take me too long to finish Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison.
The Second Half: There is a random carnival/track team/photography scene. Madison finds Kairos, Kairos gets killed and Madison becomes the new dark timekeeper. This was a very surprising twist I did not see coming. Kind of sad I can sum up the second half in 2 sentences, but essentially that is all that happened. Madison also still never got with Josh, but she never got with Barnabas either :/

Book as a Whole: This book was ok; it was not as amazing as the short story. The ending leaves lots of unanswered questions but there is a sequel. I'm not sure if I'll read the sequel or not. I found it very strange that the good people became the bad guys and the bad people are supposedly the good guys...At least the book makes the reader think about if life is all fate or all choice; which is cool. Personally I believe in both. I believe in fate, that somethings are just destined to happen, but I think we are given the choice of how we will get to that fate and the choice of choosing that fate or not. Thoughts to ponder!


I think reapers, light and dark, probably look like this.

Next Book: Kissed By an Angel by Elizabeth Chandler

Halfway: Once Dead, Twice Shy

I am halfway through Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison. I would first like to say that this book is based off the short story "Madison Avery and the Grim Reaper" by Harrison in the collection Prom Nights From Hell. I highly recommend you read the short story before reading this book or the book won't make any sense.

Brief Summary: Madison Avery is 17 and is dead technically speaking. She was killed by the dark timekeeper Kairos, but she steals his amulet which gives the illusion that she has a body. There are dark reapers who kill people who will grow up to do something influential, trying to stop the people from fulfilling their life goals. (Kind of like the Terminator movies) Light reapers are sent to stop the killings from happening. However, Madison's light reaper kind of failed epically because she died. Don't know why Kairos wanted her dead or where he took her body...So now Madison, her guardian angel Grace, and the cute guy Josh are trying to defeat Kairos all before their 6 pm curfew!

My Views So Far: Ok first off....who has a 6 pm curfew???? When I was 17 I didn't even have a curfew....This book kind of just rushes through everything. There are tons of minute details that could use more than just one short sentence to describe them. If I hadn't read the short story first I would not understand a single detail in this book. I do like the supernatural element though. It is a lot different from the typical vampire craze that's going on right now. Also Madison has purple hair, major kudos to the author for adding that awesome element!

What I'm Hoping For/Expecting: I'm really hoping the story picks up more. So far not a whole lot has happened and I'm a little bored. I am expecting that we will find out why Kairos wanted Madison dead and where he has her body stashed. I am also expecting Madison to get it on with Josh because he went from thinking she's a bitch to clinging to her in about 10 seconds...It's a shame though, I kind of want Madison to get it on with the light reaper Barnabas. I am also expecting that they will all somehow defeat Kairos and keep Madison's soul intact.

Pink+Emo Girl= Pretty cool cover :)

Finished: Wolves of the Calla

I have FINALLY finished Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King. This book was far too long.....

The Second Half: The second half did not answer any of my questions! Yes the gunslingers were able to kill all of the "wolves" and save the day. But why the wolves took children and all that jazz still makes no sense to me. Part of this could be because I haven't read 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King. I would highly recommend reading that first because King references it a LOT in this book. Mia doesn't really come out in Susannah until the very very end. Not a lot is explained about Mia, but more will be explained in the next book I think.

Book as a Whole: This book was too long. I've said this many times and I will keep saying it. I love Stephen King and I love this series but I didn't like all the referencing and unnecessary info this book had. I did like the reference to Harry Potter, that made me laugh quite a bit. I didn't understand any of the Star Wars references because I have seen 0 of the 6 movies....I know it's terrible and tragic. I'll see them eventually. This book was a nice break from the gunslingers searching for the Dark Tower and their quest.

My impression of the Breakers eating the children of Calla

Next Book: Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison

Halfway: Wolves of the Calla

I am FINALLY halfway!!!!
Brief Summary: Susannah is pregnant with the demon from book 3's baby. And the fetus has caused her to form a 4th identity: Mia. Mia is insane and likes eating animal guts. Susannah is of course completely unaware of Mia's existence. The whole gang goes todash into New York and discover that the rose is in trouble. Somehow they need to find a way back to New York to save it. However, they face a major obstacle. They have just entered a town that needs their help. The Calla is filled with twins who ever few decades some wolves come to take one of each pair and suck the life out of them. Also there's a very long random reference to Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot. Which I am yet to read.

My Views so Far: This book is far too long. I am enjoying all the plot twists but I feel that there are some spots that go into too much detail. I don't understand Pere Callahan's story. Like, why he went on and on and on about vampires. I might also be confused because I haven't read 'Salem's Lot yet. Also Wizard and Glass is still my favorite in the series.

What I'm Hoping For/ Expecting: I hope they sort out this mess with "Mia" and how to get rid of the demon baby. I am expecting all the gunslingers to succeed in killing the wolves and saving the Calla. I also hope that they explain more about dark thirteen, the number nineteen, and the role vampires have in all of this.

Carrot Cake Cupakes

It was my best friend's birthday this week! In honor of her birthday I made Carrot Cake Cupcakes from Cupcake Project. Not only did these end up tasting amazing but they smell heavenly :)

N00bie Status Tips: First off I used walnuts instead of raisins because I hate raisins. Second, I don't think coconut oil exists....I even checked 3 separate stores. So instead I used 1/4 cup Walnut Oil and 1/4 tsp of coconut extract. The cake and frosting were very easy to make. The candied carrots on the other hand...they are very very sticky! And I put mine in the oven for 30 minutes like it says and they came out too dry. So I couldn't curl mine. Instead I broke them up and placed them on top of the cupcakes.

For My Serial Readers: I am nearly half way done with Wolves of the Calla I swear! I'm 60 pages away, so hopefully tomorrow I'll have a post up. Lots of referencing to Stephen King's book 'Salem's Lot which I have not read yet...so a little confusing haha.

Leftovers Question: What do you do with leftover Walnut Oil???

"Better Than Sex" Chocolate Cupcakes

Yes you read the title correctly. When I read Cupcake Project's recipe post for Better Than Sex Cupcakes....this Navy Girlfriend had to quickly jump on those! They have 5 kinds of chocolate in them and they are amazing! Not sure I'd be bold enough to say they're better than sex, but they come pretty damn close. I think these would also probably be good to give any girl on her period.

N00bie Status Tips: I could not for the life of me figure out the "cutting a cone out of the cupcake, filling it with mousse, and then replacing the top." So instead I just carved a small chunk out of the middle and filled that with the mousse. Also for the ganache when they say dark chocolate that does not mean unsweetened chocolate. I used unsweetened and my ganache is a little bitter, but they still taste good. Lastly, for the white chocolate drizzle...there is no need to have to pour it into a bag and then squirt it out onto each cupcake. I simply took a fork, scooped some melted chocolate onto it, and then shook the fork in crazy patterns over the cupcakes.

For My Serial Readers: I am so sorry it is taking me forverrrrr to even get halfway through Wolves of the Calla. I am almost halfway so hopefully by the end of next week I'll have a new reading post up. The book is amazing of course, but I love Wizard and Glass more so I'm being lazy with this one.

Leftovers Question: What do you do with heavy whipping cream? Like not even as a leftover, just in general, what is it for other than melting chocolate?

Feeling a Little Green

Green is usually associated with vegetables...but today it's going to be associated with cupcakes! As always, thank you Cupcake Project for the recipe. Today I tested out her recipe for Avocado Lime Cupcakes which were actually very tasty. I might be a little biased though because I am going through an Avocado obsession right now.


N00bie Status Tips: Do not mash-up the avocados in a Magic Bullet. I did this thinking it'd be easier and I was wrong. The avocados got stuck and didn't mash very well. Instead I would suggest mashing them up by hand with like a spoon or whisk or anything.

For My Serial Readers: I'm being lazy with Wolves of the Calla. I haven't had time to be a creeper chilling in Borders Cafe for a few hours yet. So therefore I am not far enough into the book where I can't put it down. I will get there though, don't worry.

Leftovers Question: For these cupcakes you had to zest a lime.....now what do I do with the lime?

Finished: If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince?

I think this book deserves to win longest title of the year....I liked this book though; it was cute, light, and a good inbetween series books book.

The Second Half: For some reason unknown, the author randomly starts using the twin stepsisters' names....I had to read that section a few times to register just exactly who "Emma" and "Amy" were. I made a 1 paragraph appearance! A girl named Andrea talks on her phone and is "annoying." She is never mentioned again and it is odd why she was even thrown in there but hey at least I was in a book! Lucy's dad tries to make things right with their family and Lucy decides to accept her stepmother. Lucy goes to prom with Mr. Popular but FINALLY realizes she should be with the mysterious artist, Sam. Sam and Lucy kiss and they live happily ever after. The end.

Book as a Whole: First off, I am really pissed Lucy accepts her stepmother. The woman is a bitch and is not going to change, but every fairytale just has to have an all-around happy ending. This book was a little short for my taste. Everything happens so fast and a lot more detail could have been added to just about everything. It would have been nice to have gotten to know Sam better or even Connor for that matter. I noticed a few typos; come on proof readers...do your job. I would recommend this book for anyone in high school still. It reminded me a lot of high school and how glad I am those 4 years are done with.

Every girl wishes she were a princess

Next Book: Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King

Halfway: If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince?

I know....it's been what, a day, and I'm already halfway through my next book??? Knew this would be that easy of a read.

Brief Summary: A high school sophomore named Lucy is your typical new girl. She keeps to herself and hides during each lunch. She also thinks she's Cinderella because she has a bitchy stepmother and twin, just as bitchy, stepsisters. Her mom died when she was young and she lives in the basement. After saying 2 sentences on basketball to the hottest senior guy at school, Mr. Prince Charming decides he likes Lucy. After one unofficial date they share their first kisses. Then they go on an official romantic 1st date and Lucy gets the guts to out-bitch her bitchy stepmother.

My Views So Far: It all seems far too typical. Loner girl suddenly catches the attention of Mr. Popular and thus she becomes very popular. There are a lot of ideas that are scattered. We don't really know what's up with Lucy's dad. He lives in San Francisco, but he flies to New York every weekend, but he lives in a hotel....I am so confused. Also, what are the two stepsisters names??? Those are yet to be mentioned. However, there was a very hilarious scene with a ball of rice and a piece of sushi. I laughed so hard I had to read the passage out loud 3 times to my friends.

What I'm Hoping For/Expecting: There is something just too mysterious about this Sam Wolff guy...I think something big is going to happen with him. I also expect Lucy to end up with the happily ever after that goes along with the rest of the Cinderella storyline. And hopefully something will be resolved with wicked stepmother...because she's starting to piss the hell out of me. I can always tell how much I like a book by how fast I read it. The more I like a book the slower I read it so I can savor its amazingness. I started reading this book 24 hours ago....you do the math :P

The cover is pretty cute though...ain't gonna lie...

Finished: Wizard and Glass

I finished Wizard and Glass and was sad it ended. I knew the end was going to make me cry....However, I did not expect to bawl my eyes out more than any girly movie has ever made me cry.....

The Second Half: I was correct that we were not done with the characters Rhea and Coral Thorin. There was still a lot of romance but there was also a lot of action and adventure. There were lots of fight scenes which made up for the lack of fight scenes in the beginning. Many people die....Susan of course is burned to death (we learned this in book 1, I am spoiling nothing.) and her death was what caused the tears to flood. Young Roland also learns he must go on a quest to find the Dark Tower for it is his ka. We do not learn what later happens to Cuthbert and Alain, only that they will die.

Book as a Whole: I love, love, looooved this book. So far it is my favorite in the Dark Tower Series. Being that I am a girl in love this book really opened my eyes to a lot of things. When in love we are stupid and we want to believe that our love will overpower everything, but it won't. Love is just an emotion; that's like saying a person's happiness or a person's anger will overpower everything. Perhaps emotions do overpower other things, but not purely because we will them to. My favorite quote was "Bird and bear and hare and fish. Give my love her fondest wish." I also like the passage of Ka that tells of Susan losing her virginity to Roland. Beautifully/tastely written and very steamy at the same time. I think the main point is that true love is a drug and also dangerous. No matter how many times your love promises to return for you, something inevitably may change and you find yourself burning to death instead of living happily ever after.

Picture of me with my fondest wish :)

Next Book: If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince? by Melissa Kantor. This should be a fairly easy and fast read.

Glazy Days

Today I baked cupcakes and instead of frosting made my first glaze. I, of course, used a recipe from Cupcake Project. I tried Stef's Strawberry Cupcakes with Champagne Glaze and was very happy that they were both easy to make and tasted amaaaazing!

N00bie Status Tips: The cake part of these cupcakes are very easy to make. They're n00b friendly if you will :P The glaze is also fairly easy. However, the glaze is very messy. Not much of a surprise, but be careful handling the sticky delicious gloop. I dipped mine two times per cupcake into the glaze. Also, these cupcakes need to be kept in the fridge!

For my serial readers: I'm very close to finishing Wizard and Glass! I'm kind of putting it off because it's gotten sad and I don't want Mr. King to cause me to cry! Also I've already won the reading race, my competition decided to read Starship Troopers.

Leftovers Question: The only leftovers I had were champagne and strawberries....so I drank the champagne and ate the strawberries lol. I guess my question this time is what do you do with imaginary leftovers?

Halfway: Wizard and Glass

I'm officially at the halfway point of Wizard and Glass by Stephen King. Halfway was again at the end of a chapter and I was very very happy :)

Brief Summary: This is the 4th book in King's Dark Tower Series. In the beginning Roland of Gilead, Eddie Dean, Susannah Dean, Jake, and Oy are on Blaine the mono and are faced with a challenge. They have to tell Blaine a riddle he cannot solve in order to be able to get off the monorail alive. Naturally they succeed and find themselves in some form of Kansas and near a Thinny. Before they make their way through the Thinny Roland finally decides to tell the tale of his childhood and how he has become the man he is today. In this tale we learn of Susan Delgado and Roland's love for her.

My Views So Far: King is by far a genius and one of the greatest writers there is. This book contains all the elements of adventure and fantasy that the first 3 books contained with a new element of romance. I've read quite a few love stories and girly books in my serial reading days, however, so far the tale of Roland and Susan is greatly surpassing those stories. Yes, there is love at first site which most don't believe in, but the tale of how the two fall in love is expressed in a very real way. Whenever there's a scene with the two of them my heart skips a beat and I get excited for them to be together....Most of this has to do with the fact that I miss my boyfriend like crazy right now. He's currently very far away from me and will be for a while :( (This is also his favorite book in the series.) One thing that I haven't liked is how long King drawed out Rhea's secret. I got rather annoyed with having to keep waiting to learn what it was she wanted Susan to do when Susan lost her virginity.

What I'm Hoping For/Expecting: The most obvious thing is to hear the rest of the tale of Roland's childhood. To find out what happened to Susan, Cuthbert, and Alain and why they aren't currently with Roland, helping him in his quest. I think Rhea and Coral Thorin still have ways they'll play into the story, so it'll be interesting to find out more about them. I would also like to find out if Susannah is pregnant, there has been some hints but nothing definite. I'm really enjoying this book but I fear my more girly instincts will kick in and something tragics going to make me cry. Yes, I will let you all know if Stephen King makes me cry :P

Reading Race: I am still winning this race! I think that mainly has to do with the fact that I'm racing a guy, and this turned into a fairly girly book. I don't think he's as motivated to finish as I am haha.

Birthday Cupcakes *<|:)

I love the part-time job I have on my college campus. I sit in an office for 4 hours and basically just get to hang out with my amazing boss. Yes, not only do I love my job, but I think my boss is amazing. I'm weird, I know. So in honor of it being my awesome boss's birthday this week I made cupcakes for her. I got both recipes from All Recipes which is a great site for any recipe needed. My boss said her favorite cupcakes would be yellow cake with chocolate frosting so that's what I made for her.


N00bie Status Tips: For me these made 36 cupcakes. Do not use the full amount of powdered sugar and cocoa powder for the frosting....I didn't even use the full amount and I was left with a HUGE ass bowl of frosting. The frosting is a lot like chocolate mousse though, so if you want you could just store it in the fridge and eat it with a spoon.
*Warning* These cupcakes are delicious! I ate 3 today, all before 2 pm....So make sure you've got lots of people to give them to!

For my serial readers: Wizard and Glass is amaaaaaaaazing! Anyone who is a hopeless romantic (like me!) will LOVE this book! But I'll talk about that more when I'm at the halfway mark (almost there I swear) You may be happy to know I am currently in the lead in my reading race. I'm leading by 50 pages and plan on winning this thing!

Leftovers Question: What do you do with leftover buttermilk? What else can it be added to?

Margarita Cupcakes

I am a huge fan of Stef over at Cupcake Project. Her crazy creations have inspired me to start baking cupcakes more often. I used to only make muffins from a pouch where you just had to add water...those days are now long behind me! I make all my cupcakes from scratch and am baking my way through Stef's recipes.

This week I tried making Stef's Margarita Cupcakes. These are my first "dangerous" cupcakes to make. They do contain tequila, but never fear people because the alcohol gets baked out of course. No, you cannot get drunk off the cupcakes, but after tasting the batter...you might be able to get drunk off of that. The frosting has kick too, with pretty "rims" lined with salt and sugar :P

N00bie Status Tips: This recipe calls for the zest of a lime. I had no idea what part of the lime the zest was.... The zest is the thin top layer of the peel. You can get the "zest" by being fancy and zesty and using a pairing knife to thinly slice it. OR you can just use the smallest holes on a grater and grate the zest off the lime. I opted for the grater which worked great. My cupcakes also didn't rise a whole lot so fill the liners pretty full.

For my serial readers: Wizard and Glass is really sad so far. But I'm loving it as well! I'm also losing in that reading race against my friend....looks like a few hours spent at Borders are necessary this weekend!!!
I don't like soy milk....but I now have a bunch leftover... Any ideas as to what I should do with it?

Finished: Shoe Addicts Anonymous

I have officially finished Shoe Addicts Anonymous by Beth Harbison. I can't say that I am sad it's over....
The Second Half: In the second half there were even more editorial errors! Being a slow reader who reads each word in a book, this highly irritates me. As expected we find out the secret behind each woman character and each woman finds love. There were no surprise twists or unexpected turns. Anything that happens unexpectedly for a character the reader could guess and expect coming from many chapters in advance. However, the ending severely disappointed me. As most fiction novels do now a days, there was an Epilogue to recap how the characters now are a certain time period after the story has ended. Most Epilogues are to answer any questions the reader may have and to completely put a close the the story as a whole. However, the Epilogue for this book merely brushed the surface of these questions and made them go even more unanswered. It also brought up more questions that will go even further unanswered.

Book as a Whole: My take on this book as a whole is that it was a typical girly romantic comedy. I would recommend this book for anyone who likes a good light beach read. I also recommend this book for anyone whose not a serious reader but occasionally likes to read a book or two. If there was an underlying moral to this story I didn't pick up on what it was. Unless the moral is that your addictions can make you filthy rich....And while I am immensely addicted to reading, I don't think it's possible to get rich off of serial reading. There was one quote that I really liked from this book. "We're just all trying to live, love, laugh, and get laid every once in a while. It's the only way to get through this life." This quote explains life really really well. I can't speak for anyone else, but personally for me living, loving, laughing, and (of course) getting laid are definitely high up on my to do lists in life! Here's two pictures of my favorite shoes I own. Sadly, I can't join the "Shoe Addicts Anonymous" group as my feet are a size 5 1/2 and the group wears a 7 1/2 :(


Next Book: Wizard and Glass (Dark Tower IV) by Stephen King. I'm hoping to breeze through this book because my friend and I are having a race to see who can finish first. However, I'm a slow reader...so we'll see what happens!

Halfway: Shoe Addicts Anonymous

I am now at the halfway point of Shoe Addicts Anonymous by Beth Harbison. First off I'd like to say that I love that the halfway point of this book is exactly at the end of a chapter. It was perfect.

Brief Summary: This book is about three women who come together once a week to swap shoes. They are all very different women who are each dealing with very different hardships in life. One is dealing with credit card debt, another with being a politician's wife, and the third is a call girl who has a fear of leaving her apartment. But they all are obsessed with shoes and together will help each other make it through.

My views so far: There are quite a few grammar and punctuation errors in this book, which is a little irritating. The first few chapters focus on each of the three women individually. This is nice because we become attached to each woman and not just the group as a whole. Then the story leads up to how they all meet and form their group. However, then there is a chapter randomly thrown in with a 4th woman and after that chapter she is yet to be mentioned again....Reviewing the back cover again, I guess the 4th woman is mentioned. But I find it odd that her character wasn't established as well as the other 3. All 4 women have skeletons hiding in the closet and we are yet to find out what they are.

What I'm hoping for/expecting: Obviously we'll hopefully find out what each woman is hiding in her past. I except each woman to end up with a happy ending and the man of her dreams. This is your typical girly beach read, so almost everything that happens is predictable. Everything is also spelled out for the reader but the characters don't pick up on anything obvious. This causes me to yell at my book a lot and get weird looks from people in Borders....I'm not holding out for any "meaning of life" philosophical outcomes from this book. Especially not from the sex operator character. Although that does seem like a fun job that pays rather well....hahah

Movies vs. Books

I kind of hate it when they turn books into a movie. Sure it's nice because you can actually see the events of the book before you, but something is always left out. Also the world created in the movie is not going to be the same as the world you created in your head. Unless, of course, you are directing the film. Personally, I have to see the movie first before I read the book.

When we read the book first we have a set idea of what the movie SHOULD look like. Because of this, we get very upset when the movie ends up not being what our imaginations pictured. Movies are like a win-lose situation for a book. A movie is win because it isn't limited to what they can do. A movie can literally take you to the world of a book. It can suck you into the story 3 dimensionally instead of just 2 dimensionally. However, a movie is lose because it is so limited. In order to have every little detail from a book put in a movie the movie would have to be never ending. Take Stephen King's "It" for example. They made it into a mini tv series and then released it on dvd. If you watch the dvd, it is 2 discs long and like 3 hours. And yet it still leaves out huge amounts of detail (so my boyfriend has told me) One could argue this is because it was made for tv but my point is even at 3 hours long huge detail chunks had to be cut.

On the other hand, sometimes the movies based on books can be really good movies. For example, take the Harry Potter movies. If you can get your mind to forget the massive amounts of detail left out you'll find that these movies are actually done really well. For another example take Ian McEwan's "Atonement." I saw the movie of Atonement before reading the book. (Got to meet James McAvoy too omg) Atonement is by far one of my favorite movies and favorite books. The movie was done beautifully, the score was amazing, (thank you Dario Marienelli) the acting was superb, and I got hooked in right at the beginning. The book of course is a lot more fantastic and amazing. When I read the book though I was shocked to find the ending was a hell of a lot different from the movie. I understand why they did that ending for the movie, but the book's ending was far better. Had I read the book first I would have hated the movie purely because of the ending change.

So what's my point with all this? The book will always be better than the movie, so watch the movie first so it at least stands a chance. And if you've already read the book, then (try) to watch the movie with the frame of mind that you haven't read the book yet. This way its a win-win! You get to see a decent movie and then read a superb book! Unless of course that movie/book pair is the Twilight series....then both movies and books are both terrible....but I'll post a rant about that another time :)

Serial Reading

I love reading. There are quite a few people who do, but those people are hard to find. So, in an effort to find more serial readers like myself, I've decided to create this blog. In this blog I'll be posting entries on two things: the books I read and the cupcakes I bake. Because along with being a serial reader I am also a serial cupcake baker :P

I'm into just about every kind of book there is. My boyfriend recently introduced me to Stephen King and damn was I missing out! I'm very partial to girly books because I am a girl....Some of my favorite books include: Atonement by Ian McEwan, Envy by Kathryn Harrison, and Stupid and Contagious by Caprice Crane. I do not have a favorite author because every author has their highs and lows in writing. I'm attempting to read 1 million pages, but am no where near reaching that goal. So lets help each other spread the names of amazing books that are must reads!

Now for my baking credibilities....I've just recently gotten into baking cupcakes from scratch. So far I've made German Chocolate, Chocolate Chai Spice, Black and White, and Gingerbread cupcakes. Everyone whose had one has loved them. I'm new to baking though and do not understand some fancy terms....so the cupcake portion of my blog is to help give tips to other noobies like me :)

Sorry this first post is long and kind of boring, but we're readers so you've lived through it! I'll post something more interesting very soon, I promise. I am currently reading: Shoe Addicts Anonymous by Beth Harbison