Ladybug 1st Birthday Party Inspiration

This past weekend we celebrated my little niece, Claire's 1st birthday.  So far it seems Claire's lot in life is to be surrounded by lots of love & amazingly themed parties (remember Marie's baby shower before Claire was born? - refresh your memory here).  Claire's party was chockfull of every little lady bug detail you can imagine thanks to the imagination of her mom (Marie!) & labors of love by both of her grandmothers.  Take a peek there's a table cloth with hand cut felt lady bug spots (over 300 of them!), a ladybug cake, ladybug cupcakes & even ladybug deviled eggs plus all the other accessories that coordinated perfectly like cutlery & party hats.

If you're planning a lady bug first birthday party this is a great place to be inspired!

PS: Happy birthday to my fabulous sister-in-law, Truly! I love you girl :)
PPS: Thanks for sharing Claire's special day with my blogosphere, Marie & Greg :)

Smitten Kitchen's Carrot Cake with Maple-Cream Cheese Frosting

Spring is in the air with all lovely things I'm allergic to, to boot. In any event, sorry for lack there of posts. Truth be told I started this post before Chris & I took a long weekend in Florida last week, more on that later. Right now I'm writing in between gulps of hot water with lemon & honey (which sounds oh so Samantha from Sex & the City but when you're drinking it because you have a sore throat &  a bit of a bark (cough) it suddenly is a little less sexy).

Nevertheless, I'd rather go to a happy place - cupcakes!

In order to fully celebrate the first birthday of this here blog, I deemed it only proper to make cupcakes to share with the class (aka my office) & my number one supporter, Chris, of course.  So I searched for what is now my favorite carrot cake recipe: Smitten Kitchen's Carrot Cake with Maple-Cream Cheese Frosting.

The cake is really moist & yes your classmates will be reaching for the ones with the most icing because it traditionally just so good & this one's made with maple syrup (double good). Plus, there's carrots, raisins & walnuts in them - that makes it healthy right? Yes, let's call these health muffins - now it's ok if you eat ten.

Get the full recipe here  & click through for my (20+) photo story on making these yummy treats.

PS: Happy friday & happy (early) birthday to my gal Alexis!

1st Blog Birthday!

A year ago today I posted my first ever blog post . It's so odd to think that I've only been blogging for a year because I feel like I've been doing it forever.  It's become a true creative outlet for me & a significant part of my daily routine that pushes me to be experimental & to get inspired even when I'm tired & cranky.

Thank you so much for reading & stopping by to see what I'm cooking up. You're support is immeasurable. I appreciate each of you!

Cheers!