kiss me...i'm a little irish.

so tracy asked me to make some sort of st. patrick's day dessert for her big annual st. patty's family celebration, and this is what i came up with!  classic shortbread with shamrocks on top!  not real shamrocks of course...shortbread shamrocks with heart shaped leaves....which i believe to be even more lucky than the average shamrock.  more delicious for sure.

such is life.

i have so much to say but it will not come out.  its like i go over and over this thing in my head and its just stuck there.  i feel like my brain is a broken record.  it could work, it can't work, its not going to work, give it a chance.  back and forth and over and over.  its exhausting.  i don't know the right answers and i can't see the future.  i don't know what will happen either way.  and its terrifying.  but deep down, i don't want to know.  i want to find out by living it.

people say to live life to its fullest.  well there are about a billion different ways that this could be done.  each decision leads to a different path.  each choice is one that kills a part of what your life could have been.  weather you are decided to have a chocolate chip or a molasses cookie, or deciding to say yes or no when that person has asked you THE question.

life is fragile.  life is a roller coaster.  life is an adventure.  life is joyful.  life is full of pain and tears, and laughter and happiness.  life is full of unanswered questions and irrevocable truths.  everything happens the way it does for a reason.  it is what forms that thing we call our life.  i thank God for the truths, and even for the tears, because they have made me who i am.  they have made this life what it is today, and they will make it what it is going to be.

i am unsure and i am hurt and i am confused and i am lonely and
i am positive and i am healing and i am enlightened and i am loved.

one year ago today...

my heart was let outside of my body.

she came as a tiny little baby. 
she was hot pink and beautiful. 
everything was a blur. 
i didn't know what had hit me. 
what my life had just become. 
but i know now. 

she is my life. 
she is in every song. 
in every laugh. 
in every happiness. 
everything innocent. 
she is everything that is beautiful.

she came to me as a surprise. 
and now i can picture my life in no other way. 
she had changed me. 
she is the gift that saved me. 
without her, i would still be floating. 

she gives me purpose and reason. 
she gives me joy that i have never felt before.
she is the reason i get out of bed in the morning.
i cannot wait to see her smiling face
waiting for me to come and get her.
she is as excited to see me as i am to see her.
like the night was just too long for us to be apart.

i love her more than i will ever be able to describe.

happy birthday, piper ann!  i love you.

party favors!

hello!  sorry about my recent absence.  this is not really a full return.  i just wanted to post some pictures of party favors i am now doing while i have a few seconds.  i was asked to do favors for a baby shower which had a brown and pink theme, and the invitations had a butterfly theme.  SO.  i decided to make large round chocolate shortbread cookies and make little butterflies out of classic shortbread dyed pink...and of course embellish with some chocolate! 

these are deliciously buttery and very cute, yet still classy.  i can do anything you'd like with this sort of favor.  i can do chocolate shortbread or classic shortbread for the big cookie...the classic can be whatever color you'd like.  the butterfly can be whatever shape you'd like...the round cookie can be a different shape, and dipped in white or dark chocolate...or both!  it all depends on what you are looking for.  these are perfect for baby or wedding showers, birthday parties, or tea parties...or just because!  individually wrapped in a clear bag, wrapped with an accent ribbon.  the favors cost 1.75 each.  please contact me at piperlove@ymail.com or 998 0439 with any questions!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

sometimes its better not to think about how much sleep you have not gotten.

warm, fresh bread, bright and early.

so this morning piper decided that 5:30 was wake up time.  ugh.  much to my chagrin i couldn't convince her to sleep for a second longer, so we begrudgingly made our way downstairs, then i suddenly remembered that i had made bread dough last night!  i got the dough all ready, gave it its second rise for what felt like the longest hour of my life, popped it in the oven for 25 minutes, and voila!  warm, crusty, carrot raisin walnut bread for breakfast, smothered in melty "buttery" spread.  not that it needed the "butter"...i just like when it melts.

YUM.

 

jealous?  you don't have to be!  PiperBellies is now selling this very bread for $5.50 a loaf.  aprox. 8 inch round, and it will be the best bread you have ever eaten.

sample BOX

so...here it is.  all ready for the gourmet food barn tomorrow morning/afternoon.

pretty self explanatory.  what do you think?  is it missing anything?  should i eliminate something?  presentation okay?  would you be excited if you received such a box?  i need input people.

 

this is how i package all of my things...in case you were wondering

 

everything all together...yum!

 

pound cake cupcakes dusted with powdered sugar

vegan chocolaty chocolate and coconut chocolate chip cookies.  these are the two that i sell to burrito me.

lavender heart cookies...i don't know how to rotate this picture...sorry.

 

chocolate whoopie pies with cream cheese filling...and i still don't know how to rotate this.

 

chocolate shortbread dipped in white chocolate and classic shortbread dipped in milk chocolate

SO that is everything.  i hope they like them and order something!  also...i think this might be something i'll put on the PiperBellies menu.  it would make a nice gift, i think.  okay, goodnight!