Craziness....

So, this post was ready to go on Monday, but the technology I use to take photos and send said photos to e-mail decided it didn’t want to work.  What technology would that be…my cell phone camera.  You see I don’t have one of those fancy SLR cameras yet (by yet I mean probably will not have for many years and by then the newest version of SLR will be some totally awesome camera that takes pix by you commanding it with your brain or something like that….but then again I’ve always been behind with gadgets so no biggie) and the cable for my digital camera is still MIA.  OK, so where was I…Oh yes, my sucky phone camera…I was able to take the photos but then when I tried to email them I got the big FAIL.  Ugh!  I tried sending one at a time and still nothing.  So I gave up…but then today I called Verizon and had an interesting convo with the the tech dude.  

Tech dude (after I explained the problem):  I’m the type of guy that likes things easy. Whenever I can get it easy that’s the best.  (Umm…OK.)  

Me:  I’m not sure what you mean but can you fix my phone?

Tech Dude: Well, of course!  I’m just saying that there’s a hard way and an easy way and I like to start with the easy way first.  (I was hoping we were still talking about my phone.)  I want to try something with you first and see if it works.  (I REALLY hoped we were still talking about my phone.)  I have this number I want you to dial.  It is what I call my "easy-fix-it number". (I thought I heard a "tada!" aferwards) It’s not in any manual and not too many people know about it.  How do I know it you may be wondering.  (I wasn’t) I got it from someone that is in the ‘know’ and he gave it to me.  (dude you are freakin me out!)  

Me: OK, cool so what is it?

At this point I could have sworn he lowered his voice, as if he was a spy giving me secret information that would save the world!  

Tech Dude:  This number is great. I saved it on my phone & call it whenever I need it. 

I felt like saying, "Whatever dude! You are not on a "Mission Impossible" movie!  Just fix my dang phone!'

So, finally he gives me the number (*22899 in case you were wondering) and within a couple of minutes (I had to listen to him ramble on about the number some more) my phone started emailing again.  Stupid phone!  

Me:  Thanks for your help!

Tech Dude:  That's what I'm here for.  I find that people prefer the easy way first.”  (Ah, ya think?)  

Anyway, here is the post that was supposed to be done on Monday….

January 23, 2012:

Today is Vivian’s Birthday.  She turns 14.  14!  I still can’t believe it.  I’m happy to report we made it through the first year of her being a teenager unscathed.  She truly is a great kid and I feel privileged to be raising her (I hope I am thinking this next year!).  She brings lots of love and humor into my life.  Yesterday we had a family dinner in her honor.  I made her favorite Chicken & Broccoli Fettuccini Alfredo with garlic biscuits.  I also made her this cake…

I think I went a bit crazy with the ganache!  I'm also digging the candles...

I saw this cake on Bakerella's blog (if you haven't done so before you should definitely check out her blog) and thought it would be perfect for Vivian.  I used a different recipe for the chocolate cake, which is from Inna Garten’s chocolate cake recipe…oh, the yumminess!!!   

You can never go wrong with mini chocolate chips! 

The frosting is a vanilla buttercream frosting (recipe here) and for the center the same frosting but with  mini chocolate chips added just because.  Over the cake there's a ganache sauce (love it!).  I wanted to replicate Bakerella’s cake but it looked more like a distant cousin three times removed than an actual twin.  It didn’t seem to deter my peeps as they all said it was “delicious” and “dang that’s good”, oh, I also got a, “That cake was awesome.” from my guy. And Vivian...well, she loved it!  So, although the outside didn’t look so neat, the cake ended up being delicious…the moral of the story…don’t judge a cake by it’s looks.  OK, so there wasn’t really a moral to this story, but I thought it seemed fitting.

{{sigh}}

Until next time….

After a long day, Luna found a shoulder to sleep on.