An Open Letter

Dear Reader,

When you have a kid that has a birthday and you decide to hire me and my mad cupcaking skills to make some fun cupcakes for the occasion, I beg of you - I BEG of you - hire me to do something like this:





NOT something like this:




Your kid won't care and I'll still like you afterwards.


In related news, here's a picture of some pretty Red Velvet cupcakes (I have proclaimed the Red Velvet Cupcake my nemesis!!...bonus points for anyone who can explain to me WHY people like them!) I like the flower cupcake...it makes me happy.





Sincerly,

Susan G.
Owner and Awesome Baker of Seriously Cupcakes

Hot and Ikey

It's over...ish. We came back into Houston Sunday morning. By then, our house had power but no water. We lost a shutter but luckily it landed in our back yard and is still in one piece. A lot of water came up under our front door but happily we had a rug right there that sopped it all up, keeping it from getting onto the carpet. All in all, our house fared very well. By Sunday night, we had even had water.

The aftermath of Ike is NOT fun. We are far and away better off then our neighbors in Galveston, but we are still reeling from this hurricane. You cannot drive 100 feet without seeing trees down, fences in pieces, or road signs in the road. Most traffic lights are either blinking red or off completely. Most gas stations still do not have gas (we found some on Sunday and only had to wait 20 minutes in line!). We went to the grocery store last night (when we found one open) and they only had about $40% of their shelves full, and not a single frozen item. Many restaurants either do not have power or still do not have eatable food. Andrew and I both got Monday off of work because our offices had no power. But we're both back today. My office has power except no AC and no drinkable water. The water thing is OK...the AC thing? Not so much. What's worse is it's a GORGEOUS day outside! When I woke up this morning, it was a crisp 61 degrees! That's like arctic to us Houstonians! I brought a sweater to work and everything!.......And instead I sit here and sweat. Bah.

But I'm really not complaining. SO many people lost homes and lives and so I truly am grateful. I hope this little blog finds you all healthy and happy and eating a cupcake! (I made Ike Cupcakes last night...they were pretty...unlike Ike...)

I Do NOT Like Ike...

We're safe and dry. It's wicked windy and rainy here in College Station but, as you can see, we still have power...for now. The worst of the storm has yet to hit this part of Texas but I think we're much better off here than in Houston.

I spoke to my parents this morning - they are good. They lost power about 2:45am and about 5 in the morning, their brand spankin' new fancy fence fell over. They also have a little bit of water coming in under their brand spankin' new fancy sliding door and is underneath their brand spankin' new fancy wood floor. ...Other than that, they are good. I spoke to them early enough that they still weren't hot and sweaty with no AC...but they'll get there.

I love you all and will post when this is over. I'm betting we'll lose power some time today...should be interesting. But as I said, we're with wicked fun friends and power or no - we will be rockin'.

The Station of Colleges

...I did it. I batted my eyes, did a little girly sigh, and smiled a crooked smile...and convinced my wonderful husband to take me far away from Ike. ...Ok, not far - only an hour...and it's still right in Ike's path. BUT our friends are here! Our family is here (Andrew's brother Nathan and his wondeful family live here, too)! We are currently at the home of the wonderful Kennedy's, Jake and Anne. They were Andrew's friends first and then they became my friends. I love this cute couple and I LOVE crashing at their beautiful country home. We brought our Rock Band, my cupcake making materials (I'm making 2 dozen for an A&M freshman tomorrow!), and lots of diet coke with lime. ...It's gonna be a party!

My parents stayed behind...so I still have a bit of worry left in Houston. But I feel much less stressed being here than if I was in my brand new little home, walls shakin', glass shattering....

...What, I'm not dramatic at ALL......


......See why we left? :)

Ike Poo-Poo Face Stinkhead!

So, I've lived in Houston off and on for the past 21 years. Sometimes it surprises people to learn that we consider ourselves as living on the coast (the Gulf of Mexico is about an hour drive). And in those 21 years, we have yet to have a real full-on hurricane hit us. We've had Rita, who scared us all into the Worst Evacuation In The History Of Ever but didn't rain a single drop on the west side. We've had Allison, who was a tropical storm by the time it hit us but flooded parts of Houston so badly that businesses were closed for weeks. And I seem to remember a Gilbert when I was in high school...but I also remember that it went off somewhere else.

And then there's Ike. Now, if Rita taught me anything it taught me that hurricane's can change direction without warning and in the drop of a hat (...where did THAT saying come from?...Zach?) So, chances are come Saturday morning, Beaumont (east of Houston) will be once again ground zero for any and all hurricane-type weather. But "chances are" when discussing hurricane's...well, you always want to err on the side of caution. So, I am in the process of talking my husband into evacuating. I had an order for 2 dozen cupcakes to be delivered to College Station (home of Texas A&M and about an hour from our house) on Saturday night, so we were already planning a "business trip", followed by dinner with our friends and family who live there. I am now trying to convince Andrew that we should leave tonight or tomorrow morning, so that we can be having an Ike Sucks! party with our friends, who WILL have electricity and AC, as opposed to staying here and having a Ike Sucks MORE! party with no friends and possibly no electricity or AC....

Wish me luck.

I'll update my bloggy friends when we decide.

Takin' Care of Bidness

Grr...work has wicked picked up so I'm not all bloggy during the day. And I've been so busy with the cupcakin' that I'm also non-bloggy at nights! I swear to do better.

Mostly, though, this post will provide photographic proof that I really have been working. And hard. In the last 2 weeks I've had 10 cupcake jobs, got my DBA from the county, and opened my business checking account ("...yes, go ahead and make that check out to Seriously Cupcakes."). As I climbed into bed a few nights ago, worn out from baking all night, I mentioned to Andrew that I felt like I was working 2 jobs and he said, "...Honey...you ARE working 2 jobs." And folks...that totally made this girl smile. Because I AM working 2 jobs.

Feast your eyes on the following:

Yummy Carrot Cupcakes

Super yummy coconut on vanilla:

Super DUPER yummy Chocolate on vanilla with fancy chocolate chunks ("fancy" means I totally pounded the crap out of a Ghirardelli dark chocolate bar and a Valrhona milk chocolate bar):

And my new favorite...WICKED super duper yummy Key Lime Pie Cupcakes with lime cream cheese icing (...PS - I will never use that much green coloring again...promise):

Oh yeah...and the most annoying cupcakes I've ever done. After doing these, I vowed never to do "cutesy" again.....unless they're paying reeeeaaally well:

More posts - more non-cupcake posts - to come soon!