4 Reasons Why ALL Birthdays are Worth Celebrating

I love birthdays. I love my birthday, I love my family's birthdays, I love my friends' birthdays.... I love them all. I seriously don't believe there's any reason to hate birthdays. Here are four great reasons why:

1. Ice Cream and Cake. Or even better.... ICE CREAM CAKE!! If you don't like cake, you could have birthday pie, or birthday cupcakes, or birthday cheesecake, or birthday apple crisp, SO many possibilities.

2. Presents. I don't really know anyone who doesn't like presents. Even if the present is something boring like a household item, or something you're going to end up using to help someone else, it still counts as a present. It's still awesome. 

3. Wishes. Don't tell me you've never secretly wished for something! I know it may seem silly to still expect birthday wishes to actually come true, but there's still something magical about them. I don't often see shooting stars or remember to look at the clock at 11:11, but I always make a birthday wish when I blow out the candles on my cake. And whether or not it comes true, I'll make one again next year. 

4. Celebrating YOU. Even if you hate birthdays because it reminds you of how old or young you are, and you don't want to think about that, your birthday is a great time to just celebrate YOU. Celebrate your life! Celebrate that you are awesome human being who is worth it! Celebrate your quirks and your unique traits! I try to think of other people first on the other 364 days of the year, but on my birthday, I'm going to dish myself a big piece of cake first, because it's my day.

10 Books to Read This Fall

I feel like lots of people make summer reading lists to inspire them to read more (or maybe just to make themselves feel more cultured, who knows). I've always loved reading, so this is the kind of thing that I would do, purely for the fun of it. But summer is my busy season, since Cherry Crest is open all the time, and I generally don't feel like I have time to breathe, let alone read.

So I decided to make a fall reading list! I'm not really sure why I think I'll have more time to read this fall than I did this summer, but for some reason I do. I seem to have a never-ending list of "books I'm going to read" and just decided it was time to actually read them. This list is by no means exhaustive... when I say my list is never-ending, I truly mean that. Some of the books are rereads for me, some are new. Some come on recommendation, some are ones that I picked up at Goodwill, so now I need to read them. Also, some come from this great Buzzfeed article that Amber posted on Facebook (and thus, I was inspired to make my own list).

If you want an eclectic mix of random books to take on this fall, this is it. I know, it's a random collection of canonical literature, children's fantasy books, NYT's best sellers, and some others thrown in for kicks and giggles. If you're wondering whether there's a rhyme or reason.... there isn't. No theme. Just books to read this fall.

BartimaeusTrilogy by Jonathan Stroud
This comes on recommendation from Ashley (who always has good suggestions), a trilogy about a teenage magician named Nathaniel and a five-thousand-year-old djinni named Bartimaeus. I currently only have the second two books that I found at a Goodwill, so I'm on the hunt for the first.

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
I thought this movie was wonderful, so I was quite delighted to find that it was a book first. I know, I know, it's totally for like 4th graders, but the cover just looks so fun! And there are pictures inside, in the margins. So, perfect.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
I remember Carissa telling me and Sarah that we absolutely had to read this book, and I kept thinking that based on the title, it had to be something we would love. Finally saw a copy at Goodwill that I snagged for like 50 cents, so I guess now it's high time to read it.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
I know this seems like an unusual choice for me, but there's pretty good rationale behind it. In my last semester of college, I took a Women in Science class, which had the dullest professor, and ended up being a total drag. But some of the material we covered and some of the topics we talked about were so fascinating to me, especially all the talk about biology and gender perceptions. It could have been a fantastic class, but was ruined by the way the professor ran the class. At any rate, I saw this book on the Buzzfeed list, and then like a week later saw it at Goodwill, so (you guessed it), I bought it.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
With this year's maze theme being "Set Sail, A High Seas Adventure," I've been getting all excited about pirates and buried treasure lately. Sara and Regan and I watched Muppet Treasure Island last month, and then I watched Treasure Planet, and then decided it was finally time for me to read this classic. It's always been "on my list," but I never seemed to get around to it.

Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion
Also on the Buzzfeed list. And it's about an actor, so it caught my attention.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
This one is a reread for me. It's a ghoulish tale of London Below, a nightmare-ish underground city of monsters and creatures. Chilling, but a fabulous read. Because let's be real.... anything by Neil Gaiman is totally worth reading.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
I loved Looking for Alaska, so when I saw this on the Buzzfeed list, I decided I should try it. It's a coming-of-age story about a cancer patient named Hazel who makes friends with a boy in her support group. 

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
Also a reread for me. I love the way the story is told through the eyes of the 15-year-old mathematical genius Christopher, who also happens to be autistic. Haddon perfectly captures his quirks and oddities in an endearing tale of his search for a murderer.

Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman is so awesome, I'm reading TWO of his books this fall. This is his "short" story that just came out this year. I haven't done too much research on the story because I don't want to spoil it for myself, but I know it's a fairy tale of mystery and horror. And that's awesome.


So there you have it! We'll see how it goes.

Minion Cupcakes

We had a surprise birthday party for Christy this weekend, and when Mom and I started planning, I told her that I wanted to make minion cupcakes. I did some searching on Pinterest, and pinned a few ideas, but nothing really stood out. Most looked pretty pathetic, were really complicated, or used fondant (ain't nobody got time for that). So I decided to do my own thing, and design/make them myself. Because that's more fun. And they turned out great!

So I started with the cupcakes that Mom had made and iced with bright yellow icing. Then I added a black stripe through the middle, using the flat tip on a tube of store-bought icing. No fancy stuff here.... black icing left over from Halloween worked great. :)

I knew the eyes were going to be the hardest part, to get them to look right. At some point in all of this party planning, I had the idea to use white chocolate wafers. So we put some on a cookie tray, and melted them slightly, in the oven. Then, while the wafers were still soft and mushy, we pushed a chocolate chip into the center, upside-down. We had the oven at about 250°, and only let the wafers in for a minute or two. We didn't exactly time it, but watched for when they started to look kind of melty. Also, it was definitely easier to only put a few wafers on the tray at a time, otherwise they hardened up before you could push the chocolate chips in all of them. So many eyes staring at me!

So I put the eyes over the black band of icing, some of the cupcakes with one eye, some with two. Then I used the writing tip on the icing tube to outline around the eye. And they turned out so well!

Then I realized I was running out of black icing, so I decided to do some minion-esque designs. I just used some blue icing to draw a little pocket, like the ones on the front of the minion overalls, and drew a black 'G' over top.

Really, they turned out great! And were the hit of the party. Because everyone loves cupcakes, and everyone loves minions, so there's basically nothing better than minion cupcakes. Christy was a big fan. :)