Did Someone Say CAKE?

A close friend of my daughter announced she's getting married and everyone's doin a Happy Dance about it.
This a girl, well, at almost 30 years old I guess she's not a girl anymore, has been friends with my daughter since they were around 12 years old. My daughter will be her maid-of-honor and the plans are already in the works for an engagement party, (hosted by my daughter and her husband). I suggested a high end kinda martini theme for the gathering and they loved it.
::: pats self on back :::

The wedding is set to take place next Fall -
she wants to take her time and have the wedding she's always dreamed of. I think Fall is a beautiful time of year to get married. Why so many couple choose to have hot, sweaty summertime weddings is beyond me.


I'm going to call my daughter's friend and her man Amy and Dan.
They've been together for a long, long time, so long that some folks thought they were already hitched, (yeah, they live together - no kids). They are successful, have satisfying careers and I have no doubt their marriage will be a long and happy one. And I'm not just saying that because they have decided to not have children, lol.

New Age Nuptials

Amy and Dan want a traditional wedding with a party hardy dance-your-butt-off reception.Those are the most fun, (I think), and I can't think of a better way to start off as man and wife, (followed with a week in Bermuda)!

It will be nice having a wedding on the horizon, it's been awhile. Seems for the last 8 years babies were being born every six months with a funeral tossed in here and there.

Adore the babies but can do without the funerals!

Nowadays anything goes for weddings and that's cool.

It's a woman and man's most sacred union and the day they join together should be exactly the way they want it, (no matter how off the wall they might want it). Of course these days the bride and groom can cell phone in their vows and text those "I Do's" to one another - anything goes!

Amy and Dan would never go to that extreme but I'm fairly certain their two boxer dogs, (their kids), will be a part of the wedding party.

I don't understand the folks that feel they have a right to criticize what a couple wants for their wedding or worse yet, barge in and alter the arrangements against their will.

And I know what I'm taking about - it happened to me!

Third Cake's A Charm?

It might be that I still have yesterday's post on my mind, (about the cake decorated models on Project Runway), but I think the wedding cake is the most important things at the wedding reception. I could care less about the champagne, (I don't drink), and as long as couples can dance I don't care that much about the music, but the C-A-K-E, now THAT'S important! Could be the wedding cake is so special to me because, well, for one, I LOVE cake, but also because of what happened to me.

I've been married twice.

My first marriage I tell people lasted ten minutes, (actually two years).

I was 29 years old, all my friends were married, (I felt like a professional bridesmaid in those days), and I guess the fear of ending up the Old Maid was getting the better of me.

I'd only known my first husband 6 weeks before we got married.

A word of advice to anyone that might be reading this - DON'T DO THAT!

Yes, the marriage was doomed but we didn't know that the day we got married.

It was a house wedding, (another way of calling it what it was..C-H-E-A-P as hell!)

My parents were traveling in another state and couldn't make it. That really tore me up at the time but after he and I split up I was glad they weren't there to fall witness to that train wreck.

We tied the knot in March, (and no, I wasn't pregnant), and it was 1986.

My dress was nothing special, a drab blue number with the big, big shoulder pads that were so popular back then and I sported the BIG 80's hair-do to match.

We got our cheap gold wedding bands for 10 bucks each and I held a single white rose.

I told everyone that's what I wanted and that fancy over-sized bridal bouquet dripping with roses and carnations were pretentious. Truth is a would have DIED to have the big pretentious bouquet, (with the lacy long-trained wedding gown to go with), but the single rose was all I could afford. 

The one thing that I wanted to be special was the wedding cake.

I was in Culinary school at the time and paid a fellow student way in advance to make us a beautiful chocolate wedding cake with whip cream frosting that would have accents of flowers and swirls in blues and a little light green. Cakes were this guy's specialty I was real excited that at least we'd have the perfect cake to mark our day.

We were set to be married in late afternoon and at noon the cake guy was supposed to drop off ours. Well, 12:00 came and went and no cake. I called and called and called and got no answer. It was about a half hour before things were to start when he FINALLY pulled up in front of the house - was so relieved! 

I ran out to his car and of course he was apologising all over the place as soon as he saw me. I told him not to worry, it was no big deal as everything was fine now that our special wedding cake was there. He looked away from me and said, "No, that's not what I me", and then looked away as he continued, "I didn't...make your cake". My heart dropped as attempted to make amends for letting me down, (an understatement).

Seems he'd spent ALL night partying and was too hung over come morning to make the cake, (which I already paid $75 bucks for - which is a lot of money back then for a sheet cake). He produced a cake for us though, one he purchased at a grocery store.

It wasn't even a wedding cake, it was a birthday cake and the worst part, it was a WHITE cake, not a chocolate cake that I had my heart set on. And of course no whip cream frosting.

Long story short -

the cake ended up tasting like sawdust frosted with wall paper paste and the marriage was reduced to sawdust 2 years later.

And when things went awry in regard to my wedding cake when I married for the second time, 8 years later, I was NOT a Happy Camper!

THAT story will have to wait until the next post as this one got away from me, getting much too long.

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Couture VS Cake

As much as I love my Project Runway, I'm also into some other shows that I like a lot.
 I'm a Chef by trade, (for over 25 years), so some of the cooking shows on the Food and Travel Chanels can reeally draw me in. I especially like the cake decorating shows - not my strong point when it comes my trade, so maybe that's why I find it so interesting to watch. Now that they use fondant instead of the old fashioned buttercream frosting, the possibilities are endless in what a decorator can do with her or his creativity.

One show that I like a lot is Cake Boss.
Maybe it's everyone's thick Brooklyn accent that *I like so much, but it's also the amazingt cakes Buddy Valastro and his staff put together that are nothing less than eye-popping toshow stoppers. I was also quite impressed with the time and effort he puts in the "Make A Wish" program - a true labor of love and I really admire that.

Cake Boss

Buddy Valastro

I think my facination forFashion and Food is getting a tad bit out of hand.

Yesterday I got into a Cake Boss marathon and while watching, I browsed the Project Runway site and also worked on my own site dedicated to the show.

It's not like me to sit like a vegged out blob in front of the boob tube like that, but the Cake Boss was turning out some really cool cakes and I was enjoying the progress I was making on my PR site - the best of both worlds I guess, lol.

So I go to sleep last night and I had the most vivid and realistic dream about Project Runway which includes all of this season's designers - I loved it!

 It was as if the next challenge was taking place with me there in person to watch all the creative magic unfold. I guess I was the "guest judge" because when it came time for the designs to hit the runway I was sitting in the guest judge seat right alongside Michael Kors, Nina Garcia and Heidi Klum.

Only one missing from my dream was Tim Gunn, (DRAT!)

I was downright giddy with anticipation as the lights went down and the first model began her strut down the runway - WOOHOO!!

Every single model that stopped to do her sashay and pose was wearing the most enchanted, gorgeous, mouth-watering design of a giown.

Each one that passed by me was my absolute favorite!

 The designers were all seated where they usually do watching with pride as their models served up their scrumptious couture, each beaming as bright as proud parents gazing to their first borns.

When it was over I was totally deflated - I wanted MORE!!

Michael, Nina and Heidi were just as impressed as I was and all four of us were abuzz with our praises of the sweet magic that was just presented before us.

It came time for Heidi to call out all the models to join their designer and I worried how in the world I was going to be able to pick a winner?

 ALL the designs were amazing!

My tummy had giant butterflies fluttering all about as I looked to each of the models and their designers, their anxious faces lit up like children at Christmas. Their fashion fate was in our hands and the desire for more was just too much -

I couldn't contain myself and blurted out loudly, "I want to taste ALL of them!"

Then it hit me -

the models were decorated from head to toe like fancy cakes!

My moutn dropped open like a stunned codfish and the only thing I could think about was findiong me a (very BIG), plate and fork

YUMMY!!

Before I had chance to start devouring these delectable designs, I woke up and no,

there wasn't a big bite out of my pillow!

Think it's time to take a break and walk away from the TV!!

Life Is A Runway

There is another aspect to this blog aside from the task of embracing this complex, yet pretty darn simple project of me - and that is to dedicate some blog space to a few of my favorite TV shows and other Little Box fascinations, (of which some might view as addictions even).

I can't believe I just typed in my blog that I will be paying homage to, of all things, TV SHOWS!
It's not that I'm glued to the TV set 24-7, I actually watch little TV compared to most people, but when I get wrapped up in a show I like to give it my all, lol.

The reason I mention this about my TV shows right off the top is that I've "fashioned" my blog a tad bit around my #1 fave show - Project Runway. No doubt you'll see the designs I put here hinge to the whole concept of the show. Main reason I am so drawn to the show is that I do design and sew, (and quite well by the way). My mother taught me - she was an amazing seamstress and I learned a lot from her, (God Bless Her Saintly Soul).

So the creative aspect of Project Runway hooked me since it first aired, (I've followed the show since  it's beginning nine years ago), and of course I also get drawn into the personalities of the competing designers and the suspense of who will "make it" or "not make it".
Mainly I love to see what the designers create each week and along with them, I come up with my own design for the week's challenge. This season is a weak one when it comes to what they are presenting in front of the judges and I'm not ashamed to admit...my designs have them all beat!

It's kinda strange that a person such as me, who doesn't care all that much about the clothes I wear, would be so into a show that pivots around fashion. But once a person gets to know me they understand that my main reason for existing on this planet is to C-R-E-A-T-E.
I don't plan on fixating only on this show, but thought it would give some insight as to why I titled by blog "Project Shaye".

Yeah, life is a runway.
We get one chance to make something out of our lives with that "Wow Factor" and then dance it down the runway for all to see.
What we create can be just like everyone else or end up so abstract and bizarre that people just look at us and scratch their heads. Yeah, sure would be nice if life came with a seam ripper where we could undo all the mistakes and sightly flaws, but we can't.
What we can do though is just keep on truckin down that runway, head held high and keep telling ourselves it doesn't matter what the rest of the world thinks. If we truly believe that what we have created with our life is beautiful and sacred, then that's all that matters.
As for me, I don't walk the runway alone - no way..
 Jesus is right alongside me and he ain't there to make a fashion statement, He's there to make sure I can stand up and take the steps.

Yeah, I'm a Jesus Freak
and when it comes to the fabric of my life - He makes it work for me!

 Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat ot what you will drink;
nor about your body, what you will put on
Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns;
yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they?
Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?


So why do you worry about clothing?
Consider the lilie3s of the field, how they grow:
they neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you
that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.


Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is,
and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you,
O you of little faith?
~Matthew 6:25-30

A Woman In Progress

Greetings!
My name is Shaye and I'm a project in the works.
But then I guess we all are or should be. We never reach a place of total perfection
and there's always something to learn. Just when we think we "know it all", someone comes around pointing an accusatory finger at us, calls us a "Big Fat Know It All" and proceeds to prove just how stupid we really are.
Such is life.

For some folks being viewed as anything else but perfect shakes them to the core of who they are or I guess who they think they are. For me, I'm the first one to admit I don't know everything and when it comes to having flaws - I'm loaded with them.
I've made my share of mistakes, traveled more low roads that I'd like to admit and searched out the easy way when I should have grit my teeth and toughed it out.

And I have my labels - I'm divorced, a smoker, (of cigarettes), am 54 years old, I suffer from panic disorder, PTSD and have severe dyslexia.
YIKES!

Oh well, we all have something.
 On the positive side of that page there's a lot of cool stuff about me and these are the projects in the works. For the most part I plan on using this blog to focus on the spiritual and creative aspects of me. The little windows that let in the Light and allow the shadows to escape.


 I began blogging before blogging was invented.
Back then it was called "Online Journaling" and a lot of people thought I was really whacked to put my thoughts online instead of pouring them into a diary or one of the many pretty leather bound journals they'd given me for Christmas over the years.
 It took awhile for the notion of "online journaling" to take off, but as soon as people started calling it a "Blog" I guess natural curiosity took effect, giving online journaling a new, more "hip" path.

Being on the computer is part of me, (who I am), and I highly doubt I'll ever walk away from my little box unless it's to go off and die somewhere. I'm not as attached to it these days as I have been in the past (and that's a very good thing). A woman can't live out her life in a box, (believe me, I tried). As much as my computer has served as a glorious vessel taking me to places I otherwise would have never experienced, I learned, (the hard way), it can't take the place of basking under a vibrant sun or drinking in the heady scent of the sea mixed with a rambunctious wind.
My life has been weighed down with heavy sorrow and yet lifted to the highest mountain on the wings of eagles. I have no agenda with this blog except to keep the work in progress, this never ending project of me.

Mercy and truth have met together,
Righteousness and peace have kissed.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
And righteousness shall look down from the heaven.
~Psalm 85:10-11