Baked. Goods, that is.

A few days ago, I embarked on a journey to bake the Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes pictured to the left. Not the best picture, but you get the point. I found the recipe on The Cake Blog and decided to give it a try! What's better than strawberries and lemonade? Strawberries and lemonade...in the form of a cake! The recipe was pretty easy to follow, and only required a little more work than the average recipe. But the results...fantastic! Delicious, and true to their name! Now if only I could perfect my icing technique, I'd be golden. This was my first time using the pastry bag set I got for Christmas, so I'm giving myself a little break on looks.

I have always loved to bake, even as a little girl. Some of my fondest childhood memories include baking in the kitchen with my mother. It was our way of bonding, and helps me feel connected to her even to this day. Whenever I turn on my Kitchen Aid, or find a new recipe, it always makes me think of her. She taught me so much, like to remember to take my butter out of the refrigerator when I turn the oven on so it will be room temperature when I'm ready to use it. Room temperature butter mixes much better than cold or melted butter.

Of course, all of this baking has not been helping my waistline. I'm trying to get back in wedding-shape for my upcoming honeymoon to the Cayman Islands (more on that later!), and so far, I haven't been succeeding very well! Exercise has always been easy for me. It's the diet part that I struggle with. My problem is that I LOVE food, all kinds - bad food, good food, healthy food, fatty foods, foreign foods - I love it ALL! And I refuse to go on some kind of obscure diet that doesn't let me eat what I want, when I want it. If I want a slice of pizza, then by golly, I'm going to eat it, or else I will spend days craving it and wishing that I would've eaten it. Life is too short to eat boring food all the time.

Tonight, I took a Pilates class for the first time. I have to say, it was much more intense than I thought it would be. It's not great for calorie-burning, but for toning, I think it will be great. The exercises focus on your core muscles, which is where I need the most help. I have never had strong core muscles, and would like to at some point in my life! So why not now?

I will keep everyone informed of my progress!