Dalisha's Desserts

So I have to brag about my old college roomie, Alisha......she's a pretty amazing Pastry Chef! Not only has she used her artistic background to create melt-in-your-mouth, scrumptious bites of heaven with each thing she bakes, but she has won several awards! A few years ago, she won a cookie recipe contest and appeared on the Emeril Live show where he actually made her cookies on air!! She literally has to turn people down because her cakes and cookies and pies are in such high demand but she doesn't have the capacity to make them all. She has always dreamed of opening her own bakery and things are finally in place for that with her most recent award. She won a contest for entrepreneurs in Owensboro (where she lives) and basically the city is funding the start of her bakery!! The city is providing her a space in an already built building that she gets to completely redo to be exactly what she wants it be - right down to the cases which will house her yummy desserts and the chairs everybody will sit in to enjoy them. Plus she gets some extra dough (pun intended) to gets things off the ground! If all goes according to plans, folks in the Owensboro area could be walking into Dalisha's Desserts by the Fall!! I am so very excited for her!! She has worked hard and is so talented and truly deserves this so much! I'm excited too to have a small part in helping her to open her bakery - she has asked me to draw up the floor plan and help with the design! I can't wait to go see the space and start designing!

Congratulations Alisha!!!

I'm so proud of you and so happy for you!!!!!!

Free Chocolate Fridays

The Mars chocolate candy company is offering coupons for free chocolate every Friday until September! All you have to do is go to their website to sign up. You can only get one coupon per Friday (they give out 250,000 each Friday) and you can only get four coupon's per household for the entire give-away.

Mars is the brand that makes candy bar favorites such as: Dove, M&M's, Snickers, Twix, Milky Way, and 3 Musketeers. Supposedly they are trying to promote that Mars brand only uses *real* chocolate.....I guess others use some less natural chocolates? Whatever the reason, I'm always happy to eat chocolate, especially when it's free! If you'd like to sign up for the free chocolate coupon, click here.

A Digital Tradition

My niece, Goose, and I have a little tradition that we started a long time ago when she was just a little bitty thing. We take our own picture. I think I started it when she was little and would come over to play at my house. I always wanted a picture of us together from her visit so I would hold the camera out and get one of us together. She's almost Six now and the tradition has continued. Even though we live a few hours apart now, each time we're together we always say, "Let's take a picture - you know, like we always do!"

Here's one of the most recent ones. I'll have to add some from over the years to see the progression.

Help! Picture Question

To My Blogger Friends That Know More Than Me, How do I insert pictures where when you click on them they take you to another page where the pictures are larger? Mine do nothing when you click on them. I am doing something wrong but can't figure out what it is...... Thanks Friends! Mel

Tourist in Your Hometown

So, "Mayor for Life" Jerry Abramson, is trying to get folks around the Ville to experience the city as a tourist would. Shannon and I kind of liked that idea and have talked recently about exploring some things in Louisville that we didn't know about or just never took the time for before.

I don't know if this falls under that heading, but Saturday night we got an "inside tour" of the Southern Seminary. We climbed a bell tower, looked over the city from a roof top, and explored underground tunnels (don't worry, we had permission). Who would've thought all that fun would be found at a Baptist School?

Here's a few pictures from our advednture.....

A Shannon sized door!

Chapel at the Seminary (doors on the pews??)

The Pulpit

Shannon climbing the Bell Tower Ladder

Looking out from the Roof Top

Good Friends, Fun Night....on a Roof Top Downtown Louisville Several Random Chandaliers in the Attic Campus Building at Night

Underground Tunnel of Pipes Shannon, Gina and I could fit under the Pipes....Mike not so much Going for the light at end of the tunnel

LEED Certification

I'm studying for a test right now that when/if I pass, I will get to add "LEED AP" behind my name. There's a big push in my industry right now to "go green" and this is one way to ensure that buildings are more "green" than they would have otherwise been. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Basically you can earn "LEED Credits" for your building and depending on how many of those credits you get, your building can be certified with a LEED rating. So, I am studying to take the test that will make me a LEED AP (Accredited Professional)....which I guess will mean that I will be qualified to figure out if a building can earn LEED credits. On another note about Energy and Efficiency, the firm that I work for has designed the first "Net-zero" school in the Nation! (Which basically means that it creates it's own energy and doesn't use any extra energy). It's been pretty neat to be a small part of that process (being the peon at work, I only get small parts)....but still pretty neat that my firm will get recognition for this. Here's some more about our Net-zero School: http://www.bizlex.com/Articles-c-2009-03-03-85395.113117_Kentuckys_NetZero_Triumph.html

Spring Scrapbook Retreat

Here's pictures from another fun scrapbook retreat weekend!!!

The retreat was the first weekend of May - Derby Weekend here in the Ville (although we were in Crestwood at Pieceful Haven).

Here's the whole group - 15 ladies altogether!

The "Infield" meets "Millionaire's Row"

(I made up a Derby Hat and Suzannah brought a real one!)

Cheering on the Horses

My Granny drew the horse that won - "Mine That Bird"

(My Grandpa was at a Derby Party back in Danville and drew the winner there too - maybe they should go play the lottery??) Mmmmm....Nothing like a Pie of Derby Pie Barbie worked on curtains made of old jeans - the curtain rod will go through the belt loops!

My Granny hand-painted ornaments and made cards with her artwork on the front

Shirley doing a bit of scrapbooking

Suzannah smiling as she worked

Nancy hard at work

Tammy and the girls having a chat

Melinda scrapbooked too

Sherry did some quilting

Nikki was excited to use some new punches for her pages

My cousin Jen - her first time at retreat - I'm so glad she could come!

Deanna using her Cricut machine - the best invention ever!

My mom made bracelets and bookmarks

I scanned in negatives and organized photos on my computer