Finally!

So I finally found my camera cord.. and I can post again! I guess you can blame my hiatus on nursing school as well.. considering I haven't posted since BEFORE I started my summer school class.. and now it's over. It was fun to finally study something I'm really interested in and know that I will be applying to my career. I've also been distracted by the logistics of school. I have to deal with financial aid for the first time (since I have the most amazing parents and they paid for my undergraduate education, I didn't have to deal with it.. and everything I've taken since then I've paid for using my salary from my job at Packard).

Needless to say, it's been stressful. I don't qualify for grants since I have a bachelor's degree (yes, in many instances I have felt punished for having a degree.. this definitely isn't the first time).. so I have to get loans.. ugh. And mostly that's because my job won't let me decrease my hours. That means i'll have to go relief/per diem, which means I will no longer be getting benefits, and there's no guarantees to how many hours will be available to me each week. The good thing about that is that I don't have to work if I don't want to (because of exams, clinicals, etc), but I don't have a steady paycheck to pay for school/rent/insurance. So loans it is. I still haven't even told my work I'm going relief, but I'm waiting to make sure Kris will be able to add me to his insurance.. which is something he's kinda freaking out about. He says he's stressing about feeling like he's responsible for supporting me. I understand where's he's coming from, but it's not like this is a fling.. we've been together for, oh.. 8 1/2 years now. But still.. I do get it. And I so love him for being as supportive as he has been while I go back to school when he's ready to really start our lives together. I'm truly fortunate to have him.

So.. after all my excitement I realized my camera is sitting at home.. and I have all these pictures of stuff I've done lately. Like yummy food I've cooked, and cupcakes from my first big event, a wedding! So, I'll have to steal from facebook. I'll be right back.

Well, not right back.. it's been about an hour. But I found them, courtesy of my friend Renee (a bridesmaid in the wedding), who took the photos. Here's a close-up of the top. The red velvet cupcake (with cream cheese frosting) is topped with an iridescent purple flower with purple dragees. I really loved doing these because purple is my absolute faaaavorite color.

The flowers are made of colored gumpaste, which I formed using a make-shift foil flower former instead of an expensive one from the store. lol. I painted the flowers using purple lustre-dust, which I also used to color the dragees (they were initially white, like the one in the center of the flower). Here's a photo of them all boxed and ready to be gobbled up by the guests!

It was stressful, but fun.. now that I'm in school I don't think I'll be saying yes to any weddings for a while.. ^_^