A Little Bit of Heaven

Macaroons! I made these a few weeks ago and just now got around to posting pictures... Blonde macs (coconut butter, shredded coconut - I love the finely shredded 40% reduced fat organic from Whole Foods, coconut oil, touch of sea salt, date paste, swirl of agave) and chocolate macs (same as blonde, plus raw cacao powder & soaked goji berries, so they plump up like raisins - does anyone else soak their goji berries?)

and a close up:

In other news... and probably why I've been absent from the blog lately (though I have been catching up on your blogs!) we had my Bridal Shower a few weeks ago... check out the cake:

it came from this amazing bakery called Chocolate Pi, and while not gluten-free (so I couldn't eat any) it was gorgeous! It was pink & black, like everything at the shower... Dana (my maid of honor) did a fabulous job planning everything. Here's the inside of the cake:

It was yellow cake with buttercream and raspberry filling between the layers. Everyone said it was outstandingly delicious! The fondant was super-thin. Since I couldn't eat the cake, Dana had a special dessert made for me:

It was an almond cookie with a strawberry filling, so light and fluffy (it tasted like a cloud!), with fresh strawberries. It was really quite scrumptious, but I was sharing with Erin (my sister, who is also GF) and she loved it so much that I took a few bites and let her have the rest.

Here I am practicing cutting the cake for the big day:

Yay! I am getting super excited for the wedding... 26 days to go ;)

My camera is getting fixed right now (the CF card door was broken), so I haven't been taking pictures for the past week or so. Somehow the point and shoot camera doesn't seems as fun as my Canon Rebel. If you take pictures of food, what kind of camera do you like to shoot with?

I was going to run a few errands yesterday and my car just sputtered and wouldn't start... the starter is shot. It's only about 6 1/2 years old, and I guess they aren't ever supposed to go, but sometimes it happens :( My fiancee signed up for AAA when he booked our honeymoon (it's a surprise! I don't know where we're going ;) so they towed my car this morning and now I'm at home waiting for Tires Plus to call and say she's ready... good time to blog, of course ;) I successfully completed the 30-class Bikram yoga challenge at my yoga studio, Yogani, where I attended class 6-7 days per week over a 5-week stretch of time. I absolutely loved it. The reward for completing the challenge is a super cute T-shirt and 50% off your next yoga package (I'm definitely doing the 6-month unlimited!) I love yoga!

It's a great time to set a positive intention for something you would like to accomplish this week, perhaps something you didn't do last week or over the weekend, or something you've been procrastinating for awhile. One of my favorite yoga teachers says there are only three things you ever need - BREATH, INTENTION, and SMILE - and I wholeheartedly believe that. With those three qualities and love in your heart, there is nothing you can fail at. My day today is not going the way it *should* or the way I intended it to, but I'm rolling with it the best I can - hey at least I got to crawl back in bed for a few hours and finally get a long blog entry in! I find that either writing down an intention or telling someone a goal you have in mind can be an effective motivator when you need some fuel for success. Have a great week and Happy Monday everyone!