Turning 21

March is a busy month for us. First its my birthday, followed by our anniversary two weeks later (always with finals in between), and capped off by Joseph's birthday (which is technically in April, but the first day so please let me fudge it for argument's sake). This year also included a visit from Joseph's trainer and his wife to bring us a little ice-blue Hyundai Accent. Such a manly car for Joseph to drive, right?

This year, being my 21st birthday and all, I wanted to have a mocktails-and-poker party (seeing as the only benefit Mormon 21 year-olds can really take advantage of is being able to buy our own cough syrup) and have a 'pretend' wild night of fun. Instead of a casino-themed party, I settled on a theme that would help cheer us up before finals: Colors! Plus, I had a cake idea in my back pocket that I had been dying to try. Saturday morning I got up early for a date with my Kitchen aid and whipped up a double batch of boxed white cake (I had good reason to cheat, I swear, just wait).  I then divided the batter into six bowls:

 

{I think you can see where this is going}

And added some powdered food coloring which required quite a bit of stamina to properly mix in. I then spent the remainder of the morning rotating my two circle pans between the oven and my cooling station.

 {Three cakes- please don't fall apart orange!}

 Then I was back to the Kitchen aid for some cool whip frosting:

After which it was time to take a drink: 

Party hard:

And enjoy the results of all that effort. Yum!

My Birthday Song...

And just like the birthday song, this post won't be very long. I just wanted to pop in and shout out to my great husband who has made this birthday an amazing one, despite the fact I am stressed out by upcoming finals. This morning I woke up to a huge, heavy, blanket covered (we're a little low on wrapping paper) box for me to open. To my surprise (since we had agreed to keep the budget low) I found myself staring at a bright red Kitchen Aid stand mixer; my dream come true.

I had been hoping we could find a used one for cheap on craigslist and would never dream of buying one of these beauties new- but my husband did. Its the smaller model which is perfect (have you seen our apartment?), and is, well, perfect in every way. I can't wait to use it to make birthday cake for my 'friend-party' tomorrow and am excited to taste the oatmeal cake my husband made for me (google it, its not gross and oat-mealy I assure).

That's right- he made me a cake too, didn't I marry the best guy in the world (for me, all you ladies I am sure have great hubbies too)?! This, along with the sweet hand-made cards from my sister-in-law's family, has simply made this birthday great. Can't wait to see what else is in store. Toodles!