I'm not sure why...

but I've crocheted an egg.  I think it started when I saw some knitting patterns for pretend food on etsy.com, and got a sneaking suspicion that I could make some of it without any pattern at all, and some of it I could even do better.  I don't know.  I think it looks like an egg.

It's cake time again!

After being thwarted repeatedly by my own schedule and the apathy of others, I've finally managed to get into another Wilton cake decorating class.  This time, the focus is on lots of different kinds of flowers, including chrysanthemums, violets, apple blossoms, and a rose that is somehow slightly different than the rose I learned to do last time.

I'm weeping with joy that these flowers are all done with royal icing (mostly powdered sugar), and not buttercream made of Crisco.  This isn't a health thing, either.  Crisco is just evil to work with -- it sticks to everything, won't rinse off, and even if you wipe it off with a paper towel, you're still left with a sheen of gross.  Crisco is proudly trans-fat-free, though, so there's that.

Anyway, the only thing I really learned in the first class was how to do this chrysanthemum.  I'm pretty happy with it.  Everything else was just slapped on there at the last minute so it wouldn't look like my cake was covered in yellow dustballs.  

First hike of the season!

Even though I go to a trainer once a week, and even though we just got back from a fantastic adventure-packed honeymoon, the first mountain of the season kicked both our asses.  Our choice was Bison Peak, a 12,000 foot beauty that features a summit made of rolling grassy tundra and giant granite boulders stacked atop each other.  Because Bison Peak is at a lower elevation than the 14ers we've climbed before, it was warmer at the top and we were able to spend some time up there.  Don't worry that it wasn't just as hard of a climb, though -- the trailhead was also much lower than a 14er, so the climb was about the same.  Here's some of the highlights.