Update: I finally know the answer: it was from my friend Sarah! yay Sarah!

did you buy me a present?

i got this in the mail today, but i have no idea who it’s from since there’s no note! you should fess up, internets.

in any case, thank you, internets. it’s very pretty!

I’ve been a bit stressed out lately, but I’m doing my best to try and avoid it. I’m unhappy about my job situation. Not paying people on time is so uncool. And yet, there’s nothing I can do about it except to look for a new job elsewhere. I’ve had one interview so far for a part-time position in Rancho Bernando which could be nice. I could work on my partnership web stuff and try to get that off the ground (we’re hoping for a November 4th launch date) among other things. Things are kind of iffy at this point and I feel uncomfortable and unstable. With my birthday looming, I’ve just been thinking about the state of my life even more which has gotten me just a little bit down.

Instead I’ll try and focus on the plusses but sometimes it’s hard to ignore the things that are dragging you down. I’ll just keep on chugging and going about my day and trying to remember the little things that make me happy: my puppy, baked goods, watching the daily show, listening to kpr in the morning on my way to work, nice long showers, snuggling, and cool fall mornings (even though it’s been warm in the afternoon…).

On another note, I went to Omaha recently. It was surprisingly nice.

You can take a gander at my photos of the trip, if you are so interested in such things.

[/rant]

Once while I was walking to the movie theater:

“No, that’s Neil Armstrong. Lance is the guy that rides bikes, you know, the one that had cancer.”

And yesterday while walking through the parking lot to Alberston’s, two teenager girls talking to each other:

“Is he really that attachable to you?”

you should give people cupcakes.

There is actually a warning that the dragees are not intended for human consumption on the package. I’ll be sure to warn my co-workers.

I like this recipe much better than the other chocolate cupcakes I made. I also use a little more hazelnut oil in these to give it that rich background flavor.

Chocolate Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup hazelnut oil
1 cup milk
3/4 cup hot water
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 milk chocolate chips, dredged in flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the dry ingridents together. Mix the butter, oil, sugar and eggs together. Add the dry to the wet gradually, mixing in a little of the milk/hot water as you go along. Vanilla gets thrown in last. Add the dredged chocolate chips in and mix together. Scoop into paper cups and bake for about 19-20 minutes.

The one cupcake I ate, some of the chocolate chips had sunk to the bottom anyway, so I may need to work out that kink a little further.

Isn’t August supposed to be a quiet, boring summer month? That’s been my general impression of August – a month to wait it out until the fall arrives. It’s been an up and down month for me, mostly because of my job being lame and not being able to pay us on our scheduled paydays, which has been kind of stressful. I’m not as stressed about it as I originally was, if that’s some consolation. Instead I’m trying to keep up with the freelance thing and look for something better and of course, later on this fall I’ll have the partnership to look forward to.

On the upside, I’ve been doing some fun things. This weekend I went over to the Ken Club to check out a band Frank knows, called “Braaiins!“. I got a wee tip tipsy and rocked out and then got really sleepy. It was fun! Braaiins! also had some demo CD’s out and I grabbed the last copy. It actually has this cool insert with comic drawings and the lyrics for their songs. I thought it was awesome. Appropriately enough, the outside cover is of a brain.

I just got the second season of Dexter for my viewing pleasure which I plan on watching some more of soon. But I must make myself work first! And then I’m going to make cupcakes! And then, Dexter, you will receive my love.

I got some kick ass stuff at the cake decorating shop yesterday, including some totally cute gum paste flowers and dragees. Metallic dragees are apparently banned for sale in California… but um, I got some. I’ve seen on websites that they will not ship dragees to California and Wikipedia tells me they stopped selling them in 2003 due to lawsuit against sellers. Well, I’ll try not to report anyone but I’m going to use them anyway. Authories, please do not read my blog. In any case, prepare yourself for some cupcake photos later. Yes!

My co-worker and I have decided to partner up and work together – outside of work. We’re pretty excited to be starting on it all and will get going on it more in September after she gets back from her honeymoon later this month. We have a lot of details to work out and go over but I hope that in a couple of month’s time we’ll be up and running with our new little side business. It should be exciting and cool!