I feel like I should write something profound as I head into a new decade and celebrate my 40th birthday. Somehow I should magically be wiser…well I don’t really think that happened even if I wished for that…but I do feel very content and happy with where I am at right now regardless of my new age!
This last year I have really tried to focus on being more present and enJOYing the process of whatever it is I am doing. I look at this picture above and I look so different than I did last year and the best thing is that I know that I feel as happy on the inside as I look on the outside. I felt before I was always rushing from one thing to the next, not savoring and appreciating what I was doing, what I was accomplishing and who I was with…
The night before my party, Kenzi and I decided we needed a dessert and wanted to make something special. So we each went to our favorite place of inspiration…PINTEREST…and started sending each other links from our comfy internet browsing spots…we weren’t even in the same room 
We found a link to these adorable speckled egg cupcakes. We made our shopping list and headed out to get the ingredients we needed then came home and started baking & frosting cookies.
To create the birds we used a mini bird cookie cutter and a mini heart cut in half for the wings. A little pearl eye and we ended up with a sweet little bird to go with our egg cookie toppers. The cupcakes are made with a doctored up cake mix. We used butter instead of oil and buttermilk instead of water and baked them. So yummy! The sugar cookie recipe was amazing…and everyone agreed it was the best they had tasted. In fact my little sister that normally makes sugar cookies for the annual Christmas Eve party said she was fired…these cookies were more tasty!
Vanilla-Almond Sugar Cookies
3 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 c sugar
2 sticks (salted) butter
1 egg
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Add the baking powder and flour and beat just until combined. The dough is a bit crumbly and will need to be kneaded slightly as you turn it onto a floured surface for rolling. Roll about 3/8″ thick, do not roll too thin if you would like soft thick cookies. Cut cookies into shapes and freeze for about 5 minutes, if you would like to make cupcake toppers insert a toothpick into the base of the cookie now before baking. Bake for about 10 minutes in a 350 degree preheated oven.
We then played with the art of flood frosting the cookies. We are by far no experts and will need some practice, but we had fun.
It was a nice treat to have my soon to be 15 year old niece come over for the afternoon and help me spruce up and decorate for the party. Loved how the treat table turned out. Thanks Alisha!
It was a great night, lots of fun and laughter with friends & family! I have had a great couple of days celebrating my birthday. Thanks to everyone for making it so special! Now it is time to get back to work and getting ready to teach at the Junk Barn Girls event in less than 2 weeks. Hope to see you there!
