May 2011 - Angry Julie Monday

Six Layer Rainbow Cake Tutorial

May 31, 2011

I sometimes try to be Super Mom. But with working full-time, I sometimes have to outsource. I called my BFF Stacey the weekend before Angry Kid’s birthday party, and asked a favor. This was not a small favor, but a relatively huge favor. I asked her if she could make a rainbow layered birthday cake for Angry Kid’s party. For some crazy reason, she agreed to do it. I had almost all of the supplies (well colors for the cake), and I took them all over to her house. While I was there, I may have borrowed two large tables and some chairs too.

I also forgot to mention the fact that she’s NEVER made this cake before. I sent her some photos from the Internet.

Doesn’t the cake look delicious? I took this photo right after Stacey cut the first slice at the birthday party.

Stacey is also a smart BFF. She knew that I would probably want to post a tutorial of some kind on my blog. So she took photos along the way, and even typed up some tips for making the FAMOUS rainbow cake, well these cakes are sorta famous on Pinterest and parenting blogs.

Six (6) Layer Rainbow Cake Tutorial:

1. MIX-Make TWO (2) packages of white cake mix. Stacey used the stock ingredients. I add some extra items for my rainbow cupcake recipe, and they are listed in my blog post. Either recipe is fine, as in straight out of box, or added items.

2. DIVIDE-Divide the prepared cake mix into SIX (6) bowls equally, which equates to about 1 and 1/2 cups of batter per bowl.

3. COLOR-Color the batter in each bowl different colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple). Stacey used a combination of Duff Brand Color Gels, and Wilton Icing Colors. I had both of these brands in the box that I gave to Stacey. Stacey preferred the Duff brand because they were in a squeezable bottle.

4. PREP and GREASE-Prep the (6) cake pans for baking. Stacey used Pam with Flour spray to coat the pans. She HIGHLY recommends it. You don’t have to bake all (6) seperate layers at once. You can do a few at a time, and wait for them to cool, then bake more.

5. BAKE-Bake the cake layers according to the directions on the cake mix box.

6. COOL-Let the cakes cool.

7. CUT-Once the cakes are cooled, cut the rounded dome off the top of the cake. They need to lie flat, due to the layers. (IMPORTANT)

8. PRE-MADE BUTTERCREAM-Stacey pre-made a crap load of buttercream. I’m not sure of there is a definition for the specific amount that crap load indicates. Stacey uses THIS buttercream recipe which works like a charm every single time.

9. PREP BUTTERCREAM LAYERS-Stacey made thin layers of a frozen buttercream transfer the day before to speed up her assembly process. She traced the bottom of the cake pan on a piece of wax paper. She did this because she knew that the cake layers would be relatively thin, and prepping/freezing the buttercream would help the cake from crumbling.

10. STACK-Stack the layers, cake-buttercream-cake-buttercream, alternating obviously.

11. HEIGHT-After assembling the cake, it should be approximately SEVEN (7) inches tall. It will FALL over if you don’t put dowels in it. Stacey learned from a friend that you can use straws in lieu of dowels. The straws are easier to trim that dowels too.

12. TRIM-Trim the excess from the straws that are holding the layers together.

13. FROST/ICING-Stacey did a “crumb coat” of frosting before she brought the cake to my house. She transported this cake for an approximate thirty minute drive. When she arrived at my house, we placed the cake in the freezer for approximately TEN (10) minutes. After the “crumb coat” had hardened a little, she then completed the frosting/icing of the cake. By doing a crumb coat and freezing it, the cake is easier to frost.

14. DECORATE-Place cake on cake plate or other serving platter. Finish off cake but placing decorative trim around the bottom, or other decorations on top of the cake. I made my own rainbow cake bunting with felt.

15. ENJOY CAKE-Take pictures of the finished cake, like tons. I’m a blogger, did you think I was talking about eating the cake? Once the cake is cut and eaten, depression starts. The cake was sooo awesome.

16. TAKE MORE PICTURES-There’s only one piece of cake left? Well of course, you need to document that. Take more pictures, post them EVERYWHERE!

Now how am I going to pay my BFF Stacey back? I owe her big time!!! It is probably a good thing that she likes to bake!

Filed Under: In The Home, Parenting 43 Comments

Best Face of May 2011: Angry Kid and Wolfie

May 30, 2011

May has been hectic for us. I think we had t-ball and birthday parties almost every weekend. We had a nice break this weekend, and had nothing really scheduled. I started going through my iPhoto albums and realized that I have about five events where I’ve barely even looked at the photos. I started some of my editing earlier today.

But after going through all of my photos, I found my “Best Face of May” for I Heart Faces. It isn’t the best photo. It wasn’t planned. But it really says so much about our daily life. Angry Kid is obsessed with our dogs right now, especially Wolfie. I feel bad for poor Wolfie, because Angry Kid is always trying to carry her. Yet, she keeps wanting to play with him. I think this photo really depicts our daily life. And Angry Kid was all hot and sweaty from running around, crazy kid!

Do you have a “Best Face for May” photo? Have you linked up with I Heart Faces yet? You don’t have to be a pro photographer. Believe me, I’m nowhere near that!

Filed Under: Parenting, Photography 3 Comments

Project 365: Week 21

May 28, 2011

Just another week in the life of Angry Julie. The school year is coming to an end. T-ball ended last week. We are just enjoying a relaxing Holiday weekend.

Project 365 141/365: Got my Star Wars-The Empire Strikes Back print framed for our master bedroom. Gotta love @etsy

Project 365 142/365: The kid getting his face painted at a birthday party today.

Project 365 143/365: Best part of my night? Coming home to my bed and my awesome Hello Kitty pillowcase that @according2kelly made me.

Project 365 144/365: I have gotten sucked into that evil addiction of @DrPepper again. Sigh..

Project 365 145/365: Spray paint project. It was robin’s egg or Tiffany Blue. First coat of white primer on.

Project 365 146/365: Looking through boxes of photos for a blog post. Found this picture from either 2nd or 3rd grade. I’m sure you can spot me, the angry one.

Project 365 147/365: I’m at craft night @Joyshope. I am a hawt mess with the glue gun.

Filed Under: Photography, Project 365 Leave a Comment

Senior Blondie, or Senior Hottie?

May 27, 2011

Liz, from A Belle, A Bean, and a Chicago Dog emailed me a few weeks ago about a blog carnival that she wanted to do. She asked that we post a senior photo from high school this week on our blogs. Of course, to go in tradition with my days in high school, I proceeded to procrastinate. I really excel as this skill. I think my title could be “Most Likely to Procrastinate” underneath my yearbook photo.

So I made it my project last night to look for my senior year official photo. I have other photos, but this was my most “polished” look, which also means, my hair was combed, and I was wearing make-up. I also was a little bold that summer. I decided to get my hair colored platinum blond. My natural hair color is a tad darker than that. I think I had my hair colored this light for about six months. It was EXTREMELY hard to take care of, and I hated sitting in that chair. I called my mom looking for this particular photo. She couldn’t find it. I think I made her feel guilty or something…I mean really, I am an only child. It shouldn’t be that hard to find? She called me a few hours later. She said that she found this picture in a frame, BEHIND two pictures of Angry Kid. Note to self: buy my mom some more picture frames. Angry Husband was out with his friends, so I asked him to swing by my parent’s house on the way back. He arrived home at almost midnight with the picture. I had to teach myself how to use our scanner too. I’m pretty impressed with myself.

I need to take this photo to a dermatologist or something..I think this shall be my “BEFORE” picture. Look how smooth my forehead is. And wow, the corners of my eyes….Sigh…this photo was taken EIGHTEEN years ago…Can you imagine? I’m starting to feel a little old now…Class of 1993!

So for the sake of being a “Senior Hottie”, my photo is posted below. The link-up is open till Monday, May 30th, 2011. Make me feel better, do a post…

So Was I A Senior Hottie? I know….Julie with long hair…it is freaking you out, right?

Do you even know what I look like now? Well it is a good thing I take really random self-portraits on airplanes, right? I took this photo mid-May on the way to Arizona…

Filed Under: Blogging, Just Julie, Photography 21 Comments

Friday Favorites #6: Humor via Pinterest

May 27, 2011

I love Pinterest. Do you need an invite? Just let me know…

Anyway, I save all kinds of things. I love that I can go back and find my “favorites”. I think some of my favorite things that I save on Pinterest are funny or humorous words and pictures. I thought I would share a few of my favorites.

Tattoo Locations

Source: postwhatever.com

Back-Alley Hooker Greeting Card

Source: sweetperversion (etsy)

Come To The Dark Side, We Have Cupcakes.

Source: wagapapacreations.blogspot.com

People I Want To Punch In The Face

Source: 27thstreetpress (etsy)

That Awkward Moment:

when you’re in the middle of telling a story and you realize

it’s pointless

Source: awkmomentz.tumblr.com

Filed Under: Blogging, Just Julie 10 Comments

Wordless Wednesday: Sunday at The Great Park

May 25, 2011

I had the day off of work on Sunday. Angry Kid has a double (two kids from school, one party) birthday party to attend that day. I knew that we had plenty of free time in the morning, so I decided to drag Angry Kid to The Great Park for their weekly Farmer’s Market. We saw the Great Park Balloon, ate some sliders from The Flip Truck, ate a Queen of Hearts Red Velvet Cupcake from Meringue Bake Shop, and left with red fish balloon on a fishing pole.

Welcome to “Angry Julie Monday’s Wordless Wednesday Linky”!

If this your first time here, HELLO! I do a link-up every Wednesday! Post a picture(s) and link back to it here. Wordless Wednesday is a great day to post an awesome picture that “speaks” for itself, no words needed. I may be a little wordy today….

Be sure to check out Wordless Wednesday Link-Ups at these other sites also:

A Beautiful Mess, Better in Bulk, Dear Crissy, Five Minutes For Mom, Live and Love…Out Loud,Parenting By Dummies, Seven Clown Circus, Supermom, The Divine Miss Mommy

(P.S. if you do a Wordless Wednesday or similar link-up, let me know. I will add you to my list above.)

Also, Lindsey from The Pleated Poppy does “What I Wore Wednesday” every week with a great big link-up

and

Krystina from Lollipops does “What I Love Wednesday” every week with a great big link-up.

Be sure to check out their posts too. I wish I had the extra time to do all of these fabulous link-ups.

Filed Under: Orange County, Photography, Wordless Wednesday 12 Comments

The Men Folk Plan A Day Trip

May 24, 2011

Even though we stayed local, my son’s Spring Break, back in April, was quite busy. We went on many adventures, and took Angry Kid to some new places locally. On Friday (this is important, because you will laugh later) of Spring Break, my husband told me that his friends were planning a trip to Zoomars Petting Zoo in San Juan Capistrano. I was actually woken up by my husband that morning ranting and texting his friends on the phone. Apparently, they (friends) were already on their way to Zoomars, while we had barely gotten up.

You can only imagine the running around that started in our house…get dressed, get the camera, get the sunscreen. Go…go…go… I felt like I was in bootcamp. So the Angry Family piled in the car and headed down South. My husband had punched in the address for Zoomars on his cell. Of course, we got lost on the way, and ended up on a dead end road. We then passed Zoomars, and had to turn around. But, we finally arrived.

We went in and immediately headed to the area where the bunnies and guinea pigs were corralled. We purchased a few baskets of vegetables from the cashier at Zoomars to feed the animals. Angry Kid loved the guinea pigs. I think Angry Husband even liked feeding them a little. We all joked up these animals being the best fed animals ever. I think those animals could eat all day.

Ahhh…guinea pigs and bunnies.

Angry Kid feeding a guinea pig.

One of the crazy goats at Zoomars. They kept chasing the kid around for his basket of vegetables.

Angry Husband made a few friends.

They had a little playground at Zoomars. Angry Kid was running around in this playhouse.

I thought this old rustic Coca Cola cooler was pretty cool. Angry Husband and his friends were talking about this. It would be great to have something like this in the backyard.

And of course, I’m that photo person thinking ahead. Wouldn’t this bathtub be awesome for a photo shoot?

After venturing around Zoomars, the boys told me that there next stop was The Mission San Juan Capistrano, which was within walking distance. Before we made it to the Mission, we stopped for some ice cream. We stopped at a little coffee shop which had ice cream and drinks. It was yummy.

So this is where it gets funny…we walked over to The Mission San Juan Capistrano, and the big wooden doors were closed. We then got a little closer. Of course, it was Good Friday and they had closed at noon that day. It was around one pm when we got there. They are only closed two days out of the year, and they only close early two days. Of course, this was one of the two days. Everyone was disappointed about The Mission being closed. The kids were actually bummed too.

This is where I giggled a little though. This is typical man planning…no directions, and no research. Angry Husband is used to me researching everything before we go somewhere new. I’m always looking at hours, prices, etc. and I even try to find online coupons most times. This was their (boys) excursion and I was just along for the ride. Of course, I took some pictures too.

I told Angry Husband that next time we go to San Juan Capistrano or Zoomars, we need to take the train though. Because the train stops right in front of Zoomars.

Filed Under: Just Julie, Orange County, Parenting 2 Comments

RIDEMAKERZ at Downtown Disney

May 23, 2011

A little over a week ago, we attended a special event at RIDEMAKERZ in Downtown Disney, in Anaheim. As Season Passholders of Disneyland, we always pass by RIDEMAKERZ but have never gone in there. I think it is because we know how car obsessed our son is. It was perfect timing, because the event was the week of his sixth birthday.

When we arrived in the parking lot, we told him that we were going to a special place that started with the letter, “R”. We have to get in a little education, right? Well he checked out every business until he saw RIDEMAKERZ. He practically squealed when we told him that yes, we were going there.

RIDEMAKERZ is perfect for the 6-12 year old age range. The concept of the store is that you get to customize your own vehicles, or RIDEZ as they call them. You can customize the Ridez with different body styles, engines, parts, and decals to make your own unique Ridez. The best part (well my son’s favorite part), is that you can make your Ridez move, with an add-on feature of remote control.

Before, the kidz (awesome kids of the blogger’s who attended) got to customize their Ridez, we got to hear about the background of the company RIDEMAKERZ, from Larry Andreini, the Founder and ZEO of RIDEMAKERZ. He spoke about the initial ideas, the concepts, the target age ranges, and how they figure out locations for their storefronts. Angry Kid actually listened to Larry. I think I need Larry to be in his school classroom.

Chooze

After hearing about the company, the kidz were able to pick out the body style for their RIDEZ. My son chose a red RZ Rascal; my husband a Corvette C6RS; a Stealth Mater with a body lift for me. I was overwhelmed with all of the choices.

Motorize

This is where you choose free-wheel or radio-control. The entire Angry Family chose radio control.

Mobilize

We selected our wheelz and treadz for our RIDEZ. We then built and assembled the under carriage of our vehicles in the RZ Pit with the help of the RIDEMAKERZ employees.

Customize

In the customization stage at RIDEMAKERZ, you can add speciality lights, spoilers, side pipes, hood scoops, roll bars, decals, and much more. My son took FULL advantage of the customizing.

Cruize

Your RIDEZ are finished and now they are ready to cruize around. You get to take them home with you in their very own RZ CRUIZECASE (a box which has a great design and fits all of the accessories).

Moneyz (my own category that I made up)

RIDEZ are priced from $18 to $38, depending on body and paint scheme selected. Radio remote-control can be added for an additional $25 and custom accessories range in price from $2 for grille guards, spoilers and hood scoops to $15 for a deluxe “muscle kit” that includes a blow engine, spoiler, side pipes, muffler tips and roof vent. RIDEZ measure 10 to 12 inches long, about the size of a football, and range from approximately 1:14 to 1:20 scale.

Bloggerz

While I was at RIDEMAKERZ, and took some photos of the other bloggers while they were creating their RIDEZ. Here are a few of my photos:

Jim from @BusyDadBlog and his RIDEZ.

Aracely from DayTripping Mom and her awesome RIDEZ.

Kelly from According to Kelly and Just Spotted making her RIDEZ in the RZ Pit with her cute kiddos.

Cars 2 RIDEZ

RIDEMAKERZ has also recently increased their selection of RIDEZ from the Cars movies by offering four new Cars 2 vehicles, including Lightning McQueen, Mater, Finn McMissile and Francesco. The Cars 2 line was released on May 16, 2011. In June, RIDEMAKERZ will also be released a non-Cars 2 related, Chevrolet Camaro.

Dadz and Fatherz (Discount Information Here)

My parents came over last weekend to take us out to dinner for Angry Kid’s birthday. My dad was completely fascinated with our RIDEZ. Seriously, my son got a ton of birthday presents, but he is CONSTANTLY playing with his car that he got from RIDEMAKERZ. My mom suggested that I get my dad (grown-up kid) a gift certificate for RIDEMAKERZ for Father’s Day. I told her about the promotion they are having. (Seriously, this conversation actually occurred. I don’t make this random stuff up for my blog.)

On Father’s Day Weekend (Sat, June 18, 2011 & Sun, June 19, 2011), they are offering families to come on down and build one RIDEZ and get one FREE! This deal won’t include the brand new Cars line, but other RIDEZ like the Ford Mustang, NASCAR racecar, Viper, Challenger and the rest are included. (Exclusions apply. See store for details.)

Disclosure: My family was invited to a private event at RIDEMAKERZ. We assembled our very own RIDEZ while we were there. We got to take home our customized cars. They did not pay me moneyz for this. I was not forced to post this awesome post. I typed up most of this on my own, and I even took the pictures. Ok, I may have been given an outline that helped me with my headings. I am now a little obsessed with the letter, “Z” now. So really, this post is brought to you by the letter, “Z”.

Filed Under: Blogging, Orange County, Parenting 6 Comments