#14 & #15 of 365 Days of Photos- "Quad Snow Elf" & "Paper Posies"

Recipients Ken Stringfellow & Dominique Stringfellow

"Living on our bookshelf in Paris. Orange interior light means--nighttime in autumn."

#2 of 365 Days of Photos - "Adjust"

Recipient: Amie Simon
Sent via Twitter.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Maybe it is the nippy Fall weather, or the early Christmas decorations in the stores, but I'm really feeling the holiday spirit this year.
I decided to get started early and make my first batch of Christmas cookies. I made tiny trees with my brand new Wilton Cookie Press. (You know it was just an excuse to use it.)

I asked Darian to get started on her Santa List, and it reminded me of how much fun I used to have putting my Santa List together every year, when I was a kid.

I thought it would be fun to make one on here. Not because I'm expecting gifts from all of my blog readers, but just for the fun of putting a list together. (See what I've done here? I've managed to find a way to make a year end list without it being a year end list.)

1- KitchenAid. In Pink or Red, I still can't decide. I really have no idea how I've gone as long as I have without one. I bake all of the time and I burn through hand mixers like crazy.

2- Canon 50mm f/1.8 - for my camera, so I can get better low light shots at rock shows, and finally be able to take decent shots at The Triple Door. It is visually the most amazing club, but you can't use a flash there which makes my fancy camera uttery useless there.

3- A bunch of Wilton stuff. I want so much cake decorating stuff from the Wilton line, I could make a sub list just for that. Here are just a few of the pans I want.

1. 3D Rubber Ducky cake pan.
2. Avanti® Everglide® Metal-Safe Non-Stick Springform Pan with Glass Bottom
3. Guitar pan!!!

4- Michael's Arts and Crafts is the same as Wilton's for me. I could lose an entire day there, just looking at things and getting inspired. I would love a few thousand dollars and a week to spend there.

5- Brief Encounter DVD- I already own it, but I made the mistake of buying the DVD that only works in Europe. I want the Criterion Collection DVD.

That is really all I can come up with right now. There are other things I want/need, but those fall more under the realm of necessity, like a new mattress set, a new chair, a new Neumann Microphone (Wait, how did that get in there?) So, it's not a long list, but I'm not a girl who wants for much in this life.

The new book!!

Hot off the press! They are for sale HERE. If you buy them from LuLu, you get 3 for $27.49. They would make a great stocking stuffer for the kids in your life!

OR, if you only want one copy, I will sell them individually for $10 each +shipping. Just send me an email: lilblackcat23 at gmail.com

You're the boss, Applesauce!

I made this Homemade Applesauce.
Something about the scent of apples cooking just screams Fall and Cozy.

You can eat it on it's own, or use it in several Fall spice cake recipes.

Or...

If you eat it hot off the stove and topped with ice cream, it is one of my favorite fall comfort foods!

YUM!

#6 of 365 Days of Photos- "RAWR!"

Recipient- Lily Sommers

#5 of 365 Days of Photos- "Aftermath"

Recipient- An Lemmens

Michelle! Got your card! Thank you so much! Thought I'd keep it next to my crazy cat lady action figure, which seems perfect for the both of us!

Thank YOU!!

Now that the postcards have begun to arrive and people are starting to respond, I wanted to take a moment to thank a few people.

First I wanted to thank Darla who invited me to participate in her "2009 Wig Project" which inspired this whole project. I never really thought about postcards, but when I started putting the wig project cards together, I just kept going, and so the postcard project was born...

The other person I wanted to thank, and to dedicate the 365 Days of Photos postcard project to is Diane (My Mother-in-Law) She was the one who bought us our very first digital camera in 2005, now 5 years and 8,640 photos later, the photo postcard project was born. So, thank you Diane for being wicked cool!!

and Thank YOU people who are,have,and will be participating in the 365 Days of Photos Postcard Project!!

#20 of 365 Days of Photos - "Broken"

Recipient- Brittany Niedzwiecki

Postcard was received. Will send a photo tomorrow. It's gorgeous! Thank you.

#10 of 365 Days of Photos - "Dark Snow Elf"

Recipient - Deb Hardman

I got this fun picture from my pretty daughter, the "Snow Elf". I'm keeping it on my dresser, where I can see her every day & night.

#17 of 365 Days of Photos - "Black or White?"

Recipient - Phoebe Marie

Before i even saw your blog post about what to do, i had pinned your postcard up on the pin board next to my desk. it is filled with lovely things people have sent me. i look up at it repeatedly when i'm sitting at my desk working on things that are less wonderful.

i love this image! stunning.

xxo, phoebe marie

365 Days of Photos Postcard Project

Did you receive a postcard from me? Would you like to help me with my 365 Days of Photos project? There are many easy ways you can participate! (Technically, by getting a postcard, you are already participating!)

When you receive your postcard please do one of the following:
1- Email, twitter, FB me and let me know that it was, in fact, received. If you would like to elaborate on the shape it was in after going through the post, that would be great!

2- Take a photo of the postcard in your possession, with your cat, on your refrigerator, in your hand... with a camera or even just with a cell phone and email it to me at lilblackcat23 at gmail dot com.
OR
3- Come up with some other creative way to let me know you got it.

I will be posting all of these responses as a series on www.michelleauer.com as I send out the post cards.

Thanks for joining me in this fun little interactive art project!

If you would like to get a card and participate, you can leave me your mailing address in the comments. All of my comments are moderated, so I will not make your mailing address public. Or you can email me with your mailing address at: lilblackcat23 at gmail dot com with 365 days of Photos in the header.

Thanks!!
xom

Lemon buttercream cupcakes

I made these as well. They are what I might imagine heaven would taste like. I need a shirt that says, "I LOVE BUTTERCREAM"
Thank Jeebus I work at a large office now where people are happy to eat my baking experiments. Otherwise I'd be 300 pounds by the holidays at the rate I've been baking!

Shortbread Cookies

Tonight, I did some experimenting with infused butter. I don't know if it was a complete success, but the cookies are delicious. I think I know now what I should do next time.
I've always loved the scent and flavor of Earl Grey tea. I was using a typical shortbread cookie recipe but before I made it, I took one of the sticks of butter and melted it on the stove top, careful not to burn or cook the butter. I added 4 teabags to the butter and I let it cook in the butter for a while, and then I set them aside, off the heat and let them soak for about 10 minutes. The end result was butter with a very strong tea scent. This recipe called for 4 sticks of butter, so I mixed in the one melted stick into the 3 cold sticks, beating it until fluffy, about ten minutes.
When they baked, you could really smell the tea, they smelled like heaven, but you can't really taste it in the actual cookie. I think the next time, I will use loose tea and let it soak a lot longer and then strain it out before using it for the cookies. I don't think the four teabags were enough.
I didn't feel like messing with rolling pins and cookie cutter, so I turned these into thumbprint cookies and added a dollop of raspberry jam in each cookie. They are quite pretty, and delicious!

I own my name again...

I own my name again! After 5 LONG years of being parked and unused, the www.michelleauer.com domain name finally expired this morning & I bought it before the previous owner could renew. I updated my layout to celebrate!

I want to bathe in buttercream frosting

I have loads of stuff to post about!
A lot of cool stuff has been happening!
For example:
I have not posted about Jon's 40th birthday parties or Darian's 15th birthday:Or the amazing rock shows I've been to (including John Wesley Harding at The Triple Door, Spiral Stairs and Bob Mould at Neumos, The Disciplines (Ken Stringfellow's new band) at The Comet and Pink! at the Key Arena)

The new Spiral Stairs record that just came out (And that I have a vocal credit on! Check out Blood Money)

I could talk about how much I love my new job. How creative I have been recently. It is amazing how recharged I feel now that I am working normal hours again and have my free time back.

I will sit down soon and write all about all of these things, or at least post some photos, but for now I will post a photo of the cake I just made!

It's chocolate cake with cherry preserves in the center and covered in a cloud of the most amazing whipped buttercream frosting I've ever made. (Basically three sticks of sweet cream butter & Heavy cream whipped into a cloud of amazing.)

Prepare to drool...