Oh, hello cupcake.

So, a little more than a week ago, I finally tried Hey Cupcake! The exclamation point is not because it's exciting (though, let me tell you, it is...). That's how it's spelled. It's not just "Hey. Cupcake." or even "Hey, cupcake." It's "HEY CUPCAKE!"

You think I'm joking?

I'm not.

(via a really hilarious photo collection of the U.S.'s obsession with all things food and obscenely large)

See?

Anywho, last Saturday (or really, last last Saturday), I was headed to a friend's house to hang out. She was making dinner, and I already wasn't having a great day and I happened to have a stray $10 bill, which bought three cupcakes and left a tiny tip. Which means, yes, I probably got ripped off because really, who spends $2.75 PER CUPCAKE? Well, I do, because let's face it...it was the best cupcake I've had in a long time.

Like I said, I got three, because I wasn't sure what kind my friend would want, so I was determined to have options, and if I was going to blow $10 on cupcakes, I might as well blow the ENTIRE $10.

So I got a Vanilla Dream (just like the one on top of the trailer!), a Double Dose (chocolate on chocolate), and a 24 Carrot (Ha. Get it? Like gold, except DELICIOUS). I ate the Vanilla Dream. It was amazing. Mary ate the 24 Carrot, and seemed quite pleased. And then I ate the Double Dose for breakfast the next day.

You've done it. Don't judge me.

This past Wednesday I ran home from work, let Puppy McPuppypants out to tinkle, then ran back out the door for Happy Hour.

Since my real goal in life is not to write this ridiculous blog, but to save the world, it's important to me that I network with other do-gooders of similar intent.

Thus, I participated in a delightful mixture of libations* and chatter, at the Austin Young Nonprofit Professionals Network's monthly Do-Gooder Happy Hour. This month, it was held at Opal Divine's in Penn Field (off of Congress), where the margaritas were just $3.00, perfect for a girl on a budget.

Saving the world doesn't pay very well, you know.

It was all women this month, except for one for-profit husband who tagged along, and it was a lot of fun. Truth be told, we didn't talk much about strategies for ending world hunger. However, we did discuss the perplexing phenomenon that is Texas pride.

Seriously, people. What is up with it? In Michigan, we're not all, "I love Michigan first, and that country we kind of belong to second." I mean, it's practically Canada. And totally divided from the rest of society by those big lake things. We could totally pull off the "We're going to secede!" thing.  Though I'm not sure anyone would care...economically-speaking, Michigan is a bit of a tumor in the side of our great nation at the moment. I'm sure there are plenty who wouldn't be opposed to just cutting it out. But those people are not my friends. 'Cause I have Michigan pride. 

(As a side note, my friend Whitney does have a Michigan tattoo on her wrist. That's some unprecedented Great Lakes pride right there. And I say, right on, friend.)

This weekend I had big plans to go (finally) see those dinosaurs at the Botanical Gardens. But unfortunately, I'm coming down with a virus, and so I was more sleepy than ambitious this weekend. Nonetheless, I did manage to take Bennet to two different dog parks, at one of which she met her twin, a slightly tanner, shorter-haired version of herself named Francis. And I got almost-registered for classes at ACC. And I made potato-parsley-corn soup. And stocked up on yummy foods for my cabinets. And waged war on the weevils who had previously inhabited my cabinets.

And yet still didn't finish that dumb book I'm working through. You know, the one about the guy and the girl, written by that one dude.

Okay, okay, it's called Tender is the Night. By F. Scott Fitzgerald. And I'm ALMOST finished, I promise. As long as 80 pages to go can be considered almost.

Okay, fine. Why don't I just get off of here and go read. Would that make you happy?




*Libations is a favorite word of mine, thanks to my high school English teacher. We used to have "coffee shop readings" in class, and she'd tell us to bring libations. Generally, it infers alcohol. We were 17. We thought it was scandalous when we looked it up and found that out. Yet caffeine was enough of a drug. At least for me, but then again I'm the girl who didn't have her first sip of liquor until four months AFTER turning 21. I know, I'm such a rebel.