Nests and Courts

Some of you out there have never had the pleasure of meeting my boyfriend, Kevin. Here he is with half of our cats. (Did you know we have too many cats?)

For those people I have compiled the following list of 10 important Kevin facts.

1. He hates tomatoes. (Hates them with the fire of a thousand suns.)

2. He alphabetizes all his CDs, DVDs, and books. (The books are also organized by genre.)

3. He will only own cars with manual transmissions. (Which I have no idea how to operate.)

4. He loves the movie "Bring it on." (Seriously.)

5. He's obsessed with reading Bill Simmons' column on EPSN.com. (And also reading it aloud.)

6. He hates Tyra Banks. (I know this based on the amount of cussing at the TV that occurs when I watch America's Next Top Model.)

7. He enjoys music of the hip hop persuasion. (And often raps along with it.)

8. He loves Dr. Pepper. (Or Mr. Pibb in a pinch.)

9. He laughs at all his own jokes. (Laughs a lot.)

And most importantly...

10. He is a diehard, rabid Suns fan. (For those of you who don't know...that's basketball. I didn't know this until I lived here for at least 6 months.)

Kevin turned 30 last month and on this very special occasion, I decided to make him to following cake:

Here's a picture of the court at US Airways Center for reference.

Yes, I know the lines are a little shaky. I have a really hard time keeping my hand steady. I'm working on it. Whatever, I still think it's pretty cool and he loved it.

The next cake that I made was for my dear friend Jenn's housewarming party. She and her husband have spent the past bazillion (approximately) months gutting and rebuilding a house for themselves. It was a very long process, but they are all moved in and the place is GORGEOUS. I'm extremely jealous.

Anyway, they had a housewarming party this weekend to show off the results and I made a cake for the party. It looks like this:

The birds are the only inedible part of the cake. I was not delusional enough to think that I could sculpt birds out of fondant or gumpaste, so I hit the artificial flower aisle of my local Michaels and picked up some birdies. Don't judge. I'd like to see you make a sugar bird. Actually I would, so that I can learn.

Anyway, although I wanted the branches to be thick, I think in the future I'll make them a little more delicate. Kevin pointed out that they looked like poo. He's so sweet, always knows just what to say.

I'm pretty proud of this cake. It was the first one that I've done in which the fondant came out pretty perfectly with no bumps and bulges. I'm getting pretty good at this...

On last comment...I took Kevin to Seattle for his birthday last month and, among other things, we went to the INCREDIBLE cupcake shop "Cupcake Royale." Kevin had red velvet and I had salted caramel. To. Die. For. Here's me in front of the shop.