I LUV DAD!!!

Father's Day is only a few days away and I haven't even began to think about what I was going to get the father's in my life. Most likely it's going to be something cake related just like every other holiday and activity lol. I mean why not?! Everybody loves cake, right?

Well, if you haven't bought anything for dad and you love to bake or cook then this Father's Day blog has some pretty cool cake tutorials and recipes for you to try. But, before I get into that I just want to shout out my dad's. I have 3 actually. THREE? Yup! I have my biological dad, my step dad (who's dad since I was like 10), and my sisters dad (also known as dad) that has been in my life since I was about 3 and all of them have been very supportive and very involved in my life.

My biological dad is the very chill, cool cat daddy and gives very good relationship and business advice, and he keeps me calm in stressful situations.  My kids love going by their Papi because hey are all game heads. I mean Xbox 360 vs. Playstation type bond. My step dad is also very chill and laid back and  is more of an ear. Kind of like, you go to someone to ask for advice and they just listen and you end up figuring out the solution but just needed someone to talk to so you can talk yourself through the process. Yup, that's him. When it comes to sitting by a camp fire, walking through the woods and exploring this is where you will find my kids with their Paw-Paw. My sister's dad is another very cool, chill dad but he's more of the stern dad. He's the one that when he say something , that's it, no questions about it, but, he's also very giving and caring and loves to cook. He's the dad you can go to a bar with and go out to eat with and crack jokes. Now see, when it comes to the man cave, eating at buffets and watching movies it's the kids and Papa-G.

So you see I consider myself very lucky to have 3 dads and I wouldn't change it for the world!!

Ok so enough about me and my super dad's, now on to what you're really here for. This blog post has come really cool video tutorials and my Father's Day gift Guide. Yolanda Gammp of How To Cake it made an amazing steak cake great for Father's Day, How To Cook That also made an amazing video tutorial of chocolate tools that looks like REAL tools. My good friend Morrisa Jenkins owner of Meaux Moisture has a great Men's box full of all the things to keep dad nice and well groomed and all of her products contain no harsh chemicals and are all natural, and a few of my favorite Father's Day gifts available on Amazon, and if you're a Prime member you can get your gifts by Saturday just in time for Father's Day. Check it all out below and don't forget to follow my blog post!!

Steak Cake by How To Cake It

Chocolate Tools by How To Cook That

Father's Day Golf Cupcakes by Betty Crocker

Golf Ball Cake Balls by My Cupcake Addiction

Meaux Moisture Men's Box

The Walking DAD Tee (Affiliate) 

The Grillfather Apron  (Affiliate) 

18 Pc. Grill set  (Affiliate)

Crocodile Leather Cigar Humidor Case and Cigar Cutter (Affiliate) 

Flavor of the Blog

It's officially summer time and there's nothing like a good drink to quench your thirst on a hot summers day! This blogs post flavor is Strawberry Lemonade! 

In this blog post it's all about strawberries and lemons and both make the perfect combination for a nice refreshing drink, cupcakes, poke cake, pound cake, my cake, your cake, our cake and the sweet combination even has a refreshing scent that'll make your pooch and home smell sweet.

Check out the cool links below and treat yourself and your guest to this blogs chosen flavor and let us know which was your favorite!

🍓🍋🍓🍋🍓🍋🍓🍋🍓🍋🍓🍋🍓🍋🍓🍋🍓🍋🍓🍋🍓🍋🍓🍋

Strawberry Lemonade Cake via Southern Living

Natural Strawberry Lemonade via All Recipes 

Strawberry Lemonade Poke Cake by Caramel Potatoes Blog

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes by Baked By Rachel Blog

Spiked Strawberry Lemonade Spritzer  via Eipicurious

Strawberry Lemonade Doggy Fragrance Spray (Affiliate)

Strawberry Lemonade Scented Wax Melts (Affiliate) 

Fight Like A Girl!!

Wonder Woman has officially been released in theaters and it is making waves across the nation. Wonder Woman has been a huge inspiration to me since I was a kid. She's a girl that can fight, she believes in peace and love, she's in great shape, and her theme colors are totally awesome of course because they remind me of my High School colors; Shouting out Sarah T. Reed Olympians class of 1999!!

 Did you know?

Wonder Woman debut in All Star Comics #8 (Dec. 1941-Jan. 1942) and her real name is Diana. She is based out of New York, London, and Themyscira. Her height is 6ft and she weighs 165lbs with blue eyes and black hair. She is afflicted with Justice League and Amazons. Her enemies are First Born and Donna Troy and her allies are Batman and Superman. Her powers and abilities are from Olympian gods; she is an expertise in all forms of armed and unarmed combat; she can fly; her Lasso of Truth compels those in the coils to tell the truth; and her Bracelets of Victory contain and channel her powers.  HOW COOL IS THAT?

Once again the baking world has taken hold of a theme and created amazing cakes and desserts. Check out a few of their creations below and learn how to make a Wonder Woman cake topper by the awe inspiring Liz Marek of Sugar Geeks and Wonder Woman cookies by Elise Garcia. Also, check out some of the awesome gear that's available on amazon.

A Little Nonsense Cakes

Delicias da Clau

Camila Duque Repostería

Karina's Creative Cakes

Wonder Woman Outfit Cookies by Elisa Garcia

Wonder Woman Cake Topper by Sugar Geek

Wonder Woman Gold Foil Stripe Sleeve Tee (Affiliate)

Wonder Woman Ceramic Mug (Affiliate) 

DC Comics Wonder Woman Backpack (Affiliate)

Wonder Woman Superhero Socks (Affiliate)

A Tale as Old as Time

If you're anything of a movie buff, especially classic Disney films like I am, then the release of Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson, as Belle, in March of 2017 was THE THING to see in theaters. It was a hit in the box office raking in a whopping $1.234 Billion Dollars. According to wikipedia, Beauty and the Beast is the highest grossing movie of all time! Not only did Beauty and the Beast make waves in the box office but for generations and it definitely made huge waves in the baking world.

I remember watching beauty and the beast as a little girl and loving every song of the soundtrack with "Be Our Guest" as being one of my favorites along with the theme song "Beauty and the Beast". I think Chip was probably my favorite character as well because he was so cute. I even remember having a chip cup I bought from Disney World Orlando and wanting to have a dress made like Belle's yellow dinner dress. Oh the sweet memories of childhood!

Be my guest and listen to sweet sounds of the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack and check out some of the amazing cakes by Social Media's finest bakers, and more.

Beauty and the Beast Soundtrack ©Disney

Sue Berry Cakes

Cake Révol

The Standard of Crumb.s

Beauty and the Beast cake Tutorial by Chelsweets Bakery

Chip Teacup Cake by How To Cake It

Beauty and the Beast Anniversary Edition on Blu-ray (Affiliate) 

Beauty and the Beast Insulated Lunch bag (Affiliate)

Beauty and the Beast Grand Romance Dolls (Affiliate) ©Hasbro

Princess Belle Costume Party Dress (Affiliate) 

🌹🌹🌹 BE OUR GUEST!!! 🌹🌹🌹

Dreams Do Come True!!

Ok, so about a month ago I posted about my win as an American Small Business Champion by SCORE Mentors and Sam's Club.  Learning that I had won the championship was a huge surprise. I never in my life had won anything to that magnitude. I mean, I was  am one of 102 winners out of 1,500 entries and in addition to being a national champion I'm in the running to win $25,000 as a grand prize champion!! That's huge! At least, for me that is.

How did I become a winner? Well, one day I was on Facebook and I saw a sponsored post by SCORE that they had a small business championship going on. I checked it out and after looking at the entries I immediately started doubting myself. Those other businesses were already established and had hundreds and thousands of votes. I didn't think I would even be considered. I mean who am I? Where did I come from? What do I do? These were all the thoughts that were going through my head that I thought people would think about me. So fear and doubt set in. I mentioned the competition to a few of my family members and friends and they encouraged that I enter. Still I doubted myself. Then one day I said to myself, screw it what do I have to lose. All that could happen is me not get enough votes and I wouldn't be qualified to win but at least I gave it a try. So that's what I did.

There were only like a few weeks left to enter and get votes so I entered. I answered all the questions and prayed. I promoted on Facebook, sent links out by email and through text messages. At first I didn't get many votes at all and I just knew I wasn't going to be qualified to win. I checked everyday for about a week to see if I were getting more votes and little by little my vote count was going up (thanks to my pink sisters the Pussyfooters) along with the number of entries in Louisiana and their vote counts were beginning to be higher than mines. After about two and a half weeks, I sort of gave up and forgot about the championship. I didn't think I was going to win and I surely didn't want to be disappointed so I just put it to the back of my mind.

Well, one day I received a direct message that I should check the SCORE website. So, I did and I learned that I had won. At first I couldn't, didn't, and wouldn't believe it. I mean, me! Little ole me had won a National Championship. How?! The answer was clear as day, GOD! I was so excited I couldn't wait to share. I didn't think it was real at first because with the win came with an all expense paid trip to Dallas, Texas to attend a symposium and stay at the very beautiful and amazing luxury and art hotel, The Joule ( I wrote a blog post about my stay there, you can check it out here), a $1,000 gift card to Sam's Club, and a dinner at the Iron Cactus, as well as a paid round airfare on American Airlines.

So I get my email from SCORE with all the information and scheduling I needed to attend the symposium. I set everything up and finally the day comes for me to get my flight and head to Dallas. The entire process was amazing. The travel arrangements were well organized. I was afraid to leave my kids and travel by myself but I said ya know, what the heck! I've never been on a vacation without my kids or a vacation as an adult ever and even though it's just two days away its time for me to relax and enjoy myself and take care of business.

The time has arrived!! I make it to Dallas, check into the hotel (my mouth dragging the floor because of how AMAZING it is), I meet the other winners, attend the symposium, eat and network. The symposium was nothing short of amazing. My favorite speaker was Giselle. She was so informative and interacted with the crowd. No time for a quick nap during her session lol. There were other speakers as well that also gave some very important and informative information such as "How to write a Business Plan" by Hal Shelton (in which we also received his book as a gift, which is a  #1 seller on Amazon), and helpful tips on how to market and promote yourself on social media by Mr. Ron Crates. There are a few quotes that I took note while at the symposium and I will forever keep in mind; "Your attitude determines your altitude!", "Change your mind set to can do's", "Be great at one thing.", and lastly, "Don't get off the horse, stay on until it gets back up."

I was so lucky to be able to sit with some crazy, fun, creative, and amazing people!! I am forever grateful for this opportunity and I can't wait to see what God has in store for me next!!!

To learn more about The American Small Business Championship and to view the complete list of Champions, visit  HYPERLINK "http://championship.score.org/" www.championship.score.org. 

Accepting my gift card

Sally Barchman owner of State Line Animal Hospital and Holistic Health

Saidah Pearsall owner of Shea body Works

Unglued Market 

Richard Upton owner of J. Gumbo's Cajun Joint

Colleen owner of Unique Settings and Rentals

Giselle Chapman SCORE Mentor

2017 American Small Business Championship Winners by SCORE

You Donut Wanna Miss This Party!!

I'm so excited! National Donut Day is June 2nd and I can't wait! Who can forget McKenzie's Bakery donut holes? Those were my all time favorite!! I love everything donuts; the decor, pens, note pads, purses, socks, shirts, leggings, and of course Krispy Kreme. My favorite Krispy Kreme donuts are classic glaze and chocolate covered and most definitely when the HOT light is on!!

Well with National Donut Day being only a few days away, below  I've listed some awesome donut inspired recipes, tutorials and DIY party ideas by some of my favorite you-tubers, cake decorators, and party gurus! Oh! and don't forget you can snag a free donut from Krispy Kreme (no purchase necessary) and a free classic donut from Dunkin Donuts (with the purchase of a small coffee).

Mini Cheerio Donuts

How To Cake it - Giant Donut Cakes



Donut Sugar Cookies recipe via Tastemade

Giant Donut Float (affiliate)

Donut Plush Assortment Pillows (affiliate)

Donut Party Supplies via Oriental trading

LIFE IS SHORT,
EAT MORE DONUTS!!!!

4 Delicious and Easy Chocolate Chip Recipes

I'm not a huge fan of chocolate but I do like some foods that have chocolate chips in them. I love how when you bite into a dessert you sometimes get a burst of warm melted chocolate in your mouth and how it combines evenly with the other ingredients that just make you close your eyes and indulge in the abyss of the sweet heavens. Ok, lol, that may have been a bit much, but there are some desserts out there that bring you to that place.

Well, National Chocolate Chip Day is May 15th and below I'm going to share with you four of my favorite chocolate chip recipes that I like to do with my kids. I like to include my kids while baking (sometimes) because it teaches them math skills, reading, attention to detail, and science. Although telling them that makes them run and hide until I remind them of the plus side to it all, like, they get to lick the bowls and spoons and eat baked goods after it's all done. So, if you love baking and eating chocolate chips and don't mind including your kids (or spouse) with the deal of sharing, then check out the recipes below and ENJOY!!

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream via Food.com by Lainey39

Homemade Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Chocolate Chip Pancakes via Food.com by KJ

Homemade Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Chocolate Chip Muffins by Little Sweet Baker

Homemade Chocolate Chip Muffins

Chocolate Chip Cookies by Betty Crocker

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

P.S. Don't eat it all in one seating!!