Amazing Cakes

As I have mentioned to the Pamela's Girls before, the area around where I work has been doing a great job of taking old crumbling buildings and/or storefronts that had questionable businesses behind them and unkempt appearances and giving them new life as coffee shops, clothing stores, restaurants and bakeries.

Just down at the southern end of the building where I work, there is a collection of new businesses perched on a sharp corner between two intersecting streets in a formerly depressed, rundown structure that used to be a home to a scary kind of strip club of some sort, among some other creepy activities that I hate to even think about. However, the whole building block as been totally renovated and there is a new business providing custom cakes that currently has the building's prime situation right at the corner's apex.

My friend, Lisa, and I walked through this little business - called Royal Icing Custom Cakes - one day after eating lunch and were totally captivated by the unbelievable cakes that they produce. The ladies there were very friendly and we stood and watched one of them painting an icing ribbon draping gracefully around a three-tiered cake.

They offer "Make Your Own Cake" parties where a group can bake and decorate a fancy custom cake together, which sounds like such a fun and creative idea. And I wish that the Pamela's Girls could smell the heavenly fragrance of this bakery as you walk into the door. Ahhh... it smells good.

I have a soft spot in my heart for bakeries, I guess. I have such happy memories of Pamela and me stopping into the old Columbia, South Carolina Tasty Bake bakery on some of our outings and walking out munching their fresh & perfectly make gingerbread men. It was where our family birthday cakes came from when Pamela or Mommas didn't make them at home and started the love that I have for this kind of business.

Lisa and I walked down to Royal Icing this past Friday after lunch and I took back a red velvet cupcake to my office to share with my sweet co-worker, Farrah. Yum! It was tasty!

Love to the Pamela's Girls and Happy Memorial Day!

Auntie J

Nursery Ideas

I have my last ultrasound next Tuesday, so next week's blog should be very exciting with new 4D photos. As long as it is confirmed that we're having a boy, I can finally start decorating the nursery and getting ready for his arrival.

I photo shopped this picture of how I'm imagining it looking...

Bumper:

Crib Skirt:

Sheets:

Rug:

What do you think Pamela's Girls?

I hope you're having a good week!

Love,

~Mommy M

PS- Auntie J, I love your painting!!!!

Painting Night With A Friend

This past Wednesday night, my good friend, Leslie, and I went to a painting workshop night in Brentwood, Tennessee near where Uncle R and I house and puppy-sit for sweet little Merry & Bright. This particular business offers a different painting every night and you have the chance to look at the calendar of paintings and pick a night based on on what you would like to try to recreate.

A few weeks ago Leslie had seen that there was a Groupon offered for half-off the normal price for this painting workshop and asked if I would like to join her for a night of painting and chatting. She and I don't have many chances to see each other and catch up, so I jumped on this opportunity for art and friendship combined. We looked at the calendar of paintings and agreed upon a night.

I don't know if the rest of the Pamela's Girls ever take advantage of Groupons in your area but they can be very handy for trying a restaurant or service companies at an often greatly reduced price. Groupons are basically on-line coupons that become effective once a determined number of people buy into them. Uncle R and I have purchased several Groupons over the last couple of years to a few different restaurants and have enjoyed using them to take friends and family to supper at fun and interesting places.

So - Leslie and I enjoyed a creative artwork evening using acrylics (which always feel a bit awkward to me after my more familiar oil paints), sitting side by side and painting the same painting as the teacher took us through step by step.

As always when painting, I have moments when I am pleased with my execution and many more when I stare at it in dismay and wonder why I EVER pick up a brush.

But - nonetheless - we did have a great time, enjoyed spending an evening together and - also - I have an art addition to my office walls.

I would love to think that Mommy M might be able to come and take one of these classes with me sometime!!!

Love to the Pamela's Girls and special Birthday Wishes to SS!!!

Auntie J

Mother's Day 2011

I want to thank my sweet family so much for the gifts, cards, and flowers I received for Mother's Day. I loved them all and felt very much loved and appreciated!

All day the verse from Proverbs 25:11: "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold, In settings of silver," kept going through my mind, as SS and I spent the day thinking about our mothers, and how much they had taught and guided us, and how blessed we were to have had them. We went to church and out to lunch with Mommy M and her precious little family, and I wore pearls that were Pamela's and Mommas' ring, so I felt kind of wrapped in memories of them and their love all day. I couldn't find a picture of Grandmommy and Granddaddy N that I thought was taken on Mother's Day, but I remember being in Charleston several times when Granddaddy would get roses from his garden for us to pin on like a corsage - red if your mother was living, and white if she had passed. That always seemed a little sad and somber to me. These pictures of Pamela and Mommas in her pose, are the way I always visualize them now. They were wonderful role models for us, and I hope Auntie J and I can live up to the ideal that they set.

Love to all my Pamela's girls - hope you will all have a wonderful week!

CiCi

Pamela's Girls Tips From Auntie J - #1

Dear Mommy M & SanFran S:

As the younger Pamela's Girls, it is important that you learn these essential Pamela & Mommas tips. This is Tip # 1 with more to follow... as they come to me, that is....

When carrying food or treats to friends and family it is important how you do it. The vehicle of delivery is almost as important as what is being delivered.

Now, I don't think that Mommas necessarily put alot of thought and design into how she delivered food but simply used what was at hand in her clean, cozy kitchen to transport her yummy comestibles. But the sight of her woven peach basket coming through the door covered with a colorful cotton dish towel filled everyone in our house with leaping, ecstatic joy from Pamela to our fawn-colored chihuahua, Peanuts, who trotted along behind her in hopes of a future dropped morsel!

Recently when my dear friend, Donda, had a medical procedure, she requested a bowl of my homemade potato soup. When delivering the soup - along with some British tea biscuits and Celestial Seasonings Orange Mandarin tea - something in my DNA required that it travel in a Mommas Basket with appropriate coverings.

This method of transport works well for any food event:

• as noted here, the delivery of soup to a friend
• church potlucks (you will get as many compliments on your basket and tea towel as the dish inside, I promise!)
• a friend's baby shower
• homemade cookies and/or brownies taken to the office
• a picnic lunch in a breathtaking San Francisco park
• etc.

Worn tea towels and bright new dish towels all work every bit as well. You can carefully tuck little napkins in between dishes to protect them against bumping against each other or to keep cookies somewhat cushioned for the ride. And also.... use waxed paper on something... wrap a cookie... I don't know, but you just have to have it in there somewhere to really make a true Mommas experience.

So happy food giving is wished to all Pamela's Girls! Share the love we received from Sweet Pamela and Precious Mommas!

Love to my Sweet Pamela's Girls!

Angel Artwork

I've completed my first set of angels... They are a lot of fun to paint! Thank you to Pamela's Girls for the suggestions. Cici suggested I lower the heart and SanFran S suggested creative ways to print the words rather than painting them. Now I need a catchy name for them... Any name suggestions other than "Angel Artwork?"

Happy Tuesday Pamela's Girls!

Love,

~Mommy M

Some Surprising Things About Pamela

For so much of my life Pamela was “Mommy” and then at some point, a more dignified “Mother”… And I knew her with that blind trust and love that many children have. She was always there – ready to help, generous with her true servant’s heart and making a house warm with her loving presence.

I love to think of her voice ringing out through the house with such helpful hints as:

“Don’t forget your tam!” (a plea for me to cover my head with a little knit cap as I walked out the door on a winter’s afternoon.)

“Now don’t go ‘fanning’ around the house!” (I got this stern warning when I had been sick and needed to stay covered up in bed.)

“Oh no! The peas are boiling over – somebody check them!” (an oft-heard phrase/plea on Thanksgiving morning).

Sometimes when I am talking with CiCi on the phone – I suddenly hear Pamela’s voice in my sister’s and I love that. I wonder if she ever hears Pamela’s in mine – although it seems unlikely with my years spent in the gradual adoption of a Tennessee twang.

As I grew into adulthood I began to see Pamela with different eyes. I grew to understand her hopes and dreams – the ones that carried her through her difficult teenaged years when family-life wasn’t always easy and money not so plentiful but when a soft glamour found it’s way to a young girl’s eyes through elegant Hollywood icons and ideals that were innocent with bright pre-WWII hope.

I have come to realize in older years what a sacrifice it was for her to send me far away to Tennessee to follow my own dreams - but she did so without complaining and without letting me know that coming home to an empty, dark house to spend the evening alone after a long day at work might be sad for her. She always showed excitement at every detail that I had to tell her of my college life and adventures.

But - here area few of the surprising things:

When invited by a record producer to visit the control room of the studio where I worked while the Allman Brothers were recording an album (on one of the rare afternoons that they chose to work instead of the middle of the night), she disappeared into their dark musical world while I sat at my desk and typewriter with unabashed wonder at when she might come back to spend time with ME?

After watching her prime time object of admiration, James Garner, munch tacos from a beach taco stand for several seasons – she asked to try one while shopping with me on a Nashville visit. I think that there was a secret foodie in there wanting to explore, but the territory was a bit too bleak in SC at that time.

After admiring the satin “roadie jacket” that I had been given at work, she accepted my offer to keep it and wear it between the time that I was home for Thanksgiving and returned for Christmas. Now the thing that you need to understand is that this jacket had our studio logo on the back. Most of the time I managed to forget what that logo was – you know, selective inattention… But it was a small country boy, facing away toward a little pond with overalls and a small hat… On first glance you might think that the dotted line arcing away from him and into the pool below might be a fishing line… but they were actually… well… this little fellow didn’t have a bathroom close there on the bank…

She was fun to have around and I miss our conversations immensely. But I am a wealthy person, thanks to Pamela. Not in the monetary way – but in the ways that really count: love of the Lord, deep and clear affection for family, laughter, an honorable way of living your life and sense of place and the Southern roots that made our lives memorable.

Happy Mother’s Day, Pamela - and Mommas too! Your Girls love you!

Happy Mother's Day also to Sweet CiCi and Sweet Mommy M - who lovingly follow in Pamela's and Mommas' precious motherly steps!

With lots of love,

Auntie J

Angel Rough Draft

I couldn't get this added to my last blog, but this is what I'm thinking...

I want a heart in there somewhere...

Mommy M

Angel Painting Idea

At church and in our Sunday school class this year, we have been talking about using the gifts that God has given us to spread His word and glorify His name. Two gifts that God gave me that are special to me are my ability to teach children and draw and paint. Since I am teaching a preschool class at church, I have been focusing on how I can use my painting to glorify God over the past few months.

Since I LOVE angel figurines, I thought it would be neat if I could come up with a simple, unique angel painting. Ernest Lee, AKA the Chicken Man, is a popular local artist in Columbia. He paints chickens and palmetto trees since they are famous Columbia symbols. They are very simple, he just varies the colors, but they have a very unique look. Similar to his paintings, I would like to create a simple angel that I could easily recreate in different colors.



I LOVE these angel paintings but I've got to create my own angel design... I thought Auntie J might be able to give me some ideas:)

I would like to include scripture on each painting. These are some I have found so far:
For he will command his angels to guard you
in all your ways. Psalm 91:11

I am sending an angel before you, to guard you and bring you to the place I have prepared. Exodus 23:20-23

See that you do not look down upon these little ones, for their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father. Matthew 18:10

Rejoice with him and let all of God’s angels worship him.
Deuteronomy 32:43

And I shall send forth my angels with the sound of a mighty trumpet blast, and they shall gather my chosen ones from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.
Matthew 24:31

For the Angel of the Lord guards and rescues all who reverence him. Psalm 34:7


I thought they would be neat to give as baby gifts, give them out in nursing homes/hospitals and I could sell them at the fall festival on the square and give the proceeds to the church. Any ideas Pamela's Girls?

Happy Monday!

Love,

Mommy M