It Was Owesome

It sure was "Owesome" as New Jersians say. As some of you may know, I love to bake and decorate cakes. It all started with my mother. She is amazing at cakes and I have helped her over the years and can finally make some on my own now.

I was aware of the reality cake shows on telvision, but did not really have an interest in watching them (which is crazy because I love my television shows!). It was not until I was babysitting one day that the little girl I was watching said she wanted to show me this show. She turned it on and it was "Cake Boss." After about five minutes into an episode, I was hooked like a fish.

As soon as I got home, I set my television to record all of the "Cake Boss" shows. I should not even admit how many episodes I have watched in these past couple weeks. I have learned so much watching the shows and it has inspired me to try new things with my cake decorating. For example, I never thought to put rice krispy treats onto a cake to mold shapes. But for my next cake, I will defanitly do that!

Anyway, I went to New York City a couple weeks ago on a school trip and among my long list of places to see, Carlo's Bake Shop was one. It is over in Hoboken, NJ and that really is not far at all. It was our last full day on our trip so my two friends and I made our way to Jersey. Unfortunately, we went too late and it was closed by the time we got there. If only we had left our hotel room a few hours earlier instead of taking that time to rest up. On the way though, I was like a little kid asking, "Are we almost there? Are we there yet?" I was just too excited! So next time I'm in the area, I will be there at opening so I can eat all of their treats.

I will continue watching that show because I want to be as good as my mother and Buddy. Practice makes perfect, so I guess I am just going to have to keep baking and eating cakes. Things could be worse.

Fate is Forever

I just came back from my first trip to New York City. This was not just a social trip, but instead a school trip. I went with about 25 students from my school to meet with companies, learn the business and do some networking. Just because we participated in scholastic activities does not mean that we did not have a little time to play, too.

Prior to the trip, I made a long list of places I wanted to go. It was my first time in the big city, so of course I wanted to do all of the sightseeing-touristy things. One of the places on my list was Serendipity 3. A friend of mine who went with me was the one who told me about it in the first place. She said she wanted to go there and I had no idea what it was. When I found out it was a movie, I immediately recorded it on my television and watched it. It was so good! So that place soon got added to my list as a priority. Serendipity means fate. It means destiny. Forever. Serendipity happens when things work out for the best and you have your luck. Plus, it's a fun word to say!

There were three of us roaming around the city together and we tried to do a certain section of NYC at a time. When we went to the Upper East Side, we ran across Serendipity. My friend, who had been there before, said that she could not get in, because you had to make a reservation weeks or months in advance. We decided that we would be content with a picture in front of the restaurant. It was absolutely freezing that night and we decided to just step in to warm up and see what the inside looked like. I saw the host and decided to just ask how long the wait was. He said he had a table right then. It is safe to say that I was estatic! He took us upstairs and there were actually several tables available.

The interior is decorated so cute! It's very pink and reminds me of a tea party. There was a ton of white molding on the walls and the tables were small and round to look quaint and comfortable. We sat down and were handed huge menus and we flipped to the back of it to look at desserts. Although Serendipity is known for their frozen hot chocolate, we decided to try something else. We wound up getting a Strawberry Fields Sundae which had strawberry ice cream, whipped creme, strawberries and cheesecake in it. It was huge! Luckily there were three of us to chow it down. It was $15, which I thought was a very reasonable price!

The waiters and host were extremely nice and they were actually all males. We told our waiter that we were surprised to get in because we know that it is usually crowded, and he told us that seating is available like this only two weeks out of the year and that that happened to be one of the weeks. My guess is because it was after the holidays and it was freezing. In fact, those few days were the coldest days of the year for NYC.

Going to Serendipity was my favorite part of the entire trip. It was something about mixing together dessert, a movie and a cute NYC spot. I recommend it to anyone that is in the area. I will be going back next time I'm there. But know that it may benefit you to make a reservation.

Chasing After Vampires

Once I get an idea in my head, it is there to stay! Over winter break, I got the idea to go visit Covington, GA where the television show "Vampire Diaries" is filmed. And that is just what I did. Yesterday.

The funny thing is that I have cousins who live in Covington and they see the cast film all the time! Most of the show's outside shots are done in the town square. Funny thing, again, is that some of my cousins work in the square. They have met several of the actors and talked with them because they cross paths when them at their work. When I heard about all of these exchanges, I decided that I must go at once!

I drove down with another cousin and her friend. I had been following the cast and director on Twitter and knew they were back in town from the holidays. The question was... "Where?" The three of us had a tour scheduled, which took about two hours to complete. We got to see most of the places they film like Elena's house, the Lockwood mansion, the library where Anna and Jeremy met, Mystic Grill, where Stefan and Damon transformed, the cemetary and so much more! To be honest, I had higher hopes for the tour. I had read several great reviews about the tour guide and was excited. When we met her, she had personal issues going on and it seemed to take away from giving us the best experience. My advice is that if you go to Covington to look at the locations, do a self-guided tour.

When passing Mystic Grill, there were a few men working on the door for the show. We got to talking and we found out they were filming at Jackson Lake that day. That was about 20 minutes away. After the tour, the three of us drove down there. We knew we had slim chances to seeing them because they were on a private residence, but we had just driven hours to see them, so we were at least going to try! When I turned into where they were filming (on a private residence), I turned in like I belonged. We passed cops who told us to keep driving (I believe they thought I was an extra) and we drove down the drive and saw the cast's trailers and the white vans they get carted around in. When we got to the house, we saw where they were filming and the lights and tents set up. We had arrived on set where they were filming! The actors we love were just yards away! The sad thing is that we were finally stopped and told to leave immediately. We tried.

So we left and drove to the other side of the lake. We found a place to park and walked right to the edge of the lake and saw the other side of the house they were filming at and where they had the tents set up and the huge lights. Again, we still did not get to see the actors, but at least we saw something amazing!

As we were driving down, we were talking about who we most wanted to see. My absolute favorite is Steven McQueen who plays Jeremy Gilbert. Maybe another trip should be scheduled soon so I can see him! I also really wanted to see Ian Somerhalder who plays Damon Salvator. But Steven is still #1, which is why I loved sitting in the spot that he sat in the library when he met Anna. In the end, it was amazing to get to see the places where the show is filmed and get to see the actual set where they were filming that day. Plus, I got to visit some family!

You Think Your Small Town is Interesting

After the fall television shows wrapped up their seasons, I had to wait weeks until my new ones started up. No more waiting for me though! One of my favorite television shows is back, as of yesterday. To make things better, there was even a marathon of Season 1 to catch me back up. Yep, I watched it all. I guess you could call yesterday a lazy day. The fabulous show I'm talking about is the one and only "Pretty Little Liars."

I love this show because it really is unlike anything else I have seen. There a little bit of every type of genre featured. There are four main characters who are all girls and each one of them has her own personality. To be honest, the fashion featured on the show really catches my attention.

Aria is the writer wanna-be, deep girl who wears mostly bohemian, artsy, darker colors with daring twists. Hanna is the now "it" girl in Rosewood (their town) and dresses glamorous and girly. Spencer is the serious, hard-worker who dresses chic, preppy and wears clean lines. Emily is the quiet, sweet one who dresses mostly sporty and casual. Of all the girl's styles, I would describe my own mostly like Aria's.

The main aspect of this show is trying to discover who "A" is. The girls receive creepy text messages that mention secrets only they know - only them and Allison, who was found dead. So the main question is, "Who is A?" I went to the show's website at ttp://abcfamily.go.com/shows/pretty-little-liars to sign up my cell phone to receive texts from "A." Sure, that sounds silly, but it's all fun to me!

Oh, and one other fabulous thing to mention about this show is the extremely good-looking guys. This show has a VERY good selection of guys. Each time they bring someone new in, it just keeps getting better and better!

"Pretty Little Liars" comes on Mondays on ABC Family at 8 p.m. Watch it... because "A" will be watching you!

Photo credit: collegefashion.net