I always loved the two silvery white hairs that appeared on my head when I was in 5th Grade. I always loved when they lay in such a way that they really show up and catch the light--I thought they looked cool, like Rogue's white streak (though in 5th Grade I'd never heard of Rogue or X-Men at all). Now that I'm turning *mumble*ty? Not nearly as cool.

*Mumble*ty.

Hold me.

Warning: Major, major pimping ahead.

As many of you know (and have seen) my mother has made some supremely awesome cakes and other kinds of food-related artistry over the years. After having been told for years to do it as a business (and after my brother and sister-in-law moved out of the upstairs apartment in my house, which meant she could use that kitchen and get kosher certified) she finally decided to start one. The setup process is now pretty much over, so she's ready to sell and has her website set up at M&M Designs. She doesn't actually sell cakes, but she puts together amazing packages, platters, centerpieces, or just loose decorated brownies, cookies, chocolates, etc. Her specialty is customization: she can match the food to your decor, put a logo or monogram on it, or even a picture. For instance, my sister-in-law made a birthday party for her mother, and my mother made brownies to match the napkins they used.

From Mom's Stuff

You can see examples of more custom work here.

For my friend Leat's birthday, her mother asked if my mother could do a shoe cake because Leat works at Saks. As my mother doesn't do cakes (at least not for the foreseeable future), she offered to do a sort of brownie centerpiece instead.

From Mom's Stuff

The base itself is styrofoam, but everything on it (even the tissue paper at the top of the Saks bag and the tiny Saks card) is edible. The bags also have Leat's initials on the clasps, which I thought was a nice touch.

One great thing she can do is corporate gifts. Here's what she did for my own company last year. It went over really well so my boss just ordered them for this year too.

From Mom's Stuff

Not everything is customized of course. Her stock products are also beautiful (particularly the Baby Gift Packages.) Browse around the site and I promise you will be impressed. Check out the dessert tables in particular. (If you go to "search by occasion" on the left-hand side you'll see more products. The website is still a work-in-progress.)

So what's the point, other than just showing off? The point is, most of these products can be shipped. Which means that you, yes you, now have the opportunity to get a hold of these for yourself rather than just admiring them. Just in time for the holiday season! Here's an example of some Chanukah cookies she's made.

From Mom's Stuff

She can obviously also make for Christmas or whatever else floats your boat. Her system of design means there are pretty much no limits. She could make Buffy brownies, QI cookies, Chuck chocolates, even Twilight treats!

Just as an example of that (even though this isn't something she'd sell) last year I asked her to make a cake for Tseeps's birthday. I wanted desperately to give her a TARDIS cake with a very special crowning touch. Unfortunately, due to my grandfather's health issues, she only had a few hours in which to work on the cake, so it's lacking her usual perfection, but this is how it came out.

From Mom's Stuff

Take a closer look, and -- wait, who's that as the Doctor's companion?

From Mom's Stuff

It's Tseeps! In the TARDIS! Her hed iz pastede on, yay! Here you can see the cake next to the bank Tseeps has (which was what gave me the idea.) The whole thing is completely edible, of course.

From Mom's Stuff

Find something cooler than that. I dare you.

I really need to work on keeping myself from correcting people. Sometimes it's just weird.

( Cut in which I provide information about sexual proclivities on the train. )

In other news, I've made a decision: Instead of turning 30, I'm going to spend the rest of my life cycling among ages 26 through 28. (29 kind of sucked and is a stupid age.)

I'm having no success uploading any of my vids using my Netbook in my office. So I can't link to the couple that I really want to share. But what I can link to is this, and I'm telling you even if you're not into Final Fantasy, this video is AWESOME.

It's worth watching from the beginning, but go to around 2:45, where it's started to storm and the festival crew start running around around him, but he refuses to stop, and he even begs, between lyrics, to let him finish. It's so awesome.



That is dedication.

Saw Final Fantasy with the Mountain Goats again at the Bell House in Brooklyn tonight. I'd never been there before. It's a small, intimate venue with a small, low stage. Way too tired to write much about it now, and too tired to upload my pics and vids. Just a couple of things:

Owen Pallett injured his finger while packing up the equipment after last night's show. Injured fingers on a violinist are not a good thing. So no violin. The plan was for him to do lots of looping on the piano instead, but he was in too much pain for much of that too. They'd planned for a short set because of the situation, but it ended up being even shorter than planned when Owen kept having to stop and re-start because he was having trouble playing. So it was a very short set, which was a bummer for me since Final Fantasy is who I was there for. Alas.

But looking on the bright side, it was cool to hear the songs done in yet another way; now I've heard songs done by Owen alone using his violin, done by Owen on violin accompanied by Thomas on guitar/percussion, done by Owen along with an orchestra, and now by Owen on piano accompanied by Thomas. They had to come up with new piano and guitar arrangements for parts that have usually been played on violin until now.

After their set, Thomas spotted me and recognized me as the girl he'd given the set list to the previous night, and he came over and offered me tonight's as well, which was awesomely sweet of him. I asked him who'd drawn the pretty flower on last night's set list, and he told me it was him, because he likes to make the set lists pretty. Tonight's was written out by Owen, so no pretty drawings.

I got it signed by both guys after the whole concert was over. Sadly, they didn't actually play "PPP" ("Please, Please, Please").


So as I've said, I'm not actually a Mountain Goats fan, but I enjoyed tonight's show even more than last night's. They really are a ridiculously enthusiastic band, and it's hard not to get into such a gleeful, energetic performance. Near the end, Owen and Thomas came out to play with them, and Thomas became the star of the show with his guitar. It was completely unplanned; at first it was only Owen who was going to play, but the audience started shouting for Thomas, so he came out. There was no tambourine for him to occupy himself with, so he ran off stage and then ran back on with an amp and his guitar and he proceeded to be awesome.

Finally, as an encore, we got the beloved cover of Ace of Base's "The Sign." Lots of fun. I'll probably be uploading that to YouTube eventually.

"So why is your icon for this post your Patrick Wolf icon?" you ask. That is an excellent question. Well done. I will tell you the answer. You see, I had planned on asking Owen a question outside after his show at The Kitchen, but I got all stupid and babbly and said nothing of substance to him. But this time I got over it and while he was signing the set list I asked him my question. I asked if he knew if the gorgeous song he played with Patrick Wolf in some vids that showed up on YouTube would ever be available on any recording. And he said it was going to be on Patrick's follow-up album to The Bachelor. Yaaaaaaaaay!