Today marks 3 years since we lost our second baby. I can't believe it's been 3 years already.
We have conflicting emotions. We are still sad. We still think about what "could've been." It's especially hard when Keller says he wants a brother. He had a brother.
But then we think that because of that loss and the year it took us to get through it and try again, we have our girls. Had we not gone through that horrible period, they wouldn't be here. In fact, so much of our life would be different. I don't think we would be here in California. I think we would still be in Maryland. I'd probably be still working as a government contractor. Life would be so different from what it is now. Would it better? I don't think so. I don't know. Like I said, it's conflicting emotions.
I think about that first anniversary. We found out we were pregnant the day before. We didn't know then we were having twins but it was so strange that we found out we were expecting so close to the anniversary. There was definitely divine intervention involved to ease the pain of that day. And then to find out we were having twins? It isn't that our lost baby was "replaced" and we were suddenly over it. But we were given a gift when we thought all was lost. In fact, we were given two.
I will try today to not dwell on what we lost. It still hurts and I still cry but I am grateful for what I have. I know how lucky we are to have 3 beautiful, healthy children. I will focus on that and look to our future together.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Cuppycake
I have officially lost my mind. Huh. I wonder how many times I've started a blog post saying that.
Anyway, I have been on a cupcake kick since a friend of mine was here over Memorial Day weekend and we visited the one and only Sprinkles Cupcakes in La Jolla. It isn't THE original Sprinkles, but it is the original recipes, style, etc. that you find at all the Sprinkles. Sprinkles is the very first cupcake bakery and it started the whole trendy cupcake business. I know, my obsession is late in the game, but better late than never.
Sprinkles pretty much rocked my world. I haven't been able to get cupcakes really out of my mind. I told you, I'm insane. This has been going on since Memorial Day, so well over a month. When we went to Disneyland, we had to make a pit stop on the drive home to the Sprinkles in Newport Beach. Yes, we had to make a pit stop (notice the bold and underline!). Then I decided to try every cupcake place I came across. You know, in order to make an informed decision as to who makes the best cupcakes. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it. Below is a list of what I've discovered so far, including some cupcake places from back in Maryland. For comparison purposes, of course.
Sprinkles (La Jolla and Newport Beach, CA): Hands down, the very best cupcakes in the world. I've sampled quite a few varieties. You know, to be sure I am making an informed decision. I've had the coconut, milk chocolate, peanut butter chip, peanut butter chocolate, red velvet, strawberry, vanilla milk chocolate, chocolate marshmallow (my favorite so far).
Little Cakes (Vista, CA): We happened upon this place when we went to a waterpark that's down the street from the bakery. They had a sign out front that said they were winners of the Food Network's Cupcake Wars. I hadn't seen that episode, so I was intrigued. We worked up a great appetite at the waterpark and headed to Little Cakes. It's a really cute place and the people there were super nice. I met the owner, Don, who was on Cupcake Wars. We sampled The Norman (named after one of their dogs), the Cannoli cupcake and the Strawberry Milkshake (that one rocked). It was hard to choose which ones to try as they have a pretty extensive list.
The Danish Bakery (Carlsbad, CA): Now, this isn't an official cupcake bakery. But one day when I picked Keller up from his summer camp in Carlsbad, I was jonesing for a cupcake. Thanks to my Yelp app, I found the Danish Bakery was around the corner from where we were. I had the carrot cake cupcake and Keller had a white cake with chocolate frosting. Both were decent. I'll leave it at that.
Cupcake Love (Solana Beach, CA): I haven't yet had the pleasure of going into this shop, but I've sampled some of their goodies at a couple of events. Because it wasn't in the shop, I don't know which flavors I've had but they were gooood. I'm looking forward to going there and eating everything.
Georgetown Cupcake (Georgetown - Wash, DC and Bethesda, MD): I have to be honest. I'm not a huge fan of Georgetown Cupcake. I know, I'm in the minority. When I lived in MD, we went to Georgetown Cupcake a few times and I tried really hard to like it. I enjoyed the flavors we had, but it didn't spark an obsession fueled with the fury and heat of a thousand suns (ahem, Sprinkles, you dirty mistress). We have sampled a good variety of offerings, including the chocolate, milk chocolate and vanilla birthday cakes, chocolate ganache and others. Again, not bad by any means, just not obsession-inducing.
Lilly Magilly's (Gaithersburg, MD): This is a cute, local cupcake place that opened right before we moved. I was pretty happy we had the chance to try it before we left. In fact, I got a nice assortment for John's birthday a couple of months before the move. Honestly, I don't remember the exact flavors we had, but I do remember really enjoying them.
That's about all I can list for now. I'm not going to list various cupcakes I've sampled at restaurants because they aren't cupcake specialists. I'm trying to stick with just cupcake bakeries, or bakeries that also do cupcakes. I know there are a lot of cupcakes in my future. I feel I am definitely up for the challenge!
Anyway, I have been on a cupcake kick since a friend of mine was here over Memorial Day weekend and we visited the one and only Sprinkles Cupcakes in La Jolla. It isn't THE original Sprinkles, but it is the original recipes, style, etc. that you find at all the Sprinkles. Sprinkles is the very first cupcake bakery and it started the whole trendy cupcake business. I know, my obsession is late in the game, but better late than never.
Sprinkles pretty much rocked my world. I haven't been able to get cupcakes really out of my mind. I told you, I'm insane. This has been going on since Memorial Day, so well over a month. When we went to Disneyland, we had to make a pit stop on the drive home to the Sprinkles in Newport Beach. Yes, we had to make a pit stop (notice the bold and underline!). Then I decided to try every cupcake place I came across. You know, in order to make an informed decision as to who makes the best cupcakes. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it. Below is a list of what I've discovered so far, including some cupcake places from back in Maryland. For comparison purposes, of course.
Sprinkles (La Jolla and Newport Beach, CA): Hands down, the very best cupcakes in the world. I've sampled quite a few varieties. You know, to be sure I am making an informed decision. I've had the coconut, milk chocolate, peanut butter chip, peanut butter chocolate, red velvet, strawberry, vanilla milk chocolate, chocolate marshmallow (my favorite so far).
Little Cakes (Vista, CA): We happened upon this place when we went to a waterpark that's down the street from the bakery. They had a sign out front that said they were winners of the Food Network's Cupcake Wars. I hadn't seen that episode, so I was intrigued. We worked up a great appetite at the waterpark and headed to Little Cakes. It's a really cute place and the people there were super nice. I met the owner, Don, who was on Cupcake Wars. We sampled The Norman (named after one of their dogs), the Cannoli cupcake and the Strawberry Milkshake (that one rocked). It was hard to choose which ones to try as they have a pretty extensive list.
The Danish Bakery (Carlsbad, CA): Now, this isn't an official cupcake bakery. But one day when I picked Keller up from his summer camp in Carlsbad, I was jonesing for a cupcake. Thanks to my Yelp app, I found the Danish Bakery was around the corner from where we were. I had the carrot cake cupcake and Keller had a white cake with chocolate frosting. Both were decent. I'll leave it at that.
Cupcake Love (Solana Beach, CA): I haven't yet had the pleasure of going into this shop, but I've sampled some of their goodies at a couple of events. Because it wasn't in the shop, I don't know which flavors I've had but they were gooood. I'm looking forward to going there and eating everything.
Georgetown Cupcake (Georgetown - Wash, DC and Bethesda, MD): I have to be honest. I'm not a huge fan of Georgetown Cupcake. I know, I'm in the minority. When I lived in MD, we went to Georgetown Cupcake a few times and I tried really hard to like it. I enjoyed the flavors we had, but it didn't spark an obsession fueled with the fury and heat of a thousand suns (ahem, Sprinkles, you dirty mistress). We have sampled a good variety of offerings, including the chocolate, milk chocolate and vanilla birthday cakes, chocolate ganache and others. Again, not bad by any means, just not obsession-inducing.
Lilly Magilly's (Gaithersburg, MD): This is a cute, local cupcake place that opened right before we moved. I was pretty happy we had the chance to try it before we left. In fact, I got a nice assortment for John's birthday a couple of months before the move. Honestly, I don't remember the exact flavors we had, but I do remember really enjoying them.
That's about all I can list for now. I'm not going to list various cupcakes I've sampled at restaurants because they aren't cupcake specialists. I'm trying to stick with just cupcake bakeries, or bakeries that also do cupcakes. I know there are a lot of cupcakes in my future. I feel I am definitely up for the challenge!
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