Summer of Cupcakes: Bliss Cupcakes & Confections

Better late than never....2 months after our visit I bring you the fourth stop on our The Summer of Cupcakes tasting tour: Bliss Cupcakes & Confections! While we were in Allen for Miss Texas week it was the perfect time to check out Bliss since it was within walking distance of the host hotel! 

Location:   The Villages of Allen

            190 East Stacy Road, Suite #1414 Allen, Texas 

Hours:      Mon - Thur: 10:00am to 8:30pm

            Fri - Sat: 10:00am to 9:00pm

            Sun: 11:00am to 7:00pm

Pricing:    $3.99 each 

Flavor Selection:   They have 6 Everyday Classic flavors that are always available and then they rotate their 7 Signature flavors throughout the week. In addition to this they off a Design Your Own Cupcake bar! Here you can come up with your very own cupcake creation including fillings and toppings! (cupcake bar is slightly higher price) 

Okay, let's get down to business!

Some of the other families at Miss Texas had already tried out Bliss, so we had heard great things and couldn't wait to go for ourselves. Let me start off by saying this place is ADORABLE!

And not only do they have great decor but they also had a great seating area for you to enjoy your goodies! And while using so much pink could come off really girly, there was a nice mix of brown that makes the decor appealing to guys too. (or at least mine!)  

Of all the places we have gone they have had the most expensive cupcakes, but after you see them you understand why - they are HUGE! We decided to go with 2 Everyday Classic flavors:

Southern Red Velvet: A deep dark red cake with a hint of milk chocolate, frosted with our rich and creamy traditional cream cheese icing topped with red velvet cake crumbs

Cookies n Cream: A light and moist white butter cake blended with crushed chocolate cookies frosted with silky white buttercream topped with chocolate cookie crumbs

And the results...........

• As I mentioned before the price point was higher than most, but maybe it is because of the size
• We did like that they offer more than just cupcakes! They also have Cake Pops and Cake Parfaits for sale and several other special order items like Custom Cakes, Cake Pop Bouquets, and To Go Party Kits!
• And of course Kipper was happy because Milk was on the beverage menu! :) 

The final verdict? Thumbs up all around!!! 

 Stay tuned for our next stop at the Ultimate Cupcake!

There She Is.....

Tonight the 91st Miss America will be crowned LIVE on ABC. Many people have posed the questions, "Is Miss America still relevant in today's society?"  and "Isn't Miss America a beauty pageant?" Well let me answer those questions for you, "Hell Yes" and "Hell No!"

Miss America is far more than the pageant you see on TV, it is a national program that impacts more than just the 53 girls lucky enough to represent their state each you. If you were to add up all of the community service hours and people impacted by Miss America, 53 state title holders, 100's of local title holders, and the 1000's of local contestant who might never even make it to the state level - that alone should answer both of those questions for anyone. These young women are more than just a pretty face wearing a crown - they are successful, educated, volunteers and role models to people of all ages.  

I am sure the skeptics that have read to the part are saying "That is a nice canned answer" and/or "And you are qualified to to make that assessment because???" Well, I am a product of the Miss America Program and because of it I am not only the woman I am today, but my career is where it is today. Because of my volunteer work on my platform I was invited and served as one of two youth members for a Untied Way Realignment Task Force at 16 years old.  At 17 years old I was invited to present at a state wide conference for volunteer service and leadership. Because of the relationships and partnerships I built through working my platform as a local teen and miss title holder I was able to secure my first non profit career position before I ever graduated college. These are just a few of the highlights of what I gained as a part of the program. And I never won a state title, the closest I ever got was 4th Runner Up my last year at Miss Teen Texas. 

All of the things I took away from my participation in the Miss America program are what led my husband, Kipper, and I to decide to become local directors, so that I could help give back and allow other young women the opportunity that I had.  While we are taking a break as directors to focus on growing our little family, we still very much love our Miss Texas family. Through my time as contestant and as a director I have formed life long friendships that I treasure more than you know. Many of my dearest friends (and pretty family!) are because of the Miss America program. Some I met when I was only 14, others not till I was an adult but I treasure them all. 

As I watch the pageant tonight, I know that years of hard work and dreams have lead those 53 young women to this moment. And while only one of them will have the experience of being crowned the 91st Miss America, all of them are truly remarkable young woman and should be proud of what they have accomplished.

And of course a special shout out to our very own Miss Texas, Kendall Morris!! It has been wonderful watching her grow up through this program as a local teen, state teen, local miss and now a state miss titleholder! I know God has many big things in store for her! 

A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes: Little J's Homecoming Celebration

I could not be more proud of Reilly Johannsen and all she had accomplished over the last 4 years. When they called her name the new Miss Texas Outstanding Teen it went back and forth between bawling and hyperventilating! It is a moment I will always hold dear, watching her achieve a dream she has worked so hard and long for!

Needless to say when it was time to start planning her homecoming/MAOT send off celebration, I was more than willing to do whatever was needed to help make that day extra special for her!  The whole experience of a homecoming had got to be one of the most stressful things on a local organization, especially the smaller ones! You have limited dates you can hold the event, and the organization foots the entire bill!! So basically you have just spent a week and a small fortune at Miss Texas, your girl wins and now you have to throw together a party for 100-150 people in a few weeks! And of course you want to give your girl the most amazing celebration ever....yep..stressful!

After talking with her current director, Ed, and of course her amazing sissy, Jordan, we came up with some ideas of things that Reilly wanted, that we could do etc.One of the things Reilly said she would like was a candy table like several former Teen Texas' had at their homecoming celebrations. After talking to the Irving Board and our current titleholders, we decided we would offer to do this for her as our gift.

Since Reilly is a lover of all things Cinderella it was decided to theme the event "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes" and the color scheme would be lavender (the color of Rei's evening gown) and a light turquoise blue to pull in Cinderella. With this decided it was time to start brainstorming for my inspiration! :)

One of the projects I did was a shabby chic platter to use as table decoration and the for Reilly to have as a  memento of her special day. Here are some photos of the progress of the project:

 I really wanted to do was to make sure there were some personalized touches that could be used as a memento if wanted. So I incorporated Reilly's Teen Texas crown shot into water bottle labels and little stickers for the mini cotton candy bags.

Since one of Reilly's favorite cookies is chocolate chip and homemade woopie pie's are huge right now - I decided to take a spin on that and do mini chocolate chip cookie sandwiches. I was overjoyed that they were such a hit and they ran out very quickly!!

You have no idea how happy I was that the cookie sandwiches were a hit, because the first of my "homemade" projects didn't go so well.

I kept seeing these adorable marshmallow pops all over the internet and people talking about how easy they are to make. So I found a recipe and decided to do a try a trial run a few days before hand. I think the pictures speak for themselves - They what should have been and the result. Needless to say they didn't make an appearance at the actual event! :)

After a few weeks of preparation and planning here are some shots of the final product!

Reilly loved it and the guests enjoyed it, so my mission was accomplished! The best part of the day was seeing the room packed full of people who were there to support Reilly!

I said it in my speech and I will say it again: Reilly Johannsen is everything the Miss America's Outstanding Teen program is about. She can stand up and talk to groups from little kids up to adult about her platform, turn around and bring people to tears with the beauty and grace of her dancing, yet through it all she is ALWAYS Reilly. She is a real teenager, who enjoys normal teenage things, yet she is so much more than a normal teenager.

I love you Little J more than you will ever know! You had a dream and no matter what road blocks got in your way, you kept on working towards that dream. Next week is a new chapter in that dream and I can't wait to see what God has in store for you!   Now go to Orlando and show the rest of the country what Texas already knows! :) 

The Big 3-0

Disclaimer: I promise I will get to an actual crafting blog this weekend...but first a look into the crazy things that have been swirling though my head the last few weeks.

I haven't given much thought to my approaching 30th birthday...other than hounding my husband about planning a killer roller skating, 80's themed party to celebrate. Which I quickly decided against after almost killing myself roller skating at the JWC BOD Christmas Party...if you don't count any of that I haven't give it much thought.  Yet the closer Oct 26th gets, the more I am thinking about it. Maybe panicking is a better term.

When you mention turning 30 you get so many responses from people. Anywhere from "I loved turning 30, I finally felt like a grown up!" to " I cried every time I thought about turning 30 " to my favorite "Wait, you are turning 30? Oh honey, if you want to have kids you really need to start thinking about that. It is all down hill from here!"  All these words of wisdom are really what have gotten me thinking about it the last few weeks.

To me 30 seems like that odd in between age where you feel like you don't quite fit in. Maybe that is because even though I am a silly person, I really am an old soul to begin with. On the other hand I think it is because I personally am in a weird place in my life. That sounds really deep and like I am unhappy (which I am not) so let me explain....


As a girl scout in elementary school I was always the top cookie seller in our region. I lived for cookie season. I generally spent 3-4 weeks away form home, at residence camp over the course of each summer. (And yes this was by choice!)


Then I joined the Texas Girl's Choir in 3rd grade. So began 3 day a week rehearsals, touring, being an officer...TGC became my life. By the age of 14 I had traveled to 16 different countries, sang at the white house, held a handful of officer positions, among much more. Because of TGC I was able to experience things most people hope to do in their lifetime before I ever hit high school and these opportunities helped shape me into the person I am today.

By this point in my life I had decided I wanted to compete for Miss Teen Texas. I spent countless hours each week on my platform, volunteering for several organizations and speaking to groups about the importance of volunteerism. This opened the door for so many wonderful opportunities that most people at that age would not get. By the age of 18 I had the opportunity to serve as 1 or 2 minors on an active United Way board as well as not only attend, but be a featured presenter at the Texas Challenge State Volunteerism Conference - twice.

Flash forward a bit - the girl who said she would never get married until she was at least 30 was engaged at 20 and walking down the aisle at 22. (one of my all time best accomplishments on my "bucket list" ) Because of connections I made while competing in Teen and Miss Texas, I was able to secure my first "career" position a semester before I even graduated college.

By the time I am a married, working adult I replaced AXiD with JWC. From the moment I joined JWC, I knew I wanted to direct Spring Show one day. Yet since JWC goes to 40 I didn't expect that it would be anytime soon. Well....I am 29 and have directed Spring Show twice now.  Oh and let's not forget that I wanted to someday give back to Miss Texas by being a director...well we have done that for 3 years now too.

You are probably wondering what all this has to do with me turning 30? I promise it does or at least in my head it does! lol.

I look at my life and feel like God has blessed me with so many amazing opportunities that I wouldn't trade for the world. But as people tell me the best years are still to come I have a flash of panic! How can I top all of this??  Or is it bad that a part of me just wants some time to go with the flow and not try to accomplish anything major? And where the heck do I fit in right now???  It is a struggle to put my feelings about fitting in into words.  It is almost like I am too old to hang out with friends that are early to mid 20's because I am just not hip anymore. Then sometimes I feel like I don't fit in with my older friends. And then there is all my friends who have recently had kids or are expecting....I am the weird girl who has been married almost 8 years with no kids.

The worst part of feeling this way about turning 30? I have the most amazing husband, family, friends and coworkers a girl could ever ask for! God has blessed me in more ways than I can name. And really what is the big difference between 29 and 30? It isn't like I am going to start qualifying for the senior citizens discount a Luby's anytime soon. :)

After writing all this out it is now clear as day to me. I have spent a good part of my life busting my butt to catch all the big waves. While I wouldn't be the woman I am today without those experiences, I think 30 is a time for realignment. My time to let the waves come to me every so often and to just enjoy the view.