Spontaneously Me

A year ago today I baked the most intense made-from-scratch cake I have ever made. In fact, it required such effort that I made a “practice cake” beforehand to make sure my mash-up of three different recipes wouldn’t turn out horrendous. 

It was a birthday cake for my boyfriend Brandon who, at the time, I had been dating for just a little over a month. I remembered he liked chocolate and peanut butter from one of our dates so I figured I could find a simple enough recipe with that winning combination. I found three recipes I liked and instead of picking one, I decided to make a ridiculous cake wreck brilliant creation involving different aspects of each recipe. The monstrosity cake involved two layers of chocolate cake with PB chips, PB frosting and a chocolate drizzle. (Seriously, what the hell was I thinking? That doesn’t sound at all like a “simple enough” recipe…)  

Thank goodness I made the “practice cake” because while the cake itself turned out delicious, the homemade frosting was “spit in the trash” worthy. A few stressful easy modifications later and the real cake turned out just right. It took nearly an hour just to frost the cake because every time I got a layer of PB frosting on it would start to peel off in another area. By the time I was finished I felt like I had just given birth to my own child, I beamed at that cake with such joy. To this day, it is still the single most effort I have put into any dish, you could literally taste the love in that cake. 

I now laugh at how far I went to impress him with my mad baking skills on his birthday and swear to never again try something that ambitious. Today it’s that special time of year again and while I’m creating another PB chocolate cake, this time it will be simple. I’m sure that it will still turn out delicious and taste of love even without a practice cake.

To my wonderful boyfriend and best friend: Today on your birthday I think about how much you’ve accomplished at 27 and I am so proud of you. Thank you for filling my life with laughter and inspiration. Instead of griping about being “old” I hope you take a moment to think of how much success you’ve achieved at a young age due to your ambition and constant hard work. Most importantly though, I hope you eat lots and lots of cake!

• Tags
• birthday cake
• cake
• cake wreck
• peanut butter chocolate cake recipe
• birthday

Three years ago I was the type of person that was paranoid about getting lost. I truly hated it. Being the “directionally challenged” type of gal I am, it wasn’t all too difficult to find myself a few wrong turns away from being completely lost and ultimately very frustrated. (To answer your question: No, I still do not know East from West and yes, I know that is utterly pathetic). To top it all off, I was also the type that needed to have very well laid out plans. So, you can see where this would create some problems… 

And then it all changed with a study abroad trip to London. I suddenly found myself in a crash course of getting comfortable with being lost while simultaneously embracing a more dormant aspect of myself, a spontaneous me. I tapped into an adventurous side that I had all along but didn’t allow to flourish. 

Soon enough I was embarking on a week-long trip to Scotland on my own for the best adventure I’ve yet to have. It was a trip filled from beginning to end with me allowing myself to wander aimlessly until I had no idea where my hostel was. But each time I made it back, one way or another. I even learned a very important secondary lesson about being lost: the beauty of depending on the friendship of strangers. But that’s a story for another time…

While I’m unfortunately distant from my days of international exploration, I always try to remind myself to welcome the spontaneous adventures. I’ve found that some of the best and most memorable experiences are the unplanned ones—the ones where you don’t think about how you’ll spend every minute of your trip of how long it will take to get there. Instead I just openly and eagerly say yes. I hope to always be this woman I discovered at the age of 20 that is consumed by wanderlust and an affinity for first time adventures.

• Tags
• travel
• getting lost
• adventure
• spontaneous