• Blog,  Home,  Personal

    A Pantry Makeover with Organized Living™ (Part 1: Before)

    Ok.  I feel like I need to make excuses and be defensive about my pantry for a minute. First of all, yes, the picture above is my pantry.  This is what my pantry looked like the day after my daughter’s Rainbow Party just a few weeks ago. I’m not proud. I have an awesome pantry, which was a requirement when we built our house five years ago.  In fact, we even made it bigger than the plans originally called for because it wasn’t quite big…

  • Blog,  Cupcakes,  Dessert,  Entertaining,  Kids,  Party Food,  Personal

    A Rainbow Party

    Last weekend we celebrated my daughter’s and niece’s 4th birthday with a Rainbow party.  They’ve been talking about it forever, pretty much since the day after their Princess Party last year.  We were a bit hurried, especially after we ate dinner because the weather was supposed to get bad, and everyone kind of left in a mad rush to beat the storms. As usual, I focused the decoration for the party around my dessert table.  A simple white table cloth allowed the rainbow colors to…

  • Cupcakes,  Dessert,  Personal

    Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

     You guys, what a week.  What an up and down, crazy, emotional week. A week later, my heart is still raw and aching from the events in Newtown.  Then, in a nearby town, two police officers lost their lives in the line of duty.  And I sat at home, watching it all, with my young daughters (one of which is a 1st grader), and my police-officer husband. And I cried.  A lot.

  • Blog,  Personal

    Welcome to the all new Lemon Sugar!

     I’ve been working toward this day for quite a long time now.  I’ve finally updated, upgraded and freshened things up here at Lemon Sugar. Hopefully you’ll find an easier-t0-navigate site with all of the same great recipes, photos and stories about my hectic life.  Have a look around, and let me know what you think. We still have a few areas of the site that are under construction, namely the recipe index and some of the extra galleries and goodies I share in my sidebar…

  • Entertaining,  Personal

    Anniversary Party

    This past weekend, my siblings and I were honored to host a party celebrating our parent’s 40 years of marriage.  We invited friends, family, co-workers, old neighbors – you name it.  Even though it was a holiday weekend, we were happy to host over 80 people. Today’s blog post isn’t about food – although the food was pretty tasty – and it’s not about dessert – even though I made 12 dozen cupcakes.  Today’s post is about family and friends and a lifetime built on…

  • Entertaining,  Party Food,  Personal

    A Princess Party

    Two of my favorite little princesses just turned three years old.  My niece, Ruby Jane and my youngest daughter, Mia Kate, were born just 17 hours apart and have grown to be best buds.  Well, usually.  They get along when sharing isn’t involved.  But that’s just a phase, right? When my sister and I asked the girls what kind of party they wanted, they barely skipped a beat before they decided it should be a princess party.  And who are we to argue?  This meant…

  • Cupcakes,  Dessert,  Holiday,  Personal

    Red Velvet Cupcakes

    I’ve been struggling with this post since I started this blog.  Why, you may ask?  This is just a basic red velvet cupcake, no?  No.  This cupcake is special. You see, a little over two years ago, my very tight-knit extended family lost one of our own.  My dear cousin Molly passed away suddenly.  She was a year younger than me,  a triplet, an aunt, a sister and a daughter.  And smart.  Beautiful.  Young, kind, and soft-spoken.  Molly collapsed immediately after finishing a half-marathon and didn’t…

  • Cupcakes,  Personal

    German Chocolate Cupcakes

    My parents are remodeling their kitchen, which to me comes with mixed emotions.  It’s nice because after nearly 40 years of living in the same house, they are finally getting their dream kitchen.  They added on to make it bigger, got all new cabinets, counter-tops and appliances, knocked down a wall and are updating the flooring. But, it’s kind of sad at the same time.  I grew up in that kitchen.  I have a lot of fond memories of that blue ceramic tile, the white…