Cupcakes and Whoopie Pies, Oh My!

August 27, 2012 hannahviolin 94 Comments

Now for something completely different than this morning’s post.

And…this probably isn’t a diet friendly blog post. Just a warning!

About a week ago I got an email from the Cupcake and Whoopie Cravings Bake Shoppe that a box of goodies had been shipped to me. I was thrilled! I was told I was getting some cupcakes and some whoopie pies. Angela (the owner) also sent some pictures of what the goodies should look like, in case the icing didn’t quite survive the travel from Philadelphia.

I waited with bated breath for the arrival. Finally the FedEx man showed up!

Sadly the cupcakes didn’t look quite as pictured. I had promised I wouldn’t hold that against them—I didn’t expect the cupcakes to travel well. The whoopie pies traveled great though.

I knew that my opinion alone wouldn’t really matter, so I enlisted the help of Chris and some other friends to try them out. I tried a whoopie pie, one of the peanut butter banana cupcakes and part of a lemon cupcake.

My picture

What they looked like fresh! A little more appealing…but good either way.

Anyway, what did we think, you’re asking. Overall, these are DELICIOUS!! I loved the size of the cupcakes—perfect for one. Sometimes bakeries make those gigantic cupcakes with tons of icing and junk, and I prefer this sort of cupcake—smaller, with a nice amount of icing but not over the top. The lemon flavor wasn’t cloyingly sweet as is often the case, and the peanut butter banana was a great combination of flavors. All of the cakes were really moist too.

(I’d say the size is perfect for those who want dessert but not too much. Maybe they are diet friendly after all!)

As far as the whoopie pies, I’m not a huge fan of red velvet generally, but it was a great representation of that flavor. If you like red velvet, you’ll LOVE them I’m sure! My favorite part was the cream cheese icing, and is always my favorite part of red velvet cake, if I’m “forced” to eat it. Melissa, a native New Englander, said that whoopie pies are a Maine thing, and are usually chocolate, but she thought these were delicious. Jen said the same, but wished they had more icing, and didn’t like the cream cheese icing as well as regular icing. But everybody agreed the treats were great, it’s really just a matter of what flavors you prefer best! I see the company has seasonal flavors as well.

If you live in the United States, the company will ship whoopie pies to you, and if you live in Philadelphia (I know some of you do!), Delaware or New Jersey you can also have cupcakes shipped to you.

Okay, it’s giveaway time! The company is giving two travel coffee tumblers to a lucky reader! U.S. Shipping Addresses only, I apologize to any international readers.

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

How cute are these?? I wish I could win them!

Three ways to win (leave a separate comment for each entry.) (and if anybody wants to donate their tumblers to me when they win I would be eternally grateful as we are constantly misplacing that sort of thing.)

1. Visit their website and tell me what goodie you would most like to try here in the comments.

2. Visit their facebook page and “like” it. Leave a comment here saying you did so. (You can Like mine too while you’re at it 😉 )

3. Tweet “I just entered to win two coffee tumblers from cupcake and whoopie cravings at hannahviolin.me @hannahviolin ” and comment here that you tweeted.

Oh, and if you decided to order something from the website, you’ll get another contest entry, so tell me that as well! So technically up to 4 chances to win.

Contest ends on Monday, August 27 at noon CST. Good luck! GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS FOR ALL YOUR ENTRIES.

Cat

Caturday

August 25, 2012 hannahviolin 4 Comments

Thought I’d pop in for a quick Caturday post between workouts and work and teaching and getting ready for our “housewarming bbq” tomorrow afternoon.

Many times if I enter a room and the cat is in there, she will immediately roll onto her back and meow at me. Then she acts all upset when I go over and vigorously rub her belly, but I know that is what she wants or she wouldn’t do this ALL THE TIME. It’s just ridiculously cute. Stupid animal.

Here she’s staring at me from the windowsill in her room. Yes, we have so many rooms now that the cat has her own room. Granted, we also put suitcases and some boxes and stuff in there (and there’s a trumpet now too) but we refer to it as the cat’s room. This new house: I feel like we have arrived. It’s more space than I have lived in since I left my parent’s house, and it seems so incredibly decadent. I mean: three “bedrooms” (one master, one cat’s room, one music room), TWO ENTIRE BATHROOMS, a kitchen full of cabinets and counters, washer dryer on the same floor as the bedroom…the list goes on. This house is amazing and possibly the greatest thing that has and will ever happen to us. Sometimes I’m embarrassed to have to admit we are renting, but we just haven’t had the job security to feel like we should buy. We may never be rich, but we aren’t beholden to the bank either, and that’s cool. In a nutshell: I love our new home and I’m okay with the fact that we don’t own it.

I went for a run this morning. Tomorrow is a 9 mile run, so today was just a nice easy 3.5 miler. It was more humid than I thought and I got home and was a little disoriented until I rehydrated properly. After awhile I fixed myself a lovely “breakfast” of sausage, eggs, and an english muffin with jam. It was phenomenal. I have decided to embrace eating more grains again for awhile and see how that goes. I think I am happier eating them.

After I was done, I set my plate down and the cat cleaned it for me so I don’t have to wash it! That plate goes right back on the shelf!

Thanks fatness!

Anyways, how are you celebrating Caturday?

If you are new to blog giveaways, one thing to know is: I’m not selling your information if you enter or anything like that. Businesses like to send stuff to bloggers to try to get their names out there, and a great way to increase exposure for your company is to have a blogger write something nice about you (or bad, really, any exposure is still exposure) and then a giveaway is a nice way to get even more exposure. So it’s a no risk contest, in case you were worried. And there will be more free stuff soon, so if you like free stuff but aren’t interested in my current giveaway, stay tuned 🙂

Random thoughts

How did you find my blog?

August 24, 2012 hannahviolin 4 Comments

Since I’m a little tired (it is Friday, after all) I’ve decided just to share some searches people used to find my blog. I know I’ve done this before. I’m amused by it every time though.

cat ring bearer: This concerns me if it’s a serious search. Hopefully it wasn’t, but considering how many people I know that have used their dogs in their ceremonies, I’m guessing that the cat search was for real. My recommendation is to not use you cat as a ring bearer, nor should you hire one.

work out stuff: This is super specific. I think the reason most people have trouble on the internet is they don’t know how to search properly. It’s like searching for "food recipes" when you are hungry.

teaching cow images: Is this about a cow who teaches or how to teach a cow? Or what?

(I found this on the internet)

sweat zits: These are no fun. When I was younger I thought in my 20’s I would stop breaking out. I now know that will never happen.

dripping sweat women: This is mainly what my blog is about, so I’m happy somebody found it!

creepy haircuts: I guess my haircut is a little weird?

epic failed de la planet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1: No explanation needed.

hate ur trainer: I get this kind of search a lot. I don’t hate my trainer. I really love working out with him.

wrong to objectify men: Okay, but if it’s wrong, I don’t want to be right. Let’s just not do any objectifying of women, though. That is really wrong.

what to wear to a orchestra concert: I would wear whatever you might wear to a nice dinner or night on the town. You don’t have to dress up super fancy, but you can also. Sometimes I wear jeans and a nice top, other times I wear a dress.

harrison ford chest hannah violin: I love this combination….

sweaty tight shorts: Obviously they wanted to see my 80s 5k picture.

why do my arms look fat in photos: Probably too much watermelon.

big bruise on knees from burpees: I guess this doesn’t just happen to me or else somebody wouldn’t have been searching for it? Right?

strong bad cow lamp: Thanks for breaking my cow lamp!

So how did you find my blog? What brought you here? Do you wish you hadn’t wasted three minutes reading this?

Random thoughts

Sock it to me

August 23, 2012 hannahviolin 2 Comments

A few weeks ago I blogged about how Mike made fun of me for wearing higher cut white socks to the gym. He mocked me for an entire hour, and then since then has mocked me again for it on more than one occasion. I decided to retaliate today, and wore these socks.

I thought they were pretty awesome and that he would think so to, but I was mistaken. He hated them more, more, he said, than the white socks. (Also pictured, Brooks Pure Cadence shoes, which now come in more colors, and I wish I had them in more colors, so if you want me to pretend to be your best friend, I’m a size 10, pink or purple please!)

So I’ve decided that my trainer is an idiot and has no idea what awesome is. He may be more upset next time, because I plan to wear knee socks with ninjas on them. (Yes, of course I’ll share a picture). In fact, I may continue wearing knee socks every time I see him. I actually really love knee socks, and they are similar to wearing compression socks, which you all know I love. Other advantage: could stop shaving calves forever.

(And, while my husband doesn’t much care for the compression socks, he does like a nice pair of fun knee socks. He also likes when I shave my calves though. Dilemma.)

(All of these sock ideas are inspired by Rose, thank you!)

Giveaways

Win a Pair of Travel Tumblers

August 21, 2012 hannahviolin Leave a comment

I got the pictures of the travel tumblers. They are so cute, I’m jealous that you guys can win these and I can’t 🙁

(Go to my original post here to enter to win, contest ends Monday 8/27 at noon CST)

Seriously, aren’t they cute? No guarantees they won’t make you crave cupcakes and whoopie pies constantly 😉

Oh, and may I say, one of the best things I have ever done in my life is join AAA and then put the membership on auto-renew. My car wouldn’t start tonight after work and they came within an hour to help. I probably call them about once a year, sometimes for me, sometimes for a friend (who honestly should get their own membership, but hey, at least I’m a good friend!), and that membership fee is money well spent! I guess the wires going into the battery had corroded a bit, or, that is, the connections on the wires, and that was why it wouldn’t start. The AAA guy cleaned it off and tightened some stuff and it started right up. I was so relieved!

Oh, and I took this picture in the waiting room at my school, while waiting for the truck. It’s shark week, I believe?

Running

Rest Day

August 21, 2012 hannahviolin 4 Comments

I was going to run this morning, but I figured it probably was a better idea to give my legs, knee and hip a break. And perhaps foam roll this evening after work.

This is my foam roller. That’s my foot. Yeah, I need to vacuum.

This is me trying to take a picture of myself using the foam roller. Easier said than done. And yeah, you already knew I liked purple, but I also really like pink.

Unrelated but since I mentioned purple: Ended up driving by this guy the other day. Now he has a blanket! Also I checked the price tag: $2300. Now I understand why no one has bought him for me yet. I would put him in my backyard and visit every day though. He probably needs a sombrero now.

Last night I met a blog reader for a walk. She recently won a contest here and when I got her address I realized we were neighbors. I figured meeting one another was inevitable so we decided to schedule it. It was awesome to chat with her and hope to do it again soon—Hi Mandy! The best part was we got to gossip about all the other blogs we read. And I learned all the dirt on the neighbors (well, some of the dirt, ha!) Secret to meeting potentially creepy people who read your blog: grasp phone firmly in hand at all times, ready to ask Siri for help at any moment.

(I imagine it would go something like this:

“Siri, can you call for help?”

“I do not see for help in your contacts.”

“Siri, call the police.”

“I do not see the police in your contacts.”

“Siri, call 911.”

*pause, nothing happens*)

Self-portrait before the walk. I don’t usually wear makeup and earrings for working out unless it’s at the end of the day. I didn’t see any reason to take them off and then I thought, hey, I look at shiny and pretty and stuff, maybe I should do a self-photo shoot. (I was ready a few minutes early!)

I find the greatest challenge is to figure out where to look.

I was trying to make my forehead look less shiny. At least it looks even bigger here!

And here I just look like I’m on drugs…nice…

This is not where we walked, but part of one of my favorite running routes—local readers probably recognize it? Sadly you can see some of the trees are brown from the drought. This is getting ridiculous.

And now I’m off to teach for about six hours. No big deal.

HANNAHVIOLIN

Cupcakes and Whoopie Pies, Oh My!

Caturday

How did you find my blog?

Sock it to me

Win a Pair of Travel Tumblers

Rest Day

thoughts about violin, teaching, running, life.

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thoughts about violin, teaching, running, life.