This weekend was packed with everything I needed right now: A Saturday long run, cake for lunch, completing my son’s packing for camp AND a really long but productive day of shopping at the mall for clothes.
I think the highlight of Bar Mitzvah planning so far was Saturday’s cake tasting at the bakery where we are having the cake designed.
We tried two types of cake with fillings based upon my son’s requests. Both samples were vanilla cake, one slice with chocolate fudge filling and one slice with chocolate and vanilla pudding filling. I actually liked both slices of cake which is odd for me since I am super loyal to chocolate fudge filling. The pudding was really good!
I didn’t plan on the cake tasting becoming my lunch but it was so satisfying that I never wanted lunch after the cake appointment.
Cake for lunch is always a good lunch. 🙂
I am close to finalizing his Bar Mitzvah cake design which is a big relief and another thing to check off my planning list. My son doesn’t really care very much about the cake design (he cares more about the taste) which is just fine with me as I don’t need extra opinions in the decision.
There are going to be so many other desserts at his reception (of course there are, I am in charge of this party) that I wonder who will even eat this cake aside from me but still, getting the main special cake right is super important.
Speaking of special cakes: I recently had the pleasure of working again with Ron Ben-Israel (you may know him best from Food Network’s Cake Wars and Sweet Genius) to put together a wedding cake article on the topic of Same Sex Wedding Cake Trends.
Ron Ben-Israel (RBI Cakes) is really a nice man and a super talented cake designer. Quite often I stop to think about how much I love my event industry job where I get to meet such wonderful people and write about topics I find so interesting.
Anyway.
So after having cake for lunch, I spent several hours shopping for myself at the mall. Sometimes a girl just needs unlimited time to shop, even when there are other things she should be doing.
Leave it to me to find the clothing that isn’t currently on Nordstrom’s anniversary sale.
You know I am a sucker for treat-inspired sweatshirts.
I held myself back from buying the Wild Fox snow cone sweatshirt though since my wardrobe is currently in need of more adult-looking clothing.
It wasn’t easy.
I grabbed a cup of coffee and forced myself to move on from Nordstrom but I promise you that I will think about and talk about the Wild Fox snow cone sweatshirt….until I go back to get it.
I did really well at Banana Republic. I even tried everything on (I hate trying on especially on a long run day because my muscles aren’t interested in the effort) and bought a few Splendid tops at Bloomingdales too.
My favorite purchases from Banana: this long sleeve twist-back top and these black pants.
Splendid: I can’t find the short sleeve top online but I also bought this this long sleeve slub jersey tee.
If cake for lunch wasn’t the highlight of my day, seeing that Juicy outfits are back in stores put me over the moon.
I think the new Juicy jackets look to be a bit longer than the old versions which is a good thing – the old styles were too short.
Every time I go to Ralph’s Ices I ask to sample a different flavor even though I already know which flavors I like to order. It’s just that they give such nice sample spoonfuls that I feel I need to take advantage, you know?
Three flavors stuffed into my cup: candy bar fudge, chocolate graham marshmallow and a scoop of the rainbow cookie. I love rainbow cookies!
Sunday was almost completely focused on finalizing my son’s clothing to be packed up for camp. I have been buying, packing and labeling camp clothing and accessories for way too long already.
Aren’t you tired of hearing about it? I am sure tired of thinking about it and talking about it.
It’s all done though! Two large (they are both like 5 foot long soft duffle trunks) packed and ready to go.
Ice cream to celebrate!
It was National Ice Cream Day yesterday too!
Monday Flashback: I published this post exactly three years ago today recapping my first ever experience walking to Fire Island. I can’t even believe that was three years ago.
It is definitely one of the top three coolest experiences in my life for sure (I never knew you could walk to Fire Island until we did it) and I still consider those onion rings from Surf’s Out as the best onion rings ever.
With all of the time on my hands once my son leaves for camp, I may just have to walk there again this summer!
[bctt tweet=”cake for lunch, new clothes to report & National Ice Cream Day #cake #barmitzvah #coldstone #fireisland #weekend” username=”cookiechrunicle”]
Did you celebrate National Ice Cream Day?
If you have planned your wedding or other large event, did you have a cake tasting? What type of cake did you pick?
What’s on the workout agenda for today?
The Cookie ChRUNicles 
Juicy outfits, so funny! I haven’t been actual shopping in forever. Randomly I’ve been wearing old (VERY OLD) half length terry juicy bottoms around the house. Definitely won’t be buying new ones but good to know I shouldn’t throw mine out.
I didn’t throw my juicy outfits out either! I know I have a pair of black crop pants somewhere in my closet. I will totally buy them again though if the jackets are cut a little longer for sure. I would love to go back to wearing them every day. Makes getting dressed that much easier for me!
Oh Juicy. I loved doing our food and cake tasting. We ended up creating our own wedding cake flavor with limoncello sponge, white chocolate buttercream, and fresh strawberries. Like a strawberry lemonade!
So excited about Juicy. I could live in those sweatsuits again in a heart beat. My wedding cake was chocolate upon chocolate, as if that’s a shock.
Since our wedding was just the two of us, we didn’t pick our cake. They just made us a traditional Belizean carrot cake which was ok, but I’m not really a cake person! I had a piece then gave the rest of it to the staff. I’m impressed with your control at the Nordies sale! I definitely did not hold back..whoops!
the only stuff I saw at Nordstrom wasn’t on the sale! typical me. I do want that sweatshirt though!
I loved doing wedding cake testing. Since we had cupcakes in addition to the cake, we tested a lot of recipes and flavor combinations in the months leading up.
I love BR tops because they are so timeless – wardrobe staples that last for years. Lately Prana has been my weakness for shopping – I got the cutest dress from them this weekend!
BR had a lot of nice things right now! I used to live in their stuff when I worked at an office years ago. Lots of good staples.
Love this post!
My cake tasting for my wedding was THE MOST important. I had been to so many weddings–where the cake just did not taste good. I am not a fan of the fondant on the outside—pure buttercream is what I wanted and we had that–and people actually ATE it!!
Sidenote to camp stuff–I went to visiting weekend this past weekend for my son–and I spent so much time SHOWING him stuff that I sent 4 weeks ago that he had no idea was packed–it was insane–just reminds me for next year that boys are CLUELESS—they make due and always have fun! I am sure your son will have a blast!!
and I love this comment! I AGREE on the fondant. I told them absolutely no fondant as it ruins the taste of the cake! I saw on Instagram you were at visiting day! I can totally imagine my son will not see half of what I packed and definitely won’t wear what I packed the way I intended it. I tried to show him all of his things yesterday but he really didn’t care. I was like – this is your laundry bag. the laundry goes in the bag. Uh huh, I hope he gets that part right!
HAHA–that’s hilarious–had exact same convo with my son—and it was USELESS! LOL!
Cake for lunch always seems like a good idea to me! I’ve never had an occasion to really pick out and test cakes, but I’m sure that in the next 10 years TONS of my friends will be getting married so that’s when I plan on stepping up and being a good friend and helping them test cakes 😉
Workout today: a few easy miles in the blistering heat (oof)
yes, you must step in and be a great friend when they have cake tastings!
I had no idea it was national ice cream day but I think that I celebrate it on my own almost every day especially in summer! Those cakes look so good – we are currently trying to figure out what we want as a wedding cake, leaning Funfetti on the inside with something fun and colorful outside like perhaps an upside down ice cream cone made of cake… We love ice cream and other than the cake we will have a giant ice cream bar for dessert, we decided 🙂
you definitely cover ice cream day throughout the year! and yes, you need an ice cream bar. I am all for an abundance of desserts at weddings, bar mitzvahs and all events.
I used to love my Juicy hoodie. I still have it actually haha I didn’t know it was national ice cream day until I got a bunch of tweets and snapchats about it, so of course I had to have a bowl before I drove back to Boston last night. That meant eating it before dinner. Whatever. I want to go to a cake tasting haha that will be the highlight of my wedding if i ever get married one day. I don’t care about anything else, just the dessert!
it’s funny how we all held on to our juicy hoodies and pants. I have a few in my drawer that I couldn’t part with!
I love hearing about all the event planning! How long does your son go to camp for? It would be a strange feeling to be alone (I’m sure you’ll survive though 😉 ha ha!).
goodie because there is plenty more event planning to come lol…He will be away for a few weeks! It will certainly feel strange, especially in the morning and at that after school/camp time when I am most needed as transportation. Looking forward to him having a great time…and me hopefully taking advantage of the time and doing some things I can’t normally do.
Wildfox sweatshirts always get me. Cute and food-related? How do I say no?
I know, right? I love them!
Ohhhh I like those black pants! I may need to head into BR to see if I can’t pick up a pair for myself, because god knows I could use more grown up clothes that aren’t workout related. And I’ve never done any cake testing for a big event, but there have been plenty of times where I’ve eaten some kind of dessert for lunch/dinner while testing recipes 😛
I found the pants very comfortable. My mom wears them too, she has every color because she finds them that comfortable!
I didnt know it was national ice cream day yesterday but i did have ice cream for dessert! I loved the food tasting before my wedding. We got to go at like 2pm on a Tuesday and eat all this delicious food including dessert and wine. Much better than a day at work!
seriously the best part of planning a wedding!
Cake for lunch sounds perfect to me right about now. I’ll take both flavors as well please.
I don’t love trying on all the clothes, but I do like getting new items which actually fit and make me feel good about myself. I love the Banana Republic shirt.
Congrats on getting your son’s camp stuff all sorted and labeled. I know that’s been a long ongoing project so I imagine it feels great to knock it off the list.
yes to new clothes that actually fit and make us feel good! clothes should make us feel good, that’s what my mom says
Um-I will be eating the cake and I’m sure Ella will. If I had an entenmann’s marshemllow cake right now she would be making the rows with her fork!
ugh, one of these days we have to do that again – I think benji and ella would enjoy it!