Who Am I?

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some; it is in everyone.

And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give
other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

Her Name is Pretty

This is what happens when I don't call Derek back. I think he should release it as his first single.

A Long Week

1991 Misty Dad Cow head, originally uploaded by mistylwhite.

My dad had surgery last week. No need to get into details here, but after a very long, stressful week, he was finally able to go home on Saturday. I can't even express what a relief it was to see him out of the hospital. We found out on Thursday that he won't require any further treatment. I think I exhaled for the first time in weeks.

This photo was taken in 1991. Murph and I were working at Uno's in Boston and realized we both had the next 3 days off. This somehow led to "We should totally drive to Illinois and surprise your parents!!". hahaha - GREAT idea! We recruited Lisa to come with us, rented a car and hit the road. The School of Fish song "Three Strange Days" still reminds me of that trip. My mom was so confused when we walked in the door. She started talking to Lisa right away and didn't even acknowledge me. I think it took her a minute to process the fact that her daughter was standing in front of her. hahahaha

We went to this little place called "Shippy's" for Friday night fish fry. My dad knew the guy who owned the place so he was basically refilling our pitchers of beer himself. The menu was written on a chalkboard and simply said "Fish, Meat or Chicken". Murph and I STILL talk about that night and she's still in touch with my Dad. I think that's my favorite part.

Wow, I just realized that was 19 years ago. HOLY CRAP! On that note, I think I'll go do an anti-aging face mask or something.

Owls and a SXSW listening party

This month is FLYING by. Kate's birthday party was a few weeks ago. She celebrated by hosting an amazing brunch at her house. Her apartment was full of people and food and drinks and love. It was a great day.

I made her Owl Cupcakes (from the Martha Stewart Cupcake Cookbook of course)...heeee:


SXSW is coming up in a couple of months, and as usual I feel completely unprepared. There are over 1000 bands playing which is just insane. I thought it might be fun to bring together a few people who usually go and have a listening party. Each person brought a few songs from their "must see" list. We hung out in our living room for hours; snacking, drinking delicious wine, and listening to amazing music. It was AWESOME. Here are some of the bands that will be added to my schedule (It's possible a few of these bands won't be at SXSW but since the website removed the list of bands and only has the Wednesday schedule up, I can't check right now. hrumph):

Choir of Young Believers - Denmark
The Whit Sundays - Canada
Fanfarlo - England
We Were Promised Jetpacks - Scotland
Freelance Whales - NY (Queens represent!)
New Villager - LA/NY
Emanuel and the Fear - Brooklyn
The xx - London
Band of Skulls - England
Jonathan Boulet - Australia
An Horse - Australia
The Ettes - Nashville

Thanks for coming everyone! I can't wait for the next one.

Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate

IMG_4724, originally uploaded by mistylwhite.

Number three: Devil's Food Cupcakes with Chocolate Genache Frosting. These cupcakes were pretty easy. The frosting, while easy, was a pain in the ass. (In true Martha fashion) I actually laughed out loud when I read the instructions for the frosting. It starts out innocently enough:
- heat the heavy cream and corn syrup (yuck) until it's simmering,
- pour over chunks of bittersweet chocolate
- Stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is combined

Then it said "put in the refrigerator and stir every 15 minutes until frosting is spreadable".

Of course, she doesn't mention that this process takes AN HOUR AND A HALF. Seriously. Every 15 minutes, I got up and stirred the frosting. I was up until midnight frosting these damn cupcakes! argh.

The chocolate curls were tough at first. She said to heat the giant block of chocolate just enough to make it soft. I didn't want to over heat so mine wasn't quite soft enough when I started the curls. However, the more I shaved it, the softer it got and the better the curls looked. Unfortunately, the curls in this photo don't show all that well, but they did look good.

Another note - this frosting hardens pretty quickly so getting the chocolate curls in place right away is important. Otherwise, they won't stick.

Chocolate on chocolate on chocolate is not my favorite thing, but I did like these cupcakes. The bittersweet chocolate frosting was rich but it wasn't super sweet so I think that helped. Deepa (my very vocal co-worker who is enjoying this process immensely) has moved these to the top of her list. The strawberry ones were at the top, but the chocolate knocked them down a notch.

Next up are the Tiramisu Cupcakes. I read the instructions last night. It's official - Martha Stewart is INSANE. As am I for taking on this challenge.