24 years ago, my life changed forever. 24 years ago, my angel face daughter was born. Just look at her now! This is my darlin' Sweet Pea, Elise Nicole.
Oh there were a few times I wanted to stuff her in a wall and tell everyone she ran away, but she is all grown up now and those days are long, long gone. Indulge me for a moment if you will, while I brag about my baby. She's Aries - ALL Aries. Strong willed. Strong willed about fairness, about living passionately, about stray animals, about the sea and all it's creatures. She loves her amazing husband, her family, art, music, her puppies and her country. This is a girl that was born with salt water in her veins. With a true love of salt water and all it holds, a passion passed down from her Grandaddy. Years ago, this was the child of mine that said to me "I'm going to join the Coast Guard and I'm going to get stationed in Hawaii". We were encouraging "Of course you are Honey" and didn't want to break the news to her that she probably wasn't the first kid that thought that. But sure enough, at bootcamp graduation, her assignment was announced Honolulu, Hawaii! I really shouldn't have been surprised, this is the kind of thing happens with her all of the time. She wills everything to her. She focuses, meditates, prays and makes it happen. Since Honolulu she has also served our country in San Diego and now Maui. I know I know, her life is really rough. I've stopped trying to tell her this is not normal, it's normal for her.
She is an amazing artist and is in galleries on the California coast, and the Hawaiian islands, recently a surf shop on the east coast, and a full page story about her in an international surf magazine and many mentions in various other magazines - just to name a few because I can't keep up with it all anymore. http://www.oceangirlart.com/
Too bad Sweetie, it's my blog and I love this picture.
I miss her all the time. Though she is stationed in Maui now, her home is in Kauai(on the weekends with her husband) we talk two to three times a day. She has become my closest dearest friend. This, I still find strange, since it was my goal while she was growing up, to not be her friend, but to be her parent. I was so focused about on being a parent, I never gave much thought to when she was grown. She could be just a tad difficult at times(extreme understatement). Odd how things work out the way they do. I am forever blessed.
So since I couldn't be with her for her special day, she just took things into her own hands. Here are the crazy cupcakes she made for her own birthday.
Aloha Cupcakes
One box WHITE cake mix
3 Eggs
1 1/4 cup water
1/3 cup Veg oil
food coloring (gel or liquid, non-flavored)
fluffy white frosting
Mix the cake mix, eggs, water and oil into one large bowl then,
Evenly distribute the batter into 4 bowls
Put a spoon in each bowl (this is so your colors dont mix)
In each bowl put a different color of food coloring and stir until solid color.
LAYER the colors in each cupcake cup by using one large table spoonful of each color..
Your cups should only be 2/3 the way full so they dont rise too much when baking.
Preheat oven to 350 if its a regular pan, or 325 if it's non-stick or dark metal.
Bake for 18-23 minutes and then let the cupcakes cool to room temperature
I used a freezer bag with only a very small corner cut off the end as a pastry bag for my frosting.
Frost, sprinkle and enjoy!
ALOHA!
Elise Nicole Kauffman
Surf Artist
http://www.oceangirlart.com/
Elise Nicole's cupcake video, crazy kid! Seriously, who makes a cupcake video?? This is pretty funny.
Happy Birthday Sweet Pea! I love you.
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