Boring Cacti Tuesday

Here are some pics I took while on a walk on our Arizona vacay last week. There are other non-prickly plants mixed in also. Enjoy...or not.

Random Bits From My Vacay...

I'm almost done, I promise!! I have a bunch of random photos that I have to show at least once & then I can delete them from my camera.
I was SO excited to be able to go to one of my favorite stores of all time while on vacation in Scottsdale, Arizona--Anthropologie.

I don't even know if you're supposed to take pictures inside their store? I know some shops don't like that. No one said anything to me, so I guess I was ok. Maybe no one said anything because I was hiding behind racks of clothes as I snapped these pictures. Just LOOK at the pink goodness on that wall! These are some shower curtains & other froo-froo bathroom things.

I LOVE their displays & have been inspired by many of them in my own artwork. Look at the way they hung the veggie boxes on the wall. The corrugated cardboard lettuce was sitting high on an armoire, but it was amazing. Light green paint was haphazardly applied also--but the picture doesn't show it.

These are coasters made in Vietnam. Somehow strips of magazines were bent & twisted into something very cool & marvelous!
I love this fountain display of old bottles & bottlecaps. I didn't notice them when I was there--but I LOVE the vintage thermoses in the back!

I am uber touristy-looking when I travel. I have my camera out at every second just waiting for a cool pic. Look at the security guard in a mall we visited. Can you believe they drive around in those things? I've always thought it'd be cool to ride one.

Also at the mall was a carousel. The girls LOVED riding it.

A gelato shop in the mall had the most disgusting looking flavors. Well, at least a couple of them looked unappetizing. The baby poop flavor on the left & the vomit one on the right. The bloody corpse gelato in the back isn't looking too scrumptious either though.

And of course my days were filled with SWIMMING! Here's Ronaldo-The-Friendly-Swimmy-Dragon. I named him that.

Mr. WhiMSy love & I were very tired in this photo.
The end. Almost. I took SO many pictures of cactus that tomorrow I am posting a "Boring Cacti Scrapbook". I have to. I can't let those prickly photos go to waste.

Sprinkles Cupcakes!!

This was a real treat indeed! My sweet hubby took me & the girls to Sprinkles Cupcakes in Scottsdale, Arizona while on a family vacay. While driving around searching for it, we actually passed right by the shop! I can't believe it. My cupcake radar must have been broken.

And I'm warning you-- there are a TON of photos ahead. I could've taken more too, but I was so in awe of all the goodies inside that I didn't snap away like the sugar-crazed-cupcake-lovin'-lunatic that I am!

I read a review in a local magazine about Sprinkles Cupcakes & was expecting long lines & lots of waiting in the heat. But I was happy to find only a couple people inside. (A relief for my hubby I'm sure!)

Here's the menu. So many lovely choices. There were also cupcake mixes you could purchase & little tiny cupcakes for dogs.

The cupcakes looked so pretty all in a row. It was very neat & tidy. Not really a "cutesy" bakery, but very crisp & professional looking.

Here I am in a contemplative cupcake moment. I'm also looking at the 6 or 7 employees standing behind the counter ready to wait on the 3 customers in the shop. It was kind of funny. I'm guessing I was present at the calm before the cupcake storm. Sweet timing.

Here are the red velvet cupcakes....

...the dark chocolate cupcakes...

...on the top are strawberry & I think the bottom is vanilla.

We made our choices & were on our way to find someplace to devour our sweet treats!

The presentation was special indeed!

The wooden forks & knives were pretty much a necessity in helping to shovel the cupcakes into my mouth.

The sacred seal was broken...

...& I think I heard angels singing as our cupcakes were revealed! Our choices were: Cinnamon Sugar (mine), Peanut Butter Chocolate (#2 Wee One), Ginger Lemon (saved for my mother-in-law back at home), Dark Chocolate (#1 Wee One) & Vanilla Milk Chocolate (Mr. WhiMSy love).

Our #1 Wee One is eating my favorite--dark chocolate. The whole thing pretty much just melted in your mouth. I have never tasted frosting so delicious. I was also able to taste a piece of the ginger lemon & it was also my favorite.

Number 2 wee one accidentally ate daddy's cupcake because it looked just like hers. But she didn't care.

And here is dorky me with a serious cupcake glaze forming over my eyes. My cinnamon sugar cupcake was superb. It was moist & reminded me of coffee cake.

The little dots on top of most of their cupcakes are a clever way of telling each cupcake flavor from the rest. Using the handy dandy cupcake decoder helps. I did try to eat that thing on top, but I'm not sure if I was supposed to. It kinda tasted like plastic & it was very hard & crunchy, so I spit it out. No, I didn't eat the paper cupcake liner.

The girls gathered their leftover cupcake crumbs...

& fed the birds.

They couldn't believe their feathered friends were eating the sweet snack. The girls squealed with giddy glee, "Birds like cupcakes too!!!!"