1. I think as I'm trying to write this post the US vs. Canada gold medal hockey game is in sudden death overtime. I have no real idea what's going on, but I'm having trouble concentrating. And... Canada wins again. Darn.

2. I think I found this article, in the Harvard Business Review, fascinating. Even if it's not a regular thing, we all bump up against times when we're less inclined to want to get something done. Some interesting strategies offered here.

3. I think I'm so thrilled to be beginning my 4-week camera phone class today with my good friend Kim. She is a phenomenal photographer who inspires me every day, and I'm simply looking forward to hanging out with her a little more. Our class is called "Ditch Your Gear" and it's all about getting the most out of the camera you have right in your hand. I'll let you know how we get on.

4. I think I'm super proud of Cal this week. He's been battling a cold pretty much since he left us on Sunday, and he worked hard to power through. Can't wait to pick him up this afternoon.

5. I think one of the highlights of my week was attending a talk by the photographer Platon at The Norfolk Forum speaker series on Tuesday. It was spectacular! Honestly, when I linked to his site, I didn't know which page to pick. Click on the menu and look around. He's photographed so many famous and no-so-famous people around the world, for Time Magazine, for Vogue, for The New Yorker. Chances are you've seen at least one of his portraits somewhere. (Oh, and Erin, if you scroll around on the movies & television page, you might see something of interest [cough-GaryOldman-cough].) And his photo of Philip Seymour Hoffman gave me chills. I went with my friend Artemis, and we'd heard that Platon was a compelling story teller. We weren't disappointed. I could have stayed for hours. Every portrait had a story behind it, and I want to hear them all. Add to that, Platon has great sense of the human spirit and a great understanding for our capacity for compassion and kindness.

He said to us, before he stopped speaking and took questions, "What's the one thing you'd do if you weren't afraid?" There are all sorts of versions of that question floating around these days, but somehow having this amazing man ask it, as we faced all these photos of such amazing people (some you'd want to know and others you decidedly wouldn't), it really struck me. It's been in my mind a lot anyway. My fear. My general stuckness. And then I see something like this, and I think, what right do I have to be stuck? What right do I have to be afraid?

In which: the angel is in the details.
In which: damn you pinterest.
In which: buttercream for lunch.

So. We had a baby shower for a woman who works in Neel's lab this week, and for some ridiculous reason I offered to bring a cake. We've discussed this before, but I am not a baker. In these situations, you can do a couple of things (stop by a bakery being the first that comes to mind), and chose to pimp out a basic cake in the hopes that by making it look fabulous, you'd ignore its flaws.

Start here, with a super-easy cake recipe. If you're pressed for time or low on the skill set (cough cough) Dunkin Hines makes a nice cake mix. Trust me, no judgement here.

I knew I wanted a pink cake, so I thought I'd do a raspberry butter cream icing. So I bought some raspberries, thinking I'd puree them into the icing, but as I was baking, I thought it might be nice to have a raspberry filling in the cake. Found that recipe here.

I saved some of the raspberries from the puree and stirred them into a basic buttercream icing, so I'd be in the pink (Baby Girl!), and that recipe was here.

But the whole problem that started this was this gorgeous cake from Spoon Fork Bacon. Get a load of this. I may not be able to pull off a Rosewater Cake, but I might just be able to manage some raspberries coated in glitter. Everything tastes better with glitter.

Updated to add (because I think when I'm in the car and I had to drive Neel to work this morning): I think the point of this post is that you can take pretty much any cake you want and make it your own. Store bought, homemade, cake mix, whatevs. If you have a gluten-free cake recipe or mix that you like, go for it. This is where the angel is in the details. Also, I got the glitter at Michael's. I had pink and gold. I dumped the pink into the icing and it just barely gave it some extra shimmer. For the raspberries, I poured some of the gold glitter into a bowl and rolled the raspberries in the bowl. It helps if they're dry. I also need to say that the kitchen was a complete wreck when I was done, and Neel did the dishes! I'm a lucky woman.

So there you have it. Perfectly pink, perfectly sparkly to welcome a perfect little girl into the world. And the moral of the story is this: From a box or from a bowl, pimp your cake and let the good times roll.

five things, february 21

how to cheat at cake baking in one easy lesson {life}