This year, for my 31rst birthday, I wanted to do something that left me feeling like my best self. Something that made me feel powerful & accomplished & proud to be Lesley. As cheese-y and romanticized as it might sound, I wanted to do something that would allow me to celebrate & let all the good feels usher me into this next year of my life. So I landed on running a half marathon

I can 100% appreciate a dessert that’s quick, easy to throw together in a pinch, and proceeds to look quite impressive (even with any baking short-cuts involved). My favorite baking shortcut - no bake. The words “no bake” are like music to my ears when I’m trying to do a thousand things for dinner but can’t let go of wanting a tasty dessert, too.

I LOVE a lemon cake. Specifically a lemon cake with a tangy cream cheese frosting - just my sweet tooth’s dream. It’s probably my most favorite type of cake to load up with fresh lemon (juice & zest) & also a great vessel to tie in even more fruits. Berries being the numero uno choice. A lemon + berry cake just equals the perfect fruit pairing in a cake, and produces a dessert that feels summer inspired.

If you like a sweet treat that is really fruit & not super sweet, you need to make this cake. Or if you are going somewhere for brunch and want to bring something to impress the group, you need to make this cake. First, there’s the sweet, berry color & overall look of the whole thing.

I’m really fighting the urge for the forced quarantine to propel me into a 24/7 life of sweats, messy hair, and just an all-day//everyday very casual look. & calling it my “casual look” is generous. Like - it’s a fun break for a day or two, but on day 3 or 4 of seeing my undone self in the mirror, the “get it together” mental note starts setting in.

Whenever I have a few spare hours, usually on Sundays if I can break away from my usual chores & routing house cleaning, I love to dive in & make a cake. But like a really good cake - one that’s layered with yummy fillings and frosting, hits all the right notes for my tastebuds, making it hard to have just one piece, & decently iced so it meets my specs to be a truly cute cake.

If there is one thing I want to be known for amongst my family friends, it’s cake-making, and i feel like 2019 has been my year to get serious about slaying layer cakes. I’m talking turn out some layer cakes that you want to take a picture of & put on your Insta. Good because it has given me moments of immense pride, and bad in the sense that it’s definitely resulted in an increased amount of cake calories consumed. & now I seek out opportunities to make a good cake.

I have a new mantra for baking - it’s hard to get it right on the first shot. My routine has truly transformed into try it once, blow it, & then come back for redemption. I can’t help but feel this pending need to repeat the process, correct my mistakes, and prove to myself that I can have a beautiful bake. Cake making has become this task for me where I can’t seem to get it right on the first try, and the past 3 cakes I’ve made have been ones I’ve baked twice to correct flaws and to be able to walk away feeling like I’ve got it right. The piece I so badly want to master is that perfectly frosted final touch.

I think handmaking someone a cake can be the perfect way to show them that you love them, or to make them feel appreciated. So this weekend I decided to show my appreciation for a dear friend with a Chocolate & Blackberry Layer Cake complete with blackberries picked right from my front yard, & super rich chocolate layers that are perfectly bitter & sweet.

I love an excuse to make a festive dessert. Moreover I love an excuse to go to a party where bringing dessert and pawning off sweet treats on other people is acceptable. Real life - the struggle I have with loving to bake and loving desserts is going all in on a yummy pie or cake at home, and literally only having me andJordan here to eat it. & the real problem is we eat it.

All I wanted to do on my birthday was to get myself cleaned up, throw on my new birthday dress & favorite apron, & spend a few hours in the kitchen making a cake. Dig out all my cutest baking gear, & get caking! The real gift being the time in the kitchen to do nothing other than a little baking, which is usually hard to justify. & if I can’t carve out the time on my birthday, when can I? My most dreamy afternoons are ones when I can have some uninterrupted time to myself - just me, my pups, and my KitchenAid

Sometimes all I need is a good cake to really enjoy the weekend. Something sweet & rich & outside the category of what I eat on a daily basis. A solid weekend treat, ya know? & cake just feels fancy and right from time to time. With strawberries literally everywhere…big, juicy, and yummy looking strawberries…strawberry cheesecake is calling my name.

With a mom that lives states away, Mother’s Day means putting together a thoughtful care package that will help bring a smile to my mom. One that is thoughtful, has a homemade element, and travels well. The travels well part is key. My go to, which I have my husband to thank for the idea, is mason jar cupcakes. Cupcakes baked right in the glass, and then iced & topped

The cure to just about anything and everything - chocolate. & this weekend we don’t need a chocolate fix as a cure for anything, but instead a needed reward for our half marathon victory.  I have been gung-ho about running this damn marathon for weeks.  Like couldn’t shut up about, wanted to tell everyone I knew & bring it up in every conversation - just wanting anyone and everyone to know I was running a half marathon.  My husband thankfully jumped right on board with me, which was the solidifying factor for us committing

I have a history of chalking up 3 day weekends to be full of lazy days at the house, binge watching my favorite old movies, actually have a Sunday funday, and spend some quality time in my kitchen.  In reality, what I end up doing is tackling those projects that feel kind of overwhelming and too time consuming for the regular weekend to do list.  In the past, that has meant deeeeeeep spring cleaning, or building our own patio furniture (just to name a couple).  So this Labor Day, we stuck to our usual MO.  We labored!