Better in Buttercream

Last year I brought you all cakes from a contest held next door to my apartment, this year, right in time for Valentine's Day, I bring you cake wrecks. http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/
I have discovered the most magnificent blog ever: Cake Wrecks. It's a blog all about cake disasters, almost all of them professional cakes. Here are my absolute favorites (I thought I was going to fall out of my chair laughing).

First, let's take a moment for the typo cakes:



Yes. Happy Valentenis Day everyone.




Then just a few bonus gems:


There are no words.

Look Ma! A precious hunting wedding cake for my sister, I mean, for my wife and me! Shucks, thems deers sure are sweet (Ben, I'm thinking of you and our summer of Cabela's-inspired greeting card line we created).

Laura, this one's for you—no one can carry a child into this world with more love and devotion than Vader.

Viva la Vivahhhhhhhno

Meg: I'd like to try one of your smoothies.
Bucky (the Starbucks lady): Oh these? (pointing to the big chalky ad) These aren't smoothies. (pause and her face stifled suppressed glee, like she had a great secret to divulge)
Meg: Oh, okay. Well can I have a banana choco...
Bucky: They're Vivahhhhnos.
Meg: ...colate oh, right. Well can I have a banana chocolate vivahhhno with a shot of...
Bucky: I'd recommend a shot of espresso.
Meg: Right, one of those and can I also have you...
Bucky: And we can use any kind of milk you want including soy and we can also add a powder shot that contains...
Meg: Nonfat. Espresso. Chocolate Banana Vivahhhno. Grande. Please.
Bucky: Mmmm, excellent choice. Here's our nutritions facts chart, you can see there's lots of fiber and protein and you've made the best choice by selecting non-fat milk...

Taking the chart from her and nodding as she went on I wanted to be annoyed, but I remembered my days at the GAP.
Customer: Um, how much are these jeans.
Meg: (drawing on pre-programed script) Oh they're not jeans.
Customer: Really?
Meg: They're denim trousers, see the flat back pockets and trouser clasp front...
Customer: So these cotton, blue pants aren't jeans?
Meg: No, and it's not really indigo, it's a special dye designed to be resiliant against the harshest detergents so your jeans never lose their color.
Customer: Trousers.
Meg: Righ...what?
Customer: You said jeans.
Meg: Right.

I don't miss that job. Maybe the discount, but not the job.

In conclusion, thanks Peter for the recommendation on the Vivanno. It was absolutely delicious!
P.S. An editor's delight: these photos came from Reuters blog and I love that this latter features a misspelled "Vivanno," looks like even baristas have trouble with Starbuckanese.

Editor's 911

Okay, so today I had a grammar question that even stumped my mentor, goddess of grammar, and I was in panic! So I looked up some grammar hotlines online. It's hilarious and awesome that there are actual hotlines for this; about one on every campus worth its salt. Anyway, I called up Purdue U and got a hold of "Tony." He had a nice voice and spoke to me of such things as clauses, structure, and participles. It was very hot. I started blushing and thanked him about five times consecutively out of nervousness. He laughed and told me to have a good day.

We'll probably get married.
And have four grammatically correct children.
And they'll never start their sentences with a conjunction, like their mother.

The Edinator

Alright children, it's time for some quick and dirty tips for using more correct grammar, usage, and spelling. Pick up even one of these good habits, and what you write/say will become more polished!

Rule #1: "punctuation," in other words, punctuation ALWAYS belongs inside the quotation marks with the exception of the use of parentheses (case in point).

Rule #2: the word "OK" is only acceptable in three forms, including "OK," "O.K.," and "okay".

Rule #3: don't capitalize the first letter after a colon, this is an archaic and incorrect habit.

Rule #4: watch out for tricky words.
I work in the capitol building, and the money I make can be called capital.
The principle actor in the play was the principal of the school.
I have a compliment for you, your shoes complement your dress.
The nauseous sight of blood made me feel nauseated.
I have to drive farther to work, but I feel it will further my career.
*physical versus metaphorical
A lot of people think "a lot" is one word a lot of the time.

Rule #5: it's = a conjunction for "it is"
its = indicates possession
Its problem is that it's wrong.

Rule #6: "anyways" is NOT a word! ALWAYS use "anyway."

Rule #7: ever have trouble remembering whether the superlative of a word is simply adding an "-er" or an "-est?" Or if you should use "more" or "most?" General rule, if the word only has one syllable, you can usually simply add "-er" or "-est" as a suffix (note: there are a lot of exceptions to this but overall, this has served me well).


Please always feel free to correct any editing mistakes I might make.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share my personal quick and dirty tips, but if you want to hear some from a true grammar queen, visit http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/default.aspx.