Sugar Cookie Bars

First and foremost, happy Thursday!

I had a lot of things on my to-do list yesterday...from laundry, to cleaning my entire place, moping the floor, spray painting some patio furniture, working out all the while wanting accomplish this before I headed down to visit some friends...what do you think won that wasn't even on the list? 

SUGAR COOKIES....well sugar cookie bars but still...baking won! No if's, and's or but's about it.

That's how that saying goes right? 

Anyway, I haven't baked a thing all week and since I was going to visit some friends I haven't had a chance to bother in a while - I wanted to bring them something sweet so it would distract them from me updating them on my life.

Everything is so much better with a mouth full of sugar? No? Yes, yes it is. #letmelive

My aunt has a phenomenal sugar cookie recipe but I had no time to refrigerate the dough overnight since I only had about four hours so I turned to pinterest! I found these Sugar Cookie Bars and decided to give them a whirl.

I didn't alter the recipe but I used Magnolia bakery's buttercream frosting instead of what they list there...it's my go to frosting, you'll thank me later if you don't use it already.

Magnolia Bakery's Buttercream

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

6 to 8 cups of confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Place the butter in a large mixing bowl
2. Add 4 cups of sugar (I let the butter and sugar mix until smooth) 
3. Then I add the milk and vanilla
4. Beat that for 3 minutes (the iPhone timer is my BFF during this process)
5. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time and beat well for 2 minutes each addition

You may not need to add all the sugar, you decide on the consistency you like. For these sugar cookies, I made half this entire recipe.

I also ate a couple spoonfuls and felt like I could run a 5k but who am I kidding? I don't run, ever.

Prep time: 30 minutes (10 of those minutes are bake time)

Time to make frosting: 10 minutes

Don't forget to follow me on:

• My personal instagram: @rachel_metz
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• Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/rachel_metz/

Until next time xoxo

Risk/Reward

Random fact: When I come home from a weekend with my family, I always have the gnarliest reality checks on the following Monday. For example this was my thought process as I sat at my desk this morning, "oh it isn't socially or professionally acceptable to drink red wine and eat brie by the block at my desk during hours of operation? #letmelive"

Yes I just hash tagged. No I did not drink on the job or stuff my face with an all cheese diet.

Anyway...

Happy belated Mother's day to all you fabulous mama's, I hope you guys had an incredible weekend. I had a fantastic Mother's day with my mom, brother and sister. So obviously this is isn't going to be about baking or any other avenue I love but this is something that moved me and I wanted to share with you guys. I wanted to share something my sister said to me that she picked up from my uncle while nannying for them...

Risk/Reward

Two words that have officially changed my life, mentality and my attitude.

When my sister said it under the circumstances of our conversation, the words slapped me in the face and woke my ass up. Last night around 1 AM, I dug through notes I jotted down when I tried the whole community college thing (side note: that relationship of school and I did not work out) but I was able to have some business notes that allowed me to find two definitions that stuck out to me involving risk and reward...

1. Risk-Reward: a ratio investors use to compare the expected returns of an investment to the amount of risk undertaken to capture these returns
• Don't you see this is also a ratio used by us being investors in our own life? Taking an amount of risk we see fit and then seeing what reward is returned to us by how much we risked? What will we invest in our life? Where will we invest the most? Is it worth it? Will we lose it all or will we even end up risking anything? How scary is that? It's terrifying for me personally,  thinking about putting everything I have worked for on the line to dedicate my life to a new avenue. Truthfully, that's why I talk about it because there is no risk in just words but there is an enormous amount of risk with the doing aspect and the follow through. 
2. Risk/Reward Tradeoff: direct relationship between possible risk and possible reward which holds for a particular situation; to realize greater reward one must generally accept a greater risk, and vice versa. 
• I ripped this out of my business spiral and taped it on my fridge. Take this out of the business world and apply it to your life, I feel like captain obvious over here...my apologies, I am just super hyped while writing this.

Point blank: TAKE THE RISK.

Plain and simple, that is what I took away from my sister's wise words and brilliant breakdown. This can be with love, independence, being uncomfortable, pursuing a hobby, dedicating to a lifestyle...whatever is considered a risk to you, you will never know what reward you will get out of it if you don't take it! So stop caring about the what if's, if not's, if so's, who thinks, I'm not sure's, what if they's and just go for it!

I also have been immensely inspired by Joy from Wild Flowers Photography when she wrote about their new adventure to stop putting off their "happy life." Read it here, I promise you it is you'll thank me later and you'll end up falling inlove with her entire blog, family, mentality, photography and whatever else that woman decides to do.

Quote of the day: 
"So we shall let the reader answer this question for himself: who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?" - Hunter S. Thompson

Until next time xoxo

What's been up?

Hey, hi. This is what's been up...

Self explanatory, cake pops = heaven.

There are a ton of cake pop tutorials but Bakerella never does a cake popper wrong.

What Would Hova Do?

As I stare at Hova for the past couple hours, it got me thinking...what would Hova do?


Do you know how badly I'd like to sit Jayoncé down and pick their brains and listen to them talk business? In all reality, I'd probably pass out if Jay-Z and Beyoncé were ever in the same room as me.

It's crazy to me that inspiration comes in the most random forms - this post is based off my inspiration of a painting.

If this isn't interesting, don't feel pressured to continue reading. My feelings won't get hurt, I promise.

Not that my life isn't about working my ass off 24 7 but I decided I need to start working my ass off smarter. Ever think that to yourself time to time? My problem is follow through, consistency, focus and finishing projects. I blame the not finishing projects on my dad...Tay Tay you can vouch for me on this one, sorry dad.

Anyway...point blank: I need to center, focus, push myself and actually finish what I've started.

To get me back on track, I wanted to share what inspires me lately. (Yes I know, it's all so random)

Blogs I obsess over:

• http://www.lovemaegan.com - this woman is something else, she constantly has me sucked into her page with her DIY's, InstaLife recaps and of course her pups
• http://songofstyle.blogspot.com - officially an addict of this blog, from her fashion, interior design taste, her closet all with photos that make you say "oh cool, I'm just over here eating a brownie"
• http://www.joyofbaking.com - nine times out of ten if someone tries something new I've baked it comes from this lovely lady, Stephanie Jaworski
• http://eternaldomnation.com - my uncle, he motivates me on a daily basis
• http://g3qdesigns.blogspot.com - my aunt, I can't even begin to explain the impact this woman has in my life

My latest inspiration:

What inspires you? What are some blogs you follow?

For more of an organized chaos of my mental state at any given time, follow my Instagram or Pinterest!

Quote of the day:
"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it's just not that good. It's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I've ever met. It's gonna take awhile. It's normal to take awhile. You've just gotta fight your way through." - Ira Glass

Until next time xoxo

Let's be honest...

Can I be honest? I get scared about what people think of me, my blog and my baking. Can I continue being honest? I've recently read a phenomenal book called The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer and it's helped me in more ways than I can explain. One of the ways it has helped is I have realized and accepted that I focus too much on how people perceive me and how I try to control their perception...I actually try to control everything BUT this book lays this problem out in a way I can understand and apply to my life.

Hence this post...

I know I'm not the only one that does this but I felt it necessary to be completely open and genuine if I am going to do this blog the right way. This is for my readers (whomever you are and hopefully not just my parents-hi mom, hi dad!) to give you a more honest blog with a more honest Rachel for a more...well you know...honest read.

I feel rather than trying to be perceived as a goody goody baker with a even more strict, outlined blog to pair with it - I want you guys to know me like my closest friends and family do - my dad is probably terrified for you guys right now. I can't wait to share more of what is to come and really do hope you guys like it (even with all the grammar errors I make). 

Confession #1: My right hand broad and I have decided to keep tabs on one another to remain focused, centered, motivated and on track with our personal goals. 

Confession #2: That may or may not have been a public announcement to whomever reads this post to help me remain accountable for keeping up with those goals. ;)

Random Facts:

1. Jamcore is my second family. If you don't know who they are check out their Facebook, Instagram and YouTube...your ass will be kicked just watching the videos. Jamo is my precision mitt training coach where we learn, practice and aspire to be like our online coaches - Coach Rick and La Chica Mada. Jamcore is a team full of motivation and constant inspiration to stay focused and dream big. An unexpected bonus when following Jamo, you will get to learn a new language called Frenglish. 

2. Wine Wednesday's with my right hand broad are an absolute must. We drink of out wine glasses that are three times bigger than our heads, eat mango and whatever cheese we feel like experimenting with that week. 

3. I make 6,524 to-do lists for one day and probably (if ever) make it to number three on any list. Which brings me to my next random fact...

4. I like naps, a lot. {NAPS > TO DO LISTS} 

5. I have an obsession with Beyonce and Jay-Z - they may or may not be the background on my locked and home screen on my phone. How could you not love them?

6. I like to pretend I know what I am doing when it comes to interior design.

7. Paper Source is an addiction of mine, I have a collection of cards that I may never use because I bought them simply for the fact I found them funny.

8. I'm not funny. 

Feels good to be back....even though I have tried being back, coming back, consistently post on here a thousand times before. {que embarrassed emoji here} If you don't have emojis, I feel bad for you son I got 99 problems but emojis ain't one.

Talk to you guys soon xoxo

Baby Leila

Oh hey, how are you guys?

Remember when I used to post more so than not? Yeah, me too. Well I'm back...for good, are you ready?

Soltana from Velvet Alley Events reached out to me to bake some cupcakes to celebrate Baby Leila's arrival, I love working with her so obviously I dove right in.

We decided to serve vanilla and chocolate cupcakes in mason jars - here is an example of how to do them here on My Cakies Blog.

When I walked into the backyard Baby Leila's shower was to be held, my breath was taken away. All these ladies always do an incredible job of taking you to another world when you walk into one of their events.

Thank you Soltana and Velvet Alley Events for allowing me to contribute to this special afternoon.

Coordination by Velvet Alley Events

Props & Flowers by Belle of the Ball Designs

Photography by Charise

Cupcakes and Cake by yours truly, me!

The Shoe

A wise woman once told me, "The shoe will end up on the other foot at some point."

Even though we were a bottle of wine deep and it made no sense, some how that was all I needed. I realized that I got so caught up in my busy schedule, making others happy, a relationship and a puppy that I forgot the most important thing that kept me me, and kept me grounded - my family.

As my mom kept on with her famous Renism; my brother, sister and I were all over the place barely being able to breathe. It was in that moment that I caught my breath, poured more wine into my glass, cheered my mother and kept on poking fun at my brother that brought me back to reality.

This is what life is about, this is what happy is.

When my dad walked into the house and saw my mom's face as red as her wine, my brother throwing his hands up to what is going on and my sister with her infectious laugh - he didn't even skip a beat to join in.

They ignited my passion again and assured me that by starting a new adventure in life - it isn't giving up on something in your past, it's simply living for yourself.

So here I am back at it.

Cheers to what is to come, hope you look forward to my future posts.
xoxo