The Truth About Gigi’s
Gigi’s cupcake, Gigi’s cupcake, wherefore art thou Gigi’s cupcake?
I read about the new Gigi’s Cupcake shop nearly two months ago on Suzanne’s blog. My co-worker Jo likes to bake cakes and also likes to try new restaurants in town, so I forwarded her the link with a “heard of this?” message. No, she hadn’t, but she was thrilled! She sits less than 15 yards away so I immediately heard her exclaim, “Oh, look at this, a new cupcake place in town!” I beamed. I was happy to have made her happy.
We talked in person about it, about how we’d have to go, try it out, etc. I was going out of town the next day, but I had kinda envisioned that after I got back a group of us from work might ride over and enjoy Gigi’s together.
That was Sept. 3
On Sept. 4 I got an email from David, who sits in the cube across from me and who was there for the Gigi’s discussion. The subject was “On my desk this morning” and the email was this photo of a Gigi’s cupcake box.
Now, granted, I was on my way to Maui for the weekend, a fact that my co-workers like to remind me of. How could I be jealous of my co-workers eating cupcakes when I was on my way to Maui? Well, because I wanted us all to go together.
So what did I do? I sulked. I’m a spoiled brat like that. Since I couldn’t have Gigi’s the way I wanted, I wouldn’t have Gigi’s at all. It became a joke around the office even. Word about Gigi’s spread and other people we work with went, Jo went again, David went, and I refused to go and refused to take bites of the ones they brought in to share.
A menu made it’s way into our office and showed all of the flavors . Mmmm. They all sounded wonderful, but only one did I really want. Strawberry Shortcake.
My co-workers thought my sulking was quite funny, but even still several of them tried, in earnest, to bring me a Strawberry Shortcake. Apparently I’m not the only one lured in by white cake topped with strawberry butter cream frosting, because they came up empty handed each time. They only sell them on Mondays and Fridays and were sold out every time.
So, finally, yesterday, I made it to Gigi’s on my own. And they had plenty of Strawberry Shortcakes waiting just for me!
And she was magnificent. The frosting was as tall as the cupcake so plenty of sweet, strawberry icing to savor, by itself or along with a bite of cake. The cake was the perfect moisture, and had unique, subtle flavor — not overpowering or bland like store-bought cupcakes can sometimes be. The shop smelled deliciously sweet, with a simple and sweet ambiance. The single-serve boxes and the Gigi’s sticker seal are adorable. (I love the small details like that.) The cute shop, the adorable box, the swirls of pink icing, the amazing smell, and of course the indescrible taste — Gigi’s is not just a cupcake. It’s an experience.
I also bought Miss Princess – white cake with fresh strawberries, cream cheese frosting, topped with pink sugar crystals. But one Gigi’s a day is more than enough so I haven’t tried this one yet.
Also, Gigi’s is not the kind of place you go to just once. I already know which one I want to try next ….
Ares I-X
This is my favorite photo from today’s launch of Ares I-X. The white “cloud” around the top of the rocket is common when aircraft break the sound barrier. I find it so cool because as I was watching the launch on NASATV I thought I saw the cloud but I couldn’t tell if it really was one or if it was just a reflection of the sun on the gleaming white (mock) capsule on top. I was delighted to find this photo to confirm it!
Photo Credit: RED HUBER, ORLANDO SENTINEL
Wonder Woman
A co-worker loaned me this Wonder Woman movie this past weekend. I’m a little bit of a Wonder Woman fan, but I didn’t know as much about her as I thought. My Wonder Woman recollections are (reruns) of the Lynda Carter series. She was gorgeous and got lots of attention; she was strong and a hero. I liked her and wanted to be her for all of those reasons.
However I didn’t know her origins in Greek mythology, or that apparently she was created as a “feminist icon.” She is part of an all-woman tribe that hates men. The feminist part bugs me because anytime anyone tries to make a statement that women are just as capable, equal or superior to men but do so by using a woman’s feminity, body, attractiveness, etc., all they’re doing is just keeping a woman in that role.
The Wonder Woman movie very much functioned in that way, from the skimpy outfit, to the sexual innuendos, to the ending, where Wonder Woman is sad and lost without a man. The messages contradict themselves. Here is this strong woman who can do anything but who also has a perfect body and prances around in what is essentially a strapless swimsuit. The Amazons get mad when men whistle at them or make comments about their beauty, but then they’re the ones putting their bodies on display.
One of my favorite parts, for it’s message, was when the Queen of the Amazons (Wonder Woman’s mother) is about to kill the woman who was a traitor and started the whole conflict, and she says something like, “How could you have betrayed your people?” And the traitor responds that while Amazons are great warriors they are also women who long to love and have children. That, for me, rung true, that yeah, feminism has its cost. Nothing is free.
Target Book Deal
From Target Addict:
Buying a new book at the suggested retail price might become a thing of the past. Last week, Walmart started an online bookseller battle when it announced it would offer 10 bestsellers for $10 each on its web site. Amazon.com promptly matched that deal. And by late Friday, both retailers had dropped their prices again – Walmart to $8.99, and Amazon to $9.
And on Monday, Target joined the fray, offering the same selection for $8.99 on its web site. For two books on the list, Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue” ($29) and Stephen King’s “Under the Dome” ($35), the online price cut amounts to discounts of 69% and 74% respectively, which is a pretty hefty savings for consumers. Target says the price also applies to pre-orders on Target.com of such books as “Breathless” by Dean Koontz and “Ford Country” by James Patterson.
This crossed enough circles in the Vinn diagram of “things I blog” to be worth sharing, but I have nothing more to add. Except that, of those, the only one I’m interested in is, of course, the new Sarah Palin book.
And that I may use this blog title again someday if I’m ever contracted to write a book about Target, a sequel perhaps.
The Bakerella Proposal
Who doesn’t love a good love story, complete with sweet, romantic proposal of marriage and cake (well, a cake blog at least).
Here’s the proposal.
And here’s the back story.
Tennessee Valley BEST
I worked today as a judge at the Tennessee Valley BEST Robotics competition — my first time ever at a robotics event — and had a blast! I was part of a three-member panel that judged for two of the event’s “special awards” — the most robust robot and the duct tape award for the team that had to do the most repairs. Basically we watched the bots in action and in the pit to see how they were holding up.
Seeing the unique robot designs and watching them work was neat, but the highlight of the event was the excitement, the enthusiasm. Schools brought with them cheerleaders, mascots, pep bands, and parents all yelling and cheering on their team. It was like being at a sporting event, the mood was crazy!
A DJ kept the gym thumping (and I do mean thumping) with music. They gave us all ear plugs at judge’s orientation and I initially scoffed at it, thinking I’m young, this is cool, I ain’t wearing no stinkin’ ear plugs. But after two hours, I put them in. Even with the plugs I could still hear the music, but I could also hear myself think. My heart felt like it was beating along with the bass. Adding to the noise was the pep bands having band wars, and sometimes even playing together. And yes, kids were dancing and doing the robot. (hehe)
I was impressed by what I call the second-hand smoke affect, that the kids immediately involved in building and programming the robot were not the only ones getting excited about technology and robotics, but the music kids and the cheerleaders and so on were excited about it too. Kids were cheering for robotics teams as if they were at the state basketball or football championship! I told one of the other judges that I never did anything this cool when I was in high school!!
FlyBoys
I ate yesterday at my second astronaut-owned restaurant. (I wrote a few months ago about eating at Tierra Luna Grill in Houston.) A co-worker read about the new FlyBoys restaurant in the newspaper, so several us rode over there yesterday for take-out. Flyboys is co-owned by astronaut Barry Wilmore, who is about to fly into space as the pilot on the STS-129 space shuttle mission (currently set to launch Nov. 16).
I’ve heard more than one person refer to Wilmore as “Marshall’s astronaut.” (Marshall Space Flight Center, that is.) He’s originally from Tennessee (just a hop and a skip away from Huntsville), has friends and family in the area, was assigned to shuttle propulsion systems, which is managed out of Marshall — so hangs around the Tennessee Valley/Huntsville area a lot, I take it. I’ve seen him twice — once at a Silver Snoopy ceremony for a co-worker and once at one of the on-site grills, in line to order lunch.
According to the paper, the restaurant is co-owned by Wilmore and Bill Coggins, who attended Navy flight school with Wilmore in the mid-1980s. The restaurant has a cool aviation theme with a flightsuit/helmet display, pictures and memorabilia on the walls, and the tail of a plane sticking out of it’s roof. Coggins told the paper he has the best Philly cheesesteak in town, and I can testify that the buffalo chicken sandwich was quite kickin’ as well.
This photo of Wilmore hangs in the restaurant
Memorabilia on the walls at FlyBoys
See the tail of the plane sticking out of the roof?
Cool door logo!
The drive-thru with blue neon ... ooh
Part of the aviation theme, clocks with the times in major cities
Save when you use reusable bags at Target
Update: It’s official. Target made the announcement about their new cash incentive reusable bag program on Monday, the 19th, after I posted this on Saturday, the 17th. Apparently they did a “quiet” start to this to give team members time to get used to the policy before announcing worldwide. The program officially begins Nov. 1.
I read rumors a few weeks ago about Target giving credits for using reusable grocery bags but I couldn’t confirm it was true. It seemed as if it may be regional to states that may offer businesses incentives for green initiatives like that. I couldn’t find any press release on it, only personal stories on blogs, so I didn’t think anything more about it.
Until I saw the following today on my Target receipt:
Save 5 cents every time you use a reusable bag
Of course this was after I walked out of Target with 10 or so plastic bags, while my reusable bags sat unused in the car.
No indication they must be Target reusable bags. Of course, the Target ones are quite cool, but I think any reusable bag will be credited. I’ll try it out next time and report back.
