Adventure Wednesday, plus creative inspiration!

It's been a terrific week so far!  Progress on home, on self, on creative projects... plus time to relax.   I even logged a new exercise at Slimmons on Tuesday night: sideways leaps!  I am careful to keep my aerobics very low-impact, because I don't want to risk hurting my knees at this weight.  So I do my jumping-jacks one-legged, and I side-step the side-leaps.  But something on Tuesday compelled me to push myself.  (That "something" was probably Richard.  It was definitely Richard.)  And suddenly, there I was, flying sideways across the room.  Man, jumping is good cardio.  No wonder it's included so often.  I'm still going to move into the higher-impact like a turtle in molasses in January, but it's nice to know that I am ready for lateral bounds.

And another Wednesday has come and gone!  We headed out for Adventuring yesterday with big plans... and not enough time.  I'd had trouble falling asleep the night before, which led to a bit of a lie-in that morning, so my day was squashed short.  By the time we headed out, we were only able to make it to half of our planned adventure.  My first hike (!) will have to wait for the next adventure.

We did, however, make it to the first half of our plans - a bakery supply shop in Canoga Park called Kake Kreations.  (Heh, I misspelled both words of the name automatically when I typed it. My fingers like to spell "cake" and "creations" properly, I guess.)

I know what you're thinking.  You're wondering why someone on a weight loss journey would go to a bakery supply shop as an adventure. 

On my quest for health and balance, I've been seeking ways to enjoy food without overindulging.  Along the way, I have discovered a little trend known as Cake Pops.  Made popular by blogger Bakerella (and first introduced to me by way of Facebook, by my friend Molly), Cake Pops are little nuggets of cakey goodness on a lollipop stick.  I love treats.  In fact, I wouldn't have guessed it, but the thing that tempts me most when I'm on track... turns out to be dessert.  I've been looking for good ways to allow for moderate indulgence, and this seemed to be a fun option.

It turns out, though, that most of the commercially available pops are calorie-heavy, considering the small portion you're eating.  If what's in your tablespoon - not on your plate, just in one tablespoon - is more than 200 calories, it might be time to reconsider your tablespoon.  So I have decided to make it my quest to come up with the best possible Cake Pop recipe, with the most yum for the least bum.  And in order to start that quest, I needed supplies.  Enter Kake Kreations.

I was stunned at just how many different kinds of supplies the store carried!  They had everything you can imagine ever needing for baking... plus a ton you couldn't have imagined.

Bling-y sprinkles!

Every color of sanding sugar in the rainbow, plus several that aren't found anywhere near a rainbow. Unless you count rainbows by Lisa Frank.

Tons and tons of artificial flavors. The schnozzberries even taste like schnozzberries.

More cookie cutters than I realized existed.

Remind me to ask for some of these awesome concentric sets for Christmas.

Multiple walls of candy molds.

Including this DARLING teacup-and-saucer set

And these inexplicable credit card molds.  Chocolate.  It's everywhere you want to be.

Everyone there was incredibly friendly and helpful, and we walked out with the supplies we needed (lollipop sticks, candy shell, and cellophane bags.) Plus I snagged some extra surprises for an upcoming project.  More on that later.

We were out so far in the valley because we had an evening appointment to see another one of those super-secret movie test screenings.  We picked up some reading materials at a nearby bookstore and munched on our brown-bag dinners to avoid the siren call of popcorn (which we did successfully, though it was definitely a challenge.  The people next to us came armed with a veritable movie concession feast.)   I can't tell you what movie it was, but I will tell you that I was totally surprised and delighted by how great it was.  

I love how good movies inspire good work.  I'm always on the lookout for inspiration, and I have a few links on the topic to share with you today.

• If I can't have a real backyard yet, maybe for now I can cultivate a container backyard!

• If I can't eat a real chocolate bunny, maybe I can make these adorable faux ones!

• It is putting it mildly to say I'm a Muppet fan. My family tells a story about how I used to prop myself up and dance along with the original Muppet Show before I was able to walk.  Plus, I'm a sucker for dioramas and miniatures. So it was approximately 1.2 seconds before I fell thoroughly and irreversibly in love with this hand-made Muppet theater playset.  The detail work is astounding.

• These 10 ideas for becoming a better artist or writer sound a bit similar to what I've been discovering lately.  I highly recommend any working or aspiring artist or writer consider what this suggests.

All right... that's it for today.  I'll be back tomorrow with my step-by-step walk-through of Cake Balls Quest: Part the First.  Keep on adventuring, keep on creating, and take care of you, everybody!