:: Happy pre-St. Patrick's Day!

So, I'm not really a fan of St. Paddy's Day...meaning the holiday. The man, St. Patrick?  Good Christian Saint whose death somehow became synonymous with green beer.  I'm sure there is a whole history lesson in there but mostly what I remember about St. Pat's Day is being pinched a lot for not wearing green.   How mean is that, seriously?!   I'm also not Irish and do not like corned beef or cabbage, so there you go.

BUT I do like the fun fun dessert-y variations of St. Pat's Day.  Today, browsing the blogosphere, I found this great idea for those of you who actually make special treats around this holiday:

I love the idea of cupcakes in a jar, and actually tried it with red velvet cake for Valentine's Day this year.  Lesson one learned:  that mason jars aren't ideal for this project (they CAN work in a pinch though), and lesson two:  the spoon tied to the jar with twine finishes the look.  I ran out of time making them and wound up giving cupcakes in bare mason jars to friends who most likely thought it was odd at best.  I seem to get worse at time management the longer I am a stay-at-home-mom...real world skill sets quickly atrophy when you're home with munchkins all day.  *sigh*
Anyway, instead of making anything like this, I thought I'd pass this recipe on to true over-achievers to try.  And, if you get a chance, check out her entire blog, she is so hilarious!  She also has some other great recipe ideas and tremendous creativity.  A new fave for me.

Oh, and before I run to stop my 2yo from mowing over dog poop mounds with her toy lawnmower, check out this fabulous  "Goldilocks and the 3 bears" birthday party idea.  I find things like this a bit over the top, but still have to share the amazing way it all turned out.  I am seriously impressed with that kind of dedication to kids who would rather jump on a bed than eat at it, and it gives me some inspiration for E's next b-day party.