First Birthday, Strawberries & a Little Peach

Meet Norah - she's a sweet, happy, beautiful little peach who's full of laughter & smiles.  Her big blue eyes & funny little expressions melt your heart the minute you see her.  She lives in Des Moines with her parents, Abby & Justin, who are also quite sweet.  I grew up around Abby, as she is one of my sister Abbey's best friends.  I got to know Abby even better when we lived and played together in college at the University of Iowa.  She is kind, thoughtful & sweet and she is a wonderful mother to little Miss Norah.

This weekend we're heading back to Iowa for Norah's 1st birthday - and I'm making the cake!  I will be elbows deep in strawberries tonight - I bought 4 lbs. of organic strawberries from Whole Foods last night, got all of them hulled, washed & sliced, and now they're in a big tupperware bowl in my fridge, sprinkled with sugar, waiting for me when I get home from work.  They'll go into the fresh strawberry cake layers that I'm making tonight & taking back with me to Iowa.  I'll finish the cake Saturday morning (coffee in hand) with a cream cheese buttercream frosting.  I also have the design/decoration of the cake all sketched out & I can't wait to see the final product!  

I'm happy & peaceful when I bake, and I'm happiest when people I care about get to enjoy what I create. There's sure to be a lot of smiles this weekend & hopefully the cake will be a big hit - and I can't wait to see Miss Norah in her pink party dress!  Recipe will be up sometime next week...!

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