The Cake That Didn't Work Out.

I made a pie this past weekend, and I realized I could have written a post about "the pie that didn't work out". I had used a crostata crust recipe and put it in a pie dish. The berries I used were still raw and my pie crust was burnt. This cake that I made today was for a friend who had a husband with a birthday. I knew right after I flipped the cakes over and started icing them, that this cake was not going to turn out. To be honest, I'm not sure what was the cause of the super soft and moist cake. For the first time in baking, I had substituted applesauce for eggs. Did that make the cakes extra soft? Whatever it was, it was just one of those things that I knew I could not send this cake along to the recipient. They wisely opted to pick up a different cake on their way home from work. How many times in decorating and designing an event do things not work out the way I had envisioned them in my mind. Most of the time no one else knows that there is something at the event missing. Usually it's not as glaringly obvious as a saggy cake can be. The past several weeks I've seen several people on Facebook share an article about how your life looks better on the internet than it does in real life. The reality is, everyone's life is a lot like this cake that didn't work out. There are many a day when I wake up and I feel as though the day ahead of me is already ahead. I can see where I fall short. When I'm throwing an event or hosting a dinner party, there are always things that don't quite turn out the way I wished they had. I just didn't seem to have quite enough hours in the day to finish up every single detail. I love what the author of the article (Shauna Niequist of Instagram's Envy Effect) says. "Let's choose community. Let's stop comparing. Let's start connecting." And that's what we try to encourage here on A Reason To Get Together. To choose community and to start connecting with loved ones in our lives. Even when life isn't perfect. It's through our imperfections that we can relate to others. I had a friend call me the night before we threw our dinosaur party to ask me how I was doing. She reminded me not to stress out about things. To just let go of some of what was on my to do list. It was just what I needed. That phone call reminded me to breathe. And so I let a lot of what I had originally envisioned go. I stopped juggling so many balls. It's a balancing act that is sometimes hard to perfect. I tried to focus on the guests that came to the party. And on not getting frustrated at my own kids for making more of a mess while I was trying to clean up before the party.