Life is pretty sweet, no doubt about it.

But a couple of weeks ago, when I had the distinct pleasure and honor of attending CupcakeCamp in Newport, OR -- as well as several other sweet occurrences in the days following -- it was a little bit sweeter than usual.

Share the memories with me (that was a command, not a request):

To warm up my belly for a long day of eating cupcakes, I was sure to stop and get a delicious biscuit first, from The Coffee House, a place with a lackluster name but amazing sweets. How far would you travel for a delicious biscuit? Consider a road trip to Newport.
Arriving at the show, I felt so welcome.
OMG! My artwork was on the poster!
Double OMG: I think this is the first time I've ever seen my likeness on a poster. Cake celebrity!
Triple OMG: Look who else is on the poster!Photo credit: Bakerella
This is a big one: I finally got to meet Bakerella.
Bakerella!
Finally! After all of our sweet back and forth.
And I got to meet her friend "Cupcake Julie", too, who is an absolute delight and inspiration!
I got to hang out with my friend (and CakeSpy sponsor) Carrie of Bella Cupcake Couture fame. This time, she was one of the judges at CupcakeCamp.
I also got to meet Dianna Lopez, who is a professional cake decorator and taught a decorating class in which they used my artwork as inspiration. Cool!
This time, I got to teach a class, showing children (and kids at heart) how to watercolor cupcakes. Of course, there was some confusion about this--I taught them how to do watercolors OF cupcakes, not watercolor ON cupcakes.
I may or may not have felt slight pangs of jealousy when I saw the kids' creations, like this one
And this one
and this one
and this one
and this one
and this one
and this one
and this one
...and this one too.
And the adults had some nice showings too--here's Julie's (above).
...and Bakerella's (above).
You'd think that after judging cupcakes at Seattle's CupcakeCamp, I'd be tired of tasting cupcakes 30 at a time. But you're wrong.
There were so many delightful displays of cupcakes, but one of the standouts was definitely by Rocket Queen, whose cupcakes I have enjoyed in the past.
Judging was hard, but someone had to do it, and so I tasted peanut butter filled and frosted cupcakes...
...and huckleberry cupcakes...
and decorated cupcakes...
and cupcakes for Halloween...
and rainbow cupcakes...
rows and rows of cupcakes...
and cupcakes decorated to look like ice cream sundaes (!)
and cupcakes made by kids (maybe some of the same kids who took my class?)
and vegan cupcakes...
...and even cupcakes with fish!
...and wouldn't you believe, I was even asked to AUTOGRAPH something. I felt like a bona fide big deal, people.
After all this awesome, I kind of wanted to take a nap, but I didn't. I powered on over to Portland, where my totally sweet friend Nicole was having a bachelorette weekend. I arrived just in time for cheesecake from Laurelhurst Market (good timing!).
And back at the hotel room, there were cupcakes from Cupcake Royale.
In the morning, we went to Mother's, where I love the biscuits and cookies...
...before breakfast, we got a cinnamon roll.
...and after breakfast, we got some chocolate cake (secret ingredient: BEETS! Pictured at top of post)
...and then after that, while browsing about, I discovered the best bike in the world: Biscuit Bike!
Then, I saw some of my artwork at Presents of Mind!
Back home in Seattle, Bakerella and Julie came to visit my store!
...and while they were there, I was surprised by a visit from Cake Gumshoe Phuong (here all the way from Boston!)
...and a visit too from the amazing food writer Rebekah Denn and her adorable new baby daughter, who I have taken to calling "Miss Marshmallow".
All of them (Bakerella, Julie, Phuong, and Rebekah) got to meet Porkchop.
I was also an expert on Questionland that week. Cool!
And later on that week, a visit and little Halloween shindig with the totally awesome Alicia Kachmar.Photo Credit: Bakerella
And finally, a question and answer session and book signing at Williams-Sonoma with Bakerella before we sent her on the rest of her totally sweet tour.