How do you unwind?

There are many different things I can do to unwind when I feel stressed, or when I just want to do something that’s solely about making me happy.  Sometimes I run, lately I take tell Sophia that Mommy needs a time-out and leave Daddy in charge for five minutes.  I also l-o-v-e to bake.  It makes me happy.  Even if I don’t eat it, because sometimes I like to make things for fun, even if it’s not something I like to eat (like pumpkin pie – love to make it, but I REFUSE to eat it!).

Yesterday, I was browsing one of my new favorite blogs (you can check it out here:  Sweetapolita), and was inspired to make a chocolate cake.  I plan to try to make one of her amazing, very tall, six layer cakes at some point – like this one:



But, last night was not the time, so I ended up this Easy Chocolate Cake from Martha Stewart’s website.

Start with this:

 

  
End up with this:

I splurged on Vanilla Bean Gelato and it was worth it – SO SO good!!


And, since, technically, the blog IS named for her (at least for now)  here’s a picture of Sophia.  I usually carry her into stores – keeps shoes clean, it’s faster, etc., but yesterday I let her walk into a bookstore.  Mostly because we had to park a block and a half away, so I didn’t want to carry her.  She had so much fun crunching the snow with her toes!