you may already be dreaming

Oh yeah, and Happy New Year.

Okay, so the day after tomorrow is my 25th birthday. Tomorrow, we're having people over in the evening to celebrate. It was supposed to be a surprise, but Scott told me tonight. I guess he was nervous, and he messed up and planned it on the 17th instead of the 18th (which totally doesn't matter) and he knew I'd freak out if lots of people started showing up and the house was dirty. Not that we live in a pigsty exactly, but you know - it's nice to put away the mess and appear to have a tidy, perpetually clean house for your guests. Put out the nice soap and fresh hand towels and whatnot.
So I am racking (wracking?) my brain to figure out what to bake for my birthday! I was planning on making myself a pretty, complex celebration cake, taking my time on Sunday evening after I got the baby in bed and while Scott was at work, and really getting into a project of a cake. I never bake celebration cakes. Clearly, they are too much work. I love home style, rustic cakes. Bundt cakes are a favorite, as are simple one layer cakes topped with berries instead of icing.
But now we're expecting company. Tomorrow night. So I want to bake something tomorrow. Well, I wanted to have it baked tonight, but at the rate things are going, it probably won't happen. It's already 10pm. I thought - okay, no more celebration cake. At least not one I've never made before. I do have an amazing chocolate cake recipe on hand, and I've made it for a friend's birthday - complete with two layers, raspberry preserves in between the layers, buttercream frosting, and sliced strawberries on top. But I don't really like chocolate cake. Then I thought - alright, what about cupcakes? After searching online for the best cupcake recipe I counted my cupcake papers in the cabinet - only seven. We're not leaving the house tonight, in the snow, to buy cupcake papers. Now I'm thinking about just going with what I love - rustic cakes. I use the word rustic because it sounds fancier than "home style" or whatever else. It also lends an air of purpose. And it gives some space in the looks department. No one expects a "rustic" cake to look good - it tastes good, and that's exactly what it's all about.

You know, after all this typing and deliberating, and expounding on rustic cakes, I might just whip up my mom's apple cake and call it a night. It always tastes better on day two, and it's so easy I could make it in my nearly-asleep state. I could even plump up some dried cranberries in hot water and throw those in for some color.
Either that, or I could bake two busy-day cakes and layer and ice them.
Or, or, or. The longer I stay awake the more options I come up with, and the more I stress out over my own birthday cake. Won't anyone else bake it for me so I don't have to decide?
What about birthday cookies? Huh?
I should probably stop while I'm ahead, go to sleep, and hope that tomorrow the perfect idea occurs to me.