Grandpa Frostings

  Grandpa Frostings baby!

  Ok, I’m a nut about kids. We’ll get that right out in the open.

  I have two older brothers, and an older sister. I mean quite a bit older. I was the first child of a blended family. My Father had two sons when he married my Mom, who had a daughter. Growing up I was 5-10 years older than my nephews and nieces, so I was always the one that kept an eye on the kids.  It seems that I was changing diapers my whole life, which was all right with me.

  So, as an adult, I was ready for kids early. Married at 24, and a Father at 25. My oldest son who is now older than I was when I had him, just found out that he and his beautiful wife are expecting their first. Just before Christmas we learned that Leslie’s daughter, and my Step Sweetheart, was having her first baby.

  It’s safe to say that I am just freakin beside myself!

   This whole process has caused a jumble of emotions.  Not the least has been the concern that I show equal Nutty Grandpa-ness to both my children. I love my Step Daughter like she was my own, and I love my son, well, like he is my pride and joy.  If Matthew was having a baby, and he better not at this stage of his life, I would be equally jazzed because he is my baby boy and we know how the little one gets all the attention.  Even at 26.

  Now we also have the whole “Chickens coming home to roost” situation. Can I see the hands of you out there that swore you would never be like your Parents? Yeah, me too.  Now, may I see the hands of those honest enough to admit seeing your Dad/Mother in yourself at the worst possible times? Well, you haven’t seen nuttin yet. Wait until you stare down at the terrible vision of yourself, as your Father, telling YOU how to be a parent. Yeah, makes you wish you had been a little more respectful of their Grandpa nuttiness. 

  Being a Dad is tricky business.  You start out without a clue, and you are expected to just KNOW stuff. Filled with equal parts confidence and fear, you plug away with one overwhelming mission to accomplish. Turning this wonderful, loving lil human into the best adult they can be.

  “Being a good friend is more important than having a good friend” “Having and giving respect is the only way to earn it for yourself” “God loves a good sharer more than anything else” “If you want the girl you like to like you, then be kind and gentle to ALL the girls. Not just the cute ones” “If you are ever asked to dance, you dance like it’s the greatest thing you ever did” “When you meet someone, you always look them in the eye and shake their hand”

  These are some of my words of wisdom that I tried to teach my boys. Just stuff I made up in my feeble effort to teach them to be men of respect.

  Now, the pressure is off. I can let my Grandbabies stay out late and watch scary movies. I can give them Ice Cream before dinner, and let them run with scissors. Ok, maybe not that one, but you get the idea.  I can take my equal parts of pride in my children and fear that they will love the other Grandpa more, and just go with it. I can be the best Grandpa Frostings that I can be, knowing that they have the wise and loving guidance of smart, respectful and competent parents.

  My children are up to the challenge of raising their kids as they see fit.  And, if they're not, I can still ground their asses.

Random Wedding Cake pic, to prove I'm a Wedding blogger.

 

(another awesome Callaway-Gable photograph)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from the beautiful Miramonte Resort, Palm Springs!

  Leslie and I ran away for a few days to get our heads together, take stock of the year that was and talk about 2011. I also managed to get in a freezing round of golf, head bob to a killer cover band and drink too many margaritas.

   I guess the obvious questions are "Why are you blogging, why haven't you BEEN blogging" and the one that concerns me the most " why would I want to read your blog?" Leslie would like to know the answer to that one also.

  There are some amazing, entertaining and informative blogs on the internets. Whatever itch you might have, can be scratched in the Wedding Blog world. What is it that we might offer, that isn't already beat to death?

  Well, says Mr. Frostings in his best third person voice, we will talk a little about our product, and drop some beautiful eye candy now and then. There will be cakes, desserts, and all manner of belt busting goodies available here, so we can keep our Street Blog Cred.

  I also hope to share some cool stuff our friends are up to. This is such an amazing industry, filled with fun, odd, interesting and obsessively happy people. I will try to tell that story too, now and then. We get to attend some amazing Industry Events, and they are rife with stories that need to be told. People watching, gossip and personal observations are a specialty of mine, but, fair warning, I am a firm believer that any story worth telling, is worth exaggerating. The Family refers to that as, “Earl-ing up a story”.

  My main goal here is to continue the relationship we have built on Twitter in a longer form. I would like to chat, share, engage and interact with you. I would like to help, encourage and promote your interests. Of course, that assumes that you will choose to interact with me also. I hope that the comment section will be more interesting than whatever foolishness I post, but that will depend on you, loyal Readers.

  Tell me what you think. What would you like me to talk about here? Any sage advise you wish to share?

  Mr. Frostings

Family Wedding

Last week we shared in such a wonderful family event; my niece Amelia got married! I was so excited for her and had such a great time helping her plan the wedding. We did a small ceremony and reception at Eagle Glen Country Club. We started our planning with our most important vendor, the photographer. For this, we solicited my BFF photo girl Holly Steen of  Cakes and Kisses Photography. She is simply the best, and I loved the fact that she shared in all the excitement with me. We also hired Mary Falkingham to do our flowers and the rest we managed to DIY.  I just love new projects and a good challenge!
This couple met while working at Disneyland. For them, it really is the happiest place on earth. Jared even proposed  to Amelia on the Jungle Cruise ride. With all these conenctions to the park, we incorporated a little bit of Disney theme whenever and wherever we could.

Her sister Amanda made these great Disney character table cards (she happens to be an artist at the park, as well)

This was the perfect topper for the cake!

It was difficult to decide what cake design to do, but I love the finished product!

I would like to officially welcome Jared to the family and extend my deepest wishes for Mr. and Mrs. Jared Dahl to live their happily ever after.

What a day!

  Welcome back loyal readers!
  I know it's been awhile. Truth is, I was feeling a little bloggers remorse. My last post was a very personal story, and I wondered about the response. As it turned out, the response was very positive. So, no worries Mate. Here I am back at it. For good or bad.
  Fantasy Frostings has had quite a day! The big announcement of our new line of budget friendly cakes exclusively through The Broke Ass Bride has sent both Leslie and I scurrying for cover. The resulting flurry of requests for more info, and interest from Brides themselves has been overwhelming. We truly didn't expect the outpouring of positive feedback, and affection. We are truly grateful.
  We have also had a few other irons in the fire. Over the last few months we have had a renewed interest from TV about doing something with us. Over the years we have done some television, from interviews on various news outlets to features on Wedding based shows. Leslie was on Oprah years ago, before my time, and I understand that was fun. 
  We have also passed on some things that we didn't feel would be good for us. One reality show wanted to film a consultation with us and the host who is getting married. Said host has a habit of abusing the guests on her show. We passed.
  There has also been some other interesting ideas tossed around, but we will have to see what develops before we get too excited about it.
  We did have one opportunity come our way that we are excited and honored to be involved with. Discovery Channel is hosting a 25th anniversary party for their network in Pasadena this Thursday, and we have been asked to be a part of it. We understand that the major executives from each of the member stations in the network family will be there. Possibly some on air personalities?
  We have been asked to bake a cake and do the decorating and assembly on stage with our team. There will be another cake designer there also, so we will have a friendly competition, which sounds like a blast to us.
  Some of our best friends will be joining our regular group of Cake Carnies on this little adventure. Holly Steen from Cakes & Kisses Photography will be there, as will our friend and budding decorator Holly Durst. Jennifer Robinson, a great talent in her own right and Erin Killam, a good friend, will kick in her mad skills.
  We are really looking forward to this one, and promise to post some of Holly's pics when it is all said and done.
  Wish us luck!!

  Earl Anderson
  @mrfrostings

Uncle Max

Welcome to our first blog on the new site!

  This space will normally be reserved for Cake pics and fun wedding stuff. I hope to write about what we have cooking, what our friends in the industry are doing and assorted other random thoughts about who we are and what we do. This will be a “Politics and Religion” free zone. Think of this space like a Family Reunion with the crazy cousins who may or may not be armed, or a business meeting. There are plenty of bloggers who don’t think of their politics as politics. They just assume everyone feels the same. I know my biases, and will try to save you from them.

  But today I would like to tell you a story that crosses above-mentioned line.

  I have been thinking about my Uncle Max. Maybe its because I still have a little Christmas magic rolling around in my heart, or maybe its because he’s thinking about me too. Regardless, Uncle Max is on my mind.
  He was my favorite Uncle. He would have been yours too, if he were your Uncle. He is one of my first memories. He decorated the windows at the downtown LA Bullocks Department store, when there used to be a Bullocks Department store. So, he always had a garage full of treasures that you couldn’t find anywhere else. He also made my Halloween costumes every year. I was Superman four years in a row, but he didn’t mind. He always had time to play, and gave my sister and I the best presents every year. I loved him more than I loved my Superman costumes, and I loved them the best.
  Max wasn’t really my Uncle. Uncle Don was my Mom’s little brother, and Max lived with Uncle Don.  My Mom had another little brother who was like my Uncle Don. When I was five, he shot himself at our house. His name was Gerald, and he couldn’t accept his life, I was told. I don’t remember him, but I remember how his death hurt my Mom and my two Uncles.
  Uncle Max died when I was ten, in 1967. Times were changing a little, but I still didn’t tell my friends much about my Uncles. I understood their relationship by then, and I also understood that too much conversation about that subject was going to lead to fights on the playground. I wasn’t embarrassed, but I was protective of them.
  Today, we do cakes for many same sex ceremonies. Call them what you want. Go ahead and argue about it if you want. Reasonable people can disagree, but that doesn’t mean that one of them isn’t wrong. All I know for sure is that I would’ve liked to have been Uncle Max’s best man at his wedding to my Uncle Don.



Mr. Frostings
@mrfrostings