Actually the best icing recipe is yet to come, I’ll reveal that secret later. But I’ll tell you that it includes chocolate, a lot of chocolate.

Oh and sorry lovelies, the whole milk vs. 2%-fat free will have to wait. I’m so torn!

Alright, this icing recipe (do you say icing or frosting?) is a classic. It was a family favorite growing up. My mouth waters just thinking about it…

The picture of the cake above is from my birthday this year, beginning of August. The actual cake was a yellow rum cake. Imagine, rum cake with caramel icing. It’s as tasty as it sounds my friends. In fact I’m tempted to make one, my husband’s birthday is coming up…

Congratulations Rio!

I was rooting for Rio. Chicago (in my humble opinion) is very dull and not very pretty. But this is coming from someone with no love for the Midwest. No offense to those who live there, it’s just not for a Pacific girl.

At the last International Olympic Committee gathering to choose the 2014 Winter Olympics, I was there–sort of. You see it was held in Guatemala at precisely the time I was visiting there (July 2007) and it was purely coincidence.

The IOC meeting was a big to-do there. The streets were closed off for blocks around the event center. The newspapers were chomping at the bit. It was actually quite exciting. There were 3 major world leaders in tiny little Guatemala, of course the most significant of these was Putin. There’s a video of his speech, he’s speaking English but the translator talks over him on the video, located here. I heard that he bought a house to stay in just for the few days he was visiting, though that was never verified.

Look at Putin among the birds of paradise flowers, isn’t it nice?

Russia put on quite a show for the IOC. They even built the first ice rink in Guatemala (article can be found here) and brought in their most famous Russian ice skater (also happens to be my favorite), Evgeni Plushenko. I about died when I saw his picture in the Guatemalan newspaper, Prensa Libre. I had no idea he would be there before I saw that photo. The article even said what hotel he was staying in.

Don’t you know I kept my eyes peeled in Antigua and I swear I may have seen him in el mercado. A pale, blonde Russian kind of stands out amongst Latinos. But I was headed somewhere in a hurry, and now I’ll never know if that was him. Pity.

I just love the Olympics. I used to dream of working for the IOC. I even took a quarter of French (one of the IOC’s official languages) during that phase. In the future I will visit their headquarters in Switzerland. Have I mentioned that I am in love with Switzerland? No? Well that’s another post for a another day sweetums.

Remember that post I planned on writing about waterfalls as a follow-up to this one?

Remember how it hasn’t happened?

Well here it is! My top 10 favorite waterfalls, seen and unseen (by me, hopefully you’ve gotten to one).

1. Multnomah Falls

   

• Location: Portland, OR

• Why:My handsome husband proposed to me here.

• Status: Seen

Photo by Jim Dollar.

2. Ipsut Falls

(I don’t have a good photo of it, sorry!)

• Mt. Rainier, WA; near Ipsut Creek Campground

• Why: It has this huge rock at the bottom that the water runs over into a very calm pool. It’s very secluded in the backwoods of Mt. Rainier, difficult to get to now since the roads were damaged in the 2006 flood.

• Status: Seen

3. Semuc Champey

• Location: Coban, Guatemala

• Why: The water is so clear and blue! I swam in the little pools, they were so refreshing. It was a long trek down a dusty, one lane road, with numerous sharp turns and dropoffs…but so worth it.

• Status: Seen

• Note: This waterfall deserves it’s own post about the adventure, keep a look out!

Photo by Julien Lagarde.

4. Plitvice Lakes National Park

• Location: Croatia

• Why: This is as close to Rivendell as anyone could ever get. Just look at it! It’s surreal! I know I used a huge picture of it, but this is my number one favorite waterfall, at least on the to-see list.

• Status: Unseen, sadly.

Photo by Jack Brauer, amazing photographer!

5. Clear Creek Falls

(Can’t find a picture of this one, sorry folks!)

• Location: Yakima County, WA

• Why: I think the standing rocks at the bottom really appeal to me, they seem so unique.

• Status: Seen, but I have no real recollection of it, I was but a wee lass.

6. Pools of Oheo

• Location: Hawaii

• Why: I really have a thing for stairstep waterfalls as you can see…
  

• Status: Unseen

Photo by Gypsy and The Fool.

7. Hraunfossar

• Location: Iceland

• Why: It’s so wide and blue! Agh, it’s so pretty it hurts. It’s just so magical! It’s actually this really long cliff sort of thing with little waterfalls all over it, google it!
  

• Status: Unseen

Photo by jónr.

8. Dynjandi (Fjallfoss)

First a picture of it that I just love…

Photo by dibaer.

And now for the bigger picture…

• Location: Iceland

• Why: It combines stairstep waterfall with water sliding over smooth rocks, two of my favorite characteristics. I’m not sure if you can tell, but this waterfall is really big, that is quite the tall cliff it is falling over.
  

• Status: Unseen

Photo by inthenose.

9. Thi Lo Su

• Location: Thailand

• Why: I love waterfalls that make me feel like I’m in Rivendell if you can’t tell…(shameless rhyme). There are a lot of amazing waterfalls that I easily could put on this list from Thailand.

• Status: Unseen

Photo by yxejamir.

10. Shiraito

• Location: Japan

• Why: The color of the pool is what really catches me on this one. Or maybe the color of the foliage, either way it’s amazing.
  

• Status: Unseen

Photo by Zengame.

Ok, so I said it was a top 10 list but it’s really impossible for me to narrow it down to 10. I would have included every waterfall on the Asia top ten list alone.

Waterfalls are magnificent, beautiful creations that are such a blessing. I praise the Lord for every single one. Amazing! I think I may have to do a second Top 10 Waterfalls…like a Top 20 but split.

What’s you’re favorite waterfall of the ones above? Not listed?

Stay tuned for the tale of Semuc Champey!

*I take no credit for any photos in this post, their sources are listed above.