Tag Archives: stl250

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Full Circle (yes another cake posting)

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IMG_4565Today I walked in the Beggin Barkus Pet Parade with the cake lovers. (http://stlouis250cakelovers.com). I had such a good time meeting new people who have the same love for these crazy cakes as I do. Let me back up to Allyson’s and mine second cake adventure. This was right after we had returned from Big Stuf camp. Our tenth cake was at Clementine’s which was St. Louis first LGBT bar. There were two men sitting outside and when we walked up to the cake, one asked us how many cakes we had seen. I said about ten or so. He told me I must see many more, that finding them is half the fun. (I thought he was kind of crazy at the time, little did I know). He then introduced himself as the cake artist. I said get over here and have your picture taken with my daughter. He asked if I was sure and I said yes. He then told me he also did the Powell Symphony Hall cake. Well I knew at that moment I would for sure have to see that cake. After I got home, I looked up his name and he is Earl Miller.

So today which cake do you think was on the float? The one in the picture of course. And somehow I managed to be the one in the back to help Earl steer the float. This made me extremely nervous because it’s just like steering a boat which I cannot do well at all. I think Earl figured this out pretty quickly and probably wanted to shoot me. I had a hard time talking to him because he’s a cake artist and in my head famous. It would be no different from walking with Michael J Fox. The parade was very cool because I love dogs. Heck growing up I wanted to own a dog farm. I got over that, way too much work but I still love them. I saw so many cool ones. Since it was a pet parade there were other pets there as well. I saw a rooster, a goldfish, a cat, a huge bunny in a stroller and a pig. And some of these guys had on some crazy costumes. I didn’t take any pictures though. After the parade we had to take the float back to Nadine’s Gin Joint (Clementines closed the end of September and the cake was hosted in front of Soulard Art Market) where it will permanently reside. On the way back the float tipped over and the cake went crashing to the ground. My heart stopped beating and I flashed back to dropping mine out in the front yard. At least this time I didn’t gouge my leg which I still have the mark from. I felt horrible especially since Earl was right there. I set my bag down and totally forgot about it. Thankfully, Jason was paying attention and grabbed it for me. So we righted it and then somehow I ended up in charge of steering. Those of you who know why my passenger side view mirror is missing can understand the comedy of me being in charge. When we got back I told Earl I was sorry it fell and he told me not to worry it wasn’t damaged. There were a couple of scuff marks but I am sure he could fix that in two seconds flat where it would take someone like me three weeks or longer. I would have to research it and think about it for a while. Better to take my time than to mess it up.

Mole moral~I would have never guessed last summer that I would be walking with a cake artist and his cake. One of the most coolest cake experiences so far.

 

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Today’s cake debacle

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Today Brian had Dominic help him take the cake around  the house to the basement. Now that seems simple enough, except this is the Mole house. The cake would not fit through our tiny sliding glass door. I swear it is the smallest sliding glass door ever made! When the girls were little we could barely get the Barbie jeep through it and when our deep freeze was delivered they had to take the entire door off. He then measured the cake and the doors in the house. The cake would have fit through the front door but not the door down to the basement. It also won’t fit through the door to Emily’s room. So it can’t go in there either. I think I will put it in the laundry room as Brian would not agree to let it sit on his pool table. It is way too cold to be taking the sliding glass door off so he has put it in the very back of our garage where the only way I could hit it would be to plow through the recycling bin. Otherwise I would be parking in the driveway. I can hit my car, the garage, the trash cans and anything else including backing up through the grass but no way am I risking even bumping the cake. We don’t want to move it a bunch because the rocks keep falling off of it every time we move it. So until I get in touch with the artist and see if there is a way to replace some of the rocks and then use something to get it all to stay stuck I am leaving it put for a while. And with my car behind it, no way can anyone get it out of our tiny garage.

Mole moral  Nothing is ever easy and always makes for a great story!

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The adventure of picking up the cake

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It’s an understatement to say nothing ever goes right with me. So the logical conclusion would be that picking up the cake was a true Mole adventure. When I called the sculpture park and the office is closed until Monday I went into full on panic mode because the auction site said they had to be picked up by the fourth. I also wanted my cake, like today. I call Meg in a panic and she said why don’t you try to find a park ranger and talk to him. She is so smart! So I jump in my car and find the ranger. Now he is in his car on his cell phone and I am standing out in the rain waiting for him to get off the phone. He finally gets out an apologizes for keeping me waiting. i said its no big deal I’m too mean to melt. When he caught my humor he started laughing. So I told him I won the auction and he said let’s go see if anyone from maintenance is still here and we can talk to them and I will show you the back entrance to the park. I showed the maintenance guy my papers and he was fine with me coming back with my husband. So I found the back parking lot which was right next to the cake. Most people parked over on the other side and had quite a walk. So my husband and I turn the cake over to remove the sandbags and guess what? My cake does not have a secret hatch or sandbags. So we removed the concrete blocks that were inside and put it safely in the truck. When we got home we were moving it into the front yard to hose it off when it slipped out of my hands and went skimming down my leg and to the ground. Now my husband saved the day by not just letting him (the cake) fall. The cake was fine, my leg not so much. (His back is now hurting because of not letting the cake fall to the ground.)  My leg doesn’t hurt too bad right now but by tomorrow it should be a hot bruised mess. I had on a brand new pair of jeans and luckily it did not rip a hole in them. My cake has metal around the bottom which is what nailed my leg. So my cake is safely home and he is in the garage till he dries and then will be safely in the basement. My husband is acting about the cake like he does our dog. He can’t stand the thing when I actually I think he finds it really cool.

Yes i am referring to my cake as a boy. Most of the cakes I would consider to be girls but I think the sculpture park was one of the most boy cakes around. And my husband who “thinks the thing is stupid” has already looked at my picture from the spring to see how the top looked and what is missing. He is also figuring out what was used to glue the wood to the top. The cake could use some fixing, I am hoping at some point to meet the artist Nick Lang and see what he suggests.

Mole moral: We own the coolest cake ever!!!

 

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Rachel takes the cake

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IMG_4653 IMG_4654It was a fun night last night. Brian was in bed, Emily and Kayla were out and Allyson was reading in her room. And what was I doing? I was bidding on the Stl250 cakes. When I first heard they were up for auction I really wanted the      Laumeier Sculpture Park cake. When Allyson and I went to see it this summer we were fascinated with the way it was designed. There were pencils and rocks and screwdrivers and fencing and all kinds of stuff. The bid on that took off and was out of my price range right away.

So I turned my sights on the Harley Davidson Cake because it is orange and my favorite color. I was added to the stl250 cake way to the west Facebook group a couple of weeks ago and what a blessing that has been. I met Andrea and her love of cakes and knowledge about them is amazing. She told me that the Harley cake was originally supposed to go to Fast Eddies so if I looked on the base I would see the Pisia bird.

IMG_0950 Just mentioning that bird brings back one of our most frustrating cake experiences ever.That was the day Kayla, Dominic, and I did a ton of cakes in IL. Alton was a nightmare and the address listed for the bird took us to a subdivision. I thought it was like a real bird statue. We finally found Alton Visitor cente,r they told us the bird was on the way to Grafton on the great river road. When we saw it, we wanted to set the cliff on fire. Its a painting of a crazy looking bird on the side of a cliff. That was also the day I got a new iPhone, took all the cake pictures and came home and plugged my phone in and set it to my old phone settings losing all of my cake pictures. Three hours of research later I discovered how to go back to the first settings and retrieve the photos. I ran into Kayla’s room and sang the Doxology to her and Dominic because that was such a long day we did not want have to redo them.

So back to the bidding. I had a limit and then found out a friend wanted to give me some money towards it. The Harley Cake was quickly reaching my max so with 15 seconds left I bid my max amount of money on the sculpture cake and won it. Allyson was very excited, especially when I told her I wanted to give her the cake when she is older. She is my artist and the cake just makes me think of her.

Brian thinks I am a fruitcake for wanting “some stupid cake”. He does not realize that first of all its art and second of all it represents so much for me. First of all its a reminder i set my fear of not knowing where i am going and went to places in St. Louis I would have never ventured to! Each cake holds so many memories with the people who were with me when I found each cake. All the yelling and screaming when we were lost and the euphoria when we finally spotted one. It was a crazy fun summer and fall and I am sad it has come to an end.

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“The best day ever!”

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The best day ever is a spongebob squarepants quote and accurately reflects my day today. I am so thankful that a couple of days ago I asked the stl250 Facebook page if they were ever going to display the 2 roving cakes (as in the two I have yet to see) before the end of the year. I really want to finish my digital scrapbook but not if I can still see those two cakes. The answer I received was better than I imagined.

IMG_0902Today the finishing touches were being put on the last roving cake and I was invited to not only see the cake but everyone that stopped by could paint dots on the cake. Ok that alone was freaking cool. Also there is a gold cake that was the prototype for the real cakes and it was going to be there too! This means the only one I have not seen is the cartoon cake. It is one of the cakes that is up for auction. Well on New Years Eve at First Night the cakes are supposed to be displayed. The gal in IMG_0899charge was not sure if the cartoon cake would be there. Trust me the room was filled with crazy cake people wanting to know the answer to that question. If the cake will be out on New Years Eve, then Emily and I will be attending First Night for the first time ever. The funny thing is, I originally signed up to work New Years Eve but was told it’s not considered a major holiday so I am working New Years Day instead. So I can see my last cake. If not, I might have hunted down the IMG_0907person that won the cake and ask to see it. Yes I am that obsessed. All 257 cakes is my goal.

While we were there I purchased the complete post card set of all 253 official cakes (the extra Ameren UE cake, the two rovings and the gold cake are not considered official) and two extra postcards for a friend of mine. I also purchased a different artist pencil drawings of zebras. They also had a contest of who took the best pictures of cakes and the winners on the wall for sale. Emily wanted the picture of The Church of the Holy Family in Cahokia IL. At the time Allyson and I went there (our second cake) my mom was writing her blog When The Church Bells Rang about our family history. She said the bells use to ring all the time and she hadn’t heard them in thirty years. Just as Allyson and I finished with the picture the bells rang and I really felt it was my grandpa Miller saying hello from Heaven. The photo is really cool and Emily is going to hang it up in her apartment since I do not believe in hanging up pictures.

I couldn’t ask for a better day. This caking my seem crazy but the family memories we have made are indescribable. I will be glad when my scrapbook is finally finished and we can all look it!

Mole moral: Mama mole worked 74 hours the past two weeks because the Shaw Art Show was going to have the last cake and she would need to purchase a few really cool things!

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This weekend’s cake adventures

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Yes I am still obsessed with the stl250 cakes that are planted around St. Louis. I have successfully found and photographed 224 cakes while dragging various family members and friends of family members with me. This weekend I conned my niece Sierra into going with me on Saturday and then Bridget with me on Sunday. It’s what happens when my immediate family leaves me for a weekend of fun and I am working on Labor Day.

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Yesterday started out with a bang. We went to the Harley Davidson store to see that cake. Well my sister decided to park in the motorcycle parking because she didn’t see regular car parking. As we walk to the cake all the Harley dudes are inside the place watching us. As we are leaving the owner comes out and gives her crap for parking where the motorcycles go. As we are leaving Sierra yells from the back seat “Mom don’t hit a motorcycle.” We always run into other people who are out taking pictures of the cakes as well. While at the civil war museum cake we asked the cake group to take our picture together.

 

 

 

IMG_5177The cake that surprised me the most was at the youth bridge community foundation. You see above it was a sign that said Haven House. This place provides a place for out-of-town people to stay and is cheaper than a hotel. We use to send the NICU moms there before the Ronald McDonald house was built on Mercy property. It was really cool to see the place after hearing its name all these years.

 

 

 

 

 

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Our 200th cake happened to be at the YMCA where my good friend Meg Barry goes. We attempted to make 200 with our hands forgetting it looked right to us but was backwards to everyone else.

 

 

 

IMG_5193I think the most awkward cake of the day was at Old St. Ferdinand Shrine. There was a wedding getting ready to start so I simply jumped out of the car, zoomed my camera and took a picture as fast as possible. It is the only cake so far that doesn’t have someone in it. I thought it might be just a little rude to say hey wait a minute can you let us bust through the gate and get a quick photo!

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_5199So today Bridget and I head out and our first clue that today was going to be a nightmare was when part of the road to Bevo Mill was shut down for a carnival. We parked and walked to it, and got whistled at on the way. We both looked at each other like did that really just happen. I haven’t been to Bevo Mill since I was a school nurse and we had lunch there at Christmas time. What’s really weird is just yesterday when I was out walking the dog I ran into Anne who was also a Lutheran school nurse at the same time I was. She lives in the neighborhood behind me. The last time I saw her was when she had her daughter who is now six.

 

 

 

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I must say that the Dogtown cake was the absolute worst one to find ever. It said it was located on the median on Tamm Ave. Ok that was total BS. There is no median anywhere on Tamm because Bridget and I drove the entire road twice. The address listed was in front of a church and there was no cake there. I almost got hit by pulling out in front of someone because of looking for the cake. I happened to randomly look up a street not even close to the address and there was the cake. Some guy yells out the window at us not to be taking our picture with the cake or it will cost money. I kid you not, I was about to knock on someone’s door on the street and ask them where the cake was. You see I get super obsessive when I can’t find something or figure it out and no way was I leaving without seeing the cake!

 

 

IMG_5225The next few cakes were uneventful and then we went to fountain park where the cake was located by the Martin Luther King statue. The area was really cool because it was sort of like a round about but with houses everywhere. We jump out and take the picture and head back to the car. There is an older couple outside in the front yard fussing at each other. I am trying to quickly put in the next stop when I accidentally honk the horn. Ok that got like four people’s attention. I was like I cannot believe this we have to get out of here. I have had a couple of people ask me if I would do this without GPS. There is no way. I have zero navigational skills and even if I had directions on paper if I got lost there is no telling where I would end up. I have seen parts of St. Louis that I would have never seen otherwise. First of all I would have never been able to find them and if I did stumble onto them I would never find my way back home. One of the better gifts God ever gave me was the GPS navigational tool. Oh and Siri was getting on my nerves so bad, I changed her to a male voice. But by the end of this day sex change Siri was on my nerves too!

IMG_5230We ran into more cakers at the cemetery who told us about a really close cake so we headed off to the old chain of rocks bridge. Once again the address put us in the middle of a field. Luckily they had given us some direction although they said they drove down the bike trail to reach the cake. I don’t have that kind of nerve so we went down the road farther and found the cake. It also said it had bathrooms and it had been quite a while so Bridget and I said cool. Yeah cool alright they were the nastiest Johnny on the spots I had ever seen. I think we would have been better off finding a bush. The cake was really cool so it was worth the drive.

 

 

 

There is a cake at the airport so that meant we had to park to go see it. It cost us five dollars to park for twenty minutes. Talk about a rip off. It explains why most people use the cell phone lot when picking people up from the airport. You sit on a parking lot that has an electronic sign that tells you when the flights have landed. When the passengers get their luggage they call you and you pull up and pick them up. Anyway the airport had banners that explained the 250 cakes. Hopefully if I post the pictures that I took of them you will be able to read them. It kind of explains why they are all over the place and not necessarily just in St. Louis. They made the trip and the five bucks worth it. I think I missed the 50 places banner. Well bummer!

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