hmmmmm.

UGH... last week was CRAZY.. Enfield farmers market was blah due to the weather, lebanon was pretty good except the initial fees killed me... and some confusion as to where i was supposed to be set up was a little confusing... and dont even get me started on cornish.. BEAUTIFUL weather.. tiny little market.. it was interesting.. more like the vendors just hanging out and having a hen party..

On a brighter note.. I am doing a baby shower cake.. YAY. and some wedding shower cupcakes or cake... again yay. It is also coming up fast on my favorite season. Fall.. i LOVE IT. the smell of the air, cool nights, school supplies, beginnings and ends.

These last couple weeks have not been easy. There are times that i am a little discouraged I would LOVE for things to take off quicker, but it is what it is. I must have patience, something that is hard for me.

The past week has given me a few insights though. CHOCOLATE... people love it.. i am not a chocolate person. But i have had many requests for a chocolate cupcake.
so this weeks line up is smaller, only 3 cupcakes.

Snicker doodle cupcakes
devils food cupcake with orange butter cream
pumpkin spice cupcake with cream cheese frosting..

Enfield.

Hey guys, It is tuesday night. I am exhausted. I have 3 dozen cupcakes to bake tomorrow and some frosting and glazing to do. Heading to bed early so i know that i will have the energy tomorrow to get it done.

I have the Enfield farmers market again tomorrow from 3 to 6. stop by and see me. It will totally be worth it. Im super excited as i have a tent this week to shield me from the sun.. or the rain as the case may be.


Just a quick reminder of this weeks flavors, Guinness, applesauce spice, allergy free chocolate, and blondie..

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see some friends tomorrow!!

Baking.

Today the baking has begun. 3 farmers markets this week! Yay me. I also talked to the woman at the co op today and got that process started. Its gonna take longer than i thought.( which is hard cause i kinda like instant gratification) But at least the ball is rolling.

So far i have 3 dozen JUMBO guinness cupcakes, and 3 dozen allergy free chocolate. 6 dozen more to go ( blondie and applesauce with apple cider buttercream) Im able to take it a little slower this week because i have known about the farmers markets for a week rather than finding out the day before i can do it.

I really really want this to happen. I want it to work with all of my being. I am putting my heart and soul into this.

Wow.

So, today i was FINALLY able to get a hold of the woman from the Lebanon farmers market.... and guess what.... IM IN!! im so super duper excited.. also i have been a busy bee. i got in touch with the cornish farmers market and i will be doing that too!.... so Wednesdays from 3 to 6 i will be in enfield. Thursdays from 4 to 7 i will be in Lebanon... and saturdays from 9-2 i will be in cornish... I AM SO SUPER PSYCHED

I am making an allergen free cupcake this week and a requested cupcake from the cornish farmers market.. Guinness with Guinness glaze.. also up to bat next week are applesauce spice with apple cider butter cream and an amazing blondie cupcake.. think blondie bars in cupcake form.

Tonight is the first night in a few weeks i have been away from Jeff and its a little odd. Hes at his parents house helping out with some stuff. Doing MAN things LOL. it is a little odd though not to have someone to bounce ideas off. Lately i am full of them. i am list making monster. a cupcake flavor making monster.... and Jeff is excited as i am. ( i LOVE that he believes in me UNCONDITIONALLY) Im pretty sure he believes in me more than i believe in myself. Im getting there. Slowly but surely.

Now im thinking of packaging again, but napkins and things of that nature for the farmers market. I have also been thinking of decorating.. sanding sugars, toppings, etc... and did i mention the new frosting tip that i am IN LOVE with... ahhhhhh

Hope you all have sweet dreams.. i know i will.

YUMMY!

I have all these amazing flavors in my head. I need one more flavor for the Enfield farmers market next week. so far the line up is.... Blondie cupakes.. an allergen free ( no nuts no dairy no eggs) chocolate cupcake .... and an applesauce spice cupcake with apple cider buttercream... i need one more!

I keep playing phone tag with the woman from the lebanon farmers market which i want to know about NOW! like 3 days ago now. I think i will phone stalk her today til i get an answer.

I am getting so excited about so many things. Ann and her blog header was amazing. The fact that i actucally SOLD cupcakes was pretty sweet. Dawn had dinner here last night then she (with my input) worked on some logo stuff.. well she knows what it is. i just know its cute! Things are steady going. I need to talk to someone at the Co-op and see if they might be interested in carrying a few just to see how it goes....

Which brings us back again to the packaging. If i want to put my product out there.. i need something to put it in. Must figure these things out!

YAY!

So I did it! i took a GIANT leap of faith toward my dream. The farmers market. The last few days have been crazy busy so this is going to be a short and sweet post. I got lots of business cards out. Got my product out there and sold 50 dollars worth of cupcakes.... YAY!

I have great people in my life!

First off today i must give props to the FABULOUS miss Ann Tate Boyle.. who in a span of 15 minutes whipped my blog into shape giving it the FANTASTIC new look it has today. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

I have accomplished the task at hand. 4 dozen cupcakes. 4 different flavors. 4 different frostings all home made... YAY. they are all sitting in my fridge (with a few extras at the bank for marketing) awaiting to go to their new home at the farmers market. I will be in Enfield today friends by lasalette, near the shaker inn from 3 to 6 PLEASE come and taste my creations..

WOW... HOLY MADNESS!

Wow! The last few days and today have been total madness. I love every second of it! Last second decision was made to do the farmers market in Enfield.. its by lasalette. i would LOVE LOVE LOVE for you guys to come see me.. from 3 to 6 this Wednesday.
I have 4 flavors chosen for this week.....(drum roll) A devils food cake with a sinfully delicious chocolate ganache frosting. A vanilla bean cupcake with buttercream and a candied orange slice on top. A classic yellow cake with butter cream.. and last but not least a raspberry cupcake with lemon buttercream! so there is this weeks line up. i am signed up to do that farmers market for the next 3 weeks.

This is it! Its the beginning. Its starting! this is going to be something HUGE.. I need to believe. i DO believe. I cant see it. But i KNOW i can do it. This is me taking a GIANT step in my life. this is me getting out of the boat. (*chris*)

So come see me this week.. cupcakes will be for sale.... But i will have some mini cupcakes with a sneak preview of next weeks flavors... With a special one for my favorite cupcake of all. An allergen friendly chocolate cupcake.. NO nuts NO eggs NO dairy...

Farmers market!

So i am FINALLY home. the weather is AMAZING. and my mind is in overdrive. I think i am going to rent space at the lebanon farmers market this week and see what happens.. Thursday my friends. Come see me.

I am thinking 2 basic cupcakes ya know. Chocolate, vanilla, but then i am thinking not so basic.. creamsicle, snicker doodle, lemon, i had a few suggestions to do pumpkin or apple spice but i think i wanna hold off til September for the fall flavors. So today will be spent racking my brain on the last 2 cupcake flavors.. input is welome. and finalizing these plans.. and drooling over the SQUARE cupcake pan i saw on qvc... ahhhh cupcakes. i need to get new frosting tips too.. ugh and boxes... and ribbon.. ugh so much to do so much to do.

TIRED!

On the road! SO TIRED.. exhausted. But having fun, and thats all that matters right. Something got spilled on the keyboard of my computer so some of the buttons are sticking.. Gonna have to have Jeff work some of his computer unsticking magic.

I have been doing some crazy brain storming while stuck in the car. I have been thinking about packaging for some reason. Well its gonna have to be packaged so i have to think about it. But that is what has been on my mind for the last day or so. I am thinking simple and sweet. Boxes. Obviously big ones for big orders, but im thinking small individual ones for the single sweet gesture. If you want to bring a friend a cheer up gift. Make your significant other smile. Suck up to your boss.

Simple white boxes are whats on my mind.... but here comes the good part.. RIBBON. lots of pretty, sparkly, polka dotty, stripey, ribbon. Each box sealed with a sticker logo (which i have not thought of yet) and a pretty ribbon. I know a small something like that would make my day.

Marketing.

So I'm thinking of starting out small.. Well i AM starting out small. My thought though is..... stores.. like the co-op, deli mart, things like that. Small restaurants that may want speciality cupcakes.. like Guinness ones. I also had the thought of the farmers markets. I know the one in Leb is on Thursdays. I need to figure out what i need to do to sell there. If anyone can do it. If you need some sort or special permit.. I don't know these things people!


I was also thinking of just kind of handing them out, giving them away with business cards attached.. All wrapped up and cute.. ( WERE TALKING ABOUT CUPCAKES HERE PEOPLE. GET YOUR MINDS OUT OF THE GUTTER) I have so many ideas and so much on my mind that i don't know what to do or where to start. It's just overwhelming. In a good way though. If anyone who reads this has any thoughts or suggestions PLEASE let me know. feedback is GREATLY appreciated, my goal is to serve you guys. So knowing what you want or what you think will work, makes it that much easier.

Night all.

All is fair...

Yowza. Today has just been one of those days.. I was able to get some house cleaning done and not much else. I had a major case of heartburn which led to a major stomach ache. YUCK. So i did succeed in getting Hunter to clean the bathroom. ( thats the room he chose to clean). I am leaving soon on a small jaunt halfway across the country so no baking is to be done.

I have been planning, making lists, copying recipes, and thinking of baking. I need to get a solid plan. I need to pick ONE task and focus on it. I have this HUGE list of things i need to do, and i look at it and get overwhelmed and i dont know where to start. It just stays as a list.

Im just rambling now, due to the fact that im tired and have a million things on my mind and i cant focus. So for now i suppose i should sleep. Or at least try.

Crazy.

Aaarrgh.. That is how my day started. i have a 9 year old who for some reason can live on 3 hours of sleep. I was woken up at 5 this morning because he couldn't get the TV to work.. Huh? What.. HUNTER its 5. GO BACK TO SLEEP. So i managed to squeeze a few more hours of interrupted sleep in.

I want so badly to work on recipes today, on transferring them to my computer, making lists and all that good stuff. BUT. my house is a MESS. i have a dog and a cat who trash the place and my child believes that he should be waited on hand and foot. Well NOT TODAY my little friend. WE are going to clean and get this house clean. I have a crazy next few weeks and need to get as much done around the house as i can.

I need to start planning. I need to tell you my friends this is where i start to FREAK out. i am not good at lists, planning, things of that sort. I am a disorganized sheep. Tell me what to do and i will do it, no problem. But leave it to me to start something HUGE all myself and i turn into a bundle of nerves. I plan on making one loooooong run on list and showing it to the bestie. Said list shall cover what i need to do what i want to do and my pathetic grievances.

What i would REALLY like today is bake. Just test some stuff out. But I'm not really sure if the town of Lebanon would be OK with me wandering around handing out cupcakes to random strangers. Odd as it is i eat 1 cupcake and I'm done. And Hunter will eat the whole flipping pan. i need to get my camera to work, i need to take pictures of cupcakes, i need to find a backdrop or a place to take these pictures, there is so much to do and worry about. I need to keep my eyes on the prize (the prize being the shop that I'm already picking out designs for in my head) So good by my cuppycakes i must get something done today

The start of something new.

Today is going to be the beginning. A new start. All that jazz.

For the last mmmm. 2 years i guess, i have been a baking fiend. Well i should say a cake decorating fiend. That's how it all started. It just spiraled from there! I did a cake here and there for a friend or family member and i was hooked. I still LOVE decorating.. the thought behind it, finding the right design. The finished product. That is the best.

So fast forward a little while and thus begins my obsession with cupcakes.. I have given the nickname to my best friend. I buy her cupcake things. Make her things with cupcakes on them. All to feed my obsession. All i can think about is baking cupcakes. New flavors, sprinkles, decorating, and for some reason all things pink and sparkly. I do not know why i think pink and sparkly when i think cupcake. ( perhaps it has to do with the sparkly pink sanding sugar i have, that i want to put on every cupcake i bake, but i hoard it and just look at its sparkly goodness.) I have all these images in my head that need to come out.

Here we are today, and for the last few weeks ALL i can think about is how i want to make this dream into a reality. How i want to see all of the cupcakey goodness in my head come to fruition. I have decided..... That i want to own a cupcake shop. Call me crazy. Trust me i have been called worse. Im thinking.. cupcakes.. LOTS of them.. cakes of course with that personal touch. Muffins, brownies, raspberry bars. Coffee, tea, polka dots, comfy chairs, and a FUN atmosphere. This is my dream, and I WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN.

So this little blog, will follow me on my journey to make my dream come true. I am NOT by any means a writer, eloquent speaker, or a person who is able to weave my thoughts into words that will actucally make sense. But i am fun, outgoing, loud, persistent. And i have some AMAZING people in my life who believe in me. Most of all i am finally beginning to believe in myself. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE for you amazing friends to be a part of making this dream come true. Share the blog, leave comments, input, and suggestions. Pray, cross your fingers, do an dance. You shall be rewarded in the end with cupcakes. I need to start somewhere, and i sure cant eat all the cupcakes on my own!