Every Time a Bell Rings....

Well friends, it is the most joyous of holiday seasons. I truly love this time of year; everyone smiles a little more, gives a little more, rejoices a little more. There are many who say that this season is over commercialized and they would be right, but we must remember where we live. It is our nature as Americans to over commercialize, to push every boundary and live out the American dream, which unfortunately is typically tied to monetary gain. Thus, we are bombarded with holiday sales, the crazy Lexus commercials portraying the luxury car adorned with the big red bow, told every Kiss begins with Kay and so on and so on. You can choose to be disenchanted with the holiday for these reasons or you can choose to find the miracles that this season always produces. As with everything, it is all in where you look either with your eyes, your heart or your spirit. For example, Patricia and Joseph Busenhart are using their limousine service to give children a little extra joy this year. They are giving some very deserving kids a ride that they may never have had in life and they are doing this because it is the right thing to do. They are not promoting themselves or doing this to gain business. It is simply out of love and being able to help your fellow soul.

We had a lovely young lady come in recently who needed some cupcakes for her friend who was Jewish. Our lovely lady was not Jewish herself, but she wanted to bring cupcakes to her friends celebration, so we did a little research in order to decorate the goodies in true Hanukkah fashion. She wanted her friend to know that she loved her and was a part of their family regardless of religious beliefs. I thought that was so telling and wonderful.

Our dear friend Morgan has created a blog based on her passion and desire for filling her life with adventure and love. Her project starts in the New Year and not only will it enrich her life, but I have no doubt that fellow bluegrassians will read her blog and fall in love with their home all over again. I feel that this is a gift to all of us. I know that I personally, take my wonderful home for granted and sometimes it takes a new voice to remind us how fortunate we are to live in a beautiful place.

A dear sister-friend of mine was recently approached by an old deaf gentleman selling handmade wooden placks that simply read 'Jesus Loves You' for $1.00. My dear sweet friend bought one of these placks with a $5.00 bill and told the gentleman to please keep the change. The old man looked at her, tears welling in his eyes and was shocked that someone would be generous. To this man, four extra dollars was equivalent to a million extra dollars. Just simple kindness changed his holiday season.

I could go on and on, but the point is that you can always find miracles in everyday actions. It may not seem like a miracle to you or even that huge of a deal, but to someone else, it may change their world. So, yes this season is commercialized, but I do believe that the human race still holds the true meaning of this season in their hearts and not their wallets. So with that being said, I want to wish all of you the happiest of Christmases, Hanukkahs and Kwanzaas from the entire BabyCakes Cupcakes family. We love you all and know that each of you will have a peaceful, joyous and loving holiday season.

Peace & Love,
T

What I Am Thankful For

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Thought I would share my two favorite guys on Thanksgiving morning. One is running the camera and the other is just doing his normal morning routine.



Two reasons why I am so very thankful. Have a blessed Thanksgiving everyone!

Peace & Love,
T

Winning Cupcake Statement of the Day

There were a lot of deserving statement winners of the day regarding our cupcakes, but the prize must go to the lovely mature lady who brought her grandchildren into the shoppe around five this afternoon.

Lovely Mature Lady: "We were afraid that we would miss you before you closed. You guys close at 5:00 right?"

Me: "No ma'am, we actually close at 6:30 during the week".

Lovely Mature Lady looking at her grandchildren and giggling a little: "Are you serious? We literally ran 3 red lights to make it here in time."

Me laughing: "Well, thank you for putting your car in jeopardy to have our cupcakes and I am sure your grandchildren loved the adventure."

You gotta love cupcake mania. The runner's up were as follows:

"The pink lemonade cupcake seriously changed my life."
"I have been avoiding you, so that I could lose a few pounds, but I missed you too much."
"I did some research and you can carry-on cakes and pies, so I need your cupcakes to fly to Chicago with me."

I soooo love you guys! You absolutely brighten my day and my laughter has filled this shoppe all day long!

Peace & Love,
T

You Know You Want One!

Lyla says come and get some yummy cupcakes. How can you resist that adorable face?!

Peace & Love,
T

Blessing Number 999

I slept like a baby girl on a pillow of fluffy goodness last night. Why you may ask? Well the Cupcake household was blessed with a brand new, fluffy, soft, mattress from heaven. To some people, this would seem like a very routine purchase; your old mattress is dead, so you need a new one. For me, it was blessing number 999. I can remember in the not so distant past, days when I wasn't sure how I was going to provide the very basic of necessities for myself. There was one night in particular, in the winter, when the heat had been shutoff and I had no hot water. I was unbelievably sick with a temperature so high that I could not stop my body from shaking violently, but there was no way that I could afford a trip to the emergency room. I had never felt so alone and quite honestly, scared. So as I lay there, crying, I said to a higher power with all honesty and conviction, "I can't do this anymore. I cannot carry this load. My life is yours". Even today, 11 years later, when I close my eyes, I can smell every smell, see myself pitiful and broken, like it was yesterday. This was a huge point for me; I always strived to be very independent, make people see that I could handle any situation, everything was perfectly fine in my little world; basically I didn't want to burden anyone. Pride is such a powerful thing. So, the next morning I did not wake to my heat magically turned on, hot water flowing, food stocked in my fridge and birds singing at my window, but I did wake. To be perfectly honest, my life proved to be even more challenging over the next 8 years, but the difference was that my path was placed in front of my eyes. It was my duty to make the choices that would honor my promise. I believe that when you pray, meditate, beg; your higher power gives you the ability to fulfill your own request. If you ask for strength, you get the opportunity to be strong, if you ask for love, you get the opportunity to learn how. I asked for a new life and my higher power steered me as long as I did not question. So, when a huge decision came up, instead of stressing or over thinking, my mind settled and somehow I knew the choice would make itself. That's how I ended up in Lexington, ultimately, meeting my husband and being blessed with the love that I needed. Every member of my most cherished extended family has come into my life through the most routine, daily occurrences. Like we were just waiting for our time to meet. Even reconnecting with family members has happened, I believe, when we could truly appreciate one another. People ask me, "How did you come up with the idea for the cupcake shoppe?" and I answer very honestly, "I don't know." They look at me like I am a little crazy, but it is a completely honest answer. I woke up one morning and just knew this was supposed to happen. That was blessing number 998 and it was a huge one because through the shoppe, I have met some of the most amazing, creative, loving people. It happens everyday when someone new walks through the door looking for their sugar fix.

So as I laid my head down last night, surrounded by pillowy-goodness, I said two words, "Thank you." The same two words that I have said every night for the last 11 years. Blessing number 999.

Peace & Love,
T

Could you please pass me a slice of tomato cake with extra lard?

I have been sloshing new cupcake ideas around in my head lately and I am feeling the retro vibe. I can remember certain cake flavors that were a stable around my grandmother's house when I was a small tike and I think it would be fun to put a new twist on old standbys. So, in my search for 1940/1950/1960's bake goods, I have come across some crazy grossness. I'm not sure if people just didn't have access to amazing ingredients or if they actually enjoyed these items, but I had to share them with you readers.

Item one, Maids of Honour. Now by the name you would think that these little delicacies would be yummy, light and wonderful; invoking ideas of romance and love. Oh dear friends, let me just say two words....mashed potatoes. Actually the recipe said a 'heaped tablespoon of mashed potatoes', in addition to puff pastry, lemon, nutmeg, cottage cheese and ground almonds. Seriously, I want to get sick just typing it. Item two, Tomato Soup Cake. Not only is a can of tomato soup added, but also lard, just for good measure, plus cloves, nutmeg, raisins and walnuts. Item three, Mayonnaise Cake. Now I realize that mayonnaise is used for everything under the sun and most of the time it is wonderful. Now is not one of those times. The recipe calls for mayonnaise and cold coffee. I'll repeat that ....mayonnaise and cold coffee. Baked. Together. I even found a cure for pneumonia which used lard and turpentine; let's all pause for a moment of silence to remember all of the poor pneumonia suffers of bygone years. It has become clear to me why Duncan Hines made a fortune back in the day and I truly believe that he may have saved a ton of people from food poisoning.

Suffice to say, the previous gems won't make it into BabyCakes Cupcakes lineup, but I do plan on having some cool flavors that will make you sigh and say "I remember when..". I would also like to apologize if anyone happened to be eating while reading this post.

Peace & Love,
T

There's Cookie Dough in Your Wedding Ring

Husband and I went shopping this weekend, which of course, is one of my favorite things to do. I actually really enjoy shopping with the husband. He has great taste and reels me in when my flights of fancy get a little over the top, which I provide the above picture as proof since he was not with me when I purchased Miss Kitty Meow-Meow for Halloween. I have been wanting a simple, delicate wedding band for some time to wear in the cupcake shoppe, so we stopped into a lovely jewelry store over the weekend. The older gentleman helping us was very sweet and as we waited for my 'cupcake band' to be prepared I asked if he would mind cleaning my much loved original wedding bands. He was happy to do so as we perused their beautiful, shiny baubles. We were getting ready to leave, so the gentile jewelry man removed my wedding day bands from the cleaning boxes and as he did so, he broke out his monocle magnifying glass to see if they were complete. As he was walking toward us, this was his finding:

Lovely jewelry store owner peering at my adored bands through his monopoly guy monocle, "Well, they do look rather clean, but it would appear that you have some chocolate chip cookie dough lodged in the prongs of your engagement ring. If you leave them with me for another 2 hours, I can make them look brand new."

Me, laughing at this wonderful discovery, "That's okay; I'm not sure they would be the same without a little cookie dough added in."

That pretty much made my afternoon, discovering that my love for my shoppe just melded completely with my one and only true love. You never know what you will find with the help of a sweet, monocle wearing, jewelry store owner.

Peace & Love,
T