Even Bald Men Wear Hair Restraints

Today was our follow-up inspection with the health department. We did really well and the young woman was very sweet. We only had one infraction which resulted in the following conversation.

Health Department Guru: "You did really well. I only found one problem and that was you aren't wearing a hair restraint."

Me: looking a little shocked, "My hair is super short and I didn't think you had to wear anything if that was the case. I am very afraid of hair-nets."

Health Department Guru: "Short hair doesn't really matter. Even bald men have to wear hair restraints".

Me: ........

You can't argue with that statement. My battle was lost, but I still refuse the hair net under any and all circumstances. A nice head scarf will do just fine.

XO
T

Fozzie Bear

I am blessed to have an amazing best friend who just happens to be my husband. He is a wonderful, respectful, hard working, supportive, beautiful man, but he does have one addiction. My husband is addicted to Call of Duty on his X-Box. He has the head-set and plays with other random peeps along with his good friends; also my nephew who I must say kicks major butt on that game. I don't understand the game and I don't pretend to; I actually like video games, but army games are not my forte. The players also have funny nicknames on the game as well; I saw 'CupcakeKilla' one night and really wanted to chat with them, but husband wasn't keen since they were on the opposite team. Maybe he thought I would give away military secrets. You will randomly hear odd nicknames called out during these times of war in our living room. Usually in anger or frustration, occasionally with war cries of victory.

After a long fun day at the bakeshop, I came home to him hooked up to the X-Box, fully engaged in saving the world. We mimed 'I love yous' and I started handling some business. Now during these war trials, you will often hear husband make various sounds, i.e. 'Oh My Gosh', 'How many times do I have to kill him?!', 'ARGGGH (which is preceded by a long blowing out of breath); you get the general idea. I am used to hearing these noises, knowing that I am not a part of the conversation; sort of like when someone you are around has their bluetooth in and you have no clue if they are really on the phone or actually talking to you. So, I tuck into the kitchen table to eat some eggs that I fixed after my workout (BLAH!) and I am kind of listening to the war saga, but my brain is kind of thinking of all the things that I need to do tomorrow. Husband is chatting with his friends via his X-Box telemarketer-esque head-set and I just happen to tune in long enough to hear him say "I just killed Fozzie Bear".

Friends, can I just tell you that I completely lost it. I was laughing so hard and it was an instantaneous laugh without control. Husband said this like I would say "Did you happen to get the mail?" No emotion, just simple fact. He had killed Fozzie Bear. Kermit is going to be terribly upset.

Peace & Love,
T

Skateboarding Blondes

For about 2 1/2 weeks a young boy, I would guess around 9 or 10, has been skateboarding outside of the shoppe. He makes a few passes and stares into the door maybe 4 or 5 times a day. I have absolutely no problem with this; I love skateboards actually. I keep wondering when, if ever, he will pull the nerve up to come inside and see what all the pink is about. Well, today was the day; it goes a little something like this:

Me: "Hey, how's it goin?"

Skateboarding Blonde: "Good" he replies as he stares wide-eyed at the cupcakes on display

Me: "I like your skateboard"

Skateboarding Blonde: "Thanks, it's actually a razor board" he states as he is shuffling his feet, still not making eye contact with me

Me: "I have no clue what that is, I only understand skateboards. Do you like cupcakes?"

Skateboarding Blonde: "Oh Yes!" - his eyes have grown even wider if that was possible

Me: "What is your favorite flavor of cupcake?"

Skateboarding Blonde: "Chocolate with Chocolate icing"

Me: "Well, you are very lucky my friend because I have been dying to give away a chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing all day. Would you happen to want it?"

Skateboarding Blonde: As the impossibly wide eyes, widen even more "Yes please!"

Me: "Sprinkles?" I ask as I am piling them on to his lovely cupcake and he is nodding feverishly, "Just tell me when to stop."

Skateboarding Blonde: after 5 or 6 spoonfuls, "When".

So, we have finally made contact and I have a strange feeling that this won't be our last encounter. As long as he keeps saying please with wide eyes, I will keep supplying the sprinkles.

Peace & Love,
T

New Adventures

I did something today that I have never done before. I went to a movie by myself. It seems odd that I have never done this before considering my ripe young age of 33, but it was a new adventure for me. I went to see Coraline, which I realize is a little late, but I think we were working on the shoppe when this movie came out. At that time, work was all that I could focus on. So, on my day off I went to the dollar theater, bought my popcorn (which they use eco-friendly bags much to my delighted surprise) and soda for my movie adventure. I was actually the only person in the entire theater to see Coraline, which was very wicked. It was like Neil Gaiman had arranged my own personal screening which I relished. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie; it was beautiful and unique. Two things that I value in a movie, plus I truly adore Neil Gaiman. I think that he is one of the few writers whose words are so individualistic that you know instantly it is him when you hear them spoken. But I digress, the real story here is going to the movies alone. It was very nice actually; I was allowed to fully lose myself in the story and I think that it is extremely important to be able to spend time with yourself and just yourself. If you can't be alone with yourself and enjoy it, then why would anyone else enjoy your company. Plus my very best friend will be traveling a lot in the future, so I need to become comfortable with these types of outings. All in all, it was a delightful day and I do recommend the movie. I also recommend new adventures with the person closest to you. Yourself.

Peace & Love,
T

A Little Vain

Okay dolls, I am not sure how I did it, but I am now following my own blog. I find this to be rather vain on my part and I am honestly not sure how this egocentric mistake occurred. I have a tendency to click rather quickly on things without fully reading the instructions and I fear that this has caused me to narcissistically (is that even a word?!) follow myself. This feels rather shallow, so could someone instruct me on how to remove myself from following myself? My head hurts a little from that sentence.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. Sweet dreams dear friends!

Peace & Love,
T

Funny Story

So, I had a lovely mature lady visit my shoppe today. She was an absolute delight and I must share a story with you all that she was gracious enough to share with me. As I was completing her transaction, I noticed that her first name was the same as my full name. I made a comment to her about this and that I rarely saw 'Patricia's' anymore. She asked if I went by Pat and I told her no, everyone calls me Tricia. Well her nickname was Pat and she said that during the Great War, she and her friends would go to dances and typically, soldiers would be at the dances as well. She noticed that one soldier's name-tag read "Pat" so she approached him and told the gentleman that was her nickname. The solider quickly replied "So, what is your full name?" to which our lovely lady replied "Cleopatra". She said to me "If you don't have some sort of humor in life than what is the point?!" Needless to say that I instantly fell in love with this lovely woman and I hope that she graces me with her presence regularly.

I just had to share that with you all!

Peace & Love,
T

3 Weeks....REALLY?!

Well my friends, we have officially been open for three weeks. It doesn't feel that long at all; which in the grand scheme of things isn't really that long, but for my purposes this all feels like a dream. The first two days that we were open, it was very slow and I started whining just a tad; I guess second guessing my big decision. So on the third day of whining, I pulled up my big girl panties and made a very rudamentary sign out of our glorious pink boxes, which I then affixed to two pieces of wood, wrote our name in blue sharpie and proceeded to beat this thing into the ground at the end of Patchen Drive with a rock. My adorable husband laughed at my efforts a little but he did agree to do the rock beating part. So thirty minutes after this little exercise, people started coming in the door. I am not saying it was due to our poor little box sign, but the timing was rather odd. So, needless to say I stopped whining about no one visiting our little shoppe. We also had an ad come out in Skirt Magazine, which I love dearly. That could have a part in this saga as well, but the little pink box deserves some credit I think. The funny thing is that it's still at the end of the road. I can't bring myself to take the thing down! So fast forward to today and we are still here baking cupcakes. I even have time to come up with some new cool flavors like white chocolate raspberry and chocolate chip cookie dough. We even have the opportunity to create special cupcakes like eggless and milkless for people with allergies. I think that is very important because I couldn't imagine the stress of dealing with a food allergy; let alone having a child with a food allergy. I feel the need to at least try to create special cupcakes because everyone deserves a happy; especially people that have had to cut these from their diets due to the curse of allergies. I want to thank everyone that has supported us during this venture and all of the wonderful people that we have met since the shoppe opened. Thank you all for bringing your adorable children to visit us. That is truly one of the highlights of my day; especially when they see the free sprinkle jar and become picassos of the cupcake world sprinkling their happy cupcakes in beautiful colors.

So cheers to 3 weeks!

Peace & Love,
T