This week has been a bit crazy. In addition to working my full time job, in 3 days, I completed 6 different orders, attended a college graduation and I'm not done yet. I love being this busy because I know my business is picking up, which is exactly what I want! Below is just a glimpse into my crazy schedule from this week. It is weeks like this where it pays to be organized. Plus everything is so brightly colored on my calendar and in my planner; it is so festive!
With that being said, to recover from this week, Lb Cakes will not be taking any orders for the week of Christmas, December 20th to December 27th. Being I am so bad at saying "no", and I always want to help everyone, I am laying it all out there now and closing the doors for the week. I also need to prep for the Go Show happening in less than a month! Yikes! 

Below was an order for a Law School Graduate here at UND on Thursday. It was a combination of cookies and cream cupcakes and white almond cupcakes. The picks are just pictures that I printed on card stock and attached to a pick. Another order from Thursday consisted of white almond cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes, topped with graduation picks. 

My orders for Friday consisted of two graduation orders and a Christmas order. The first order was a combination of cookies and cream cupcakes and red velvet cupcakes topped with graduation hats and diplomas. The Christmas cupcakes were a combination of cookies and cream and red velvet cupcakes topped with a cute little Santa! My third order was for Andrew's graduation. It's a white almond cake with edible image and plastic graduation cap. 

My second to last order of the weekend that was picked up today, was a kitty cat cake, cookies and cream cupcakes and red velvet cupcakes. It was my first time making a kitty cat cake, which added to this weekend's adventures. I think it turned out really cute and I learned some new techniques so it was a win win! 

Now I have to go prep for my last order of the week: my cousin's birthday cake! Time to go learn how to make a coffee cake, wish me luck! 

​Merry Christmas everyone! 

Last night, I had an epiphany! I was on a lot of cold medication at the time so I wanted to wait 24 hours to make sure it made sense and it still does! It started when I was little. I always wanted to have awesome birthday parties with themes perfectly executed; from the invitations, to the cake, right down to the matching clothes that I allowed my family members to wear. I have always had a little bit of a Type A personality. But lets face it, who wouldn't want to be friends with these party animals?

Obviously, party planning is in my blood. Freshman year of college, I decided I didn't want to be a psychology major and eventually I moved onto business because I wanted to become an event planner. Once I found the art of cake decorating, my passion went from the large scope of event planning to the small scope of the cakes for these events. After I discovered this, I realized that I will still be able to help with small aspects of the events but I don't have the pressure of the entire event weighing on my shoulders. 
I'm sure you're wondering where my epiphany comes into play. Here it is: cake is what makes all these events special! I was reading up on the history of cakes and after reading numerous articles, it has been confirmed that cake has been around for a long time. 
​The Huffington Post has an interesting article regarding the history of birthdays, just not necessarily the history of the birthday cake. Basically cake has been around for thousands of years, but back then, it was more of a bread than a cake. Around the 1400's, the Germans started making birthday cakes similar to the ones we know today. Before that time, cakes were almost solely made for the celebration of weddings. The birthday candle tradition was also started by the Germans in the 1700s. They placed a candle on the cake for each year of their life, as well as extra candles, to represent years to come. ​According to The Knot Complete Guide to Weddings, the wedding cake tradition dates back to ancient Greece, where newlywed couples would share crushed sesame cakes to ensure fertility. In the Middle Ages, guests crumbled wheat cakes over the ocuple's heads, to wish them good fortune and children. The wheat-cake concept slowly evolved into a sweet dessert cake in sixteenth-century England. The French then one-upped the English, introducing the tiered, sugar-covered cake that we know and love today." ​​​I also found 12 weird wedding cake facts that you can whip out at the next wedding you attend! 
Now that I have provided you with a bunch of useless, but interesting knowledge, let's get back to my epiphany. ​Since cakes have been such a large part of history, there is a pretty good chance that they will be around for awhile. The best part of a birthday party is the cake and everyone looks forward to the cake cutting at a wedding! All in all, I am starting a business that provides one of the highlights of everyone's celebration and I think that's pretty cool. 

Happy December everyone!! I started writing about what I was thankful for while driving to the Cities on Thanksgiving when suddenly my post disappeared. So if this post seems late, it is, but I am still thankful!

I am thankful for my family and friends who have supported me through this process of starting a business and helping me achieve my dream of being my very own boss. I am so lucky that they are still supporting me today and will continue this support in the future! Being able to share my creations with my extended family over Thanksgiving was so much fun too! It reminds me that I have support all over the place. 

​I am thankful for my full time job. With the chaos that has been going on with the nickname vote, I had to take a step back and remind myself that I am lucky that I have a job. I have the best coworkers that I could ask for. They are always willing to test my products, support me with ideas and allow me to have time off to continue my dream on the side.
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Being able to use the kitchen space in the alumni center is something I am very thankful for. Having this option allows for shorter trips to a food safe kitchen, shorter baking time and more opportunity to bake for the public. My coworkers also encouraged me to become a vendor for the Go Show, a wedding and event planning show in January. I never thought I would be doing a vendor show so soon; it was always an idea in the back of my head that I was too scared to do! 
Last but not least, I am thankful my turkeys made the 5 hour trip in mostly one piece. Below is my tutorial on how to make them!