bakery & life

The more and more I get design ideas from Sandra, the more excited I become at starting my own at-home bakery. It is something that I love to do and I really enjoy the reaction of others about how much they love my cupcakes. My favorite part is doing the actual decorating. Who doesn't love to do that?

Besides that part of my life I am doing fantastic! Last night was the season finale of Parenthood and I cried, like I always do nowadays. The episode is about some of them getting married and I think since I am in that stage of life where I think about it, it makes me more emotional. I can not wait to start my life with Steve and I am so happy he is there to share it with me. I could not have asked for a better person in my life. I read a lot of blogs and my favorite one by far, has to be Elise Blaha. She is truly my inspiration in life and I love her blog. Every time I read her entries I think, I can do anything that I want and I am going to live a happy life. And that I want to move to California more and more. That idea was already decided a few months ago, but looking at her pictures it makes me want to even more. She gives me motivation to go for my dream of my own bakery (not even a storefront, just at home/orders).

Even if I fail, I know that I tried it and I enjoyed it, I am not taking a huge risk and buying a bakery store front and quitting my job, I am trying a side business. For all I know, it could turn into something great. I have my second order with Jess for Declan's baptism on Sunday, she was my first order at her baby shower.. I have become much better since then.

I still need to figure out my website, cupcake boxes, business cards, etc. But this is fun! I like it and I am glad that I have so many friends supporting me.


Week 8 should be up by tonight or sometime tomorrow night.

design!

I just received my first set of logo designs and let me just tell you, I LOVE them. I can not wait to get them edited and fixed up to the perfect one.

Thank you, Sandra, you are amazing!

vegan snickerdoodle cupcakes.

Cupcake #4. Also welcoming to The Tiny Bit Bakery family..


Snickerdoodle cupcakes with vanilla icing and cinnamon sprinkle.



Steve says they taste exactly like snickerdoodle cookies that his mom makes. YAY! And Priscilla walked into the house and said it smelled like snickerdoodles, so I obviously did something right! I got so lazy making icing but I did it at 11pm last night.

project life | week 7

I have to resize these photos because my PSE10 has been acting up so I deleted it and the pictures are huge so I apologize for the enormous size!

A week 7 recap:
• Valentine's Day
• Priscilla's roses from John
• Official 1 year being full-time at work
• Work John getting me a happy 1 year work-versary!
• Lug nut missing from my wheel
• Snowboarding
• Boj's birthday - Hoboken night out
• my bookshelf
• Recipe #4


Full layout:

Left side:

Silhouette cut out!

Our Valentine's Day in recap, I love our simplicity.

Right side:

Snowboarding, which kicked my butt the entire day, literally because I had to call out of work yesterday because I was still so sore from my back, my butt, my legs.. much better today though!

Our night out in Hoboken:

Supplies used:
PL Core Kit - Colbalt, Design A, Clementine Edition Journaling Cards, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, Ormolo- shipping tags, Silhouette Cameo, AC Letters White, AC Letters Black, Epson Photo Paper, Martha Stewart glue pen, Fiskar corner rounder (I wouldn't recommend though), date stamp, Uni-Ball pens, paislee press 4x6 photo template, bananafishstudio | daily tabs and simple sayings digital

project life | week 6.

I think in a previous post I said I was changing the weeks I captured into a Monday-Sunday approach. I switched from Sunday-Saturday because I didn't like the idea of having my weekends split into 2 different weeks, it made no sense to me. But here it is, I need to add more decorations to it but I am getting pretty slow on this because schoolwork is starting to catch up to me.

Left side:

The Valentine's Day card my mom mailed to me with Starbucks gift cards inside for me and Steve :)

Right side:

Cupcakes #3!

Middle insert for a busy busy week:

not so week 6

I lied.
Maybe Project Life Week 6 will be tonight haha.

I fell asleep at 10? Maybe even 9. Steve is so understanding when I fall asleep. We talked about ice cream for a while, what a business like that would be like. He also built my bookshelf. Such a great guy. IKEA furniture though, you really do get what you pay for, BUT this won't be in our future home, it's okay for now.

Instead of PL, I made another vegan dish! 4/100. He keeps pushing me to make more because he wants to eat new dishes.

Vegan Pad Thai. 

My Rating: Yum! Now, it's no authentic Pad Thai that my mom and her friends make or some of the Thai restaurants that we go to but it was good enough for me. Really easy to make, only a few ingredients - I think that's why it doesn't taste authentic haha. You probably need more then just 5 items. When we first added the noodles and the sauce together it was really liquidy and I was nervous but after a little time it soaks it up and looks normal. Added with some broccoli and chopped up peanuts = great dinner. I need more ideas, especially non-pasta/noodle dishes.

Oh btw, I know how people LOVE Instagram and I like it a lot too but sometimes it's just not enough for me so I like using Camera+. It's a paid app though, but it does a little more, using both together could be a good idea. But for that picture.. Camera+ all the way!

aggravation

I wish I could put into words why this day sucks so bad but I know that what I want to say is probably not the nicest thing in the world so I will try my hardest to be polite. Work is still good, but having to work on a team with someone who is overly-anal, stressed about the smallest things, and has a way of pushing your buttons without really knowing it, is not fun. I am busy doing my own projects and having to be put on something else while I am busy is just frustrating. I wish I could explain better in words but I can not.

All I am waiting for is getting home, working on my Project Life, and building my bookcase. I bought that bookshelf on Sunday and have yet to put it together. I really need to find a place to put it because my room is already full of stuff. My closet is really big so I will probably put my other storage stuff in there. I worked on my scrapbook yesterday but I still have a few finishing touches on it and this week has been really hectic with trying to get some schoolwork done and good old Valentine's day.

I love how he crafted the card to make it more like our own coffees♥. He knows how much I love to scrapbook so it's nice he did a little something special for me. We went out to dinner, Old Man Rafferty's- it was our first date. Chocolate covered fruits from a local store near his house. I love local things, mom and pop shops are the best. I also got us ice cream cake, yes it's not vegan but sometimes I make him break the rules, occasionally.

Okay, later today my PL: Week 6 will be up for display!

monday night life

So I finally came to the realization that my Monday night class is absolutely boring. I brought my laptop with me so that I would have something to do and entertain me through a 3 hour class. I know you are probably thinking that I should be paying attention, but I read the chapter ahead of time a week ago and started on the homework already. I have my questions ready and that is the only reason I came to class. My professor is a really nice woman, unfortunately she reads off the slides so it's hard to not fall asleep.

My excitement for my bakery business has been dying off due to the fact that I am really busy with schoolwork and life in general. I am waiting for Sandra Busta to design my logos and then I think I will start getting excited again. Right now I am working on the website design and content, it is not easy to come up with this stuff.

Besides my dreams of baking for others, I am still working on my Project Life. Instead of capturing my weeks Sunday to Monday, I decided to do it Monday to Sunday this week. As I was mapping out everything during last week I found it strange that I didn't just keep my weekends in the same week instead of splitting them up. It just makes more sense for my life since I look forward to most of my weekends. The working life has its ups and its downs but overall I like working and not being in school. It's funny I say that when I'm actually in class right now.

Tomorrow will be fun. Why? Valentine's Day! It really isn't that serious to me especially since I have class tomorrow night but it's always cute. Steve and I are going out to dinner after my class and all I asked for was a meaningful card. But for now I am going to work on some web design so my time tonight will be somewhat used.

the vow.

I just came back from the movies with my two roommates, Priscilla and Justina. It was my first time at the dine-in movie and honestly, I'm not a huge fan. I like the big seats and the space, but I don't like the waiters walking back and forth because sometimes they're in the way of the movie, not a fan of that.

The movie..
Let's just say that I cried, about 5 times. Maybe it is because I am at the stage of my life where I know who I am going to spend the rest of my life with and that I can't wait to experience all of those feelings again when we say our vows and spend the rest of our lives together. I know it sounds so cliche but when we met and started dating, I knew in that first week before I left for Thailand that he was someone special to me, that I never had that feeling before. And every time I cried during the movie, I thought in my head oh my God, I love him so much. There were moments in that movie that were just so happy and I cried because I love that feeling, I love knowing that he will always be there to take care of me. That he will be the person by my side when I need him, when my JRA starts to get worse, when I need someone's help. As we watched that movie, I could somehow see how much Steve loves me, how he feels about me. I love the feeling of being in love and almost 2 years later it still feels like that spark. I have never been more ready for something like this.


Besides my rant on how much I love my boyfriend, I really enjoyed the movie. I love Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams. Great combo. Great movie.

Goodnight everyone.

vegan cupcakes.

I know that I may be getting ahead of myself, but I am more then excited to say that I will have my own "at-home-bakery." After so the encouragement of so many coworkers and friends I decided to see how I do by word of mouth and go from there. I have started on a logo, piloting different types of cupcakes, and I will soon try to make a mini menu. I am really excited to try and do this, it's something that I love and I am so excited to share it with others. And yes, I know that there is a big possibility that it won't take off or go anywhere, but to me that won't be that big of a deal.. I mean don't get me wrong I want this to go somewhere, even at a small level, but I am not expecting to open a storefront bakery. I enjoy doing this and it makes me happy, so why not try it.

The idea that I like most is that it's not just any normal cupcake, all of my cupcakes are vegan. They are made with no animal by products and for the most part, everything is organic. They are healthier, egg-free, dairy-free, cholesterol-free, BUT they taste no different from a normal cupcake. Most people can't even tell that they are vegan and I know that a lot of people say that, but I'm telling the truth! I have a coworker who, before meeting me, would never probably try something "vegan" and I am happy to say that I have opened his horizons just a little bit. Before me, a lot of people have never met anyone that baked vegan or ate vegan. I am not saying that I am a vegan though, because I am not. I consider myself a vegetarian and on very small occasions I will eat shrimp, but rarely. I just enjoy baking vegan. I think the challenges of it to make them taste good and take that negative connotation off of vegan.

If nothing becomes of my baby business, I will be happy that I tried something that I never in my life thought I would try. So hopefully by next month I will have some sort of menu, website, logo, business cards. Wish me luck!


Pilot batch: mini versions.

Vegan chocolate chip brownie cupcakes with vanilla bean icing (SO GOOD). Topped with graham crackers and chocolate drizzle.

project life | week 5

I finally finished my pages before the end of the night, I was up until 12:30 but it was no big deal. I had a ton of energy after a nice nap and a class where I learned something.

Last week was a very uneventful week. I can always tell it wasn't that exciting when I have more journaling then I do pictures, which isn't always a bad thing. I had some funny stories to tell without any pictures, imagine taking a picture of me yelling at a parking attendant- not a good idea. So a story shall do.

Full spread. Notice, the lack of tons of pictures.

Left side:

Full view. Bottom left was from last Sunday when we stopped at the Farmers Market for the first time. So many fruits and veggies! I was so excited. We got everything for such a good price, it isn't that close to my house but a trip once a week will be nice. Bottom right was our Petco trip with Fifa. Steve petting the adoptable Beagles, they were so happy to be pet.

A close up of Week 5. I made the insert from random cardstock I have, I wanted something different besides the ones used in the Core Kit. American Craft letters, even with the Silhouette I like the alphabet stickers just as much! I did use my Silhouette Cameo for the "5" and the dates. I am learning how to use it a little more and I am loving it.

Priscilla, myself, and Fifa had a lazy day Tuesday. It was beautiful outside too! It does not feel like wintertime in NJ. I hope that it does not feel like wintertime in the Spring though. She was sick and I did not feel well so we stayed home.

Right side:

 

Lots of journaling. The most important pictures were the Saturday morning pictures of making breakfast together. Fifa also wanted to join in the festivities and would not take her eyes off of Steve, hoping he would drop something. You can also see the different shapes he made. My favorite was the Fifa pancake. I used a little chipboard banner for the date on one picture from Jenni Bowlin.

He smiled for my picture :) He knows how much I enjoy scrapbooking so he is willing to be in my pictures. I appreciate it. The "hello handsome" is from the Silhouette Cameo. LOVE IT.

Lastly, my friend Matt made it into the Rutgers newspaper. He does not go to Rutgers, he never has, he is from my hometown in South Jersey. He won a comedy show and I was so excited to see it in the paper. We went to one of his shows last month and it was great. We are attending another on on the 25th of this month and we are really excited for it. I hope he makes it big because he definitely deserves it.

Supplies used:
PL Core Kit - Colbalt, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, Ormolo- shipping tags, Silhouette Cameo, AC chipboard letters, Epson Photo Paper, Martha Stewart glue pen, Fiskar corner rounder (I wouldn't recommend though), date stamp, Uni-Ball pens

super bowl sundae.

Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday XLVI. Great game. Disappointing end. I know I know, I live in the Central Jersey area where we have tons of Giants fans, but I am a Cowboys fan at heart. The reason? My dad lived in Texas for a few years after coming over from Thailand and became a Cowboys fan, so growing up- I was too. Also, my brother lives in Boston and is a Patriots fan, it gave me a second reason to root for them. Number one was because I am not a Giants fan, whatsoever.

We had a Super Bowl party and it was FANTASTIC. I was unsure as to how many people were going to come, but we had the perfect amount of people. Tons of junk food- we decided calories don't count on Super Bowl Sunday.

Food contenders: hot wings, pigs in a blanket, cheese balls, mac and cheese (Velveeta style), party mix, french fries, pizza pockets, veggie platters, vegan dip, Zebra cakes (all Steve's idea), soda, beer, pretzel sticks, and my FAVORITE: vegan chocolate sundae cupcakes with a cherry on top. After seeing how beautiful these cupcakes were and how delicious they were, I seriously considered opening an " at-home-bakery." So many people have told me I should open something or try to sell them but I have never had the confidence to really do so, but lately it has crossed my mind.

Besides all the food, friends, football, I lost my voice from screaming and laughing so much. Exactly the way it should have been. Also, on a more personal note since this is not only my PL blog, but a personal one- I love the idea that I have found the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. As we laid in bed, trying to fall asleep after tons of caffeine for me and beer for him, he went on a rant about our future and being married and having children. It has never felt so real to me with someone and I know that I am only 24, but it feels great to know I don't have to keep searching. When we first met, it felt like that cliche romantic movie, where I just knew that this was the person I was going to be with. I love that feeling and I hope it never goes anywhere. Okay, enough mushy stuff.


Now onto the picture of the cupcakes that make me want to start a business. And when I say you could never tell that these were vegan, I truly 100% mean that. No one at work would ever be able to tell, except for the fact that they all know I only bake vegan.

More pictures at different angles coming soon.

ground hog day!

He saw his shadow! Six more weeks of winter, now if winter would only start...


On the plus side I got to go to Midori Sushi with a bunch of coworkers to celebrate his law school acceptance. When I say I am sick of sushi, it is only because Steve makes me go at least once a week. Being a vegetarian and fish hater, we usually do the veggie rolls. Cheaper - a plus side to that. Instead, I ordered vegetable hibachi because I wanted something different. It was delicious!