Enticing Icing And New Beginnings!

New Beginnings:

So as it is with life things don't always go as planned...the way you want and when you want it to happen. But as it is with life you have to pick yourself up...dust yourself off and decide where to go from here.

It has been a VERY long time since I have posted. And since then I have been pretty much pushed out of school, hoping to get back on track soon, have left Whole Foods, started my business Enticing Icing and started a new job teaching gymnastics...again.

I have always loved children and having worked at The Little Gym of San Clemente fro almost 2 years helped me get my current job...along with my friend Krystle. Last week I went to lunch with a good friend of mine. It had been a while since we had seen each other so we were catching up about life in general and she was telling me about how she just moved back to California and got this job teaching gymnastics. She knew that I was no longer at Whole Foods and told me they needed someone so I should go apply. I thought about it and decided what they heck. I need a job and I loved working with the kids and with Miss Krystle at The Little Gym. I went in and they interviewed me right away. Then I came in for a few days and shadowed in classes so they could see how I was in the gym. I was told a few days ago that I officially got the job. WOOHOO!!

So I now have a job again, phew! I was worried. And I also have started my business. It's been a rough couple weeks not knowing where to go, what to do and what I wanted to do. Who I wanted to be. Well I think things have worked out. I got a job much closer to home plus my business...in my home!

I also have done my very first wedding cake with my business. It didn't go perfectly and as smoothly as planned but in the end there was a pretty cake for the bride and groom. The bride in days after the wedding told me it was the best cake she has every had...she may just be being nice but it's still wonderful to hear!

Find Enticing Icing on facebook HERE for pictures and updates.

Find Enticing Icing's blog with pictures of the wedding cake and more updates at HERE!

Thanks for all the support and love!

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Wordless Wednesday

My rough sketch for my wedding cake final in school

Wordless Wednesday

Finals are finally over so I can post again...and I start my new job today! ♥

4 years ago today...it doesn't get any easier

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday:

I miss you Grandma...we are doing all we can to make sure others know more about Ovarian Cancer so they wont miss out on their families! I love you!

Grandpa, Ashley, Grandma and Me 1985 or 1986

Ovarian Cancer Awareness is VERY important...be in the know!
http://ovarianoc.org/

"Group" Project

I am in a artisan bread class like I mentioned before. At the end of the quarter we do a competition in groups. There are four groups of four people. As much as I love school I don't exactly love everyone in my class. I got paired up with a good friend, a nice girl who is very slow, and a total pain who is very lazy and very slow!

We decided it was easiest for us to communicate through emails...well it seems I have been doing almost all the work. The friend of mine was trying to help but she got pretty sick and I have been on my own for a week and a half with the other girls. The nice girl actually did what we said we were going to do this week but only after I emailed her asking her to do it...after the deadline we had all set with no communication from anyone. The pain...no communication...AT ALL!!! I am livid. She promised that she would not do this. She promised she would do her work this week. I sent her an email as well asking for her part of the project and...NOTHING! I have done her part of the work for two weeks now because we get to invite our family to this competition and I will be mortified if they come and I have nothing to show to them. I work hard in class and I want them to see what we can do...not someone's laziness.

But I just have to keep thinking well...I guess I am getting good experience since I did ALL the work in class this week. I mixed, laminated, shaped, baked and put it all together. I was exhausted this week and I can't wait until my friend is feeling better and she comes back so we can rock it!!!

Surprising Mom with a 21st bday cake for her 61st bday!

Wordless Wednesday: Birthday Surprise

Culinary Catch-up!!!

I have been very bad about updating about my culinary life because I have been busy with school and work and friends. And then I have a bunch of hw that I have to type out and do so I haven't felt like writing more about it all....well now is the time.

I am currently taking an Artisan bread Class...that is art-i-san not ar-tee-sian...and I love it. I like learning about the different types of bread and how to mix, score and bake them. There isn't always a lot of ingredients that go into bread but there is a lot of effort. We have made just plain baguettes, German breads, Italian breads and last week was laminated dough. We made croissants. It was really fun...one of my favorite weeks.

We take dough and roll it out...we roll out butter to just about the same size in height and then fold the dough over the butter. Then it gets put into the fridge. After 30 min it gets taken out and rolled out thin. Then it get folded on top of itself and put back in the fridge. This happens a few times and when the final product is baked it has many layers from where the butter and dough have been layered on each other and is very flaky. I had so much fun doing this. Next week is more laminated dough! YAY!

Here are a few things from past weeks!

Bread in a mixer

This is my friend Justin playing with dead dough

Baguettes waiting to be baked
Finished Baguettes...we burnt the short mix...oops

Friend Weekends

Happy #6
Spending time with my friends!!!

I am a person who hates being alone. Yes having time to my self every once in awhile to do what I want, when I want with no one else's voice in my ear is nice every once in awhile. But for the most part I don't like being alone and I am afraid of dying alone. So the fact that I spend more than 90% of the life I currently lead alone kinda sucks and bums me out. Right now I get up, alone, drive to school, alone, attend school, drive home from school, alone, and go to bed, alone, two days a week. The other 5 days a week I am not in school...and right now I am not working. I have nowhere I have to be and not much I HAVE to do...so I spend my time in bed doing nothing. If I don't go anywhere I wont spend money right? Well spending almost 3 weeks in bed all day besides the days I go to school has really put a damper on my mood. I have been very down, my sister was out of town, my friends are busy with stuff to do and I have...not much. So I think you could see how this might affect me. Well my sister came home and had a party so I went and I had so much fun. I spent the night and the next day with my sister and her two amazing roommates! These weekends...and there have a been a few that I just stay at their apartment all weekend and we have fun doing random things, are so much fun and just what I need. So this is my 6th happy of the year because without these people I would be sitting in my bed this weekend doing nothing...probably sleeping. I know that on Thursday this week I will stay in bed probably all day again until there is something I HAVE to do...but at least it's one less day this week...and one less weekend this month! Thank you H8! I love you guys so much!!! ♥

And thank you Ashley for your Japanese Party! I had a blast!!!

♥Harajuku Girls ♥

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday: Feeling a sense of job well done :-)

Best Wishes Stephanie and Alfred ♥

That "New Car" smell

Happy #5

♥♥♥Melodie Elise Ard♥♥♥

I make a joke called oh how I love that new car smell...but I mean that new baby smell. Remember that friend I mentioned in a previous post? Sure ya do! Well if not you can read about her here.

One of my best friends had a baby a few days ago and I didn't believe in love at first sight until I saw her for the first time. Her mother was glowing and as beautiful as ever. I only hope I can be half that put together and beautiful right after I have a baby. And then when I went in to see her she wanted to know how I was and how things with me were going. I love her. She is so selfless. Nothing makes a day more than a new baby...but this new baby...so perfect with all that hair...it was a perfect day.

I love you Brie and Melodie!!! ♥

The second they met...Melodies cord isn't even cut yet!

Me holding Melodie Elise

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday: Leaving a cake I made too close to the edge of the table when I have tall dogs!

Before:

After:

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Sleeping Pup

Now I wish this could be a Wordless Wednesday but I feel as this is my first one I must explain...

I have a friend from Angry Julie Monday who has Wordless Wednesday. She posts a picture instead of a whole blog post. I love this thought and I am going to try and do this as well. So this is my first one...next week it will be Wordless!

Kindle App

Happy # 4

The Amazon Kindle App for the iPhone

I love reading but I don't have a lot of time or money for books. I used to be in my car twice as much as I am now so audio books were nice but it just isn't the same as getting to read the book myself. As much as I love turning the pages of a book, holding it in my hand and feeling that satisfaction as I look to see how far I had read, I put the Kindle app on my phone. For Christmas my mom got a Kindle. She loves it. The first book she bought for it was Dear John by Nicholas Sparks. This is a book that I was also interested in reading so I thought since the app was free for my phone all I had to do was go in and download the already paid for book to my phone.

Well I am so glad that it works that way. I am able to read the book whenever I have some free time and because I am not carrying a book or anything extra it is VERY convenient!

Thanks Mom for letting me sponge off your amazon account! Oh and so far I am halfway through the book and it's sooooo good!!!

Baby Shower Cupcakes

I have this friend Brie. We have been friends since we were 12. We were the BEST of friends when we were in jr. high and into high school. As high school went on we drifted apart for one reason or another but we always knew that we would have each other's backs when needed. It was unspoken but well known. After high school we went years without talking to each other. I would wonder from time to time how she was doing hoping that she was well. And then came Facebook. After years of not talking to people you can find almost anyone on there. I don't remember who found who and it doesn't really matter. What matters is we found each other. We got together to catch up and even though we were catching up on almost 6 years of events it felt like we had just been apart a little while. After a few meetings of lunches or breakfast she asked me to come over to tell me something. I do not know why but the thought came into my head that OMG she's pregnant. So I went over and that is what she told me. She didn't know what to do or what she wanted. Her head seemed to be spinning but she has always been very smart and she explored all her options knowing some might be right and some never would be. I knew I would support her no matter what her decision was. Well after lots of research and time to think and tears cried she came to the decision that she was going to keep and raise her baby. She then got engaged to her baby's father, found out it's a girl, had a falling out with him (he doesn't deserve her anyway), and is about to give birth to a baby girl in just a few weeks (after 2 on a Thursday Brie :-) ...thanks). So being that she has had a very rough pregnancy, put on bed rest multiple times, it finally came time for her baby shower. She texted me asking me for my address so she could send me an invite. I gave it to her asking if there was anything they needed. And I sincerely meant the offer. I am so glad they took me up on it. I was able to make cupcakes. She needed a lot of them so I knew it would be quite the undertaking. But I was up to the challenge. Besides it's what I love to do. I am so happy with how they turned out too. They are my favorite cupcakes that I have ever made. Now if I remember correctly Brie is allergic to chocolate...either that or she doesn't like it so I knew not chocolate but I thought ok not ONLY chocolate so I did three different flavors so that some could have chocolate if they wanted. I also made the three flavors look different from the top so that if you just walked up and grabbed a cupcake you would know which you were grabbing. I didn't want someone to bring Brie a chocolate cupcake! I also knew that she wasn't the person that would just want a cupcake with a rattle on top or something babyish on it. Yes it was a baby shower but it was also for Brie and since she was getting gifts for the baby, the cupcakes were for Brie!

So here are the cupcakes:

These are the lemon cupcakes (they are really just white cake with a hint of lemon flavor)

These are the Strawberry Cupcakes


And these are the Chocolate Cupcakes

Thank you Brie for letting me do this. I had so much fun making them, fun eating them and the most fun at your shower! Congrats to you and I can't wait to meet Melodie Elise Ard!

Frustrations and New Beginnings

It seems that no one is ever completely happy. Even the richest people in the world have to want something or have to deal with heartache and sorrow from time to time. When I look at my life I see so many wonderful things, I am so blessed so you would think that I would be completely happy. But I am not. Please don't get me wrong I know that I have a very blessed and fortunate life. I have a wonderful family, fantastic friends, a goal that I am driven to achieve, great health and all the support I could ask for. So why is it that I am not totally happy? The little frustrations in life.

I hate that I get so hung up on certain things and I let that ruin my day. I was having a great weekend. I had a great last day at The Little Gym, one of my dearest friends baby showers was so much fun and very beautiful, the cupcakes I made for it were a big hit and I was very happy with how they turned out (I will blog about them later), I FINALLY got to catch up on some much needed sleep and one of my best friends had finally come home from a 3 week long trip. Sounds good so far right? Well then I get frustrated with the fact that I am called by someone at work (my new bakery job) and told that because we are so slow right now that she needs to cut back a few people's hours and because I am the newest and the least trained my hours for Tuesday and Thursday are completely cut. Well I only work those days, so now what am I going to do? No money...and my thoughts go to how am I going to afford this and that? Then the plans that are made with a friend that I haven't seen in soooooo long were canceled. I can't help feeling very disappointed about this. I let him know and he gets upset and then I feel really bad about being honest. I do completely understand why the plans were canceled and in a way I am glad they are (please do the things you need to do) but I cannot lie and pretend I am not disappointed. But I am not mad...just another thing to make my day kinda a bummer. Then someone else gets really pissy and yells at the people around me. Not at me but the other two that I was with and it really upset both of them. It was very awkward and I didn't know what to do. Because of this everyone went in to separate rooms and I was left by myself. Awesome. One thing after another to make my great weekend crummy. And I hate that I let one bad night leave a bitter taste in my mouth for the whole weekend.

So I have decided that even though it isn't New Years anymore that I am going to still make a resolution. I am going to try and find the good in EVERY situation. I like to think of myself as a positive person. I try to think glass half full but as I look back I feel bad about a situation that I could have handled better, a situation that I could have just said oh ok instead of a smart ass response and for those I am sorry. It's time to stop doing the things I have to be sorry about and to start that I need to look at how everything has a little good no matter how bad it seems.
So this weekend was great. I had fun and even though it was my last day at The Little Gym it was a very good day there. And I got to leave right after my classes were over instead of sitting in the lobby bored and freezing. I had been up until almost 4:30 making cupcakes for my friends baby shower. I showed up to the shower a little early to drop off the cupcakes and help with the finishing touches on decor. The shower was great and I knew that the host and mother to be were exhausted so I helped clean up and put presents in the car. Then I helped unload the gifts at their home. Then today I got to have lunch with my sister, her bf, and my parents. It was a nice lunch and that's when I got the phone call about work. So the good in that is that I have more time to spend on my school work this week and hopefully getting to go see my pregnant friend and my friend who just got home...speaking of which... The good in not seeing him tonight was that he was getting his school work done. And as much as it sucked to see the text ":-( I don't think I am going to make it tonight" I can only just hope that I will get to see him soon and that when we are FINALLY reunited that it will be a very fun time. Now the good in the pissy friend is that I got to see another side of one of my friends...good or bad it's always good to know...and I got to write this blog sitting by myself.

These may seem like little things now but I feel if I look at all the little good things going on instead of dwelling on the bigger bad things than come the end of the year I will look back and think wow...2010 was a good year. Maybe some bad things did happen and I had to deal with them, but I also had a lot of happy things happen and even in the darkest times there was a little light.

Panda-Date!

Happy #3:

Panda-Dates!

One of my best friends Karina and I call each other Panda. It's a LONG story but that is our nickname for each other. It started during Fantasmic! and the other Fan! cast members call us the Pandas. It's just known that's who we are with our friends and family. Whenever we go out just the two of us we ask for a Panda-Date. It's our little dates with just each other. Tonight we went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. Karina and I did Chip and Dale together in Fantasmic! for years...so we are the chipmunks. So we went to see the first one together and now this one. Dinner at Corner Bakery, the Chipmunks and my Panda! It's always a good night when I have a Panda-Date! ♥

This is Karina and I at the Halloween Bash! ♥

Skype

Happiness #2:

Talking to Argentina!!!

So one of my best friends is in Argentina. He left on the 1st and is gone for 3 WEEKS!!! That's right 3! Not ok! Actually it's a little more than that. It's only the 6th here and I already miss him. We have been able to chat online a little on Skype which makes me smile. But today was the best when I was actually in the middle of writing him an email and he surprised me and "called" me on Skype to video chat. I love seeing his pictures but it was the best to get to actually talk to him and see him. It totally made a crummy day spin around to a great day!

I hope you are having a blast! But I miss you and I can't wait for your safe return! Loves you! haha xoxo

And if you don't have skype...get it! It's the best! It's a great way to chat with people besides the phone. It's free to video chat and it's better than the phone...you get to actually see their face! ♥

Happy #1 of 2010!!!

A new year means new things to be happy about.

So Happy #1 for 2010 is New Beginnings. I have been lucky enough to spend two years running around teaching gymnastics to children at three different gyms. My favorite by far was in San Clemente but it isn't the same as it used to be. I loved this job but it is time for me to say goodbye. I have been given the opportunity at a bakery by my house. It's called The Cupcake Store. The owners just took over a bakery by me and they will be renovating and reopening in February. We are currently taking orders and still stocking the kiosk that is open at Downtown Disney. So as much as I have loved The Little Gym and I will miss it...I get to start doing what I want to do. And I am very happy and excited about this new beginning! ♥

2010!!! ♥

Bye 2009!!!
Here are some of my favorite moments of 2009 that I was lucky enough to catch on camera!



2010! I can't believe it's already 2010! I was not a huge fan of 2009 because a bunch of bad things happened. But I try to think of myself as a positive person and to think back on 2009 in a positive way. So with that I think back on some of the best things that happened.

I got closer with my sister. I got to visit Haylie a few times. I started hanging out with Wendy, Brian and GT. I started culinary school. And I had some of the most fun and best laughs I have ever had.

So I think that is the way I am going to think back on 2009. So far 2010 has been a great year. Yes it's only the 3rd but it's been a good 3 days. Last new years eve I spent alone on my couch. Not a big deal but I was a little sad from a breakup and didn't feel like going out. This year I had plans and to me they were big plans. I was very excited to go hang out with my sister, Brian and Wendy who have become my new group to hang out with. I love them dearly and knew that no matter what we would have fun. At the end of the night we all ended up at the Huntington Beach apartment with our friend GT. It was a very fun night. A GREAT way to start 2010. Since then I have been vegging for a few days. It has been great. The only thing I am bummed about is that GT left for Argentina on new years day. He has become one of my best friends in the past 6 months and I don't like not being able to text him whenever like I do the rest of my best friends. He is gone for 3 weeks and I hope that it goes fast. Other than that there is not much going on.

School is....well at an interesting state right now. Because I got very sick last semester and missed too much class I was dropped out of all my classes. Because it was all my classes I was dropped out of the school. Which makes it very difficult to get back into. I have been trying for weeks to figure things out. My mom and I were talking today and decided that since school starts in a week and I may not be able to get into the classes I need that if I have to put it off for a quarter it wont be the worst thing in the world. It will suck but worse things have happened and I will be ok as long as I know I still have to support of my friends and family. I am very excited to make a birthday cake for my cousin in a few weeks. I already have so many ideas!

So here is to a fantastic 2010!