I cain't say no!

I'm singing along with Ado Annie (that's Oklahoma talk for those of you who are not musical fans!) - "I'm just a girl who cain't say no - I'm in a turrible fix!..." Well, although Ado Annie is singing about courting guys with ulterior motives, I'm referring to CAKE! I said I was going to call it quits until I could do the business properly, but when I'm asked to do a cake, I just can't say no!

My childhood best friend is getting married on May 1st. In Alabama. I am driving/flying (depending on my job status at the time) to Alabama to make her wedding cake. Can we say pressure? I was really hoping she would rather me sing or something instead. That is a lot less stressful!

The third Saturday in May, I'm going to a graduation/birthday party in Houston and - you guessed it! - making the cake. This one is my fault, though. I found a cake idea that fit too perfectly, I had to do it!

The fourth Saturday in May is my 10 year high school reunion. Hard to believe that I've been out of school for ten whole years, but here we are! I'm pretty sure I'll need to make a cake for that occasion, too.

And finally, the fifth Saturday in May is the wedding of a friend of a friend. They want a fairly easy cake; however, any time I am doing the cake for someone's wedding, I get very stressed out!

So, if I really want to put the cake business on hold, I need to learn how to say "No!"

I also have a 10K race coming up in a couple weeks. On one hand, I feel like I'll do fine, but lately my runs have not been very good. I don't know if I'm pushing myself too hard or what. I started going on social runs and I really like them! There is just something easier about running with a group. I'm hoping that on race day, I'm feeling like my normal running self and am able to push myself for a personal best time! I'll be running with three friends and the race is in Austin, so we will get to spend one night in Austin. I think it will be a fun time!

Two hours and thirty-nine minutes

Wow! This morning I ran the Cowtown Half-marathon in Ft. Worth, TX. I have been training off and on for several months, but since December I have really slacked off with my training. I wasn't nearly where I was supposed to be at this point, seven miles being the longest I had run in one session. Until this morning. As it always is with a race, it is easier to keep a faster pace than normal because there are SO many people around you running at different speeds, and maybe I'm not normal, but when there are people around me, I always feel like I need to pass them! After a couple miles, I realized I needed to stop trying to pass people, so I slowed down a bit. Funny thing, when I knew I had a total of thirteen miles to go, those miles seemed to last forever! Around mile six, I was really wishing that I had signed up for the 10K instead! I allowed myself to walk if I felt like I needed it, so I would give myself 2-3 minute walking breaks. Then I crossed the 11 mile mark. Something in my body just said NO MORE! I walked for a few minutes, tried to run again and had to stop and walk again after about 30-45 seconds. So, needless to say, the last two miles took me a long time!

Since it was my first half-marathon, my only real goal was to finish, but my unofficial goal was to finish in 2:30. I finished in 2:39 and I know it would have been within my time goal if I had been able to run the last two miles! I'm really sore at this point and I haven't been able to stop eating since I got home! It doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but my resulting hunger has been insatiable all day! I hear it will be like that tomorrow, too. Now, I have to take two weeks off for "recovery" - walking only - and then training for a 10K in April. After that, hopefully another half-marathon this summer. Can't wait! :)

What a week!

So in the midst of the cake business to be or not to be, I decided to call it quits until I make it a legit business. Well, that can't happen until after this week. I have three cakes due in one weekend. Yikes! I have gotten faster at the process, but three cakes is still pushing it!

On top of that, I also have my business plan due this weekend. I'm not prepared at all, but procrastination is my way of life, so I'm sure it will get done before it's due. :)

Also, I have to do an ASL presentation in class on Thursday and, of course, haven't started it. So, it's Tuesday already and I can tell you this week is going to get really hectic really fast.

OH YEAH, and the Cowtown marathon is next week and I am supposed to be running the half. That's 13.1 miles and I am SOOOO not ready! I almost decided to not run and wait until I was better prepared, but I figure if I do that it will never happen. So, I WILL be crossing the finish line next weekend, but I might possibly be the last one to do so!

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Texas got a treat today! When I woke up this morning, there was probably less than an inch of snow on the ground and right now, 8:30 p.m, it is still snowing. It hasn't let up for most of the day, so we have about 8 inches right now. Papa and I made a cake and a baker out of the snow. I am not such a good snow artist, but Papa is pretty good at being artistic no matter the medium.


I'm glad we got to enjoy the snow for a little bit before it melts and/or turns into ice! Texas doesn't know how to have snow without it turning into an icy mess! I hope everyone got to enjoy the white beauty today, though!

To incorporate or not to incorporate, that is the question!

One of the core requirements for my Interpreting degree is to take a Small Business Management class. I decided to take it in fast-track form (a whole semester worth of credit in 3 weekends? don't mind if I do!) so it has taken over my life for the past two weekends. I thought I was going to hate the class and find the information useless, since when I do interpret, I don't plan on opening my own agency; however, this class has actually been pretty interesting and I have learned a ton!

Our goal throughout the course is to develop a business plan for a legitimate business that we are interested in creating. Since I knew I didn't want to go the route of the interpreting agency, I decided to create a business plan for a cake business, since I have been "practicing" that for two years. I thought that I might actually want to do that to make ends meet until I can interpret full-time... but wow! Did you realize all the requirements for selling food to the public? Aside from the fact that you must have a kitchen, separate from your personal kitchen, that meets health codes and all that jazz, it is highly recommended that you also incorporate since you will be selling something that might possibly cause someone to become sick, they can sue, they'll try to take everything you have, etc. etc. Well, that is a LOT of initial cost. And I don't know about you, but I don't know of many people that will pay several hundred dollars to buy a cake from someone with as little experience as I have. After paying rent for the kitchen (because I definitely don't have other options as far as that goes) I doubt I could make ends meet.

The problem I'm having now, though, is that I think owning my own business sounds like a great idea, but I seem to be one of those "jack of all trades, master of none" people. I'm a crafty person, and I love to do lots of different things, but I don't feel like I'm great enough at any of them to make a profit off of them. I love the saying, "Find what you love. Then find someone to pay you to do it." I wish it was that easy. The saying doesn't give you advice for what to do while you're waiting to get your degree in what you love. :-P

Embroidered Cards - pics

I haven't "cuted" this one up yet, but it only took a few minutes. These are so fun!



I did small flowers that look super cute, and then did a big one for the demonstration piece for ladies' night, but I think the smaller ones look a bit cuter.

I can't stop! These are so fun!

Embroidered Cards

Last night, I tried something I have wanted to try for quite some time - embroidering cards. I love the hodge-podge scrapbooking style cards, but... well, I'm just not good at them! But I saw this idea on this website and have been wanting to try it for weeks! Last night I finally got out mom's embroidery thread and the only blank cards that she had and went to town. I knocked out a pretty cute one for my first! I have to become some sort of expert this week, though, because Mom and I were brainstorming about what to do for our monthly ladies' night on Friday and we both thought this would be a cute idea!

I'm excited to teach the ladies something they probably have never done, and we'll have cards to send by the end of the night! I'll try to post pictures soon! :)