The Cupcake Biz

I have always loved baking.  I’ve done it for as long as I can remember.  This is so random, but we were talking about the OJ Simpson trial at work the other day.  You know what I was doing while watching the police chase?  Baking shortbread.  Lol. 

When deciding on colleges, I really wanted to go to a local-ish culinary school.  But, between my parents’ desire for me to get a “real degree” and me not really having the confidence to go for it, I went another way.

When I started working in my current job, I would bring in cupcakes for my co-workers’ birthdays.  They would RAVE about how good they were.  This might seem weird, but I don’t like cupcakes.  I mean, I’ll eat them, but I wouldn’t choose them if I could pick a sweet, so I was surprised that they liked them that much.  Anyway, people at work were obsessed with them.  My friends all like them too, and I often make them for their kids’ birthday parties.  Then a couple of people asked if they could buy some from me, then one thing lead to another, and I decided, why not?

I came up with a name, and had someone on Etsy create a logo for me.  Is it not the cutest?!  It’s not at all what I asked for but I totally love it.

I started a Facebook page a few months ago, and was shocked by the following I got practically overnight.  I got 2 ordered that first night, I think.  Since then, I’ve steadily had 1-2 orders a week, which works out perfectly since I’m really only doing this on the side (for now :) )

Last month, I had a booth at a local event called Vintage Market Days.  They typically have 5,000 to 7,000 people through their doors.  It was a huge undertaking.  Completely exhausting.  I think I make 1,200 cupcakes and cakepops in 24 hours. I sold almost all of them. It was crazy.  People have emailed me from that, and tell me that my fill-in-the-flavor was the best cupcake they’ve ever had.  Again, crazy.

I have had requests to do a couple of other vendor-type events. I would love to do that, but it’s difficult to prepare for those kinds of things while still working full time, so I haven’t been able to do anything else yet.

I hope that someday this is more than just a side business.

Chocolate-Salted Caramel-Coconut Cakepops

 

Sofia the First Party

 

Simple Vanilla

It’s meeee!!

I feel like blogging again :) I didn’t really mean to quit, but I had nothing important to write about. Not that I do now, really!

Let’s see, since last time I blogged…

- I finished my half marathon training, and ran in the OKC half. It was fine. I accomplished my goal, and did something I NEVER thought I could do.

- I started training for the Route 66 half in July. And then I realized that I don’t like running. And that’s fine. And it takes a lot of time, time I’d rather be spending with Cooper or doing something else, so I stopped training. And I am SO happy about it. Several of my co-workers are training right now, and every time they talk about it, I think “that sounds terrible”. Ha!

- Cooper turned THREE years old! He is so big now. I need to update about him later.

- I started a side business, making cupcakes, and it has been going really well!

- I’ve been redecorating/rearranging our house a LOT lately. Pretty sure Lee is annoyed about it.

- Umm, I think that’s it.

I’ll elaborate on the cupcake business later, and Coopie as well!

My First Half Marathon

Technically, I’m training for the Oklahoma City Memorial half, which is on April 28th. But this past weekend, our training program had us running 13 miles, and there happened to be a half marathon scheduled in our city that day.  So, a few of us from my group figured, if we’re going to run 13 miles anyway, why not get a shirt and a medal while we’re at it?

So, I ran my first half marathon over the weekend :)

I have to say, I wasn’t nervous.  People kept asking if I was.  It was local, so I was familiar with the route.  And it was going to be a super nice day, so that was a plus.  I think it helps a LOT that I really don’t care much about my finishing time.  I just want to enjoy the run and finish, period.

And, I did finish. :)  I didn’t really have a “goal” time, but I did have an estimated time I thought I should finish, given my usual pace (15min/mi).  I thought I’d finish in about 3:30, and I ended up finishing in 3:13!  So I was really happy with that.  Especially with the killer wind we had to run against for the entire second half.  I have never run in that forceful of a wind.

Like I have said before, I’m a slow runner, and I’m definitely okay with that.  Truthfully, I think I’m too lazy to try and be faster, haha.  HOWEVER, I did have a little womp womp moment when I looked at the official results.  I think there were only 22 people behind me, out of 450ish.  So, you know, not to say that in the FUTURE I won’t try for a certain finish time. ;)

But, that’s not the point, right?  I had a great time and felt so accomplished.

 

My favorite running partner, Maggie. 

Crossing the finish line!

My peeps!  I tried to get Cooper to run the last .1 with me, but he was getting sick and wanted nothing to do with me.

Hooray!!  The half that I have been training for is in just a few weeks, then I am taking a few months off to hopefully completely heal my leg that I injured a few months ago. (I had not run more than 3 miles in the last month before this weekend)  Then, I am training for another half in November with some friends from work.

I still don’t like running though, ha!

Oh, hai

I wonder if I broke my record of time lapsed between blog posts?  Not gonna lie, it’s been nice to put it on the back burner for a while.  I felt like I was really lacking for content.  What can I say, I lead a very average life.  I’m not complaining though :)

Catch up?  How about we go with some bullet points?

• I’m still training for the half :) I’m on week 14 of 20.  I’ve done something to my left leg that kept me out for over 2 weeks, and it’s still giving me some trouble, but I’m able to manage it for now.  Last run was 11 miles :)
• I have to admit, I’m proud of myself for sticking with the running.  I surprised even myself with it.  I’ve signed up for 3 half’s this year.
• Cooper is definitely going through the terrible 2’s right now.  He is equal parts frustrating, hilarious, and loving.
• We’re working on potty training.  It’s going fairly well, for the effort we’ve put into it, which is minimal.  Haha.  I like diapers.  I’m lazy.  Then his teacher was like, “he is ready, put him in underwear” So we did.
• All I want to do is stay home and paint furniture.  It’s a strange, sudden obsession I have.
• I got a new car last month.  An SUV and it rocks.  Such a nice change from my little sports sedan.  I no longer hit Cooper’s head every time I load him into his car seat.  And he tells me often that he’s grateful. “You not bump my head?”  He’s also fascinated by the cargo area in the back.  “I can see in der!”
• We decided to go on our first family trip this year.  To Sea World.  I think it will be so fun for Coopie.  Slightly nervous for the almost 9 hour drive though :/

That’s really it.  Not much excitement around here!

Half Marathon Training: Weeks 2 - 4

Saturday (4 miles): My calves were still iffy, but I wasn’t going to miss a Saturday run.  About half a mile into it, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to make it back if I went the whole way, so I turned around and ended up only going 3, maybe 3.5 miles.  BUT, I wasn’t able to walk.  It hurt so much worse when I walked, so I jogged the whole thing.  Except it was more of a shuffle than a jog.  I’m pretty sure I looked completely ridiculous.

Monday (3 miles): I didn’t run.  It was the week of Christmas.

Thursday: No scheduled run, Christmas Eve

Saturday (5 miles): I didn’t run this one either!!  Terrible, I know.  I don’t remember if it’s because it was the holidays or what, but I didn’t run.  I do know that my calves were still hurting (hint, we are currently on week 5 and they still hurt, haha, but not nearly as badly)

Monday: We didn’t have a scheduled run this day, it was New Year’s eve.

Thursday (3 miles): I was back in training mode!  I surprisingly had a great run!

Saturday (6 miles): I was SO SO SO nervous for these 6 miles.  I hadn’t run either of the last 2 “long” runs, and I have never run 6 miles before.  Yikes.  But, we set out, and I actually kept up with my pace group!!  First time ever!  I was SO proud of myself.  My calves hurt pretty bad the first 3-4 miles, but after that, it was like I got them warmed up and they were okay the last few miles.  Just as  aside note, we do not actually run the entire thing, not even on week days.  I’m the slowest pace group, remember?  We still walk 1, run 1.  And we will do this the entire training, and I will do it for the half also.  I might do walk 1, run 2, but I will still be doing intervals then.  Also, we average about a 15 mile minute.  So, when I was all self conscious about marking my pace as 13mi/min, I am now laughing at myself, because I was even slower than that!!

I was pumped that I had 1) run SIX miles!, and 2) kept up with my pace group! But when I got home, I could barely walk, my calves were hurting so badly.  Lee talked me into taking an ice bath.  Oh my gosh.  The second I stepped in, my feet went numb.  I’m not kidding, I couldn’t feel them immediately.  It was so cold that it was very painful.  But, after the first 2-3 minutes, my whole body was numb and it wasn’t a big deal to sit in there for a total of 10 minutes.  And after?  My legs felt much better!!  It was definitely worth it.

Monday (4 miles): So, on week days, we can run whatever we want.  They recommend 3-4 miles.  And most everyone in my group usually does 3.  But, I was kind of still on a high from Saturday, so I went 4 miles.  I ran the first 2 alone, and the last 2 with a girl from my group, one of the ones who runs a faster pace than me.  When we got back to the store (where we meet), I was talking about my calves, and some other people started helping me.  Come to find out, it is probably shin splints!  Even though it’s my calf.  But it’s the inside of my calf, where it meets the front of my leg.  Anyway, I was told to try compression socks, so I ordered some online.

Thursday (3 miles): I ran with my pace group this time, and we just ran 3.  Running is so much more fun when you’re doing it with people and chatting.  I was always told that, but never believed that I would be able to carry on a conversation while running!

I’m going to go ahead and say what I thought I’d never say: I like running.  I look forward to it.  Who am I?

Half Marathon Training: Week 1

My first run with my training group was on a Saturday.  (We run Monday, Thursday, and Saturday – Saturday being our long runs)

We were supposed to run 3 miles.  Just 3.  But I was beyond nervous because I had never run 3 miles before.  I mean, I’d gone 3 miles before, but some running, a lot of walking.  And when I signed up, it said you needed to be able to run 3 miles. 

I kept whining (in case you didn’t know, I’m a whiner, and sadly I’ve passed that fine trait onto my child) that I didn’t want to be the last person, and everyone would say the thing you’re supposed to say, “who cares if you’re last, the important thing is you’re doing it!”  Come on, let’s all just agree that it sucks to be the last one, because it does. But I showed up.

When I signed up, you had to tell them your pace (how many minutes it takes you to run a mile).  The choices were 8,9,10,11,12,13,14+  My pace? 13 min/mile (and that’s actually my fastest time). I didn’t sign up in time to get the email about what pace group you were in.  So, I walked around that morning looking at all the signs.  The slowest one I could find was a 12+ group.  That was my group. 

When it was time to start running, my group took off…walking!  Hooray! I was so happy.  We walked for 5 minutes and then everyone started running, including myself.  But, I didn’t keep up with everyone.  From what I could tell they were doing intervals: walk some, run some, walk some, etc.  But, I never did keep up, and really, I didn’t care.  Honestly there were so many out on the (public) trail, that you really didn’t know if someone was with a group or not, so that made me feel better.

Anyway, I wasn’t last!  BUT, the few people that were behind me?  They turned around before the halfway mark to meet back up with the group!  I was so mad.  But I did end up passing them later :)  Don’t let that fool you though.  I was going s.l.o.w.  Like, the last 1/4 of a mile, I was keeping pace with a 70+ year old couple that was walking while I was running!!  But thank goodness for them.  We started talking and that really got me through the last part.  I was grateful.  They were training for a half marathon, and it was so cute :)  They asked if they were holding me up.  Haha!

So, that first run was tough, but not as bad as I was expecting.

The second run that week was on Monday.  3 miles again.  This time, I ran almost the entire thing!  I got held up at a stoplight after 2 miles.  I met 2 girls from my running group at the light, and they were running intervals: Run 1, Walk 1.  So I joined them.  Holy lord.  It was more like SPRINT 1, walk 1.  Haha.  But I went the last mile with them.  And I was so happy that I ran most of the whole run!  However, I really hurt my calves on that last mile.  Like really hurt.  I could barely walk to my car.

No matter what I did, I couldn’t get my calves to stop hurting.  So when Thursday rolled around, I didn’t go run.  It just hurt sooo bad.  I was really frustrated and wondered if they would ever get better. 

So, that was my first week.  I was disappointed that I didn’t run every scheduled run, but I was so glad that I had gotten started.  That’s the hardest part.

Half Marathon Training

I think I want to document my training for the half marathon that I’m running at the end of April.  Mostly because I think I’ll enjoy looking back and seeing how far I’ve come since these beginning days. (hopefully)  And maybe so others like me, who think there’s no way they could ever run ANYthing, to see that you CAN if you set your mind to it! :)  (hopefully)

How it began:

Now, I am not a “runner”.  I am not athletic.  I never played sports.  Wait, I did play soccer one year when I was about 8 years old.  If I remember correctly, I think I often ran the wrong direction, and sometimes stopped and picked flowers on the field.  After that season, my parents never suggested another athletic team for me to join.  Haha.  I consistently worked out for one semester in college.  Other than that, I’ve gone to the gym sporadically (I can’t NOT think of Clueless every time I use that word), and I’ve started and stopped a handful of workout routines, including The Shred and Couch to 5k.  I never made it past stage 1 of The Shred, and I think the furthest I ever went in C25K was week 5, and that’s a stretch.  My preferred method of exercise, if I do any, is group fitness classes at a gym.  And I love spin.  As a matter of fact, I had every intention of starting spin classes back up before this whole half marathon came up.

Let’s go back to August-ish of this year.  One of my co-workers suggested that a group of us run as a relay team in a marathon coming up at the end of November.  Each of us would have to run roughly 5 miles.  I thought it would be a fun challenge, and a great motivator for me to get off my butt and start exercising, so I said sure.  I had every intention of training.  But then…I don’t know, I never made it a priority.  I went to the gym sometimes and ran on the treadmill.  The longest run I did was 3 miles, and it was a run/walk.  A few of us ran the Race for the Cure in September.  That was my first 5k, first race really, and I just wanted to finish in less than 45 minutes.  I walked more than I wanted to, but I think we finished in about 40 minutes, and I was so happy with it.  Running across the finish line was exhilarating and I had renewed motivation to get with it for the relay.

And then 2.5 months passed, and relay day came and I hadn’t run much at all.  In fact, instead of preparing, I complained about it every day at work.  How much I hated running and I wished I hadn’t signed up.  How running is so stupid and what was I thinking.  Two of my co-workers ended up getting injured and couldn’t run, and I said I wished that I had gotten hurt so I didn’t have to go.  Clearly I an a whiner.  Anyway, when we went to pick up our race packets, the atmosphere was so motivating and fun, that I was actually excited to participate.  (I think you can see my rollercoaster love affair with running.  Although, I wouldn’t call it a LOVE affair really, more like a tolerate affair)  Marathon day was here, and I went out and did it.  I completed just under 5.5 miles in an hour and 12 minutes.  It was hard, and again, I walked (a lot) more than I wanted to, but running across the finish line was even more exhilarating than the first time.  It was awesome and I was proud of myself for following through, even if I hadn’t prepared like I should have.

After the marathon (like immediately after), one of my co-workers, who is much more excitable than I am :), started talking about how she wanted to run a half next year for her 40th birthday.  And with the endorphins pumping, I was all “I’M IN, LET’S DO IT!!!”  Haha.  At work the next day, I told someone about it and he was like “BUT YOU HATE RUNNING!!  YOU JUST COMPLAINED EVERY DAY ABOUT THE MARATHON!!”  Which was so true.  I had complained every day.  Because I didn’t have any confidence that I would be able to finish.  But I HAD finished.  Maybe not with the best time, but it was such an accomplishment for me.  And I wanted to get better.

And THEN, that same day, my fiend Jackie mentioned that she and her fiance were thinking about running the half marathon at the end of April.  This is a different half than the one my co-worker wants to do.  And just like that, I decided that I will do BOTH of them this year.  At some point along the way, I think I drank the kool aid and I’m now hooked.  But this time, I’m serious.  I joined a training group that started over the weekend, and we’ve had 2 runs so far.  I plan to recap those later, this is getting far too long.  Do I love running?  Nope.  Not yet, anyway…I think I might by the end of this though….