Finally, A Break!

After literally baking for a week straight and putting over 80 hours in between that and my full-time job, I am ready to have a night for ME!  I finally get a night to relax & take care of some of the things I haven't been able to get to such as painting my toenails (yes, this is the first item on my list because one of my biggest pet peeves is unpainted toenails and mine are nearly in that state due to lack of time- yuck!), TANNING, and getting back to the gym... amazing how much you notice after only a week of no cardio!  I am so excited to dedicate this night to do whatever I want and to be able to get to bed at a decent hour tonight!  And this weekend?  CLEANING THE HOUSE (especially the kitchen!).  The house has totally been neglected in the last week and I will be glad to get everything back in order.

This is what my kitchen table looked like last night...

The past week has been a total learning experience...  I have learned my place of preference for supplies, more adequate pricing for the cupcakes, and how much time it takes to complete large orders!  Good thing I have the skill of time management!  I also learned more about baking certain batters at different temperatures, and have come up with a few different twists on some recipes.  Another thing that was made very obvious to me this past week is that I need to upgrade my utensils and appliances!  I have a good oven, but could absolutely use a better zester, stand mixer, and a food processor would be wonderful to have.  I have become more productive, getting faster at mixing batters and icings, and I believe I have nearly mastered piping pretty swirls of frosting on the cupcakes.  I get to breathe easy and do "casual baking" for the next couple of weeks now.  I can't wait to try some new recipes!