Love and Sleep

Sometimes I feel like I must have chronic fatigue syndrome, but then I realize that my body and mind take a couple of days to recover from all of the work and lack of sleep that I get.  I was fortunate enough to sneak in a power nap today - I know it sounds insane, sleeping on the job, but I really needed it.  I felt so much better, albeit with a red bull in one hand and a coffee in the other, but hey, whatever it takes, right? 

Tommorrow I will be preparing a cake for a beautiful young couple and I am super excited about it!  I love weddings! Love and romance, friends, family, the union of two hearts, and new beginnings.  And the fall is such a great season for weddings.  My husband and I were married in September and the weather was gorgeous! So far this month has been quite beautiful too. 

Congratulations to the bride and groom of our first October 2012 wedding!!

I thought I would share some pictures from our wedding too! 

This is a picture of my husband and I in Dallas.  We stayed at a beautiful historic hotel that for the life of me I can't remember the name!  I will post it when it comes to me...

Our first dance and below, Johnny and I smiling at the camera.

 

Okay, so I googled it - The Adolphus Hotel in Dallas Texas.  If you ever get the chance to visit, you must check it out!

 

 

Another all-nighter...

Another all-nighter tonight...

It is almost 1:00 am and as I sit here in the office, with my pate choux baking in the convection oven, my croissants awaiting their 3rd turn, biscotti awaiting a second bake, and my husband snoring in the back, I realize how blessed we are.  Yes, I said blessed. Even though we are sort of 'stuck' in this position, working 24 hour days at times, we are truly fortunate that we are able to do this.

 I thank God everytime a customer walks in our doors, for all the business we get, whether it be for a small order or a large event, like tomorrow.  We knew what we were getting into when we decided to open a retail front, we were aware that there would be many sleepless nights in the beginning, and we have been well aware that this month, this wonderful October, is going to be CRAZY!  As in weddings every weekend, huge catering orders, business events, and many many custom cakes crazy.  (in a good way, of coarse, the busier we are, the better our business grows.)

So yes, I am happy, over-joyed, tired, and baking all at once. One of these days, we will be able to hire staff and actually have a decent work/life balance.  But until then, we will tough it out.  Whatever it takes.

And by the way, my husband isn't really snoring, but he is sleeping.  Definitely not fair.

Happy Saturday!

This is the cake that kept me up most of the night.  Decorating cakes is a such a challenge, yet also such a rewarding task.  I also made 2 smash cakes for the twins to match the theme on this cake.  Very cute concept.  The parents wanted the survivor theme for their twin's first birthday.  I absolutely love love love first birthdays!  They are so special and once again, I feel so blessed to play a part in such a joyous event. Wow, twins!  Proud of you mom and dad!  God is good!

Fall in Love...

I love the fall.  I also love spring - actually I love all the seasons.  But I especially love this time of year as the weather starts to slowly change and the leaves turn to beautiful reds, golden, and brown colors.  It just makes me feel so happy, inspired, and refreshed.  Another thing I love about the fall season are all of the weddings we are blessed to be a part of.  We feel so honored to be able to play such an integral part in the union of two hearts.  It fills us with such joy and gives us a deep sense of satisfaction and also reminds us of how much we love to do what we do best.

(Of coarse, we know that our talents are God-given and we always must give our props up high.)

Early mornings, red bull and diet mountain dew...

What a night! I was up until 2:30 last night. My 2 and 1/2 year old must have had a nightmare. He was inconsolable for what seemed like a very, very long time. After all of my attempts at stroking his hair, rubbing and patting his back, hugs, and I love you's, I decided to sing. Why didn't I think of that sooner? As soon as I uttered "hush little baby, don't say a word," he stopped crying. (by the way, it was 2 am and that was the only song I could think of - though definitely appropriate for the situation.)

Okay, enough about my crazy night of probably only 2 hours of sleep, we are back in the bakery by 5 am, busily preparing to open. Today we are putting out a couple of new products, cinnamon rolls and dutch apple tarts. Later, I'll put a new flavor in our display case - spiced pumpkin cupcakes.

A large part of my insomnia last night had to do with my relentless mind racing of all the new baked goods I wanted to start serving at the bakery. Fall is upon us and I feel a strong need to put out more flavors and give our customers a larger variety to choose from, seasonal and traditional. Well, we'll see how far I get with that today. I'm relying on this red bull/ diet mountain dew concoction to get me through the day

A baker's blog

So today is the day I begin my blogging adventure. I suppose I should introduce myself - My name is Angela Vasquez, my friends and family call me Angie. I have been blessed with 3 amazing children and an even more amazing husband, Johnny. You might find me referring to him as "chichi", an unfortunate nickname that was branded on him since birth. It means something like, "sweet, cute, tiny, little precious baby" in Spanish. Don't worry, he is more than used to this, not even embarrassed in the slightest!

So enough with the intoductions, my blog is basically my way of sharing with the world, our adventures in entering the retail bakery scene here in Wichita, KS. (My husband was raised in L.A. and I am from St. Louis, so ending up here in Wichita, is a whole different blog...) I am going to be completely, utterly, gut wrenchingly honest about our experiences - the good, the bad, and the very very ugly too! So get ready to read about our venture into the crazy world of business, baking, and family