Positives

So it has officially been over TWO MONTHS since my last post. Go Jo!!

I can't say I'm disappointed or surprised. I am, after all, working a full time job and trying to start my own bakery business sooooo I've been a little preoccupied lately. Luckily for me though my full time job seems to have sent me to a place where there isn't much else to do but be alone with my thoughts and sit in front of a computer most of the day. What better to do then get some of those thoughts out on the blog, right?

At first, I was kinda sad that I'm stuck (for the foreseeable future) in the most boring building we have. But now I'm trying to focus on the positives. Around Thanksgiving, I began posting what I was grateful for each day. I'd like to get back into that if I can. For example: Since my hours have changed and Yeti got a promotion at his job (Yay Yeti!) I've been taking the T into work every morning. Sure, it sucks and it's cold and it's crowded but I get to read more! I consider that a win! It's hard for me to find time to sit and actually READ things. I really want to! It's hard though. Now I have actual reading time. It may only be about 20 minutes a day or so depending on what the T is up to, but at least it's time I didn't have before! My first book of choice: American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Starting every day off with some Gaiman is the best! And that's only ONE of my positive things for the day.

There's also been a lot of excitement coming from the bakery side of things! I had two relatively big "professional" events to do cupcakes for! The first was in the middle of February for BOSKONE, which is the New England Science Fiction Association's (a.k.a. NESFA) yearly sci-fi, horror, and fantasy convention! It was a ton of fun do the cupcakes for their "Meet and Greet" event but man was I nervous! It was my first gig for a large group! 6 dozen to be exact! And to make things even harder, I only got official word to do the job about 10 days before the event! AHHH!!! So there was a lot of late nights and early morning leading up to it, but the end result was nothing short of fantastic! I'm particularly proud of the One Ring set. I literally practiced writing in Elvish over and over and over so it would be just right when the time came to put it on the fondant.

The best part though was getting to watch total strangers get excited over my cupcakes! Family and friends are one thing and I truly appreciate all the work I've gotten to do for them but there is nothing quite like standing back and hearing people talk about your work with such excitement! There were 72 cupcakes total and they were gone in under an hour. I was floored. I will always be grateful to people at NESFA for giving me my first big "break". I look forward to doing the con again next year (if they'll have me, of course!).

At the tail end of February, I had a really amazing opportunity cross my path via a couple of my really good friends (thanks Mike and Steph) to participate in the MGH Blood Donor Center's very last Cupcake Tasting Event! Yeah, you read that correctly. MGH. As in Massachusetts General Hospital. As in one of the most world-renowned medical institutions in the world, if not the country! How could I turn it down? Not only was it Mass General, but I also got the chance to showcase my wares  in an environment that also included a few of the bigger name bakeries in the Boston area including Sweet, Flour and Lyndell's! I may  have been more nervous for that than Boskone. How was I supposed compete with those?? But I think the Jostess Bakery held up pretty well against the competition:

I couldn't believe how they just sort of fit in with the others. At first glance, you would never be able to tell I was just a small business just starting out! Currently, i'm waiting to get some comment cards from the event coordinator about my cupcakes. It will be interesting (and terrifying)to see what people have to say about my product compared to the other pros :). 

I'm really hoping that these two big events bring some more business my way! In the meantime, I am working on getting all my ducks in a row on the business side of things like looking for community kitchens to work out of, food-safe certification classes, networking and building an online presence, etc. People really do seem to be shocked when I mention all the steps I'm taking to make this bakery a reality. "Wow you really are serious!" seems to be the general consensus. 

I'm not sure how I feel about that or what that says about me as a person, but I am completely sure that this is what I need to be doing with my life in order to be even happier than I already I am. I have everything I need. My awesome Yeti, amazing family and friends, food in my belly, clothes on my back, a roof over my head and I finally feel like i'm on the right path to a career that I will love. So many positives and exciting things to look forward to! I just hope that this pattern continues ;).