Four Months In...

Four months into cake shop-ownership and boy have I learned A LOT!  We are now fully stocked and customers, students and cake orders are rolling in! Each day...each class...each order is different and each customer that walks through the door has something new to offer my experience as a cake shop owner! 
 
Overall, life is good! It's just as exhausting and exhilarating as I thought and hoped it would be. The hardest part, by far, is the amount of time that I'm away from my children. I have always been a working mom, but the business spills into every moment of my life whether I am physically at the shop or not. The first month or two I justified it as a normal part of starting a business. But as summer vacation passes me by I have decided to take back at least a portion of my life with my kiddos. 

I've done a lot of calendar management, hired another instructor and other administrative things to limit the cake-shop spillover into my home time, but my favorite change comes once a week.  Every Saturday at 4:00pm I close the shop, turn off my phone, computer and my brain.  The kids and I have instituted Saturday night camp-outs at our house where we build a fort in the living room, eat popcorn (or any other treat, but NOT cake!) and camp out in the living room all night long. I wrestle with my boys, dance and sing with my daughter and just try to be present with them...without multi-tasking.  I listen to them.  I look at them. I tickle and hug them...and I look forward to it all week long.  What started as a special treat on Saturday night has become a tradition that is followed by cinnamon rolls and church the following morning.  It's my time to reconnect with my kids before Monday comes.  Life will only get busier when school starts in August, but for now at least I have my weekly date night with my kids...and I wouldn't trade it for the world! 

Feeling the Cake Love!

With only 5 days until our grand opening, I am feeling lots if things -  from excitement and relief to exhaustion and stress!  But the most overwhelming feeling is one of tremendous love and support...and it has come at the perfect time. 

I've been blessed with a great network of friends, family and even those I've never met!  The encouraging posts to this blog and my facebook page always cheer me up and seem to come at just the right moment.  And the love doesn't end in cyberspace!  A great family friend recently gave me a 'key to prosperity' keychain that I use for my store and kitchen keys - I can't wait to unlock the door on opening day knowing that I'm stepping into a new chapter in my life.  And since this is truly a family business, my biggest fan - my momma - is sending me tiny 'All Things Cake' T-shirts and gear for my kiddos and future shop employees!  Love it!

In the past 24 hours two more wonderful surprises - random acts of kindness -  have come my way.  First, an amazing blog post by Going Green Mom on 918moms.com.  It's my cake tale - told by an awesome mom and friend in her funny and heartfelt way. Thank you Kristen!!!

And just this morning I opened my e-mail and found a message from my UK namesake - All Things Cake UK!  They just wanted to wish me well on my upcoming grand opening...and they completely brightened my day!!

Wow - I am feeling the cake love today...

So Close!

So much has happened since my last post!  Deals fell through and others became official...what a learning process!  I'm sure there are thousands of lessons to come, but today I'm celebrating that I have an official location for All Things Cake in Tulsa!  We have an endcap space in a shopping center at 71st & Memorial (a very popular intersection in town!)....and minor renovations have already begun.  The interior picture above will soon house sugar art supplies and the french doors lead to our class and party room.  I can't believe it's all coming together!  And even better, Tulsa is ready for us!  I've received several calls and e-mails asking when we're opening, and I can't finally say...."very soon!!"