Pancakes

My aunt introduced me to a fabulous website with the most mouth watering photos you've ever seen, www.bakerella.com. I have to say, I'm a fan. I can't wait to try everything out, from the apple pops to the pancakes to the sugar cookie french fries. Sounds weird I know but you have to check it out! She makes me not only want to go home and bake my fanny off (and grow it back eating it all) but also become a food photographer. I would copy and paste one of the photos here but I don't know what the copyright laws on that are. I don't want to get busted for stealing food...photos.

So please check out her site, and keep on scrolling till you find the pancakes. And tell me you don't want pancakes after seeing those pancakes, light and fluffy filled with big juicy blueberries, stacked high with a nice dallop of orange maple butter and then torturously scroll down and watch the syrup slowly drip down the pancakes. It's amazing how seeing a picture of pancakes engages all the senses, because by golly I can sure taste them by looking at them, I smell them for sure, and my balance is all thrown off from wanting them. The best part is, the recipe is included, bon apetit!

I started school this past week for fall semester. I'm taking 3 classes: abnormal psychology, medical terminology, and hospitality marketing. My psych professor told us to be careful because as psych students we will start trying to diagnose ourselves as well as everyone around us. Watch out! In hospitality marketing we're meant to do a project, and since I think everyone but me works in the industry, the project is to create a dish or a drink or some kind of special and market it. Since I don't work in the industry maybe I'll come up with a marketing plan for my business that isn't: Kaloula Cakes! We'll see how that goes - I have time and procrastination first.

Here is my question of the day if anyone is reading this: What do you do when you're bored? Right now I am bored, so I'm blogging. Actually I was reading old blogs from Bakerella because I was bored, leading me to blog. I still have 3 hours to kill. The only good thing I can say is I'm not eating.

:o)

Impulsive

I have 2 sides to me, a meticulous planning side and a very impulsive side. Completely opposite, and it's funny, the planner in me doesn't get much done, the impulsive side controls me. Is this normal, does anyone else have this?



Since eating and Operation Slimbelly have been prevalent in my last 2 blogs, I'll give an example. (I just named Operation Slimbelly by the way, and I think I like it!) The planner in me reads nutrition books, exercise books, writes weight loss goals down, plans to do triathlons and 5ks. I "get right" mentally before the day starts, and I eat a healthy breakfast and snack. Then in a matter of 5 minutes, the impulsive side has come and gone, and in that 5 minutes I've consumed a 400 calorie doughnut and 500 calorie Starbucks. With whipped cream if I'm feeling sassy. Then the planner comes back, and is depressed for the rest of the day over lack of control! Terrible and ashaming. The closest I came to letting the planner win was doing the triathlon last year and it is a proud moment, even if I came in near last place! On my current goal lists are both weight loss and to run a 5K by July 2010. If any other running haters want to join me I'd be grateful for the support!


Another example: Businesses... I read business books like best selling novels. I pour over them, indulge in them, savor them and feel ready to conquer the world when I finish one. I take notes for crying out loud, yes I'm a bit of a nerd! :) But have yet to come up with a business plan. I have lots of ideas, like my newly named Kaloula Cakes, but have a bit of anxiety when I think about actually starting it. Then one day, sitting at work, I make an impulsive decision to sell Avon. And immediately sign up! So I have a bit of a business now, www.youravon.com/klabossiere, shameless plug. Which is satisfying to have indeed, but not the blood sweat and tears that go into opening your own business. That said, I am going to give this my all and work for a successful business.


I'm working on finding that middle ground, between planning and not doing and being too impulsive. I get tired of waiting for life to happen, if we really want something we have to go out and get it right? I admire those of you who know exactly what you want to do and focus on it until you are great at it, and some of you reading this are that person. If you don't know who you are well you should! The people who are really great and successful at something step out of their comfort zone and go for it. Sometimes people say to me that they wish they could do some of the things I've done, which is flattering, but really -- it's just a matter of getting out of the comfort zone and doing it!

So for me, I am going to go for it with Avon until I'm done with school. Who knows, maybe in 2 years when I graduate, I will have made enough to not have student loans. Now that's a goal worth obtaining! And for you, please, do something that you've always wanted to do, something that only your fears are holding you back. Be impulsive if you've never been! Or be like me and try to find the middle ground.. and if you do it please let me know because I am truly inspired by stories of not holding back and going for it! Like they say, you never know unless you try, if you are successful that is GREAT, and if you are not, well, at least you are not wondering what coulda been if only.. And that may even lead you to something better!

Goals and Doughnuts

I read a lot of books on business, success, goals, personal development. They are very motivating and in fact as a result of reading these books I have a scrapbook containing my goals, each goal having it's own page, a due date, a picture of what it looks like, and it's broken into mini goals to reach the big one. I try to look at my goal book every day to stay on track.

This past spring I reached my first mini goals! I was so psyched and it led me to go buy all the provisions I talked about in my last posting. My big goal was to start making money selling cupcakes, and the reason is to have income while going to graduate school and not have to have a full time job. My mini goal was to start donating cupcakes to church to get my name out, then advertise to do parties. Going up to the manager was actually quite scary, out of my comfort zone anyway, but when I did it and had a positive result it made me look forward to reaching another goal, what a rush!

The next goal I really want to reach is my weight loss goal.. broken down to 3 mini goals. I haven't reached my first, not even close! I wake up every morning with such a strong mind, and consciously think about it - I'm not going to eat badly today! My first goal date is December 31st and man! I have a long way to go. Where do I go wrong, I'll tell you! I am strong getting ready for work, strong walking into work, then I sit down and there come the donuts. Inevitably, someone decides to be nice and bring in boxes of the Dunkin. They spell their doughnuts "donut" - they take out the "ugh" Unfortunately, although the ugh is out of the title, it's still in the donut. Ugh I just ate a donut. Ugh from my belly who has to break down the donut. Ugh from my butt that's trying to get smaller not larger. UGH!

So I sit at work and try to pretend they're not sitting 3 feet away from me. And every single person that walks by says "Ooh! Donuts!" I'm thinking - be strong, be strong you don't want a donut. Literally repeating to myself that I don't want a donut until all of a sudden don't becomes Yes! You do want a donut! It's just a little donut! That darn little devil on my shoulder. And I have a donut.

Sometimes I wonder if my goals are contradictory. Can I be thin and a cupcake baker at the same time? Does anyone trust a skinny baker? Who's food would you rather: Paula Deen or Giada DeLasomething?

Maybe I can hold myself accountable via this blog. If I continue to confess my poor eating habits it will be embarrassing and get me on track. I need a swift kick to the booty is what I need.

Siestas and Cupcakes

Welcome to my blog! Siestas and Cupcakes... Naming things has never been my strong spot. For the longest time I've been trying to come up with a business name for selling cupcakes. Only now, I'm not even selling cupcakes yet I still can't stop trying to find a name. How come? I don't know, it's like a mission now, and maybe if I come up with a business name magically I will have a business.

I don't make cupcakes very often, although I did have grand plans to start. I bought all the necessary provisions: cookbooks, baking pans, stand mixer, decorating kit, cupcake stand! All the while thinking - it's for my business! I'll be able to write it off! And then... no business, no name. I came up with so many names I'd get excited about, only to google it and find someone else with that name already. "Cupcakery" came to me one night and I was so excited I couldn't sleep! I had to get up immediately and google it, and yep! Right there, a long list of cupcakeries already in existence. Long list.

Anyway.. I have given the cupcake business idea a break for a while as I concentrate on school. But I named the cupcake portion of this ol blog after 1) my fabulous cupcake business that isn't and 2) I mean, who doesn't love a cupcake? A perfectly portioned melt in your mouth, light yet moist, whipped frosting topped with sprinkles cupcake? By the way, yes, I did try "Sprinkles" -- also taken. Frosted? Yeah that too.

As an aside, I did start talking to a coffee shop at my church, Cathedral of Praise, about baking cupcakes. They were very excited to have someone bake from scratch for them, but it all has to be individually wrapped. I have yet to discover how to do that with a cupcake, so I've perfected my bananer bread recipe. And may I say, Yum.

And then of course -- Siestas, another favorite of mine, but a rarity these days. How I love a siesta! People always ask - are you a morning person or a night person? And I say neither, I'm always kinda tired. But if I could siesta every day! I'd be a morning and a night person, Yes! How great that would be. I'm talking mind, body, and soul - complete happiness, at the mercy of just a little nap. When I'm stressed, I take a nap and wake up and revived, somehow in my sleep came up with the solution to a problem or just plain realized I was getting worked up for nothing. Siesta! Also close to Fiesta, both not only fun to say but fun to do!

So there it is, Siestas and Cupcakes, 2 of the most fabulous things on the planet. Thank you for reading my blog. And hey! Don't leave yet! Hello? Reader? Ok I almost forgot! If you have any ideas on a name for me I'd love to hear it! And also once I figure this thing out I will start to add pictures.