do the hustle...

goodness... these last 10 days have been busy busy busy.

the cake, the first official order, turned out beautifully! it has been ages since i have eaten it. the recipe comes from my great great aunt ada. i used to write her poems and send her cards when i was little. it's true! when my grandmother helped clean out her house after she passed, she found all the little things i used to send her.

needless to say the cake is special... and DELICIOUS!

also, it weighs about 10 pounds when it is done.

in the midst of all this cake making, business plan scheming, and job searching, i had some dear friends, dave and tele, who were preparing to move out of portland. since i haven't been "working", i have been helping them out. taking their (almost) two year old, bea, to the park so they could pack without having to worry about her unpacking the boxes. she's my new best friend. we would go on the swings, throw wood chips, jump, watch the dogs at the dog park and touch all the flowers we could find... because that is how you say hello to flower friends. and sometimes, if we were lucky, the trees would give us hugs!

they also commissioned me for some special orders to keep them filled up with good things on their roadtrip back to baltimore. i made whole wheat blueberry muffins from the laurel's kitchen bread book. the berries came from my best friend, vanessa and her boyfriend, matt w... matt w. who happens to be long time friends of dave and tele. so the muffins were extra packed with love... and wheat germ. mmm! i also made cookies because you can't drive across the country without good cookies. in exchange i got all their leftover footstuffs, a small vacuum cleaner, cleaning supplies, tasty dinners cooked by tele and lots of hugs. they left today and they will be missed.

one thing that i have been learning (remembering) through this process, is that people really like to be helpful to one another. the woman who bought the first cake made sure to pass out my information people who liked my cake, so that my name got out, tele helped me brainstorm lots and lots of ideas for love pie, my friend matt offered to help me with an excel sheet to track costs of different recipes (in exchange for baked goods of course) and i even have a list of taste testers. not that having so many eager taste testers would be a suprise! it is encouraging to be surrounded by a community of people who are excited and willing to help.

it makes my heart happy. and i am thankful.