Where was this book when I was a child? All I got was a lousy mouse and his cookie. Ok, so the moose and his muffin (top) are quite adorable, but nothing beats cats and baking.

Being financially strapped is no fun. Every purchase incited buyer's remorse, regardless of need. For the past few months I've been nannying one day a week and using the small bit of savings I have left to live. I had too much free time and was wasting it away doing...well, I'm not sure exactly. Much of that time was quite possibly spent working on my new food blog, so I won't count it as a total loss. I was scouring the domestic gigs and childcare listings on Craigslist, only to come up with a couple random babysitting jobs. A whole lot of ads I'd e-mailed myself, which means a whole lot of ads to which I didn't bother responding. Basically, I hadn't been helping my cause. The defeatist attitude hadn't helped.

One day while I was searching Craigslist, Dallas suggested that I apply for a part-time position in which I'd actually be interested. Though I love children, I've been yearning to increase my vocabulary and communication skills rather than teach toddlers how to speak. Kara's Cupcakes were looking to hire a part-time Cupcake Ambassador and Karavan driver, and I immediately jumped at the opportunity to send in my resume.

So what if it's not in social work? I'll be happy being surrounded by baked goods...for the time being. I'm graduating in less than a month (let the heart-attacks begin) and grad school is a mere sparkle of a thought in the distance. There are plenty of opportunities available to me, and these last couple years I've come to realize that life is short, so why not enjoy it! An ex-boyfriend of mine was always telling me this and he's always truly practiced this. If only I weren't so stubborn I would have learned this lesson several years ago. Well, the past is the past and I'm just happy I started to embody this trite saying. There are plenty of people who go about each day working a miserable 9-5 job, never having experienced...life.

Getting back to Kara's, after two interviews (the second being with Kara herself!) I've been hired as Kara's Cupcakes newest employee. I'm pretty sure my nearly-overbearing enthusiasm for baked goods and open availability post-graduation helped me land the position. Yay retail experience! Yay no more babies! Yay cupcakes!

I have started a new blog called so.fancy.free at Wordpress. It is a fresh start for my entrance into the food blog world, and I think it's going pretty well so far. Please let me know what you think! This blog at Blogspot will remain active for general thoughts and photographs I come across that tickle my fancy.

My mom is getting married in September to her high school sweetheart (total Lifetime flick material) and I've offered to make the wedding cake. Being that the land of tiered cakes is new to me, this is going to take a lot of research and practice. Martha Stewart's wedding section on her website is a helpful reference, but The Knot and Once Wedare even better. The color scheme is green and brown, and she wants fresh figs on the cake. Luckily she is open to suggestions with regard to the style, type, and other specifications of the cake. I love new baking challenges!