Busyness at the Bakery

We've been busy at the bakery lately! But not just with cakes and cookies. First, we went to the Gainesville Bridal Expo, hosted by Jay's Bridal at the Phillips Center for Performing Arts.

me, Debbie, and Gail peeking through from the back

Judy and Gail

Then, we went to the Florida Bridal Expo, hosted by Solutions Bridal at the UF Hilton.

How does Judy always manage to evade these photos?!

Anyway, the last event was what really wore us out! It was Ms. Debbie's semiannual "Say it Sweetly" cake tasting!

Almost 200 people came out to the event to eat lots of cake, finger foods from Celebration's Catering, see the AMAZING decorations by Event Divas, listen to the music played by G-Nys Entertainment, and just have fun! Russell Martin Photography got some really great shots of the evening so check out their Facebook page. And Platinum Digital Video made a really nice video montage!

Here are my favorites of Russell's photos:

the cake buffet

the filling stations

just a few of the guests enjoying yummy cake

one of Event Diva's gorgeous centerpieces

another centerpiece

The gals at Masterpiece Weddings helped with check-in at the entrance but they found time to enjoy the snacks.

Jarad Bowens of G-Nys Entertainment rocking the event

And in the midst of all this business, we've still done a bunch of cakes! Needless to say, I'm way behind on the photo editing but I'll get some cake photos to you ASAP!

ICES Convention - Here I Come!

I leave tomorrow for the ICES Convention in St. Charles, IL! Like always, I'm going to try to participate in the convention in every possible way - go to as many demos as time allows, take hands-on classes, take TONS of photos of the cake gallery, volunteer, and bring a sugar display! Because I'm flying to the convention this year, it's much more difficult to bring a dummy cake. Instead, I made a bridal bouquet made of sugar! I've packed it up as tightly as I can so hopefully (a) they'll let me carry it on the plane and (b) it survives the trip!

The bouquet is made up of pink roses, white stephanotis, pink hydrangea, and yellow & pink calla lilies.

I've been working from home on my dissertation a lot lately. During the day, I write...and at night, I work on cake stuff! I usually move the dining room table into the living room so I can take TV breaks occasionally. Anyway, during the day, Nani constantly wants to sleep in my lap. One night last week, Nani jumped on this chair all by herself...she KNOWS she's not allowed up there, but she did it anyway. It was like she felt like she was entitled to it since it was empty. Please excuse the condition of the living room. If you were ever wondering what it looked like while I worked, now you know! The flowers in the background are the ones I used in the bouquet above.


The best part, though, was when Nani stood on the chair and leaned over to the banister. Check out this photo Adam caught (yes, her open eye is scary...they always turn out like that in photos...oh well!):


Is she seriously winking? She's mischievous alright! But that face is so cute...how could you do anything but laugh???