The Walt Disney Effect

They were doing construction on an area at Epcot in DisneyWorld this past Spring.  The blank walls were filled with quotes from Walt Disney.  Couldn't take my eyes off this one...
"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."

So I made little changes and listened to advice from professional bakers who told me if you want to be a better baker, you have to bake - a lot.  So I rolled up my sleeves and got busy.

I ordered cupcake boxes from http://www.webstaurantstore.com/, started reading great baking blogs and watched a lot of youtube videos on cake decorating.  I baked for everything that I could, teacher luncheons, parties, friends and family.

And one day I got an email with a cupcake order.   A real order!  It was for a baby shower.  And then I tackled my first order for a tiered cake, and then another.  I just finished another order for five dozen cupcakes.  And so I can't help but notice that it's really happening.

Now whether this will turned into a big old baking business or not, even to get to this point I consider a great achievement, a bucket list item...

So I keep taking little steps like putting it out there on a business card.

And here's my first big paycheck!  I know it kind of looks like it's floating, but that is just a weird way the tablecloth was wrinkled in the middle, it's kinda funny.  So what I learned is that I really love to bake and I learned that loving it isn't enough when you are in the muddy middle and you have to make a whole other batch of Italian Meringue Buttercream because your crumbcoat is showing on one side. Or when you have been standing on your feet for four hours but have only walked the five feet from the oven to the KitchenAid Mixer (God Bless THAT inventor) to the refrigerator and back and forth and back and forth and...

You have to have tenacity to see it through. And so Mr. Disney, you have motivated and inspired yet another person on this earth.  It is not all Cinderella fairy-dust, achieving these goals, but so gratifying to stay the course.  The pans are all put away now, mixer back in the corner, decorating bags, tips and food coloring tucked back in the cabinet waiting for the next inspiration.