Frosted

Today I am very excited to announce that my baking business is officially off the ground!

A few months ago I wrote a post on how I was working on my own website and Facebook page for my baking business. I finally finished everything yesterday, and it's time to launch it all.

This has kind of been a long time coming. Back in high school, I always had friends telling me I should start up a little page online to promote myself some more. I thought it was a good idea, but I didn't really have the time or motivation to sit down and do it back then. The timing was much better now since I've had an entire summer without work and school, I know a little bit about business now, and I was able to make it count towards a project requirement that I need for the University Honor's Program.

The progress on this project has been a little slow partly because I had been dragging my feet about coming up with a name. That was seriously the hardest part for me. I didn't want something too cliche and tacky, but I also didn't want it to be too simple like Allison's Cake Pops. I brainstormed for several days, and then one morning the name Frosted popped into my head. I really liked it, the name wasn't widely used, and it was related to baking without locking me into baking once certain thing.

Once I had the name, everything else started progressing faster. I came up with a logo, purchased a domain name, set up the website, and put together the Facebook page.

I have to say that of all things, the logo is probably my favorite!

Go check out the site at: www.frostedcincy.com

And "like" the page on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/frostedcincy

Thank you all so much!

BIG Project News!

Hello! Today I've got a fun little announcement to make.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I bought a book called The $100 Startup for an Honors project.

I also posted this picture of a book I've been reading for the project.

Well, I am in the Honors program at school, and we have to do five "experiences" by the time we graduate. You can fulfill the experience requirement by either taking Honors seminars, doing a pre-approved project, or proposing your own project. Since I am not in class this semester and I'm not working full time, I thought this summer would be a good time to get an Honors project knocked out.

I decided to propose my own project because I had been required to write up a proposal for practice my first semester, and I had been encouraged to actually submit that proposal and to complete the project.

This project idea has actually been a long time coming. I've tossed the idea around for several years but was always a little nervous and afraid to actually do it.

So, I am happy to say that by the end of this summer, I will finally have.......

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......my own website/Facebook page for my baking business!

I am really excited to get this project off the ground. So far, I've been doing research on effective marketing strategies and just how to set up your own small business. I figured that this project is perfect because it fulfills an Honors requirement, will be a great thing to put on a resume, but is, most importantly, just something I've been passionate about for so long.

I've had so many people over the years tell me I should start my own bakery or get a website, and I can't wait to actually see it all put together.

I've still got a lot of work to do for the project, but I think it's going to be great. My next steps are to come up with a name and logo, then start writing the website content, and actually setting up the site!

I'll definitely keep you updated on how it's going and everything as it gets closer to the end of the summer.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this project is a success!

Shopping, Playing, & Baking!

The last few days have been incredibly busy but really fun at the same time. At this point, I'm super exhausted, and I have a fairly busy weekend ahead of me.

On Wednesday night my mom and I went shopping. I mainly stocked up on some new makeup. I ran out of several things earlier in the week, so I needed to replace some of those products. Then it was Estee Lauder's bonus time, so I got some free stuff with that, and I got a new lipgloss that I had heard really good things about. I just love trying out new makeup products - I'll have to do an updated post soon on some of my new favorites!

Thursday was so busy - I think I was going a mile a minute from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed. I started off the day by watching and playing with my cousin/goddaughter!

My mom stopped by and brought us chocolate doughnuts - yummy!

They were obviously a hit!

I love, love, love the way this picture turned out!

After that fun, I went home and worked on cake pops all afternoon, which is exactly what I did this afternoon as well. I made over 100 in a little over 24 hours. Wow - I'm still impressed with myself that I was able to pull that off. I had an order from a girl I went to high school with for 2 dozen. Then I was asked to make some for Relay for Life, so I decided to donate 4 dozen to that (such a good cause - so happy I was able to help out with that!). I also had an order from my cousin for 2 1/2 dozen for a baby shower she's giving. It was a LOT of work, but they all turned out so cute!

I attached my contact information to the cake pops I donated to Relay since they're going to be sold there. Maybe I'll get some new customers as a result? Can you tell I'm studying business? Ha!

These sundae ones are always some of my favorites. Not sure why the picture is only loading sideways though.....

The baby girl pops were some of my favorites ever to make though. All of the pink was just too cute and sweet! Loved the way the monogrammed ones turned out too.

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Memorial Day Weekend 2014

This was a pretty darn good weekend. Like one of the best weekends in a long time. The weather was gorgeous - sunny and warm (heck, actually HOT at times!). I was also busy all weekend with friends and family, and it was just so fun. It makes me extra thankful for all the men and women who have fought for our country so that I can live my simple (yet still fun) life in Cincinnati!

On Friday I got up and went for a walk at the park by myself. Sometimes it's just so nice to crank up some music on your iPhone and take a nice walk by the river. I need to do it more often!

Friday afternoon was spent baking and cuddling with Coco.

This is what happens when I try to take a cute picture with my pup. She's a psycho.

But this one turned out better ;)

That night I went to the Red's game with some friends. We had dinner outside at the Banks before, and it was just perfect. When we got to our seats, I couldn't stop thinking about how it felt so much like summer since the sun was shining and it was so warm (we've had a couple of cooler days these past few weeks).

The Red's even won!

Friday night games are always my favorite since they put on a pretty good fireworks show at the end.

When we were leaving, we ended up getting stuck in the parking garage for over an hour. Apparently there was a car that broke down while trying to exit the garage, and it ended up taking forever to get the issue resolved and everyone else out. It was so crazy!

Saturday morning I made some cake pop bouquets for graduation parties.

In the afternoon we went to a graduation party for a family friend who is graduating from grade school and will be going to high school at Seton where I went. It's always a little bittersweet to make Seton cake pops these days since every time I do it reminds me of all the times I brought cake pops in for my Seton friends.

I set my alarm Sunday morning to make myself get up and finish some cupcakes for my cousin's college graduation party which was later in the afternoon. The cupcakes ended up turning out pretty good, and the party was so fun. Any day spent laughing and joking with my extended family is a good one!

Today my family and I went downtown for Taste of Cincinnati. I've lived in Cincinnati my entire life and yet had never gone to Taste before. It was so fun too! A bunch of different local restaurants set up booths and sell small samples of a few of their menu items. It gives you a good opportunity to try some things you otherwise might not.

My favorite things we tried were Veal Short Rib Ravioli and this Grilled Cheese Doughnut. They literally take glazed donuts with cheese in the middle and grill it. It sounds disgusting, but oh my gosh - it was SO good. I'm not sure who thought to create that flavor combination, but they are a genius. If you live in Cincinnati and haven't tried the Grilled Cheese Doughnut from Tom + Chee, you really have to!

I loved how they had a whole area of food trucks!

This one of course caught my eye....

....so I just HAD to try their Chocolate Oreo cupcake. I was really impressed too - I loved it!

Now I'm looking forward to an evening at home catching up on some reading, cleaning my room, possibly watching a movie, and snuggling with my patriotic pup :)

I hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend!

Friends, Family, Frozen, & Fun!

This past weekend was a really great one. Saturday was a busy day, but that was actually nice after what's felt like so many relaxing do-nothing days.

Friday was another relaxing do-nothing day. I spent most of the day in yoga pants and a jacket getting a few things done, but also just laying around the house :) I did end up going out to dinner with my friend Danielle at Don Pablo's by the river. We also went and got Yagoot afterwards. Great end to an otherwise uneventful day.

On Saturday my family got up early to head to the outlet mall. I went thinking that I wouldn't buy anything because my dad was actually the one who wanted to go to get a new jacket. And then I ended up splitting the cost of a new Coach purse with my mom and buying a statement necklace at J.Crew. Oh well - you only live once, right?

Since the outlets are the way to Dayton, we just had to finish off the trip with a stop at the Greene - one of my favorite outdoor shopping areas!

The Sephora there is hands down my favorite Sephora ever because it's huge and they carry just about every brand! When I was checking out, I was pleasantly surprised that they gave me a free birthday gift of a cute little mascara and lipstick from Make Up For Forever. I've really been impressed with both over the last few days!

Although the Greene is great, the real reason I love it is because it's right across the street from Rita's! I have a serious obsession and really want to open a franchise closer to home ;) I got the Wild Berry ice this time, and I loved it!

That night I headed over my aunt's house for my cousin's birthday party. I love it when my extended family gets together, and I feel like I've been doing a lot of that this month. The party also involved a very intense game of four square, and I'm not sure I've ever laughed so hard. Let's just say that there were kids saying curse words and conspiracies against the adults (I've also never felt so old for grade school kids referring to me as an adult)......

Sunday was filled church and then a bunch of errands. I finally got home in the afternoon and spent the rest of the afternoon working on a Frozen cake pop order.

This was actually the second order I've had for Frozen cake pops (you can see my first batch from back in February here). I kept pretty much everything the same except for Olaf's nose. He was a tough one to do, but I think the big carrot looking nose helped him look a little bit more realistic this time around.

"I wanna stuff some chocolate in my face!"

It was such a fun weekend of eating out, shopping, celebrating, and baking. Even though it was a little chilly, I was grateful for all of the sunshine!

The Last Week of Class

It's so weird how after 12 years of school ending in late May or early June to suddenly be finishing school at the end of April. I mean, my birthday is now a summer birthday. What?!?

My last week of normal class was April 14-18. It was a busy week since I had a presentation, a quiz, a test, and a bunch of other things to complete. I really tried to take it all in though and enjoy the last few days of class before summer.

I kicked off my last week of class by making cake pops for my friend's sister's birthday. I always love doing cake pop orders. It also made me a little sad because a part of me missed being 16 since I was doing Sweet 16 themed ones.

For the most part, the weather has been nice and warm around here. But then it snowed. This is so not what you want to wake up to in the middle of April.....

Lately I've been listening to music at work a lot more. With my job, I can listen to music on my iPhone while I work, so I've been listening to iTunes radio, especially the Frozen station which only plays Disney music. I always get happy when this song comes on since it reminds of Royal Caribbean's commercials and just puts me in a better mood. Sometimes it's the simple things like a good song on the radio that can make your day!

Speaking of work, the big thing I was doing at work during the last week of class was prepping diplomas. The students who are graduating get their actual diploma mailed to them, but we had to stuff the diploma covers with a letter from the president of the university. It was so weird to think that I'll be getting a college diploma in just a few short years.

That Tuesday I had my last Kappa Delta meeting of the year, which was so crazy! Since my birthday now falls in the summer, I got a little treat for my birthday too.

When I was leaving the KD house, I turned back and caught a glimpse of the sun setting over Stratford. I thought it was so pretty and also kind of fitting since I had been thinking about how my first year of college was coming to an end just as the sun was setting over campus.

On Wednesday of that week, my friend Courtney and I celebrated the end of the school year with a trip to Yagoot. Wahoooo!

I also had a celebratory lunch with another friend at the nice sit down restaurant on campus on Thursday for getting through a particularly annoying class. I have a tendency to like to celebrate things with food. Oops ;)

My family also colored Easter eggs on Thursday night. You're never too old to color eggs, right?

My last week of class may have been filled with a lot of homework and stress, but the fun times and memories made with friends made up for it!