A Bonafide Cake Pop Celebrity!

Bakerella's pops that started it all.  Who would've thought???  She rocks!!

There are some people in your life who you never expect to meet.... people who inspire you, whom you would like to emulate, whose very image conjures up all kinds of warm fuzzies in your heart.  In our case, one such person is Bakerella -- the Cake Pop Queen!  She singlehandedly started the cake pop revolution  in which we all now live, and I for one believe the world is better for it.  :)

If it weren't for Bakerella, Kathleen and I would not be here cake popping to our hearts' content.  If not for Bakerella, we wouldn't have made so many amazing new friends in the cake pop world and beyond.  Without Bakerella, we would have had to look for another way to make a little extra money and help out the Intracranial Hypertension Research Foundation.  We owe Bakerella so much!

So imagine our delight when we found out Bakerella herself was coming to San Diego!  Oh my goodness, what????  And we were actually available to go meet her!!  Holy smokes!!  Bakerella cake pop book in hand, we hightailed it down to the Barnes & Noble where she would be doing a little talk and signing books.  Kat and I got there 90 minutes early.  Yes, I'm crazy that way, ha ha!  As soon as we arrived, the first thing I did was beg Kat to take my photo by the sign.  She didn't want hers taken there, so this one was all me!   Thanks, Kat!

We bought a new Bakerella Cake Pop Kit as a birthday gift for my Goddaughter (shhhhh..... don't tell her!) to get signed, too.  And then I asked a nice lady in the front row to take my photo by the table display.  Man, my belly is huge... I need to stop "taste-testing" our cake pops!  Anyway, we were meeting our friend Pam from Cake Ball Love (she's the one who gave us the heads up that Bakerella was coming to town!  Yay, Pam!), Alejandra from The Marshmallow Studio, and Kris from KCreative Cake Pops.  It was sure to be a fantastic afternoon!  

When Pam, Kris, and Alejandra arrived, we totally sounded like the fan club that we are, squealing and giggling and sharing the excitement of the day.  Kat took her service dog outside for this part, ha ha.  Smart girl!  Here we are posing for the "fan club" photo.  As you can see, I buttoned up my shirt for the sake of the public.  I also did not get the memo that we were all supposed to wear classic, dark colors.  Oh, me!  Alejandra and Kris brought awesome goodies for Bakerella -- marshmallow pops decorated to look like her, and Snickerdoodle cake pops shaped like hot air balloons (Kris' signature pop!) in the Bakerella pinks.  Pam and I brought books we were getting signed.  :)

Our friend -- and wonderful bookkeeper -- stopped by, too!  I didn't get a photo with Megan because she was busy with her young children.  But she was there!

We got pretty good seats since we were there so early.  It was standing room only, I tell ya!  By the time Bakerella started speaking, the crowd was way back toward the front door.  Well, you can't see that in these pics, but trust me -- it was huge.  Anyway, as you can see we are only 4-5 rows back!  Woohoo!!  Bakerella had so many good tips for cake popping.  I felt like I should've been recording her talk but alas, I hadn't thought that far ahead.  

Our friend Myra from church came to see Bakerella, too!  She has her own very cool artisan bakery and was coming to have her sign a couple of books.  This photo was taken when we were standing in line to meet Bakerella.  We were so excited!

Finally, it was our turn to sit at the table and thank Bakerella for her inspiration.  We got to talking and found out that she and Kat have something in common!  But I can't say what it is.  That'll be Kat's treasure to keep!  Bakerella was so gracious and kind.  Talking with her was like talking with an old friend.  It was great!  

We gave her one of our exclusive "I heart CAKE POPS" buttons.  Just a little something to remember us by.  Do you want a button?  Drop us a line!  We've got 10 to give away -- then you can say you have the same button that Bakerella has!  

We asked her for a separate photo with Kat and Ignatius, and she totally agreed.  See?  Told you she was very kind!  Kat was tickled!  Ignatius had no clue what was going on, but he liked the attention.

We even ran into our Facebook friend from Sweets Amore!  She's putting together a project to get cake pops in the hands of people in countries that have never heard of them.  What a great idea!  I told her we'd love to participate somehow, so I hope she keeps us in the loop.  

So that was our happy, happy afternoon.  What a great time!  This event was not only a chance to meet Bakerella (who is AWESOME!!)  but it was also a cool networking session and a great chance to meet in person all the fantastic women with whom we've been chatting via Facebook for so long!  

~ Pia