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

My Little Has Brother Turned 43 -- Is That Even Allowed??

Okay, when  is it appropriate to acknowledge that your little brother is no longer "little"...(and, by association, that you are now "old"...)?  I guess when he turns 43 sounds about right!  Ricky, Kat, and I spent Saturday with Rob and his girlfriend, Christine to celebrate Rob's 43rd birthday.  It was a great day!

Still a kid at heart  ;)

Like his t-shirt?  Christine had it made for him.  It's one of his go-to expressions.  I love it!

Here's one of their jack o'lanterns.  He got a little messed up, but I think it adds to his creepiness, don't you?  Ewwwww......

I didn't bring Kat's good camera; took all photos with my phone.  I'm sort of technologically challenged, though, so the pics don't always come out right!  Take this one, for instance.  Blurry and the shutter didn't click when I pushed the button -- there was a strange delay before it clicked.  And this was my second try.  Which is why the guys look like they're telling me something -- like how to take a picture, ha ha!

We walked the neighborhood and then went to The Stand for lunch (ultra-delicious sweet potato fries and draft root beer there!).  And then we walked back.  Rob likes to walk.  :)

Then we went to the Griffith Park Observatory.  Very cool place.  You can even look at the sun without going blind.  By doing so via this display.  That is totally a live feed of the sun!  Awesome!

Here are more photos from the Observatory:

The requisite stand-by-the-Hollywood-sign pic

A view of the "floating" building tops

Ummmm.... Ricky, your hands are glowing

How cool is Kat's face?

Random shadow people

Just had to take this shot.
No, she's not really looking through the telescope.
But it still looks pretty awesome!

After the Observatory, we went to a little Cuban restaurant for some garlic chicken and pork yumminess.  And then we called it a night.

Here's an interesting sign that was posted at the gas station where we stopped on the way home.  Ha ha!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROB!  Thanks for letting us spend the day with you!

~ Pia

Kitchen Sink Monday

Welcome to Kitchen Sink Monday, the day when we get to chat about everything we did on the weekend, the books we like to read, what's going on in our little world, and pretty much whatever strikes our fancy!

I was thinking last Friday that I want to step up the blog.  I need motivation to write every day, and by motivation I usually mean narrowing it down to a single topic.  My problem is, I have so many things I want to say that I get stuck not knowing where to start or what to focus on.  I'm a creature of habit, so keeping a schedule works well for me.  In that vein, I've come up with a weekly blog pattern!

Here it is:
MONDAY -- Kitchen Sink Monday (see the first line of this post for the description)
TUESDAY -- Tutorial Tuesday
WEDNESDAY -- What's New Wednesday (new pop designs, flavors, Etsy shop items, etc)
THURSDAY -- This World Thursday (our take on what's going in the world)
FRIDAY -- Feature Friday (features of other artists, bloggers, products, etc.)
SATURDAY and SUNDAY -- no blogging (these are family days)

So to begin this new adventure in blogging, I give you the very first post in Kitchen Sink Monday!

I'm a youth minister when I'm not cake popping, and Saturday I took a small group of my high school teens to a youth conference.  It was awesome as always!  We were treated to music by a new musician and worship leader, Pasquale Talarico, and by seasoned veteran, Tim Foley of the Celtic music group Skelpin.  Mark Hart (aka The Bible Geek) spoke to us of the importance of reading and loving Scripture in our relationship with Jesus Christ.  We learned from Holly Carney about the necessity of seeking a good and holy community.  We learned from illusionist Danny Ray about the impact our choices have on not only our own lives but those around us (we were also WOWED by his illusions!).  We celebrated Mass and received Jesus in the Eucharist.  The whole event was hosted by Pat Villa, youth minister and co-host of ACTS Teen Catholic Radio in San Diego, and presented by the awesome people at All for God Ministries.  It was a fabulous day!

On Sunday, Kat and I signed the contract for our storage unit.  Now we get to start moving our stuff little by little -- ideally sorting it as we go -- over the next couple of weeks.  We will be fully moved by Halloween.

After the storage place, we stopped by the Street Fair and got new hats!  They're sun hats, very necessary in sunny SoCal, and they were only $10 each -- a bargain!  We also got to sit in on a set by our favorite Celtic duo, The Clachan Boys while munching on Irish Nachos and Loaded Baked Potato Soup at R O'Sullivan's pub & steakhouse.

Lastly, we headed off to work Sunday to host Father Donald Calloway, MIC as he shared with our parish his amazing conversion story.  He went from being almost the farthest away from God that you could possibly get (oh, boy, we're not kidding, either!) to becoming a holy Catholic priest.  Wow.  Amazing, I tell you!

So that's our weekend.  It was a busy one, but we found time to spend together just having fun.  It was a very good weekend, indeed!

~ Pia