That's what life SHOULD be made of...

What's this?? A BLOG?? What is the meaning of this? Jennifer doesn't do BLOGS...

Yep.. I've gone and done it. I've created a blog. After reading and following a few of my friends' blogs for a while and watching Julie/Julia, I got the itch to try and let my creative juices flow and attempt to put my thoughts into words. For those of you who know me personally, you know that I am NOT a blogger. Not only because I'm a really crappy writer but because I barely have the time to brush my teeth, let alone write about my innermost thoughts. So why the effort? Why the change? It's the start of a new year. Time for resolutions and anticipations of what the year will bring. Time for change and new beginnings. Time to try new things.... Including writing blogs. 

So what are my "resolutions" and "changes," you ask? First of all, I hate the word "resolution." It gives me the immediate feeling of failure, as we all know that most resolutions are not kept. I'd rather make them promises, goals, or as my job would call it: an "individual development plan." I personally like calling them promises, because that's what they SHOULD be.. Promises to myself to fulfill my life-long dreams and goals. Promises are more assuring, more definite. And my mother always taught me never the make threats. Only promises. It an extensive list, so we'll take it one step at a time for now and these are in no particular order.

My first promise:

Find my niche and pursue my decades long dream of having my own business.

For years now, I've been called a "Jill of all trades" by friends and family alike. I LOVE to cook/bake, sew, create, design, and plan. It all started with my love for cooking and baking. I wanted to go to culinary school when I first started college, instead of my life-long dream of becoming a doctor. Then I found out how much chefs really make, and quickly changed my mind back to medical school. All the while, cooking my heart out as a hobby. I didn't make it into medical school (for reasons we shall not get into), but I'm still in love with cooking as much now as I was when I was a teenager. When my husband and I started dating, we used to alternate dinners at each others place, cooking gourmet meals and enjoying them while his roommates drooled. I think it may have been one of the things that won his heart. In the past ten years or so, I've developed an increasing interest in desserts. I became really good at it and my mother and I talked about opening and starting a bakery business for myself. Only problem was, I had NO money, no experience and no knowledge of starting my own business.. In actuality, I was too scared to pull the trigger and that dream slowly dissolved over the years.

 

The next business idea came when I got married. I had planned and designed every aspect of my entire wedding, from hand designing and making my invitations to hand making all the flowers and table decorations as well as the bridesmaids' jewelry. Although it was my first time and really rough around the edges, I got SO many compliments and suggestions for being a wedding planner that I started to think about pursuing that as a career. At the time, I didn't have anything else better. My friend, Hank, also planned his wedding and had the same idea so we decided to combine our connections (he had a LOT of connections in the catering field) and creativities into a joint wedding/party business.  It seemed so promising and I could almost see that light at the end of the tunnel... Then I caught a career break. I had an awesome job offer and it wasn't in the wedding planning field. Biggest problem was, it would be full time (and more) and I'd have to relocate. Not far, but far enough that the business venture my friend and I had planned would be too difficult to pursue for a while. Business venture #2, out the window.

 

Wedding photos courtesy of Brad Walters Photography.

 

 Since then, I had a beautiful baby girl. To save money and help other mommies, I became quite the handmade queen. I started making sugar/salt scrubs, sewing cloth diapers and blankets, making my own babyfood, gift baskets and diaper cakes for baby showers (not to mention baking cakes for almost every occasion), designing and creating baby announcements, invitations and cards, making hair bows for little girls... That's just the tip of the iceberg.. I get so many requests for things that I've once again been bitten by the business bug. It only grew stronger as I saw other friends and acquaintances start their business for the first time recently and become quite successful.

I kept thinking "I want that. I want that feeling. I want that success. I know I can do it, so why haven't I?" In recent conversation with a good friend, I told her exactly what I was thinking and the questions I asked myself and she replied: "Why HAVEN'T you?" She encouraged me to pursue this dream and not worry about my fear of failing, and she said she was going to bug me until I do it. :)  So now I have this promise to myself: A successful business has a niche. So my promise is to find that niche (whether it be food, paper, handmade goods, or planning/design) and implement it into a successful business that I will be proud of. I have my basic theme and that's the title of this blog and post: "SUGAR/SPICE + EVERYTHING NICE... That's what life SHOULD be made of..." The only question now is: WHERE DO I START??