4 months later.

Well, that was an unexpected break from this thing, but a lot can happen in 4 months.

I decided to give NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) a go... whoa. I wrote about 30,000 words in a month, while working graveyard and barely sleeping, so to say it was difficult is an understatement. I have a beautiful half written story that would be somewhat of my fairy tale life, but it doesn't need my attention right now.

I went head first into college basketball season and loving it and my team is doing really well. Work was awful, and I barely slept most of the time, so November through January was kinda awful other than basketball. I did a lot of friend, and regular housecleaning, and since then I've felt a lot better about things. And as of the end of January, I'm no longer working.... again. So, 2014 is yet another adventure, but an adventure with lots of goals and a good outlook.

Here's my list of goals for 2014:
- write more
- cook more
- write about cooking more
- go on adventures, near and far
- write more about cooking without an oven
- budget and use some of the money that I've saved for the baking adventure to get it off the ground
- get tattooed
- get a new oven
- bake and bake and bake some more
- secure a fantastic job that makes me happy and isn't an awful environment
- do really fun things and write about them
- get a new computer and camera

I'm actually really excited about this year. It didn't exactly start off the way I wanted to, but I truly believe that things happen for a reason and it's never for the reason you believe or when you want them to happen. I have working and researching for the last 2 years what it will take to get this baking excursion off the ground, but it hasn't happened yet, much to my dismay. However I know that it will this year. I'm hoping to have it going by the holidays so I can provide delicious things for lots of people.

Here's to starting the year in March and not paying attention to the actual calendar when you're pursuing dreams.

GOOOAAALLLLL

So, some people know, some don't, but I'm (slowly) in the process of starting my own business. I've been researching the crap out of what to do over the last year and finally have a game plan.. now with an official end goal in site.

My end goal? To be a vendor at the Artisinal LA show next fall.

It sounds a bit funny, but having a goal like this will force me to get my ass in gear, file for my DBA, Cottage Food license and get everything rolling. Ideas are great, but results and living my dream are even better.

Here's a little recap of my weekend.
Thursday to Friday, I wrote my Lumpy blog entries and posted them on Friday morning. The outpouring of love, support and encouragement BLEW MY MIND. Seriously. I spent a large part of the day with a swollen, full, loved heart, glossy teary eyes and a greater respect for a few of my friends. I can't fully express how much the reinforcement and encouragement meant to me. I cried at 7:30am at work after reading a Facebook post, at a soup restaurant while in line after reading a text message/essay and an email that were sent while I was interviewing. The messages that were sent to me over that 24 hour period were, and still are some of the most cherished things. Not only were they about the blog posts, but they were wishing me luck for an interview that could be life/career/happiness changing. Friday morning could not have been better... well, other than burning my tongue on a crappy cappuccino.

After the interview, I headed to Long Beach to meet up with a friend for coffee and to catch up and the 2 hours that we hung out was no where near enough, but luckily, I'll see her again soon. I attempted to go to Disneyland after, but it closed at 7 and we got there around 7:30. Not a big deal, California Adventure was open til midnight, right? WELL. Apparently, millions of people wanted to go too. Every single line was over an hour long and annoying, so my friend and I basically went to DCA for a corn dog. Still, funny story and good times. I ended up being up for 26ish hours and fell asleep a few minutes after walking in the door.

Saturday was amazing. Artisinal LA is an amazingly curated show/fair/thingie. So many vendors and small businesses all revolving around food and well-being. I need to be ready to sell things there next fall. I will be. I met The Fancy Boyz who do a lot of pop up shops at Lindy & Grundy in Hollywood. They were fantastic and recognized me from Instagram, so basically we're new best friends. I can't wait for what is going to come as my baking business starts. I am so grateful for an insanely supportive family and group of friends who are willing to help in any way that they can. I went to ALA with my aunts and had a great time, I wish I had bought more, or had gone back on Sunday to buy the things that I didn't get on Saturday - Lesson learned!

I have a light at the end of the tunnels of a few different things, and I'm hoping they all play out in great ways. I can't wait to see what this week brings. So many new adventures and good things are coming, I can feel it.