So, it's been...like...months

I know. I really do. But, you see, life just keeps barreling on. Things keep happening. Things that keep me away from my blog for mostly good reasons.

Things like a week spent camping in a tent with my kids. During which I spent 23 hours at home, baking, decorating, and repairing crashed cakes. Yep. My first official, very serious caketastrophe. (And yes, it rained that week. A lot.)

Things like a week where I built and delivered 7 cakes.

Things like a weekend where I built and delivered 4 cakes.

Things like...

...hmm. There's a lot of stuff having to do with cakes up there, isn't there?

Oh, there have been other things going on too, I promise. It's not all cake-related. Though sometimes it feels like it all revolves around the cakes I'm designing/planning/baking/building/delivering at the time. Funny how work is like that. Especially when you do it out of your actual kitchen.

There have been four weeks in a row on worship team. Meeting new people. Talking a lot. Researching and ordering new curriculum. Starting Rosetta Stone Spanish. Figuring out finances and debt and a plan to deal with all of that. Raising three kids. Helping my dad tear the roof off the back of my house. Coordinating a wedding.

And last night I went and did something that will surely keep me from blogging even more...I know...you're shocked, right? Last night I enrolled in a Wedding Planner Certification Course.

Why would I do such a thing?

'Cause I felt like it, that's why.

I've been the "Wedding Coordinator" at my church for several years. Pioneered the position, if you will. Helped nail down the process. Put a job description together. Made an in-depth questionnaire for potential brides. I've helped out with 3 different receptions at varying levels. I've been the Maid of Honor in several friends' weddings, so I've helped work through the process with many brides...and every single time I do a wedding...I think about how much I enjoy that process. I am reminded of how good it feels to help that bride through the most important day of her life to that point. I always wish I had more time to devote, more organization to offer, more resources to give her. I love caking. I do. I think I am good at it, and I think that I am more and more in demand each time I open my email or look at my facebook. But. I don't think I can make a living making cakes out of my kitchen. Oh, it's a nice extra-income-type-thing...but it's not a substantial, someday-I'll-be-able-to-retire income. More of a let's-use-this-as-vacation-money income. A creative outlet. And it's seriously labor intensive. It's an artform, really. The effort to build those cakes doesn't really pay off.

So, there it is. I will become a wedding planner. :) And that may seem like it's coming out of nowhere...but it's not. I keep thinking...nutrition. Health. Science. Math. And I keep winding up back at...doing something with people. Doing something I love. I love weddings. I love working on my own time frame. This could give me the opportunity to continue to stay home with my kids and work and make a decent living (and a few cakes on the side. ;) ). I might even be able to retire some day. And I might need a couple of business classes along the way. And...some referrals. I'm so excited about the coursework, and not that it's really super necessary, I'm sure, but I'm already 2/15 of the way through it...they give you 12 months to finish it all...hehe...and I look forward to learning how to promote and market myself. I may enlist my brother. He may make me move to Rochester. ;)