Give Me All Your Love Today

Ello Baykahs!!
What may seem like a long week waiting for me to blog...REALLY was one of the quickest, busiest, CRAZIEST weeks for me. I feel like I JUST pushed PUBLISH on that last one...and here I am playing catch-up...AGAIN.
NO MORE APOLOGIES.

IIWII, right?
RIGHT.

Why haven't I blogged yet? Well, last week was what felt like a Saturday after a Saturday after a Saturday. I LITERALLY woke up each morning saying to myself, "This is Sunday, right?" And I was ALWAYS wrong.

WHY were we so busy?? The busiest day of the YEAR, of course! VALENTINE'S DAY! Oh, yeah...and the DAY BEFORE VALENTINE'S DAY (apparently, people go nuts THAT day too).

*FULL DISCLOSURE/UPDATE: Lucy had her medical testing on 2/13, and so far everything is just fine. The thing we were worried about the MOST turned out to be ok...so, from here we still don't know what's UP, but we DO know that it's not as bad as we thought. GOOD NEWS. BAD NEWS: haven't got the bill yet.....

SO, yes, we were busy...and I'm glad we were because, GUESS WHAT? Our food cost went up! And SO did our Worker's Comp insurance!! YEAH!!! It is SO awesome to work TWICE as hard for the same money...LOVE IT.

*FULL DISCLOSURE: come on now...this is getting ridiculous. JUST when I could give my employees raises is when my costs go up....OF COURSE.

So...we need to raise our prices...just on cakes. In all reality we haven't raised our basic cakes prices in four years, so I can understand. 10 cupcakes are $26.50. A cake that serves 10 is $20 (right now....), so it's time. Only $5...but that $5 will make a big difference...until I get another bill I've forgotten about.

That's the way of the world, Bakery Wannabes. You work and work and work only to check your mail to find out that they've RAISED the the rates on your electricity, water, insurance, WHATEVER....and your bank account is EXACTLY where it has been...

Every day I see what EVERYONE else is doing for THEIR businesses: expanding, taking investors, building a fifth location...and I am CONSTANTLY questioning what WE'RE doing. I ALWAYS feel like I'm doing it WRONG.

*FULL DISCLOSURE: I am NOT fishing for compliments here...so don't bother

I see a LOT of my friends' businesses building new locations ONE AFTER THE OTHER, and I think...is THAT the direction I'm supposed to go? I am CONSTANTLY questioning myself about WHAT IS NEXT about Retro....then I'm CONSTANTLY reminding myself that their business is THEIR business...mine is MINE. Baked goods are a different BEAST. They are NOT assembly-line foods (even though they may seem like them). BAKED FRESH DAILY isn't easy, and THAT is why it TASTES GOOD.

I've been thinking a lot about what I'm doing wrong...IF I'm doing something wrong, and I always come back to MY CUSTOMERS. They come back. They are happy. They feel included. I don't want to expand or MOVE and ruin all the connections I've made in our neighborhood. Four years I've tried to tell people WHERE Retro is...and they FINALLY know...I can't ruin that.

Expansion is ALWAYS a possibility...but, is it what we REALLY want?

THAT is the question.

While I ponder THAT you look at our Cupcakes/Cakes O' the WEEK!


Vegas/Cheshire Cat birthday cake:

It's MY favorite cake: Vans-checked birthday cake:
Baby Biscuits cake:
3D fondant heart cake:

Fresh roses wedding cake (all buttercream):
Poker chips and dice cupcakes:



And the BIG DADDY of the WEEK: Vegas birthday cake!!! This cake was made to look EXACTLY like the invitation...right down to the MATCHBOOK:
check out that hand painting by Brian!!Gotta love edible ASH.

All right, KITTY KATS. Let's start THIS week already! Here's to checking the mail and NOT finding a NEW BILL! Hey, wait...no mail today! It's President's Day! This Monday is startin' off GREAT already!


Laytah

They Say it's Your Birthday! We're Gonna Have a GOOD TIME!

Ello Baykahs-
I'm sitting down for the first time today...it's 9:37 p.m. I got to work at 4:15 a.m. I'm still at work...waiting for Brian to finish up his final fondant creations for Saturday...BUT I am the HAPPIEST I have been in a long time.

Today is Retro Bakery's 4th birthday. I have always called it a birthday instead of an anniversary because I REALLY think of Retro as our baby...a living, breathing, kicking-and-screaming baby who we love more than anything...even when it's been screaming all night and won't let UP.

WE LOVE OUR BABY. And guess what? So do YOU.

Retro's birthday is the ONE day where the love of all things buttercream is so overwhelming...that it's almost unbelievable. The first year birthday we decided to give away cupcakes. I named it "Free Cupcake Day," and SWORE we could do it every year. That first year was crazy...but not TOO crazy, so we did it again.

The SECOND YEAR? People were bringing in their newborn babies saying THEY needed THEIR free cupcake...teenagers got off school and texted EVERYONE in their phones, and we got CRUSHED. What started out as a gift BACK to our loyal customers became a SAD reality of the power of the TEENAGER and THEIR CELL PHONES.

We just couldn't do it the third year. I HAD to come up with something that was a GIFT without giving away my entire sugar budget for the month...so "LUCKY #3" was born. Find a 3 under your cupcake and WIN a gift certificate for a DOZEN! It was BRILLIANT because we LIVE in a city that was BORN AND RAISED on GAMBLING. I purposely didn't know where the 3s were (yes, I made the cupcakes, but I put 3s on them before I iced them and NEVER looked at the bottoms), so it was fun for me too! People bought one after the other after the other JUST looking for the 3. One lady won five!! Others got none, but EVERYONE had fun. We gave away 30 dozen! It became a celebration.

That's why I did it again THIS year. "FIND A 4" was ramped up to 40 dozen...PLUS free stickers for EVERYONE. I had my friends over at KIDS IN THE ATTIC design us a new logo sticker JUST for the occasion:I wanted to make sure that EVERYONE went home with something RAD. EVERYONE got a present.

SO many people came today...SO many people were happy...SO SO SO many people drove clear across town JUST for today to make SURE to wish us a Happy DAY!

*FULL DISCLOSURE: We had a couple from KENYA come in today to thank Brian for the cake he did. K E N Y A. HOW RAD IS THAT???

I was truly shocked...and TRULY honored.

Next year? Who knows...but, I DO know that days like this make me SO thankful that we had the GUTS enough to do this. I don't know WHERE I would be today if we didn't decide to take the leap...jump right in...and BUILD OUR BAKERY.

Happy Birthday, Retro. Mommy loves you.

Laytah.

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I Love Ya, Tomorrow...

Ello Baykahs!
Where were you FOUR years ago?
I was here...at my bakery feverishly sweeping up the final dust piles that the contractor left (saved me $1000 by the way...), anxiously waiting for the Health Department to give me a final inspection, and putting the final touches on the bakery...ACTUALLY thanks to my BLOG I can tell you EXACTLY what I was doing four years ago HERE: http://buildingabakery.blogspot.com/2008/02/im-crazy-for-trying-and-crazy-for.html

I know this next sentence is going to sound so stupid that I barely want to type it, but I will anyway:

I forgot that I was blogging EVERYTHING back then. I blogged TWICE A DAY (I can barely get ONE A WEEK NOW)?? I had totally forgotten...I haven't had the time to go BACK and read what I was doing. I am SO caught up in TODAY and TOMORROW that yesterday doesn't even matter...But it DOES matter.

Yesterday is what GOT me here. YESTERDAY I was a stay-at-home mom with a 9-year-old and a 2-year-old thinking that I could TOTALLY open a bakery and completely change my life.

Yesterday I was RIGHT. I DID change my life...and my LIFE isn't even CLOSE to what it was YESTERDAY.

I was reading just that ONE entry from February 1, 2008, and all the people I'm talking about...all my friends that supported me and cheered me on...they're not in my life anymore. I never see them. We've ALL had so many ups and downs and time constraints that we just never see each other. It makes me horrendously sad...We were TIGHT...THICK AS THIEVES...BEST friends.

I miss them.

BUT, this is what bakery life does. Your time is not yours. In fact, time barely exists. Once my alarm goes off it feels like a RACE to get back to sleep to hear it go off again. Some days I don't even remember how I got things done. I'm seriously a ROBOT BAKER.

I suppose I could be saying this even if I DIDN'T open a bakery. People move...people grow apart...BUT, I think I tipped the scale with the bakery. I chose to start working 90-hour weeks. I chose to totally separate myself from all my former volunteer work. I chose a new life.

Am I happy about my decision?

Of course. I love Retro. I LOVE what I do. BUT, there is ALWAYS a piece of me that holds on to the late nights cleaning up after the Fall Festival with my PTA girls. Those were good times. Those were good women. Those were BEST FRIENDS.

I'm gonna reminisce a little more while YOU take a look at the Cupcakes/Cakes O' the Week!

Purple cupcakes for the Justin Bieber WAX statue unveiling at Madame Tussauds! (that's Matthew McConaughey's statue in the back):
Rocket cake!Lady Bug 1st birthday (fondant mold):


Cupcake birthday cake:
Black ribbon wedding cake (edible flowers):And the BIG DADDY of the WEEK: 3D Lady Bug cake (to match the invitation):


The complete tower with mini cupcakes (photo from customer):
Four years ago I was one week and one day away from opening Retro Bakery...and here I sit...feeling like I STILL don't know what I'm doing, but still loving my decision to DO IT.

Laytah.

But I Know a Change is Gonna Come...Oh, Yes it Will...

Ello My Lovely BAYKAHS!!!

WOW. A lot of you have health care issues...which only FUELS my fire with this issue. All I can say is LOTS of voices are more powerful than ONE, so let's start singing together, SHALL WE? Sing from the highest mountain! Something has to be DONE. The fact that I'm hearing things from DOCTORS is the most disturbing. These people WANT to help, yet also have tied hands. SERIOUSLY...

Quick update on Lucy: we're in the same boat we were last week, but just so you don't worry, we don't KNOW what boat we're in yet, so I'm choosing to believe the boat is NOT sinking. I'll keep you posted when I have something to post.

NOOOW BACK TO BAKING!
Retro is Retro. We come. We bake. We leave. That's really it. THAT is what's bothering me...
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my job, BUT it IS a job. Doing the same thing OVER AND OVER AND OVER again doesn't leave much to your creative side. Four years ago I had eight hours a day to plan, bake, and plan some more! Now? I've just been trying to GO to the library to get some books to inspire me...and something ALWAYS comes up, so I can't GO. The funny thing is: when will I have TIME to read the books? Who knows...I still can't even GET to the library.

There it is: Something ALWAYS comes up. Your time isn't YOURS when you open your own place. Your time is whomever has decided to drive to your place to talk to you...without calling first...without a heads-up...without thinking that you're AT WORK.

*Full disclosure: it will be many people's thoughts that since you own the place YOU don't work. You have other people do THAT stuff...which is partly true when you have a staff, but believe me, there's PLENTY of SH*T I have to do at Retro. BUT, people will think that you can just talk to them about their products/services/shit-they-want-to-sell-you ALL Fn DAY. Two or three people come in, and there goes two hours.

BUT: IT IS WHAT IT IS.

I'm feeling more nostalgic lately because Retro's 4th birthday is coming. FOUR YEARS?!?!? FOR REALS?!? It's been an incredible ride so far...but you can only ride a roller coaster for so long before you barf.

Something has to change, but change is difficult... I have a CREW. I have KIDS. I have a neighborhood...Any decision we make to change will be even BIGGER than our first decision to open Retro because so many MORE people are involved.

Not that I'm leaving Vegas, BUT this is the longest we've lived in ONE city for any given time. We used to move all over the place, 6 times in 7 years...that's a LOT of moving. But, once we came to Vegas we STOPPED. We bought a house. We built our bakery. BUT, if 70% of your business is TOURISTS and your business is 25 minutes of a drive from their hotel...what do you do?

You think about moving...

While I think about moving, YOU look at the CAKES O' the WEEK!


Zebra Sweet 16 cake:
Rainbow dots birthday cake:

And the BIG DADDY of the Week: the Modern Swamp birthday cake (made to copy the invitation):
HEY! What's this??? It's my newest and MOST DELICIOUS cookie, White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal!!! Picture your favorite oatmeal cookie loaded with white chocolate chips and Craisins!! It's one of my favs, and will be seen a LOT more at Retro in the coming weeks.

Don't worry....we have a year and a half on our lease, so we're not pullin' up stakes quite yet...but, I'm warning you now that CHANGE IS A COMIN'.

Laytah.

I Said You Wanna be Startin' Somethin'...You Got to be Startin' Somethin'

Ello Baykahs!!
Tattoo is 98% healed, so typing isn't that bad...so, let's DO THIS. I've had a lot on my mind lately, not so much about baked goods as so much about THE AMERICAN SMALL BUSINESS. As you know it's TAX TIME, and as good AMERICANS we pay our taxes (ALL OF THEM). We also choose to document EVERY, little thing because I don't want to be the one trying to account for the $100 deduction we took five years from now if we get audited.

*FULL DISCLOSURE: It really is because Brian and I are BOTH the MOST OCD people on the planet...and rule followers (believe it or not).

But, now that I realize HOW much tax we're paying and how LITTLE we're able to save to be able to maybe...PAY OUR CREW MORE or GET THEM HEALTH INSURANCE. Things are just starting to bother me about this GREAT country we live in....

THE American dream is getting to do WHATEVER YOU WANT with your life and becoming a SUCCESS (whatever THAT means to you...). But, all this doesn't matter if you have NO health insurance and GOD FORBID you hurt yourself...go to the ER....and get saddled with a $6000 bill. OR if you DO have insurance and the damn bill is STILL $1500....for a SHOT of penicillin??!?!?!

I REALLY wanted to get my crew health insurance from day ONE....but, I've had to wait....and wait...and STILL wait, because if we decided to do that we would make ZERO money AT ALL. And, I mean ZERO. Which is truly astounding to me...health care should NOT break the bank. Health CARE should be affordable...I'm not saying FREE. I'm saying a REASONABLE amount. A shot of penicillin should not be $700 then "insurance adjusted" down to $400. $400 is STILL not reasonable. It's a SHOT of a drug invented over 80 years ago. I wonder HOW much penicillin was in in the 1930s...I bet NO ONE could get it because it was so expensive...

RIIIIIIIGHT.

*FULL DISCLOSURE ABOUT WHAT I'M REALLY PI$$ED ABOUT: Lucy has something. We don't know WHAT that something IS, but because she's had symptoms for a while we need to go to a specialist. WELL, GUESS WHAT? My insurance DOES NOT WANT TO COVER THE SPECIALIST because she has a "preexisting condition." It's NOT EVEN DIAGNOSED YET. How is THIS health CARE? She's Fn 6 YEARS OLD. I even have a $5000 deductible I have to pay ANYWAY before THEY pay, and they STILL won't pay. However, thanks to our President (who I don't care if you think is doing a "good job" or not...), a law was passed in 2010 that says you can't deny a minor of health coverage due to preexisting conditions...BUT, the insurance company STILL DID until we brought the law to their attention...because "that's our policy."

REALLY.

MORE FULL DISCLOSURE THAT MAKES ME WANT TO RUN FOR CONGRESS: I have a customer who has to have a BAKE SALE to help her mom pay for breast cancer treatment....not experimental treatment, but JUST TREATMENT. Breast cancer is highly curable. BUT, if you don't have MONEY??? Forget it.

EVEN MORE FULL DISCLOSURE THAT MAKES ME WANT TO RUN FOR SENATE: There is a boy at Lucy's school who has brain tumors that is having a coin drive to pay for treatment....

WHY DO WE HAVE TO RESORT TO BAKE SALES and PENNY DRIVES FOR HEALTH CARE??????

Because SHOTS are $700.

I know I'm ranting. But NO ONE ever thinks about this until someone IS sick, and then it's ALL CONSUMING...and you're too late. THINK ABOUT IT NOW...before you get the $1500 ER bill.

Something has to be done...But, this is the MOST frustrating part: NO ONE KNOWS HOW TO CHANGE ANYTHING. CHANGE is bogged down in red tape and small print...and higher fees somewhere else to "keep the numbers up"...to keep the shareholders happy...to keep money in pockets that aren't OURS.

OK...I have to calm down before I need MEDICATION.

Let's look at cakes, shall we? That'll be nice and calming......

HERE'S THE CAKES O' THE WEEK:


Rock N Roll Baby Shower cake:

House of Blues-inspired birthday cake (it's made from art in the restaurant in Vegas):
2nd birthday cake:
AND the BIG DADDY of the WEEK is a MINI 4-tier, snowflake birthday cake:


I know...I used my blog as a platform for my own agenda....I'm sorry. I just HAD to get it OUT of me. Dealing with these Lucy issues has forced me to look at things I've never seen that I CAN'T STOP SEEING.

WRONG IS WRONG. If we're all "EQUAL" why can't we have EQUAL access to treatment?

If you have an answer I'd love to hear it.

Laytah.

Cheers to the Freakin' Weekend...I Drink to That...YEAH YEAH!

Ello, Baykahs!!
I'll be honest. It's a little difficult to type this...not because I'm freaking out over anything...or anything has gone AWRY...or things are one the brink of destruction...QUITE THE OPPOSITE.
I got a NEW TATTOO!! It's on the inside of my left wrist, and leaning on the desk to type is pretty UNCOMFORTABLE.
WHY did I get another tattoo???
Because this past weekend was GIRLS' WEEKEND 2011. Stephanie was back in town from Oregon, and like last year, we made our way down to Planet Hollywood's Miracle Mile Shops to see Joey Hamilton at Club Tattoo!! 2010 was the cupcake tattoo. 2011 was the STARFISH tattoo! I have a little sea life them goin' on with my older work, but I NEVER got a starfish. I've been trying to think what tattoos to get for my daughters, and the starfish was just IT. I got a big one and a little one...just like my girls.Joey is QUITE the artist, so much so that I'm almost embarrassed that he does such little tattoos on me...but, like he said, "It's what you want." He's rad...check him out if you're in VEGAS!

Since I can't type all that much...just check out the Cakes O' the Week!

Dinosaur print baby shower cake:

Pirates birthday cake (check out the airbrush waves!):
Cherry Blossom birthday cake (with handmade flowers):

Yeah Baby baby shower cake (made to match the invitation):

And the BIG DADDY of the WEEK: The Hello Kitty-inspired birthday cake!I'm gonna let this tattoo heal a bit, so I'll save my bakery woes for another day...


Laytah

Right Now! C'mon it's Everything...

Ello, Baykahs!!
Right now I am coming off of a four-day vacation...FOUR ENTIRE DAYS OFF...IN A ROW. We spent three days in San Diego playing tourists in our former home town. I had some REAL relaxation mixed with some site-seeing and some barf...so, I am REALLY ready to go BACK TO WORK.

*FULL DISCLOSURE: it also may have been the six hours there and six hours back of driving in the Mini Cooper that makes work look pretty appealing...

And yes...Retro was CLOSED. And there it is...the glaring "problem" that we have being a small, family-run business: SHOULD WE or SHOULDN'T WE close. The answer is always obvious to us: HELL YES! We should close!!! But, because of the Wal-Marting of America people just can't understand that people run their OWN businesses and have LIVES and want to see their children and celebrate CHRISTMAS and don't have the capital to hire a 24/7 staff...AND it's not cost effective anyway!

*FULL DISCLOSURE: We really ARE pretty dead right after Christmas...people are STUFFED, and REALLY don't want cupcakes...in fact, this is the time of year where cupcakes suddenly go off the radar and celebration cakes start becoming the bulk of our biz (New Year's resolutions, anyone?).

*THIS IS FOR YOU, BAKERY WANNABES: I just can't tell you how important it is to RECHARGE. Right now you're just THINKING about owning your own place. You have NO IDEA that you won't SEE your children (if you have them) more than one hour a day...they'll be AROUND, yes, but you won't barely have time to even SPEAK to them other than, "Did you do your homework?" or "McDonald's or BBQ for dinner?" It REALLY is that hectic. It's THE sad reality.

So, Brian and I have ALWAYS carved out at least eight days (four in Summer and four in Winter) to make SURE we have SOME time with our babies. They're growing up. Abbi is 13. Lucy is 6. We have VERY little time left to have FULL family vacations.

*FULL DISCLOSURE: it is not lost on me how LUCKY I am to have a business where the slow times are VERY obvious, and it's better to close than to be open. I also HIGHLY recommend Priceline.com to get KILLER deals. We are not people who pay full price for ANYTHING.

I do always get reflective this time of year...but, it really IS important to remember that business is BUSINESS and FAMILY isn't FOREVER. Kids grow up and LEAVE, and before you know it there isn't anyone in the house for Santa to stop for....(taken on Christmas Eve...the last day of the advent calendar)

My resolution for 2012 is to remember to savor EACH moment and quit thinking about what's NEXT and live in what's NOW. Next is important-especially in business, I know that-but NOW is NOW. It is the ONLY time you KNOW that you're going to get FOR SURE.

Retro is going to be four years old in 2012...and THIS is something that I will PLAN for, but also something that I will be thinking of EVERY DAY...making SURE that I am grateful for each day we are in business and each customer we satisfy which KEEPS us in business.

Happy New Year, Baykahs. I wish for you a year of reaching goals and remembering those who help you reach them.

Now, I'm setting my alarm for 3:45 am, and I'm gettin' back to BIZNASS

Laytah.


p.s. I KNOW I've been bad with posting Cakes O' the Week, but this will change in 2012. We've had some technical difficulties lately...that are SOON to be remedied. You can check HERE for the cakes we've been able to capture: http://www.flickr.com/retrobakery