Midterm

Well it's already halfway through the quarter if you can believe it!! I had my midterm today and it went awesome!! i was one of two perfect scores in the whole class. We had to bake a genoise cake, make italian buttercream and then do a few specific piping skills to decorate the cake. I'm lucky because I get lots of practice since this is what I do at my externship, but my chef was very impressed and said he understood why my supervisor at my externship would want to hire me. Only 6 more weeks til graduation!!! YEAH!!!!

Here are some pictures of stuff I took along my trek across the U.S. Never again do I want to make this drive, and I decided never should I be left to my own thoughts for such long consecutive hours!! I realized that I not only enjoy speaking to other human beings, but it is necessary! But I made it in one piece and I'm grateful for that.

Display in Cabela's in Nebraska
Never have I been so happy to see a sign before!!
The thing I miss most about Utah (other than the fam, of course!)

The longest and most boring state EVER!!!!!
One of the important things in life. LOL

Job

Well as some of you may know, others may not, I now have a job in place for after graduation. The externship has been going amazingly well, and I was invited by my supervisor/owner of the cake shop I'm working at, to work for her full time after I graduate. YEAHH!!! I'm very excited about this because I really like working there and I get along great with Joan and the other people that work there. It's a great atmosphere and she's an excellent teacher and very willing to share all of her knowledge with me. Here are most of the cakes I've made at my internship so far::Carousel (very 80's in my opinion, but we give the customer's what the want. Ha Ha)








My Proudest Creation So Far!!

For some people at the Saratoga Raceway

Bridal Shower (I even hand painted the leopard prints on the blanket!! Never knew I was an artist!!)

Externship

Well I finally have something new to write about. I started my externship this week up in Latham, NY (city just outside of Albany), and I absolutely LOVE LOVE it!!!! It's called Joan's Cake Chateau and owned and run by Joan Bonnier. She is a woman in her late 60's and she does all of the decorating by herself with the occasional help of her granddaughter.
The minute I walked in on the first day she handed me a bag of buttercream and told me to decorate some fondant cutouts for some cupcakes. After that I decorated 50 cupcakes and one cake. She is an excellent teacher and really knows her stuff. Plus she gives me a ton of responsibility and trusts me do decorate on my own. On the second day I walked in and she said that she had saved a horse cake and cowboy boot cake for me since it was my area of expertise. So she just showed me what to do and then left me to it! She doesn't micromanage or hang over my shoulder the whole time. It's very encouraging to have a professional put so much trust in me. I love it!!
And for the most exciting news, as I was getting ready to leave on Saturday, Joan told me that she knew that it was supposed to be an unpaid externship but that I was doing a great job and saving her tons of time and that she wanted to pay me!!! So she is paying me $8 an hour for now which covers all my gas and my train tickets back and forth. This was a complete surprise and such an incredible blessing. Heavenly Father has truly blessed and taken care of me. I promised Heavenly Father back in April of last year that if he would let me know if coming to New York was the right thing to do then I would do whatever it took to gather the funds and come to school. And that I would trust in him to help me make ends meet and have the strength to make the transition and move, and He has truly and 150% kept his end of the deal. I'm so grateful for my blessings and for the gospel. I love what I'm doing and where I am in my life and I don't think I've ever been happier!!