What have you been thankful for this year, my cupcake friends?

I am thankful for the glitter that gets stuck on your lips after you eat my cupcakes. ♥

I am grateful for the sparkles that remain stuck on the counter at Cronie's, and people all over town tell me that I am "the girl that leaves glitter all over Cronies coffee shoppe."  After all, if I am going to leave a trail of something behind..it might as well be something happy.

I am thankful for all of you who visit Cronie's, and meet up with me to eat cupcakes and share your lives with me.  You've made me realize this year that cupcakes are my calling.  Not just because they are cupcakes. But because you are eating them with me.  Kind of a huge deal.

I am thankful for cupcake breakfasts with you on Fox 11.   As you can see by the look on my face, I am more than thrilled to share the early morning cupcake sunrises with you. And I'll do it again. ♥

I am thankful for over the top cupcakes like my S'mores Sparklette, and for the website Cupcakes Take The Cake who featured the recipe here. I've met so many cupcake friends because of Cupcakes Take The Cake.

(my dad "my biggest fan" and me)

I am thankful for home, and family. (It was a big choice to move back from Orange County, California to Waupaca, Wisconsin last year).  Wisconsin never would have embraced cupcakes in the sparkly happy way they do now if I wouldn't have moved back. See the article in the Waupaca County Post here.

I am thankful for the opportunity to teach new friends cupcake skillz. Girl Scouts, Waupaca High School, students at Fox Valley Tech.  I love to teach you.  I never knew how much I loved to teach until I was given the opportunity to teach you.

(Turkey Cake pops created by Fox Valley Tech College student Brenda Buettner in my cake pop class!) ♥♥

(honored as a celebrity judge at the Iron Cupcake Madison wearing a one and only sparkly Mir Tutu that I bake and dance in). 

I am thankful for Lucille Ball. ♥.  A fiery redhead who somehow makes a mess in the kitchen turn beautiful! There's just something about her that makes me want to be ... her. She is one of my inspirations.

I am thankful for crazy dreams that you never thought could come true.. but if you work hard enough at them.. they do. ♥

.I am thankful for what's to come, and that you are going there with me ♥

I Was 32 When I started Cooking, Up Until Then..I Just Ate.....

Up until this past year, I have always said it doesn't really matter if I am on my own, as long as I am doing something with my life that makes me happy.

Owning my own cupcake business is wonderful. I love what I do.
And I want so many more doors to open here.
I believe they will too.

I love the people I meet. They fill me with endless bubbles of joy.
I call my cupcakes my children.
I am like a soccer mom of cupcakes whenever I go out on a delivery in my little Toyota. That makes me happy. ♥

But I have to be honest..
It would be nice to see a glowing shiny happy face greeting me when I am done baking.
I want to cuddle when I come home at night, even though I might be covered in frosting and glitter.
I want that sneak attack of cuddly-loving-ness in the kitchen that comes up from behind and I feel all warm and tingly inside.

I wonder if Martha Stewart ever wants this. Or how did a historical kitchen maven like Julia Child find that balance between her love for food & her love for...company?

The "recipe" I found when I asked myself this question...

I am 32 ♥

Dancing in the kitchen ♥