May 28- May 30, 2009

I have been busy outside of work, so I taking this post to catch up for the whole week and I will try my best not to get behind again.

We did so much this week! This was the first week we were baking for two markets ( Tracie's husband Kenny was going to the other market). Other than the increase in volume, there was not much different about this week. I did learn that Tracie can make her own Kahlua, and she has been known to make it without the alcohol to sell at market. (People can just add their own spirits.) She also makes her own vanilla extract! Every time I think there is nothing more to learn, she turns around and proves me wrong! :o)

Tracie called me on Friday to tell me we have finally hit the optimal Power Cookie size and texture. Hooray! So I will remember that for this week. I also think I'm going to have to start taking lemonade labels home with me on Thursday, rather than Friday. That way there is one less thing to do on Saturday morning, which is already a time crunch. I actually had to do quite a bit of packaging on Friday, which is usually all done on Thursday. Friday was typical. Maybe a little extra from Thursday's leftovers.

Saturday was pretty busy. Tracie did a great job organizing though. She had everything in containers ready to go by the time I got there. She had labeled what went with us and what went with Kenny. We got there in a timely manner even though she had made the tapenade that morning and I had to package it before we left. Thankfully Tracie's mother was there to help us pack. We really appreciated the extra set of hands! It was strangely very slow when we arrived at market, even though the weather was sunny for the first time in about a week! So, I took the time to make a new sign advertising the strawberries Tracie had picked. Of course, the second Tracie left to pick up a few items we needed, I was slammed! All but one of the blueberry scones were gone before 10 am. Crazy! It slowed down a bit and became steady. I made another sign after the strawberries sold out. This one advertised all of our berry products, per Tracie's request. I wish I had written something fun like "Berry Mania!" but instead I just wrote "Berries". Blah. Boring. Oh, well. I'll do a better job next time.

This week, Tracie gave me the most exciting news! I get to make a couple of cakes to sell at market this week!!! YAY!! I hope everyone likes them! I hope I can live up to Tracie's expectations. I hope I don't disappoint the customers who come to UtGU for only the most delicious of treats! For my first week, I think I'm going to make Bundt cakes and cut them into slices so people can get an idea of what kinds of things I can do, and eventually move into selling whole layer cakes in the future. I'm just a bag of emotions over this. I'm excited, nervous, grateful and happy! Thank you for this opportunity Tracie!