Change, Change Would Do You Good...

If Sheryl Crow's lyrics "Change would do you good" are any indication, I'm in for quite an improvement!  This week has been one of rapid change for me (and very little blogging!) in the other part of my life where work does not involve flour, sugar, and butter, and a sink full of mixing bowls and pans!  Today was the first day of the rest of my work life, the job I intend to keep until retirement.  I am the new Senior Administrative Assistant to the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Skidmore College.  It's an exciting new opportunity at a time when opportunities are few and far between, and I consider myself very fortunate.  Of course, this means leaving behind a department-full of friends, and that's the bitter-sweet compromise I am forced to balance in moving forward.  The good thing about this move is that I am still geographically very close to all those I've come to love, and though I won't be at the desk I've occupied over the past eight years, I'll be only minutes away. 

The weekend leading up to today's change didn't allow for a lot of dwelling on the new life I've embarked on today.  Nope.  It was all about the baking.  I had promised two wedding cakes to people, even after vowing that I was going to cut my cake-baking obligations markedly and actually find time to have a life outside my 9-5.  But, they asked...which is all it seems to take to convince me to contribute my efforts toward someone's special day.  The first cake was for a young housekeeper at work, who asked me to bake a wedding cake for his small wedding reception.  At first I told him I didn't have time, but later thought about it, and realized that I could handle it.  It wasn't going to be a huge cake...I could do it.  Then a friend of a friend called and asked for a cake the same weekend, and as long as I was baking up a storm, what are a few more tiers?  I baked days in advance, wrapping and freezing layers, and only removing from the freezer the morning of the weddings, when I got up at 6 a.m. and methodically constructed cake 1, and then cake 2.  Cake 2 required a bit of fondant work, and I did most of that the night before.  Anyway, cakes were crumb coated, frosted, stuck with dowels, stacked, and decorated in a flurry.  I loaded each one into my car and delivered them on time (if you were behind a cute little Mazda 3 going 10 torturous mph on major roads in Saratoga this weekend, that might've been me). 

Here are the fruits of this weekend's labor:



Cake #1



Cake # 2

I've never tackled two wedding cakes in one weekend before, and I won't be doing that again!  It's an awful lot of work, but it was worth it when I saw the beaming smiles on the brides' faces.  They loved them!