"You haven't blogged
since August 28th. Unacceptable! I want to see the work you did out in Cali!"
This is an exact quote from my friend, Zeina. And she's right. I suppose it's
about time I summarize my trip. I cannot believe we are halfway through December already. Seriously, where does the time go? Happy 12.12.12!
So, as you all know, I spent two months this past summer in Long Beach,
California for an internship at one of my most admired bakeries, Sweet & Saucy Shop. It started out a little rough, being almost 3,000 miles away from
home in a city I've never been before, living with complete strangers, not
knowing a single person, and working with a bunch of incredibly talented (and intimidating at first) people. I was definitely way out of my comfort zone. But looking back now, I'm so glad I did it.
I learned so much and met some great people I can now call friends.
Unfortunately, I can't really "show" you the work I did. Mainly
because there wasn't a single person that worked on one thing from start to finish.
However, if you look at their photos on Facebook from August & September, I guarantee
that I had a hand in the making of every dessert, whether it was the chocolate
mousse in a shooter, the extremely tedious mini graham cracker pie crusts or
lattice pie tops, their signature three layer swirl frosting on the cupcakes, or the crumb
coating of their amazing tiered cakes. I did it all! You may or may not
remember from my last post, that I was a little disappointed at first because the cake decorating was done at a remote location. However, when they had 200 cakes ordered on a weekend when one of their head decorators was on vacation, they sent me over to help. I was such a good helper,
that the cake girls talked the shop managers into having me work with them a
couple days a week. So my 20 hour per week internship turned into 40. And while some might think I'm crazy to work that much for no dinero, I actually
loved it and to an extent, begged for it! I didn't leave behind everything and
travel across the country to lay out on the beautiful California beaches. Come on,
now. I went out there because I wanted to learn, and that's worth more to
me than a glowing tan or paycheck anyday.
Jokes aside, it did feel like I worked a lot at times, but I did get the opportunity to get a glimpse of what the west coast has to offer.
Have you ever seen that Visit California commercial?
It goes a little something like this.
"People have alot of misconceptions about California, but none of them are
really true. They think we're all surfers, or celebrities. That we're all into
yoga and that everyone owns a winery or a skateboard. And that we all drive
convertibles. Like how we all live in bikinis and act like rock stars."
It's so true! This is exactly what I thought California would be like. Surfers, skateboarders, young people rocking the hottest trends in fashion. But boy
was I wrong. I know I can't really speak for all of California, but as far as Long Beach and Los Angeles go, they are just like any other city I've been
to. Lots of crazies everywhere. Definitely not somewhere a 5'1" female would want to be alone after dark. I know there are some beautiful areas in in California, but you kind of have to travel to get
there, and I didn't really have the means nor did I want to do it alone. I did
have some friends from home who were out there for work (shout out to Daimon & Tauren!) and because of
them I was able to see a few of the beaches and some tourist-y spots. I also
got a chance to make it to Las Vegas for the first time with some girls from the shop for a bachelorette party. For less than 100 bucks for a flight out of Long Beach, there was no way I was going to pass the opportunity up. And after a big win at the penny slots, it ended up being a free trip for me. I will most definitely be making another trip to Vegas soon, and will try to make it back to SoCal to visit my girls and maybe get a real idea what the golden state is all about.
OH! I almost forgot! During my internship, we made cakes for a couple celebs, including LeAnn Rimes and Martha Stewart!! AND...I personally worked on the Martha Stewart cake! I would post a photo but I don't think it's been released yet.
Anyway, enough of my blabber. Here are some more photos from my trip.
My friend Daimon just happened to be in the LA area for work and took me to see the Hollywood sign. It was quite a hike in flip flops, but well worth it!
We then headed over to Santa Monica and soaked up some sun. Santa Monica is definitely a hot spot on the weekends.
I love me a balloon clown and secretly wished he would have made me one!
A little care package sent from Ryan. Can't go without my gummies! He also sent me a stun gun to protect myself from the crazies.
My Sweet & Saucy girls (some of them).
Here is the display counter at the shop. Full of delicious cupcakes and cake pops! Love how they use all those beautiful cake stands to display their treats. Seriously, the shop is a cake-stand-lover's paradise.
My friend Tauren and his brother-in-law were in SoCal for work as well so we had dinner in LA and did a little shopping.
I was SO excited to visit the Johnny Cupcakes store. Unfortunately the store hours listed online were a lie and by the time we got done with dinner, they had already closed. I was so bummed. We planned to go back the next day but didn't get a chance to. Atleast I got to look in the windows.
Also got a chance to visit LA Ink. It's so much smaller in person! No sight of Kat Von D.
My roomies! Meet Alexis, Lorenzo, and their adorable daughter, Karis! She's eying that pizookie!
Karis turned one a week after I left, but they celebrated her birthday a little early (the same day I flew home) just so I could be there! We made the cutest smash cake at the shop to match her outfit. How adorable is this cake? I just can't get over how cute it is!
Happy Birthday Karis! Auntie Fresh misses you!!!
