Announcement to the world!

I'm going to get straight to the point.
I am in love.

Not a crush or a summer fling that turned into a fall romance. Full on, 100% head over heels LOVE. As in, I'm a goner. And I don't know what to do

It began slowly. When we first met I thought, wow I could really fall fast and hard here, but I'm going to take it slow. Enjoy each day as it comes and you know, soak it in and not lose myself in this one.

But it seemed that around every bend there was something else to fall for. And speaking honestly, this was completely unlike anything that had ever happened to me before. I would wake up excited and stay up late to steal extra moments together. I would walk down streets as if I was gliding on air...

I was taught so many new things and taken to so many new places. I was seeing my surroundings with new baby eyes and I wanted more, more and more.

To say I was treated kindly is an understatement. To say that I was wooed just doesn't do this justice.
Beautiful can't come close to describing their magnificence.

I've not once been let down, I've always been shown a good time, I'm constantly laughing and smiling and I've never felt so free to be myself.

Basically, I have fallen hook, line and sinker for the beautiful city of Chicago.



And as I'm closing in on my last month here I'm wondering how in the world can I break up with the best city in the Midwest? How am I going to pack up my apartment while listening to the sounds of the Brown line zooming past, listening to the city traffic and babble of my neighbors and not sob the entire time?



Because it's not just the city I'm breaking up with, it's the signal that my time at French Pastry School has come to an end. Just typing that gets me choked up.

I look back and think- wow I could have documented what happened better. But the thing is- it was MINE. All mine. Something I shared w/ my constant companion only and I'm fine with that. I have pictures of what I did and the books to remind me of what recipes we completed. But what happened on my day-to-day basis is just in my head and heart. And I'm ok with that.

So what have I done in the past six months? I wonder if I can come up with one sentence...
Lets see..

School,


Stage, Eat EAT EAT,

Laugh- A LOT, made new friends,


Pie Competition,


got really really sick for a really long time, got to know myself a LOT better.

oh and I did find a job.
(SCREAMS! I did! More on that later)

but through it ALL, I was always missing two rays of light. My Moochie and my #1. Their phone calls and iChats were my highlights and having them here in this beautiful city was a gift I will never be thankful enough for. To take pleasure WITH them in all the small things was so humbling. Like just walking down a city street, going for runs on the lake and splashing in fountains, riding the train and being a city dweller, even if just for a brief moment. Those were my most favorite weekends


I do have one thing I do want to recap, although not in this post. That is my staging experience during school. I was reflecting back on them individually and truly laughing out loud at what happened at each one. I learned so much and from the first to the last one to date, I can see how much I've grown as a baby pastry COOK because my dear friends one thing I found out is that going to six months of pastry school does NOT make you a pastry chef.

But man oh man am I SO proud to call myself a pastry cook