Ch-ch-ch-changes

Turning 25 doesn't mean you're suddenly mature

I could start this by saying how sorry I am that I haven't blogged in so long and how busy I am and blah blah blah; but the truth is I kind of forget about this blog 98% of the time. Anyhow, I went back to Michigan for my birthday to try and spend a couple of relaxing days at the beach. Dad, Sam, and Zach all took a couple of days off to accompany me to Grand Haven, and it was a blast. I even managed to get some pictures:

No Time for Rest, Feeling at home, and Figuring Stuff out

The house from my favorite movie The Royal Tenenbaums, it's about 5 blocks from where I live

I've lived in New York for about nine months now... That's crazy. On the one hand I cannot believe that I've been away from Michigan for that long and on the other hand I can't believe that I've only been here for that long - it feels like I've been here for way longer (in a good way). Life has gotten really crazy in these last few weeks; I'm working seven days a week and around 60 hours and you know what? I'm happy. Like really happy. The bakery is amazing and every weekend even though I have a hard time dragging myself out of bed because I'm exhausted from closing at Starbucks the night before; I get there and realize that there is nowhere else I would rather be. The people who work there are awesome and so kind that it's kind of unbelievable. They make me feel so welcome and like I'm an important part of the team and not just some lowly intern. I feel so incredibly lucky/blessed that I ended up where I did, because I have to assume that it would be much tougher to be working so much if I hated the place I was going. So not only have I been working like crazy, but I'm also moving... that will mean that I will have lived in three of the five boroughs in my short time here. Maybe I can go for some sort of record? I've also managed to be filling my not so spare time with reading, and have been reading about a book a day. Nothing super Earth shattering or important but it feels good to read none the less. I also managed to find some time to go see the new Wes Anderson movie (he directed the film mentioned in the above picture) and it was so cute and wonderful! I loved it and was glad that I got to see it early (it's in limited release). Also, the wonderful customer at my work is going to have me make a cake for her parents' wedding anniversary in September and has been telling her friends about me, so I think that I'll be doing some "free-lance" cake work. I like doing it and it will be a nice way to make some extra cash. Anyhow, I hope you're all well. Also, once I'm moved into my new place I expect all of you to come and visit and crash on my bedroom floor (not all at once though, it'd be pretty crowded).

Talk to you soon!

Kayla

Sore feet, no free time, and being content

Well, you are looking at the newest graduate of ICE (sort of - I don't officially get my diploma until I've finished my externship.) My dad, brother, and sister got to come in for the occasion and it was fun showing them around the city and finally making it to the museum of natural history. The cake that I made turned out pretty much the way I pictured it in my head when I sketched it, and despite a couple of flaws I was happy with the end result. Here's a picture my dad took:

It's still kind of weird to me that I made that. I am not the least bit creative but somehow I managed to do that... weird. Anyhow, I started my externship this morning and was really surprised when I awoke that I was really sad to not be going to school today. I guess it's not that much of a surprise since I've kind of always been a nerd... oh well. The externship went well, I made cookie dough, made a couple types of frosting, prepared cake pans, wrapped cakes, cleaned, more stuff I can't think of. I think that I was underestimating how tough this would be in addition to Starbucks, but I'm not complaining, it's fun. I went to the bakery which is in a part of Manhattan called Hell's Kitchen and there was a street fair going on today; so for the whole day whenever I looked outside I felt like I was back in Rochester, because it looked just like downtown Rochester when they have something going on outside. 

Here's another picture from graduation a very (un)flattering close-up (thanks dad!) It should also be noted that I had eight hours of class before the graduation ceremony and the air conditioning was not working.

My eyes look nice and wonky...

On a different note, I'm considering moving again. A girl I work with needs a new roommate (she lives with two other girls but the third just moved out.) It's in the Bronx but in a house that is really nice. I am going to look at it on Tuesday, I haven't decided for sure, but it seems like it would be a really great fit. I'll keep you updated. Hope you're all having a good weekend.

-Kayla

Life questions, being vegetarian, neglecting blogs

I was just thinking that it hasn't been that long since I last updated my blog and then I looked and noticed that I never even posted about the chocolate stuff I made. (Spoiler alert, I hated it...) I also feel like not much has happened but I guess it has. So, I will try to briefly catch everyone up with my life since my last update. (I posted a cute picture of Margot because how can you be mad about a lack of updates when you see that face?) Before I get into the school stuff, I actually have something that I need a little advice on. So, I got promoted to shift supervisor at Starbucks a few weeks ago and about a week ago my manager asked me about becoming an assistant manager. I had never really given it any thought and had not been very interested before, but I gave it some thought and told him that I would definitely consider it. I figure that even if I get a job right out of school it's not going to pay that great and it might not have the great benefits that Starbucks does. Plus an assistant starts at around $40k a year which it quite a lot more than what I currently make (plus you get stocks and 401k and all that great stuff). So after thinking about it I told my manager that I would like to pursue it. I was thinking that it would take several months if it even happened at all. There is also the fact that when you're promoted 99% of the time you have to transfer to a different store. However, today when I came in my manager told me that he talked to our district manager and I can do an interview in two weeks... He also told our dm that he would delay getting an assistant for a couple months so that I can stay at our store and do it. This seems to be happening really fast and I'm a little bit worried if it's the right thing to do. I need the money and I really like working at Starbucks and there's a definite safety net there; I just don't want to get distracted from my goal of baking. So, am I making a huge mistake by possibly taking this promotion? Or is it a good decision? I need some outside perspective please! Alright onto school. I cannot remember everything that we did, so here are some pictures:

Promotions, Finals, and Feeling at home

Well, I finished another term/semester/mod at school and am happy to say that I still have an A. The last few weeks of school have been a real test. I had to work with a partner that I cannot stand and have come to the realization that I am an absolute control freak. It's not a very flattering quality so I'm going to work on it. I had my final on Sunday and for the final we had a written portion and then we had to decorate a cake. We made the lemon-scented cake again, but this time we got to choose the flavors and determine how we wanted to decorate it. I chose to do raspberry jam with a framboise (raspberry liquer) flavored buttercream. We practiced our piping skills on Saturday and by Sunday my rosettes looked a lot better. When we finished our cakes we had to sit down with the chef one-on-one and discuss our thoughts on what our grade should be. I kind of hate having to self evaluate and tell someone what grade I think I deserve. I had a class in college where the professor didn't believe in grades, so we each had to meet with him and tell him what grade to give us. I was having flashbacks to that when I went to sit down with the chef. I finished my cake first and volunteered to go get graded first. There were different criteria like how the sides of the cake looked, the top of the cake, finishing details, the layers on the inside, etc. The sides of my cake looked kind of crappy because I had a little trouble with them, so he asked me what I thought I deserved out of 18. I said 13 because I was not very happy with the work and knew I could have done better. He told me that I am too hard on myself and gave me a 16. I ended up with an A (although a low A like a 93) so I was pretty satisfied. Plus the chef said some really nice things to me, which made me feel pretty good. Next weekend begins the chocolate mod along with more cake decorating. So stay tuned. (Oh - side note, I tried my cake before I got rid of it and it was delicious!)

On another front, I got promoted to shift supervisor at Starbucks today. I'll be making about two dollars more an hour which is really nice. I've come to the realization that I love it here. I've made some really great friends and I get to live in quite possibly the craziest place on the planet. I still am surprised sometimes to think that I actually did this; that I actually moved out here on my own without knowing anyone. I feel really proud of myself to be honest, hopefully I can say that without sounding boastful. On a side note: I'm re-reading "The Great Gatsby" and was reminded by one particular passage as to why I loved F. Scott Fitzgerald's writing. So, I'll leave you with that. Hope everyone has a good week. I'll see you soon!

"He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced--or seemed to face--the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself." 

Ribbon cakes, cookies, parfaits and being good at balancing...

I have to wear my hair in a bun at school so that I can avoid wearing a hairnet; so at the end of the day when I take the bun down, my hair has dried in a weird direction and gets all twisted and looks pretty funny. I should have started this off by saying that I'm coming home in April. I'll be home from April 5-9, so hopefully I'll see you while I'm there. School has been moving along swiftly and I cannot believe I only have a couple more months of classes. I've been having a good time this semester and really enjoy my instructor. Getting a compliment from someone who is fairly critical feels a lot better than from someone who compliments everything. We've been making a bunch of stuff and I keep surprising myself by doing really well on it and being told so by my teacher as well. Enough bragging about myself though. I have some pictures!

insert clever title here...

I've sat down to write a new post like three times over the course of the last two weeks and each time have found myself with nothing to say. So, if this feels slightly forced or maybe not entirely interesting you have my apologies. I guess another excuse is that the weather has been amazing here (minus today as it's been raining all day - but hey it's not snow right?) Here's a semi boring description of my commuting plans: (this has a point I swear) I live uptown on the west-side and my job is on the east-side. So, in the afternoon when I get out of work I typically take a crosstown bus so that I can just take the train right home, instead of having to transfer trains and such. However, as I mentioned, the weather has been so nice lately that I decided to start walking across town instead of taking the bus. This means that I get to walk through Central Park on my way home everyday. (The above picture is of the big lake in Central Park that I get to walk past.) I didn't have school last weekend so I got to sleep in and go out with some friends which was fun.
School has been good, I really like my new instructor. He taught us some new piping techniques and once again complimented me on my work. We've also made some more cakes, but I think that I only have a picture of one, here it is:

We made Genoise cakes which is just a type of sponge cake, although if you say Genoise instead of sponge you sound much more pretentious (just make sure to use a very French pronunciation.) We made a chocolate one and also a plain one. I don't remember which one this is because I finished them similarly, but the plain one had raspberry jam and lemon curd. I've got to be honest and say that I would probably eat anything thing that has lemon curd on it, because it's pretty much the most delicious thing ever. My chocolate one was layered with raspberry jam, whipped cream and fresh raspberries. By the way I whipped the cream by hand, take that Kitchenaid... That was pretty much all we did at school, it was a pretty laid back weekend which was nice. Tomorrow we have an exam so I'm hoping I do alright.

I decided this year to participate in Lent, mostly because I have never done so, and partly because I wanted to kind of challenge myself. So, for Lent I decided that the only beverages I would drink would be water and tea (unsweetened). So, no soda, no juice, and worst of all - no coffee. So far so good though. Have any of you given up anything for Lent? Also, on a slightly more embarrassing note I have been marathoning episodes of Felicity on Netflix. I never saw it when it aired on tv, but I kind of love it. I've been getting a lot of flack at work about it hahaha. On that note, I am going to go study for my test.Talk to you soon.
Kayla