Dapper Day Shenanigans

I know this post is a week after Disneyland's Dapper Day Fall Soiree, but I've been crazy busy and haven't had a moment until now to sit down and write about it. However, let me start out by saying that Dapper Day has definitely outdone itself once again!

This year was SO much fun! The unofficial event has definitely taken over Disney parks and is growing bigger and better each time. Only being it's fifth year taking place, they impressed everyone by not only having their regular meet ups in the parks and hotels, but by taking it a step further with the Dapper Day Expo. This was located at the Disney Grand Californian Hotel (where we stayed at) in their convention hall. Businesses from all around Southern California came together to put on an expo that highlighted all things vintage and dapper! From clothing to artwork to personalized drawings of yourself dressed up in your dapper finest, they really stepped up their game with this addition to the day's events.

Aside from the expo Dapper Day included other fun meet ups at the carousel in Fantasyland, the bar at the Grand Californian Hotel and the after party at the Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney. This year my friends and I didn't partake in a lot of the meet ups, but we still had a blast getting dolled up and strutting down main street ;) It was really hot during the day so we decided to hold off until the evening to showcase our outfits, but it seemed like many others had the same idea so it was neat seeing everyone make the transition from daytime "normal clothes" to evening "fancy attire." There were some who braved the whole day in their suits and dresses, so to all of you...I give you major kudos!!

I mentioned in my last blog that my boyfriend, Gabe, and I were going to "disneybound" dapper day style as Wall-E and Eve so I thought I would include some pictures of us in our getups!

 

 It was such a great trip and a much needed Disneyland fix for a disney addict like me ;) Comment below if you went, I'd love to hear about other people's dapper day adventures!

♡♥♡

Fallin' For Fall

Yup. It's getting to be that time of the year people...Fall time! Goodbye summer, hello autumn!! Every year when September rolls around there's this automatic switch in my brain that turns on and suddenly I become obsessed with all things fall.

(This reminds me of my dad's truck and I just LOVE the mound of pumpkins!)

Actually, I'm sort of obsessed with Fall year round because it's my favorite season other than winter, but whatever. I seem to explode into fall mode even more once Summer months are gone! Woot woot!

Naturally I've been looking on Pinterest lately for some new fall decor ideas to spice up things at home. Even though the weather here in San Diego is still screaming summer time and we never really see much seasonal weather (which for the most part is nice), it doesn't stop me from busting out pumpkin flavored/scented everything, warm fall colors and LOTS of candles (; These are some ideas I'm really loving that people have put together:

(Love the idea of using pumpkins instead of candles on the candle sticks!)

(Adoring these simple and easy DIY fall "signs")

(Definitely loving the colors and use of flowers, pumpkins and leaves in this!!)

I'm going to run down to Michael's later today to pick up stuff to hopefully make some of these cute creations myself! Yay!

But I'll leave you with this saying, which I think defines my feelings towards the season perfectly:

13 days 'til Fall!! Muwahaha :)

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Dapper Day Ready!

Hello all! This Friday, Sept. 12th, is Disneyland's unofficial Fall 2014 Dapper Day soiree! So if you know me at all, you know I'll be there!! ;) If you don't know what Dapper Day is, it's basically an event that people started putting together a few years ago where everyone who partakes comes to Disneyland dressed in their Sunday best attire (like from when the park first opened in 1955). It's super fun to go and see everyone all dolled up, walking around a theme park! The first year it started it was pretty small, but now it's blown up enough that there are meet ups throughout the day where everyone gets together and goes on certain rides at the same time, there are "mixers" at the hotel bars, and even an after party in Downtown Disney. This isn't an official Disney event, but Disneyland has recognized the popularity of it and now offers hotel discounts and this year is putting on an expo in honor of Dapper Day!

Last fall was my first year going. I went up with my dad, sister and Gabe (my boyfriend). We stayed at the Grand Californian Hotel and took part in some of the meet ups! It was so fun talking to random people who were also dressed up and others who weren't that had never heard of Dapper Day!

(Maura, dad, me and Gabe in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle)

This year Gabe and I are taking two of our friends up there for a couples trip. We are going to stay at the Grand Californian again because the discount is too good to pass up! After going last year we have a better idea of how it all works and how dressy/not dressy we want to get. I was looking around online and noticed that people were also starting to incorporate "disneybounding" into their outfits, and so after going back in forth on many characters we've decided to dress up as characters from one of our favorite Pixar movies, WALL-E.

I have most of our outfits pieced together and am hopefully picking up the final touches today. I'll definitely be blogging about it later this week/next weekend so stay tuned for lots of pictures! ;)

Happy Sunday funday!!

Beer + Cupcakes = Beercakes?

Second post in one week?! Craziness, I know! But I thought I'd give an update on what I've been working on lately at home while in between job searching! Even though my baking career at Zooies ended I've still playing around with pastries in my spare time. I've been trying to learn new techniques and recipes, while coming up with my own ideas as well. There's this semi-new concept arising in the food/alcohol industries called beer and cupcake pairings. Bars or breweries will host events where local bakeries or independent pastry chefs can bring their cupcakes (or sometimes donuts!) in and pair them with certain beers so that the cupcakes and beers compliment one another in flavoring. It seemed like a really fun concept, but as I continued to do research I found a few people were even beginning to take it a step further and infuse the actual cupcakes with beer. This obviously sounded super delicious so immediately I was interested in trying it out for myself! I brainstormed and researched different flavor pairings and came up with two cupcakes, one being a spiced cupcake and the other a double chocolate cupcake...yuuuum.

With a spiced cupcake being lighter, I figured a lighter beer would be a good choice. So you can guess that for a chocolate cupcake a darker beer would probably fit nicely :) I got to work finding recipes and beers and came up with these the first time around:

(Spiced cupcake with Samuel Smith's pale ale and a whipped cream cheese frosting)

(Double chocolate cupcake with Samuel Smith's oatmeal stout and a chocolate cream cheese frosting)

They were a hit with my friends and family so my boyfriend Gabe told me about this brewing company called, Intergalactic Brewing Co.,  he'd met at a beerfest recently and how the owner was interested in doing beer and cupcake pairing events at his brewery. We decided to venture up there, try some beers and hopefully bring some home to infuse into the cupcakes. Well let me tell you, their beers are quite delicious and it was really easy to find a couple winners that would pair amazingly with my cupcakes! The next day I whipped up a couple batches using the same cupcake recipes, just switching out the beers and here are the final results: 

They came out better than the first round did (taste and presentation haha) so Gabe and I took these bad boys up to Intergalactic, sat down with the owner and had him try these along with the beers that were infused in the cupcakes and to my surprise he loved them! He liked the concept and product enough that we already booked an event with them to have a beer/cupcake tasting night using MY cupcakes!!! Yay!! I'm so excited for this opportunity and very nervous too!

So if anyone reads this post...come out to Intergalactic Brewing Company on Friday September 19th from 6pm to 9pm and try these for yourself along with some delicious beer! You know you want to...(:

I'm off to go practice my piping skills...because these cupcakes better look beeeeautiful for their formal debut to the public! ;)

New Beginnings...Again

It's been another 3 months where I've disappeared. This whole year has been insane and full of many changes and once again there is a lot to catch up on!

In my last post I announced I had been hired by Zooies. I was working as a pastry chef in the kitchen making cookies and ice cream. I spent an incredible 2 months getting to learn from the other (much more experienced) pastry chefs, developing friendships and working at a job where I actually LOVED what I was doing. Unfortunately, at the end of July we received news that Zooies was undergoing new management and they immediately decided to shut us down because we weren't profitable enough in sales. It was a huge and unexpected disappointment, but alas...life goes on. Even though I was only there for 2 months I wouldn't trade the experience and memories for anything.

(last day with my wonderful coworkers/manager)

Since losing my job, this past month I've been back on the job hunt. I applied for several bakery positions, animal related positions, a few educational positions and other random jobs. I went on job interviews, but turned down the positions because I felt like I couldn't settle for a generic desk job after knowing there are awesome companies out there, like Zooies, worth searching for.

Well, this past week I interviewed with a non-profit organization, The Barrio Logan College Institute, for a tutoring/TA position at an elementary school. The organization offers help to lower income families, ensuring that their children will get a great education and encouragement to pursue their dreams of going to college someday. A few days after my interview I got a call from the woman who interviewed me and she offered me the job which I gladly accepted. Although this isn't baking, it's definitely a step towards exploring another passion of mine, helping kids! The company seems awesome and really enthusiastic about what they do and I hope to learn as much as I can from this experience (just like all the others) no matter how long I'm there for.

So now that we're up to date again I really hope to get back into my blog and make regular posts again. I might start doing shorter posts that feature things I'm doing or enjoying through mainly just pictures...but I don't know yet. We'll see :)

See ya in 3 months! (Just kidding!)...hopefully ;)

Cookies For Days

So you know how I was saying in my last blog that things have been kind of crazy lately? Well if you can imagine, last week it got crazier. I received a call last Tuesday about a pastry cook job I had submitted a resume for via craigslist a couple weeks back. The manager was super sweet and said she liked my enthusiasm and wanted me to come in for an interview on Wednesday. I was really shocked because most places only want people who have experience and/or education in culinary arts, which I don't. I said OF COURSE and the next day I had my interview!

The company is called Zooies Bakery and they offer a wide selection of homemade cookies and ice cream. The store has only been open since October so they are pretty new, but I walked in for my interview and was pleasantly surprised to see an adorable little counter/cookie display case, huge sign and open window showing the full kitchen in the back. I was pleasantly surprised because strange as it sounds, the bakery is located inside a convenience store. I know...sounds bizarre. But trust me, TRUST! It's totally awesome :) In fact, here's a little picture of when they opened:

(A few of my coworkers and manager are in this pic!)

So anyway, I walked in for my interview with Stephanie (the manager) and she was so nice and welcoming. It was really informal and casual. I told her a bit about myself and how I'm sort of lost right now trying to find my passion in life. She explained that she had been in the same situation when she graduated college too and that's why she wanted to take a chance on me! She went on a talked about the position...basically I'd be making cookies all day in the back kitchen, assisting customers in the front and keeping everything tidy throughout the shifts. She made it sound like everyone got along really well and that they try to keep it a fun environment so that you want to come to work. This all seemed great to me so at the end of the interview she said she would call my references and as long as everything checked out fine she'd give me a call later that day.

Well...less than two hours later I was at lunch when I got a call from Stephanie who offered me the job!!! It felt so great that she liked me enough to give me a shot and allow me this amazing opportunity. Thursday I had to go in and fill out a ton of paperwork and pick up my chef uniform, then Saturday I started training and worked Sunday and Monday. It's crazy how fast it all happened, but it's been a lot of fun (and work) so far and I'm really enjoying it!! My coworkers are just as awesome as Stephanie and have been so helpful getting me adjusted and teaching me the ropes. I have a really great feeling about this job and can't wait to see where it takes me!

Besides, if nothing else...I get to make these whenever I want:

COOKIE ICE CREAM SANDWICHES PEOPLE!!!!

I'll leave you to drool over that for a while ;)

Just Another Manic Monday

Well I just got off work at my elementary school and realized it's been A WEEK since my last blog! Womp womp. I'm really trying to post more regularly, but it's just been hard because life has been pretty darn busy lately and I'm not the best at juggling everything. So anyways, last week I worked all week which is normal...my last day is next Friday!!! I can't believe it. Time sometimes feels so slow, but actually it's passing you by. I'm looking forward to leaving, but anxious to see what will come next!

Besides working, I went to Disneyland (yes, I know...AGAIN haha) on Wednesday. This was my third Wednesday in a row going and let me tell you, I'm not complaining! It's such a nice getaway half way through the week to go up, eat some yummy food, walk around and be in great company of my friends and family. This time I went with my dad and one of my close friends Ariel, aka the little mermaid ;) We hung out at Carsland in DCA, did a few rides, then went to Disneyland and got bread bowls with soup for dinner (can I get a "yuuuum" please?!) The parks have been pretty crowded the past couple weeks due to gradnight celebrations for high schools so we didn't do too much, but we still had a great mini vaycay trip!

Friday was another eventful day. After work I headed up with my boyfriend, Gabe, to Del Mar because his band (Digital Lizards of Doom) was invited to play at the VIP media event to promote the upcoming Del Mar Fair that evening!! It was such an amazing experience. When we got there we went through the back entrances like special VIP's and all got "staff" wristbands. Then we drove onto the fairgrounds where the stage was located that Gabe would be playing on. We unloaded everything and then Gabe, along with his two friends that perform as Dizzy and Echo (the characters on stage during their shows) started warming up. I started walking around the rest of the fair, which looked mostly set up and realized that all of the food and drink stands were open and even better than that...everything was completely free. FREE, PEOPLE, FREEEEEEEEE! Ev-er-y-thing. It was like we had died and gone to free fair food heaven. It was all sample portions which was perfect because it left room to try tons of food. I, of course, immediately stuffed my face haha. I had mini tacos, tasty chips, corn on the cob, Pink's hot dogs, a cupcake sundae and I'm pretty sure a few more items. Reading this back to myself makes me feel like a bit of a fatty, but I'm pretty sure anyone in this situation would have done the exact same thing! :)

Once we all ate to the point of sickness (half joking), it was time for the Digital Lizards of Doom to come out and bring the place down!! They did such a great job as always. Lots of people came by from different media promotions and watched their performance it was super rad!! We also passed out tons of CD's and business cards and chatted it up with new listeners who all seemed interested in coming to the actual show on the 14th! BTW, if you're reading this and you have no clue what I'm talking about then check out DLOD's website or facebook for info!! http://dlodband.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/dlodcore

It was a very successful and fun filled night!! The next day Gabe had another show at The Stage Bar downtown and it was a major let down. If you ever go downtown and are looking for bars DON'T go there. The sound guy and staff were an hour and a half late, extremely rude, only let DLOD play for barely 30 minutes and then the owner got there and the sound guy had the nerve to tell him that Gabe and the rest of us were the one's that showed up late so that was why there wasn't a big crowd of people...really?!?! Such a lame guy. So the long of the short of it is, Gabe and DLOD won't be performing there anymore and if you're looking for a nice, friendly, honest business to hang out at I definitely wouldn't suggest that place.

We still made it a fun night with late dinner at Lazy Dog Cafe, which is one of my favorite places to go! On Sunday, Gabe and I went to Solana Beach and it just happened that a street fair was going on so we got some local food and hung out there most of the day relaxing from the busy week.

Hope everyone else had an awesome week and is looking forward to making this week even more fabulous!!!