I honor, love and admire my parents. Both of them are mid-century warriors who stared racial and gender inequality in the eye and came out on top. Or in the middle really. They toed the line, shined at what they did, and then retired. As was expected of their generation. Success to them was getting a good job to support their family. Whether that job was fulfilling or personally satisfying was completely irrelevant. Make sure it pays the bills; that’s what’s important. They h

I’m slowly learning a valuable – though annoying – lesson. If you’ve been following me long, then you have gotten some insight into how i think, process and formulate plans and ideas. I’m linear. Literally, any points popping up between A and B and i’m thrown off course. I’ve gotten better at rerouting for the unexpected, but damn… It really throws me for a loop! I’ve got to consciously choose to think outside of MY brain. Take Sunday, par example. I had a handful of things o

I’ve been busy. I mean like, everyday I’m hustling busy. Let’s run through the things I managed to manifest (read: God gave me the power to accomplish) in the last 30 days or so: Created and launched Red Shoe’s Closet – an online merch store featuring cake-centric graphics on comfy clothes. Created and launched the restaurant side of RSC2 where you can now click and buy 18 awesome cake flavors – 6 Signature, 6 Top Shelf and 6 Seasonal. Updated my website to encompass both of

It’s officially Fall. We’ve crested the autumnal equinox. Leaves have been given the okay to put on their golden frocks and swirl their ways down to earth. Cooler air has graciously escorted sweltering temperatures to other climates. It’s time to dust off the space heaters. It’s Fall, y’all! Being a native Californian, I always had millions of pictures to show me what Autumn was supposed to look like. But in a coastal/chaparral geographic region, we didn’t have many deciduous

It seems like I’ve been baking for forever. As long as I can remember, I’ve been making batter and tossing it in the oven, hoping what came out would be delicious enough to make my family smile. Pretty was a secondary thought, but it had to taste good. Unlike most, I didn’t have those sweet memories of being in the kitchen baking treats with my grandmother, or dotting flour on my mother’s nose as we laughed over raw cookie dough. I do have a favorite memory of baking a strawb

I hope you and yours are well in this bizarre time. While i don’t want to validate this nuisance, you have to call a demon by its name to cast it out, so let it be known that i call you out, Covid-19, and cast you back to the pits of hell from which you came. You are not welcome in my home, near my family (CakeFamily included) or friends. I rebuke you and your mutating minions in the name of Jesus! Be gone! Now that that is out of the way, let’s face facts. I fully realize th

As i’ve mentioned before, i’m a rather linear person. I like things to be orderly, or at the very least, sensible. I prefer to be on time, though life sometimes dictates otherwise. I like for people to be where they’re supposed to be, doing what they’re supposed to be doing when they’re supposed to be doing it. If there’s a schedule, i like for it to be adhered to. I don’t think that’s asking a lot. Is it? Order? Simplicity? Linearity? (incidentally, i thought i was making

i can’t. i cannot. i cannot with this today. The things that happen in my life and that of those around me never cease to amaze me from one day to the next. Is this blog going to be about cake? Nope. Not at all. Ok, maybe i’ll touch on it, but really, nah. It’s just about being constantly mindblown. Come, ride with me… As some of you may know, I’ve changed residences twice in two months. Like full on moves. Twice. The first one was planned, the second not so much (but a huge

Dragonfly out in the sun, you know what I mean, don’t you know Butterflies all havin’ fun, you know what I mean Sleep in peace when the day is done, that’s what I mean And this old world is a new world And a bold world For me… And I’m feeling good! Why am i singing this morning? What brought on this bonheur? What is this renewing in my spirit? Is the sun shining brighter today? What brilliant color blue is the sky today? What’s put this smile on my face that’s troubling the s

October is next week. Next week. It’s almost October… My disbelief comes not from how quickly the year has flown by, though it has, but from knowing I’ve got a full calendar for the first time in my company history and i’m at the threshold of having to fulfill it! I’ve got a cornucopia of charitable events coming up. It feels good knowing I can contribute to so many worthy causes. I’ve been blessed, so I’m being a blessing! Let’s take a look at what’s going on! Oct 3: UCI Far

I’m not one to share a whole lot of personal information, so i’ll paraphrase my current situations with a WTF… For my life to be completely upside down right now would be an improvement over the whirlpool spinning that it currently is doing. I can’t see straight, y’all. I could be curled up in a ball on my couch twitching and crying, but i’m not. It wouldn’t be a far stretch, but i can’t afford the breakdown. I could be angry, cussing and fussing at everyone just to release t

So i was going back over some of my earlier blogs and had to laugh at this one. It was fascinating/overwhelming me that new flavors and combinations wouldn’t leave me alone. I could tell i was trying to fight them, but decided to compromise, in bits and pieces. HA! I’m all in now, baby!! My imagination isn’t just a greedy mistress, she’s a harem now! People regularly ask me what flavors i offer. Well, pull up a chair America, cuz the list is infinite.  Yes, i still have my ba

I have a 2 year old spaniel named Franklin Delano Brown. Why Delano? Because i couldn’t think of anything else that fit so well with Franklin. It’s so presidential… Is he a fearless, born leader? Not even kinda. He’s a rebel without a clue, but smart as a whip when he wants to be. He’s got a 24/7 food dish, his own water dispenser and is allowed Tbh, i am a lot like Frank. I have everything i could possibly need in life at my fingertips – food, water, shelter, family, friends

Blessings tend to find me. Even when I’m not looking, thinking or anticipating any. Trust, i am not mad at that at all! Do i deserve God’s favor? Do any of us? Not really. But that’s what’s so awesome about Him. He provides for us when we have done nothing to earn it. Hallelujah! So it is my duty, and my honor, to pass these blessings along. I’m philanthroping y’all!! Little Give: Part of the proceeds from The Westside Summer Food & Wine Festival that I’ve contributed to and

Cuz it’s Summertime! Will Smith’s finest – second only to the bare chest scene from Bad Boys… but i digress. She’s here! She’s here! I’m telling y’all… I have waaaaayyy too many flavor combinations in my head. This is just a couple of the flavors I’ve been tossing around in this crazy brain of mine. What doesn’t help is my instagram feed is 50% bars and spirits companies constantly giving me suggestions of cocktails to try and emulate. Madness, i tell you, sheer madness! As a

When you think “con game”, you think of being swindled, stolen from, hoodwinked. But that’s not the whole story. While the original “Confidence Man” (con man) was set on deception, you have to admire the root of it (just hear me out…). The whole scheme behind “a con” is to gain your mark’s confidence by exuding confidence in what you want them to buy into. Your confidence earns their confidence. The Con. At work, i am responsible for training all of our Customer Service Reps

You know how those info grabbing sites can search your facebook and tell you which words you use most often? (btw, stay off those quizzes! they’re harvesting info to be able to set up accounts in your name with your true info…) Well, if there was one of those for everyday life, it would tell me my most used words are God and Ha! Ha? Yes, Ha! Because of God.  Go ahead and get your church fans out cuz it’s Testimony Time!!!!! I’ve quoted you that poem “Drinking from my Saucer”,

As most of you know (or those who were paying attention to my repetitive posts about it), i participated in a small farmers’ market last Wednesday. WOW would be an understatement. It was a complete whirlwind for 4 hours, chatting, laughing and talking with the staff of UCI Medical Center about cake. Alcohol and cake. Occasions for alcohol and cake, mostly referred to as “lunch”. They were excited that there was a sweets vendor (the only sweets vendor!) on site and intrigued w

Alan Thicke was one of the coolest, corniest dads on television. But that’s not what this post is about… So y’all remember this business course i just finished? Well one of the bigger takeaways for me was stretching past my own boundaries. I make alcohol-infused bundt cakes. the end. I was not terribly interested in making anything else or changing anything about what i was making, i just needed to know how to build my business. Well lo and behold, these women pushed and prod

Groundhog, schmoundhog… This is Southern California and we don’t do seasons! It’ll be winter, spring and summer all in one week and we roll right along with it. Only in SoCal can you wear flip flops with a sweater, shorts with Uggs, or scarves and woolly caps with tank tops. Yeah we do. Don’t hate. So when folks say “Spring is Coming” we say, “Umm, ok…”, because it’s already been here, gone and come back as far as we’re concerned. That’s why i’m excited to roll out our Spring