Wowza! Time flies! I started this blog and then life got busy. Really busy. I had every intention of posting all the time. But life just gets in the way sometimes, ya know? So here I am, newly replanted in sunny Southern California and ready to get back to business. So before I get back to feasting and party planning, how about a recap of the last few months?
In March I was home to California to look for a place to live and was there over Easter. The power of mom and sisters combined equals Pinterest overload. And to add joy to excitement, we learned the gender of my Aunt’s miracle snowflake baby. I wish I had gotten a picture of all the people holding up their phones with family and friends tuning in via facetime. A true moment for emotions for a normal human!
As always, being a Stella & Dot Stylist keeps me busy and packs the social calendar. In April I did a pop up shop at my favorite store in my favorite city – Athleta Shadyside in Pittsburgh. My awesome friend Jonah and the fab staff of girls there welcomed me for an afternoon of shopping with their customers (and if you’re one of my DC people, you can now visit him in Tyson’s corner – tell him The Bon sent you ;). I tried my hand at making some Athleta Chi cookies to mixed success. Luckily they always taste good. (To see my method for cookie decorating, check out this post.) Icing color mixology is not my strong suit. It was difficult to mix Athleta’s signature shade of purple for the Chi and you can see below I made two attempts at remixing. Don’t get me started on all the piping detail work. I hate how messy some of them look.
April is also Autism Awareness month, and as a teacher, it’s always been a cause with special importance to me. The last two years I have partnered with my good friend Kate to use my Stella & Dot business to fundraise during April for The Founder’s Center for Commonwealth Autism, the school attended by her little boys. For the event, I made some of my favorite cookies ever. After quite an online search for just the right puzzle piece cookie cutter, I was able to make cutout cookies in the colors of Autism Awareness. They were a hit and everyone got to enjoy some wine and cookies while shopping for a cause.
April was so so exciting because after a lot of hustle my Stella & Dot team and I promoted to Star status, which is not only a great honor, but also a reflection of how teamwork makes the dream work. At the end of the month I joined some girls from my team and stylists from all over the Northeast at a training session in New Jersey. As always, it was 50% business strategizing and 50% eating and trying on jewelry. And I ain’t complaining.
