An open letter to my followers…aka my family.

Last year my good friend Holly from Glamour Mash wrote an incredible blog entitled “An Open Love Letter to Clinton” to her now fiancé, Clint. Needless to say, it was breathtakingly beautiful! If you know Holly like I do, then you can’t help but love every inch of her and to see her so happy and in so much love just makes me so happy!

Her blog spoke to me for a number of reasons. I admired her courage to share her true feelings with the world and a year later I just can’t seem to get the title out of my head. Hold tight, you’ll understand why in the next paragraphs.

If you follow me on Instagram, then you know I recently passed the 2,000 followers mark. It was a pretty cool and slightly awkward feeling to know that that many people actually care what I have to say about cakes and glitter. I work hard for my followers, I don’t buy my followers and I block spam accounts.

So, here’s how Holly’s blog and my milestone come together….I want to share my own ‘love’ letter with you, my followers, my family. Sometimes I think we get lost in what we perceive to be true about someone based on the posts, likes and dislikes. I want to be completely transparent with you, so here goes, a few things you may not already know about me…

1 – I have no formal pastry training. I spent one semester in high school in Home Economics which is where I learned how to properly fold a batter, separate an egg white from its yolk and that I generally dislike ‘cooking’. Is that weird? I can make one hell of a salad but a full meal is just out of the question.

I’m sharing this with you because I want you to know that it doesn’t always take a degree or hundreds hours of training with the top chefs in the industry; it takes passion, dedication, love and loyalty to your craft. I spend countless hours in my kitchen experimenting with new flavors and sometimes I fail miserably. Don’t even get me started on the meringue fail of 2014. (LOL!)

2 – I’m the daughter of the strongest woman on the planet. My mom had me when she was just 21 years old and from day one it was me and her against the world! We had nothing but each other and that’s all we needed. I shared my mama’s bed for my first few years on this planet and we spent most nights at restaurants where kids ate free and my mama would have a side salad and water; just to make sure I was getting enough to eat before bed at night. Deedee Romanello is and always will be my hero!

I’m sharing this because I want you to know that you don’t have to be rich or have a famous family to achieve greatness. My mother achieved greatness by working her ass off day in and day out and never taking ‘No’ for an answer! Also, the woman ties one hell of a bow, makes the best mashed potatoes ever and should be the poster woman for loyalty. I will share a quick quote from this fine woman “If I love you or if you’re my family, I will F*ck someone up for you” Get em Deeds!

3 – I hate cake…I LOVE Funyuns! I feel like this one explains itself.

I’m sharing this because I want you to know that there’s much more to my craft than just the cake or cupcakes. Just to start there’s cupcake toppers design, topper creation, choosing the perfect liners, the cake plates, designing the stands, the glitter, the menu…I could go on for hours! So, please don’t roll your eyes when you hear prices from an at home baker or a small business owner, we take a lot of time to make each order perfect and sometimes we don’t profit more than $10.

Side note, for those of you who wonder how I stay thin while baking cupcakes and cake, now you know…I don’t eat any of it! My dad and my sister Gabby are the designated tasters for MBC so you can thank them for my menu.

I hear one more person say “I thought you weren’t supposed to trust a skinny baker?” and I’m going to scream. Let’s really think about this…are you honestly going to trust the fat dude who can’t seem to put the cupcakes down? At least when I deliver you know they will all make it to their destinations. <--- Lawyered! (that was dumb, huh?)

4 – I was never popular, never had a ton of friends and didn’t get asked to prom. I was the girl in the back of the class wearing overalls (when they weren’t cool) and chewing on my hair. Not my best moments, but they shaped the person I’ve grown into so I guess that’s a plus. I lived in 6 different states by the time I was 12 years old (CA, AZ, OK, WA, NV & OR) and I was made fun of a lot because I’ve been 5’9” since I was in the 6^th grade. I was the skinny/gangly/awkward girl that had no idea how to use a hair straightener and what to do with a bottle of mascara. Here’s what I did know; I knew I wanted to build something to make my parents proud and to leave to my future kids someday. The things that I hope my little girl someday thinks about…

To this day I’m still insecure in my own skin but I’m learning, with the help of a few close friends, that no one is perfect and no one has all of life’s answers. All we can do is try to be the best versions of ourselves.

I’m sharing this because I know that I have a lot of young girls that follow me, I know because I read all of their sweet messages and emails. I want every one of you girls to know that you don’t need to be the popular girl, the captain of the basketball team or the prom queen to make a difference in your life or the lives of those around you. Remember to smile big, stand tall and hold your pretty heads up high because you never know who is watching.

5 – I read every message or email I get and look at the profile of every single person that follows me or supports me and my work on Instagram. I may not be able to reply to each of you personally and it may take a few days for my response but please know that I see them and they keep me strong.

I’m sharing this because I want you to know that you mean the world to me! You, the person reading this blog, mean more to me than you will ever know. The fact that you took the time to read this entire blog and to follow me on my road to cupcake greatness makes me feel like a million bucks. It keeps me going when I haven’t slept in 2 days and it keeps me going when I think I’ll never get another order.

So, to all of you, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. You are the reason I get to continue to do what I love.