Happy July!

Happy July! I know I'm a few days late, but I don't work on Mondays and Tuesdays, so here I am.

Tomorrow is Independence Day in the United States. If you or your loved ones are playing with pyrotechnics (fireworks), please be careful. The goal is to end the day with the same number of fingers and eyes as you began it with.

I hope that everyone had an excellent June. It was a hot one here in Florida and I ended up catching the summer bug that is going around and was down for almost 2 full weeks. It was not fun.

Holy baking, Batman!

As I mentioned last month, I decided to stick my toe in the water and see if I could actually sell my baking.

I forgot the massive amount of prep work that goes into starting a company from the ground floor and while laid up with my chest/head/stomach bug, I spent countless hours on the computer getting everything up and going for the bakery. You can check out my new website at www.handmadewithlovebykris.com.

My very first event as a baker was on June 13th at the Veranda at Thornton Park. I honestly had no idea what to expect going into it. I brought a few different types of bread and some cupcakes with me. It wasn't a ton of inventory, but I had signed up for it last minute, so I didn't have a ton of prep time, nor did I really know what I was doing.

I sold out of bread so quickly my head was spinning! I brought home almost every single cupcake.

Going into this adventure, I had told my husband that I really just wanted to be a bread baker, but he was concerned that no one would be willing to just buy bread and since I do bake fantastic cupcakes and cookies, I acquiesced and did it for the show. After not really selling my cupcakes, I decided to focus on the bread aspect.

I had another show June 28-29, Tampa Bay Screams. Again, I had no expectations going into it. I brought over double the bread I had taken to the Veranda since this show was 10 hours long between the two days instead of the 4 hours at the Veranda. At the end of the first day, I only had 10 loaves of sourdough left. I sold out of that by the middle of Saturday.

I am truly humbled by the fact that so many people love my bread. I cannot express how happy it makes my heart when I see that little smile pop onto someone's face when they taste a sample.

My next show is going to be on Thursday, August 8th from 6:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. at the Veranda in Thornton Park for the 2nd Thursday Wine Walk.

If that continues to go as well as it did last time, I hope to make that a monthly adventure.

I would love to be able to ship my bread to those of you that aren't close enough to pop on by and grab some, but I have yet to figure out how to make that affordable and my goal is to share delicious yumminess for a reasonable price.

Stay safe and hydrated this July. I look forward to seeing everyone in August,

Kris