A Bakers Dozen: Cupcake Review

While traveling, I made it a point to try as many cupcake places as possible and in 10 months, I visited 13 different bakeries & some were repeat offenders! ;) I even obtained the "Bakers Dozen" badge on Foursquare...times 5, which means I've checked in to TWENTY different bakeries, so I say I've done my research!!

We started off the year in New York City which is where I experienced my first and fourth bakeries, Crumbs and Magnolia Bakery! Crumbs has a fun atmosphere with oversized cupcakes & I enjoyed a "Super Bowl special" for my chosen treat. It was a good cupcake overall, large & a bit more of a novelty item than a flavor-rich cupcake, but it was definitely good! At Magnolia bakery I found that the cupcake was the perfect size and it had the perfect amount of frosting as well! While I wasn't that impressed with the cake (it was just a little too crumbly for my liking), the cream cheese frosting was SUPERB!

The next cupcake shop was my least favorite of them all and as I was really excited because of the hype by locals, I was let down completely by the actual cupcakes. I had a Guinness cupcake and a s'more cupcake at The Flying Cupcake in Indianapolis, IN, and had high expectations for two flavors that I LOVE...and no only were the flavors lacking, but the cake was not good at all. The positives were, this bakery goes "outside the box" with their flavors & had a good cake to frosting ratio, but honestly...that was about it. Another one of my least favorites was Just Cupcakes in Virginia Beach, VA...it really was just not good. The cake was very dry and the flavor of the buttercream frosting was too rich, not a good combo. Maybe I just got a bad batch...

Next up was Sprinkles, "The Original Cupcake Bakery". While I give major props to Candace Nelson, founder of Sprinkles, because without her...I probably wouldn't have been able to write this post, I have to say that while her cupcakes are good, very good...they weren't my favorite. The cupcakes had great cake to frosting ratio and good flavor, the cake was barely moist enough, because I really love a moist cake and the frosting was good but I felt as though it was too creamy of frosting, I like mine a little lighter. Overall, it was a good cupcake, just not my personal favorite.

Moving onto one of the most famous cupcake shops, Georgetown Cupcake in Washington, DC...more widely known from their television show, DC Cupcakes! And again, while these cupcakes were good, they were not a favorite of mine. I found the cake to be very dense and the frosting to be very thick and too sweet. When I choose a cupcake, I do so because I want a light, yet flavorful treat in a small portion, and this was just far too much for my palate. I do have to compliment them on their 'hibiscus mango' cupcake (a seasonal option), even though it was still too dense for me, the flavors were so original! However, my co-worker who enjoys a more strong flavor found this bakery to be one of his favorites. Just personal preference!

Sugar Mountain Bake Shoppe in Rochester, NY, was our next stop and I have to say, I'm not sure I can fairly judge this bakery...as when I arrived I was forced to choose a flavor I wouldn't normally choose due to the fact that they are a bakery that, once a flavor is gone...it's gone for the day. I chose the tiramisu cupcake because while I prefer a simple chocolate with vanilla frosting, I do love me some coffee & chocolate! Again, this cupcake was too dense & rich for me and I was unimpressed with the texture of the cake, it seemed a bit overdone...and I'm not a huge fan of filled cupcakes in general. The atmosphere is really unique here, as the bakery is placed in a house with a small cafe & the employees were super friendly and upbeat!

Going with the theme of "too rich" I'll add another to the list, *ndulge cupcake boutique in State College, PA. Again, these cupcakes were filled, therefore making them a bit too sweet for me, flavors were good but this was the first time I couldn't even finish one cupcake! I had the peanut butter cup, by recommendation of the employee in the bakery and it was good, I do like peanut butter, but my goodness...just too much.

A last minute stop at Gigi's Cupcakes in Lexington, KY, made me a believer in mass chain cupcake shops! The cake was good, the frosting was good...although a bit over the top, they'd be better with less frosting! However, overall the cupcake was pretty tasty! I do have to say, the girl that was currently working at the one I went to seemed very uninterested in being there & tried shoving several small samples at me to "get rid of them," makes the experience just a little less special.

After doing some research and finding the website listing "Best Cupcake Bakeries" by National Geographic, I sought out a couple bakeries on the list! First up was Molly's Cupcakes in Chicago, IL! I tried the infamous cake batter cupcake (which I ate, knowing it was filled) and I have to honestly say I was a bit grossed out! I understand the concept of them putting the "cake batter" flavor filling in the center, but it straight up tasted like runny, raw, cake batter in the center of my beautiful, bright blue cupcake! It totally ruined the cupcake for me & had I not been so turned off I may have tried a different one...but I just couldn't after that. The next bakery I tried on the list was The Atlanta Cupcake Factory in Atlanta, GA. I tried this one right around Halloween, so they had a lot of unique "scary" flavors to their treats which was kind of cool. They didn't have many "normal" flavors at the time I visited (I'm a sucker for classic chocolate/vanilla frosting!) so I resorted to the sweet potato/bourbon cupcake & I wasn't much of a fan. The cupcake/frosting ratio was spot on, but the cake was a little dry and I wasn't crazy about the flavors. I just don't think I'm a huge fan of "crazy" flavors...again, personal preference. I was impressed with all the different unique flavors they had, I just wouldn't be the right person to try them all!

Now, I've saved my two favorite places for last! One of them is in my very backyard, which is both a good and bad thing (only bad for my waistline)! I had tried this place, as suggested by my sister & have visited it many times, before AND after sampling all these other great shops! It is called, Nona's Sweets and is located in Charlotte, NC! I have to admit, I think I like this and my favorite (coming up next) bakeries because their cupcakes taste the most like mine! Nona's cakes are a perfect texture and their frosting is light & delicious! I also like that they have a "cupcake bar," meaning you can mix & match cakes, frostings & toppings to whatever you feel like that day! My favorite is their classic chocolate cupcake with either their vanilla or almond frosting & I love adding sprinkles!

And to end this post is my very favorite cupcake bakery, it's a cupcakery! Smallcakes Cupcakery has locations in Kansas City, MO, and Atlanta, GA and I've been to both states to test out their DELICIOUS cupcakes!!! I have to say, every single time I've been to their bakery I've had a delicious cupcake! My first one was on St. Patrick's day & it was FREE because they often do sweet deals on Foursquare and Facebook!! If I lived in one of these areas, I would be in BIG TROUBLE because they have the MOST delicious cupcakes of any I've ever tasted...they might even be better than mine! ;) I've been back several times, mostly for my favorite one...pink chocolate! Combining my favorite flavors with one of my favorite colors...PINK & little pink sprinkles! I also tried their vanilla pink, birthday cupcake & key lime cupcake!

So, there it is...my "Bakers Dozen" review of 13 different cupcake bakeries! I hope I didn't make anyone upset by my opinion, I tried to be very honest & tactful! Personally, I'm a fan of a classic chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting...moist cake and creamy, yet light frosting, which is what I found in my two favorite shops! I hope y'all can check out some of these places and let me know what you think of them as well! ...until next time, MUAH!

Where I've Been - One Month Left

Hello AGAIN from Columbus, OH. Pretty sure this has been my most frequented location of tour...and let me check - Yep, according to foursquare it has been (47 check-ins here to be exact).

Well, I only have ONE MONTH left of tour now, which is so stinking crazy! And to be precise, I have 29 days until I'm on a plane back "home" (which is going to be NC at this time) and because we have to drop the vehicle/trailer off in Wisconsin & finish up work in Chicago before we fly home...technically I only have 25 days left of actual "event" work. I cannot believe that it's almost been a year & that I've been living out of hotels for almost ten months now. Ha.

I could officially do this at the very end of tour, but I feel like writing about it now, the "best & worst" of Map Team 1 (aka Team Jetfire) from my perspective & a review of the last 9+ months.

We've been to 23 states, driven approximately 39,000 miles...visited countless cities, (I) made it to 12 MLB stadiums and 2 Spring Training stadiums. Our most common event to do in our "free time" is shopping, whether it was just window shopping or actual shopping, we found ourselves in a mall in basically every city that had one. My favorite cities were, Orlando (probably because it was right after spending a MONTH in Indianapolis in February...), Kansas City, State College, PA & Milwaukee (disclaimer: when we visited these cities, the weather was PERFECT & usually the events were fun, which had to do with my "decision" on this). My least favorite cities were; Annapolis, Maryland...rude people, nothing special to look at or do, Wheeling, WV - terrible, just terrible...oh & I also disliked the entire state of New Jersey.

Let's talk food: Best cupcake (and we tried SEVERAL) goes to Smallcakes Cupcakery in Kansas City, which is also where I had the best BBQ of my LIFE...at Oklahoma Joes! Best Brazilian place (we tried a couple) was at Brazil Grill in NYC on 8th & 48th, most of the staff spoke Portuguese & according to Michelle, the food was pretty authentic! We had a running theme of finding "fro-yo" in places & basically Menchie's has the best. And the best brew I tried along the way (didn't have much of an opportunity for this) was White Beer from Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee.

While at work: My favorite event to work as far as the "cool-factor" goes, was probably the Jets/Giants Draft Party at New Meadowlands Stadium (aka MetLife Stadium). While I enjoyed working NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, PGA, LPGA, NCAA & Minor League Baseball events...that one really stuck out since I actually got to go on the field (first time EVER on an NFL field) and be a part of the action, it was really fun! The most interesting event has to go to the Lunar New Year event in NYC, our very first event! It was SO different than any other event we worked & will forever stick out in my mind like, yeah...I just did that (along with driving a SUV & trailer through Manhattan!) Another cool event was the series of Droid Scavenger Hunts we did for the launch of the Samsung Charge...it was really fun to be a part of something so interesting & viral-marketing driven! The only "celebrities" I saw/met were, Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns while in Indianapolis, Jack Nicklaus in Dublin, OH and I got to meet Dan Mead, President and CEO of Verizon Wireless, while at State College, PA.

While at play: My favorite thing we did on our day off is when Kevin & I were able to go to Universal Studios in Orlando to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! I have a whole blog post about it back in March, if you haven't read it...you should. :) I also very much enjoyed going to sporting events, I got to see baseball games at Yankee Stadium in New York, Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, PNC Park in Pittsburgh, and Miller Park in Milwaukee as well as the Braves vs Tigers spring training game at the ESPN, Wide World of Sports Complex in Kissimmee, FL! And just recently I was able to watch the Red Wings take on the Blackhawks in a pre-season game in Chicago at the United Center!

The most beautiful place we went would have to be Traverse City, Michigan, and I would say it's because I'm biased...but looking back on all the places, that really was the most beautiful in my opinion. It also had my favorite hotel we stayed at...the Great Wolf Lodge, which we stayed at by force, due to a complete sell-out of hotels for the National Cherry Festival!

I think that pretty much sums it up for now, hopefully I can do a more complete overview with some exciting stuff to throw in from these next 25 days! Hope this posts finds you all well, MUAH!

Weigh Station Ahead, Must Exit...Or Else!

OMGOODNESS. It's a blog entry! It's been over three months since my last post and for that I am SO SORRY! I've been through a lot in the last three months, I've been to about 15 new cities, met an amazing man, no longer talk to that amazing man, got to go to Michigan for a few weeks for work AND play, had fun at some events & pretty much let work take over my life oh & did I mention I gained 12 lbs! So, as best I can, I'll give you the rundown without making this too long...and here it goes.

After we left Springfield our schedule began to pick up & all of the sudden the last month has been brutal, I'm happy to work...I mean, no better job security but goodness, it has increased my stress level quite a bit, forcing little tweaks & changes to our team and routines to best accommodate the longer hours & the amount of days between our day off. So far this month I've had two days off, definitely looking forward to next week when we should have two! I can finally make a spa appointment & relax!

Okay, so I met an amazing guy on a Christian dating website. I had kind of sworn away dating sites as I really feel they just aren't for me, but recent success on this site by a friend convinced me to give it a go. So, this man is awesome, everything I'm looking for...right? Well, he lives in Phoenix, AZ...and although I travel 24/7, I unfortunately haven't made it any further West than Kansas City, MO. So, after a couple months of talking, texting & regular Skype dates we decided to meet while I was headed home to Michigan for my niece's 1st birthday party. I'll spare you all the details, but we had a fairytale weekend, one of the best I've ever had but inevitably he had to fly back to Arizona & I had to fly back to Dublin, OH, which is where our event was. After a couple weeks we both felt the tug of "long distance blues" and seeing as how we didn't have the most solid of foundations built on a virtual relationship we decided to put things on hold & will reevaluate once my tour is over & when we find out what both of our futures hold. So, that is that, I'm fully confident that if God wants us to be together, we will be together, if not...He has something better in store for the both of us! Sometimes it isn't the easiest thing to just let go & trust that God will take care of us, but it is always the best decision!

So, not only did I get to go home for a few days to see my family & some friends...but I also got to go back to Michigan AGAIN, this time for work! We had an event cancel, so we actually got to spend a couple days in Kalamazoo, doing guerrilla work & then we headed up to Traverse City for the National Cherry Festival. The festival was nice & the weather COULD NOT have been better, but a little drama & 10 days of LONG hours...we were all ready to leave Michigan & wouldn't be sad if we didn't see a cherry for a while!

Well, since we've gotten so busy I've been making every excuse in the book not to exercise, not to count my WW points & obviously not to blog! This all came to a crashing halt while in State College, PA (VERY nice area btw) when I saw the sign, "weigh station ahead". Now, obviously this sign on the highway wasn't directed at me, but when I saw it, I knew what I had to do & after eating too many rolls (with that amazing cinnamon butter) at Texas Roadhouse for dinner & treating myself to an ice cream at the infamous Berkey Creamery, I decided to face the scale & weigh in. The receptionist literally said, "it says you're up 12 pounds, could this be a mistake?" I looked at her & replied, "no, it's possible." Now, I think all the crap I ate the night before could have been part of the issue & the fact that I wore jeans when I usually wear lighter clothing...but regardless, it's a gain & I'm not okay with that. You think that would be a nice wake up call though, right? Well, goodness...it's SO difficult to get back on track once you've been off for so long & not even that...but all your resources were left at the last hotel! Haha. My goal for this month & next is to lose those pounds again and to get back under my lowest weight & with determination I know I can do it!

So, there it is...that sums up a lot of the last three months of my life. I'm sorry I've been such a blogger delinquent, I promise I won't let it happen again. It's going to be my goal to update my blog at least once a week to keep y'all informed on my ever-changing life. Plus, it feels good to be back! Hope this post finds you well, I missed ya! Until next time...MUAH!

Hi, I'm a Mac...

Hello from Springfield, MO.

Last week we were in Chicago for the World's Largest 8k race...the Shamrock Shuffle! It was pretty exciting, but definitely made me jealous that I wasn't running it!! It's a race I'll keep in mind for the future though...anything with beer at the finish line is a win in my book! I even found a cute sticker at the race that says, "Will Run for Beer" ...pretty much sums up why I run. Well, that & my love for cupcakes & ice cream...and not to mention runners are awesome. :)

So, while in Chicago I made an investment purchase...I BOUGHT A MAC! I definitely needed an upgrade on my computer, although I have to say my Dell PC got me through almost 7 years with nearly no problems...but it was very outdated & SLOW. Anyway, I made the decision to buy a Mac back in January during training, but decided to hold off so I could save a little money, do some research & make sure it was the right purchase for me...three months later I own a 15-inch MacBook Pro and I LOVE IT so far! I haven't done a whole lot on it yet...and certain things I'm still clueless about, but I love learning new things!

One awesome feature is in iPhoto there is a thing called, "faces" where it recognizes faces in ALL your photos...so for the last two days I've been tagging faces so I can search for photos of all my friends by their own face folder (for example, if I chose "Megan Collins" it would open a folder that had all the photos that I'm tagged in!) There are so many cool things, but like I said, I'm just learning, I can't wait to be a Mac Pro myself!

Other than that little diddy...I haven't had anything too exciting going on. Our event in Missouri is the "Rockin' Ribs BBQ Festival" at the Bass Pro Shop! I'm excited because I'm sure there will be some meat eating fun times ahead! Springfield is Kevin's hometown...so we have had the privilege of meeting his mom, great aunt, grandma, sister & some friends and his mom made us a DELICIOUS feast of Korean food while his grandma made us an array of blueberry desserts! It's nice to have a home cooked meal, that's for sure...not to mention it was SO YUM.

As far as running goes...I'm on day 6/100! I took the two days off that we worked 10+ hours last week (and I don't count those days) so I look forward to adding a few more days on before the event this weekend. I'm still struggling a bit with food though, so many good choices out there & by good I mean HORRIBLE for you...but tasty. I need to really focus on practicing self control!!!

That was just a quick update on my life...hope this post find's y'all well. Hopefully next time I'll have something more exciting to talk about! :) Until then, love you! Muah!

My Favorite Travel Tools

Hello from North East, Maryland!

This week we have an event at the University of Delaware & are staying about 20 miles away in Maryland, fun stuff. This is a small town off of the Chesapeake Bay...the downtown kind of reminds me of South Haven, but then about 10 miles away is more like Portage (for all of you that know my hometown area).

After leaving Delaware/Maryland I'm heading to Indianapolis for a couple Indiana Pacers games & then the Big Ten Basketball Tournament! :) It'll be nice to be closer to home, no doubt I'll run into some Michiganders there!! We'll be in Indy for about three weeks which will also be kind of nice, I'll be able to "settle" in a little at the hotel. Life on the go can be fun, but it's also a bit of a challenge as you can imagine.

This brings me to the topic of my blog, "My Favorite Travel Tools!" I've chosen a few things that make life on the road a little easier & keep me more sane if you will. Here they are in no particular order:

1. GPS: Okay, for reals. I don't think this job would be possible without one! I'm not too young to remember the progression of navigation...in fact, until last year I had never used a GPS before! Most of our vacations as kids involved my dad driving & my mom in the passenger side seat with the Atlas which is how we got from point A to point B & all the stops in between. Then there was MapQuest & we printed out directions & went from there. But with this job...and I cannot even imagine having an Atlas or even following directions from paper. In saying that, I hope our GPS doesn't freak out anytime soon...leaving us to have to use an Atlas or printed directions!

2. Emergen-C: I use Emergen-C once a day to help boost my immune system & keep from getting sick! So far so good, but I love it because sure, you could drink orange juice which is a bit more tasty...but you're also drinking a lot of unnecessary sugar in OJ as well. This way, I get my Vitamin C fix without all the extra calories (and in my case, wasted Points+!)

3. Packing Cubes: Some of you that know me on a personal level will laugh when I say I LOVE ORGANIZATION, because you've probably seen my room in a previous state & think otherwise. However, being on the road can be very annoying without being organized! So, this is where my "packing cubes" come in!! The ones I use are from Target made by Embark & they are the large packing cube which according to the packaging, "organize and protect garments inside luggage" and are 9 3/4 in L x 13 3/4 in W x 3 in H. I started the tour off with one of these for my bras, undies & socks and quickly realized I needed another for my tanks and t's. NOW I've purchased two more recently that will be designated as my "work shirts" and "leisure shirts" leaving only my jeans, other pants, shorts & sweatshirts "loose" in my suitcase. I like knowing I can grab my "cube" & know what is in it...much like a drawer in a dresser at home!

4. Velcro Straps: These are an item I found at Lowe's & I'm fairly obsessed with them now. Because we have a lot of technology...it requires a lot of plugs & cords which get tangled & all out of whack. BUT wih the help of velcro straps I've made my life a little bit more easy!! These are the "VELCRO Black Universal One-Wrap straps" from Lowes & they come in a roll that you tear off & use to wrap cords together for easy organization & use. I not only have started using these on the event site, but also with my personal cords I need to keep straight! LOVE them!

5. Purex 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets: Now, I don't necessarily recommend these for every day use because they tend to possibly leave "oil" spots on clothes (I've only noticed it on one piece & not entirely sure if it was from these) but as far as traveling goes, they are amazing. You basically put the sheet in with your clothes in the washer & it acts as the detergent & then there is a strip at the end of the sheet with fabric softener on it for when you put it in the dryer! It's pretty amazing! And I got it at Target, I believe there are 38 sheets for like $8...and it should last me almost the entire tour!

I have a few other things that have been useful along the way as well...but for those of you who just want to hear about the COOL things I get to do & not the dirty "behind the scenes" I'll spare you all! ;) For now I'm off to pick up my To-Go order from Woody's Crab House...you know I got myself a crab cake, you can't pass them up here. AND they aren't terrible for you if you ask for them to be prepared in a way that doesn't involve a ton of butter! So until next time. MUAH!

Empire State of Mind

Hello from Baltimore! Yeah...I've left NYC already & haven't blogged about it yet! I'm a terrible blogger! BUT, in my defense it was launch week & we were SO busy I didn't really have time to blog. I have time now & that's what I plan to do!

We got into New Jersey (which is where we stayed) on February 1, just beating out the terrible weather that presented problems for our West & South teams! I didn't get to go into Manhattan until THURSDAY! It was killing me to see the city & it was right at my fingertips, but we had so much work to do. Our first event was Thursday, the Lunar New Year in Chinatown. So, I got to go into the city, but straight to Chinatown & straight out. The event was interesting though, quite a language barrier as most of our consumers did not speak English! We were finally able to make it into the city to see Time Square & eat at an amazing Brazilian restaurant, Michelle ensured us it was authentic & it was seriously delicious...and we had 10 different kinds of meat, among other things! We had another event in Chinatown on Sunday that was a much younger crowd, which made communicating a lot easier. Friday we went to Soho & stopped in the Dash boutique, no Kardashian sightings & no souveniers either...$60 for a "Dash" tshirt...I'll pass. But the employees, the "Dash Dolls" had a ton of questions about our phone service & plans, it was pretty comical actually! I think they were more excited to see us than we were to visit the store! But it was a typical boutique, very expensive clothes in small sizes with a very small selection, fully equipt with Kardashian photos & $10 bottles of Kardashian water.

The food in NYC is crazy! There are so many options and so many places that are "special" or "famous" or "unique to New York" that it's really hard to eat well. I know if I haven't gained weight yet...I sure did last week. Although, my jeans still fit...so that's a good sign! I've made a goal though, to work out at least three days a week & I plan to strictly stick to that. Speaking of NYC & crazy, I TOTALLY drove the SUV & trailer THROUGH MANHATTAN! Most people would never imagine even driving in NYC, let alone with a trailer! It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, it was more stressful driving in New Jersey in my opinion! The people were rude & the street sytems are MESSED up. Haha.

Last night Michelle & I were able to visit Yankee Stadium & Citi Field, both which were impressive! Michelle worked her magic & was able to get a security guard to let us in the front offices lobby area to take a quick photo! I'm so not good a flirting to get my way! Also, today on our way to Baltimore we were able to stop in Philly to visit the Citizen Bank Field & get ourselves a Philly Cheesesteak! If you're counting...that's three baseball stadiums in two days, I'm on cloud 9! I'm hoping tomorrow after we set up our event site we can stop by Camden Yards! I also want to stop by Charm City Cakes...which is where the Food Network show Ace of Cakes is filmed!!

All this traveling is fun, but it's hard work, 67 hours & no day off going on 3 weeks! And I miss my family, friends & my Detroit sports! Hockey season in NC was okay because Nick had the Center Ice Package, but roaming the country is rough! I did however find a website where I could listen to the games for free!! I've been "that girl" in the hotel room listening to the Red Wings & cheering loudly for goals! Another thing about being on the road that is difficult is not being able to go to church! We can go if we have the time to go, but like last Sunday we had the Lunar New Year event & left the hotel by 6:45am. Michelle & I are determined to find a church service this week. In the meantime I've been enjoying Lake Center Bible Church podcasts from iTunes! It's a little piece of home on the road!

Well, after Baltimore we head to Richmond, VA for a couple days & then to Poughkeepsie, NY. I'll try to update more often, hopefully it'll get a little less crazy! Fingers crossed. Muah!