The fabulous snowfall on Thursday has effected our operation for this Valentine weekend. Here's a quick recap and update for those of you with preorders and those that are just interested in how this is all playing out.
Thurday 11 February: Lots of gorgeous snow fell here in Fort Worth and our shop plugged along as normal. Our electricity at our home near TCU went out around noon that day. We were welcomed to spend the night with the in-laws...I have the best in-laws ever. =)
Friday 12 February: At 4:00 AM I arrived at the shop after driving thru lots of fresh snow. I was hopeful that we had power since a little lamp was dimly shining in our front window. Unfortunately, the power was struggling and there was not enough electrical "umph" to keep phones, appliances, ovens, heat, etc.... on. We were without electricity as were 175,000 people in the DFW area. I called our amazing baking assitants letting them know they needn't come in. The temperature in the shop (around 45*) was dropping quickly and Juaquin had joined me there by that time.
5:30 AM: we ventured to WalMart to get an old-school, $5.00 phone to plug directly to our phone line. We knew we would need to call customers that had preorders to let them know that we would not be able to bake for them that day, and offered to include them with our Saturday orders (should we have power to bake).
The 20+ customers I spoke with were wonderful and very understanding. We hated to let them down, but sometimes things are simply out of our control....like a record breaking snow storm!
9:30ish AM: Juaquin and I drove around our amazingly, wonderful city looking at how beautiful and almost magical the snowfall looked. The streets were quiet, the city was quiet. What is it about fresh snow that makes the world seem reverently calm, still and hushed. We took a few pictures and marveled at the covered tree branches. Simply goregous!! =)
10:30 AM: We ventured to the Alpaca show going on at Will Rogers....chatted with a few Alpaca ranchers. This was something we wanted to go to but knew we wouldn't be able to with the busiest baking holiday our shop experiences in the year. Perhaps it was meant for us to be there after all! =)
11:00ish AM: Went to Taylor Rentals to get a tablecloth for the Reading Rocks event and then went to Ridglea Country Club to decorate a table for Saturday's luncheon that raises money for the I Have a Dream Foundation. This is my second year to participate in this wonderful happening. Click here for Reading Rock details!
We continued to check off and on at the shop to see if Electricity was back on. It wasn't... =(
8:00 PM: Made our way to our home and happy to have electricity back on. I fell into bed ASAP, hoping that power would be back on at the shop for Saturday.
Saturday 13 February 4:00AM: Juaquin drove to the shop to see if electricity was on. He called to tell me it was not. I called my baking assistants to let them know NOT to come in. Reset my alarm for a little more sleep.
6:00 AM: Rolled out of bed, got ready and headed for the shop. Still no power, so gathered my thoughts, and all the preorder information of customers for Friday and Saturday. Waited a bit and began calling customers around 8:30 as not to wake them to early!
9:30 - 11:00: Spoke with customers, left messages, answered the phone.... Shop temp - 41 degrees...brrrrr....
"OH How I'd Rather Be Baking!", became my inner mantra... =(
I needed to contact about 40 customers that had preorders for this weekend. With the exception of 1 customer, every single person I spoke with expressed amazing understanding for the situation. I realize that each of them had special plans for the cupcakes today, yesterday and perhaps tomorrow and I hate letting them down. Many of them reminded me that with a record-level-Snowfall "this was a once in a lifetime event for North Texas". Busy wanting to set things right with our fabulous cupcake fans I wasn't thinking about that cool fact, and I appreciated that reminder!
In the event we get power restored before tomorrow, Sunday 14 February, we will be baking! Yes, for this one and only Sunday, IF we have electricity tomorrow, we will get on with baking the orders we have missed and then some.
For updated information visit our Facebook Fan Page and Twitter
Sometimes....no, wait... A lot of times in life there are happenings that are simply out of our control and the only thing we can do is control how we react to such events.
We deeply apologize that we have not been able to bake our sweet treats these past 2 days and we appreciate your patience.
