cake practice

cake_practice.jpg
frosting practice at the Culinary Academy, Canon Digital Rebel

Did you know that people in cooking school have to practice their loopy, chocolatey curves just like we did when we learned cursive?

Sometimes we see the end result (someone’s web site, book, album, cake) and we don’t see all of the blood, sweat and tears that went into it. We don’t see them fail, try again, rip the paper to shreds, quit, start over, tell themself they suck, do it anyway. We don’t see all the messiness of the process. We don’t see their scales, their sketches, their first drafts, their cake practice.

If we did, we’d have a lot more compassion for ourselves, for our own messes and half-assed attempts at creating beauty.

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Hi, I’m Andrea

On this blog you’ll be learning with me how to use our voices, share our creative superpowers and live life in full color.

As an artist, photographer, life coach + mentor, I’m redefining what it means to be a SUPERHERO — ‘cause in my world, it’s got nothing to do with capes, spandex or sidekicks and everything to do with tenderness, intuition & baby steps of bravery.

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15 Comments

  1. Gayla

    Beautifully said.

  2. Jen Downer

    AMEN, SISTA!
    How ya doing, Andrea?
    love,
    jen

  3. Loony Lindsey

    Absolutely.
    We should all have more grace for ourselves in our sloppy attempts at chocolate curls. So often we take ourselves so seriously. We are so critical. Man, that isn’t how it should be.

  4. kristine

    Wise words. I love the photo as well.

  5. Grace

    This was just what I needed today. Thank you. And that photo is just splendid.

  6. blu

    thank you…yet again.

  7. Jennifer

    LIFE is compassion and messiness and half assed attempts at everything….and we dust ourselves off and try again.

  8. M Payne

    I just want to eat that cake…food is such a gift in so many ways, isn’t it!?! Once again, you’ve captured the mood today- thank you Andrea.
    I’ve been thinking a lot about the holidays and what Christmas means to me now- I’m not very religious, I can’t afford to go gift crazy, and my family are miles and miles away, so what is it all about? The love of my life and I are spending our first Christmas in our first home together, so for he and I it will all be about love and starting new traditions, but I’m just curious what it means to other people. I’d love to get some new perspectives and ideas!

  9. G-Man

    Wow! Looks beautiful and delicious!

  10. Ilsa

    To practice writing with frosting, I used to use cheap toothpaste in a pastry bag. Same consistancy. Before I got really good at it I used to tell people I let my 8 year old neighbor write on the cake.

  11. jack

    i always think of all the effort and struggle and thought that goes into something… anything, be it an art piece or yes, a cake, the building of a house or knitting of a sweater. it’s all a learning process, no matter how good we finally get it. that’s why i appreciate so much in life, because i think about all it took to create that one, singular thing. thanks for posting this… love the pic!
    happy holidays, a! 🙂
    jack

  12. Giselle Taminez

    Just when you think you have the answers you find out there is still so much to learn. Thank you for your words, they are always inspiring…I am REALLY declaring that I will jump on my gift and make a living by creating beauty, I have kept fighting it forever but I am surrendering and have more compassion for my attempts, my failures and will celebrate HAPPILY every inch of success. Happy Holidays!

  13. jenn

    A~
    This is so true… it is interesting how we are able to forgive others faults but not our own, how we don’t expect the best from others but always from ourselves. We should treat ourselves the way we want others to treat us. Lets start practicing that one!
    I love this photo. It reminds me of my pastry school days.
    Merry Christmas to you.
    Jenn

  14. amanda

    That’s a beautiful thing to remember. THank you!

  15. la vie en rose

    amen sista! i needed to remember this!

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