Why the title...

Well, because... that's my life.

Cupcakes:  My latest passion.  I've always had a knack for baking, and I've also always been pretty creative artistically so the current cupcake craze is a natural extension of my abilities.  Baking has lately served a dual role:  as a creative outlet and as a way to de-stress or detox from daily life.  Currently I'm looking to turn my hobby into something a little more lucrative, but more on that as it progresses.

(Red Velvet Cupcakes)

Kids: I'm a mom and like every mom I have the greatest kids on the planet!  But really, mine are pretty great.  This last year has taken us from a family of 4 - Mom, Dad, and 2 Kids, down to a family of 3 - Mom and Kids.   For as much as I have dealt with in the end of my relationship with my kids' dad, I don't think it is comparable to what they went through.  Thankfully the are still young (5 and 6) and are resilient!  As any parent can tell you, raising kids is one of the hardest jobs in the world.  As any single parent can tell you, it's the hardest job in the world since you are doing the work of two people.  I can say that I would much rather have a partner in parenting, but currently that is not to be.  Still, being kids, they are the best compass as to how I am doing.  They are happy, healthy, and achieving new things every day.    

I am proud of my kids and the little people they are becoming.  Both of them are incredibly smart and have great senses of humor.  Truly their mother's children!  I am so lucky to have two little people in my life that are so loving and caring.  There is nothing like hearing your child say "Mommy, I love you".  No matter what has happened in your day or how upset you maybe at them for making a mess in the bathroom, those words just melt your heart.  

"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother."
-- Lin Yutang

College:  If being a mom is moonlighting then school is my day job.  Or maybe it's the other way around.  Three years ago I was laid off from a reasonably good job with Intuit.  At the time it seemed a horrible thing to have happen.  But after a lot of thinking, soul searching and something I equate to a "quarter-life" crisis, I decided that I needed to go back to school and that losing my job wasn't the end of the world but a new beginning.  By furthering my education I would improve my hire-ability and make myself more valuable as an employee.  

It was a tough road to go from being a breadwinner making decent money to being on a "starving" student's income while still having to support a family.  Looking back I have some bitterness regarding that time in my life.  My then husband had been a stay-at-home dad for the years that I worked and after losing my job I had hoped that he would step-up and get some kind of job.   But he didn't, and instead hopped on my band-wagon to college.  It was a rough road but like most things I have had to deal with in my life, I struggle, I learn, and I find a balance.  I found that balance and successfully completed two years in community college and successfully transferred to UCSD this year.  

My life is much different now than when I returned to school.  My focus in my education has change as well.  I started out thinking I would get my degree in accounting, but quickly abandoned that idea when I realized that I needed to do what I felt passionate about because in the long run that will be a bigger pay-off.  I started college as a History major and I am still a History major, but now I have found another passion in the subject of Sociology and am currently having the paper work processed to take on a double-major. And if that isn't enough of a load, I have elected to do this double-major in the same amount of time I had allotted for the regular Major/Minor path. 

But, even though I push myself in school to go beyond what is expected, I refuse to kill myself over a grade.  I know that what comes first are my kids, providing them with a secure future and my sanity. So if I have a big test on a Friday and its 11pm on Thursday, I will be putting down my books and going to bed because, unlike many of my classmates, I have two other people who depend on me.  Maybe I don't get an A++ in that class, but I'm still a good student with good grades and I know that I am good enough and smart enough to get what I want out of life. 

Ultimately my life comes down to a balance.  A balance between my responsibilities and my joys.  Balance isn't always easy to achieve or to maintain, but life is not an easy road, so why should the things in it be any different?