If I used my cake cutter to cut pvc pipe will it still cut cake?

One of the things that I have always sworn that I would teach my children is how to be themselves. I always felt akward growing up because my ideas were always a little bit different from everyone around me. I was never told that they were dumb or stupid. I just knew that they were different. I was maybe about nine years old and we were packing to go to Billings for a family wedding. I wanted to wear a white shirt, jean skirt, and this white and blue vintage straw grandma hat. I thought my mom's eyeballs were going to pop out of her head when she saw me packing that outfit. Now as an adult and a parent I see why my mom was hesitant.

These days, if you want to see my husband's eye balls pop out of his head say the words, "I have an idea". He is really a patient, kind person. But he knows that with these words it is going to cost him money and there is a project on the horizon. He doesn't have a handy bone in his body so this is why these are painful words. The humorous part is that our three boys have learned this expression. When they say it I can feel my husband's groan even if I don't hear it. He is a good sport with the "creativity" at our house.

As an adult, I am learning that it is ok to be myself and have learned to let my freak flag fly. I don't think my clients would like it if I showed up to their wedding with hot pink hair, but I can at least harness my energy for the greater good. Last Sunday I had a booth in the Book of Love Bridal Show put on by MN Bride Magazine. It has been a very busy (in a good way) January. February hasn't been looking any easier. I am not a procrastinator. My husband's procrastination on things makes my eyes pop out of my head. But, I ended up working on my booth the night before the show. I wanted to create a new table top frame for my display. So, I was running to Menard's at 7 pm the night before the fair. When I got back to my office I started assembling my frame out of pvc pipe. I could have sworn that I left my hack saw at the office from a project in November. But, I couldn't find it. Thank goodness for my McGyver skills. My cake knife did the trick with cutting the pvc pipe into the sizes that I needed. Now, I just need to take it home, wash it, and test it out on some cake to see how well it still cuts!

The best part of being an adult and recognizing that a strength of mine is to think out of the box is that it benefits my clients. The con is that I can't sleep at night because I can't shut my brain off. Fortunately, I made an unexpected score at Menard's that night for a client. This Menard's is closing so everything was on sale for 40% off. I have a client getting married in February 2012. A couple of weeks ago we were admiring Kate Aspen favors at a wedding fair. Picture below. Total for what she would need would be about $350. On a shelf at Menard's I saw two boxes of completely clear Christmas tree bulbs. I thought to myself, "OMG, too bad there are not more. I could totally see us turning these into favors". The best thing about these clients are that the bride and MOB are really crafty and DIYers themselves. It has been a lot of fun to come up with a centerpiece that we could do ourselves. Not all of my clients are DIYers and that is ok. I think we are having a really good balance of making it ourselves and making sure it doesn't look like crap when you make it yourself. Then, I turned the corner and I saw the biggest pile of clear Christmas tree bulbs that thee eye would ever see. I think I heard an angel playing in the background even. I ran to get a cart and loaded it up with 50 boxes of ornaments - 6 in a box for a total of 300. The cost? $45. At the check out they said I could bring them back if she didn't like the idea. I snapped a picture and sent it to the client. She is so excited and we have already generated a ton of ideas on how to personalize the bulbs.

So, when Mikolas wants to wear his Spiderman costume to the grocery store in June, I am ok with it. When Sebastian wants to wear his Thomas the Train rubber boots with shorts in summer to Target, that is ok too. My point is that they also have freak flags and I am going to let them fly them. It will pay off eventually when they can harness that creativity for client projects. I think it is a win/win for everyone. Clients with freak flags are welcome.

This is how the booth turned out!