Scones, Cookies and the Job Search

I have to apologize for not keeping up with this blog as I should. I'm in this weird limbo land. I've finished culinary school but have decided that it isn't something I want to do full-time. So as much as I hate to admit it, I'm heading back to the corporate world. I promise I won't give up baking and crafting! They are two things that I really need to keep me sane.

I have fully accepted the idea of going back to the 9-5 grind, but the job search is just brutal. I won't bore you all with how sucky the job market is right now, just watch the news to find out. And I'm not asking for sympathy. I fully accept that I chose this path over the past year. It's weird to try to explain my daily existence. I feel that my full-time job right now is getting a full-time job. That takes time even if others in my life don't see the results at the end of the day. I seem to be getting more leads and follow-up than others I know, but companies are just slow to pull the trigger right now and actually hire for positions they've posted.

Here's my internal struggle: My husband has been so supportive of my crazy decisions lately and I feel I owe it to him to find a job as soon as possible (which I'm working on). But I also feel this is a cool opportunity. When you have a desk job you dream of all of the things that you would do if you didn't have to work full-time. Well, I'm here! What do I do?

Of course, I have my Etsy shop. I do enjoy my faux treats, but they take a LONG time to make each piece. They are really more a labor of love than something I would consider doing to pay the bills. Honestly, they couldn't ever pay the bills. The labor and material cost are just too much to recoup. I just enjoy making them for people who truly appreciate them. If there are any foody/cottage artists out there that want to do a swap, let me know!

There is another side of my life that I've been holding back from the lovely readers of this blog: I'm a romance novel junkie. I love them. I read them. I write them. OK, I'm not published yet, but this is something I've been working on a long time. I took time off while in school, but this down time has really made me realize once again that getting published is one of my top life goals. I started a new blog to document this journey, if you're interested check out Heather's Romance Bistro. I hope to share my writing journey, book news and reviews, and of course recipes and snack ideas. It's a bistro after all!

I've also been baking this week. On today's menu: chocolate chip cookies with dried cherries soaked in Southern Comfort, and Cranberry Orange Scones.

My kitty Leela decided that when I put out the plastic containers for the scones & cookies and laid the cover to my Kitchen Aide mixer inside it all, I was actually building her a nice little bed. She supervised the rest of the baking from her new kitchen table bed.

I hope anyone else out of work right now is able to take advantage of this time, and dedicate at least a little part of the day to doing or trying something you've always dreamed of when you were sitting behind your desk. Maybe a new more fulfilling career might come out of it!