Today I had a wonderful time at the beautiful Hyde Barn. The venue held their 3rd annual Wedding Inspiration Day which showcased the gorgeous barn, and their recommended suppliers. Over 300 brides-and-grooms-to-be, along with their families, attended the four-hour event. Where they were treated to an array wedding related activities, such as flower arranging and cupcake decorating, as well lots of yummy food and drink. Certainly a wedding fayre to remember.

The Vanilla Pod Bakery

My stand had a pretty selection of Vanilla Pod Bakery iced tiered cakes as well as my signature 'Naked' Cake or the Mary Berry Cake as I like to call it. I also had a dainty cupcake tower on show too, but they all got eaten before I had a chance to take a photograph! As well as being on hand to chat to the prospective couples, they also got to taste a selection of yummy samples including; Carrot & Walnut, Red Velvet, Lemon Curd Drizzle, Victoria Sandwich and Vanilla Cupcakes. The guests could also got to have a go at piping their own cupcake, I have to say I was very impressed with the outcomes.

Natalie Sisson said this would be challenge and it is certainly living up to it's name!  Finding the time to blog is hard!   Anyway onto day 4, and I thought I would talk about my nine favourite apps/online tools that help with my business and personal wellbeing.  I also think if you are currently in the process of planning your wedding some of these would be a fantastic help. I have put stars next to the ones I think would be most useful.

P.S.  Did you have a go at guessing the number of strawberries, well there were just over 100! That's a lot of strawberries! 

Day 2 of my blog hasn't actually gone to plan, I was intending to post everyday but I think that is going to be quite hard so I will try and post every other day - it will still be a challenge!  I had started to write a post on Friday but then my lovely cake business took over and I forgot to finish it. The blog I did start to write was to give you a little insight into my life, my passion for cakes and business. However, I just read it back and it was in great danger of turning into a very detailed autobiography (I don't think your ready for that just yet!). So I scrapped that and have started again.

So why do I want to share my life:
I think sharing a little bit of my life at this time has come at an ideal moment. The reason being is that although I may look like a very normal person on the outside, I have something lurking underneath the surface, I have a few hidden illnesses. I have M.E (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) and mild  E.D.S (Ehlers-Danlos syndrome). Don't worry you can't catch anything off of me! The E.D.S I was born with and I became ill with M.E when I was 13 and have now had it for the past 16 years. Both E.D.S and M.E have very similar symptoms so sometimes I not sure where one starts and the other ends. However, I mostly know about M.E so when it comes up in conversation I just tend to say I have that. So why am I telling you about this now.

Well my M.E. fluctuates, I don't know what it is like to an adult and not have it; but I have gone through periods where I felt more 'normal'. However, now is not one of the those periods. For the past 6 months my health has taken a tumble, before I used to be about 90-95% healthy, I am now about 70-80% healthy. For example,  last week I had two lovely cake orders and one hen party cupcake decorating experience which was fantastic. However, as it was quite full on it meant I was in bed by 5pm on Saturday feeling exhausted and achy. On the Sunday, I felt similar but pushed myself to have lunch with friends so consequently I was in bed by 6pm and will now have to spend the next few days in bed doing minimal activity in order to recover.   I don't begrudge this, to me this is a fact of life and something I have to be aware of if I push myself. But if I don't push myself I won't know. (That is the frustrating part).

Anyway, I am now dosed up on painkillers writing this in bed with my lovely electric blanket turned on high! (Best invention!) 

The early years:
While I try not to let M.E. rule my life it does play a large part. Going back to when I was at school and first got ill I missed most of year 9 and then went back sporadically in year 10 and part time in year 11. I was so thrilled when I gained six C to B graded GCSE's, it proved to me that if I put my mind to it I would not let the illness beat me and it also demonstrated that I could have a full filling life with a few adjustments. 

Those adjustments are making sure I listen to my body (easier said than done!) but on the whole means a one hour nap everyday to maintain a standard of living where I can function without aches, pains and brain fog (yes that is a real term, look it up here). Within this there are days where I do fluctuate either way, such as this week but on the whole this is how I manage to stay on top of it.

Achievements:
After school when I first realised I could achieve my goals. I went onto receive a Triple Distinction BTEC in Performing Arts at College. Spent a few months working as a marketing and events intern in Singapore during my gap/rest year (the constant hot weather and sunshine made me feel almost normal, that was brilliant)  and gained a 2:1 BA(Hons) degree in Marketing Communications at University. 

Launching my own business:
During my degree I undertook a placement year and this is when I realised that working full time in PR, living by yourself away from your family does not mix with M.E! I ended up having a 2 month relapse and having to move back in with my parents in Kent, luckily they have their own business so I was able to work part time to complete my course. However,  and this is where I think fate intervened, my university launched a business plan competition and I was inspired to enter with an idea of launching a tea rooms focusing on selling dainty cupcakes and sparkling pink champagne. My parents kindly let me work on this plan while working for them (well it was business after all!) and to my amazement after submitting my sizeable plan and pitching Dragon's Den style to panel of judges, I won! That was the beginning of the Vanilla Pod Bakery.

The Vanilla Pod Bakery now: 
I have now been running the Vanilla Pod Bakery for little over five and half years.Within that time there have been ups and downs with both the business and with my health. But I keep persevering, I am quite determined like that! One of my biggest challenges came from when I decided I could no longer cope with having external premises.  I had built the business from nothing to running a small bakery in the middle of Cheltenham, I had staff, ran market stalls and had lots of lovely clients. However, my health started taking a tumble and I realised something needed to change so I took the decision to downsize, focus on a niche cake sector and move the business home.  I now concentrate on the gorgeous wedding industry. I love weddings, I love that they are joyous and beautiful occasions. I love creating stunning wedding cakes for my clients. I take one or two cake orders a week so I can give my clients my best service and fit it in with my health requirements. I also run Cupcake Decorating Hen Party Experiences and have big plans for this part of the business. The funny thing is now that I am completely focused my business is growing faster than when I had the premises. 

The future of The Vanilla Pod Bakery: 
As I said above I have big plans for the hen party side of the business which will involve taking on staff to help host the experiences. I adore baking and decorating wedding cakes and will continue with this but eventually limit it to two cakes per month.  I am going to push the online side of the business, though I am not entirely clear on what that will be yet! All I know is I want to help people who have long term/hidden illnesses and are basically in a similar situation to me launch businesses. I also want to share the cake knowledge I have learnt over the years in some way. But more of that to come in due course!

Running a business with an illness:
Even though I have ups and downs with my health,  on the whole I have been able to manage and grow a successful business. For anyone out there who has a hidden illness and has the passion and desire to start their own business, I would say go for it 100 percent. If you would like to talk to me about this please drop me an email or comment below.  Running your own business is so satisfying, you experience trills like nothing else and the fantastic accomplishment that you can achieve something out of nothing. In the words of Nike "Just Do It". 

So there you have it, a little bit about my life. Please feel free to leave a comment below.

Until next time!

Pia x


P.s. I also have dyslexia! While I absolutely love writing please don't hold it against me if you notice interesting grammar or the odd spelling mistake! Though I would be very grateful for a polite email pointing out the error :)

P.s.s New study just been released about M.E. http://www.cortjohnson.org/blog/2015/02/27/clock-ticking-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-hit-run-disorder/

I set up the cake tower on the morning of the wedding just as the room was being dressed. I was over the moon, as the colours matched perfectly and everything looked so gorgeous and opulent, yet fun at the same time.

The couple told me they had an amazing day and left me a fantastic thank you on my facebook page.