It is more agreeable to have the power to give than to receive.

It's been a long time since I updated my last post.  I am so glad to report that our Cupcake-Sell-A-Thon for Brendan and his family was a great success! 

I made the following flavors for the Cupcake-Sell-A-Thon last week:

The Summer Cupcake (vanilla cupcake with strawberry frosting)

Coca-Pop Cupcake (chocolate and coca cola cupcake with cherry frosting)

Ms. Rosie Cupcake (vanilla cupcake with rose water frosting)

The Dude Cupcake (chocolate cake with bacon bits, PB frosting and champagne pomegrate filling)

The Classic Cupcake (vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream)

The Chocolate Lover (chocolate cupcake with strawberry frosting)

Everything was sold within the first half hour, and we even needed to limit people to buy only 2 max. for the first round.  Some people even gave me more money than the cupcake actually cost.  Besides selling those amazing cupcakes, we also have a secret auction for a half dozen cupcakes, which came with each flavor) to boost more funds for the family.  The secret auction went so successfully and it got sold for 100 dollars=)  I hope that the funds we collected during the sale could help Brendan and his family to pay off some of their bills.  Also, glad to hear that Brendan is a very tough little guy.  He has been recovered very well and hopefully, he could leave the hospital by end of this year. 

Ms. Rosie Cupcake without the rose pedal

The Classic Cupcakes and the Summer Cucpakes were both sold out quickly.

Coca-Pop cupcakes are a lot of people's favorites

Ms. Rosie Cupckes got dressed up with a edible rose pedal

The Dude Cupcakes are not just popular among the dudes. 
They were so popular among the ladies too.

Hurry up, only two Ms. Rosie left! 
And Tony (Brendan's dad) shared some recent pictures of the family and Brendan with us.

Gone Gone Gone...

The secret auction.  The half dozen got sold for 100 dollars!

This time, I gave up using fondant for decoration.  I used edible rose pedal for the Ms. Rosie Cupcakes, a small stripe of bacon for the Dude Cupcakes, and a cherry and a straw for the Coca-Pop Cupcakes...they came out as cute as my hand crafted fondant toppers.

I had so much fun of planning and organizing this Cupcake-Sell-A-Thon and I was touched by all the kind people, who came out and support.  This meant a lot to me, Brendan and his family.  You guys ROCKS!

The human spirit is stronger than anything that can happen to it.

Story of little Brendan -

On June 12th, 2012 Amy and Tony Belello took their 14 month old son into the emergency room due to an accidental fall from a changing table earlier in the morning. A CT scan revealed a “peach sized mass” in the back of his brain/skull and he was rushed into emergency surgery at CHOC hospital in Orange, CA to have it removed and tested. The test came back positive for a type of cancer referred to as Medulloblas toma, a Desmoplasti c style tumor. Neurosurgeons where confident that they had removed most of the tumor and additional fragments. Doctors informed Tony and Amy that he had two weeks to live if the tumor was not removed. Several MRIs, a lumbar puncture and ultrasounds followed and showed a good result with no cancer developing elsewhere in his body.

Brendan has been at CHOC since July 1st and will remain there until December 2012 receiving chemotherapy. The chemotherapy is additional treatment to destroy any remaining cancer cells that may be in his body, which could quickly develop into the original fast-growing brain tumor.

Tony and Amy Belello also have a 3-year old daughter named Collette. The family is forced to be separated during the next 6 months while Brendan undergoes treatment. They also must continue to work full-time jobs in order to maintain medical insurance. Brendan will have one of his parents at his side 24/7 during this process. Your support will help this young family get through this difficult time.

I have never worked with Tony (Brendan's dad) since he had transferred to our San Diego's office when I first started.  However, I did have chance to meet him and his family during our Company's Christmas party last year.  I still remember how cute his two little ones were at the party. It absolutely broke my heart when I hear about what little Brendan has been going through. 

I am always trying to sneak a way to give back to the people in need.  I contacted Tony few weeks ago about a cupcake-sale-a-thon's idea to raise money to help the family.  And Tony was so excited about my idea and very thankful to see someone loves to help his family.  I know that it's not a big event, but I guess every help and every penny count.  And I am glad to hear that Brendan is doing so good at the hospital.  He is such a strong little hero. 

This won't be my last cupcake-sale-a-thon.  I am sure I will organize more cupcake-sale-a-thon in future to help whoever in need. 

Nurse Appreciation Cupcakes

I made some cupcakes for a friend of mine and her sister this weekend.  Her sister is a nurse and I wanted to say thank you and also tell her sister and her fellow nurses at the hospital how I appreciate their hard work and service.

We always think of nursing as giving medicines on time, checking an X-ray to see if the doctor needs to be called, or taking an admission at 2:00am, with a smile on their faces.  Too often, we forget all the other things that nurses also provide, which are caring and having desire to make a difference.

Here are some meaningful quotes from real nurses I found online, they are good reminders to remind ourselves to appreciate others, who take care of us when we are in need:

"Our job as nurses is to cushion the sorrow and celebrate the joy, everyday, while we are 'just doing our jobs.'"
- Christine Belle, RN, BSN


"…although the days are busy and the workload is always growing, there are still those special moments when someone says or does something and you know you’ve made a difference in someone’s life. That’s why I became a nurse."
- Diane McKenty, Renal Health Nurse (RN)


"Nursing is an art:  and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit?  It is one of the Fine Arts:  I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts."  
- Florence Nightingale