The hidden pleasure of cupcakes.

When in Los Angeles a few weeks ago (pictures still to come from that!), there was nothing I wanted more than a Sprinkles cupcake that I kept hearing so much about. After dinner with Mark at The Ivy on Friday night (we didn't see any celebs there, but we saw Matthew Perry at my hotel), I was bummed to call and hear Sprinkles was closed for dessert.

On Saturday morning, the fashion workshop I was attending was starting and I had to say goodbye to my wonderful Mark who drove 5 hours down from Monterey to take to me the workshop. Friday night after dinner, we had one of those long talks where you realize how hard relationships really are as you both start to learn to compromise and grow patient with each other's needs as the infatuation phase fades and you really start to get into the nitty gritty of what makes a relationship work.

Monday morning, as he dropped me off, it felt like having to leave a conversation that wasn't finished, but we said our goodbyes anyway. Then, as it got close to lunch, he sent me a text asking if he left his camera in my purse. Turns out he didn't, but he said he had something else he wanted to bring me. I thought he was already heading back home, but I guess not.

I stepped outside the studio to see him waiting by his truck with his hands behind his back. I confess, as I walked toward him, it kind of felt like I was in a chick flick sitting in the audience of the movie theater wondering what he was hiding behind his back. I went up to him and gave him a hug, and he asked me what I had for lunch. When I told him, he asked if I had eaten dessert yet, and I said, "No, why?" Next thing I know, he pulls out from behind him a box of Sprinkles cupcakes!!!! I squealed!! Literally.

In that moment, everything was ok again. Just like he became my hero holding my hand through my dad's funeral, he became my hero all over again by surprising me with cupcakes that day. That's one of the many reasons I love him!

As I became domesticated and baked my own cupcakes this weekend, I realized, that's exactly why cupcakes have become so popular again. Yeah they taste great, and as my friend Beth and I discussed on the phone, they are like a treat you don't have to feel guilty about because you are just having one cupcake, not a whole cake. But beyond that, I realized, the reason why I have a new obsession with them is because of what they symbolize.... eating a cupcake means everything is ok in the world for that moment in time.

I can't remember ever making cupcakes with my mom, but when I when I think of eating cupcakes, I think of being a child.

Before worries.
Before fat grams and calories mattered.
Before money stress and bills to pay.
Before losing loved ones.
Before mean girls.
Before heartbreaks.
Before complications.

Eating a cupcake, everything is simple all over again and it reminds me of that childlike wonder and faith that Jesus tells us to build our own faith around.

I hope you have a cupcake kind of day!