Tuesday night. Just pulled a 13hour day at the chocolate kitchen. My kids are sacked out, my golden retriever, Fender, is at my feet and my husband is walking toward me with a glass of Two Buck Chuck. Life is indeed wonderful. Life is also very, very full. At the moment, my mind is housing a long TO DO list of varying concerns ranging from the need to update this website&to going to Target to buy my son more socks&to I have GOT to call my mother and check in.

 

Wife, mother of a 2 ½ year old son and 1 year old daughter, business owner, daughter, and friend. I suppose I am not any different than many women who find it challenging, to say the least, to juggle home, work, and relationships successfully and graciously. It is not uncommon for me to be up half the night catching up on housework and Im a bit concerned that my son equates Sonic drive-in with dinnertime. Not long ago, my good friend, and website designer, Steve Lomas, texted me the following message: I noticed you havent blogged since July. Not quite sure how to respond, I ignored the text and thought, I havent slept since July either.

 

The irony is this: I have never felt so energized and full of life. I also have never felt so deeply grateful. Genuine, deep thankfulness to God. He gets all the credit for the strength I feel, the peace in my home, the creativity coming through Merveilleux Confections, and all the supportive press we have received. I also marvel at the loyalty, commitment, and kindness from the Merveilleux employees. Lets face it, during these difficult economic days, an employee cant help but wonder, are we going to make it? We join hands, more than once a day, and pray for guidance.

 

The result is a spirit of camaraderie, as tireless hours and late nights have been logged in perfecting new recipes of confectionery treats, and a deep desire in all of us that this humble, little, chocolate company will grow so that we can provide more jobs.

 

So, what have we been doing since July, you may wonder? Heres the Wonderfful lowdown on our latest new flavor line up&pumpkin maple, cranberry orange walnut, gingerbread streusel, and peppermint mocha. We also created a signature flavor for the, soon to open, Belle Meade Plantation Winery. It is a raspberry chocolate ganache enrobed in dark chocolate. Named The Belle Meade Iroquois, this flavor is sure to delight the most refined chocolate palette. 

 

Le Petit Gateau&Our take on the cupcake craze made its debut at the Cool Springs Galleria not long ago. We couldnt bake them fast enough to keep our kiosk shelves full. What is it? Its a little cake with the frosting on the inside. Baked in chocolate brown parchment paper and tied with a gold cord, they are as delicious as they are gorgeous. Jill Smith, our resident baker-extraordinaire, hit a home run out of the park with a line up of exceptional flavors. Currently, they are available by special order only. We are working toward being able to ship them beginning early 2010.

 

Finally, we have a song. You can take a girl out of the music biz but you cant take music out of the girl. Its a silly little jingle but we all find great joy in singing it. Ruth, our kitchen manager, even adds a lovely harmony.

 

Recently, Nashville Wraps, visited us to film a piece on packaging ideas for their website www.chocolatepackaging.net For whatever reason, a few of us let down our guard and broke out in song. The moment was captured on film and is now on YouTube as "The Singing Chocolatiers."  One viewing and youll see that, despite these challenging and uncertain times, we at Merveilleux Confections really do believe that Life is Wonderfful!