All About B, a friend of a goose

Mother Goose is honking very excitedly today to tell you all about her friend, Bridget. And from now on, whenever Mother Goose says the name “B”, you must know that I am talking about Bridget. However, I shall call her “B” for all time. And here she is!

She’s so pretty! And not only that, B is an incredible businesswoman. She’s an entrepreneur for all the right reasons! B is the principal at Blush Wallets — a crafty place to get eco-conscious products such as wallets, jewelry and sketchbooks. B knows that being environmental-friendly is the best way to get her crafts noticed, and she’s absolutely right about that. More and more often, craft fairs and shows are looking for special products that are made from sustainable or recycled materials or made locally. And that’s exactly where B is at.

Just this past weekend, B’s wallets and sketchbooks were featured at a craft show in Elmhurst titled “Envision” — a market place to shop, enrich & nourish, a place to focus on women in Art, Design, & Wellness. It was very special, and I tell you right here and now that Mother Goose is not easily impressed with craft shows and craft fairs AT ALL. In fact, I typically avoid them and go running in the opposite direction if I see one in progress. Slap slap slap and flap flap flap… (sounds of a goose running into the wind to take off and fly away…)

B and her booth at Envision.

Did I mention that she was the President of the Entreprenuer’s club at Columbia College Chicago last year?

Did I mention that just two weeks ago B was awarded a $1,000 grant from the Self-Employment in the Arts Conference?

And did I mention that later on this year, there will be a very special designer hair salon opening in a very cool west suburban town, and the upstairs of the salon will be a sweet boutique which will be managed by “You Know Who”?

This is all well and good — in fact, it is a blessing. But the most important thing that I want to say about B is this: she is so very kind and patient, so loving and caring, such a good listener, so positive and supportive. I just love her! She deserves all the good, and a round of applause goose-style and a standing ovation today.

The Bleeding Heart Bakery

Mother Goose has mentioned The Bleeding Heart Bakery before, but it is definitely worth seconds. This is the place to go if you are looking for “local, sustainable, punk rock pastry” or if you just need to get out of the house for awhile and have a cuppa tea and a muffin. Such was the case for Mother Goose this morning.

I live within biking distance of the bakery, so I hopped on my beloved classic Schwinn and away I flew, just as fast as my little webbed feet could pedal. Riding my bike has been my happy place for so many years, and today was no exception. Pedaling around Oak Park was a treat for sore eyes — the colors of the trees, the gardens and the homes were more exuberant than ever. With some of the leaves down, I was able to view some homes that I hadn’t had privilege to see before. Look at this one:

But alas, I digress.

The Bleeding Heart Bakery has a great perspective on their products. All organic, all day long. Here’s something I ripped from their website: “Bleeding Heart Bakery was the first Certified Organic retail bakery in the United States. While credentials like that are great, we seriously get behind the practices involved in running a green bakery.”

But that’s not why I went to the bakery this morning. I just wanted to have a cup of tea and a tasty tea cake. And it was the BEST TEA CAKE EVER. I ate it so fast I didn’t even get a picture of it! When I walked into the bakery, I didn’t even know what a tea cake was. I asked the ever helpful young lady behind the counter, and she chose to give me the simple answer, “It’s just a big muffin really.” And that’s enough information for this goose! I ordered the carrot tea cake.

The whole point of a bakery should be that they create and sell the tastiest stuff on the planet. We go to a bakery to get a sweet fix and some comfort from the cold, harsh realities of life. We want to forget the mean email that we received from our ex-husbands. We want to just sit and text back and forth with a girlfriend who knows and loves us. We want to feel better. It doesn’t have to necessarily be healthy, but how wonderful that this bakery takes those things like health and sustainability to heart. Here’s some of the good stuff they make and bake:

It’s cute, it’s comfortable and they have good food. What more could Mother Goose ask for today?