Tomorrow, we kick off our first day at the Union Square Holiday Market. After a successful month at Madison Square Eats, we're excited to be back at a market where our followers can visit us every day from tomorrow through December 24th (except Thanksgiving!). We have been preparing like crazy and over the next few weeks, we're going to roll out specials beyond just macarons. Like our special chocolate chip cookies and apple pie bites.
I hope everyone gets a chance to stop by and meet Simon. As a native born New Yorker, he is a true diamond in the rough. There are very few things that ruffle his feathers and he is the most naturally happy person I have ever met. It is WEIRD, but very refreshing to find that the crazy fast paced life of New York hasn't stopped this guy from smiling. That's us above in a photo taken by Nicholas James White when he visited our booth at Madison Square Eats. Clearly, we both have food in our mouths and we're trying to smile like we don't, but it's not successful...at all.
Anyway, a little relationship story about us for all of you to barf over. When I first met Simon two years ago, I had a completely different life. My friends wouldn't even try to introduce me to guys b/c I would tell all of them that I simply didn't want a relationship. It just didn't fit into my planned life schedule. I totally didn't want a boyfriend. I wanted to quit my dead end job and go to pastry school. I was especially moody at the time because I would have to take out a loan for the entire program - I could only get the loan from one place and 2009 was not a good time to try to take out a loan.
Simon had recently been let go from his position as an attorney recruiter and he was enjoying the single life. He, too, did not want a girlfriend. How he decided that he would like to go on dates with me is beyond me. I ignored him a lot because I thought he was weird and I said things to try to make it clear that I wasn't into it, and he thought I was annoying and wasting his time. The guy is so nice, he figured that since we had friends in common and they thought I was ok, he would try to see if I was ok. WHO DOES THAT? THAT IS SO WEIRD.
Then a number of things happened. My school was approved for Title IV funding - so my loan options completely opened up and I was able to get one immediately. I got my first pastry job. I started school two months later. A month after that, Simon and I decided to become official. A month later, we decided to open Macaron Parlour. A few months later, I was assigned a wonderful mentor and got my dream pastry job with a talented Pastry Chef I had met a year earlier. Then I decided to go back to school to learn the business side of the food industry and Simon encouraged me to apply for every scholarship possible to pay for the program - and I got all of them. Then I got engaged. And here we are, at Union Square Holiday Market. Two years ago, I was trying to figure out how to pay for pastry school, and now we are in a holiday market that I have been visiting ever since moving to NY 7 years ago.
I hope everyone gets their own Simon this holiday season - just a good luck charm that draws everything good your way.
