Wow, I need to catch my breath--the past week and a half have been a complete whirlwind. Let's see... I took my final exam for Food Protection in an auditorium in Harlem on a Tuesday afternoon. I signed in at the front desk and the security guard told me to "go get it". It sort of surprised and tickled me--does he know something? It just seemed so fraught with meaning.

The next night was an Edible Brooklyn's "How to Build a Business in the Food World" event. Chrissy from Fare Trade was on the panel of speakers. The audience became really engaged and alive when Chrissy took the microphone--way to go, Chrissy! Mo and I were "revealed" and answered a few questions from the audience. Good thing we drank a beer because we did not do that when we filmed our Kickstarter video, but we totally should have.

Speaking of Kickstarter, our campaign has been up for five days and we are almost $500 away from our goal. We're already 85% funded! Wild! It's an understatement to say that I'm really amazed. I'd envisioned funds trickling in bit by bit each week, but the support we've been receiving just this week has been incredible. Check it out here. I can't help but feel really moved by it all.

Mo and I also had a busy Thursday--we had the opportunity to trail with Chris from Kings County Jerky Co. This was such a valuable thing to be able to do. Chris had a lot of insight and advice that really sunk in--rock the packaging!!! That's a must if we want to stand out from all those other spices.

We also visited Rappaport Sons Bottle Co. to get an idea of what bottles to consider. I loved that this is a family-owned business. We bought a case of hexagon jars that are nice... but do they rock?? Irwin and co. from Rappaport were really nice, helpful and encouraging--we just loved going there.

We trekked back to Manhattan and picked KJ up from school. We made a stop into Dual Specialty Store in the East Village--they are one of the contenders for our wholesale spice sourcing. There was a plethora of cool things--we ended up buying little packages of hibiscus powder, beet powder and powdered vinegar, just for the novelty of it. It will be fun to experiment with these... Again, kind, encouraging words from the owner, Shahin. My bleeding heart!

By the way, we had a lovable five year old in tow at Dual and can I just say five year olds LOVE spice shops? Chuck E Cheese and Disney World? Pfft--long forgotten when browsing in aisles of spices. So magical! If they scowl or act at all petulant, just know that they're actually having the time of their lives...