Would you come to my bakery? 👩🏻‍🍳

When Schone’s Scones came into existence- mid pandemic in April 2020- I honestly did not see it coming. 

Yes, I have always loved to bake.

And yes, I would say in jest that I would one day love to open a bakery. 

But in 2020, I was knee deep in raising our 4 kids. And being a stay at home mom was kinda my dream come true, so I didn’t “need” anything more! 

I’ll never forget when I made the decision to quit “working”. Lance and I had met while working for the same consulting company. After several years, I ventured off to a tech start up and was loving the challenge. I really enjoyed my work, and the executives were super flexible when I had Izzy. I started working part-time and partially from home (which was not really a thing back then!) Less than 2 years later, Lil was born. After maternity leave, I went back to my job, working mostly from home. We had an amazing nanny, and I would say I had a pretty good work/ life balance.  Unexpectedly, some old colleagues approached me about joining a new company they had just started. It was a great opportunity, but I had zero interest. Something had shifted.

I started to realize that I was no longer very good at splitting my time between work and my kids. My job was not easy to shut off, and my kids were getting cooler and more interesting every single day. I literally loved being with them. 

So on a random Thursday in 2004, I called Lance (who was at his office) and told him I wanted to quit my job. I am pretty sure the call caught him pretty off guard, but he was his normal calm sane self and said “Ok, Heath. But if you stop working, we will probably always live in a small house.”  I remember the call like it was yesterday. I remember exactly where I was sitting in our front room. I remember the girls playing on the floor with the sun shining through the window of the 1960’s rambler that I affectionately called our “double wide trailer”. 

Shortly after that call, I resigned from corporate life. And I have never looked back. Truly one of the best decisions of my life. I have loved being home with my kids. Being a SAH mom is definitely way harder than any job I held outside the house, but I was beyond content.

Our youngest, Boeden, is now 11 years old. His childhood has been tough. He has struggled with learning challenges and anxiety, some health issues….and honestly, being his mom has been really hard. People who didn’t know us back then don’t believe us when we tell them how tough of a baby/toddler Boeden was. But he is making amazing progress. Recently, I have received some of the most encouraging emails from his teachers and administrators… sharing how well he is doing at school. Truthfully, I sometimes double check that the message is addressed to the right person! But I am starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. And he is needing way less support from me!

Holidays are always crazy at the bakery. Last week, we had a ton of orders for Halloween. But we also had so many special orders on top of our regular weekly orders.  And the Thanksgiving/ Christmas special orders have been pouring in. I worked around the clock all week long…..which prompted Lance and I to have a little chat, right there in the front room of our “little” house. (It’s still our original little house, but we have renovated twice….so I can no longer call it my double wide!!)

Everyone has encouraged me to get help, but I am a control freak. And the way we have been doing things has worked. Doing most of the actual making/ baking myself is most comfortable and soothes the control freak in me!  But, I also hate when we sell out of items and people can’t order what they want. So I tend to increase inventory….and it becomes a bit of a vicious cycle. Lance has always been the voice of reason, and when I get super busy, I lean on him….and he has a real job that is pretty intense. So our little chat was about next steps for this little bakery, or better said, steps to make sure we keep some sort of balance in our lives!

So we are sorta at a crossroad. Do we keep doing this little bakery out of my kitchen where I do most of the work myself;  or do we take the leap and open a brick and mortar bakery in downtown McLean?  For the first time, the thought of taking the next step doesn’t make me super nervous. It still makes me nervous, but I think there is more excitement and less fear….

So we are doing some preliminary research. We are working on a business plan- which is long overdue anyway. I have no idea what the future holds, but I do know I am so grateful for the past 4 ½ years. I feel like I have built a business, but also a community. So if I could incorporate the two where we could actually meet face to face…..that would be pretty cool! 

Stay tuned 🤷🏻‍♀️

xo,

H

And in case you doubt our tales of Boeden’s challenging childhood- here are a few pics! Honestly, looking at the old pictures made me realize he was a lot of work, but he also made our chaotic house even more fun. And my hairdresser thanks him for all my gray hair!