Out with the old, in with the new

Making our first batch of Confections By Cami fudge

All my life I have dreamed of doing a lot of things. One of which is to work in a chocolate shop. That is probably one of the reasons I became a chocolatier for Dove. It was selling chocolate. But I really wanted to MAKE chocolate, to taste test, to smell it and experiment with it. To watch people smile when they bit into it and know that it was something I made. Like I somehow made that smile.

I kind of got to do that as a chocolatier, but I hated the pressure of feeling horrible with how much it cost and that I had no control over that. There were a lot of little things, but it was wonderful too. I learned SO much in just over a year. I have never been so outgoing. And I loved getting to know my team, especially my upline Bekah. And I loved being a leader too. But I haven't had a party in awhile and haven't made the quota I need to have to continue being a chocolatier.

When I found out as I was disappointed in myself. It wasn't anyone else's fault, just mine. But at the same time, I felt relieved. I really felt good about becoming a chocolatier, but I knew it would only be temporary. That is all I wanted it to be.

Well, anyways, Tyson and I talked about it and we decided that I would have one last party, sell off all the Dove stuff I have unless I need to keep it. And I would take one step closer to my dream. I would start creating my own chocolates and sell them on Etsy. So far it has been really fun. We have only made two different things and probably gained five pounds because of them, but hey, fat and happy, right? :)

So I am a curvy, happy wife to the handsomest man, mother of three adorable boys, writer, and chocolate (although purely internet) shop owner. What is even better is that Tyson is helping me with everything. We made the fudge together (thanks to Mama Sue's AMAZING recipe), and he has helped me with all the ideas and researching.

It is going to be great!

Yummness

I am LOVING white chocolate reese's right now. Wow. Way too much Christmas chocolate and sugar, but man I love it.

My Own Chocolate "Turkey Trot!"

Okay everyone, this is a great and easy way to either get chocolate for yourself, or the perfect chocolate present for family and friends!

Want to earn FREE chocolate? I'm going to host my first "Turkey Trot!" All you need to do is share the Dove Chocolate Discoveries with your friends and family from Nov. 13th-Nov. 27th (when you're already "trotting" around with your family for the holidays), collect $100 in orders and when you turn them into me I'll draw names for some great prizes! That's one $20 order from only 5 people and you can earn great things-no need to host a whole party to get these!! I need 10 friends to participate (out of town and state friends can do this easily too!!) and each person will have the chance to win one of 10 prizes......

1-$75 in FREE chocolate!
2-$50 in FREE chocolate!
3-$25 in FREE chocolate!
4-$25 in FREE chocolate!
5-$25 in FREE chocolate!
6- a half price item and a 6 piece box of caramels
7- a half price item and a 6 piece box of caramels
8- a half price item and a 6 piece box of caramels
9- a half price item and a 6 piece box of caramels
10- Our hostess exclusive Artisan Butter-Almond Toffee and a box of Cinnamon Dusted Almonds

You're sure to win one of these for just a little bit of work, while you're friends and family can get great holiday gifts! Let me know if you're interested!!!

Christmas and Chocolate

Thank you everyone for your orders and support for the catalog party! My next step is to have a candy making party fairly soon after Thanksgiving. That way I can get my Pampered Chef double boiler in time. :) There are a ton of little Christmas candies to make and gifting ideas to share. I will post more about it when I finalize a time, hooray for Christmas and chocolate!!

Announcing Halloween Catalog Party

Hello all my chocolate loving friends! This month is a fun one full of trick-or-treating, hay rides, pumpkin patching and eating, lots of eating. So in celebration of that I am going to have a Dove Chocolate catalog party. Anyone who makes an order from now until the 31st will be entered into a drawing for a big chocolate surprise. Anyone who buys at least 2 products will automatically get an entertaining guide (full of AMAZING recipes).

Here is the online catalog, take a look and see what you want: http://www.dove-chocolate-discoveries.com/sites/camdencooper/productcatalog

Email me with your order or any questions: camio18@hotmail.com

Remember this month buy one of the savory products (cocoa rub, bbq sauce or balsamic vinegarette) and get another free! Plus, there are other products that are 50% off like the mousse kit!

Have a SWEET day!

Dove Conference in Baltimore

The last week of July Tyson went to a conference in Lexington, KY and the boys and I were alone for a few days until I left for Baltimore for a Dove Chocolate Discoveries conference. We had so many awesome people watch the boys for us and I was SO glad I got to go. I had the time of my life! This is the few from my room, so high and so pretty. I woke up one morning to the sun rising and just layed there and watched it. Right next to our hotel they had these cute little dragon paddle boats. The boys would have loved it.

I learned a lot, got really motivated, but I made some awesome friends too. This is me and Liz the night of the banquet. She is awesome!

Everyone was freaking out because I was dancing so much. I can't help it, I LOVE to dance! They all thought I was going to go into labor or something. Hehe

The whole dreamnchocolate team. Me and Bertina (right of me) are both pregnant and due the same day, crazy huh?

Learning

Eating... (the far left is Bekah, she is my upline and AWESOME!)

This is Allyson, and she was the one that took most of these pictures. If not for her, I would have the one from my hotel room and that is about it. I am so bad about taking pictures.

General Session. It was more like a pep rally the whole time, with tons of music and prizes. It was SO much fun! Plus we got to try all the new products. Toffee, sugar-free chocolate covered caramels, white chocolate pear cider, cinnamon rolls, pretty much the best stuff ever!Walking around after dinner the first night we were there.

Betty Palm, DCD president.

Chef Mark, he comes up with a lot of the new products and ways to use them. Not to mention he is hilarious.

Me, Billi Jo and Betty, two other ladies on my team. They are so funny, especially Billi Jo, man she has attitude. :)

Then this is when they were telling us where we are going for our incentive trip this coming year. The joked about ice fishing trips, out west, scuba diving, stuff like that (it explains their outfits), but then they told us it is DOMINICAN REPUBLIC at this super awesome resort. I am so excited! So that is what I am working towards now, getting there and taking my fabulous Tyson with me (and probably the baby too as he will still be so small). So we will see...but I am so excited and I love chocolate!

Virginia Beach

So for my Dove Chocolatiering, we had a team conference in Virginia Beach a few weeks ago. So, we went a family vacation. It was totally awesome! It was weird leaving Tyson with the boys and going off to meetings, since usually it is the other way around, but it was a lot of fun. The boys wore Tyson out, we were very glad to get home, but the beach was beautiful!! Here is a cheesy us picture. :) Note Tyson's totally hot new sunglasses that he got there. I am so glad he got them, he acts all cool when he wears them which totally cracks me up, not to mention he is so handsome. Yes, Caleb did fall asleep like this. We tried to get him to sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag, but he and Josh switched.

Caleb LOVED the water. Tyson loved standing there with him, it was so cute to watch.

Josh however HATES water, totally weird I know. So even this close, he was not so happy. :) I thought it was funny though, I am such a mean mom.

Josh did love building sand castles, which was really cute. I love that he is getting so old and creative.

Tyson and the boys hanging out during the day, having fun without Mama. From what Tyson says, they were really great and obedient. I think I would have freaked watching them with all those people around by myself. But I did marry the most amazing man in the world, so what did I expect?

I escaped the group to hang out with my family during lunch. Sweet pizza place and the kids were so funny. Josh even fell over with his chair once, which was way too funny.

The trip was awesome! The kids were great and I loved going to the conference. I learned a lot and met some new hilarious people. Not to mention I got to eat the yummiest chocolate in the world. (Got to try the chocolate covered dried fruit, AMAZING!)

Hooray for family trips! Tyson is getting bored of me typing and said "I dare you to work Alfonzo in there." So, does that count? Hehe

My Goals

Lately I have had a lot of training from my upline, Bekah, with Dove Chocolate Discoveries. It has really encouraged me to be a better chocolatier. Getting out of my shell is a really hard thing for me to do. I am naturally a stay at home, stay quiet, the less noticed by other people the better kind of person. So why on earth am I in a job where I do direct selling? I go to random people's houses, I stand up in front of them and present products and tell them they should buy it. And then I ask them if any of them want to host a party so what, I can go through all the torture again? :)

Surprisingly, I have loved being a chocolatier. There are hard moments where I really do NOT want to go to some random person's house, or I feel like I am failing or looking like a total idiot. But then there are other times when I watch groups of friends get together to eat chocolate, and not just any chocolate, AMAZING chocolate. And they have fun and they love it, all because I had the guts to go there. I taste the incredible chocolate myself and I love that I get to have it so often and somehow have the control to not eat it all the time. I get to meet so many wonderful people that I never would have met otherwise, not just the people that are wonderful enough to host parties and all the people that come, but my upline/coach and other people on our team. They are all hilarious and so much fun. It makes me feel so good to make goals and keep them. To have something of my very own that is interesting that I can tell Tyson about that doesn't have to do with poopy diapers or little toddling steps. None of those things are bad things, and I absolutely love being a mom, but this is just something extra that is wonderful too.

So this week I have a few goals.

1. I want to sell a certain amount of chocolate this month and I am only a few hundred away. That may sound superficial, and it is, but I set a goal and I want to reach it.

2. I want to have my own team. Mostly I want to share how awesome being a chocolatier is. It isn't for everyone of course, but maybe it will mean as much to someone else as it has meant to me. And I want to really push myself to be a leader. All my life I have been more of a follower, but I feel that I need to learn to lead. Not just with this business, but with lots of things. I am a mother, I am a leader for the young women at church, I want to be a teacher someday. I just feel that learning to lead as a chocolatier would really help me be a better leader in all the other parts of my life.

So anyways, I am writing all of this because in a way this blog has been a public journal for me. I know there are people that read it, so I don't put most of what I feel on here. However, I also know that the people that read it support me and encourage me, which I am really thankful for. So, if you guys wouldn't mind supporting me in this, that would be awesome. If you or someone you know might want to buy some amazing chocolate, send them my way. Or if you think you or someone else might really benefit from at least learning about what it is to be a chocolatier, send them my way too.

This is long and personal, so thanks for taking the time to read it!http://www.dovechocolatediscoveries.com/

Mother's Day Chocolate

Just in case anyone is interested, Dove is selling boxes of chocolates for Mother's Day. They have some kinds like lemon meringue pie and chocolate mousse that are the same as the Valentine's chocolates, but they also have key lime pie and raspberry parfait and a few others. Seriously scrumptious! So if you want to get some great chocolate for your mom, let me know by the end of April!

A Chocolate Challenge

Happy New Year everyone!

So I have a sweet idea/opportunity for everyone reading this (anyone in the US that is). During the month of January Dove is selling a box of 24 super amazing chocolates (flavors like dark chocolate mousse, cheesecake, cinnamon roll, each covered in either dark, milk or white chocolate). The box will be sent directly to whomever you want during the week of Valentine's Day. I think it is a wonderful present to give someone, but it needs to be purchased before the end of January so that it can be processed and shipped in time. The box is $39.00 (which includes shipping). If you want to purchase it, just let me know.

Or, if you would rather not spend money, but want to save it, I have a bit of a fun challenge for you. If you can get 14+ orders of this box of chocolate (from friends, neighbors, relatives, etc.), then you can get an awesome pink fondue kit (shown above, worth $30), $80+ in free dove merchandise, and several half off items. All of this and you don't have to spend a thing. I think it is a really neat opportunity that Dove Chocolate Discoveries is doing, and a sweet way to get free chocolate that you can give to your special someone, or eat for yourself. :) Let me know if you want to participate and I will give you more info (camio18@hotmail.com). Thanks and enjoy this wonderful day!