Jen's Adventures and Creative Projects

Dec. 24, 2017 Dear Friends, Here I am again, writing this letter at the last minute and will have to send online at this point. My mind has been on too many other projects and for awhile, I thought maybe it would not hurt to miss a year doing this letter. But I’ve been writing a Christmas letter since 1991 and I guess for me alone, it’s an annual summary journal of sorts - why stop now, right?  Heck, I might make a book out of these sometime. To summarize the year, well, if you’re on Facebook,  you know my big focus this year as been “the bakery.”  I bought a building...more than five years ago now...in downtown Carterville for lots of reasons, one of them being that I just thought our town needed a bakery and cafe.  I also wanted the challenge of designing and renovating a bakery. Rise Above It Bakery & Cafe is what I call “the tiny building that could.”  We have jumped so many hurdles, for those helping me with this venue.  We’ve also endured so many challenges along