At last, Sweet Mandy B's ...

And now for my favorite stop of the crawl, Sweet Mandy B's.

I couldn't believe it when I found out there was a bakery with my name in Chicago, and Sara and I knew immediately we would be visiting this one. I could tell based on the website that it would be amazing, and it surpassed all my expectations. Spacious and painted in a lively pastel color scheme, it was pretty much how I'd imagine my own bakery if I were to open one. It was one of the largest bakeries we went to, and there was plenty of space to sit, eat and relax, unlike most of the other shops. We were able to watch employees mix colored frosting and ice cupcakes. Plus, there were all sorts of other goodies with the cupcakes in the huge display case, which spanned about half the length of one of the two rooms.

The cupcakes were, of course, delicious. They were the same size as a cupcake I might have made in my own kitchen, and the price was just right, too. At about $2 per cupcake, they were almost half the price of cupcakes we had at other places. And Mandy B's was the only cupcake I was able to eat in its entirety, rather than packing up some to take home. My lemon cupcake with raspberry frosting was sweet but not too rich, and the cake melted in my mouth. The frosting was a delicious buttercream.

Since Mandy B's was such a momentous stop for me, I decided the layout should reflect that. I had more pictures for it than any of the other bakeries, so it lended itself to more pages. I created an intro layout of sorts, with the Mandy B's headline and just a couple of photos as a window into the rest. A window, quite literally: The 5x7 I put on the right-hand page is a shot I took of a decorated window looking out onto the street in front of Mandy B's.

Next I focused on the storefront, along with my favorite photo that Sara took of me posing in front.

Finally, I fleshed out the atmopshere of the inside of the two-room shop.

Mandy B's had character and then some. I hope to be able to return sometime and try more of the cupcakes and the other amazing-looking sweets. Until then, at least I have my scrapbook!