Summer (unofficially) comes to an end....bring on the fall!

This Saturday was the first Saturday after Labor Day.  Labor Day on Cape Cod is the end of summer, no matter what the calendar "officially" says.  The traffic gets lighter, the beaches get empty (and lose their lifeguards and ice cream trucks), the locals come out into the sunlight again after hiding from the tourists for the past three months.  It is all pretty nice.  I actually like the hustle and bustle of summer on the Cape.  I don't mind the traffic b/c I have found several different ways to get wherever I need to go.  I like the business at the store-all of the kids excited about being on vacation, all of the new faces from all over the United States-and sometimes far away places.  My days at work go by quickly.  I enjoy my beach days with all of the crowds.  With all of this being said, I have to admit, this first week after Labor Day was kind of nice and relaxing.  I could sleep in 15 minutes longer b/c there was no traffic AND no line at Dunkin' Donuts for my Vanilla Chai.  I spent the week at the store cleaning and re-arranging things.  We got a huge shipment but had plenty of room to work on it and didn't need to rush to move it out of the way. I popped open the doors and turned off the AC b/c I am fine without it and there weren't as many customers to complain about it.  :)   Nice.  I give myself one more week of solitude enjoyment before the 10-6 shift solo with no customers wears on me....but right now....I am going to enjoy the break. 
This is the first week without my summer crew and my new helper is working out well.  She is a nice girl and she really seems to like the job.  She is really great with customers, which is amazing to me b/c she barely has had time to learn where everything is, but she jumps in with a suggestion every time she is asked and has no problem chatting with people, which is important in a toy store.  Another bonus about my new helper is that she has a sweet tooth and is more than happy to embrace my Cupcake Saturday endeavor!  Yay!  I knew I was going to like her! 
A bonus of the fall/quiet season is that Cupcake Charlie's tends to offer more inventive flavors when the business is slower.  I think it is easier for them to make complicated flavors in smaller amounts.  The flavor of the day this week, which I chose, was Stuffed French Toast.  I love french toast.  It is my favorite breakfast food.  I honestly can't tell you the last time that I actually had some, but I have always loved it.  This cupcake tasted EXACTLY like french toast!  It was delicious!  I can't really tell you what flavor the cupcake itself was b/c it was overwhelmed with all of the other flavors going on, but I don't think it was a straight vanilla.  It was filled with what tasted like the cream cheese frosting that is usually on the carrot cake cupcake.  Soooo good.  On top was some drizzled maple syrup topped with a heaping dollop of maple/cinnamon flavored frosting which was sprinkled with cinnamon.  This was really surprising in how much flavor it had!  I was really thrilled with it.  It was also a comfort food kind of flavor which works well with my "heading into fall" mode....
My helper got the Carly's chocolate chip cookie, which seems to be the standby for half of the crew that works for me.  She loved it and looks forward to branching out next week.  :) 
All-in-all, a good way to end a pretty good, non-eventful week.  Let's see what this week brings, shall we?  :)