I have a confession to make: I love to bake.  Given the time, any motivation whatsoever (e.g., It’s Thursday!) and enough butter and sugar, I will bake almost compulsively.  I have another confession to make: I don’t particularly care for baked goods.  Of course I will happily have a taste of the browned butter carrot cake I just made.  It wouldn’t be out of character for me to nibble on one of my mom’s molasses cookies.  But a whole piece of cake?  A second cookie?  Call me crazy, but I’ll almost always pass.
So what happens when it just happens to be Thursday night and I find myself in a kitchen suddenly populated with these bad boys?  Friday at the office gets just a little bit sweeter.
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Our company uses TINYpulse, a tool through which employees answer a weekly question about the work environment and provide comments anonymously.  Each week, a member of our team will lead a discussion around the latest TINYpulse results.  When I reviewed the TINYpulse results two weeks ago, I also asked my coworkers to vote on one of two TINYtreats that they’d like me to bring into the office, with TINYorange poppy seed cookies edging out TINYbutterscotch cookies.
Baking may seem small, like something fluffy and nice that’s just a means to a delicious end.  And yes, baking can be pink frosting and apron strings, but it can also wrap itself around you, warm ovens and the smell of slightly burnt sugar coaxing almost forgotten memories from the back corner of your mind, until you are all but under your grandma’s feet, begging to lick the mixing bowl.
The orange poppy seed cookies that I brought in for our TINYpulse meeting impacted the office in a profoundly positive way.  I am new to the thinkspace team, and baking for my coworkers is a great way for me to share a part of myself with them, and allow them to get to know me a little better.  Baking can bring people together, can create connections.  And inviting people to be a part of that process by asking them to vote between two baked goods encourages participation.
So in the spirit of building community, I invite you to participate.  On Tuesday, April 22, I will bring a batch of homemade cookies to work.  Which would you like to see?
Voting is open to everyone, but the cookies are only available to those who stop by the front desk.  Yes, I will be sitting here with a giant plate of cookies in front of me.  I love to bake, and I only bake for people I like, because baking is a huge part of me and something that I am extremely passionate about.  On a stressful day, a freshly baked cookie may just be the sweet reprieve you and your coworkers need to make it to 5 o’clock in one piece.
So come to thinkspace on the 22nd!  Come to say hello, to meet our awesome front desk staff, to connect with some of our members.  At the very least, come for the cookies.