08/18/2026
I’ve been putting off writing this for a long time because, truthfully, I think a part of me wasn’t ready to say it out loud. ❤️🩹
At the end of last year, I stepped away from Bitter Sweet believing I was simply tired, discouraged, disappointed, and in need of a reset. I truly thought that with enough time to rest, I would eventually miss it. That the excitement would come back and I would know when it was time to return.
Earlier this year, I still believed that. I called it a break. I said I’d be back.
But the months passed, and somewhere in all that time away, I started realizing something I wasn’t quite ready to admit: I wasn’t resting so I could return. I was moving on.
And that has been a hard thing to accept. For almost nine years, Bitter Sweet has been a dream I loved deeply. I started this business in 2017 with so many hopes for what it could someday become, and through all these years, it has followed me through so many different seasons of my adult life.
I kept adapting it. I tried different things. I invested in it, learned from it, created through it, and kept showing up for it. I poured so much of myself into trying to make that dream a reality—the long nights, custom orders, markets, new recipes, successes, disappointments, friendships, lessons, and everything in between.
And maybe that’s part of why letting it go has been so difficult.
There’s still a little voice in my head sometimes that asks if I’m giving up. If I should try one more thing, push a little harder, or give it a little more time. A part of me wonders if walking away means I failed at something I wanted so badly to succeed.
But then I remind myself: I did try.
For almost nine years, I showed up for this dream in one form or another. And I don’t have to keep doing something I no longer want simply to prove that I didn’t give up on it.
There’s grief in accepting that. There’s sadness. There’s disappointment for the things I dreamed Bitter Sweet would become that never came to be. But there’s also relief. 😮💨
And I think I’m finally allowing myself to feel both.
For a long time, I kept holding onto “maybe someday.” Maybe after enough rest. Maybe when life settled down. Maybe somewhere new.
But at some point, “someday” stopped feeling like possibility and started feeling like baggage. Like I was carrying something forward simply because I once loved it, not because I still wanted it.
And I don’t want to carry that weight anymore. ❤️🩹 I can miss who I was in this chapter without wanting to live in this chapter again.
I can look back through these years and get emotional. I can miss the excitement I once felt over a new idea or recipe. I can miss the version of me who dreamed about what Bitter Sweet could become. I can grieve the future I once pictured for it.
And I can still know that I’m ready to let it go. Walking away doesn’t erase any of it. It doesn’t erase the work, the memories, the people I met, the things I learned, or everything this little business gave me.
Bitter Sweet was a dream I got to live. It mattered. It was worth it. And it doesn’t have to become the rest of my life for any of that to be true.
So after trying for a long time to call this a break, I think I’m finally ready to call it what it is: I’m closing this chapter. ❤️🩹
To every single person who ordered from me, trusted me with your celebrations, stopped at my table during a market, came back for your favorite treat, shared one of my posts, recommended my little business to someone, encouraged me, supported me, or simply followed along over all these years, Thank You! 🙏🏻
Thank you for allowing something that started as my little dream in 2017 to become a part of your birthdays, weddings, holidays, celebrations, family traditions, and ordinary days that just needed something sweet. I will never take that for granted.
I don’t know what the future holds. And for the first time, I don’t feel like I need to. I’m grateful for what was. I’m proud of what I built. I’m thankful for the version of me who dreamed this dream and kept showing up for it.
And now, I’m ready to put down what I no longer need to carry.
¡Thank you for everything, Bitter Sweet Pastries! You’ll always be apart of me ❤️🩹🙏🏻
