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Once Upon A Time...
guest to my lil' corner of Neopia. I am aendie. You may or may not know me. Maybe I should begin with a brief introduction? It began when I was a wee zafara, no, not a baby, but just young. Yeah, thats it, 59812 hours ago. I was created. My first week alive was not so bad. I could almost tell Alyshiia, Brynniie and
Mimikiu were jealous because I had all of my owner's attention. Twinfairy was always by my side, but that wouldn't last forever. As time went on, I grew up and I found my self drifting away... actually bored. I wanted to do something different, new, innovating, inspirational. My mind would travel elsewhere while I was eating lunch... or ... or dinner.
I would think of lives of different neopians like guest and think of stuff that they liked. Making neopoints, playing games, making new pets, boasting about their shops, playing with toys. Then, I was struck by an idea, an inspiration.
there lived a Zafara...
guest, the apparition of this idea was phenomenal. Suddenly,
a rush of ideas were popping up in my head. I begged twinfairy to help me:
aendie: twinfairy, please? pretty please?
twinfairy: pretty please? how is that pretty?
aendie: could you please take me to the chocolate factory?
twinfairy: [sarcastically] Okay. Anywhere else you want to go?
aendie: Yes, take me to Terror Mountain, I must see their food shops.
twinfairy: hmm... anywhere else? [raising eyebrow]
aendie: Lets see... we could drop by the food shop at neopia central. Everyone loves food right? Heh, heh, heh... [smiles awkwardly]
twinfairy: Alright. You know what? I'm not even going to ask you what this is all about.
aendie: [thinking] excellent...
Twinfairy took alyshiia, brynniie and
mimikiu along as we traveled around neopia. I approached each store observing their layout, their design, their merchandise, their shop owners (who gave me the "evil eye" whenever they noticed I stared). I took note of how they displayed their products and where the cashier was etc. Alyshiia and
Mimikiu however were asking twinfairy about buying some of the food there (*sigh*, sisters...). After going to each shop, I thanked my owner and my siblings for taking me there and I settled down at the desk in my little room. Pondering and pondering.
December came and snowflakes were falling on the window sill. My idea wasn't in full bloom yet. I really hadn't worked out the little details.
guest: WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO TELL ME WHAT YOUR IDEA IS?
aendie: Geez! No need to yell!
guest: How can you tell I'm yelling? Sorry, my keyboard thing was stuck on caps lock.
aendie: Huh? Thats okay guest. I'm going to tell you eventually, please, just bear with me... do you want a story short and sweet or long and descriptive?
guest: Neither! Tell me something I'll like--
aendie: but--
guest: I'm warning you...
aendie: Okay... Sheesh! Alright, continuing.
These ideas drumming, literally drumming, in my head
and I didn't know what to do!? I had to organize my ideas, take the time to draw things out. I had to pick a location, yes, a location. Where was I going to get the neopoints to do this? This was high risk and if it didn't succeed-- I don't even want to think about it. Twinfairy would be disappointed. I never wanted to do anything more in my life. I, a zafara wanted to do something with my time and energy, devote it into something like, a candy shop!
who envisioned a dream...
guest: Of course! A candy shop! How come I didn't think of that?
aendie: Maybe because I did first...
guest: What are you going to call it?
aendie: I don't know...
guest: Maybe you should call it "candie shoppe"
aendie: guest! That is genius! The spelling is different, I like the sound of that!
guest: Well, aendie, I'm pretty well known in Neopia for such acts of ingenuity.
aendie: Sure guest... sure. [smiles]
Of course! A candy shop called "candie shoppe". I couldn't have done better myself guest. As you heard before, I had visited other shops to help myself brainstorm some ideas. I couldn't wait to get started on this project that would later become my life. I wanted to see the smile on small neopets as I would hand over ice cream or candy or chocolate! Oh! The possibilities. This project would not be cheap.
Mimikiu has her own cafe which took her a long time to make. Its still running, twinfairy had helped her so much and I was hoping for just as much support from twinfairy.
I had to purchase a location, maybe on Market Street or Soup Alley? I really could not decide. I also had to buy materials to make a building, then purchase furniture (chairs, tables, etc.) and then ingredients to make my products, then hire people to help out. Oh, it sounds like I'm going to have a hard time, but it'll be fun! I drew out my plans and presented it to twinfairy. I was in anguish. Would she like it? Would she not?
twinfairy: aendie?
aendie: Yes twinfairy?
twinfairy: I think this plan is--
aendie: Yes?
twinfairy: brilliant! It is absolutely astonishing!
aendie: YES! YES YES!
twinfairy: Lets get started.
Twinfairy's approval on the candie shoppe was all I needed to get this going. Once she approved, my heart skipped a beat. Once my plans were all done and drawn out, it was a matter of getting started.
...and made it come true
First things first! The property, where was this to be built? Ah... of course twinfairy would not disagree with me. I would pick the best location for my new candie shoppe. It would be Cute City. A cute shop in a cute city! I was determined to make candie shoppe a success. I paid for my lot in pure neopoints (it took about 30 days to process the application for land.... argh, I hate the waiting!). Once that was done... building!
I hired the best in the best for construction. Well, as much as my well-earned neopoints could afford. If I was to be a successful shop, it would have to be really good eye candy. Attractive, not an eye sore. Eye Candy, so I hired EYries. Yep yep! A couple of bruces, acaras were there too. Alyshiia,
Mimikiu, myself and twinfairy helped them finish it. We did an excellent paint job and we believe (well, we know) that the candie shoppe was excellent eye candy. The candie shoppe looked inviting but not too kiddish. Everyone was to be welcome in this wonderful dream of mine.
Next on our list was furniture! Okay, we had the most fun with this, picking out chairs, tables, carpets, rugs, kitchen utilities, oh so much fun! The whole package. Of course this did not come cheap. We wanted the place to be eye candy. People and neopets would be invited to look around and see the place, but not copy it! Tables were set, chairs were tucked in, cashier was all ready! This was my dream come true.
now her passion...
We were done with the layout and everything else, all that was needed now was to make the candy. The main point of all this. I had never ever made candy before, but we were to make great varieties. Many many! We would make over 100 different types of candy. Some were sold in boxes or individual wrappings. All would bare a similar logo and new trademark - aendie candies.
The baking process took a LONG time and much effort. We used these ingredients:
† sugar (lots of it)
† water
† authentic fruit flavorings
† citrus juices
† cocoa powder
† flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder
† asparagus (believe it or not)
† the aendie secret family ingredient
† love
I'm just kidding about the love part by the way. I worked day and night, day and night baking... but I loved it. I really did. The fresh smell of pastries, candy and chocolate. Of course I didn't eat it all. I had to sell most of my stuff.
All of the secret recipes for making the candy were made from scratch. A huge pot of mixture. Twinfairy would dip her finger inside and lick it and mention "needs more salt, pass it over
mimikiu!" or something like that. Everything was tried, tested and true. I was so close to achieving my dream, I could feel it! (I really really could!).
Finally! After hours of commitment and hard work all the candy was complete and ready to be sold. Mmm...
...is her life.
The Grand opening of aendie's candie shoppe was soon to come.... Oh my gosh, I felt so nervous. Questions started racing through my mind! What if it doesn't work out? What if nobody likes it? What if everybody things the candy is too sweet? But, I decided we needed to make promotions for the grand opening. We advertised in the Neopian Times and we gave out discount coupons.
The grand opening of aendie's candy shop was so successful, that everyday we have a lot of customers who just love candy. We have even developed a new weekly schedule:
Mondays - Free Ice cream
Tuesdays - 10% of all chocolates
Wednesdays - Free Toffee with your order
Thursday - Nothing
Friday - Fruity Fridays
Saturday - Make-your-own Candy
Sunday - Theme Day
aendie: I can't believe I finally achieved my dream guest
guest: I can't either. Well, actually I can :)
aendie: Would you like to try some of our famous, well-reputed candy?
guest: No.
aendie: WHAT!?!?!?
guest: Just kidding aendie. I would like one. Can I pick?
aendie: Sure, just look at our recent ad for aendie's candie shoppe:
Muahuahua... the end!
Alyshiia-my older lab sis|> Alyshiia is my older sister. She is the family's lab pet. So she is constantly changing. She began as a yellow aisha, but who knows what she is now? I admire how brave she is, I've asked her sometimes if being zapped of the lab ray is as painful as they say it is. She says it isn't, but sometimes I see her close her eyes really tight before getting zapped. She is the best, I ask her whenever I need help with anything. Its fun! She has an adorable Faellie petpet.
Brynniie-my cute lil sis|> Brynniie is a baby uni, my lil' cute sister. Her name means "Small Hill" which is pretty appropriate since she likes to frolic there. She is the best lil' sis a neopet could have! She is eager to learn, and lucky her, she has wings she can fly up in the clouds, sometimes with me too! Lucky brynniie, she got a faerie moltenore named Nala...
