Everyone who knows me knows that I love donuts. It's one of those personal characterizations whose distribution has outpaced the original sentiment, so people tend to think I love donuts much more than I actually do. Yes, I appreciate donuts more than most people. Yes, I eat a donut in every city I visit (see: Donuts of the World). But no, I don't eat donuts every day (as if!), or even every week. I don't actually eat donuts that much, I just appreciate their existence, and I love to share them with others. 

Today's post is going to review my top two donut shops in the Ham. The list is, of course, arbitrary, but I'll tell you why I've listed them this way.

1. YoYo Donuts, Etc.

This shop is nestled in the corner of the ugliest strip mall in cute SoHo, and its location (squeezed next to a mattress store and a food store, near an eyeglass shop and a Subway) epitomizes the vibes you'll get from this funny little shop. The inside is 1/2 low-budget (read: perfect) donut shop vibes, 1/2 empty loft and strange spacing. The first time I went in was before the Harry Potter redecoration, which has since been taken away. I had tried to visit in February when they were closed (it was Sunday), so after much anticipation, I got to try it in June, the next time I was in the Ham. The donuts are delicious and huge and so fun. The owner is sweet and enthusiastic, and she served us our donuts and helped us pick them out.

My three favorite choices here? Cinnamon Sugar Cake, Powdered Sugar Cake, and Chocolate Sprinkles (yeast, not cake). Best best best.

2. Heavenly Donuts

If you hear about donuts in Birmingham, this is the place you will hear about. It's been in books I've read about donuts, it's the first thing that comes up on Google, and it's in an area easily accessibly by family-oriented neighborhoods. They have a special on Friday and Saturday night—from 11pm to midnight, one dozen donuts is $3. Their Chips Ahoy donut changed my life, but they're all good. Red Velvet, Apple Crisp, and Sour Cream are a few more favorites.

Here are two more cake videos. Hooray!

I made this first cake when I got new cake tools for Christmas. I had about two hours of footage, but I trimmed it down to 41 seconds for you (#selfcontrol). It's probably the best cake I've ever made; especially the exterior. The inside is buttermilk cake, which I've never even heard of, and it tasted incredible. The recipe (here!) is from Vanilla Bean Blog. I made honey-cinnamon frosting, and it was too sweet, so it ruined the cake. But the cake itself and the outside were fun.

https://vimeo.com/196974275

I made this second cake for my roommate's birthday. I invented the frosting recipe, which was the first recipe I'd ever made up completely on my own! The cupcakes are for allergy friends, and we bought them from Gigi's.

https://vimeo.com/196920823

I found this quote in an interview in InStyle (December '16) with Donatella Versace:

"What are some ways a woman can dress today to look powerful that are different from the conventional power suit?"

"The old idea was really just about copying the wardrobe of men. The power suit was the female version of men's tailoring, and if you think about it, because it was a copy, it still suggested that women were not equal to men. That will never be the case again. The backbone of [my] fall collection is powerful tailoring. I don't want to call it "masculine" tailoring anymore. It's not masculine; it's for women on their own terms."

I loved this when I discovered it because it expresses so well my thoughts on women in business. This summer at my internship, I wore whatever I wanted to. Though my mom made me shop for grown-up clothes before I headed to Dallas (all of which I returned once I got there), and though my aunt said I wore "ballerina dresses," I continued to wear whatever I wanted. Here was my (audacious? or stupid) logic: Because I was the intern, getting me in trouble for what I was wearing would only hurt whomever scolded me—if they fired me, they wouldn't have anyone to do the tiny tasks for them. So I staunchly wore what I wanted, confident that my value was in the work I was doing rather than the clothes I was wearing.

This is an unusual attitude in the corporate world, though I find that this flagrancy of self-expression is common in other places in America's job market. This attitude was given its most fulfilling culmination in a comment from a male coworker one day, a comment that gives me hope in the flexibility and kindness businessmen to funky businesswomen.

I was in the break room, refilling coffee or eating lunch. I had never seen or talked to him, but I hear:
"Canvas roll-top sneakers and an emerald crushed velvet dress. Thank you."

What.
Yes.

He proceeded to tell me that he appreciated that I wore whatever I wanted. He said that women had so much more freedom than men in wardrobe choices, and he was happy to finally see someone taking advantage of it.

I love this man.
I have no clue who he is, but I love him for being aware, for the compliment, for telling me about a paisley shirt he wore once and got an inordinate number of comments on, for being conversant about gender roles and stereotypes in the business world today.

So thanks and praise to you, random man. And thanks to you, Versace, for saying in one answer what I thought about for a whole month.

Long live tulle skirts and combat boots, or whatever is "wrong" for business situations,
May it be deemed "right" before too long,
Charlie