Arie purchases Food Truck

We live in a village.
Bondville, Illinois.
Population 502.
I think my husband and I are the oh-two.

My husband was born and raised here, in Central Illinois. I was born in England and grew up in Las Vegas; and the both of us spent the last 20 years living in Los Angeles.

I work in the entertainment industry ~ shuttling back and forth between Los Angeles and Central Illinois.  Work is a steady stream of red carpets, A-List movie stars and constant kissing-up to studios so I can get free footage.

If you watch award shows; The Emmys, The Screen Actors Guild Awards, People’s Choice Awards…you’ve seen my work. Whenever you see a film or TV clip in an award show – chances are I found it, licensed it and handed it over to the editors so they could do their job. By and large, it’s a boring job filled with legal jargon I mostly don’t understand, but the perks are great — backstage access to all the sparkle Hollywood has to offer.

One year, when I was working on the Screen Actors Guild Awards, a friend and I went on a cookie-baking mission and came up with a recipe for a Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookie. I took a platter of them to work with me and the response was pretty fantastic. The cookie was such a hit, that my executive producer told me he would actually pay for these cookies.  My co-workers asked again and again for me to bring batches of the chewy, crispy, chocolate toffee cookies to the office.

I love to bake and thoughts of owning my own cookie company were  swirling around in my head –- I could be the Rachael Ray of bakers! The Bobby Flay of sweet treats!  How could I make this work? Divine intervention came in the form of our publicity girl on the show. She suggested I bake a bunch of cookies, put them in the green room backstage – then stand back and see what happens.

They were a hit. People LOVED them.  We had big platters of cookies out on the buffet table, but we also gave away little gift bags with a few cookies for people to take home.

It’s a bit surreal when you’re standing in a room, and see Nicole Kidman with  the cookie you baked in her hand, walk across the room to Minnie Driver, who also has a cookie and exclaim in her adorable Aussie accent, “These are the best cookies ever!”

That was the year a very young Dakota Fanning was nominated for “I Am Sam.” After presenting an award, she came back into the green room and said to me “I can’t find my cookies, do you think I could have another bag?” Seriously?! Wow. Someone pinch me because I MUST be dreaming.

That night clinched it. I knew I had the right idea, but I didn’t know how to make things a reality. I had a full time job and no real money to speak of.

Long story short – we made a go of it for a while, but six months later we decided to move to Central Illinois, buying my husband’s grandparents’ house and becoming Mr. and Mrs. oh-two.

But as the years passed, I couldn’t seem to shake the want of having my own bakery. Two years ago I was reading an article online about two ladies in NYC – one loved baking cookies, the other loved making homemade ice cream. They bought an old postal truck, had it painted and started their own gourmet ice cream sandwich truck.

Genius.

But where could a girl find an old postal truck in Central Illinois?

Hello Craigslist!  There, nestled in Brazil, Indiana was my truck. My husband and I bought the former ice cream truck, painted it a bakery box pink and voila!…Sweetie Sweets was born.

Sweetie Sweets specializes in delicious home baked goods – like mom’s kitchen, using only the finest ingredients, no preservatives and lots of love.

We still work our full-time day jobs, but the weekends are for the truck. I love going into the kitchen, baking and packaging then hitting the streets on Saturday and Sunday with our pink truck filled with sweet treats.

We’re still finding our footing – but the love and support the community has shown us has been amazing.  We love making people happy – and who isn’t going to smile when you hand them a yummy chocolate cupcake or a delicious brownie?

So if you see our truck puttering around town, come say hi and have a treat. We love meeting our neighbors in Central Illinois…Nicole Kidman’s got NOTHING on you.

I look forward to being part of the Mahomet Daily; sharing recipes, stories and more of our adventures with you all!

julie arie / owner – sweetie sweets

Born in England. Raised in Las Vegas, and after 15 years chasing the acting bug, working in television, and living in the craziness of los angeles; calmer thoughts prevailed and Julie followed her husband, Tim, to Central Illinois where she is currently living the dream.