A few days ago, someone recognized me from Cupcakes Take The Cake and said, “You do that cupcake blog; why aren’t you famous yet?!”  In some ways I am famous. Some of the fans of the blog ask to take photos with me. Some people have hugged me and told me that Cupcakes Take The Cake brings a little happiness to their life daily.  I feel good when I hear that but I don’t feel famous. I am not sure if Cupcakes Take The Cake will ever make me famous, and that’s fine.  I appreciate that it adds to my income and that affords me access to food events and meeting cool people in the food industry.  Is there pressure to be a top blogger when you didn’t initially set out to be?  I don’t feel it.  I am not competitive with other bloggers.  I am generous. I give people blogging and social media advice because I want them to do well.  Success breeds success. Keep on keepin’ on.

Natural Gourmet Insitute invited me to one of their Friday night dinners. In celebration of Earth Month, a percentage of the proceeds benefited Green Guerillas.  Chef Jay Weinstein planned a delicious and healthy three course meal.  The Natural Gourmet Institute has lots of public classes including a vegan cupcake baking class.

Asparagus Salad with Grain Mustard Vinaigrette and Spring Greens.

Chickpea Spinach Croquette over Parsnip Puree with Baby Carrots and Foraged Ramps and Mushrooms.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp with Cinnamon-Coconut Ice Cream and Fresh Mint

Buy Tickets today for the Vendy Awards which will be Saturday, September 24. I am on the social media committee for the Vendys, I am managing the Facebook Page for the Vendys. Please “like” Vendy Awards, and send tips of delicious street food from all over the city.

Last week I bought Tina Fey’s “non-memoir” memoir, Bossypants. I read it and loved it.  It’s a very funny collection of autobiographical short stories.

As a big fan of 30 Rock, I wished she talked about:

• The casting of Jane Krakowski over Rachel Dratch as Jenna. I love Jane in the role, but I wonder if network execs had pushed for Jane because of her looks.
• The rivalry between “30 Rock” and “Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip”. Studio 60 got canceled after only one year, but I thought Aaron Sorkin’s recent cameo on 30 Rock was generous considering he just won an Oscar for The Social Network.

Some people wanted to her talk about how hard it is for her juggle her career and family. Some people want to hear about her politics and feminism. I want to know more about her success with running “30 Rock”.  I wish she wrote a book like Jack Welch did about GE, but it about would have more about producing, writing and starring in a network comedy show.

In 2006 there was Twitter, the microblogging service that has change media as we know and love. In 2009 it was Foursquare, and now everyone can know where you are at any given time. In 2011, what is the new hotness that people are buzzing about from SXSW?!  At first, I thought it was group of group texting apps.  Beluga, Fast Society and GroupMe are all about group texting. The point of these apps is that there are the solution when Twitter is too much, Facebook is too public and Foursquare is too slow. Beluga was used effectively during SXSW for some of the Black folks attending to find where is the hot spot, where to get grub or who is out partying. It could be a little annoying but if you want the 411 on the quickness, then it works.

Now that I am back in New York and settled back into the regular grind, I have reconsidered. I think the the hottest thing that came out of SXSW this year was just the status of being there.  More people from more diverse professions migrated to Austin this year. The old skool tech geeks mixed with new school social media people for a few days of drinking beer, skipping panels and collecting swag.  To be in Austin in March is the new going to college in Cambridge.

Wednesday, I got an email from the Museum of The City Of New York offering a deal on a lecture if you ordered your ticket within 24 hours. I think that there should be a Groupon like site for city attractions like botanical gardens, museums, and zoos. Does Gilt City do that?

Anyway, I bought the $6 ticket for the lecture, Segregated Sound. The panelists were Dr. Patrick Burke, Washington University, author of Come In and Hear the Truth: Jazz and Race on 52nd Street (University of Chicago Press, 2008); soul, blues, and traditional Native American musician, Martha Redbone; and Dr. Maureen Mahon, New York University, author of Right to Rock: The Black Rock Coalition and the Cultural Politics of Race (Duke University Press, 2004).

The panelists were super knowledgeable and I felt the panel could have been better if the moderator didn’t talk as much and asked clunky questions. Also, I think actual music cues during the discussion would have been good. Play some Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, Living Colour. It would have nice to hear a bit of Martha Redbone’s music as well.

Today is March 31st which marks the end of the first quarter. It seems proper to take stock and assess 2011 so far.

“A shiver in my bones just thinking about the weather.” – 10,000 Maniacs

The long winter weather has ruined my mood, a good pair of boots and tested my patience.  I never knew thought weather to be such a villain, but these last three months it seems like Cruella deVille is in full effect. You can’t escape it by going somewhere warm. Extreme weather is all over the world over now, and I guess global warming has something to do with it. Throw away the almanac, we’re dealing with new weather shit now.

“Money, where have you turned to?” -Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings

For over two months, I had an outstanding receivable from a former client. The money was significant and the delay was cruel. It is extremely difficult to function as a regular, sane human being when you have to worry all the time about having money to buy food, use the subway or pay your subway. I felt like I was this playing this game of truth and consequences whenever I broke a twenty dollar bill. Now things are better with my new gig, but sometimes I feel like I will never have a middle class lifestyle that I grew up with. However, I choose to live in New York City, so the hustle must go on. I just want more flow and less hustle.

On the good side, I did see Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings on New Year’s Eve which kicked off this year.  Also seeing Diplo at a BlackBerry party at SXSW was fun.

More good stuff-Discovering a different neighborhood in Brooklyn, making new friends, getting press mentions in magazines, hosting fun cupcake events and going to SXSW.

Anyway, the spring brings more change as where I live in Brooklyn will change. Plus I won some yoga classes and I made a vow to get more sleep. I plan to be more physically active, be more relaxed and centered.

I love my new owl earrings!

I organized a fun four ladies lunch with Nicole (@foodculturist), Jean (@swee10_) Dara (@insanemomposse) at Saraghina in BedStuy. Dara took the picture.

I meet lots of people, and it is hard to give them your life story at a party, so I am listing 12 things you may not know about me.

1. I still have my wisdom teeth. They grew in OK, so I didn’t have to have them extracted.
2. I have been blogging for more than seven years.
3. I worked at Pizza Hut in high school.
4. I used to produce a weekly stand-up comedy show called Chicks and Giggles. It ran for almost three years.
5. I have appeared on the Martha Stewart Show.
6. I have a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
7. I was in Las Vegas for a conference during 9/11.
8. I have been to Aberdeen, Scotland.
9. I won my elementary school spelling bee.
10. I have organized book parties for authors.
11. I have never been fired.
12. I  have been asked to leave a bar.

I have a press badge to attend SXSW Interactive.

I will also be attending TECHmunch and will be speaking on a panel, Appetite For Apps. Panelists are Amy Cao of Foodspotting,Tanya Edwards of The Food Network, Jeremy Fisher of Dinevore and Brian Witlin of Shopwell.

I am hosting the 3rd Annual Cupcake Social on March 13.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a place to stay in Austin and not much money.

Good news: I have a place to stay!

I will be in Austin from Friday to Monday.  Follow me on Twitter (@niche) I will be posting SXSW tips on The Great Austin Migration.

New Yorkers, Roadify aims to make your commute into more of a community.

Chat Roulette may be over, but Daily Booth is kinda the same thing but with photos.

Love beauty samples? Check out BirchBox.

Social Media Week is like a week-long Hallmark holiday.  Coincidentally it is around Valentine’s Day. You don’t need “Social Media Week” to use social media just like you don’t need Valentine’s Day to tell someone you love them.

I remember reading a blog post a few years ago that touted the value of post-conference recaps. Now that twitter is used so much to provide real-time commentary, doing a recap can feel a little stale.  However this week, I heard some great discussions, met some cool people, and learned some stuff. I wanted to take note of them, so I am blogging it here.

The Monday afternoon panel, Beyond Blogspot, at Hachette was really good.  Gretchen Rubin and Margaret Roach are very generous with advice. “Ubiquity is the new exclusivity”.  “Admire to Acquire”.

Monday night, I spoke at a panel, Blogging While Black, in Brooklyn.  It was sparsely attended, but my fellow panelists were great. We each talked about our “unique selling proposition”, which should be discussed more often.  Let’s be real. Everyone HUSTLES, just like everyone POOPS. If you are not hustling, you are sitting at home wondering why no one knows how cool you are.

Tuesday morning, I attended the Health Tech Food event hosted by Luminary Labs.  I got there a little late, but I did see Marc Koska speak about his crusade to end the use of dirty syringes. Then the audience broke into groups to come up with ideas to solve real-world problems. It was so exhilarating to work with the group and good to see Suzanne Xie who I first met years ago.

Tuesday evening, I attended the Eats and Apps event at 4Food. Almost every NYC food blogger that I chat with regularly on twitter was there. There were founder/representatives from Food Apps, Gojee, FoodSpotting, Snooth, Gourmet Live, Ratio, Dinevore, Food Network who showcased how their apps work. Thanks Emily, Danielle and Brian for putting on this event.

Wednesday I attended Tina Shoulder’s panel: “Social Media, The New Weight Watcher / Supporting and Building Athletes” held at Jack Rabbit Sports.  It was great to hear how using social media is connecting runners.  I hate running, but hearing about Black Girls Run is making me want to reconsider—when springtime comes.

Friday afternoon I attended two food-related panels. The first one was at lunchtime and was aptly named, “It’s Lunchtime; Now What.”  Two local sites that are new to me were on the panel, NearSay (local news) and Signpost (local deals). Other panelists were from Bizzy, Yelp, Foodspotting, Luke’s Lobster and Disco Sushi.

The second afternoon panel was held at Edelman’s offices which has a great view of the sunset in New Jersey.  The panel included FourSquare, Zagat, Foodspotting, Mermaid Inn and Schnitzel and Things.  Since I had my laptop out for this panel, I tweeted more. Here are my notes:

Mobile payments are the near future. Square and Venmo were mentioned.  I would add PopMoney and Quickbooks.

Jake’s advice to restaurants on foursquare: Be creative, doesn’t always need to be money deals (discounts/freebies).

There’s a challenge in balancing the operational and social media aspects. Both are equally important.” -Oleg of @schnitznthings

“All media is becoming social.” – @sorayadarabi

Social Media Week has grown a lot since it started three years ago. Meeting lots of people and learning new things is fun but exhausting. Next month, I get to do it again when I go to Austin.