Yesterday, I went to Governor’s Island for picnic and walked over to the Figment exhibit.
Yearly Archives: 2010
Coney Island, Governor’s Island and Brooklyn Backyards
Saturday, the Brit and I went to Coney Island to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Wonder Wheel. We didn’t ride it. I craved funnel cake so I got it. It was a little windy so powdered sugar was flying all over me. I couldn’t finish it. Funnel cake smells way better than it tastes. Sunday, we went to Governor’s Island for Parked!, a food truck fest. It was poorly organized and most people spent more time “parked” on line than eating. Luckily, we escaped to Flatbush Farm and had a fantastic dinner. Afterward, we watched the best “Mad Men” episode. Monday, we had brunch with friends at Lupes and later went to Kara’s for a fun cook-out. I made pizza pitas on the grill using fresh mozzarella and Scarpetta marinara sauce. They were delicious!
The Cure For The Common Tuesday Night Out
I don’t get starstruck. If I spot someone famous, I will make a note of it (tweet it) and move on. However it is surreal when my regular everyday life collides into Hollywood. I stopped by my friend Lilit Marcus’ book party for Save The Assistants last night after 9PM. After being there only about ten minutes, I see another friend (M.P.) with a guy I immediately recognized from TV. It was Danny Strong, the actor playing the new character Danny on my favorite TV show, “Mad Men”. [Sidenote: I watch Mad Men religiously every Sunday with my friends Kap and Cat. We drink Pimm’s Cups. We eat Smokra. We watch it twice.] I asked Danny if he will be like Harry Crane and give me the scoop in any upcoming episodes, but his lips are sealed. Actually I don’t want to know anyway. I like seeing how the show evolves.
My week in review: No Pauses Even With A Sprain
Last week…
The Brit and I went to the MJ Picnic in Prospect Park. We sat in the shade and sang Michael Jackson songs and ate free Ben and Jerry ice cream. Saturday, we went to Melissa’s birthday/housewarming party. Earlier that day I slept. Earlier than that I went to the Duane Reade walk-in clinic again but I sprained my ankle AGAIN. I have either weak ankles or poor balance. I will not wear heels any time soon. I sprained my ankle on Friday which made me missed going to the New Work City party. Thursday I stopped by Obliterati late after first going to the Aviary office warming. Wednesday I went to Topics and Tapas, and then met with the The Brit to see The Sweet Divines, Inyang Bassey and Binky Griptite and Eli Paperboy Reed perform at Rockwood. Tuesday I went to Drinking Club at Maritime and talked to Sean and Riva about Foursquare and other geo-location services. Not all will survive, I’m sure. Before that I picked up my fruit share from Brooklyn Farmacy. I resisted the urge to get an egg cream.
Upcoming Conferences
I have been busy working on my career and business. Fourth quarter 2010 is going to be great. In October, I will be headed to Las Vegas for Blog World Expo. I will be speaking at Tech Munch Vegas on October 16th on the panel, Food Trends & Curating Flavors On The Web: How To Come Up With Great Content.
I am also planning on going to SXSW again next March. Please vote for my panel: Blogging & Social Media for Niche Audiences.
Two other unconferences on my radar is Pod Camp Philly and Lavish in Atlanta.
Trip to the ATL and the BHAM
Last weekend, I flew down to Atlanta to celebrate both my mom’s birthday and my sister’s birthday. We went to Birmingham on Saturday and had a big family fish fry. Fried tilapia, catfish, shrimp, hush puppies, french fries, baked beans, cole slaw and homemade lemonade. Yum! I forgot to take any pictures because I was too busy eating and talking to my cousins. Next day, we had a luncheon for my mom and uncle who are twins to celebrate their 60th birthday. Above is a picture of my parents. It was a great weekend.
Freshman Guide To Blogging From Amy Blogs Chow
Amy Blogs Chow, fellow food blogger and all around fun person wrote a post on how to blog. Here’s a few of tips, but read the rest on her blog.
Be consistent.
Talk about things you genuinely care about.
Check spelling and grammar.
Do it for love (not the pennies).
Be optimistic.
The #HowBlackPeopleUseTwitter Discussion Continues
After watching several of these hashtags from start to finish and talking to a few researchers who’ve studied trends on Twitter, I’ve got some potential answers to these questions. Black people—specifically, young black people—do seem to use Twitter differently from everyone else on the service. They form tighter clusters on the network—they follow one another more readily, they retweet each other more often, and more of their posts are @-replies—posts directed at other users. It’s this behavior, intentional or not, that gives black people—and in particular, black teenagers—the means to dominate the conversation on Twitter.-
Slate’s article on the subject. The hubbub surrounding #howblackpeopleusetwitter goes from–to use a term from the Bush era—shock and awe. It appears that “Calvin” and his friends are using Twitter. I just wish Chappelle Show was around to make fun of the whole thing.
Links From BlogHer
Post BlogHer, I am cleaning out my purse of all the business cards I collected and want to share links of some great women. Check these out.
Owning Pink, a wonderful site for women.
Make and Takes, a craft/food/fun blog with projects for kids.
168hours, blog and book by Laura Vanderkam.
Momotics, where motherhood meets the politics of parenthood. Danielle loves cupcakes.
WLB Consultants, a blog about work life balance by Chrysula Winegar.
Mighty Girl, lots of mighty stuff from Maggie Mason.
Carley Knobloch, life and career coach, productivity expert.
Mocha Momma, the funniest card I got at BlogHer. It says “Mocha Momma will cut a bitch”.
Angela Haynes, mixed media artist
I’m remembering, a pop culture nostalgia blog. Hillary Buckholtz is someone I have know online via emails and Facebook for years and we finally met at BlogHer. Yay!
BlogHer 2010
Cheryl Contee of Jack and Jill Politics took the picture of me.
BlogHer has evolved tremendously since I attended the first conference back in August of 2005 in San Jose. There were only 300 attendees then, but it was a remarkable feat because blogging was still “new”. Blogging was not considered mainstream, and also not considered “women’s work”. Blogging then was equal parts confessional, conversational and confrontational. Most of the influential bloggers were men back then but Lisa, Elisa and Jory knew differently. They created a community where women can blog and now there is more content that is more informational and inspirational as well as being confessional, conversational and confrontational. The totality of voices is what Blogher has facilitated and that is great.
I didn’t attend any of BlogHer parties this year, mainly to stave off even more information overload. Part of me still feels like I am still recovering from SXSW back in March. Attending conferences is actually hard work mentally with so much information absorbed in a short amount of time. It is hard to remember anyone’s names or what they blog about, what twitter handle to start following or what URL to bookmark.
Instead, I enjoyed learning about how to run for office and how to increase traffic to my blogs. I ran into friends I met at SXSW, Foodbuzz, Blogging While Brown, Techmunch as well as fellow New York City bloggers. It was great to see them all.