the UGC: The Silver Fox

The Silver Fox
September 28, 2009

I've reached that point of exhaustion where I'm so tired I can't sleep. I just spent most of the weekend in San Francisco with some of my favorite people. There was good food, some not so good food, wine, cocktails, laughing harder than I have in a long time, and there may have been a conference in there somewhere.

Really, I don't even know where to begin. We could start with Friday night when I finally ate a Town Hall, which was amazing. Fantastic food, a great cocktail menu, and a waiter who made jokes about knitting. We couldn't have asked for a better dinner experience. Saturday was the BlogHer Food conference. It's the first time they've done a food based conference, and it was much smaller and more intimate than the regular Blog Her conference. (Though it did remind me a little bit of the very first BlogHer I attended oh so long ago.)

I ended up focusing on the photography side of things, which was helpful because I've been a little uninspired in that regard lately (until this weekend I hadn't really picked up my camera since Burning Man). I did attend one panel that had a lot of advice about how to get your blog to the "next level", and while there was some helpful information, it also made me feel a little bit like I've failed as a "blogger". People with blogs that have been around a fraction of the time mine has are getting book deals, and writing and photography gigs. After almost 9 years, I feel like I don't have much to show for this but a bunch of archives (which I suppose isn't exactly nothing). And I have to remember...I didn't start this blog to make money or make it a business. I started it as an outlet to keep me creative. It's definitely done that over the years, and been a vehicle for me meeting so many wonderful people, but it's hard to sit on the sidelines for so long and watch so many people pass you by. And here comes another but...it's my own damn fault. I've never really tried to make it anything more than it is, so I can't really expect it to morph into some sort of marketing machine overnight now can I?

I really need to sit down and figure out what I want to do here. I might start focusing more on food (because I love food and cooking and I used to write about it with more regularity), but I might not. I may just need a major redesign to get me back in the groove (because it's been a few years since I've mixed things up a little). Or maybe I need to put myself on a schedule so there's some regular content. I just don't know. It's my little space on the interwebs and I can do whatever I want with it! Which can make it harder to figure out exactly what to do. Can you see how this sleeping thing might be hard for me right now? I can't get my brain to shut up!

Aside from all that, I did get to spend Saturday with some fabulous ladies and this conference wouldn't have been the same without them. We spent some time decompressing at the hotel bar Saturday afternoon, and then headed to the BlogHer cocktail party where we met the best bartender EVER. I could go into the whole story about a mix up with ordering a drink, which is one of the things that had us laughing so hard we could barely breathe, but really, that was just part of it. This bartender kept an eye on us all night. The instant one of us was getting to the bottom of our glass, he came over with another round. He even brought over some food after he witnessed Regan chasing down one of the waiters with a tray of mini burgers. While this was totally awesome in SO MANY ways, this also meant I have no idea how many drinks I had. Thankfully, anything else we had planned on doing that night was stumbling distance away. But I digress. The drink of the evening? The Silver Fox. Which I'm sure is not its proper name (if there is one), and if asked for by this name anywhere besides the St. Regis in San Francisco from Marcelo the bartender, I'm sure you'll be met with a very quizzical look. However, you can make it at home:

THE SILVER FOX

Whiskey (whatever your favorite is)
Ginger Ale (the fancier the better - I hear Whole Foods carries a good one)
Tonic
Ice

Fill a short tumbler style glass with ice. Add whiskey, a bit of tonic, and top off with ginger ale. Mix a bit and enjoy with friends who make you laugh out loud.

$\"BlogHer$ \n\n\nI've reached that point of exhaustion where I'm so tired I can't sleep. I just spent most of the weekend in San Francisco with some of my favorite people. There was good food, some not so good food, wine, cocktails, laughing harder than I have in a long time, and there may have been a conference in there somewhere.\n\nReally, I don't even know where to begin. We could start with Friday night when I finally ate a Town Hall, which was amazing. Fantastic food, a great cocktail menu, and a waiter who made jokes about knitting. We couldn't have asked for a better dinner experience. Saturday was the BlogHer Food conference. It's the first time they've done a food based conference, and it was much smaller and more intimate than the regular Blog Her conference. (Though it did remind me a little bit of the very first BlogHer I attended oh so long ago.) \n\nI ended up focusing on the photography side of things, which was helpful because I've been a little uninspired in that regard lately (until this weekend I hadn't really picked up my camera since Burning Man). I did attend one panel that had a lot of advice about how to get your blog to the \"next level\", and while there was some helpful information, it also made me feel a little bit like I've failed as a \"blogger\". People with blogs that have been around a fraction of the time mine has are getting book deals, and writing and photography gigs. After almost 9 years, I feel like I don't have much to show for this but a bunch of archives (which I suppose isn't exactly nothing). And I have to remember...I didn't start this blog to make money or make it a business. I started it as an outlet to keep me creative. It's definitely done that over the years, and been a vehicle for me meeting so many wonderful people, but it's hard to sit on the sidelines for so long and watch so many people pass you by. And here comes another but...it's my own damn fault. I've never really tried to make it anything more than it is, so I can't really expect it to morph into some sort of marketing machine overnight now can I? \n\nI really need to sit down and figure out what I want to do here. I might start focusing more on food (because I love food and cooking and I used to write about it with more regularity), but I might not. I may just need a major redesign to get me back in the groove (because it's been a few years since I've mixed things up a little). Or maybe I need to put myself on a schedule so there's some regular content. I just don't know. It's my little space on the interwebs and I can do whatever I want with it! Which can make it harder to figure out exactly what to do. Can you see how this sleeping thing might be hard for me right now? I can't get my brain to shut up!\n\nAside from all that, I did get to spend Saturday with some fabulous ladies and this conference wouldn't have been the same without them. We spent some time decompressing at the hotel bar Saturday afternoon, and then headed to the BlogHer cocktail party where we met the best bartender EVER. I could go into the whole story about a mix up with ordering a drink, which is one of the things that had us laughing so hard we could barely breathe, but really, that was just part of it. This bartender kept an eye on us all night. The instant one of us was getting to the bottom of our glass, he came over with another round. He even brought over some food after he witnessed Regan chasing down one of the waiters with a tray of mini burgers. While this was totally awesome in SO MANY ways, this also meant I have no idea how many drinks I had. Thankfully, anything else we had planned on doing that night was stumbling distance away. But I digress. The drink of the evening? The Silver Fox. Which I'm sure is not its proper name (if there is one), and if asked for by this name anywhere besides the St. Regis in San Francisco from Marcelo the bartender, I'm sure you'll be met with a very quizzical look. However, you can make it at home:\n\nTHE SILVER FOX\n\nWhiskey (whatever your favorite is)\nGinger Ale (the fancier the better - I hear Whole Foods carries a good one)\nTonic\nIce\n\nFill a short tumbler style glass with ice. Add whiskey, a bit of tonic, and top off with ginger ale. Mix a bit and enjoy with friends who make you laugh out loud.

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