It’s been a long time coming, and I’m proud to say that the new and improved City Sparkle has officially launched!

Many may remember me from my personal blog in 2005-2007, City Sparkle. I’m back as City Sparkle DC – with a whole new attitude.

I started blogging back in 2005 with a group blog (The Butterfly Network) about dating and relationships. In July 2005, I broke out on my own with City Sparkle, under the pseudonym Asian Mistress. I met a lot of great people in the DC blogging community, learned about blogging, and even secured a great job from my success. Some of my old blogging friends are still writing away, others have since retired.

The blog was my personal diary, documenting my good times with friends, reflections on the world, and of course the ups and downs of being single in DC. I grew a lot in that time, and can see that reflected in my writing, some of which is cringeworthy now.

In the past year, I took some time off from personal blogging. My personal and professional life had finally come together, and I needed time to dedicate to that. And now, I’ve grown up.

The blog is back, and this time – I’m coming out. If there is one thing that being a social media consultant has taught me, it’s that authenticity and transparency reign. I could have deleted all my older posts and started a fresh, new, more professional blog. But, that would mean not being true to myself, and dismissing the very words that helped bring me to where I am today, and shape the person I’ve become. Some of my past posts may be unflattering, too personal, and unprofessional – but I was learning, and growing through it all.

So, here I am, just Larissa. And, I hope to become a conduit to bridge together the DC blogging community that got me started, and the local PR/tech/social media community that has embraced me since then.

City Sparkle DC’s focus will shift slightly from what it was before. I plan to feature the following post topics:

• Current event commentary (politics, entertainment, etc.)
• Restaurant reviews – local and while traveling
• Movie reviews – because everyone Googles movie reviews
• Recipes and cooking photoblogs – from recipes I’ve made to ones I want to try (maybe we can do a joint post sometime, M!)
• DC events round-ups – where the hot parties are at, cool things to do around town, etc.
• Shopping and playing in DC – where to go, what to do, where to live, etc.
• Guest posts and Q&A’s with local DC bloggers
• Social media marketing analysis – check out some of my past posts on The Buzz Bin

Thank you to everyone for their support, and I hope that I can contribute some great content to a wonderful community. Over the next week, I’ll be updating my blogroll, tweaking the look and feel of the site, and hopefully sharing a bit more about what I’m up to these days. I hope you’ll join me for the conversation.

A very special thanks goes to Shannon Whitley – who migrated and set up this new blog for me. Shannon is a great asset and well known and respected in the technology and Web 2.0 community. You can contact him on through his blog, Voice of Tech, on Twitter or via e-mail at swhitley [at] whitleymedia [dot] com.

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