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.

So this weekend turned out pretty good. On Friday I went for a drink with a couple coworkers after work, then headed (ironically through DC) into Arlington to meet up with some friends. We ended up at Whitlow’s and Ballroom (the rooftop was still a little sketchy from the “collapse” a couple weeks ago) and I got entirely too intoxicated. Which was fine because I usually don’t drink a lot, if at all.

Saturday I ended up going to Merriweather Post Pavilion to check out Manu Chao and Thievery Corporation, among others. It was an excellent show, and I’m glad that I went (thanks T). The weather was perfect - not hot or humid…and sitting there in the open air listening to some great music made me really, well, happy to be alive. Glad that I was able to head out on a whim to a concert with friends. Happy that everything felt just so right.

Thursday was “officially” the first day of summer, and I’m looking forward to what the rest of the season brings.

On a side note, my parents left today for New Mexico, they are moving out there. I had lunch with them on Thursday, and then I won’t see them again until Christmas. It’s not that different than now I guess, in that I don’t see them that much. But, if I want to, no more weekend trips or them being an hour or two away.

Also, my dad had apparently given me all the old videotapes of me from when I was little (family vacations, ski trips, me dancing around and singing “I’m Bad” - ah the old MJ days)…well, I didn’t know that they were in my car, and so they sat there for over a month. Yes, in the heat. I tried to put the tapes in (the old school VHS adapter was used), and nothing came up. I’m just hoping that they didn’t get erased. He should have told me they were in there! I guess that is my fault for not being responsible and taking the box out of my car in time (hah), but still…I’ll be pretty sad if all those memories are gone. Especially if it’s just because I was lazy.

I am mad. I am mad that I have Gwen Stefani’s new song stuck in my head and it’s being played all over the radio and TV. My ears are bleeding.

Seriously, what the fuck is that noise? Wind It Up…turn it down!

What happened to edgy, cool chick Gwen from No Doubt who screamed and jumped around in a much more pleasant way than say Courtney Love. Hollaback Girl was bad enough, but slightly redeemed with Cool and Luxurious. And then you come back and hit us hard…with this.

I mean, I know Gwen has a reputation for being a bit “quirky” and “fun”…but where did this crap come from? Maybe she was inspired by watching Sound of Music with cute little Kingston, but please…spare the rest of us the pain.

As everyone knows by now, the Hot Morning Mess at Hot 99.5 is no more. Through much speculation and blog/media uproar, the beloved Mark, Kris, and Teapot Tim said goodbye to the Washington Metro area a little over a month ago.

Enter Kane, the transplant from Florida who just moved (back) here with his fiancee, and I think, a few pets. Now, Kane is a nice enough guy it seems, especially since he’s been giving away lots of Kane Kash.

But, something bothers me about Kane. OK, so he lacks the sidekick and the funny banter that the previous mess had, but they’re working on that. However, I would have to say that his fiancee calling in and him talking to her on the phone, does not substitute for much of anything (as I heard one morning). Kane is trying, but frankly he kind of annoys me. Much of his show that I’ve heard has featured sob stories from people with deadbeat spouses who need money for Christmas (OK, so I can’t hate on that) and also weird stories such as the one today.

Today’s show had a story about a man who apparently suffered a heart attack on a plane from Heathrow, London to Boston. The man died 3 hours into the flight, and passengers were left to share space with his grieving wife and his body for the remaining 3 hours of the flight. A tragic, sad story was turned into an almost kind of joke and discussion about dead bodies on flights. Completely inappropriate.

For me, Kane is just a little too much to handle before 9:00 am. I don’t want to listen to heavy, sad stories, and I don’t want to be all depressed before I go into work (which is depressing enough as it is).

So, my advice is lighten up, Kane. The beltway is bad enough to deal with, we don’t need to further want to gouge our eyes out while commuting to work by listening to sad talk-show quality stories that are better suited for Geraldo or Maury.

Update: Well, maybe I’m just partial to Mark & Kris because of what they gave me. Haha.

So last night I attended the Yellowcard and Anberlin concert at the 9:30 Club. It was a good concert, but the crowd certainly made it even more entertaining. In looking around the crowd I thought, how many of these people are breaking curfew? Yes, I did feel really old. The average age there I would say was 20. I bought a beer just to prove I was old enough. Also unfortunate, were the parents that were forced to attend with their young high school kids. I felt so bad for them, they must have been miserable. Speaking of being a parent, on the way out we hit traffic on 66, and I almost came thisclose to hitting the car in front of me. Apparently by default I “mom-armed” my friend. It was quite funny. I wonder if the guy knew how close he was to being rear-ended? Hmm…

Of course, there was a lot of mosh pitting and crowd surfing going on. What is it about rock concerts that perpetuate that? I joked with my friend that only white kids would do that (the aimless jumping up and down and running into each other) and she was like “hey, we can’t dance, it’s what we do.” Hahaha. The appeal of crowd surfing is lost to me as well. “Yeah man, let’s rock out and count on strangers to hold me up so I don’t fall, all the while kicking other people in the face and possibly falling and busting my head open! AWESOME! What a rush!” Yeah, false. I just tried to stay away from that mess.

The highlight of the concert was definitely “Only One” and “Empty Apartment” followed by the last song “Ocean Avenue.” They prefaced “Only One” by saying that you should “look for the girl you want to take home tonight and tell her that you wrote this song for her” - which was hilarious.

All in all a fun way to spend a Wednesday night.