Time.com Announces the 25 Best Blogs of 2012

Every now and then , I like to stop back by the old blog and drop a few good suggestions for reading in for those who are generous enough to keep looking for me here. This week, my new blog posted Time Magazine's Best Blogs for 2012 and there are some great recommendations for blogs to follow.

I hope you enjoy them!

Sarah

THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGING....

You might have noticed that I have not been blogging on the CCQ blog...Why? Because the Cupcake Queen is no longer doing business BUT I am back in the blogging world. Check out my new blog on Housing Solutions @ http://blog.hs-re.com/. There are plenty of real estate stories there and if you follow us on Facebook, on Wednesdays I post delicious recipes with wine pairings from the wine crate in Hanover NH , and I post interesting local news stories, animal pictures ( right now we are photo journaling the life of a Loon chick on Mascoma Lake) , market data and more. I hope you will take a look around @  http://www.facebook.com/HousingSolutionsRealEstate.

And, don't forget to check out the blog!

Happy Summer....

Sarah 

FOOD TRUCK LOVERS, CHECK THIS OUT!

So, broswing Yahoo News today, I saw this article and couldn't resist checking it out. After cupcakes, french fries would be my weakness and this fry truck in LA has some incredible choices...along with all the other food trucks mentioned in this article. I am definitely hunting down Frysmith on my next trip out to LA to see my kids! http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/america-s-most-creative-food-trucks.html

I am a little hurt that they didn't mention us! Who else can boast an all seasons cupcake food truck in a climate where temps fall below zero?

CHINESE NEW YEAR

Ok, I got this great new Chinese app for my iphone. It's really creative and allows you to do all these amazing things to the pictures you take BUT it's all in Chinese. A bit of a problem....And, I don't just mean the app looks Chinese...all the instructions, all the explanations, all the detail is in Chinese characters. To the far right is picture that I originally took and the left picture shows the changes I made. It definitely makes the visual much more fun and lively, but I am really just pushing buttons and guessing. If you speak and write the language you should definitely give the app a try ( then, stop by the van and teach me, please! )

App name (and it's FREE) is XIAMEN. I am not sure if it available for anything other than an iphone but it might be...

We had a great "office park" run yesterday. We visited several businesses from Hanover, to Lebanon, to West Lebanon, to White River Junction and Wilder and completely sold out- so we missed our afternoon stop at the Lebanon Green. Very exciting! And, we loved seeing so many of our cupcake fans and making new fans at each stop. Our last stop was at Datamann where we met our first "Name that Cupcake" winner ( Jennifer) who gave us Mint To Be. Such a great cupcake name...it was nice to put a name with face.

And, more exciting news- we are fast approaching 800 FB followers! We can't believe it. We love all the participation on FB and we encourage you to get involved- leave us messages, ask for a "drive by", reserve flavors, tell us your favorites, post, post, post and share. Don't be shy!

And, Trish, if you are reading this, please stop by the van for a cupcake on us. Cinderella is finally part of the flock ( but, still the one who gets chased...). I really appreciate your advice on getting her settled in.

SNOWFLAKES AND CUPCAKES....

Yes, we ARE still vending and plan to keep those cupcakes out in the elements as many days as we can this winter. And, this was a week of snow, sleet, wind and icy roads! "The Girls" were even asking if they could come inside. I politely declined. I was pretty astounded to see that they had marched thru the freezing slush and hopped on my porch to ask if they could come in the house where they clearly see that we stay warm and dry.

They did manage to keep producing those amazing fresh eggs. (As a matter of fact, the farmer down the road called me to see if I needed anymore eggs for our cupcakes because his girls were laying record winter amounts.)

We are looking forward to February when we start to vend on a few more college campuses. It seems that word is getting around that we will bring cupcakes to campus and with Dartmouth not allowing us to vend on campus we are having to venture farther away. The students are always so appreciative, so the trips are fun for us.

We are also planning to vend in our "Lebanon spot" during the Lebanon Farmers' Market. hopefully, you will stop by on your way in or out of the Market and grab a few cupcakes. The Lebanon Farmers' Market is a great place to pick up some locally grown canned items, locally baked bread and crafty gifts. It's a fun market to attend.

We are also looking forward to Valentine's Day. You might want to start hinting now for that 6 pack of cupcakes!!!

Drop by the van soon. You warm up our day!

BRRRRRR, 2012.

What a strange winter this has been. No snow. No sign of "our" winter....until last night when we got a rude reminder of how fast the temps can change. My horses were barely moving this morning- too cold to chew their hay! And, the chickens were huddled closely together in their coop but they still managed to produce 8 eggs. I cannot imagine why they bothered. I had to grab the eggs before they froze solid.

But, cupcake fans , we are still out there on the Lebanon Green vending and we will vend throughout the winter. (Today it was 8 degrees when we went out.) Yesterday went fairly well despite all the New Year's resolutions and today was even better. Hopefully, we have convinced people to eat MORE cupcakes rather than curtail their intake. Why not keep the world sweet?

We can't keep the van window filled with cupcakes like we usually do. They get too cold sitting in the window and the buttercreams harden back up- so if you are driving by and it looks like we only have a few left, that's because we are keeping yours warm inside the van...along with hot coffee. The hardest part is not drinking all the coffee myself ( of course, I do eat a cupcake...it's a job perk).

Not too much to say other than commenting on the weather and our hopes for 2012. We will keep you posted on our progress. We really want to double sales this year and we will need all your help to do that. Be sure to tell a friend about us!

THE ICING ON THE (CUP)CAKE!

The holidays have been an amazing time for us at the Cupcake Queen. We completed our first year of business and, thanks to so many people and businesses, it was a great year! Our purple van is now officially a year old and has traveled all over NH and VT bringing sweetness to the people.

We participated in the Covered Bridge Half Marathon, Taste of Woodstock, Lyme 250 Celebration, New London Hospital Days, Woodstock Art Festival, Warner Fall Festival, Mountain Dew Tour in Killington, Pods for the Pulpit, Hanover Farmers Market, Lebanon Farmers Market, DCLSA Crafts Fair and several others.

We made it to college campuses like Dartmouth, Tuck and Colby-Sawyer. Local businesses like Consign and Design Center, Artisans and Creative Lighting used us to help promote their sale events. And, Centerra, DHMC, 45 Lyme Rd. were frequent stops. Of course, the Lebanon Green is our sweet spot and we will continue to be there weekly throughout the winter.

And, we had beautiful brides who trusted us with their special day...and, the baby showers, bridal showers and birthday and anniversary celebrations. Too many to name! Business meetings, family reunions-and, simple cupcake cravings. And, one of my favorite days: the call that came while I was driving to the Lebanon Green wanting to buy ALL our vending cupcakes to be delivered to their customer as a way to say "thank you".

We held our Name that Cupcake contest and had so much fun reading the clever names customers submitted- Mint to Be and I Dream of Cookie will be with us each holiday season. And, Kathryn ( Twinkle) and I (Cookie) had most of our children home for the holidays. I was missing two....Kathryn's family was complete:) And, yes, we served cupcakes.

So, this is just a "Thank You" note to all of those who helped us make this happen. We think we have the best job in the world- we love to bake ( especially when it makes our houses so warm in the winter) , we love to create for your special occasion, we love seeing the kids ( and adult) faces light up at the cupcakes arrayed in the van window...and, we love the Upper Valley and the support you all have given us.

Happy Holidays and we wish you the very best New Year.