Please Help Butter to Become...The Next Food Blog Star!

(Video below)
Let The Good Times Roll

Hello Hello Hello…I am so excited (can ya tell?)!

It was about three weeks ago when I first discovered a contest with Foodbuzz to become the next Food Blog Star. Sounds like a new adventure that would encompass everything that I love and what this blog is all about. So, I am all signed up and ready to go!

This has been quite an experience so far. I have met oodles of new and talented people, shared in so many laughs, discovered the most delicious recipes and joined an amazing community. I found something that I never knew I was looking for.

I read a book recently that has been quite inspiring called The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. Sir Ken Robinson says,

“For most people, a primary component of being in their element is connecting with other people who share their passion and a desire to make the most of themselves through it.”

He goes on to explain what it is to be part of a tribe stating,

“What connects a tribe is a common commitment to the thing that they feel born to do.”

Well, I have found mine. And my tribe is in all of you.
Only you would understand and know what this means. 

Now, I have to admit that with this passion comes a strange obsession. 

When you have a fire in your belly for baking, writing, living life and a competition in the works, something takes over – rendering you completely powerless. I mean, there is flour in places I never knew possible, there is a lighting studio jimmied in the kitchen hanging from the hutch, and I haven’t seen the afternoon sun for almost 4 days. In addition, Jeff has been calling me during lunch over the last week, asking if I have been outside…hinting at the fact that this contest was making me a little weird.

My friends have been more than supportive. They have been helping in several taste tests, giving me feedback along the way, and allowing me to take extra video, and pictures (to put in the movie below). They have dealt with my strange behavior as I watched them eat after shoving a cookie into their mouth and they have smiled cautiously as I hovered over their shoulders trying to catch a glimpse of their genuine reactions as they take their very first bite.

So what I have come to realize in writing a response for what defines me as a food blogger, is that this blog is so much more than being about me – it’s more about US.

I mean really, what is a baker or a cook without someone to eat it? And what is a blog without its readers and participants?

Here is a perfect example of the influence some of 
my newest readers  have had by providing me with 
new recipes. Thanks again @janis_tester, @ bakingbarrister,
@VinoLuci, Rick from Bittersweet and Foodbuzz!

As I dug deeper into this first challenge I thought about it some more and then asked questions like:

• What if you didn’t visit here to read these stories, call me a cookie slut, propose to my coconut, or play in the sandbox (i.e. Twitter or blog comments field)?
• What would it be like if I had to run the calories off alone with no one to share in the embarrassment when I fall down, tear my earmuff or get tangled in my headphones?
• What about the smiles I’d miss when giving a friend a cookie, plate full of crostadas or boatload of cream filled éclairs?
• What about the cakes I wouldn’t get to bake or candles I would miss seeing blown out had I not had such amazing people in my life?
• And what about the times I would miss Jeff saying, “What in the heck are your doing out here?” when it is 3am and I am caught in a hundred degree kitchen on a hot summer night - baking, covered in flour and taking pictures with my little desktop studio trying not to make any noise while he sleeps?
• And finally, where the heck would I be without my muse who visits me when I bake and feed him peanuts as he dreams for something more? Oh, ‘Lil Walter!

I will tell you what – without all of you, Running On Butter and tasting life wouldn’t be nearly as fun. And, I wouldn’t have as much to write, facebook or tweet about!

With all of these experiences, I have the fortunate blessing of having something to pay forward and several ways in which to do it.

So here are the 2 things that I would like to answer for the judges -

• What defines me as a food blog is sharing with all of you - Our love for food, fun, life as well as this unique tribe. And of course, throw in some quirky humor too. 
• I have what it takes to be the next Food Blog Star because food is life and I am living and sharing it everyday! With so much going on in the world, this has become a platform to spread and receive joy...with food. There is so much to offer in recipes, stories, pictures, adventures, love, life, laughter and endless ways to give back. 

So, to close, I will leave you with a short video to share some of the experiences that I have been so fortunate to have because of  my readers and friends.

Live Life….And Put Some Butter On It!

To vote for me, please click on this badge on September 20-23 (closes at 3PM EST) and follow the instructions. Thank you SO MUCH for reading and sharing.

Love, Butter
PS If you want to add to this blog entry, I encourage you to – please join me and leave them in the comment section below