This photo was the first banner for my blog in 2005.

Like most people I’m deathly afraid of public speaking — dropped out of several public speaking classes because of this paralyzing fear — but every now and then I can tap into that part of myself that’s “Caroline on Crack,” my alter ego, the party girl who’s out and about town making new friends. But just in case I can’t summon her for whatever reason at my blogiversary party tonight at Formosa Cafe, i.e. the liquid courage isn’t taking effect, I wanted to give the speech here. Sure, it’s tons self-indulgent but bear with me, please.

Hey, folks, I’m Caroline on Crack. Thanks for coming out to the Formosa Cafe tonight to help celebrate my blog’s 7th anniversary.

When I started back in 2005, Seven Grand was a mere twinkle in Cedd Moses’ eye, large portions of my blog posts were made up of quoted material from CitySearch and LA.com and blogging was a really lonely endeavor. I never knew anyone at the events I was invited to.

But today, LA’s blogging community is huge and growing; I run into my friends out and about all the time! Los Angeles now boasts the BEST American cocktail bar, the Varnish, thanks to this year’s Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards. And now my blog posts have a little more meat to them and have actually scored me other writing gigs like at Los Angeles Magazine, LAist, LA Weekly and BBC Travel [might cut this part out].

Seven years is a long time to stick with anyone and I feel very fortunate you guys stuck it out with me. Speaking of which, big shout-out to my boyfriend of six years who has sat patiently while I took pictures of food and drinks before I allowed him to dig in. So understanding and disciplined!

Of course, tonight’s party wouldn’t have been awesome without the following folks. One of my favorite people in the cocktail industry, Aidan Demarest at Elit by Stoli (you guys try the Cosmos?) not only sponsored this shindig but has been a friend and supporter from back in the day when the cocktail scene was just starting downtown. HUGE thanks to the lovely Kate Grutman for creating the special CoCktails for tonight AND doing up the jello shots AND boozy cupcakes! She did so much work to make tonight taste good.

Vince at Formosa Cafe for his generosity and letting me host my party at his historic venue. My bff, the talented Jennifer Low of Jennifer Low Photography, for flying down from San Francisco just so I’ll have pretty pictures of this moment and of your sweet drunk faces. And are you guys loving the music tonight?!! That’s DJ jasepi, one of LA’s hottest DJs! He’s spun at fashion week runway shows, movie premiere parties and the Playboy Mansion and I’m very fortunate that he’s doing my party tonight.

Now, it’s very important that you drink tonight, because proceeds from tonight’s cocktail sales will go to a charity that will help out LA’s inner-city kids. I’ll let Kate’s dad, Tony Grutman, the executive director of the Lenny Krayzelburg Foundation tell you all about it….

So, yeah, in the event I just chicken out and go with “Thank you and good night,” at least you’ll know what I meant to say.

Photo Gallery of 7 Years of CoC

Tonight’s Specialty Cocktails

Here’s what we’ll be serving up tonight in terms of booze. The top three cocktails are $10 each and the jello shots and desserts are complimentary.

• Elit by Stoli Cosmos: Elit by Stoli, Cointreau, cranberry, lime
• Banned From Seven Grand: Evan Williams Bourbon, Campari, Dumante pistachio liqueur, orange citrate
• Moscow Pool: Vodka, ginger, blue curacao, lime
• Vodka jello shots: a beautiful multi-colored and -flavored jello cube
• Boozy cupcakes with maca (a “Peru’s natural Viagra”): Kahlua cupcakes, Malibu coconut rum and chocolate cupcakes and chocolate creme de menthe cake pops. Kate put the maca in to emulate the energy drink cocktails that were popular in those dark days of cocktail.

Hope to see you all tonight!