All the cupcake ladies

I'm off to Chicago this week for an unofficial cupcake summit and a bazillion cupcake tastings; join me Saturday from 12-2 at Swirlz for FREE mini cupcakes!

In addition to the amazing cupcake ladies seen above, who totally rock my world and are each incredibly inspiring in their own right, I'm also going to hopefully see my cousin Cindy and her 5-year-old son Jack (yes, he's also my cousin), Nona Willis Aronowitz, co-author of Girldrive, Kirsten Goede, maker of the gorgeously sparkling jewelry line Objets d'Envy and Elizabeth Elmore, whose lyrics with Sarge and especially The Reputation have inspired me more than I can say (and whose song "Fast Girls" I'm quoting in my introduction to my anthology Fast Girls). It'll be a busy but very sweet weekend of cupcakes, pizza, girl talk and gossip.

See Flickr (and the cupcake only Flickr) and Twitter (and @cupcakeblog) for updates all weekend.